Today’s talk is the fifth in a series given recently at Lee Abbey.
- Come to me Weary!
- Come to me Dirty!
- Come to me Hungry!
- Come to me Thirsty!
- Come and See, then Go and Be!
Here are a few juicy bits if you haven’t the time to listen:
You won’t have heard of Edward Kimball. This man was becoming increasingly active in church and wanted to make an impact with the youth. His constant refrain was ‘come and see’. There was one lad he saw great potential in but just wasn’t able get through to. In the end, Kimball just decided to go the shoe store where the young man worked. Kimball found him in the back of the store wrapping shoes. Nervously he put his hand on his shoulder and started sharing a brief gospel message. It was short and to the point: Christ loves you and all He asks is for you to accept that, and for you to love Him in return. With that Kimball was gone. As things turned out that young lad did accept Christ. He was D.L. Moody, who became an amazing evangelist.
Years later at one of Moody’s revivals, a man by the name of Wilbur Chapman was invited along by friends to come and see what all the fuss was about, and he accepted God’s direction for his life. Chapman also became an evangelist, preaching to thousands.
One dynamic sportsman chose to come and see Chapman preaching – none other than the professional baseball player Billy Sunday, who not only desired to follow Christ, but quit his career and joined Chapman in his travels. As time went on Chapman led some big outreaches with the help of Mordecai Ham, another man whose life was transformed by Christ. Soon afterwards, Mordecai found himself in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Meantime, Albert McMakin was a 24-year-old farmer who had come to faith in Christ. He was so full of enthusiasm that he filled a truck with people and took them to a meeting where Mordecai Ham was preaching. He wanted them all to come and see what was going on, and to hear about Jesus. There was a farmer friend’s son whom he especially wanted to get to the meetings, but this young man was hard to persuade. He was busy falling in and out of love with different girls and didn’t seem to be interested at all. Eventually, McMakin managed to persuade him to come by asking him to drive the truck. When they arrived, Albert’s guest decided to go in. He was spellbound and began to have thoughts he had never known before. He went back again and again until one night he went forward and gave his life to Jesus Christ. That young man, the driver of the truck, was Billy Graham. The year was 1934. The rest is history.
We can all be like McMakin and bring people to Jesus.
“…and Andrew brought him to Jesus.” (John 1:42) We don’t hear much more about Andrew except that he was always bringing people to Jesus. “Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” (John 6:8,9) “Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.” (John 12:20-22)
Indeed we don’t hear much more about Andrew in the Bible – he was the first disciple, a fisherman from Bethsaida, and privileged to be in on the action with Jesus; and apparently, he was crucified on 30 November 60AD, by order of the Roman governor Aegeas. He was tied to an X-shaped cross in Greece, and this has been represented by the white cross on the Scottish flag, the Saltire, since at least 1385. He’s the patron Saint of Scotland, but also Greece, Russia and Barbados!
So we don’t have much information on him really, but Simon Peter, his brother, went on to be one of the greatest influences in the history of Christianity. We cannot all be Simon Peters, but we can all do what Andrew did – we can bring people to Jesus.