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As I have studied the twelve apostles of Jesus and become better acquainted with their character, personalities, and identities, I must confess that I like Andrew most of all. He is my favorite disciple of the twelve, and if I had to choose one to be like, it would Andrew that I would want to most emulate in my life. Some of the disciples -- like Judas Iscariot -- are a sorrow to preach and teach about because of their negative outlook or traits, but Andrew is a joy to talk about because Andrew is distinctively different than all of the other disciples. Amidst John and James’ desire for position, Peter’s ups and downs and Judas’ treachery, Andrew is a breath of fresh air.

Compared to some of the other “main character disciples” we have only a few glimpses of Andrew in scripture, but these glimpses all consistently develop our impression of this Apostle. Besides the four lists of the twelve, we have five times in scripture that Andrew is mentioned by name:

1. His first meeting with Jesus and bringing his brother Simon to Jesus (John 1).

2. The call of Jesus to Andrew and Simon Peter on the shores of Galilee for them to

leave their nets and follow Jesus full time (Matthew 4; Mark 1).

3. Involved in the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand (John 6).

4. Involved with introducing the Greeks to Jesus at the feast (John 12).

5. With Peter, James, and John on the Mt. Olivet asking Jesus about prophecy questions

(Mark 13:3)

These brief glimpses work together to teach us great lessons from the life of Andrew.

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Andrew was raised on the sea of Galilee in the city of Bethsaida and along with his brother, Simon, was a fisherman by trade. Their father was named Jonas and as he never surfaces in the scriptural stories, most scholars think that Jonas was deceased by the time Jesus began His ministry. From scripture, we know that Andrew lived with his brother Peter and Peter’s wife in a house near the sea, probably in Capernaum (Mark 1:29). We do not know if Andrew ever married or not.

We first meet Andrew not in Galilee around fishing boats, but in the wilderness of Jordan where John the Baptist was preaching his fiery sermons about the coming of the Christ. Andrew along with the Apostle John was first a disciple of John the Baptist. Andrew is one of the few disciples that were looking for Jesus before Jesus was looking for them! Something about this fiery wilderness preacher’s message about a true relationship with God and preparing for the Messiah touched a passion within Andrew and so he would leave the nets and the business of fishing often to come and listen to the Baptist’s teaching and preaching. That he was a disciple of John, means that Andrew had been baptized according to repentance and prepared his heart to meet his Savior. God will never turn away a prepared vessel, and so his destiny was to have his hunger to know the Messiah fulfilled in a way probably beyond anything Andrew ever imagined. It’s one thing to meet your hero and your hope, but it’s quite another to be invited to live with Him for three years and to be commissioned and empowered by Him!

Thank God for His seeking and saving that which was lost and thank God for those who are here because God went looking for you! Some of you are here only because God went into the pit to help drag you out and in the midst of a life completely ignorant to the plan of God you heard the sweet call of the Savior calling you to something greater. Thank God for that!

Thank God for those whom God sent somebody to tell you about truth and this great Savior, and their testimony stirred up a desire and a hunger within you that you did not even know existed previously. Thank God for His sending someone to you to be the “salt of the earth” and to cause a spiritual thirst in your life that had previously been missing.

But in all of that, let us never forget that there are some “Andrews” out there who are looking for their Savior already. There are some “Andrews” that -- well before that day of destiny where they would come face to face with truth and His revelation -- they have been seeking Him! Let us never forget that there are some “Andrews” who although they have not yet had the opportunity to really see Jesus for who He really is, they have been preparing their hearts and living a life unto repentance awaiting the day that He reveals Himself mightily!

John the Baptist’ ministry is a good type of someone mightily anointed by God but not having the complete truth of Jesus Christ. John began his preaching without even knowing the name of One who was to come. He led people as far as repentance and his water baptism was simply an outward showing of that repentant heart, but had no real spiritual merit. That is why when Paul found twelve disciples of John the Baptist in Ephesus in Acts 19, we find that he rebaptized them in the name of Jesus Christ and then prayed them through to the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. They had gone as far as John could take them: repentance.

