Who Will You Bring To Christ

I want you in your Bible here this morning to turn with me to John chapter 1 in the New Testament, John chapter 1, and we are in the midst of beginning a new series. Two weeks ago I started on this, preached the first message, and I want to come to the second message here, a new series, Winning Souls to Christ. I really don't believe there's anything more important than winning souls to Christ, bringing men, women, family, friends, associates to the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you're unsaved and don't know God here, there's nothing more important for you right now than to know Jesus Christ. If you're a Christian and you know Jesus and you're sitting here in this gathering, there's nothing more important than that you would bring somebody to Jesus Christ. All the other affairs of life mean nothing than winning a soul that will be saved eternally.

And so we're dealing with this series, and I believe the past several weeks in this church, it has been a time of pursuing the backslider, those that have grown tired and weary, that have drifted, but also to pursue sinners. We are embarking on a very important mission and time. Churches all over this globe are caught up in things that do not matter, caught up in courses, activities that mean absolutely nothing.

Saints, we are after the souls of men, and I pray God uses these messages to stir you, to realize that so much that frustrates us, burdens us, saddens us, is of no consequence. But the very thing that ought to make us weep and burden us and drive us, often we don't even think about it. It doesn't propel us, the souls of men.

And if Christ puts such an estimate on souls, what should we? The last time we preached on, in part one, the value of a soul, from Matthew chapter 16, Christ's estimate value and cost of an individual soul, Christ who knew the hearts of all men, knew the value of a soul, and so he died at Calvary. But here in part two, reading from John chapter one, I want to take you to this message. Who will you bring to Christ? Reading from John chapter one and verse 28, these things were done in Beth Arba, beyond Jordan where John was baptizing.

The next day, John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, after me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me. And I knew him not, but he should be made manifest to Israel.

Therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bear record saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same as he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.

And I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God. Again, the next day, after John stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

Then Jesus turned and saw them following, and saith unto them, what seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, we have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus, and when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, a stone.

You pray with me here this morning. Father, we do thank you, O God, for the reality of your Holy Spirit, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, of the truth of your word, of the cleansing of the blood of the gathering of the saints. Lord God, we thank you for all of these things, and our God in heaven, Father, I do pray that you would make us a soul-saving church, that you would make us a church that pursues after men and women, and after the backslider, after the drifter, after those that are wayward.

Lord God, after the prodigal sons, Lord God, that we would pursue after that coin that is lost, that we would pursue, Lord God, the lost sheep, that we would pursue the lost children of Israel. Lord God, we are asking of you, Lord God, that we would be pursuing the prodigals in this hour. Lord God, we're asking that you give us a soul-winning fire, that we would have a burden, a vision, a passion, Lord God, an enthusiasm for the souls of men, Lord God, to tell individuals about Jesus Christ, Lord God, we don't want to come to heaven empty, Lord God, we don't want to merely get there as saved by fire.

We don't merely want to enter into your presence empty-handed, but O God, having found the grace of God, and having found the power of God, and the mercy of God, and the miracles of God, and seeing your power work in our lives and hearts, and how gracious you've been and how loving, we want to tell others of the Savior's love. Lord God, we want to tell men that they can be set free from their drugs and their drink and their addiction, from their depression, their desire of suicide, their hopelessness, their worthlessness. My God, we want to go forth telling men about the Lamb of God, that He washes away the sin of the world, that He died for sinners, that He loves the unlovely, Lord God, that He can heal the brokenhearted, and Lord God, we're asking of you that you use this message right now, Lord God, to burden us individually, to pursue after family members, O God, to pursue after those round about us, Lord God, make us wise unto the women of souls, that your name might be glorified, in Jesus' mighty name, amen.

My message here this morning, who will you bring to Christ? Who will you bring to Christ? I was going to call this, who will you bring to heaven? But that's not right. It's not our job to bring men to heaven. It's our job to bring men to Jesus Christ.

You could put off bringing men to heaven, but to bring men to Christ, you need to do that now. That's why you shouldn't just invite people to come to church, invite them to come to Christ. If you're in the habit of just saying, why don't you come to church, why don't you come to a meeting, maybe your question is wrong.

You personally, individually, should be exhorting men and women to come to Christ. I'm going to preach to you here this morning about an ill-known, little-known, little-noticed man, a young man, a manly man. He was a young guy, a young man of year, strength, energy, zeal, of quiet nature, almost totally unnoticed to the eye.

In fact, if I was to ask you, if I was to state his name right now and start putting you on the spot one after another, I'd be surprised if I got much from you all. You're a very well-read people, a very well-taught people, but I'd be surprised if I got what I needed to know about this young man. This young man is called Andrew, and I'm going to deal with him here this morning because in asking you, who are you going to bring to Christ, I'm going to use Andrew, this little-noticed, obscure character of the Bible.

This man who stands in the shadows doesn't say much, doesn't seem to do much, isn't noticed much, isn't talked about much. He seems to fall into the background time and time and time again. Many others are at the forefront speaking, acting, doing, but Andrew we see little about.

I'm going to show you that Andrew was a personal soul winner with a love for individuals, not crowds, not the many, not the multitude, but for individual souls, and you'll be surprised I think in what we're going to deal with here now. Just follow with me to see the context in John chapter one here for a moment. It says in John chapter 144, now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.

Let me tell you a bit about this young man, Andrew. He had a brother, a very well-known brother called Simon Peter. Who doesn't know about Simon Peter? Every sinner knows about Peter.

Even those who have never set foot in a church know something about Peter. So here's Andrew has got a brother that is renowned around the globe by billions of people literally, billions of people know Peter, but very few take note of Andrew. And it says here, just to get a bit of a context, that Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.

This little city or little town of Bethsaida was actually called the city of Andrew and Peter. Notice Andrew is mentioned before Peter in this particular verse. In their upbringing, Andrew was at the fore of these two brothers, two brothers grown up in the same home, same mother, same father, same time.

And they were born and raised in Bethsaida. They were from there, that was their background. This little community of Bethsaida was a fishing town on the northern part of Galilee or the Lake of Galilee.

They grew up on the verge of water. They grew up around fishermen. This was their culture.

This was their country. This was their community. But later at some point, this little family moved to a local town not far away called Capernaum.

