WEBVTT 00:00:09.940 --> 00:00:12.679 Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church 00:00:12.679 --> 00:00:15.279 Henley, and thanks so much for tuning into our 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:19.000 podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast, 00:00:19.019 --> 00:00:20.879 you can have an encounter with Jesus that'll 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:24.359 change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring 00:00:24.359 --> 00:00:27.620 message from our preaching team. Alright, so 00:00:27.620 --> 00:00:33.159 today's reading is from John 1, 43 to 51. The 00:00:33.159 --> 00:00:35.920 next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:38.579 found Philip and said to him, come, follow me. 00:00:39.340 --> 00:00:43.020 Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter's 00:00:43.020 --> 00:00:45.899 hometown. Philip went to look for Nathaniel and 00:00:45.899 --> 00:00:48.500 told him, we have found the very person Moses 00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:51.640 and the prophets wrote about. His name is Jesus, 00:00:51.780 --> 00:00:55.380 the son of Joseph from Nazareth. Nazareth, exclaimed 00:00:55.380 --> 00:00:57.920 Nathaniel, can anything good come from Nazareth? 00:00:58.539 --> 00:01:01.409 Come and see for yourself, Philip replied. As 00:01:01.409 --> 00:01:04.790 they approached, Jesus said, now here is a genuine 00:01:04.790 --> 00:01:08.469 son of Israel, a man of complete integrity. How 00:01:08.469 --> 00:01:11.030 do you know about me? Nathaniel asked. Jesus 00:01:11.030 --> 00:01:13.590 replied, I could see you under the fig tree before 00:01:13.590 --> 00:01:16.950 Philip found you. Then Nathaniel exclaimed, Rabbi, 00:01:17.049 --> 00:01:20.629 you are the son of God, the King of Israel. Jesus 00:01:20.629 --> 00:01:23.109 asked him, do you believe this just because I 00:01:23.109 --> 00:01:25.930 told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You 00:01:25.930 --> 00:01:29.030 will see greater things than this. Then he said, 00:01:29.030 --> 00:01:32.049 I tell you the truth. You will all see heaven 00:01:32.049 --> 00:01:34.530 open and angels of God coming up and down on 00:01:34.530 --> 00:01:37.189 the son of man The one who is the stairway between 00:01:37.189 --> 00:01:40.390 heaven and earth This is the word of the Lord 00:01:40.390 --> 00:01:47.709 Thanks be to God is a great joy to worship together 00:01:47.709 --> 00:01:52.230 with you and to bring the word this morning afternoon 00:01:52.230 --> 00:01:57.799 even I I went to high school which this will 00:01:57.799 --> 00:02:01.939 date me, in the era of the New Atheists. So New 00:02:01.939 --> 00:02:05.219 Atheism tried to pit science against religion, 00:02:05.780 --> 00:02:08.020 forgetting of course that all scientific principles 00:02:08.020 --> 00:02:11.419 are built upon a Judeo -Christian worldview. 00:02:12.259 --> 00:02:14.860 They were aggressive going so far as to declare 00:02:14.860 --> 00:02:19.379 any faith to be irrational, delusional, and even 00:02:19.379 --> 00:02:22.039 dangerous. And in high school, of course, because 00:02:22.039 --> 00:02:24.979 high schoolers are far more mature than adults 00:02:24.979 --> 00:02:31.110 and better behaved, and kinder. The trickle -down 00:02:31.110 --> 00:02:34.310 effect meant that it was cool to be mean to Christians 00:02:34.310 --> 00:02:39.030 and it was very uncool to be a Christian. So 00:02:39.030 --> 00:02:41.810 I used to get sent videos mocking Christianity 00:02:41.810 --> 00:02:45.409 by my friends and they were my friends. They 00:02:45.409 --> 00:02:48.550 used to call me Jesus boy sometimes but by year 00:02:48.550 --> 00:02:52.129 12 I had ceased to care because I knew God was 00:02:52.129 --> 00:02:55.389 real and I knew it was true so whatever like 00:02:55.449 --> 00:02:58.469 Say what you like. And I spent a lot of year 00:02:58.469 --> 00:03:02.969 12 trying to talk to people about God and about 00:03:02.969 --> 00:03:05.250 faith, but I found I wasn't very good at it. 00:03:06.229 --> 00:03:09.569 But I still somehow, despite all of this, got 00:03:09.569 --> 00:03:11.810 to be a part of two conversations about faith 00:03:11.810 --> 00:03:14.349 with two people from high school who then went 00:03:14.349 --> 00:03:17.849 on to become Christians. But aside from them, 00:03:17.849 --> 00:03:21.090 I never actually invited anyone to church. I 00:03:21.090 --> 00:03:23.569 didn't even really try. And that's because I 00:03:23.569 --> 00:03:25.789 had this line of thinking in my mind that said 00:03:25.789 --> 00:03:29.030 they wouldn't want to come. They wouldn't want 00:03:29.030 --> 00:03:32.409 to come. They'll think it's dumb. Or worse, they'll 00:03:32.409 --> 00:03:36.909 think that I'm dumb. And so I didn't invite because 00:03:36.909 --> 00:03:41.389 I expected them to say no. I had actually made 00:03:41.389 --> 00:03:45.180 up their mind for them. And maybe I was right, 00:03:45.180 --> 00:03:47.400 maybe in