STUDY No. 14 - LESSONS FROM ANDREW

SCRIPTURE BIOGRAPHY
The study of characters is of particular interest and useful to the Christian. In this the Bible excels over every other book! The writers describe their characters just as they were - they fear no displeasure, they conceal no imperfections, they spare no censure!

We are led into private lives, we contemplate people - ordinary people who, in greater or less measure, "walked with God". We can see blemishes which we are to avoid, excellencies which we are to pursue, advantages which we are to acquire and lessons which we are to learn.
As we think of ANDREW, the brother of PETER, we shall find the Scriptures become "a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path."

HIS ATTACHMENT TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST (John 1:29-40)

Andrew obviously loved the Lord.
"It is by exalting Christ, not the church; Christ, not the sacraments; Christ, not the ministry. It is by this Name that hearts are moved and sinners will turn toward God." (J.C. RyIe)
"Behold the Lamb...!"(verse 36)............
It is a pity that Isaac's question in Genesis 22:7 could well be put to many churches today!

HIS MESSAGE TO PETER (John 1:41,42)

There are two obvious lessons to be gathered here:
    • It was a SPOKEN message. Compare Luke 8:39 (show) with Mark 5:19 (tell!), then see Psalm 107:2. Let us be sure we not only show Christ by our lives, but speak of Him with our lips!
    • The message was SIMPLE . There was nothing difficult about it. It was just a quiet remark, such as we can all make: "We have found Him." (See 1 John 1:3)
How is your witness to Christ? Is it spoken? Is it simple?

Are you learning how to ponder over the verses?
To read a portion carefully is good.
To learn a lesson someone else has gathered is better!
To add to these some YOU have gathered is best! One simple way to do this is to ask yourself questions of each verse.

ANDREW'S ASSIGNMENT TO SERVICE (Matt 4:18-20, Mark 1:16-18)

The Lord "calls" people from all walks of life. Is He calling you? It has been said: "If you can possibly get through life without giving up your secular occupation, and going into (so-called) full time service, then do so". Is this true or false?
What an evocative expression - "fishers of men"! But we are all called to be this. We are all in full time service! How well ANDREW fulfilled his assignment, even before he was called. Or was he called because he was doing so?

HIS APOSTLESHIP WITH THE TWELVE (Matt 10:2, Luke 6:14, Acts 1:13)

Twelve is a very interesting number in Scripture: - twelve sons of Jacob; twelve princes of the children of Israel; twelve fountains at EIim; twelve stones in Aaron's breastplate; twelve loaves of shewbread; twelve spies sent by Moses; twelve stones from the River Jordan; twelve apostles, of which Andrew was one.

HE IS THE LINK BETWEEN A BOY AND A MIRACLE (John 6:9)

"There is a lad here." It was Andrew who knew that. What did the lad have? How did Andrew know? Where was Andrew's faith then? We see the greatness of the miracle - even Andrew could not see how the people could be fed!

HE GETS THE GREEKS INTRODUCED TO JESUS (John 12:20-22)

The disciples remembered what they were commanded at one time [Matthew 10:5]. But upon reflection they also remembered how non-Jews came into the picture [Mark 7:24-30 and Matthew 8:5-13]. And so they decided to tell Jesus. It is interesting to notice that it is always ANDREW who is getting others to the Master!

Have you ever noticed how one simple question which was asked by the Lord Jesus Christ led to the conversion of more than 3,000 people? The question is found in John 1:38. Andrew was present to hear that question. He began to follow Jesus. He then found Peter and told him of Jesus (John 1:39-42). On the day of Pentecost it was Peter who preached (Acts 2:14-41) and about 3,000 souls were saved!

There were obviously many more than this later through the ministry of PETER but the point is that there are "Peters" all around us today. There are the potential preachers to thousands, but where are the "Andrews" who will go out and tell them of Jesus?
[LINK] We can send you a useful booklet entitled "PERSONAL EVANGELISM TODAY" This contains six simple steps in reaching a friend for the Lord Jesus Christ.

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