There are denominations and preachers today that have a mighty ministry, but unfortunately only lead their disciples as far as John the Baptist did. They lead people to a place of repentance. They baptize people in water but it is not with the revelation of the name of Jesus. And so like the men in Acts 19, they have not fully grasped everything that God has for them and need to go on and get baptized in Jesus’ name and receive the Holy Ghost. Certainly we must not go backwards to their limited revelation of truth, but we must also remember that there are many “Andrews” in those churches who are seeking truth and seeking all that Jesus has for their lives, and for whom Jesus will use those denominations to get them ready to receive the truth on that blessed day that they are exposed to everything else that God has for them! Before we bash people who have not received all of the truth, let us never forget that there are some “Andrews” who have obeyed that form of doctrine because it all that they know, but inside they are sincerely seeking more and there will come a day where truth and further illumination will find it’s way to their prepared vessel and they will hear the truth about who Jesus Christ really is and remission of their sins through being baptized in His name, and they will receive the Holy Ghost and go on to an Apostolic ministry! (Andrew started life as a “Baptist” but he finished as a tongue-talking, anointed Pentecostal!) As I look around here, I see a few “Andrews” of whom God used partial truth preachers to get your heart ready for everything else that He had for you! Thank God for that; Thank God for the Andrews!

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Upon finding Jesus and becoming His disciple, the first thing that Andrew did was go get his brother, Simon, and bring him to Jesus. This Simon would be nicknamed “Peter” by Jesus and would become the leader of the Early Apostolic Church and the leader and spokesperson of the twelve Apostles. But let us never forget that Peter would have never been there to preach on the Day of Pentecost and see the thousands receive the Holy Ghost if Andrew had not first led him to Christ. The overwhelming trait of Andrew is that every time we see him, he is always leading someone to Christ and introducing them to his Savior. He consistently is always sharing Christ on a personal level and leading someone to know Jesus as he has known him.

After his brother, Simon Peter, came to God we find that Andrew is overshadowed by Peter’s accomplishments and position and yet Andrew never screams “unfair” or is jealous. In fact, when Peter was preaching that powerful first sermon on the Day of Pentecost, we find that Andrew is a part of the eleven who stood with Peter and supported him.

There are some people who will not play unless they are in the “first chair.” There are some people like James and John who although sincere Christians and called of God and good people, get power hungry and let the thought of a position or authority consume them and then get offended and mad if someone else is chosen for the position of honor. Not Andrew. This humble servant of Christ never asked for special position, never got jealous of those who received it and just consistently kept leading people to Jesus. Despite being the first disciple of Christ, Andrew did not get chosen to be in the “inner three” shared by Peter, James, and John and yet his honor and glory will be received in heaven as evidenced by the multitudes of people whom he first introduced to Jesus! Andrew did not have time to squabble about positions in the kingdom when there were so many people who were not even in the kingdom in the first place! Oh, that so many men and women who desire greatly position and prestige in the kingdom of God would put that effort and energy that they are expending on self-exaltation and apply it to winning a soul! We need not duplicates of Simon Peter because there can only be one top authority and we certainly need not duplicates of Judas Iscariot. But oh that we would have more duplicates of Andrew in our churches, people who are not power hungry and who care less who gets the glory but just are consistently intent in all areas of life to bringing soul after soul to meet Jesus!

Every time we see Andrew in the scripture, he is the same Andrew that we have seen before. His life is not as others tend to be: up one day and down the next. We do not find him as we find Peter proclaiming the deity of Christ one moment and cursing Him and denying Him the next. Peter is one moment on the mount of transfiguration and the next being called “Satan” and rebuked by Jesus. Every time Peter’s name pops up in scripture you don’t know which Simon Peter this is going to be: the Peter boldly proclaiming Jesus to the Gentiles in Acts 10 or the Peter being rebuked by the Apostle Paul for being two-faced to the Gentiles when the Jewish leaders were around. But not Andrew. Every time we see Andrew it is the same Andrew. Humble. Faith filled. Always bringing someone to Jesus. When the other disciples see an impossible situation with 5,000 men and women and children needing to be fed in the wilderness, it is Andrew who finds the young boy with the sack lunch and just brings him to Jesus! When Philip is unsure whether or not to allow the Greeks at the feast to meet Jesus, it is Andrew who introduces them to the Master and makes sure that their wish is fulfilled!