the era of the new atheist, you could 00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:50.439 expect that only a small percentage of people 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:55.740 would be interested in faith. But this was almost 00:03:55.740 --> 00:03:59.580 14 years ago, because I am so old, that is a 00:03:59.580 --> 00:04:05.259 long time. Things have changed, right? The new 00:04:05.259 --> 00:04:07.280 atheist, they had their 15 minutes in the sun, 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:11.050 and our society, in a decade and a half, is radically 00:04:11.050 --> 00:04:14.930 more open to faith and spirituality something 00:04:14.930 --> 00:04:18.050 more in this world something uncontrollable unmeasurable 00:04:18.050 --> 00:04:21.370 other and this was driven home most for me at 00:04:21.370 --> 00:04:23.910 a school drop -off the other week when I was 00:04:23.910 --> 00:04:25.509 talking to a mom and she was telling me about 00:04:25.509 --> 00:04:28.230 how poorly her kid is sleeping at the moment 00:04:28.230 --> 00:04:30.209 and I said well you know what are you thinking 00:04:30.209 --> 00:04:32.589 about doing to help you know your kids sleep 00:04:32.589 --> 00:04:34.810 better and she said well I'm gonna put a dream 00:04:34.810 --> 00:04:37.509 catcher up in their room and I was waiting for 00:04:37.509 --> 00:04:43.250 it like the her to laugh with like haha and and 00:04:43.250 --> 00:04:46.370 then tell me what she was gonna do to help her 00:04:46.370 --> 00:04:49.089 kids sleep but she was serious that was her plan 00:04:49.089 --> 00:04:52.370 to help her kids sleep to catch bad dreams with 00:04:52.370 --> 00:04:56.129 a dream catcher that's so many to me that people 00:04:56.129 --> 00:04:59.689 are wildly more open to spirituality and do something 00:04:59.689 --> 00:05:04.649 more than 15 years ago when I was in school and 00:05:04.649 --> 00:05:08.110 the data backs this up The 2020 community survey 00:05:08.110 --> 00:05:11.290 found that in depth an invitation to church, 00:05:11.990 --> 00:05:14.889 if it was from a close friend or family member. 00:05:15.529 --> 00:05:18.709 So that's like, I'm not the math person in my 00:05:18.709 --> 00:05:22.069 family, that's Ashley, but that's like one in 00:05:22.069 --> 00:05:26.290 three, right? Right? Yeah, great. One in three. 00:05:26.750 --> 00:05:29.209 So if you think of three close friends or family 00:05:29.209 --> 00:05:32.389 members, you'd love to come to church. If you 00:05:32.389 --> 00:05:35.069 invite all three statistically, one's gonna say 00:05:35.069 --> 00:05:38.100 yes. mean that's just math what do you want you 00:05:38.100 --> 00:05:44.720 can't argue with math right yeah so they'll come 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:47.879 to church let alone come go to a coffee with 00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:50.899 you to read the Bible like Hannah did or let 00:05:50.899 --> 00:05:53.439 alone come and see sit around your dinner table 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:58.759 enjoy a meal together one in three and as I think 00:05:58.759 --> 00:06:00.980 about this research and the conversation at school 00:06:00.980 --> 00:06:06.319 drop -off it makes me wonder Do we run on old 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:12.600 software when it comes to invitation? Do we wander 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:14.879 around thinking that people just wouldn't be 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:17.839 interested in reading the Bible with us or coming 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:24.980 to church? Because maybe we asked three friends 00:06:24.980 --> 00:06:29.279 five, 10, 15, 20 years ago and we were disappointed 00:06:29.279 --> 00:06:33.699 or they said no. Well, because we've made up 00:06:33.699 --> 00:06:36.120 our minds for them that they wouldn't be interested. 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:39.199 We're running on old software when things have 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:42.939 actually changed. There is a new season, a new 00:06:42.939 --> 00:06:45.120 moment in the church, a new moment in Australia 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:51.540 where people are radically open to God and to 00:06:51.540 --> 00:06:56.079 something more. What if the old software is plain 00:06:56.079 --> 00:07:00.699 wrong? And what if we need new software in this 00:07:00.699 --> 00:07:05.050 moment? A new way of seeing the invitations we 00:07:05.050 --> 00:07:08.189 make for people to come to come and meet Jesus 00:07:08.189 --> 00:07:10.290 in this moment and a new expectation that they 00:07:10.290 --> 00:07:13.949 may in fact accept our invitations if we are 00:07:13.949 --> 00:07:18.089 courageous enough to ask. We are in the middle 00:07:18.089 --> 00:07:21.589 of a six -week series called evangelism for everyone. 