Place yourself on the Manual mode
Rev. Allan Kircher
Now I’m old enough to remember when the cars sold were all manual.
Manual brakes, manual transmission, manual locks, manual radio—you had to turn a knob to search for a radio station. Manual air conditioning—roll down the windows. I used to call it Aerobic style windows.
Remember the manual steering and manual brakes. How about the manual sunroofs---turn the cranks to see the sun.
Some of us may even remember the manual crank on the engine to start the car. Just kidding---I think……
Now over the years, cars slowly became automatic. We now have automatic seat adjustments, automatic windows, steering, brakes, automatic radio adjustments—even on the steering wheel for your convenience.
We have cars that automatically tells us when to change the oil, inflate the tires, change a module etc.,
Automatic transmissions now that shift precisely when it needs too. When I was in Arizona my son Jeffery rented a car that had a manual transmission but you were able to shift the car “manually” from the steering wheel with a button.
When you’re in a strange place you don’t even have to think anymore because as you know we know have GPS that automatically tells us when to turn and where to go.
Society has dramatically gone from being manual to automatic.
It is the reverse in our own lives as humans. We go from automatic to manual.
When you were very young, you automatically had your bathroom situation taking care of. You automatically were fed. Automatically you were placed in your crib.
Now as time went by you were gradually shifted to the manual mode. You had to eat yourself, go to the bathroom yourself.
Your relationships also shifted to manual. You have to make an effort in your marriage. You can’t rely on your spouse to automatically take care of all your needs.
Our Christian faith is the same way for us in our maturity. It goes from automatic to manual. Sometimes very quickly, sometimes very slowly.
The difference is we need to leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity.
We are a new Christian. We are saved. Amen the Grace of God has taken us from our destructive lifestyle. We have accepted Jesus into our heart.
The Holy Spirit is automatic when this occurs. We are spiritually bound to God in all things we do from this point. God has sent His Son into our heart.
Remember when you were first born into the kingdom of heaven. You couldn’t keep quite as far as what God has done for you. You had to tell everyone you could find. It was automatic. It automatically happened.
You acted different. You spoke differently, you felt different. Different from the world and all its miseries. And you kept that automatic Spirit for a time.
Now some of us have that automation lasted for a short time and for some us longer. But we need to switch to the manual mode in our walk with our savior. We need to enable the drive to continue to work in our lives.
You see, we need to realize that it is not our lives but Christ’s life in us.
1 Cor 5:15-17 tells us, “And He died for all, that those who live no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again, so from now we regard no one from a worldly point of view, though we once regarded Christ this way we no longer do for the old is gone and the new has come.”
You no longer exist. Allan does no longer exist. It is Christ in me that lives. I can assure you today if it was up to me and my ways I would be in the world.
If I rely on the automatic mode, I will fail as a Christian and disciple today.
God relies on me as His disciple and uses me as His instrument in this world.
I must not fail Him. Yes, I fall short everyday as the word of God tells us that “for all fall short of the Glory of God.” But we do not use that as an excuse as so many do.
We don’t say, “I’m going to fall short and sin” “I’m saved, I’m going to heaven anyway” if you are professing this you are not following God’s commands.
Jesus’ sermon points out vividly “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” “Blessed are the meek, the poor in spirit, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers.”
Are you blessed today by those attributes? Do you hunger and thirst for more of the Lord on a moment to moment basis? Do you strive to seek God’s will in your life?
His will is for you is for you to continually enable the power of God in all aspects of this short life.
Turn the TV off……turn the secular music off…..turn off the gossip, the strive, the envy, the backbiting, the nasty looks, turn off the world and live as you are a new creation and turn on the power of God.
Refining Christian Maturity is a 8 step program to open the hearts of believing Christians to enable the Spirit that dwells in you.
I pray that as a Christian you will want to visit starting in January Refining Christian Maturity. We claim nothing in our own will, but through God’s grace and love.
We all have that power. The power to move mountains in our life. You see Jesus’ brother James said you don’t receive because you don’t ask.
His will is to evangelize….the great commission that he set forth for all believers in His name. to proclaim the Gospel to all you have contact with.
Some will say we need discipleship….. and that is absolutely true. Discipleship is utterly important in your walk as a believer. Discipleship is the key to growth as a Christian.
