John 15:5
Brandon Conard
I've had random hearts for a while because they'll get freed up, get the liberty to call you. The Lord said before life's night he's rolling around, I know God's gonna see him and we'll give him the liberty to ask him my life's not so I appreciate this man, I'm here to lift him up but I thankful we've got acquainted a couple of years ago with how God's blessed us to become friends and all of them and appreciate what he stands for and let's pray for him the minds that he comes and listen to what the Lord has for us. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. As the brother was reading this morning, I thought about what was taking place here. These are the first disciples, the first accounts here in the book of John that we find of Christ. He called them his disciples here as he come to Philip and said unto him, follow me. He said their Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter, and Philip found it in the Daniel. Say unto him, we have found him of whom Moses in the law. And the prophets did riot. He said, Jesus of Nazareth, and Philip said unto her, he said, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And I thought about what he said there, as he said to him, he said, we found the one that the prophets was talking about, the one that we've heard about from our youth. These were folks that knew, evidently knew the scriptures and knew what to expect. We find all through the scriptures and maybe we'll look in some other places here, that a lot of folks knew that there was a Christ to come. We read many accounts where folks knew that there was a Christ to come. They knew the teaching of Isaiah and all the other prophets and the words that was given there. And what I want to look at tonight is the response of Nathaniel there. As he said unto him, he said, can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? And I begin to think about the very words that he said I just tumbled in my heart when I heard it this morning and begin to look into this. I begin to think about what the scriptures even say about Christ. Let's look in the book of Isaiah there in the 53rd chapter. We find the prophet giving us a little bit of a look into the cross that is to come. In the 53rd chapter in verse 1, he said, "Who hath believed our report and lo, whom is the arm of the Lord revealed, for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground, he hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." And I thought about as Nathaniel said there, he said, "What good thing can even come out of Nazareth?" I tell you, I begin to think about who Christ was and the way that he come into this earth. Just an old lonely boy. I begin to think certainly he could have come in through a kingdom and set up a kingdom there and been born into royal priesthood. But I begin to think, you know, the Bible prophesied there many times that he would come through back for him. There he is in Nazareth, being raised up as a young boy. And these folks, they come about, and they say, "Here he is, that he's the son there, and he's come up in Nazareth." So they said, "What good thing is going to come out of Nazareth?" I begin to look a little bit into this city called Nazareth. I tell you, what much of a city? It was so much that this is the first account in the Word of God in the New Testament that you hear of. It is in the New Testament. You don't hear the city of Nazareth any time in the Old Testament. It was so small that they didn't even count it much. But I begin to think nothing. The Christ himself come, and it was raised up in a city that folks didn't think much of. And I begin to think that city as there is. I looked it up. It means it's a sprout. That's what the word Nazareth means. A sprout. It's just something that she's popped up. It ain't something that's real big, something that's well known of me. But yet, Christ came in a lonely old manger. They're in Bethlehem. And his parents raised him up in Nazareth. And here we find, as Daniel said there, he said, "What good thing ever came out of Nazareth?" And I begin to think, as the Prophet said there, that he should have no form or come with us. There's nothing about him that we should even desire him. And you're looking at that in a physical manner. I tell you, we see paintings and pictures sometimes of Christ. And certainly, I'm not saying I know what he looks like either. But it's said there that he should have no form or come with us. There's nothing about him that's pretty. There's nothing about him to be desired as man. I tell you, but I begin to think, here we live in a church age. And where he look around in the things of God, there's nothing to be desired as the things of God. And they say there, "What good can come out of that?" These folks down here meet on Sunday morning, Sunday nights. These folks meet on Saturday nights down there that meet with the years. "What good can come out of that?" I tell you, thanks, Peter, God, there's a Christ rose up out of Nazareth. One that was born. I tell you, out of dry ground is what I was saying. You say what you mean by that? I tell you, he is born of a virgin. I tell you, he was conceived of the Holy Ghost. And yet he was brought forth as a root out of dry ground. One had never been touched. One had never been messed with. I tell you, he was brought forth out of dry ground. He was brought forth in a way that we had never expected. And these folks, even in this day, never expected. But they were looking for him. And they said there, "What good thing?" And they said to him, he said, "We found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And the Daniel said unto him, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" And listen what Philip said unto him. This is where heart's been. Philip said unto him, "Come and see." I tell you, just bless my heart when I see that. Come and see. You know what he said? You know what? You're going to have to come and look at it yourself. I'm in the faint boy. If our folks just come and see. I tell you, this may look silly to a lot of people. This may look out of character to a lot of my friends. Oh, but if they just come and see. Now I tell you, there's one that's to be held. There's one that's lovely tonight. There's one that's