00:07:22.110 --> 00:07:23.730 If you've not heard the word evangelism, it just 00:07:23.730 --> 00:07:28.050 means good news, the sharing of good news because 00:07:28.050 --> 00:07:30.959 we have good news to share. In our faith, God 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:34.779 has done something amazing for us and it is something 00:07:34.779 --> 00:07:37.279 worth sharing. And in our series, we're going 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:40.459 through six habits that every single follower 00:07:40.459 --> 00:07:43.920 of Jesus can do. Everyone means everyone to share 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:47.839 with those that we love that what we have found 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:51.759 for ourselves in Jesus Christ, to speak about 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:55.259 the faith and hope that we have found. And today 00:07:55.259 --> 00:07:57.560 we're talking about the habit of invitation. 00:07:58.990 --> 00:08:02.750 And in our teaching text today, we see Philip 00:08:02.750 --> 00:08:08.569 issue an invitation. He has met Jesus, and he 00:08:08.569 --> 00:08:12.370 immediately goes and finds Nathaniel. And he 00:08:12.370 --> 00:08:15.490 tells him, we have found the very person Moses 00:08:15.490 --> 00:08:18.350 and the prophets talked about. His name is Jesus, 00:08:18.689 --> 00:08:20.689 the son of Joseph from Nazareth. And his response 00:08:20.689 --> 00:08:28.579 is, Nazareth? He's skeptical. Why Nazareth? You 00:08:28.579 --> 00:08:30.860 say he's the person that Moses wrote about this 00:08:30.860 --> 00:08:33.500 Jesus, but he's from Nazareth like he's just 00:08:33.500 --> 00:08:37.960 completely he's thrown by this Nazareth and it 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:40.120 makes sense because Nazareth is not mentioned 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:43.259 once in the Old Testament and not once in the 00:08:43.259 --> 00:08:45.899 writings between the end of the Old Testament 00:08:45.899 --> 00:08:49.799 and When Jesus begins his ministry Nazareth is 00:08:49.799 --> 00:08:52.240 is nowhere. It's it's nothing. It's not significant 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:57.269 at all and if Jesus was the person that the moses 00:08:57.269 --> 00:08:59.590 and the prophets were right it was spoke about 00:08:59.590 --> 00:09:02.610 prophesied about then then this person would 00:09:02.610 --> 00:09:06.470 be from somewhere important right like bethlehem 00:09:06.470 --> 00:09:12.370 not nazareth and in response to the skepticism 00:09:12.370 --> 00:09:15.990 of nathaniel philip responds well come and see 00:09:15.990 --> 00:09:20.250 for yourself and so despite his skepticism that 00:09:20.250 --> 00:09:24.269 the the messiah the person wrote prophesied about 00:09:24.269 --> 00:09:27.279 and written about It could be from Nazareth. 00:09:27.639 --> 00:09:31.059 Nathaniel does, he goes. He goes to Jesus. And 00:09:31.059 --> 00:09:33.000 before he can even get to Jesus, Jesus noticed 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:35.559 him and calls him out. He says, because he knows 00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:39.700 him. He says, now here is a genuine son of Israel, 00:09:40.340 --> 00:09:44.200 a man of complete integrity. And Nathaniel was 00:09:44.200 --> 00:09:48.580 like, how do you know about me? Well, I can see 00:09:48.580 --> 00:09:50.840 you under the fig tree before Philip found you. 00:09:52.009 --> 00:09:54.309 And clearly there's some kind of inside joke 00:09:54.309 --> 00:09:58.669 going on here because we don't know what happened 00:09:58.669 --> 00:10:02.269 under the fig tree. What is it about, what happened 00:10:02.269 --> 00:10:03.789 under the fig tree that would make Jesus make 00:10:03.789 --> 00:10:06.990 such a positive, strong positive character judgment 00:10:06.990 --> 00:10:12.269 about who Nathaniel is? We don't know. But what 00:10:12.269 --> 00:10:14.750 we do know is that it's exactly what Nathaniel 00:10:14.750 --> 00:10:16.929 needs to hear for him to understand who Jesus 00:10:16.929 --> 00:10:22.110 is. to declare Him Jesus the Son of God, the 00:10:22.110 --> 00:10:24.129 King of Israel, which are both words that just 00:10:24.129 --> 00:10:26.710 kind of mean the same thing. Jesus is the long 00:10:26.710 --> 00:10:29.590 -awaited Messiah, the promised one who would 00:10:29.590 --> 00:10:33.789 come and redeem Israel. And Jesus is like, oh, 00:10:33.809 --> 00:10:36.029 you believe because of this? Well, you're going 00:10:36.029 --> 00:10:39.009 to see greater things. You'll see heaven open. 00:10:39.049 --> 00:10:42.470 You'll see the Messiah in all His glory. And 00:10:42.470 --> 00:10:44.509 there's so much we can learn from this invitation. 