And yet throughout scripture we have not ONE record of Peter winning an individual to Christ one on one. Within this fact lies the difference between up and down Christians and those who are faithfully steady: Those who like Andrew would be faithfully steady are those that live their lives for the sake winning others and touching others. Those who like Peter tend to be wishy-washy and up one day and down the next are usually those who are living for themselves only and for their personal blessings and personal salvation only. Constantly leading people to Jesus brings a stability and a lack of selfishness that doesn’t leave much time or consideration for pity parties and dark, dark valleys of despair. After all, if you stay down too long, then you might miss the opportunity to win somebody else, and that wouldn’t do when like Andrew, that is your primary focus of life!

There are several indirect clues in scripture which seem to reveal that Andrew was very instrumental in bringing Phillip to Jesus also. The scriptures record in the first chapter of John that Jesus found Phillip and called him. But throughout scripture there is a constant link between Andrew and Phillip. Phillip’s calling is recorded immediately after Andrew’s story in John. In two of the four lists of the twelve, Andrew and Phillip’s names are together. When Andrew brings the little boy’s lunch to Jesus at the feeding of the five thousand, it was immediately after Jesus had asked Phillip what they should do. When Andrew leads the Greeks to Jesus at the feast in John 12, we find that the Greeks first approached Phillip and then Phillip brought them to Andrew who led them to Christ.

Realizing this principle in scripture helps explain that while in every other case in scripture when Peter and Andrew are mentioned together, Peter is always mentioned first, and yet when talking about the call of Phillip we read:

The only time that Andrew is mentioned ahead of Peter is in talking about the call of Philip! This seems to indicate to us that Philip was a friend primarily of Andrew and it was the influence of Andrew’s testimony that led Philip to respond correctly to Jesus’ “follow me.” And so, as we have already studied, Philip immediately went and brought Nathanael Bartholomew to Christ. Andrew also brought Simon Peter to Christ. We also find Andrew and Peter working with James and John on the shores of Galilee when the call to commit to Jesus full-time went forth which leads us to the conclusion that knowing his personality, Andrew had a hand in influencing or directly bringing six of the twelve disciples to Christ (including himself, whom he brought also!)! And so through scripture we can trace a tree of converts ever widening and yet finding it’s root in the Apostle Andrew. Every person that Nathanael Bartholomew ever won to God could find their spiritual roots in Andrew who helped influence Philip who won Bartholomew. Every one of the thousands of souls who were saved as a result of Peter’s leadership and Peter’s preaching, and even the thousands of souls that have been filled with the Holy Ghost after reading Peter’s sermon in Act 2, can all find their spiritual roots in the Apostle Andrew who won Peter to the Lord. Every Gentile who has received the truth of who Jesus Christ is, can find their spiritual roots in the conversion of Cornelius in Acts 10 won by Peter who was won by Andrew and in the Greeks whom came to Philip who came to Andrew who took them to Christ!

The lesson of Andrew’s actions in bringing the little boy’s sack lunch to Jesus is that we should never underestimate the power of little when placed in Jesus’ hand! And such a theme is the motif of Andrew’s life. He never preaches to thousands like his brother, and yet continues to win one after one after one and handful after handful after handful of people to Christ. And the scoffers might be disheartened and say “with all the lost in the world and all of the billions, what good is just winning them one at a time?” But Andrew’s life is proof that a faithful soul winner winning one and then winning another one and then winning another one will one day stand in heaven with thousands and millions of people in their spiritual family tree all rooted back into that one soul winner! Keep winning people, Andrew, because your next convert might be a Simon Peter who will pray through the thousands, or it might be an Apostle Paul who will single handedly turn the world upside down for Christ! The one person that you won today may one day give birth to a special called prophet of God who will usher in Christ’s second coming with a mighty revival! But you’ll never know, unless like Andrew, you just keep winning people to God! Never underestimate or make light of the little when you are doing it for the kingdom of God because the Master has a way of taking little and breaking it and multiplying until it become much!

