John chapter number one this morning, John chapter number one. When the Lord, you know how we are sometimes, Brother Brian. We ought to have enough sense as long as we've been in this thing, just to follow the Lord. And when God laid this on my heart, as soon as he said it was I said, Lord, I'm not sure if I've ever preached this here before. And the Spirit of God said, well, they've sung Amazing Grace here before. And they're still singing it. And folks still getting blessed. So I want you to open your Bibles to John chapter number one. And we'll begin our reading in verse number 35. I'll try not to preach long, that was a longer runway than I anticipated, but I was just trying to follow the Lord, amen. And again, the Bible said again the next day after John stood in two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, saith, behold the Lamb of God. And two of his disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus. Notice they heard John speak and then they followed Jesus, not John. I want my life to lead somebody else to follow Jesus, amen. Then Jesus turned and saw them following and said unto them, what seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, master, where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, come and see. They came and saw where he dwell, and abode with him that day, for it was about the 10th hour. And one of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, we have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted the Christ. Verse number 42 is our text, this first phrase. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, thou art Simon, son of Jonah, Now it shall be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, a stone. Verse number 41 said, or verse number 42 rather, in the first phrase says, and he brought him to Jesus. God to be our helper for just a few minutes, I'm gonna preach on that thought. Bringing others to Jesus. Bringing others to Jesus. Father. Lord, I'm very well aware of the fact that I cannot make real the truths of the word of God. It takes the Holy Ghost to do that. And Father, so I pray you'd help us one more time, anoint us one more time with your power and presence, Lord. For the next few minutes, God, give these people grace to hear what the Spirit of God would say unto the church. And Lord, we'll thank you for what you do. We'll praise you. God, give us, Lord, grace to have a renewed fervor for the souls of men. God to see them saved and to see them won to Christ for your glory and we'll thank you and praise you Lord for what you do in Jesus mighty name we pray a man and a man I want to deal with this thought this morning that that bringing others to Jesus, bringing others to Jesus. The latest statistics say that 90% of Christians in America who claim to be born again, Brother Brian, they will go the entire year and not win or tell one soul of Jesus. You know the reason I believe most of the time we're not burdened for those who are going across the sea to share the gospel is because we're not burdened for those across the street. So why in the world would we be burdened for those that are going across the sea? And may I say this with all due respect, there are some churches that all they do is foreign missions and they feel like they're doing their job because they're paying a missionary to go tell somebody else about Jesus. They're funding that missionary to go bring somebody else to Jesus, amen. Listen, Brother Stacy Shifford said that a lot of people are using missions as a way of subcontracting their labor for the Lord. And we'll pay somebody else to labor so we can just watch, amen. I'm afraid there's many doing that this morning. 90% of born again Christians in America will not tell one soul of the Lord Jesus this year. There are people in this room that if you were honest with yourself and with the Lord, you think that's what the preachers paid for. Well, we helped the pastor and he's in the ministry. Can I tell you, if you're saved by the grace of God, so are you. We're all supposed to be in the ministry. Those young people in this room that are saved by the grace of God, God did not put your friends in Brother Brian's path, he put them in yours. that you may tell somebody else about the Lord Jesus this morning. But 90% of people that know the Lord, that profess to know the Lord, they'll not tell one soul. And of the 10% that mention Jesus this year, they'll tell one person and that'll be all. And listen, politics is not the reason our country's going to hell. I'm glad God showed us mercy this election. I gave God praise on inauguration day. By the way, I'm not really concerned about whether you like it or not. Amen. He's probably not a saved man, but he's pro-America and he's pro-church. God granted us mercy, and I'll go on unless I kill it, but God's given us a window, a space of grace, Brother Brian. I believe that for the next four years, it will be easier than what it would have been to proclaim the gospel and do our best to bring others to Jesus. but who got elected is not the answer to this country's problem. The only answer's the gospel, amen. The gospel is the answer, but if we don't share it, nothing will change this morning. Will you bring anybody to Jesus this year? Paul said in I Corinthians 15, 34, Some have not the knowledge of God and I say this to your shame. In other words, he said, Brother Jerry, we are going to be held responsible for those around us that do not know Jesus. I want you to see first of all, there is a presence behind the bringing. before they ever left to tell somebody about Jesus. They met the Lord and they wanted to know about where he dwelled. And he said, come and see. And the Bible said they abode with