But if we just rely on discipleship in this church we will die within ourselves.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit……….
But you see if we don’t go and make disciples we have no discipleship to occur.
It is perhaps the Christian’s greatest fear. Personal evangelism, sharing one’s faith with another person.
After all, I may not know what to say. They might ask me a question I cannot answer. I might fail. I am not gifted in evangelism. That’s the pastor’s job, isn’t it? I am afraid.
Indeed, witnessing is one of the most neglected commands in all of Scripture. While Bible reading and prayer are also disregarded by the average Christian, I dare to say that witnessing has to be the least practiced of the Christian disciplines.
When we consider the fact that Jesus’ final words to the church were a challenge to spread the gospel to all the world, it seems ironic that most Christians have never personally led another individual to Christ or shared their faith with an unbeliever.
You say, “Allan, I am afraid. I cannot think well on my feet.” You know what? There is not a Christian witness alive who has not felt the same fear at one time or another. We all have feelings of anxiety when we share the gospel with an unbeliever. So, fear is no real excuse.
You say, “Allan, I do not know what to say. I am afraid they will ask me a question I cannot answer. What do I say to someone?” We learn in today’s sermon a very basic method of evangelism. It is perhaps the simplest of all witnessing tools.
When you are evangelizing to others you are building your discipleship in your walk. You are reading the word of God, praying, meditating, and mentoring to those who you are witnessing too...
You become stronger in your walk, more confident of your faith. God is no dummy, He knew this and that is why it is the command He gives all believers. To evangelize.
When you begin sharing your story with others you are growing. Because you have to talk about God and use scriptures. You have to be kind and loving and God’s love is shown in your actions.
If God’s love and Grace is not evident in your own heart you will not be able to have that incentive to share with anybody.
You should never be in an extended conversation with anyone without mentioning somehow or some way of what God has done for you…..if you speaking to the lost.
This is the one reason we cherish Christian fellowship. For one reason, there is absolutely no fear of rejection of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Place yourself in the manual mode and begin delivering the Gospel to the lost.
* What are we truly seeking in our relationship with Jesus Christ? Recognition? Prestige? Popularity? What is our motivation? Motives reveal sincerity.
We can see in John 1:35-37, that John the Baptist displays the ultimate aim of the proper witness when he directs his own followers to Jesus. There is a transfer in the text from John to Jesus. John simply wants others to see Jesus, not him.
* As this world seeks for fulfillment and contentment, they search in the wrong places. They look to money, power, drugs, alcohol, sex, and other false avenues of contentment. They are searching in the wrong direction. Genuine and lasting satisfaction only comes in Jesus Christ.
What are you seeking this morning? Happiness? Contentment? Peace? Stability in a shaky marriage? Answers to life’s questions? Know that fulfillment is only found in Christ. He is the answer for the seeker.
Were we not called to be fishers of men? A fisher of men is someone who throws a lifeline to those thrashing in the sea of despair. In reality, the unbeliever is desperate to be rescued by the truth of God’s love and salvation.
Where would I be today if I didn’t have fishers of men that placed a call on my life?
God calls us into His harvest. If you are living in isolation from the world and the only friends you have are in your comfortable bible study, Wednesday night church get-togethers, Sunday school, Christian picnics you will never experience the joy of sharing your faith.
Your life will become dry because you are ignoring the call to work in his fields. You will lose a sense of vitality that comes from obedience to the Great Commission.
You see, the message of Jesus’ good news continues to ripple from one heart to the next.
This ripple effect washed into our own lives and will continue to flow to others. If you are obedient, eternity will expand to include those people to whom God has called you to tell the good news.
This is called lifestyle evangelism and it is when you live your life in a way that is open, vulnerable, caring, and matched by equal amounts of integrity and character.
This way, people will be fascinated by our differences and motives.
Jesus lived the perfect balance of lifestyle evangelism. He was willing to touch the untouchable, to love the unlovable, and to teach and correct the unteachable.
Everything Jesus did was based on his love for his Father as well as his love for others, so always be ready to give the reason for the hope within you (1 Pet. 3:15).
First Corinthians 13:1 says, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging symbol.
