In the name of Christ Jesus, dear fellow redeemed people of God,

This lesson takes us all the way back to the ministry of John the Baptizer. God called John to be the forerunner of the Christ. His task was to prepare the people for the coming of their Savior. To do this task, John needed to be a finger-pointer. First, he had to point his finger at their sins and show them their need for a Savior. Then, he needed to point to Jesus and say, "here he is. This is your Savior. Believe in him!"

Our message to do is just like John's, except Jesus has already come and accomplished his work. The first part of the message we have to declare from God's Word is this: "The world's biggest problem is SIN!" Many people point to the problems in the world, and there are many. But these are only symptoms of the real problem. Some sincere Christians point to some problems in churches and to be sure churches have many problems. But these are only symptoms of the real problem. Our own church has problems that are symptoms of this one problem. The biggest problem the world has is: SIN! We were all born in sin. We inherited sin from our parents. Yet, we have all committed sin too! We have not loved and trusted God above all things, perfectly and constantly, and so we sinned! We have not always heard God's Word gladly and perfectly, and so we sinned. We have daydreamed here in church! We have let other thoughts enter our minds and have not always paid perfect attention to God's Word. Even today, this might well be happening. This is sin. We have failed to love our neighbor perfectly too. We really don't always love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves, do we? These are all sins. The punishment God has decreed for sin is eternal torment in hell. That's what we all deserve - every single one of us. And if you don't see your sin, then look more carefully into the law of God and apply it more faithfully to your own life and you will see your sins as plain as you see your face in the mirror. Look in the mirror and you see a sinner... a sinner who needs a Savior. Thanks be to God, we have a Savior.

(29) The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! Here John pointed his finger to Jesus as the Savior from sin. He called Jesus "the Lamb of God," because lambs were victims of sacrifice back then, and Jesus would offer the one sacrifice for sin on the cross. He said that Jesus "takes away the sin of the world." Notice what Jesus came to do. Notice how many sinners Jesus came to save! He came to take away the sin of the world. Jesus was the pure and holy Lamb of God. He never sinned. Jesus then went to the cross where he suffered and died to take away the sin of the world. This is God's Solution to the problem of sin. Jesus died to pay for all of our sins. Maybe this graph will make it more clear to you. We call this God's Great Exchange. Notice how all of our sins go over to Jesus on the cross. Notice how his holiness comes to us as a free gift. It says, "God sent his Son, Jesus, as the perfect Lamb of sacrifice." And God gives salvation to all who believe in Jesus. Believe in Jesus, your Savior from sin, and you will go to heaven!

(35-37) The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. We see here that John repeated this message about Jesus more than once. Again, with emphasis, he pointed them to Jesus as the "Lamb of God." Now two of John's disciples heard this and followed Jesus. They were "disciples" or students of John. They followed him to listen and learn. That's what disciples do. But now they followed John's pointing finger to Jesus.

LEARN AS A DISCIPLE! May we also follow Jesus as disciples, listening to his word, and learning his teaching. The two disciples were aiming to do that very thing. So, they asked Jesus where he was staying. {38-40} ... "Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. These disciples were not joining Jesus to talk about the weather. They "spent that day," probably 8 hours or so, from 10 A.M. to maybe late afternoon, listening to Jesus and hearing him teach God's Word. Here we learn the name of one of the disciples: Andrew. Andrew "heard" what John had said about Jesus. And Andrew "followed Jesus." This is what we want to do also. We want to LEARN AS DISCIPLES. Andrew was already learning, and learning fast! He was receiving what he really needed. Do you have what you NEED? When we ask people, "what do we need?" we get all sorts of answers. Usually people say, "Money." But do you know what we need even more than money? Remember the lesson Jesus taught Martha. She had been worried and upset about all sorts of preparations for dinner. She was serving the Lord! What could be more important! Mary wasn't helping her. She demanded that Jesus stop and tell Mary to come and help her serve dinner! But Jesus didn't do that. Instead, Jesus said this. (Lk 10:38-42) "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." Only "one thing is needed." That one thing is hearing and learning God's Word! That's what we need more than anything else in the world. That's what other people need more than anything too, whether people know it or not. We need to hear and learn God's Word often. And we need to know God's Word better. And that means every single one of us. We need to LEARN as disciples. And when we do that, amazing things happen by God's grace and power. Great things happened with Andrew.