We find this in Mark chapter 1 and 29, that they're now living in Capernaum. And it says, and forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. So notice there's four of our apostles who way before they made Christ are living in the same town of Capernaum.

Peter's living there, Andrew's living there, James and John who were also two brothers were living there. All four of them were fishermen. All four of them attended the same synagogue in Capernaum.

All four of them were very rugged, rough fishermen. And you know what? You have, again, Simon and Andrew living together in a house in Capernaum. It's amazing when you begin to read about all of this.

At a little bit later stage, we read in Matthew 8 and 14 about Peter had a house there in Capernaum where his mother-in-law lived with him and Jesus came and healed his mother-in-law. Peter was married. Sorry to the Catholics, but Peter was married.

He had a mother-in-law and it was Jesus Christ who healed her. So you begin to see something about this obscure character, Andrew. He's surrounded by James that was a firebrand, John who we all know, and Peter who's known renownedly across the world.

But let's take a look at this young man, Andrew. When you go into the Bible, you begin to find that Andrew was the first ever disciple, follower and convert of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, the early church in the early centuries used to call him Proto-Telius, meaning first called.

That was his nickname. Andrew was the first called, the first disciple, the first convert, the first follower, the first believer, and yet we don't even know much about him. But the Bible is clear.

Christ went to Andrew first or Andrew came to Christ first and a remarkable conversion experience. Let's look at this a little bit closer here. From verse 19 of John chapter one, we read about John the Baptist.

That's where we're just reading. There you had John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness. It says in verse 28, these things were done in Beth-Borah, beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.

This was about 70 miles south of their hometown, Capernaum, where they were fishing. Seventy miles away. These are four young men working together in the same business, fishing business together, and I'll prove it to you.

They worked together in two boats. They had their own boats, two brothers working together. They created their own fishing business.

But here you find that some preaching is going on 70 miles away to the south. And we know young guys like this wouldn't go rushing off anywhere or at any time. But they began to hear about this far brand prophet of God called John the Baptist.

Thousands were coming to hear him preach the message of repentance. And this message of repentance, it traveled north and it penetrated their community. And these four young men started to get stirred about repentance over sin and a brokenness and following the Lord God Almighty of Israel.

I believe God began to deal with them and capture them and that they were longing for reality. And here we read in verse 35, notice, see the day before John the Baptist had been preaching, saying, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. He's preaching it publicly.

He preached Jesus. John the Baptist preached Christ as the Lamb of God, the savior of sin, but also as the baptizer and the Holy Ghost and fire. These two things John preached constantly.

And in the midst of it, he preached, repent, repent to your sin before you're judged, before you get dealt with under the judgment of God. But it says in verse 35, again, the next day after that, and John stood and two of his disciples. Now notice this, in these verses, you've got John the Baptist has two disciples here, thousands are following John.

Thousands are listening to his preaching. Thousands are believing what he's saying. But in this verse, two of his disciples are mentioned.

Do you know who the two of them were, Andrew and John? And again, you'll see it from the text as we read it. They're actually called two disciples of John the Baptist. Andrew had made his way down with John.

They left their fishing nets. They left all their work and they'd come down and here they are. They are disciples, believers.

They have got caught up in a revival, a spiritual move of God. And it says, looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, now notice he's got two disciples with him. He's not preaching here.

He's walking along and he's got two disciples with him. And then he says something. He sees Jesus as he walked and he saith, behold the lamb of God.

He's not preaching that anymore. The day before he was preaching, behold the lamb of God. But now he is saying to two disciples, look, stop what you're doing.

Gaze upon Jesus. He is the lamb of God. He preaches that he is the son of God, that he is the savior from sin, the baptizer and the Holy Ghost.

What a message that this young Andrew heard. And John was younger than him. He's a kid.

He's a teenager. And they're hearing this message, behold the lamb of God. You know what John the Baptist was saying, see this man here, see Jesus Christ.

He is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies about a bleeding lamb. All the types, all the shadows, every lamb that's sacrificed in the temple, all the ritual, all of the feasts, all of them are summed up in Jesus Christ. He is the lamb of God.

All the theology of the Old Testament, here it is in a person. Saints of God, don't get drawn by theology and doctrine. It is a living person, Jesus Christ, do you know him? Have you experienced him here this morning? Then verse 37, and the two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus.

Then Jesus turned and saw them following and saith unto them, what seek ye? And they said unto him, rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, master, where dwellest you? And he saith unto them, come and see. And they came and saw where he dwelt and they abode with him that day. It was about the 10th hour.

One of the two which heard John speak, notice this, and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. Who's writing this? John, the other eyewitness. So, we have clearly heard that Andrew is one of these two.

They're introduced to the lamb, to blood atonement, and notice, both of them instantly follow Jesus Christ. In verse 39, it says it was about the 10th hour, or 4 p.m. Here they are, they begin to follow Jesus immediately. They hear the message, behold the lamb of God, but it didn't stop there.

They began to follow him. Are you a mere hearer? Oh, I believe in the lamb of God. Do you follow him? See, you're not a disciple if you don't follow him.

It's not enough to say, I've heard the preaching, I believe he's the lamb of God. The evidence is that you follow him. Andrew followed Jesus.

Here he is a disciple of John the Baptist. He believes in repentance, but when he sees the lamb, the bleeding lamb, the atoning lamb, he follows him. He literally begins following him down the road.

Christ looks around, says, what seek ye? Say, where are you dwelling? See this desire, not only to follow Christ, but to know where he dwells, where he lives, where he stays. They want to be with him. They desire to spend time, and it says in verse 39 that it was about the 10th hour, 4 p.m., and so Christ says, come and see where I dwell.

And they stayed with him. That means they spent all the afternoon and all the evening with the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you imagine? This is the first conversions to Jesus Christ, and it's Andrew and it's John at the same time in the same meetings.

And this is why Andrew is called the first called, the first disciple, the first convert of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the first one ever to believe on the bleeding lamb. He's the Son of God.

He's the Lamb of God. He is the embodiment of all that the Bible says. This is the one we have waited for and longed for.

Just to show you that these four young disciples or four young men worked together, it says in Luke chapter 5 and verse 2, and saw two ships standing by the lake. Jesus saw this in Capernaum. But the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their nets.

