Are You an Andrew ?
by Nelson Brock
For 2,000 years God has used His people to rescue the lost.
I once heard about a pastor who was trying to learn more about the lives of the people
who attended his church. As he was shaking hands at the church door, he asked one
unfamiliar woman named Hazel, ‘What do you do?” The pastor expected to hear an
occupation for an answer. Instead he heard this reply, “I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ,
cleverly disguised as a machine operator!” Now there’s a lady who knows who she is!
Hazel’s job simply put her in a position to direct other machine operators to Jesus Christ.
Divine Assignment
The Bible says that if you belong to Christ, you are His ambassador. Do you know why you
are where you are? Why you work where you work? Why you live where you live? Why
you go to school where you go to school? You are where you are because Jesus put you
there to reach out to others like you. A mom will listen to a mom; a student will listen to
a student, a golfer to a golfer. People who have had emotional trauma or disease will listen
to someone with the same experience. For this reason you are where you are and you have
been through what you’ve been through. Every Christian has been positioned by God to be
Christ’s ambassador to the people he or she sees every day.
2 Corinthians 5:20 “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors,
as though God were making his appeal through us.”
Develop a Burden With a Name
After Andrew met Jesus, the first thing he did was to find his brother Simon (whom Jesus
named Peter) and tell him about Jesus. John 1:40-42 Andrew, Simon brother, was one of
the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing
Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him. “We have found the Messiah”.
And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John.
You will be called Peter."
Andrew had a burden with a name. If there were no Andrew, we wouldn’t have known about Peter.
We know of no sermon that Andrew ever preached. We have no record in the Gospels of any miracle
he ever did. Peter was the big-mouthed one. In John 6, Andrew brings the boy with the loaves
and fish to Jesus so He can feed the 5,000. John 6:8 Another of his disciples, Andrew,
Simon Peter’s brother spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two
small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
In John 12:20-22 the Greeks say, “We want to see Jesus.” Guess who brings them?
Not everyone can be a Peter. But anyone can be an Andrew. Look around for people you can tell
about Jesus. Ask God for a burden with a name. People who have been around the church for a
long time may think that “lost” is merely a theological condition – not a person with a name.
1. Who is your Simon? (Write in a name here) ____________________.
2. Who is your burden to tell about Jesus? _______________________.
3. Who do you know that is “lost” Make a list:
__________________________.
__________________________.
__________________________.
__________________________.
__________________________.
Just like Paul, God has also appointed each of us who are saved to
proclaim the Gospel . . . to be witnesses. Read the following texts and
write down what God has appointed us to do.
Luke 24:46-48 ___________________________________________
Acts 1:8 ________________________________________________
Matthew 28:19 __________________________________________
Mark 16:15 _____________________________________________
John 20:21 ______________________________________________
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 _____________________________________
2 Timothy 2:2 ___________________________________________
2 Timothy 2:24-26 _______________________________________
Show and Tell
You have to show the difference Jesus makes in your life, but you must also tell who is making
the difference. Some people believe in “lifestyle evangelism” think they don’t ever have to say
anything about Jesus. They are “living the life,” hoping that unbelievers will guess. But unbelievers
are not going to make the jump from “Jerry is a nice guy” to “I believe Jesus died on the cross for
my sins.” You have to tell them. It’s show and tell.
Ways you can communicate Christ:
1. Love people in their language – How can I make them feel loved by me and loved by God?
Believers in Jesus have their own lingo. We use common jargon that nonbelievers may not comprehend.
For instance, we use words grace, saved, and repentance. These are all good words, but as we’re
sharing our faith, it might be more helpful to, “God’s gift of unearned forgiveness” instead of grace.
Or, “rescued from death and given eternal life” for saved. We could say, “to turn away from wrongs”
for repentance. The apostle Paul was willing to be flexible in his ministry in order to reach as many
as possible with the gospel of Christ
(1 Cor 9:19-23). That might have even included the words he used as he explained the good news
of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Explaining our faith in easy-to-understand terms may help someone
to grasp the meaning of being born again – transformed by Jesus’ love and forgiveness.
Give a definition for these words:
Grace is _______________________________________________________.
Saved is_______________________________________________________.
Repentance is __________________________________________________.
2. Show people a difference they will notice – What difference could you ask Jesus to
make in you that your Simon would have to notice? If you are in an environment where
people are back-stabbers, you be the one who defends others. If you are in an
environment where people tear down everyone right and left, you be the one who builds
others up. If you are in a negative environment, be the positive one. If you are in a
selfish environment, be the unselfish one. Show people a difference they’ll notice.
3. Tell your personal hope story – Tell how your relationship with Jesus has changed your life.
What difference has Jesus made in your life? “If it weren’t for Jesus’…..
Describe what your life would be like without Him. _______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________.
4. Pray the “three-open prayer” - Prayer based on Paul’s prayer in Colossians 4:3-4
And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim
the mystery of Christ. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should.
Pray that God will open a door, a natural opportunity to bring up Jesus
Second, pray, “Lord, open their heart, Get them ready to hear about you”
Third, pray, “Lord open my mouth. Give me the courage, give me the words, give me the
approach to use.”
Hand in Glove
You can tell a glove to pick up a Bible and it will remain motionless. Then, amazingly, if you put
your fingers in the glove, it picks up the Bible. God is asking us to be His “glove” – we’re not
the hand. God is saying, “Let Me take your influence, your relationships, your personality,
what you know, what you’ve been through, and make you My glove. I will work through you.”
As Jesus came looking for you and me, nothing could stop Him. He laid down his life for His sheep.
He made the most expensive, most important rescue in all human history.
And now He has entrusted you with the spiritual rescue of someone you care about.
By God’s grace, you can do whatever it takes to complete the rescue. Because lives
are at stake --- forever.