And I want you to take all of this in with one more piece of information: the very name Andrew means “manly.” The God-given role of men in the church is to be soul winners on a one on one level. If you are a man, then God has called you to be involved in bringing people to Christ! If the greatest personal evangelist who ever lived was named “manly” then that tells me that the greatest calling that a man can fulfill is that of leading people to Christ! In 1 Timothy chapter 2, Paul wrote about the responsibilities of the men and the women in a church and to the men he wrote:

The men are to “in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.” In other words, everywhere they go, and whatever they are doing, Godly men are to be a public example for all to see of Godliness and what a man should be. If you are a man, then you should know that others are watching you because of the leadership calling that God has placed on your life. But how many men use that leadership quality to show their kids how to be lazy and spiritually ignorant and prayer less and inconsistent? It’s no wonder that’s how their kids turn out! It’s not the woman’s responsibility to be the spiritual example of the house, but the man’s responsibility and you will give no better example of how to live for God, men, than if your wife and kids see you actively winning someone to God and always looking for an open door to lead someone to Christ as you have found Him! Like Andrew teaches us, soul winning is a very “manly” thing to do!

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Since it is impossible to talk about Andrew and not talk about soul winning, let me point out some important things that personal soul winning brings into a persons’ life beyond the joy of seeing someone come to Jesus.

In our text, we read about Andrew bringing the boy’s lunch to Jesus at the feeding of the five thousand:

I’m going to probably contradict some preacher’s opinion here, but it seems somewhat obvious to me from this passage, that Andrew did not have in his mind’s eye Jesus using the small lunch to feed everybody as He did. He asked “what are these for so many people?” That implies doubt. That statement implies uncertainty. I do not believe that Andrew looked around after Jesus had said “we need to feed these people” and then found the little boy with the sack lunch, but I think that Andrew had already been talking to the boy about Jesus and had noticed his sack lunch in casual conversation long before the need of feeding the multitude came up. Jesus never looked around and asked His disciples for help, but had spoken directly to Philip. I think that Andrew just happened to be bringing the boy to meet Jesus when the discussion came up. In other words, I think Andrew just happened to be there at the right moment with the boy and the sack lunch simply because he was bringing the boy to meet Jesus and not because he expected Jesus to do the miracle that He did.

You see, even Andrew couldn’t envision the miraculous, but his habit of soul winning happened to do something that Philip and the other disciples failed to do: it brought something for Jesus to work with. For God to do a great miracle, He must first have something to work upon! For God to bless something, He must first have something in His hands to break! I think Andrew was just leading the boy to introduce him to Jesus and happened on the conversation and said “food?” this boy has food but it’s not much. His habit of soul winning placed him unknowingly in the position for the miraculous.

For a miracle to take place, there must first be a need. And when you bring people to God, you are bringing a bunch of needs and issues to God’s feet and you are setting yourself and others up for a miracle! If you want God to move mightily in our services, then fill these pews with those who need God to move mightily. If you want to be a first-hand witness to the great power of God working in someone’s life, then bring somebody to God who needs that great power of God working and who desires to meet Him! You are setting yourself up for a miracle!

The boy not only got to meet Jesus, but got to know Him in an unforgettable way! I believe both the boy and Andrew saw more than either of them were expecting when they first began to make their way to the Master! And it will be the same with us if we will get in the habit of constantly bringing people to Jesus: Jesus will far exceed their and our expectations!

In John 12, we read of a group of Gentiles, the Greeks, coming up to Philip asking to see Jesus. For some reason Philip was hesitant to bring them to Jesus and instead brought them to Andrew to see what he thought they should do. The issue was that the disciples had heard Jesus repeatedly preach that He had come to the Jewish people. They had heard Him refer to a Gentile woman as a “dog” who was without the covenant blessings of Israel. And so Philip was a little nervous to introduce the Greeks to Jesus because he was unsure how Jesus would receive them.

Let me point out that for the Greeks to be in the temple, meant that they were proselytes or Gentiles who had become Jewish in their worship and therefore were technically within the covenant. And yet Philip hesitated and was scared to step out on the unknown lest he mess something up. But Andrew, who was in the habit of soul winning, had no such fears and just marched the Greeks up to Jesus. Jesus’ response was “the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” and before the incident is over the Greek proselytes had not only met Jesus, but they have heard a booming voice from heaven that thundered down upon them! Again both Andrew and the Greeks had gotten far beyond their expectations from Jesus and yet it would not have happened if Andrew would have been afraid to bring them to Jesus and face the unknown.