When is the reality of sharing our faith going to slam us in the face? I pray it doesn’t happen when you are in your last hours on Earth. What a shame to get on fire for God when we desperately need it.
Let me tell you brothers and sisters, in our society today….you need it now.
It is hard to share your faith when your love for others has grown cold.
That is why it is extremely important to place yourself on the manual mode and ask God to give you his love for others, to help you see the brokenness and pain, and to hear the cries.
All those Christian brothers who witnessed to me through their actions probably saw my brokenness and pain. They used God’s Spirit to evangelize to me in the way the Holy Spirit deemed appropriate.
We need to have that sparkle in our eyes that reveals the joy in our hearts.
Pray that you know and recognize the power of God within you. Ephesians 1:18-19 says, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know…his incomparably great power for us who believe.”
We need to be strong in the Lord and in his power. After all, we have the same resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead inside us!
We lack absolutely nothing. The only thing that holds a believer from the power of God is his true saving faith in the blood of Jesus.
Place yourself on the manual mode and continually submit to Jesus as Lord of your life and confess your sins for their forgiveness so that you do not quench the power of the Holy Spirit who is at work in the lost person and in you.
Evangelism is an open invitation to spend time getting to know Jesus. Jesus said come with me and you will see.
A call to a relationship, a call to discipleship, a call to have your eyes opened to God’s truth.
A call to come is a call to transformation through following Jesus Christ.
The disciples answered the call and came, and sure enough, their lives were transformed.
You spend time with Jesus and you will not be the same.
Andrew realized that he must share his good news with his brother, Simon. Immediately (“first”), he finds his brother to share with him the wonderful news: We have found the Messiah.
Every time we see Andrew in John’s Gospel, he is helping others get to Jesus: here in John 6:8—brings a lad to Jesus; 12:22—brings Greeks to Jesus.
Andrew was an aid/helper to bring others to Jesus. While Andrew never received the attention of his brother Simon Peter, he was faithful to fulfill his calling.
He brought others to Jesus. He was not in the spotlight, but he was faithful to bring others to Jesus. He did not receive the recognition of some of the others, but he was committed to bringing others to Jesus.
We need some Andrews, some people who will be committed to bringing others to Jesus. We need some older Andrews, and some young Andrews, and some teen Andrews, and some mom and dad Andrews, and g-mother/g-father Andrews. We need some Deacon Andrews and SS teacher Andrews. We need people that are committed to bringing others to Jesus.
Can you picture Andrew? “I have to tell Peter. I have to tell him my news right now.” And Andrew is excited to share this news with his brother Simon. I have found him. I have found the Messiah. He is here and we have found him.
Guess what? You have found him also….He is right there in your heart.
In John 1:42 he brought him to Jesus, that says it all. He simply brought his brother Simon to Jesus. That is all Andrew knew to do. Just get him to Jesus. Come and see. He pointed his brother to the one who could change him.
Being an Andrew does not involve fancy evangelism methods are memorizing lots of Scripture so you never make a mistake.
Being an Andrew means getting them to Jesus. “Come and see what Jesus has done for me.”
If he has done nothing for you, you cannot boast on his name to those who you meet.
Allow Jesus to make the transformation. You just be faithful to bring them to Jesus.
We cannot change people, but Jesus can.
We cannot make unfaithful spouses quit cheating, but Jesus can.
We cannot make alcoholics quit drinking, but Jesus can.
We cannot make drug addicts quit using, but Jesus can.
We cannot make abusive parents quit their violence, but Jesus can.
Our job is to get them to Jesus. Come and See!
Jesus calls Philip, evidently a friend or acquaintance of Peter and Andrew and Jesus bids him, “Follow Me.” Jesus came to seek the lost. That’s why he uses us now.
What does Phillip do? His immediate response was to find Nathaniel and testify of the same thing. He is saying, “Hey, Nathaniel, let me show you what Jesus is doing in my life.”
Now, Nathaniel is a little more skeptical. “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” he inquires. Nathaniel’s scathing question reveals the Galileans disgust with Nazarenes. Nathaniel has some prejudice issues. He does not respond in immediate faith. So what does Philip do? Give in? Shy away? Throw in the towel? Absolutely not! He does the only thing he knows to do…he replies, “Come and see.” I don’t have all the answers, but come and see. Your skepticism will not prevent my witness. Come and see.