And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's or Peter's. And he prayed them to thrust out a little bit. And then listen to what else it says, verse 10.

And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. Do you see that? They were partners. So these four men are partners.

They're in business together. They're in a fishing business together. James is going to soon lead the church in Jerusalem.

Peter is going to preach on the day of Pentecost. John is going to be the longest-lived apostle of them all. And yet sad that you and I, we allow Andrew to fall into obscurity.

We don't even know who he is, what he done, what he said. If I asked you, what did he ever say? What did Andrew ever do? If I asked you right now, if you had to write down the paper in front of you, who is he? What did he ever do? What did he say? I wonder what answers I would get. And this is what I want to bring you to here.

One writer on Andrew, on his life, this is what he titled his biography of Andrew. He called it Andrew the inconspicuous. An inconspicuous person is someone who doesn't stand out.

You don't notice them, don't see them, don't hear them. They can come and go almost like a shadow. Godly people have been inconspicuous before.

Maybe you think that's a bad thing about you or you hate that thing about you. Maybe it's a God-given thing. Andrew was the least obvious of the 12 apostles.

He's the least known, or certainly among some of the most least known. Apart from the list of the 12 apostles in the Gospels, he is only mentioned nine times by name. And most of the time it is said, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

Meaning that when the letters, when the Gospels were written, even in the first century, you had to say, Andrew, you know, Simon Peter's brother. Because even in the first century, even within the Roman Empire, you'd have to explain who Andrew is. You know, he's the brother of Simon Peter.

Do you begin to get a picture of the obscurity of this character that even the Bible has to explain who he is? And so he is a man in the backgrounds. Oh yes, he's very at the center of things. He is at the heart of things.

He has his finger on the pulse of the movement of God. He's there listening to John the Baptist. Then he's there following Christ.

I mean, he is at the rock face of God's moving. He is right in the heart of the works of God. But yet he is operating in utter obscurity.

He's almost nameless, faceless, without identity. But we're going to see that that isn't true. The Bible has actually very telling things to say about him.

He's a man who often walks in the shadows, in the background of his brother. His brother always, always takes the floor. His brother is always talking, either good or bad.

Peter either puts his foot in it or speaks by the power of the Holy Spirit one or the other. But Peter's always speaking. You always see Peter.

Peter's always acting, moving. Peter's the one that jumped out of the boat. Remember, if that's you, master, call me to come to you.

The rest stayed in the boat, not Peter. See, that's who Peter is. But his brother, Andrew, stands in the shadow.

A little in the first group of four disciples. Three times, and listen to this. The disciples are broken down into three groups.

Four, four, and four. They're always in a certain order. Three groups of four apostles.

That's how they're always listed. In other words, those four go together. And yet three times, that group of four is mentioned without Andrew.

Only three of them are present, but not Andrew. First of all, with the healing of Jairus' daughter. Only Peter, James, and John were there, not Andrew.

Then there was on the mount. When Christ was transfigured before them, he appeared in his glory. Peter, James, John were there, not Andrew.

Then when they go into Gethsemane, Christ took all the disciples, left them at a point. Then he went further, and he took Peter, James, and John, but he didn't take Andrew again. So you see him not being included with the four.

Three dynamic times. He could have easily got hurt and offended, felt sorry for himself. Why am I not included in these things? By the Lord Jesus Christ.

But you don't hear any of that. There's none of that within him, not within his nature. But there is a time where the four are mentioned, and he is included.

That's in Mark chapter 13, three, when they said, Master, when shall all these things be? Andrew's there. You know why? And this is what I believe. No one else is, but this is what I believe.

I believe because it's Bible prophecy. For some reason, Andrew had a thing about Bible prophecies of the Old Testament. And here, when Jesus said, this temple is gonna be destroyed, Andrew is right in there with them, saying, when are all these things gonna happen? And you have all the teaching in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, comes out, Jesus isn't teaching everyone.

He's not teaching crowds. He taught four men about the order of events and what's gonna happen, and about the last days. He taught four men, and those four men taught the church, and it is all for the church, I wanna tell you.

And so with Andrew, he appears to be the least conspicuous of all of the disciples. But listen, he has a good side of him, listen. He appears to be the least contentious, the least ambitious, the least competitive, the most thoughtful.

Very rarely does he speak, but when he does speak, he says the right thing. When he does act, he's always in the right place at the right time, dealing with the right people. He always knows the right thing to do.

That is quite an amazing man. Compare that with Peter, who's impetuous, impulsive, brash, outspoken. Not Andrew, he's a man in the shadows.

He's a man you rarely notice or think much about, but he's a dynamic man. He's a man in the will of God. He knows the will of God.

And listen to me, he acts immediately to the promptings of God. He never delays. Wouldn't you wanna be that? His name means manly and he is a real man.

So here's my message. That was the introduction. On only three occasions in our Bible, does Andrew emerge from the background to speak or act independently for himself, separate from the other apostles in any text of scripture? Let me say that again.

Only three incidents. In the New Testament, do we see him acting alone or speaking alone? Only three times. Only three times.

That's what sets Andrew apart. These three incidents and what he says. This is what, when you see who Andrew is.

Do you know what all three occasions are? All three occasions, he's bringing people to Jesus. This is my message tonight. And this is what the Lord gave me on Friday night.

It came to me in blazing power in the prayer meeting Friday night. I was gonna go different other directions, but this came with power. And I knew the thought, the verse that I've read.

One verse about Andrew bringing someone to Christ. And I knew this as a message this morning. These three incidents, we're gonna look at, he is bringing men to Christ.

My question to you this morning is, who will you bring to Christ? Number one, he immediately brought his brother to Christ. Look with me in John 1, verse 41. This is after his conversion.

Meeting Christ, following Christ, dwelling with Christ. And those are important things. See, if you're a Christian, you believe in Christ.

You hear the word of God. You follow him and you dwell where he is. But what does he immediately do? What did you immediately do when you got saved? He immediately brought his brother to Christ.

Verse 41, he first findeth his own brother Simon and saith unto him, we have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, thou art Simon, the son of Jonah.

Thou shall be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, a stone. Now look at this. This is the first time you read in the Bible about Andrew acting by himself outside, apart from all the apostles.

This is where you really see who he is. This is the beginning of who Andrew is. He's bringing his brother to Christ.