00:10:45.289 --> 00:10:47.889 This little interaction here between Philip and 00:10:47.889 --> 00:10:50.750 Jesus and Nathaniel, there's so much we can learn 00:10:50.750 --> 00:10:53.129 that will help us, I think, to build some new 00:10:53.129 --> 00:10:56.870 software around inviting people to come and meet 00:10:56.870 --> 00:10:59.889 Jesus. And this is the first thing I think we 00:10:59.889 --> 00:11:02.629 can learn from this. Philip already knows Nathaniel 00:11:02.629 --> 00:11:06.409 deeply. The depth of the relationship is already 00:11:06.409 --> 00:11:09.029 there. He goes to Nathaniel, he says, we, we 00:11:09.029 --> 00:11:12.480 have found the one, we. We've been looking for 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:15.559 the Messiah and we have found him and it's Jesus. 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:18.879 And despite his skepticism, despite his questions 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:22.740 of the legitimacy of Jesus, Nathaniel does accept 00:11:22.740 --> 00:11:24.940 Philip's invitation to come and see for himself. 00:11:25.779 --> 00:11:28.139 Remember the one in three stat. That's one in 00:11:28.139 --> 00:11:31.679 three close friends and family. That's not some 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:35.120 random you meet on the street or the person that 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:37.279 you're forced to sit next to on the airplane. 00:11:37.750 --> 00:11:40.870 The depth of the relationship does matter for 00:11:40.870 --> 00:11:42.789 whether someone will accept your invitation. 00:11:42.950 --> 00:11:44.450 You're not just gonna, someone comes up to you 00:11:44.450 --> 00:11:45.649 and is like, do you want to come out for dinner 00:11:45.649 --> 00:11:51.629 with me? You're like, I don't know you. Are they 00:11:51.629 --> 00:11:59.590 paying? Maybe. All metaphors just, yeah, anyway. 00:12:01.570 --> 00:12:04.029 The depth of the relationship does matter, but 00:12:04.029 --> 00:12:08.840 that's also the difficulty of it. isn't it? Because 00:12:08.840 --> 00:12:12.700 it's harder to ask a family member or a close 00:12:12.700 --> 00:12:16.279 friend to go to church with you. Because it feels 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:19.379 like there's more at stake. But there's actually 00:12:19.379 --> 00:12:22.220 a better chance that they will respond positively. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:26.000 But it's not just the depth of the relationship. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:30.840 Philip knows what he has found and he knows what 00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:34.360 Nathaniel is looking for. Philip can articulate 00:12:34.360 --> 00:12:36.820 what it is he's found in Jesus, but he also knows 00:12:37.509 --> 00:12:39.470 that Jesus is what Nathaniel has been looking 00:12:39.470 --> 00:12:42.929 for as well. That's why he says we, we have found. 00:12:43.330 --> 00:12:45.289 Philip's telling him because he knows that Nathaniel 00:12:45.289 --> 00:12:48.750 was going to want in on this. He knows that Messiah 00:12:48.750 --> 00:12:51.009 is who Nathaniel has been searching for and he 00:12:51.009 --> 00:12:53.570 invites him to come and find out for himself. 00:12:54.429 --> 00:12:56.450 Philip doesn't play it off like ah I just I just 00:12:56.450 --> 00:12:58.490 met this really cool guy do you want to come 00:12:58.490 --> 00:13:01.549 and meet him? Or like you know like I do this 00:13:01.549 --> 00:13:02.990 thing on Sundays do you want to do you want to 00:13:02.990 --> 00:13:06.549 come? No, his invitation is very specific to 00:13:06.549 --> 00:13:10.409 Nathaniel's deepest desires and deepest wants. 00:13:11.149 --> 00:13:13.250 We have found the Messiah, we've found the one 00:13:13.250 --> 00:13:16.090 we've been looking for. Friends, if you're a 00:13:16.090 --> 00:13:18.990 follower of Jesus in this room, I wonder, do 00:13:18.990 --> 00:13:23.429 you know what you have found in Jesus? Can you 00:13:23.429 --> 00:13:28.610 articulate it? Do you know what it is that Jesus 00:13:28.610 --> 00:13:33.700 is to you? To quote Simon Sinek, which really 00:13:33.700 --> 00:13:35.659 isn't hard, you know everything about a Simon 00:13:35.659 --> 00:13:37.299 Sinek book by looking at the cover and reading 00:13:37.299 --> 00:13:43.460 the title. Do you know your why? Do you know 00:13:43.460 --> 00:13:46.240 your why? Why are you a follower of Jesus? What 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:48.620 have you found in him? Tex is going to preach 00:13:48.620 --> 00:13:52.820 more about this next week. Philip knows what 00:13:52.820 --> 00:13:56.759 he's found in Jesus. And the next important question 00:13:56.759 --> 00:13:59.720 he asks himself is, well, who else needs to hear 00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:03.850 about this? Who wants to? Who needs to hear? 00:14:03.950 --> 00:14:07.149 Who needs to come and meet this Jesus? Ah, Nathaniel, 00:14:07.149 --> 00:14:09.389 he's going to want to know. And so he goes and 00:14:09.389 --> 00:14:16.009 he finds him. Friends, who needs what you have? 00:14:17.289 --> 00:14:19.809 Who needs what you have? Who needs an invitation 00:14:19.809 --> 