February 15, 2026

INVITATIONS: COME AND SEE

February 15, 2026

Senior Pastor Jonathan Falwell

February is flying by quickly, and March will be here in a heartbeat. Our church is preparing to knock on every door in Lynchburg and the suburbs, giving residents a Bible. That shouldn’t be a difficult challenge—but still, some find it intimidating. As the pastor taught today, all who are saved and enjoy a loving relationship with God through Jesus Christ should be excited about that bond. They should feel a constant desire to share Jesus with others, so those people, too, can enjoy such a relationship. We see evangelism in the Gospels spread as people realized that Jesus Christ was the long-awaited Messiah Israel had been looking for. As person after person met Jesus, they would run to friends, saying, “Come, and see! We have found the Messiah!” Charles Spurgeon once said, “You have never truly found Jesus if you do not tell others about Him.” We are constantly excited about movies, books, or places to dine; shouldn’t Jesus be a topic of excitement we all wish to share?

Focal Passage: John 1:35-51.

The Invitation to See:

  • Read John 1:35-39a. When John (the Baptist) saw that Jesus was coming near, what did he say? What did John say to his disciples? Two of them acted on John’s words. What does that mean? What would have happened if they had glanced up, then walked away? What happens when no action is taken?
  • What did two of John’s disciples do? Do you think John felt jealous? Read John 3:30. What did he mean?
  • What did Jesus say to the two? How did they answer? Did Jesus extend an invitation to them? When Jesus invited them to His ‘home,’ did they again have to take responsibility? What were their choices? Do we have the same choices today?
  • Can you think of a time recently when you pointed out someone nearby? Did you sound like Eeyore, or were you full of excitement? Since you know that Jesus is the Messiah, the One who saves, does your life draw people to Him?

Seeing the Obvious: 

  • Read John 39b-42. What do you think the conversation with Jesus was like? If you were in the same circumstance, can you imagine asking Jesus questions? Read Isaiah 1:18. Surely our prayers should be the same as when Andrew and the second disciple talked with Jesus for those hours, but are they?
  • When Andrew finished the conversation with Jesus, where did he immediately go? Why was his brother his first thought? Did Peter return with Andrew to Jesus’ house?
  • How do you see this responsibility: John the Baptist points out Jesus to Andrew and a second disciple. They go to Jesus. Andrew goes to get Peter, and they return to Jesus. Peter and Andrew are now 16.7% of the group of His disciples. Why is it important for you to tell one person to “Look (to Jesus)!”?

Seeing the Miraculous:

  • Read Jn. 1:43-51. What did Jesus say to Philip? Was that a command or an invitation? What was Philip’s relationship to Nathanael? What kind of conversation did Jesus have with Nathanael when Philip brought him to Jesus?
  • How did Nathanael react when Jesus gave him a short biography of his life? What did Jesus mean when He said that Nathanael was an Israelite in whom there was no deceit? Why is it hard to imagine a person so authentic that they have no deceit?

TAKEAWAYS:

Be Ready to See!   Be Ready to Listen!   Be Ready to Act!

Close: 

Can you even begin to imagine sitting in a room, listening to Jesus? If you were with Him, watching and listening, believing Him to be the Creator God come in the flesh, would you freeze up? That scenario is beyond imagination! Yet, when we pray, shouldn’t we be conscious of His deity, His God-characteristics? To understand He is willing to ‘reason’ together, shouldn’t we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He has known us from eternity past (Jer. 1:5), and He knows everything about us: our thoughts, intentions, actions, sins—everything (Psa. 139). He is with us at all times; He is everywhere, surrounding us with a bubble of love, protection, guidance—yet often we fight Him, wanting to go our own way, or do our own thing. Can we learn to relax in His love? Can we love Him so much as our Father that we want to share Him with everyone?

An English pastor, John Gill, writing in the eighteenth century, said a Syriac dictionary x stated Nathanael’s mother had placed her baby boy under a fig tree to hide him when Herod’s men came to kill the baby boys in Bethlehem when Christ was born. If so, Nathanael would have known Christ’s omniscience instantly, as surely his mom would have told him the story many times. If this is true, it explains Nathanael’s immediate reaction of praise and worship.

What joy it must have been to Andrew that Peter followed him back to meet Jesus! As the years passed, how glad Andrew must have been that he had brought Peter to Jesus, as he saw him preaching and helping lead the newly born church. Nathanael, though questioning whether something good could come out of Nazareth, went with Philip. How wonderful that was for Philip. And it should be for us, as well, if we led someone to the Lord, only to see them become a servant of God, impacting His Kingdom on earth! As we knock on doors in our town, may we have the joy to pass on our relationship to the King of Kings.

By Sandy Day

February 15, 2026

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