It says he first findeth. As soon as he's converted and saved, the first thing he does is go to find his brother to bring him to Christ, the very first thing. This is so important.

You know what, Andrew, you having met Christ, the most important thing I can do is bring my brother to Christ, the brother I work with, the brother I live with, the brother I love, the brother I grew up with. He is my family member. There's nothing more important now in Andrew's life than to win his own brother to Jesus Christ.

I must bring Peter. I must bring him to the Lord. I must persuade him.

I must convince him. And here it says, he first findeth. The word findeth means to go in search of.

It means to go out of your way, to embark on a journey. Do you see that? Remember, there's 60, 70 miles south of their home. Now, I don't know because the text doesn't say, but did he have to make the journey the whole way back up, find his brother, and bring him that whole way again? Or was Peter local out here in the wilderness, in the middle of nowhere? Did he also come to hear John the Baptist? I don't know, but I'll tell you what, he first findeth his brother.

He goes on a search to find him. This is so important. I know who the Lamb of God is.

I know about the forgiveness of sin. I have experienced the blood of the Lamb. Now, I've got to go and find my brother.

And it says he brought him to Christ. See, where does evangelism start? It starts at home. That's where it begins, on hand, where you are.

See, all through the years, I've met people in the church. They want to go to Siberia or something, don't. They want to go to Africa or South America or China or Asia or Thailand on a mission trip.

They'll go anywhere. They'll do anything. They'll do extraordinary, unusual things, but they can't reach the people of their own home.

No desire, no passion. They're so locked into just saying, this is my brother, my family. These are my siblings.

Listen to what it says in Proverbs 17, 24. The eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth. Do you realize there's lots of people who dream? I wish life was different.

I'm dreaming about going and being a preacher or a missionary or an evangelist or an apostle or doing great things. I'm going to win thousands to the Lord. Why not just bring your brother to the Lord Jesus Christ? There's people who dream of the harvest field, missionary activity, a call of God.

I met countless hundreds of young guys with nice suits, brand new, nice big Bibles, saved less than a year, and they've come to me over the years, over the past 30 years, and they say, I'm called to preach. And I go, oh no, not that conversation again. I go, go speak to some other pastor because I know what I'm going to start telling you.

We're going to start getting down to brass tacks. Win your brother. Find your brother.

See, some people, they have such a bad testimony in their own home, family environment. They're so inconsistent, they couldn't bring them. So they have to go reach strangers.

They'll stand on the high street. They'll preach on the high street. They'll travel the world.

But go speak to their siblings? Utterly impossible. Look what Andrew says to him. When he finds Peter, he says, we have found the Messiah.

How confident. We have found him. Who's the Messiah? It's the Christ, the anointed one.

In other words, what he's saying is, you know what? Remember what we've been looking for all these years? We've studied the Old Testament, the prophecies about the Messiah. Remember, there's hundreds of prophecies. When he comes, he'll be like this.

Hundreds of prophecies about the coming Messiah, how you can identify him. Do you know Andrew was a student of Bible prophecy in the Old Testament? He talked to Peter often about this in earlier days, in their young days, in the synagogue. They'd come out and over their Sabbath lunch, they'd be discussing the prophecies.

What do you think about this? Imagine if it happened in our day. I'm sure they had conversations like this. Here he comes and says, we have found the Messiah.

So confident. It is him. He's the Lamb of God, the Son of God.

You know what he does? He begins to persuade his brother. He begins to point him to Christ, tell him of Christ. Oh, that we in this church were so passionate.

Don't wait five years or 10 years to say, well, I'll grow and I'll mature and I'll win them. Saints, when you get born again, become a burning fire. Become a soul winner.

You know, some of you should wait to grow out of it. You know, you have, when you get born again, you're surrounded by sinners. You have all your old friends.

You've got all those old contacts, your work colleagues. There's some of you, that first year being saved, all the doors were open to sinners. Then you get two, three, five years down the road, you don't even have a sinner for a friend anymore.

It's all Christians, mature believers. You're not even coming in touch with sinners. You know what? When you first get saved, you've got the opportunity to reach men for the Lord Jesus Christ.

And oh, what a convert. You see, Andrew's never gonna preach to 3,000 and see them all get converted in one short message. He's not gonna write any epistle.

He's not gonna write a gospel. We don't have the records of all his journeys in the book of Acts. After Acts chapter one, we never read about him again.

He falls into obscurity again. But I'll tell you what, he won his brother to Jesus Christ. And oh, what a convert.

If you're gonna win a convert, win Simon Peter. If you're gonna win a convert, one fish, one soul, make sure he's a biggie. See, I've dreamed of this all through the years.

Going back 30 years ago, I'd preach. I used to travel through Wales, all these obscure little chapels, places, nobody else would go to. I'd go anywhere to preach if I believed it was in the will of God.

I don't care if there's three or 100 or how many. And I'd go to preach and I'd go, there could be a William Carey sitting here or a Martin Luther. There could be a Smith Wigglesworth.

There could be someone, some child, some boy, some girl, some man, some woman. And I'm here in the will of God because I don't know, and neither do you. Saints of God, why not win like Andrew? Someone from your own family.

Don't wait till next year. Don't wait till you mature to respectability and lose all your fire. When you're passionate, go and speak to your loved ones.

Speak your mind, speak your thoughts, pour out your heart. He begins to persuade. And you know how he persuaded Simon Peter? With biblical arguments and proofs from the Old Testament.

He is the Lamb of God. He is the Messiah of the Old Testament. Just recently with Anna, we read a short testimony of a man called Billy Sunday.

He's one of the most famous evangelists in American history. They say he preached physically, audibly in the same place to about a hundred million people. A hundred million.

Seen countless thousands of souls come to Christ, but his own kids went to hell. Let me quote from him. This is what he said.

The great tragedy of my life is that though I have led thousands to Christ, my own sons are not saved. In fact, his own sons mocked him over his ministry and his preaching. His oldest son attempted suicide.

Then he got arrested for theft. Then he jumped bail. Then he divorced his wife.

And then finally in 1933, he jumped from a sixth floor building and killed himself in an act of suicide. He was a drunkard, died a drunkard, far from God. Their second son, Billy, got divorced, remarried, divorced again, and was accused of extreme cruelty.