00:14:24.590 into what you have discovered in Jesus? And maybe 00:14:24.590 --> 00:14:28.049 as you sit with that question, a name comes to 00:14:28.049 --> 00:14:29.870 mind. And I want to encourage you, don't dismiss 00:14:29.870 --> 00:14:32.129 that name. It might be the random name, someone 00:14:32.129 --> 00:14:35.370 you've not talked to in a long time, but don't 00:14:35.370 --> 00:14:37.629 dismiss it. Jot down in your phone or on your 00:14:37.629 --> 00:14:40.289 notepad and test it, pray about it because it 00:14:40.289 --> 00:14:43.409 might be the Spirit's voice. Maybe you need to 00:14:43.409 --> 00:14:45.490 reach out to them and invite them out for coffee 00:14:45.490 --> 00:14:49.110 or something deeper to read the Bible, maybe 00:14:49.110 --> 00:14:53.490 to come to church and join us. The third thing 00:14:53.490 --> 00:14:56.769 that we see in Philip's invitation is that Jesus 00:14:56.769 --> 00:15:00.009 actually already knows, Nathaniel. Philip invites 00:15:00.009 --> 00:15:02.590 him, but Jesus actually knows more about Nathaniel 00:15:02.590 --> 00:15:05.710 than maybe Philip does. Not only that, Philip 00:15:05.710 --> 00:15:09.090 doesn't get a chance to invite and to introduce 00:15:09.090 --> 00:15:12.309 Jesus to Nathaniel. Jesus calls him out. I know 00:15:12.309 --> 00:15:15.990 you, I saw you, I see you. And he knows exactly 00:15:15.990 --> 00:15:18.789 the right thing to say to help Nathaniel see 00:15:18.789 --> 00:15:23.129 exactly who Jesus is. Friends, I know with my 00:15:23.129 --> 00:15:25.909 family and my friends and with the people I meet 00:15:25.909 --> 00:15:29.149 at school drop off and out and about. I feel 00:15:29.149 --> 00:15:32.710 like sometimes I have to have the exact right 00:15:32.710 --> 00:15:35.149 way to answer all the questions that they will 00:15:35.149 --> 00:15:38.149 have. And it's easy to feel like it's essentially 00:15:38.149 --> 00:15:42.129 on me to convince them that Jesus is who he says 00:15:42.129 --> 00:15:45.350 he is. I got into that trap a lot in high school 00:15:45.350 --> 00:15:47.509 of trying to convince people in the car park 00:15:47.509 --> 00:15:50.370 at McDonald's that Jesus was the Lord of the 00:15:50.370 --> 00:15:54.110 universe and shock horror, they did not believe 00:15:54.110 --> 00:15:59.279 me. How often do we feel like talking about our 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:01.820 faith and inviting people has to come with this 00:16:01.820 --> 00:16:05.759 perfect theological speech about the divine nature 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:09.519 of the triune God? How often do we feel like 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:13.620 we have to have the right words to say to help 00:16:13.620 --> 00:16:16.860 that person that we love see what we have found? 00:16:19.320 --> 00:16:23.080 But Philip doesn't do that. It's actually Jesus 00:16:23.080 --> 00:16:26.529 who has the right words. even in Nathaniel's 00:16:26.529 --> 00:16:29.830 doubt, even in his skepticism, it's Jesus that 00:16:29.830 --> 00:16:31.789 meets him exactly where he is with the right 00:16:31.789 --> 00:16:36.049 words that bring about faith. So why do we think 00:16:36.049 --> 00:16:39.389 it'd be different with our friends or our family? 00:16:40.350 --> 00:16:43.610 Philip doesn't bring an argument. He doesn't 00:16:43.610 --> 00:16:46.029 convince him at all. He just literally goes and 00:16:46.029 --> 00:16:47.950 points to Jesus and go, well, go find out for 00:16:47.950 --> 00:16:52.570 yourself. Like in response to Nathaniel's philosophical 00:16:52.570 --> 00:16:56.080 theological question, Well, yeah, but okay, so 00:16:56.080 --> 00:16:59.039 the Messiah, the Messiah can't come from Nazareth, 00:16:59.240 --> 00:17:03.580 right? Like Nazareth, he just shrugs at him. 00:17:04.180 --> 00:17:08.660 Go find out. Come and see. He doesn't get into 00:17:08.660 --> 00:17:10.740 the debate. He doesn't have the right things 00:17:10.740 --> 00:17:14.440 to say. He just goes, come and see for yourself. 00:17:15.900 --> 00:17:19.240 You know what Philip has here? It's confidence. 00:17:20.460 --> 00:17:23.039 He has a confidence that he knows who Jesus is. 00:17:23.349 --> 00:17:27.609 He's not trying so hard to convince his friend. 00:17:27.630 --> 00:17:30.029 He's confident that Jesus, meeting Jesus will 00:17:30.029 --> 00:17:33.730 do it for him. And I want to ask friends, where 00:17:33.730 --> 00:17:37.490 is our confidence? Jesus is the one sitting at 00:17:37.490 --> 00:17:39.029 the right hand of the Father. He's the one who 00:17:39.029 --> 00:17:41.569 has all power and authority. He's the one reconciling 00:17:41.569 --> 00:17:45.089 all creation back to himself. Why do we find 00:17:45.089 --> 00:17:47.529 it so hard to trust that if we play the role 00:17:47.529 --> 00:17:50.450 of Philip and share what we found and invite 00:17:50.450 --> 00:17:52.529 them to come and meet Jesus, that Jesus will 00:17:52.529 --> 00:17:56.230 play his role. He knows your friends and your 00:17:56.230 --> 00:17:58.789 family better than you do. He knows the right 00:17:58.789 --> 00:18:01.250 words to say. He knows exactly what they need 00:18:01.250 --> 00:18:06.109 to hear. He can prove himself to them. So there 00:18:06.109 --> 00:18:09.450 are three things that Philips Interaction with 00:18:09.450 --> 00:18:12.410 Nathaniel can teach us about our invitations. 