And Jesus draws him in, “I saw you before you even came. You were sitting under the fig tree (could be a sign of studying the OT).” Jesus says, “Nathaniel, I know who you are. I know everything there is to know about you. I know what you think and where you go and what you do. Nathaniel, I know you. And I want you to follow me.” How do you think Nathaniel responds? That’s right, he places his faith in Jesus: You are the Son of God, the King of Israel. Only the Son of God could know this. You must be Him.
And when we bring people to Jesus, we are privileged to see God work on earth. We are given the opportunity to witness God working in the lives of His creation. God is revealed through His people. What a testimony!
If you are a believer, you have a prospect.
For John the Baptist, it was his disciples.
For Andrew, it was his brother.
For Philip, it was Nathaniel.
For you, it is someone different. It may be a family member.
It may be a friend. It may be a co-worker of a neighbor. But there is someone for everyone.
Recognize them. Think about them right now. Think about who God is placing on your heart right now.
Recognize your prospect. That person may be a seeker, someone searching for the answer. That person may be a skeptic.
Whoever they are, and whatever their attitude may be, recognize them.
They are your prospect. Each Christian has one. As a matter of fact, each Christian probably has many. But I want you to think right now of that particular one.
Recognize and refer. After you identify your prospect, your task is to point them to Jesus. Your words are simple, “come and see what Jesus has done for me.”
Many are searching. Many are skeptical. But whatever the case may be, your responsibility is simple: point them to Jesus.
John the Baptist did it: Behold the Lamb of God.
Andrew did it: We have found the Messiah.
Philip did it: We have found Him of whom Moses and the prophets wrote.
And you can do it. Point them to Jesus.
Point them to the Rabbi, the Great Teacher who has the answers to life’s problems.
Point them to the Messiah, the King of Israel, the one who came to provide hope for His people.
Point them to Jesus, the Son of Man, the one who lived the sinless life and died as a criminal for our sins.
Point them to the Son of God, God robed in the flesh.
Point them to Jesus and tell them who He is. Tell them what Jesus has done for you.
You must refer them to a person, the person Jesus Christ.
Programs are good, but they do not change lives. A moral lifestyle is good, but it does not change a person internally. Church is good. SS is good. But they do not change lives. Point people to Jesus. If we point them to Church and fail to get them to Jesus, we have failed.
If we encourage them to live a good life and fail to point them to Jesus, we have failed. If we feed their hungry stomachs but fail to get them to Jesus, we have failed.
We must refer them to Jesus. “Come and See.” That is the testimony of the believer. Refer them to a Person.
We should get people to Jesus b/c Jesus changes lives.
Jesus takes Cephas and makes him Peter.
Jesus takes the sinner and makes him a saint.
Jesus takes the drunkard and makes him sober.
Jesus takes the prostitute and makes her clean.
Jesus takes the spiritually sick and makes them well.
Jesus takes the spiritually blind and makes them see.
Jesus takes the dirty and makes them clean.
Jesus takes the unclean and makes them pure. Jesus changes lives.
I believe that is why Andrew had to tell Simon and Philip had to tell Nathaniel b/c Jesus changes lives. And when
Jesus changes your life, you want to tell others.
You want your family to know. You want others to know. You want to tell people about Jesus. Remember your purpose.
We need some Andrews and Philips. We need some believers who will determine: By God’s grace, I will bring one person to Jesus.
Can you imagine how Andrew felt seeing his brother come to Christ? Can you imagine how he felt when Peter preached at Pentecost?
Philip compels us to remember that God uses ordinary people to bring others to Christ. Others who may make a huge impact for the cause of Christ.
Determine this morning: I will bring one. I will invite my prospect to come and see. Evangelism is usually advanced one person to one person. One at a time reaching one at a time.
Edward Kimbrall, a SS teacher, led DL Moody to Christ in the back of a shoe store.
A Salvation Army worker led Billy Sunday to Christ on the curb in Chicago.
A lesson taught by a deacon on a snowy wintry night led to the surrender of CH Spurgeon to Christ.
Who was it that ultimately lead you to Christ?
Place yourself on the manual mode and share your faith with someone in need.