He died at 37 years old in a car wreck. Their own only daughter, Helena, was sick all of her life. She died of pneumonia at 42.

This preaching evangelistic couple buried their three children. No parent should have to bury their children. It's an awful thing.

But they buried their children knowing that they were drunkards, wayward. You may say, how could that happen? Well, Manel, his wife, was renowned, was probably one of the most organized women ever to be married to a preacher. Phenomenal woman that made Billy's Sunday a success.

Organized everything. Just one problem. She neglected her children to do it.

In fact, while they were away ministering, they always got nannies and other people to mind their kids. We're reaching souls. We're reaching multitudes.

We're reaching a nation. While their own sons became alcoholics, all had broken marriages, and died and went to hell. Do you really want that in your conscience? Manel, it was said of her, she could fix anything.

She couldn't fix her family. What a tragic, tragic thing. And so Andrew is someone in the backgrounds.

He is quiet. He is thoughtful. But I tell you, he sees the small and insignificant.

He sees the value of one soul. Oh, for me to win a soul. Peter went after the multitudes.

Andrew went after the individuals. The souls in my own family. I've got to win my brother.

I've got to bring him to Christ. Since your heaven will be two heavens. If you take a brother, a sister, a child, a sibling, a brother, a sister, a sibling to heaven, can you imagine winning your own flesh and blood to Jesus Christ? Don't neglect your wife, your children, your parents for ministry.

I've been a big believer in this all my days. Big believer in it. And I'm just as much now.

Candice's dad, and I know some of yous, you may not have won someone to the Lord on the first day that you were born again. Maybe your loved ones, it's years, and you're praying and believing, and they're still far from God. Candice, when I married her, her dad was an elderly man.

Heard the gospel all of his days. Knew the gospel thoroughly. I married her in September 2006, and we constantly prayed for the salvation of our dad.

For the next five years, we constantly prayed. Nothing happened. Just shortly before he died, months, we were there for a three-week holiday.

I spent three weeks there with him, in the same house, in the same car, constantly with him. I never reached my father-in-law. He believed everything, never argued, would never discuss the gospel.

So I prayed, but I could never draw him to a conversation. When we got back home, almost immediately, we got a phone call. He's been rushed into hospital, very seriously ill.

He'll never come out. We couldn't phone him. We couldn't reach him.

He had days left. I fell into depression. It's like the devil come to me and began speaking to me and said, you can preach to everyone else, but I've got your father-in-law.

You can't reach him. You can't evangelize him. You've had five years.

You prayed all this time. You were there for three weeks. You didn't even dent him.

I couldn't pray for the next three days. I couldn't pray for his salvation. It was hopeless.

It was lost. My heart was in wrestling with Satan himself. Every day, the Satan's mocking me, all day long, every day for three days.

I've got him. You can't get him. I've got your father-in-law.

We prayed five years. The third day, a phone call came through. I couldn't pray for him.

This phone call came through from his wife, my mother-in-law, saying, you're not going to believe this. Two men walked into the hospital, a black man and a white man in South Africa. They were visiting others.

But as they passed his ward, they felt led. They saw him. They felt led to go to him.

And they stopped at his bed, spoke to him, and said, look, we need to go see people. We're coming back. We're going to speak to you.

We know God has sent us. They left. They come back.

They led him to the Lord. He really got converted. This is four months, only four months before he died.

Candice flew back to spend the last week of his life. The last night, she sat with him. Mommy and Daddy are now reading together, praying together.

She's got to save Dad. Oh, yes, it was late in the day. But saints of God, keep on praying.

Aren't you glad that you've got Ellen here, who kept bothering us in the prayer meetings of this church for some eight years, saying, pray for my nephew, Jason, sitting here? And if somebody is here who don't know Jason, don't ask. Don't find out. You might be scared to sit by the guy at dinnertime.

He's a rogue, a rascal. Every time I heard something from the newspapers about this guy, I got so angry, saying, Lord, lock him up. He's not safe to be in the street.

She's asking us, pray for him to get saved. I'm going, Lord, lock him up. I'm ashamed to say that, but it's true.

But aren't you glad that an auntie kept saying, pray for my nephew, pray for my nephew? You know, people are shocked at him. They can't believe he is a changed man. I'd gladly give him my wallet, and you can give me it back next week.

I'd trust him. I would never trust a man with my soul. I'd trust him with anything else.

See, that's regeneration. Or what about Mary constantly saying, pray for my daughter, Pam? Eight years praying, evangelizing, her coming in and out of meetings. Just months ago, I saw her.

Several months ago, I went, if she doesn't get saved soon, she's dead, she's gone. I didn't have a great hope, but we prayed, we prayed, we prayed. There's family members saying, pray, pray, pray.

It seemed hopeless. And you know what? Almost on the eve, she wouldn't have made Christmas. Pam at the back would not have made Christmas.

I'm telling you, you's know it, she knows it. Out of her head. But at 3 PM in the morning, she comes through and wakes up her mother and says, I'm born again.

I met with Jesus. Thank God we kept praying for eight years. Secondly, Andrew brought an insignificant boy to Christ.

That's in John chapter 6, verse 1. It's Andrew who brought the boy with the five loaves and the two fishes, no one else. It says in John 6, verse 1, after these things, Jesus went out over Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him because they saw his miracles, which he did on them, that were diseased.

And when Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples, and the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes and he saw a great company come on to him, he saith unto Philip, now notice this carefully, Jesus sees the crowd. This is the feeding of the 5,000 men.

Doesn't even mention the women, 5,000 men. And Jesus sees the crowd, and he turns to Philip, one of the apostles. Now they're all called and in ministry.

Listen to what he says. Philip, whence shall we buy bread that these can eat? And this he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do. Do you know Christ proves your heart to see what you'll do, what you'll say, how you'll act.

He asks you questions and uses the situations that you're in. So he asks Philip, Philip, here we are out in the wilderness, no food, no water, nothing. Crowds are coming, being born again, healed, miracles.

This is ministry. Philip, how shall we buy bread? Where? How? And he has proven his heart. The word prove means to test, to scrutinize, to examine, to try.

God tries your heart. Are you going to be a Philip or an Andrew in this situation? He responds to Jesus. Philip answered, 200 penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.