him that day. In other words, they were privileged to be in his presence. Oh my, you know what I've learned? If you ever really come and see, you'll go and tell. If you ever abide with Him, if you ever set this presence for Him, it'll be so wondrous, you won't be able to help it, but to go out and tell somebody. Come and see will lead to go and tell. There's a presence behind the bringing. If we ever learn to abide in his presence and we fall in love with him and sat at his feet, it'll be as natural as breathing to go tell somebody how good he is. Oh, that branch that abides in the vine. Y'all listen to me here. What you'll never find is a branch on a vine or a branch on an apple tree straining to bring forth fruit. Hey, when a branch is hooked into the vine, it just naturally brings forth fruit. And if we'll abide in the vine and stay in His presence, We'll bring forth fruit as well. There is a presence behind the bringing. And then I want to say there's a personal commitment behind the bringing. I may just preach a little bit of it this morning and preach the rest tonight. But the Bible does not say that they went and found Andrew's brother. And he brought him to Jesus and he first findeth his own brother Simon. My question is this, what are you going to do personally for the gospel sake this year? What am I going to do? Oh my, there's people all around me dying and going to hell. There's a boy that's moved into my neighborhood and he lives just right around the curve. I don't know his name, Brother Brian. I don't know if they're saved. I do know they visited a church or two around our area. He's in a wheelchair. He's lived there for over a year. I've never been to see him. Sometimes I see him out in his yard, Brother Jerry, and I know how hard it is to sit in something like this. And the only reason I can do it is Jesus. Sometimes I see him out in the yard and I say, I wonder if he knows Jesus. And the last time I said that to myself, the Holy Ghost said, don't you reckon it's time you went and found out? Door-to-door soul winning and going to people's houses and share the gospel used to be normal. It's foreign now. The world's still busy going to hell. But we're not near as busy being personally committed to tell somebody about Jesus. They told those stories about those two missionaries yesterday and I sat at the table and Brother Jerry, the Spirit of God, done sat down with us. We're trying to eat our lunch and I was crying so hard, Brother Brian, I couldn't do nothing. I was crying so hard. Finally, the waiter come over and he said, sir, are you all right? And I said, not really. He said, well, why? And I said, we're over here talking about multitudes dying without Jesus. And then I looked at him and I said, sir, do you know Jesus? Have you ever known the saving grace of God? He said, I don't know if anybody's ever asked me that. He lives in the buckle of a Bible belt, y'all. How many church people do you think he sees on the weekend at the Silver Bay? How many people do you think he runs into that knows Jesus and nobody has ever asked him, does he know the saving grace of God? Why is that, preacher? Because nobody is personally committed anymore to the gospel. to which we have been entrusted. Y'all do realize that the Lord Jesus has entrusted his church with the gospel. And I'm asking you this morning, are you personally committed? You say, preacher, I can't witness. Well, all a witness does is testifies to what they've heard or seen. Glory to God, I've heard his voice. I've heard the good news, and I've seen the power of the gospel through the jury in my whole life. I've been saved myself, and the only qualification there is to telling somebody how to be saved is knowing salvation yourself. And if you're saved by the grace of God, you're qualified, and you have a God-given obligation to be committed personally to the gospel yourself and myself. I'm gonna preach the second point and then we'll be done this morning. And I'm gonna preach the rest tonight. I'm gonna be real blunt. God's burdened my heart this morning. And if you didn't have plans to come back tonight, and you can, you just wasn't going to. I hope God makes your afternoon so miserable you have to. I make no apologies for that. My Lord have mercy. They're risking their lives in other countries to go and worship with the possibility of being martyred and we don't come back on Sunday nights because we don't feel like it. They're walking miles, Brother Jerry, to set in huts or in a cave in secret to worship the Lord Jesus and we've got padded pews and heated buildings and we want to stay at the house. Amen and you're welcome. Amen. By the way, the pastor said we're working on faithfulness. Can I ask you a question? If your pastor was as faithful as you are, would he still have a job? I'm following the Lord, so don't you blame none of it on him. I'm gonna ask you again. If he was as faithful as you are, would he still have a job? So why are you telling us all this? Because there's people dying and going to hell. And if we won't do the bare minimum of sitting in Jesus' presence at the house of God, we sure ain't gonna go tell nobody. I wanna say this and we'll be done for this morning. I want you to come back tonight. I'm gonna stay in this text all day. The Lord's done told me. Honey, will you come see if you can fix this wire? We're going out again. Pray they hurry with this new chair. We need them to hurry. Amen. I want to talk about one more thing and then we'll go home. Not only do you see that there should be a personal commitment to the gospel after being in the presence of Jesus, But there is the priority of bringing others to Jesus. The Bible said, Brother Brian, in verse number 