THE ONE
THE ONE
This year we are believing to come together under a collective God call to be a church of discipleship and a church that is full of disciples. It is a call that would see God arrest each of our hearts to know that God sent His ONE, so Jesus would be our ONE, and we’d discover that there is ONE we can care for and disciple in 2024.
REFLECT
Share something that God revealed to you or that resonated with you from Sunday’s message ‘The ONE’.
SCRIPTURE
One of the two that heard what John said and (as a result) followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first looked for and found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah (which translated means Christ). And Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. John 1:40-42
There is power in the one. Let’s remember that God sent his son, Jesus, the one, and the world was forever changed.
It’s incredible to know that God can use one person to impact a generation, see history changed and see many come to know the one, Jesus.
When we think of the disciples, it’s not often that Andrew comes to mind first. Usually we would think of John, Peter, James, or maybe doubting Thomas! But most of us wouldn’t think of Andrew. Why is this? Well, it’s because Andrew isn’t very well known scripturally speaking, in fact Andrew is only mentioned 12 – 13 times compared to his brother Peter who is mentioned over 150 times. But it was in fact Andrew who would declare first out of all the disciples that Jesus was the Messiah (John 1:41). And it was Andrew that led a man by the name of Simon to Jesus (John 1:42) who Jesus renamed Peter, who Jesus said, ‘upon this rock, I will build my church’ (Mathew 16:18).
There is power in the one.
Many of us can relate to Andrew. Most of us will never be known outside of our peer group, most of us won’t be famous or have volumes of books written about us, most of us will serve Jesus with our lives with no fanfare to our name, we’ll serve with no great celebration connected to it.
The point is, there are a lot more Andrews within the church then there are Peters and Pauls. And for some reason we can think that we need to be Peter or Paul for God to use us, but as we see in scripture, its people who decide to follow Jesus and to serve him, to bring people to him, that God will use to change the lives of many.
Jesus is not only interested, but He’s in need of using you!
DISCUSSION
Share a story about the power of ONE that’s made an impact in your life.
What does discipleship look like in your life now? Are you being discipled? Are you discipling someone? Why/Why not?
It’s incredible to know that God empowers us with the ability to significantly and eternally impact someones life and the generations that follow. Share what this means to you and how you can influence others with the message of Jesus.
What are some challenges we can face when sharing Jesus? How can we overcome them?
Share a testimony of how you have shared Jesus with others. What is your favourite or go to way of sharing Jesus with others?
ACTION
The disciple Andrew was so crucial to Simon becoming Peter, and the church spreading across the world. And we need to understand how crucial it is that we get that Jesus is wanting to use us here and now.
Andrew went to find his brother.
He shared what he discovered.
Then Andrew brought Simon to Jesus.
He went, he shared, and he brought Simon to meet Jesus.
And then a transaction took place. Jesus looked at Simon and said, ‘You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas (which translated means Peter).
The meaning of the name Simon is listener, the name of Peter is rock.
Jesus changes Simon’s name from listener; being influenced, to Peter the rock; now an influencer. And unless we are close to the one Jesus, and know who He calls us, we will always be on the receiving end and not the influencing end of giving people the answer to their every need.
This passage of scripture in John shows us the power of one. We could say that Andrew was Simon Peters one.
And for us as followers of Jesus, first and foremost we need proximity to Jesus, and then we realise through the proximity that He is asking us to have proximity to people.
Two simple questions for us to keep coming back to this year.
Am I following the ONE?
It’s interesting in this passage of scripture that Andrew has to stop following someone (John) to follow Jesus. So, let’s ask ourselves, who or what am I following?
Am I sharing the ONE?
Am I keeping Jesus to myself, or am I sharing how good he is and that they can have him too?
When we follow Jesus, we can’t help but tell other people how good He is.
This year let’s be people that get closer to Jesus, and closer to others.