200 pennies, 200 denarii. It says in Matthew 20 and verse 2 in one of Christ's parables that one penny was a full day's hard work for one man, one denarii. So 200 is 200 really hard day's works.

This is almost heading towards an entire year. So you're talking about even a year's pay for a hard working, grafted man, only giving a little bit of bread to this bunch. Look at all the hungry guys there.

Not a chance. See, he's proven Philip's heart. Do you know the things of life prove who you are, what you are, how you think, what you believe, what sort of Christian you are? Well, Philip is someone, you know what? He starts calculating this Philip.

And I know there's no Philips here. What are we going to do? I mean, Jesus is asking. Look at all these crowds.

They're spiritually being impacted, but we don't have them. We don't have the food. So what are we going to do? Send them all back home.

Philip's calculating finance, cost, consequence, doctors, the reports in the local Jerusalem press about how we've abused people, not giving them water, them getting hydrated out in the wilderness. He's thinking all of this. He's not thinking these souls are making Christ, being delivered, being changed.

I don't know, but God's got to intervene. I'll tell you what Andrew was thinking like this. What does Andrew do? Look at verse 8, John 6, verse 8. One of his disciples, Andrew.

This is the second time that Andrew is mentioned in the Bible alone. And what's he going to do? He's bringing an insignificant boy to Christ. Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

See, I have to say who he is. Sayeth unto him, there is a lad here which have five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what are they amongst so many? Notice here what Andrew does. He identifies in a crowd of 5,000 men, one little boy.

Would you have noticed the boy? In a crowd of 5,000, he homes in on a little boy to bring him to Christ. He knows that that boy is a potential answer. He knows to bring him to the master.

Many, and listen to me, many miss the little boys in the crowd. But Andrew actually doesn't. Andrew saw the little boy and he brings him with his five barley loaves and two small fishes.

These barley loaves, notice the word barley loaves. That was the ordinary black bread of Galilean peasants. So this little insignificant boy, Andrew sees him.

There's a crowd of 5,000. You know what Andrew's thinking? Nothing is too small, too insignificant, too obscure for Christ. Nothing is impossible.

No little boy is insignificant. He brings the little boy right to the person of Christ with the two fish and the five loaves. He brings them to Christ and then he lays it back on Christ.

You know what? Souls are being changed. And this is my answer, a little boy. He wasn't ashamed of Philip, Latham, Adam, or Peter, or John, or James, or Matthew, or any of the rest.

He wasn't there trying to protect himself, saying, they won't think much of my ministry. I mean, here's the spiritual problem. And I bring a little boy with five burnt loaves and two broiled, boiled fish.

Master, here's an answer. Can you imagine the ridicule? You've got no future in this ministry, I want to tell you, son. You see, he wasn't ashamed.

He's going, there's a problem and this is the best answer I can find. Thank God he brought him. Says, there is a lad here which had five barley loaves.

The only time he speaks in the entire Bible. And he's saying, look, this boy, these loaves, these fish, people all the time miss the little boys. Don't miss the little boys, the children in our midst.

Do you know what Andrew means to us? No gift is insignificant, nothing impossible for our Christ. Let Christ decide what he does. Oh, Christ wouldn't want that.

Don't you dare. This child doesn't understand what I'm saying. Who are you to decide? I got saved at four and a half.

I got mightily born again, my entire life chain, four and a half years old. Don't you dare decide when a child gets saved. Don't you dare say a child can't get born again.

You speak to them as living people. You plead with them. You point them to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Too small fishes, no consequence. But you know what Andrew's willing to try. It's never hopeless.

Christ can use anything. Nothing is too small. No one too insignificant.

All things matter. All individuals matter. Bring everything to Christ.

So he brings his brother to Christ. Now he brings a little boy. Is that your ministry? All these years, you're a big apostle.

You bring your brother. And he was some catch, wasn't he? And then you bring a little boy. Do you realize out of that little male and that little boy, in the hands of Christ, 5,000 men and the women, their wives and women and the children, maybe 15,000 people.

All because Andrew said, there's a little boy and Christ used it. There were some of you who used to go, my gift's too small. You're waiting for something big.

So all the things you can do, you leave over here and go, there's no consequence. They're worthless. They're hopeless.

And you're looking to be able to preach or be noticed or be in the center. And you're standing back going, I wish it was them. I wish I could do that.

I wish I had that. I'm waiting for the opportunity. And all the time you're missing the little boy and the fish and the bread.

That's why no miracles are happening. You know, from I was young, I always went after the little boys. I always worked in obscurity.

I always went where no one else wants to go. And somehow God throws you under the scene of time. But I've never pursued those things.

Quite the opposite. Let me finish. I'm leaving Lord's side.

Third and finally, he brought the first Gentiles to Christ. This is again in John. Notice it's in John one.

It's in John six. Now it's in John 12. Three incidents.

Nothing about him in Matthew or in Mark or in Luke. It's all in John because John was there at the beginning. They're tight knit.

John knew who Andrew was. See lots of people think Andrew's insignificant. Doesn't say much, doesn't do much.

John didn't think that. John saw, says, I know he brought Peter. He brought the little boy.

He brought the first Gentiles. John 12, 20. And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast.

So in other words, these are Greeks, Gentiles from other nations, Greek speakers, foreigners, not national Jews. These are foreigners within the Roman Empire who have converted to be Jews. And they come up to Jerusalem for the feast.

And the same came therefore to Philip. Why did the Gentiles come to Philip? Philip is a Greek name. Alexander the Great's father was called Philip.

It's a Greek name. Some people try to say the Jews of the first century only spoke Hebrew. No, they gave their children Greek names.

They try to say Matthew was originally written in Hebrew and the New Testament was written in Hebrew and Jews wouldn't write in Greek, rubbish. So these Greek converts to Judaism, they go to Philip. Ah, Philip, that's a Greek name, which was in Bethsaida of Galilee and desired him saying, sir, we would see Jesus.

What would you do at this era in this revival movement? You have a whole group of Greek Jews. Who have converted to Judaism and they come to Philip and say, we want to see Jesus. Imagine a soul coming to you and saying, I want Jesus Christ on the high street.

Imagine this week. Imagine someone in your workplace or your family or your home, wherever it is or the high street. Imagine on Saturday when you were evangelizing and someone comes up to you and says, I want Jesus.