precious tonight. There's one that has all power tonight. And if they just come and see. They'd realize why we get up on Sunday morning for the desire in our heart. They'd realize why we come on Saturday nights, the desire in the Word of God. They'd realize why we do the things that we do. Just come and see. And I begin to think. Boy, folks, just come and see. I begin to think of some things. I thought about some places in the Word of God we read about. I begin to think about that woman over there to well. You know what happens? She got the same. You know, she had a knowledge of him as well. She said there, sure. Maybe your son profit. She said we know that the cross is to come. She knew of all those things. She wasn't ignorant of the scriptures and the teachings and the Word of God. But yet, cross it under her. You know what? He said, if you'd have known that one that was a speaking to you, you'd asked me for a drink of the living water. You'd say, what do you mean by the living water? I'll tell you that he said to her. He said, well, I'll give you. He said, you dip out of this well. You'll surely thirst again. But that water that I give you be a well of water is springing up and everlasting life. You know what begins to happen? He begins to reveal him to her, her need for a Savior. He begins to reveal in her how wicked and how unworthy that she was. And I begin to think about that just a little bit. I'll tell you what he'd done for her was a wonderful miracle. And it was so much that she left her water pots there that she went right back into town. The Bible said she was saying to the men as she'd come along. Now, this was one that didn't want to be seen of folks. This was one that would come down in a different hour to dip out of the well. And yet she went on to the men and she said, come see a man which told me all things that I ever did. Come and see. Come and see. You know what happens? She got a little drink of the living water. She got something inside of her. I begin to think as his cross began to teach a man named Nicodemus over there. And he said to him, he said, you know what, you must be born again. If you're going to inherit the kingdom of heaven, you must be born again. So he began to marvel in his mind, begin to try to wrap his little mind around the things of God that he was teaching to him there. And he said, how can a man enter again into his mother's womb and be born again? And Christ said these things that I'll tell you are spiritual. He said, if I'd have told you natural things, you'd have certainly understood them. But he said these things that I speak unto you spiritual, but you must be born again. And I begin to think about the work of God that takes place in the heart of man. You know, it couldn't be said any better than it said there in the third chapter of John. Where Christ said you must be born again. That's what takes place in a man's life, in a woman's life, in a boy or a girl or whatever you have it. That's what takes place in their life is they get born again. A new life brought unto them. I begin to think, you know, folks look at the church and they look at the people of God and they look at the teachings that we teach and they think that it's crazy. They think that these things that we stand upon that they're absolutely crazy in today's age. And I tell you, if you were looking with a natural eye, I'm telling you, it sure looks crazy sometimes. You don't get in the spirits. You see a preacher up here, slobber, and I tell you it looks fun crazy. But I tell you what I begin to think of two million over there in the book of Acts. You know what begin to happen? Folks begin to see their boldness. And they seen that they were ignorant, none loved me, and how they had been with Jesus. I tell you they've been with one to one of Nazareth, the one that folks said, "What good can ever come out of Nazareth?" They had been with Him. And folks begin to take notice of that. As I thought about this today, come and see, come and see this man. I tell you folks that ever just get a look into the tomb where he laid. If folks that ever get a look and realize he's risen, I tell you that's a crazy thought even to man sometimes. And you know what? Out of that, what happened? The Bible says about that same spirit. If that same spirit that raised up cross from the dead, well in you, you know what he'll do? He'll quicken your mortal bodies. I begin to read over in the book of Romans there a little bit ago. And you know what he said? He said, "Should we, should we sin? Should we continue in sin?" He said, "The God forbid these things." But he goes on and he says, "You know what? He wants a servant sin." And he once was a servant to sin. He said, "But thanks be to God, but now since you've believed in the doctrine from your heart and you've believed on these things, now you're free from sin." He said, "What you once was a slave to sin." You know what I was? A slave to sin. I couldn't help it. It was in my nature. All I knew to do was serve sin. All I knew to do was serve this man. But you know what happened? I got to see somebody one Sunday morning. I got a glimpse of somebody that could change my life. And you know what he did? I bowed before him on that altar. And I got to see him for who he was. You know what happened now? I looked back into things that I once loved in this world, the sin that I once served. I despise those things. Why? Because I've got a heavenly Father. I've got one that I want to please. I've got one that I love and I would desire nothing more than to please him. I thought about that song as I was singing a moment ago. Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary. I tell you God help us that our hearts would get so pure that we could be a sanctuary. I tell you, what is this place? It's just a couple of walls in a building. I tell you, but it's a precious place. It's a place that we can enter into and worship the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. It's one, it's a place that we can come to and be praised by the Lamb of God. We desire that for our lives. But he said there, he said now that you're free from sin, he said you're made a slave if you will, the righteousness. You know what's hard? It's hard the way of a transgressor. The way of a transgressor is hard. I remember whenever I was lost, I tried my best to serve righteousness. I tried my best to walk it. I tried my best to live it the way that God would have me too. But you know what? It was hard being. I couldn't get to that place. I couldn't serve God the way that he had to be served. But I tried and I tried. And you know what I found? It was hard. I found this world drawing me and pulling me back to itself. I found this flesh designing the things of this flesh. But you know what happened one Sunday morning. God wonderfully saved me. He put a new song in my heart. You know what this song is saying? He picked me up out of the mighty clay. He put a new song in my heart. Even praise into my King. I tell you he done a wonderful work in my life. And I begin to think about these things. I tell you if our people just come and see him. Come and just get a glimpse of this. I wish there was somehow the folks in this community. And the folks in our community can see what it's like to have peace. What it's like to have joy. What it's like to have the pleasures of Christ and all the wonderful benefits that he gives us. I tell you he's been more than a friend to me. I tell you he's been more than a brother. I tell you what he's changed my whole life. He puts up in my heart and makes me love the people of God, makes me love the work of God, makes me love the Word of God. And I can't help but serve him. And the folks that ever just be able to see him. I thought about Isaiah over there. He said I saw the Lord, how I lifted up. And his train filled the temple. He said then said I know who was me. For I am unclean and I dwell among the people with unclean lips. And I begin to think about another place over there. There was a man. I don't guess the Bible really says his name but we refer to him often times as the maniac of Gudera. And you know what there is sometimes you hear him refer to as legion because he had a legion of barrels inside of him. But he lived among the tombs. And you know what God did? Christ pulled up on the coast of his coast one day. And he seen him down there far off. And he ran and he fell at his feet. And Jesus Christ out those demons out of him and they went into a bunch of swine out there. And we all know the story of those swine run off the cliff. And he come and they folks out of the town there and they got some man. They begin to run Jesus off their coast. They said you're going to have to get out of here. You're doing nothing but causing damage. You're going to have to leave. And what happened that maniac? I tell you they come back down there and they was marveled as they looked and he has clothed and in his right mind. I tell you this is a man the big Bible said oftentimes they chopped the chain of him down with feathers and chains. And he'd break those feathers. He'd break those chains. He goes up there and he's a cut in himself in those terms. In the scars it was upon him and all the things in his life. And I tell you that folks were scared to death of this man. And he said you know what? As Jesus began to get back on the bar when he said bid you that I could go with you. Can I just go with you? But you know what happened? Jesus told him he said no you know what? Go back up there to the town. Begin to tell the folks there all the wonderful things that I've done for you. And next time we find that cross pulled up to the coast there I tell you folks met him with open arms. I believe in some of the same folks maybe that run him off on that day was found there and they've seen the wonderful work that Christ done in this one man. I'm sure he is preaching the same thing. Come and see. Come and see. Don't just take my word for it. I thought about Thomas over there. You know what? He wasn't satisfied. They said you know what? He's risen. He's risen and Thomas said you know what? I'm not satisfied with that. I must see him for myself. I must put my hands in his side. I must see that for myself. God help us and our people. They ever just get a glimpse. Ever have a desire just to see him for themselves. I tell you what it changed their whole entire life. I tell you I've never seen him with these natural eyes. One of these days I have no doubt these eyes are not going to seem but he'll give me a set of eyes that can behold him. But there's been a few times I've got to see him. Can I tell you he's wonderful? He's lovely. He's all these things. I tell you he's the best friend. He's given me more than I ever thought that he could have given me the day that he saved me. The Sunday morning I got saved. I knew he was saving me from hell. I knew that God was doing a wonderful work. But I had no idea all the wonderful things he had in store for me were those things that look crazy in this world. We've had to make decisions before and not do things because of what Christ is to us. And sometimes those decisions and the eyes of our family and eyes of our friends look plumb crazy. Oh but if they could ever just come and see him. Come and see him. I tell you if you were here tonight you were lost. You've come seen. Don't take my word for it to have come and seen. I tell you what he'll do for you just like he done for these men in the Bible. Just like he done for me. I was talking to a stepmother of mine back of this some years ago that she began to talk and she's battling with addiction and all kinds of terrible things that's happened in her life since my father passed away. And she said you know what? She said I'm trying to get clean. She said but it's just hard. I said I don't know what the day was. I said I tell you what. I said find you a good Bible believe in church. You go sit under the doctrine of some good Bible believe in Bible preaching. I tell you what let God change your life. You get a glimpse of who he is. He'll change your life. She said it's not that easy. You don't understand. I said no I don't think you understand. I ain't never read over there where the cripples went around I ain't never went around there where the blind and Christ healed them and they're still reaching and feeling for things. You know what he did? They took up their bad walk. I tell you the sight of the blind was restored. I tell you what the heart of man restored under Christ and that's