00:18:13.809 --> 00:18:16.390 The first is that we must keep developing deep 00:18:16.390 --> 00:18:19.170 relationships with people. We have to know people 00:18:19.170 --> 00:18:22.660 deeply. We must be able to articulate what it 00:18:22.660 --> 00:18:24.720 is that we've found in Jesus. What's our why? 00:18:25.799 --> 00:18:29.700 And we also must find proper confidence in Jesus 00:18:29.700 --> 00:18:35.319 to do his thing. So why do we find this so hard? 00:18:39.460 --> 00:18:41.640 And maybe part of it is because Jesus isn't sitting 00:18:41.640 --> 00:18:44.259 right now at the Grange pub having a schnitty. 00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:49.029 We can't just walk over. and introduced our friends 00:18:49.029 --> 00:18:52.170 and our family to Jesus. Because Jesus isn't 00:18:52.170 --> 00:18:55.930 in the flesh for us like he was for Philip. It's 00:18:55.930 --> 00:18:59.990 hard because we don't want to be awkward. We 00:18:59.990 --> 00:19:03.950 don't want to impose ourselves. And we fear rejection. 00:19:04.910 --> 00:19:08.890 We fear what an invitation would mean. We worry 00:19:08.890 --> 00:19:14.269 that we won't say the right thing. It is harder 00:19:14.269 --> 00:19:17.869 for us than it was for Philip, no doubt. But 00:19:17.869 --> 00:19:20.970 people can still meet Jesus today. And people 00:19:20.970 --> 00:19:25.470 still do meet Jesus today. Jesus ascended to 00:19:25.470 --> 00:19:27.890 heaven but he did not abandon us. He left his 00:19:27.890 --> 00:19:32.809 spirit. And people are so open to the spiritual 00:19:32.809 --> 00:19:36.690 today. There are places where people can be more 00:19:36.690 --> 00:19:40.849 open to hearing the voice of God. Thin places 00:19:40.849 --> 00:19:43.369 that are soaked with prayer like the prayer room. 00:19:44.009 --> 00:19:48.660 Book into it what jazz is coming for you. Just 00:19:48.660 --> 00:19:53.019 do it. It'll be great. People are more open to 00:19:53.019 --> 00:19:57.819 hear the voice of the Spirit in deep conversation, 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:01.019 in the prayer of a believer, your prayers for 00:20:01.019 --> 00:20:03.779 them, while exploring the Scriptures with an 00:20:03.779 --> 00:20:06.759 open heart and in the midst of a gathered community 00:20:06.759 --> 00:20:11.299 of faith, a church. We can still invite people 00:20:11.299 --> 00:20:15.140 to come and meet Jesus today. And so I want to 00:20:15.140 --> 00:20:20.200 challenge you as your Henley homework, one thing 00:20:20.200 --> 00:20:24.839 you can do to put it into action this week is 00:20:24.839 --> 00:20:27.700 to invite one person. And I've even given you 00:20:27.700 --> 00:20:30.839 three options of how you can invite them. You 00:20:30.839 --> 00:20:34.039 can invite someone into a deeper relationship 00:20:34.039 --> 00:20:36.079 with you and that means you invite someone around 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:38.660 for dinner that you've never invited around for 00:20:38.660 --> 00:20:41.180 dinner before. Or you invite someone out to coffee 00:20:41.180 --> 00:20:43.740 that you've never taken out for coffee before. 00:20:44.359 --> 00:20:45.700 You invite them into a deeper relationship. You 00:20:45.700 --> 00:20:49.680 invite them to take a step closer to you in relationship. 00:20:50.380 --> 00:20:53.400 You can invite someone to church. We're here 00:20:53.400 --> 00:20:56.900 every Sunday. Or you can invite someone as Hannah 00:20:56.900 --> 00:21:01.900 did to read the Bible with you. Now I was talking 00:21:01.900 --> 00:21:03.900 to Dan about this yesterday and he said a great 00:21:03.900 --> 00:21:06.740 line which I May or not may not be remembering 00:21:06.740 --> 00:21:08.619 properly, but I'm gonna attribute it to you. 00:21:08.619 --> 00:21:13.799 Anyway, Dan. Thank you He said and I quote him 00:21:13.799 --> 00:21:18.640 You know the thing about with an invitation is 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:22.420 that we just have to do it Did you say that? 00:21:22.619 --> 00:21:27.019 I don't know. It's good You know him it might 00:21:27.019 --> 00:21:31.000 be awkward at first and it probably will be uncomfortable. 00:21:31.640 --> 00:21:36.579 They may say no, but what if they say yes? What 00:21:36.579 --> 00:21:39.819 if they say yes? And if you won't take Dan's 00:21:39.819 --> 00:21:45.599 advice to just do it, honestly, who will? Who 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:49.200 will go and invite them? You know, I wonder if 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:51.180 the big reason we don't invite is because we 00:21:51.180 --> 00:21:53.599 expect or maybe we hope that someone else is 00:21:53.599 --> 00:21:55.819 going to invite them. That it will be someone 00:21:55.819 --> 00:22:00.950 else. But what if there isn't anyone else? You 00:22:00.950 --> 00:22:02.529 know, the thing that strikes me about Philip 00:22:02.529 --> 00:22:06.049 and Nathaniel is that Jesus only calls Philip. 