{41-42} The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). {42} And he brought him to Jesus. Andrew has heard Jesus teach. Andrew is convinced that Jesus is the long-promised Savior. He simply could not keep that message to himself. He had to share it with his brother. So, the very first thing Andrew did was go and find his brother Simon. He told him, "We have found the Messiah." And he "brought him to Jesus." That's it. But that was amazing, because this guy Simon is going to become Peter. Peter would be a pretty important guy in the Christian church. And yet, it was his brother Andrew who brought Peter to Jesus. And that made all the difference in the world. We want to be like Andrew in this regard. I want to REACH OUT AS A DISCIPLE, don't you? Let's ask another question. What do we need to be doing? When we ask that question, we get all sorts of answers. We might hear that we need to take care of the property and we need to study the Bible and we need to look after our families, and there are all very fine answers. But what does Jesus tell us we need to be doing before he returns on Judgment Day?

Here's what he said to his disciples. (Mk 16:15-16) He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." Jesus wants his believers to preach the good news of salvation to all people everywhere. Whoever believes, on the basis of that gospel, will be saved in the final judgment. Whoever does not believe will be condemned. That's what Jesus said. Believers in Jesus will go to heaven. Unbelievers will be condemned to hell. Clearly, we need to do mission work all around the world. That doesn't mean just here, and it doesn't mean just in foreign countries, it means everywhere. And one place that is included in everywhere is in your own little circle of friends. It is not enough to just send out missionaries. We need to do more of that, but they are going to other places. Who is going to reach out here? Who will reach your friends and relatives? That's where "The ANDREW PLAN" comes in! We've been talking about it for a long time. Now, when I present it, it might seem really, really simple. Well, it is. It is nothing more and nothing less than what Andrew did himself when he invited his brother to learn more from Jesus. Here it is:
1. All members of St. Stephen are urged (challenged) to take Bible Basics 101.
2. All are encouraged to invite a Friend, Relative, Acquaintance or Neighbor to attend Bible Basics 101.
3. After friends and relatives become new members, help them feel comfortable in our congregation.

That's it! The Andrew plan is simple, but powerful, because it relies on God's Word to supply the power. Did you know that roughly 80% of new members are brought into the church by friends? The Andrew plan involves everyone in the most important work in the world: mission work. The Andrew plan will be spiritually beneficial for our members. We all could stand a refresher course in the basics of God's Word. And if you don't think so, you've been misled by arrogance. I'm sure that your pastor might have taught you very well in confirmation class, but do you think you could pass a test today? And even if you could, every time we review God's truth he is working in our hearts strengthening our faith, and increasing our knowledge. I believe that you will appreciate some truths more than you ever have before. There are always a few things that seem hard to understand. We believe that we can help you with this organized program of Bible study. Also, the Andrew plan helps to assimilate new members - it provides connections for them so that they feel that they belong in the group, and don't feel left out. We are asking EVERY communicant member of St. Stephen to participate. And today, I am asking you to participate. At the end of this service there will be an opportunity to sign up, and we hope that you will. Guess what, this has nothing to do with money. We want YOU to attend Bible basics and we want YOU to invite you're a friend, relative or neighbor to come with you. That's it! But oh, what a great thing it would be if you would all come together as one to hear God's Word. What a great thing it would be if you would all invite just one friend, or one relative to hear God's Word too.

Perhaps there will be some questions: What if don't know a non-member who doesn't have a church? I find that unlikely but if it is true, do not let that keep you from attending the Bible instruction. And one thing that everyone can do, even shut-ins, is to PRAY for God's blessings on this program, on our congregation, and on our Bible teaching. Will you at least pray for us? I think that if you will commit yourself to praying about this, God will lay an opportunity in your path and you will invite someone too. Now, one thing you could do is to invite a MEMBER who may not usually attend Bible class. That would be great. Bible Classes have been growing here for several years, but there are always a few people that we never seem to reach. Maybe you can invite that person! That would be great!