Take me to Jesus. You go, hold on, I find so. Hold on, I'll look for a brother Paul here.

Just stand there and you go over to Paul and you say, they want to come to Jesus. Hopefully Paul say, get on with it, lead them to Jesus. Listen to what happens here.

After this, they come to Philip and say, take us. We want to see Jesus. Verse 22, Philip cometh and telleth Andrew.

Why did he do that? Why didn't he take them to Jesus? Jesus is there. Why didn't he do it? Why does he come to Andrew and say, Andrew, they want to come to Jesus. And again, Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.

Philip didn't go directly to Jesus. He went to Andrew and it had to be Andrew who'd done it. And Jesus answered them saying, the hour has come.

And he begins to preach. He begins to preach about, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

He that loveth his life shall lose it. And he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life. And if any man serve me, let him follow me.

And where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my father honor. They went to Philip, but Philip went to Andrew for counsel.

Do you know why I think this was? There's something about the personality, character and nature of Andrew that Philip went, I'm stuck here. Are we allowed to take them? They're not Jews. Jesus came for the Jew.

The lost of the house of Israel. Remember Christ would often say to the Samaritan woman, sure you're a dog, heal my daughter. You're a dog.

To see their heart. What's in your heart? And I came for the Jews. You're a Gentile.

Do you know what you have here is Andrew is the first one of all the disciples to clearly at an early stage, understand God's plan for the Gentiles. Jesus came for the Gentiles. This gospel door is wide open for the Gentiles.

It wasn't Paul that first saw that. And here in fact, after Pentecost for years, the apostles in Jerusalem still couldn't get their head wrong. They're still wrangling over theological doctrine, but not Andrew.

You know what Andrew says, bring them straight to Jesus. These that want to see Jesus wanna know. This is an amazing thing that Andrew is the first foreign missionary, not only a home missionary, evangelizing his home, his brother, not only bringing a little boy in the crowd, but he brings the Gentiles to Jesus.

Bring in the harvest, bring in the lost, bring in the foreigner. Oh, but they've got a drugs problem. Bring them to Jesus.

Oh, but he's got a heroin addiction. Bring them to Jesus. Oh, he spent most of his life in prison.

Bring them to Jesus. Since I've preached this for years, the worst sinner in this city can come to Christ and be changed. And we've seen that.

Why do you think he'd done it? Because we believe, we prayed, we preached, we labored. There's an environment here. There's an Andrew spirit that says, anyone can come, all can come.

Bring all in. It's amazing. Let me finish on this last point.

That's all we read about Andrew, three incidents, bringing people to Jesus each time. Who are you gonna bring to Christ? Who are you personally gonna bring to Christ? We've got a strange church here. We used to laugh about it.

Because we had come out of a meeting on a Wednesday night or Sunday, and we'd get in our car going home, and we would laugh. And I said, do you know what? I'm not gonna tell anyone up North in Northern Ireland, amongst all the respectable churches up there, about what happens here. We've got unsaved people here that are more evangelistic than most pastors in the North.

Mary coming and saying, can I take a pile of tracts for all my neighbors? She's not even saved. She's getting on the phone telling such and such a person, you need to get born again. She's not born again.

Here comes Ian again, almost every single meeting, bringing in a few guys or one guy or a cousin or whoever. Going down to the river, stopping people, committing suicide, telling them, you need to be born again. Hell is real.

The guy hasn't even saved himself. We had the most evangelistic, unsaved bunch of people gathering in this place. It was ridiculous.

I used to say to Kenneth, I said, I am never telling anyone. I'll lose my reputation to find that all these sinners who haven't even got totally out of Catholicism are going giving tracts everywhere and evangelizing everywhere. But let me finish.

Andrew falls into obscurity again in Acts chapter one. No letter, no sermon. We never see him again in the book of Acts.

He's always in the crowd of apostles, always in the shadow, always in obscurity, always silent. But one last thing from church history. We're told in church history that he went north to the Scythians, which is the old Russians.

That's why he's the patron saint of Russia. We read in old history books that he also went west into Greece, and he also went to other places along the way like Cappadocia, Bithynia, Galatia, and other places of what is present day Turkey. But listen, this is the final thing we read about him in church history, and this happened in AD 68.

He reached Greece, and when he got to Greece, he'd come to an area called Achaia in the southern part of Greece to a little town called Patras, which later he'd become the patron saint of Greece as well, and you'll see why. When he got to this little town, he was told that Agias, the governor, had a wife that was on her deathbed. Her name was Maximilia.

She was dying days away from dying, and her husband, the governor of the region, was standing with a sword in his hand, and he crying, saying, the day she dies, I'm committing suicide. I can't bear the pain of living without her. That's how horrendous it was.

When Andrew got there to that community, he heard this story, and he asked, can I go and pray for the governor's wife? He got access and prayed for her. She immediately got healed. He then lettered to Jesus Christ.

She got born again and become a Christian. The governor's brother heard about this. He also had a very precious servant that was lying dying on his bed.

He sent for Andrew, said, come, I want you to pray. He prayed for the servant. The servant got healed, and the governor's brother got born again, got saved as well.

Here's the wife and the brother of the governor are utterly transformed, but the governor hates this. He's no longer standing with a sword crying, wanting to commit suicide. He's now enraged at Andrew, and he begins telling his wife, I want you to renounce this.

Stop all this Christian stuff. Come back to the old gods. She said, I can't.

Jesus has changed my entire life. So the governor took Andrew and imprisoned him. He then had him beaten, strapped to a cross, not nailed, not crucified, because he would have died quickly.

They wanted his death to be lingering. So the governor had him strapped to it without water in Hungary, in the open elements under the sun. And he hung there for two days until he died.

And for the last two days of his death, he couldn't move his arms or his legs, and he's in agony with the sun scorching on him. But we're told in the history books, for two entire days, as he hung there dying, constantly, he cried out to every single soul within range that passed by, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Be born again, flee from the wrath to come.

You can be saved. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And saints of God, he died and went to his reward.

I've got so much more. I wish I could preach to you for another two hours, but I'll lose you. Should come back and start all over again.

But saints, I'm telling you, listen. Listen what my message is. Please stand with me here as we close.