00:22:07.849 --> 00:22:10.029 He goes to Philip and says, come and follow me. 00:22:11.210 --> 00:22:14.349 Jesus decides to go to Galilee and he seeks out 00:22:14.349 --> 00:22:17.109 Philip in Galilee, but he doesn't seek out Nathaniel. 00:22:18.589 --> 00:22:20.930 He finds Philip and he says to him, come and 00:22:20.930 --> 00:22:24.130 follow me. Jesus doesn't go to Nathaniel. Philip 00:22:24.130 --> 00:22:27.920 goes to Nathaniel. It's Philip that goes and 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:30.599 seeks out Nathaniel to share the good news of 00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:34.799 who he has found. Philip is invited by Jesus 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:39.079 so that Nathaniel also can be. And friends, this 00:22:39.079 --> 00:22:41.680 is actually the entire pattern of God's work 00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:45.720 throughout scripture. He calls out the few in 00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:48.880 order to reach the whole. With Abraham, he calls 00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:51.819 out Abraham and he says to him, I will make you 00:22:51.819 --> 00:22:54.480 a great nation. I will bless you and I'll make 00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:57.039 you famous and you will be a blessing to others. 00:22:57.200 --> 00:22:59.539 I will bless those who bless you and curse those 00:22:59.539 --> 00:23:03.000 who curse you with contempt. And all of the families 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:06.740 on earth will be blessed through you. He calls 00:23:06.740 --> 00:23:11.279 out one man to start a family, a nation for the 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:16.059 sake of blessing all the other nations. And Jesus, 00:23:16.299 --> 00:23:20.440 He calls out a few disciples. And before he ascends 00:23:20.440 --> 00:23:22.720 he says, all authority on heaven and earth has 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:26.180 been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples 00:23:26.180 --> 00:23:29.079 of all nations. Baptise them in the name of the 00:23:29.079 --> 00:23:31.420 Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and teach them 00:23:31.420 --> 00:23:35.539 to obey everything I have commanded you and surely 00:23:35.539 --> 00:23:38.599 I am with you always to the very end of the age. 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:41.839 See God has always called out a few in order 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:44.880 to reach the whole. And if you are a believer 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:48.039 in this room, God has called you out. He has 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:50.420 rescued you from the kingdom of darkness and 00:23:50.420 --> 00:23:52.880 brought you into the kingdom of His Son. He has 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:55.480 called this little church here, this church plant 00:23:55.480 --> 00:24:00.039 into existence. He's invited us so that through 00:24:00.039 --> 00:24:03.119 you, through me, through us together, we might 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:07.599 reach the whole world. God has invited you so 00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:10.640 that through you, others could also be invited. 00:24:12.019 --> 00:24:14.900 Maybe you've been called out. into faith so that 00:24:14.900 --> 00:24:17.700 you can reach your friends, your families, your 00:24:17.700 --> 00:24:20.900 colleagues, your neighbours. Maybe no one else 00:24:20.900 --> 00:24:23.779 is coming. Maybe you are the reinforcements. 00:24:25.500 --> 00:24:29.180 Maybe they are your Nathaniel and Jesus has called 00:24:29.180 --> 00:24:33.039 you out so that you can go and get them. You 00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:35.019 can go invite them. You can go share the hope 00:24:35.019 --> 00:24:39.079 that you have found in Jesus. And they might 00:24:39.079 --> 00:24:42.140 be costly because it might feel uncomfortable. 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:45.819 And it might feel risky because they may say 00:24:45.819 --> 00:24:51.400 no or they may say yes and come and see for themselves 00:24:51.400 --> 00:24:57.059 that it's all true. All of it. That Jesus is 00:24:57.059 --> 00:25:00.599 exactly who He says He is and exactly who we 00:25:00.599 --> 00:25:05.759 need. That Jesus has called you out into faith. 