41, he first findeth his own brother. How high is bringing others to Jesus on your priority list? We've all got a priority list, by the way. Written or unwritten, said or unsaid. We all have priorities. How high is winning souls on your priority list? How high is getting the gospel around the world on your priority list? Can you imagine, Brother Brian, being there when that young man asked the question, if you've had the word of God for that long, what's taking you so long to get it to me? Oh my. We're souls on our priority list. We know where they are on the Lord's. They're at the top. You and I, bound for hell, was such a priority to the Lord Jesus, he left the splendors of heaven to stay on this sin-cursed earth and be ridiculed and mauled and spit upon. so that we could be brought unto him. The Bible said that the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Don't you reckon his number one priority ought to be ours? We are Christians. We do want to be Christ-like. Oh my. When I went through what I did at the church, Brother Brian, I said to the Lord one morning, Lord, I did not expect to pay this high a price to see these people saved. And the Lord so sweetly spoke back to me, and he said, I knew how high of a price that I was gonna pay for you, and I still can't. Oh my! How high on our priority list of souls? We're about to find out. How many of us have, we're coming to the end of the first month of the year, it's already almost gone. That's how fast time passes. Just a few weeks ago, we couldn't believe 24 was over, and now it was January of 25, and now January's nearly gone. It's just us in here this morning. We're gonna be honest. How many people have shared the gospel with at least one individual either by a verbal witness or a gospel track in the month of January? One, two, three, four. Do you reckon we need, We're not trying to say that these four that could raise their hand are spiritual because we know how many opportunities we missed. Somebody help me. Guess what? That young man yesterday was the first person of the year. I'm not preaching this to you because I mastered it. I'm preaching this to you because it's right. It's right. Winning souls to Jesus ought to be our priority this morning. How many of you have ever had the privilege of seeing somebody either that you witnessed to or gave a tract to or invited to church saved in your lifetime? There ain't nothing like it. To know that you had a part in bringing somebody to Jesus, there ain't nothing like it. And if you've ever been involved in it and the Holy Ghost lives on the inside of you, you will not be satisfied until you're involved in it again. If you've ever won a sinner, there'll never be real fulfillment in your life until you're involved in winning somebody again. I believe you saw the need when I asked that question just now. I'm gonna ask the dear sister to come to the piano. I'm done for this morning. I wanna ask you two questions. Number one, as are you saved? Number two is if you are saved, who are you going to tell? Some of you have never told anything because you have nothing to tell. If the truth was told, you're religious, but you know you've never been born again. You know you've never been saved. And she begins to play whatever the Lord leads, every head bowed and every eye closed. I wonder how many of us can say, preacher, I know that I know that I know beyond any shadow of a doubt I'm saved by the grace of God. If you can say that this morning, would you raise your hand in testimony and praise to the Lord? You can put them down. Maybe you say, preacher, if I was honest, if I told the truth this morning, I'm not sure I'm saved. Pray for me. If that's you, would you lift your hand and let us pray for you? I don't know that if I died right now, I don't have total peace and I'm going to heaven, but I know I don't want to go to hell. Pray for me, preacher. If that's you, why no one's looking, would you just lift your hand and put it right back down? Say, preacher, I'm not sure I'm saved. Pray for me. Or by your own testimony, Everybody in the room saved. I pray that so. But if it is, only four people in the congregation have told anybody about Jesus. Oh, God help us. You might wanna come pray and say, Lord, somebody told me, help me to make telling somebody a greater priority in this year. Help me to bring somebody to Jesus. If the Lord spoke to your heart, I'm not gonna beg you. I know the Spirit of God's been speaking this morning. But if you know that you need to have a greater part in bringing others to Jesus in the coming year, would you come? Don't wait on nobody, come on. If the Lord spoke to your heart, these altars are open, you come. You mind the Lord this morning. You've got lost friends and family members that you ought to come pray and ask God to enable you to be a greater witness. Brother Donnie might want to come lead a song this morning, I don't know. If you've got something, come on brother. But there's some, how many of you would say I've got friends and family that are lost? I know they're unsaved. May I ask a legitimate question this morning? What are we still doing? If God has spoken to your heart, we'll stand, make it easier for folks to get out. If you would stand to your feet, and if the Lord's spoken to your heart this morning, you come. You come. Some are already coming. If the Lord spoke to your heart, would you trust him enough to obey him and come pray this morning? Oh, Lord, you got coworkers and family that need Jesus. Why don't you come talk to him and say, Lord, help me, God, to abide in your presence. Then I might go tell somebody. Come on, while he sings. I'm gonna go pray myself. There may be others that want to join me.