You know, I have grown to dread "Friendship Sundays." Friendship Sundays are when you ask the whole congregation to invite someone to church on a certain Sunday. In my experience, these are the worst attended services of the entire year. There will always be a few people who invite a friend or two, but usually what happens is that many members invite no one and stay home because they are afraid of coming without a friend. Many other members do invite people, but when the people decline, the members stay home because they feel like they have failed. Please, please, please, do not think of the Andrew Plan this way! If you invite someone and they decline, that's okay! Be sure that you attend the Bible instruction. We want you there, with or without a friend. And, by the way, THANK YOU for doing mission work! Do you want to know what the percentage is of how many people I have invited to church or Bible Class and how many have actually come? It's really pretty bad. Do you think I should stay home, because those people decided not to come? I don't. God wants me here. And guess what? God wants YOU here too. And if Peter had not have come along with Andrew to learn of Jesus, would that make Andrew any less of a missionary? I tell you no. Andrew did a great thing!

But you know, it's not so tough, really. I have the greatest job in the world really. No, I'm not referring to that old joke that the pastor only works one hour a week! I mean this: Just imagine if you learned that someone had the cure for cancer. How would you like the job of going and telling terminal cancer patients, "Guess what? I know a guy who has the cure for your cancer!" Would that not be a great job? I would LOVE that job! But I have better one. I get to tell people that I know someone who has what we need to keep us out of hell and get us into heaven! And you can share in this work! It's the greatest work there is!

If you invite someone and they do not attend, that's okay. The results do not depend on us. Don't give up! Maybe they will change their mind! Maybe they will come in the future, we don't know. Pray about it. It seemed that the church father, Augustine, would never become a Christian early in his life. But his mother prayed for him and prayed for him, and eventually it did happen. Don't give up. And don't stop inviting.

Ah, this is the big one, isn't it? What will I say? You might say, "Come and see?" as the disciples did in this chapter. You might use one of the flyers we will provide. I think it helps to look at Andrew. He doesn't seem like he is suffering pain. It seems like he's joyful and excited and he can't wait to tell his brother all about it. First, he heard God's Word from Jesus. This fanned his faith into a burning flame. Then, he just spoke from the heart, and his heart was filled with faith. Will YOU participate in the Andrew Plan?

Here's what it's all about for us and for our loved ones... Faith comes from hearing the message. The message is the gospel, "He loved me and gave himself for me" just as it says on our altar.

SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY! Don't let this be one of those sermons that goes in one ear and out the other. As you very well know, I am not in the habit of preaching this way, with the visual aids and standing where I am. I purposely wanted to preach differently today to emphasize the importance of the Andrew Plan. Please don't just blow this off. Please don't just tune us out. This could be an enormous moment in the history of this congregation. Participate in this plan. Sign up to "LEARN as a disciple." Sign up to "REACH OUT as a disciple." It is important for you and for our congregation. There will be many, many benefits for our congregation. But, something else too... What about your golfing buddy? Is he going to heaven or hell? Does he believe in Jesus? His eternity might hang in the balance! Be like Andrew, reach out to him! What about your friends on the sports team? Are they on the road to heaven or hell? What about this mother and her little daughter? You see people like this every day, but are they going to heaven or hell? Do you care? We should care, because God does! He put us here to reach people like this girl here. Isn't she cute? Yet, if she doesn't learn of Jesus, she's in some serious trouble. We can help, if we care about her. What about this young couple? Sure they're busy now that they are married. But what a great time to start learning about Jesus! Invite them. What about her? Is she ready for the final judgment? And what about her? Her family decided to wait to have her baptized. They don't know why it would matter. We could teach them, if you would invite her parents... Do you care about this girl? And what about this Mom and daughter? They love each other, but do they love Jesus and trust in him? I hope so. But what if they don't?

Jesus said, "Go into ALL the world." He means you, and your world too. Don't blow this off. These people need to be invited. Some of them will come. I'm convinced that if we all invite one person, we will have some people to tell about Jesus. It might be a lot of people. Won't you participate? Won't you help your friends?

If you knew there was a cure for cancer, you'd tell them. This is even more important than that. Hell is worse than any cancer, and it lasts forever! You can help.

God can use the Bible instruction to strengthen our faith and increase our knowledge. God can use us as his witnesses to reach out to others with the saving message of salvation through Christ Jesus. Jesus saved you! Jesus saved me! Let us now express how thankful we are by the way that we serve as his witnesses...

Please take out the goldenrod insert in today's bulletin and let us sing the special hymn and prayer...