00:25:05.779 --> 00:25:08.900 He's invited you but it did not come cheaply 00:25:08.900 --> 00:25:13.740 for Him. His invitation to come alive, become 00:25:13.740 --> 00:25:18.059 conscious of God, alive to God again, to be reconciled 00:25:18.059 --> 00:25:23.759 to Him through faith, it came at a cost. He's 00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:27.000 invited us to be adopted, as Ash said, as sons 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:29.319 and daughters of the living God, to be a part 00:25:29.319 --> 00:25:33.099 of His family forever. But to make that invitation, 00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:36.259 friends, it costs Him His very life. And Jesus 00:25:36.259 --> 00:25:38.980 willingly paid it. He went to the cross for us. 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:42.359 so that there could even be the opportunity, 00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:47.000 the possibility for us to accept God's invitation. 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:51.759 That's how much He loves us. And if we really 00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:53.980 understand this, if we really get the love of 00:25:53.980 --> 00:25:57.759 God has for us, friends, what's a bit of potential 00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:01.220 awkwardness? What's a little bit of potential 00:26:01.220 --> 00:26:05.200 discomfort? What's a little bit of possible rejection? 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:09.839 if it means that those we love can discover the 00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:13.759 love that God has for them. God knows them, God 00:26:13.759 --> 00:26:16.440 loves them, and maybe God has called you out 00:26:16.440 --> 00:26:19.980 to follow him so that you would go and invite 00:26:19.980 --> 00:26:24.539 them to come and see for themselves. You know, 00:26:24.539 --> 00:26:27.039 in high school, my old software told me that 00:26:27.039 --> 00:26:29.900 people wouldn't respond to my invitation, that 00:26:29.900 --> 00:26:32.099 I was afraid of rejection, and I was afraid of 00:26:32.099 --> 00:26:34.700 rejection, so I didn't really want to invite 00:26:34.700 --> 00:26:37.819 people. But one night I took a risk. I was talking 00:26:37.819 --> 00:26:40.940 to a friend on Facebook Messenger, which was 00:26:40.940 --> 00:26:45.720 really cool and new back then in the past. In 00:26:45.720 --> 00:26:48.119 the midst of a deep conversation with a friend 00:26:48.119 --> 00:26:52.359 from school, I shared what I had found in Jesus. 00:26:53.200 --> 00:26:55.420 And I invited him to come and see for himself. 00:26:55.960 --> 00:26:59.720 And he found what I found. He found Jesus. And 00:26:59.720 --> 00:27:02.740 shortly after, together led by the Spirit, we 00:27:02.740 --> 00:27:05.380 approached a girl at a party and explained what 00:27:05.309 --> 00:27:08.609 And he explained what he had found of Jesus. 00:27:09.190 --> 00:27:11.049 And we invited her to come and see for herself. 00:27:11.670 --> 00:27:15.430 And she found what we found. And on and on and 00:27:15.430 --> 00:27:21.589 on it has gone. And this was 14 years ago. Maybe 00:27:21.589 --> 00:27:25.109 back then it was one in 30 would accept an invitation. 00:27:25.250 --> 00:27:30.210 Maybe one in 50, maybe. But even in that climate 00:27:30.210 --> 00:27:33.809 there was always one who was willing to accept. 00:27:33.980 --> 00:27:37.859 an invitation. It's now a one in three friends. 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:41.619 One in three of your friends and family will 00:27:41.619 --> 00:27:45.619 probably accept an invitation. We could have 00:27:45.619 --> 00:27:49.099 a genuine revival on our hands if we were willing 00:27:49.099 --> 00:27:52.799 to be courageous. Invite someone deeper, invite 00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:54.539 someone to church, invite someone to read the 00:27:54.539 --> 00:27:58.319 Bible with you. To come and see what we have 00:27:58.319 --> 00:28:03.400 found. To come and meet Jesus. Jesus has always 00:28:03.400 --> 00:28:09.900 called out Phillips to go and find Nathaniel's 00:28:09.900 --> 00:28:12.940 and invite them to come and see and he always 00:28:12.940 --> 00:28:16.960 will until he returns to put everything right. 00:28:17.460 --> 00:28:20.180 Friends if you're a Philip you've been called 00:28:20.180 --> 00:28:23.259 out by Jesus to come and follow him. Who's your 00:28:23.259 --> 00:28:28.839 Nathaniel? Who's your Nathaniel? Do you need 00:28:28.839 --> 00:28:35.210 to go and tell him? Thanks so much for tuning 00:28:35.210 --> 00:28:38.210 into this week's message. If you felt challenged 00:28:38.210 --> 00:28:40.890 or need prayer, we'd love to hear from you on 00:28:40.890 --> 00:28:44.329 Instagram at encounterhenley. Or if you're interested 00:28:44.329 --> 00:28:46.930 in how you can support this ministry, please 00:28:46.930 --> 00:28:51.049 go to our website encounteradelaide .com .au. 00:28:51.809 --> 00:28:53.950 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.