what God can do for her. That's what God can do for you. I tell you he can take the vulgar language out of somebody's mouth. I'll never forget I scared the death coming to church. I said you know what? I don't know the need that I could ever come and have a conversation without saying a cuss word here and a cuss word there. I tell you what Christ done. He cleaned up my mouth. He cleaned up my desires. He cleaned up the very heart of this man. He said well I don't know if I believe it that way. I tell you God this big move into something this small. He's going to make a difference in a life. I begin to think again about that woman over there at the well. You know what? He said if you drink of this well you'll surely thirst again. You'll desire to drink again this glass of water here before me. It only lasts so long. I can drink it now in him just a little while. Be thirsty again. He said but this well that I'll give you will be a well of water springing up in the everlasting life. Then I thought about what you said the other night about that bread cast upon the water. I tell you my bread ain't never got soggy. I tell you it ain't never fell apart. I tell you spend some time as I've got weak. And I tell you some folks that you don't want the flames flicker. But it ain't never went out. I tell you God put a burning fire within me. That ain't even never flicker. I tell you there's been some times that I've let my bushel grow up. They're not TA-proof things like I should have and it's dimmed a lot of God but it ain't never quit burning. It's a well of water springing up in the everlasting life. It's that that won't never go dry. It's that that'll last for all of eternity. One of the articles of faith you read that. He said these are the true believers. Those that endure to the end. I tell you God, as Duane Bram says, he'll put the stickin' stuff on you. He'll put something at a last. Something that you ain't got to go and look for next week. Again, I tell you he'll put something in there that'll last you all of eternity. You know what happens? It just gets sweeter. It just gets better. There's been times I've wanted to quit. We talked about a lot. You over there this morning to the adult class. There he was under the Jennifer Tree. The willows just give up. He said, "I'm all alone up here. Lord, just take my life." He is done with it. But you know what? God sent an angel by giving bread. God sent him by a second time giving bread. Brought him a cruise of water up there. He said, "You're gonna have to rise me." The journey's too long for you. He knew he wasn't gonna lay there and die. The lights would rose up and he found himself in a cave in a dark place. Still struggling. Still having a hard time. But you know what? That bread lasted him 40 days and 40 nights that second time. But you know what happened the next time? There was a still smile voice come by his way. What was that? That was a word of God. I'm thankful that God puts that down in here. I tell you, we can't just hang it up. We can't just give it up. I tell you, but God puts it down in the depths of the soul of a man. And I'm glad it's bigger than I am. It's bigger than you are. You say, "I don't believe it like that." I tell you, "It's much bigger." "Can I push past God's shore?" God gives us a free will. You want to push against God you can. But I tell you, just as he told our old son over there, it's hard to keep against the prince. I tell you, if he's ever took up his abode in your life, and he's king over your life, that's what he'll be. He'll be a king over your life. And I'm thankful one Sunday morning I got seen. You ain't never seen him come and see. Come and see. The woman over there said, "Come see a man." She told me all things. They were out there. She wasn't ashamed anymore. She wasn't ashamed that she was a Samaritan. She wasn't ashamed of all those things. What good could come out of it out of Nazareth? One more thing, the old just brought to my heart. What good could come out of my life? What good could come out of this man's life? I was rotten. I was filthy. I was as dirty as they come. An old Samaritan woman, she was so ashamed that she had come up to the well when nobody else was there. So ashamed. The brother read to us over there last night, Dean. You know what happened? He said, "You know what? If you want to redeem it, redeem it." He said, "There." He said, "You know what? If I redeem it tonight, it's going to mark my inheritance." I don't want that old man to know about around me. I don't want nothing to do with that. But thanks be to God. There's one that was able to redeem it. One that loved him her enough that didn't care that she was an old mobite woman. That didn't care where she had been. I tell you thanks be to God. There's a God in heaven that loves you enough. That loves me enough if our people could just see. There's not a sinner filthy enough. There's not one rotten and dirty enough that class cake cleans through. I'm glad that God loves us. God knows what we need. Come and see. Come and see what can... I tell you, there's good things coming out of Nazareth. There's good things. What is that? It's the Christ. It's the Christ. You read home there. You know what happens? He comes down to him. He says, "Before he even got there and he told him to send the family, he said, "I've seen you under the fig tree there." He said, "I already knew who he was." Daniel marveled at that, but you know what he said? He said, "Rabbi." He said, "Surely thou art the Son of God." The same thing Peter said to him over there. He said, "Who do men say that I am?" He said, "Surely." Men say that you're a great teacher. Men say that you're a prophet. Men say all these things. And they asked him, "S'is disciples again?" They said, "Well, who do you say that I am?" You know what he said? "Now art the Son of God." "Now art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Blessed art thou, Simon Bargeon, "For flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto you, but my Father, which is in heaven." See, let God reveal himself unto you. And when he does, come see him. Come see him for yourself. He'll make a difference in your life. I love you. It's the night thing that's all over the world. Man, I appreciate the word.