Who are you going to bring to Jesus Christ? One little boy, one family member, some Gentiles that other apostles don't even know what to do with. Who are you going to bring to Christ? Are you going to spend your last moments on this earth like the man, the evangelist who was on the Titanic? He was a soul winner, a pastor, a man of God, a man on fire. And as the Titanic went down, he had his life jacket and he took it off and gave it to another soul.

He knew he would die. That was guaranteed death. And he spent the last moments of his life going from soul to soul.

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on Christ. Be born again.

And then he went to his death. Saints of God, we need to get this again in the church. What are you going to do this year? Are you going to win someone to Jesus Christ this year? Are you pleading in prayer? Lord, give us souls.

Lord, save someone. We prayed for a Jason. Thank God there was someone praying for his soul in prison most of his life.

Hopeless, worthless, ruined. But I tell you what, there were people in this city praying. Save him, save him, save him, save him.

People could believe that when he walked in the door, we serve a Jesus that can change this man, break the shackles, change his heart, give him a new future, forgive his past. He's my brother in Christ. Saints of God, it's real what we're caught up on.

And I'm after souls. Soon as Pam got saved, there she is ruined in her mind, her life, her emotions. She gets born again, fools me.

I don't even know what to make of this crazy phone call. I go, is she hitting the drugs? Is she got a high? Or she got born again? I don't know. Very evident, she met Christ.

You know, one of the first things she said to me, do you remember one of the first things she said to me? No, it's Ian. I think that's an Andrew spirit. Do you hear that, Ian? Your sister, she gets saved.

Her first thought is her brother. Because it's impossible for Pam to come in. It's impossible.

Christ saved her in a dream in the middle of the night. And her first thought is, no, Ian. He's the one always trying to start her up.

But her first thought is he can have this Christ as well. Let's pray. These are real things.

I really tried hard to confine my message to less than an hour. I was determined today. I'm so sorry.

I wish I could do that. But you know what, I'm after souls. I'm really after souls.

We're only here once, a short time. I don't know how long my life is, how many days I get, how many opportunities to preach. I don't know that.

None of us know that. But saints, I'm after souls. In weakness, hurting, broken, I'm after souls.

I'm after the backslider. I'm after the prodigals. I'm after the weary, the tired, the ruined, the hopeless, the useless.

Because I know my master has need of them. I know my master can do something with them. I don't despise a little boy or his fish or his bread.

I don't despise that. I don't say that these Gentiles can't come near to Christ. I say, bring them on in.

I believe that this gospel can change. Hearts and lives. And saints, I believe this is an hour where he's encouraging us all to pray, to believe.

There's much we can't do. I can't feed that 5,000 with bread and loafs. I can't do that, but I can bring it to Christ.

There's much that you can't do. You can't save people, convince them, open up the opportunities, but you can set yourself and then believe God. Why don't you believe God with me here right now? I'm very weak, saints.

I'm hurting bad. I've got all the ups and downs, toing and froing that you can imagine. But some things I do know is there's an eternity.

This Christ is real. The only thing that really matters is that a man's born again. If I get there limping, fine.

If I get there hurting all my days, let it be. But let me bring someone to Jesus Christ. Let me stand and fight all my days believing that souls can come in.

Because you know what? I'm gonna be there on that day. And all the tests, all the trials, all the hurting, it's all over, saints, it's all behind us. But will I see my loved ones? Will we see souls redeemed out of this city of Limerick? I want my heaven to be two heavens.

Where I enter into the portals of heaven and behold souls that I prayed for, believed for, fought for. Maybe unexpected surprises of people that I labored with. My great-grandmother, when she died, not one other person was saved in our family.

She prayed and witnessed and evangelized. Then suddenly, her 55-year-old son comes in and her granddaughter and all manners of family members, four generations, but she didn't get to see it. But you know what? She was incessant in praying, believing, pleading, writing letters, reaching out, telling men of their need of Christ.

Many discouragements, feeling that none of her family had followed Christ. But oh, what a reward she has now. Thank God she stood and prayed in this family or maybe I wouldn't be here today.

Lord Jesus, we love you. Heavenly Father, we bless your wonderful name. Thank you for saving us.

Lord God, we this morning are like the little boy. We are like the fish in loops. We're not much.

Master, Savior, Lord Jesus, we come to you as a church, as an individuals. We're not much. We don't have much to give.

We wrestle in our minds over our failure and inability, over our shortcomings and faults, over our lack of fire, our boldness, our ability, our wisdom to win souls. Lord God, we have all these traits. But one thing we do know, our redeeming feature is, we know all things are possible with Jesus Christ and to those that believe.

And Lord Jesus, we come to you. Heavenly Father, we come in the name of your son. And Lord God, we come to you realizing, naturally speaking, there's very little we can do to impact this city or nation.

But Lord God, we offer and what we have, we entrust into your hands. Our days, our times, our finance, our future, our plans, our preaching, our evangelism, it's all yours. And oh God, we go forth in fear and trembling.

Lord God, I get into this pulpit almost every time, laboring, wrestling, fearful, unable. But oh God, knowing that you are who you say you are, that it's not of us that we do these things. But oh God, saying your word, we're looking for a harvest of souls.

Even those listening online, we pray for right now. Oh God, that you'd stir every person, that you're gonna multiply this message to touch hearts, that you'd raise up a spirit, an Andrew spirit in your church again for evangelism. Lord God, immediately pursuing family members.

Immediately, oh God, bringing the little boys, bringing the Gentiles. Oh God, bringing everything to Christ. Make us soul winners, make us wise, oh God.

Lord God, I pray use this church as a soul saving church in this nation. We don't know how to do that. We don't know how to bring it about.

We're but weak vessels, but we're asking you, oh God, that you'd bring in a great harvest of souls in the name of Jesus. Like you found Andrew on that beach with his brother, oh God, mending their nets. Lord God, they labored all night, fished all night, and had nothing to show for it.

Empty nets, broken nets, tired, weary. And yet a pure voice thrust out into the deep, threw out your nets, and they couldn't even bring in the catch of fish. They had a call for other boats.

So great was that catch. Oh God, do it again, do it again. It's our job to mend the nets, but it's his job to fill the nets.

We ask of you, be very gracious to us in the name of Jesus.