We are afraid of what we do the least. I hate plumbing and dread it because I have very little plumbing experience. Some of you would faint at the thought of having to play a song on the piano in front of thousands of people. But it doesn’t make me nervous because I have done it often and am in the habit of doing it. What we are in the habit of doing, we do not dread or fear. You first felt nervous a long time ago when you first got into the driver’s side of the car, but most of you don’t even think about it anymore. What at first seemed a dangerous and demanding task, has become a routine habit. You get on the road and drive and don’t even realize where you are going.

If we would get into the habit of winning people and bringing them to Christ, then there would be no dread or fear of trepidation of the things of God. If you were in the habit of presenting Christ everyday and telling somebody about what God can do, then you would cease to be a nervous wreck. Andrew had made a habit out of ushering people into Jesus’ presence, therefore he was not sidelined by the doubt and issues that other disciples faced!

And let me say this: there are very few issues within a church that winning souls does not solve. Show me a church with major issues as to gossip and disunity and cliques and lack of prayer and lack of financing and lack of excitement and passion and I’ll show you a church that is full of individuals who have either never or for a long time not won someone to God. When you are raising babies, you don’t have time to fuss over trivial things! A habit of personal soul winning is a spiritual balm for church wounds and issues!

The only other unique mention of Andrew is in Mark 13 when Jesus began to answer their questions about some of the prophecies that He had just taught about the destruction of the temple and the end time. The scriptures say:

What strikes me so obviously is that Andrew is the one out of place in this group. Peter, James, and John have become the inner group of leaders in the twelve and it was Peter, James, and John who were taken privately to the Mount of Transfiguration by Jesus and it was Peter, James, and John who were allowed to come in to witness the raising of Jairius’ daughter in Mark 5. It was Peter, James, and John who went forward to pray with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His arrest. And yet, here, we find that privately we have Jesus and “Peter, James, and John and Andrew.” What is Andrew doing there?

Some Bible scholars believe that because every time we see Andrew, he is leading someone to Christ, that Andrew is there because when the three of Peter, James, and John had questions, they were hesitant to go directly to Jesus and ask them and Andrew said “c’mon let’s go!” Could it be that the fantastic prophecies of the Olivet Discourse were only given because someone who was in the habit of bringing people with their questions to Jesus said to some hesitant disciples “let’s go find out?”

Whether that is true or not, it’s obvious that Andrew -- despite not being in the upper three of anointing and leadership in the church -- finds himself privy to the great revelations that are being shared with the top by Jesus! And so never forget that a habit of personal soul winning will elevate you to revelations that are beyond your anointing and calling and will get you further in God than you ever dreamed or even asked!

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Scripture is silent about Andrew after the Day of Pentecost, but traditions and history are rich in tales of the impact on the kingdom of God that he made after receiving the Holy Ghost. Tradition states that Andrew traveled through Asia Minor to the south side of the Black Sea where he preached to a cannibalistic tribe and also saw many miracles performed. Tradition then states that Andrew continued carrying the Gospel in what is modern day Russia and Scotland.

The traditional story of his martyrdom is that Andrew was crucified on an X shaped cross in Greece around A.D. 60. The wife of the governor was converted by the preaching of Andrew and the Grecian ruler, trying to get his wife from this “new religion” ordered Andrew hung upon the cross. Tradition says that Andrew hung alive on the cross for two days and through the pain and agony constantly exhorted and preached to those who came to see him and passed by that they should come to Christ and flee their idolatry and allow Jesus to change them. Tradition goes on to say that the Grecian governor, called the Consul, was so moved by the scene of the dying man still pleading for people to come to Jesus that he started to remove Andrew from the cross, only to be shocked when Andrew prayed “Oh Jesus Christ, let not thine adversary loose him that is hung upon thy grace.” The Consul let Andrew stay on the cross and he died soon after, to the end doing his best to bring someone to Christ!

And yet, God desires that the attitude of Andrew and his example to be duplicated throughout His church today! May someone be like Andrew and let Jesus change them until they develop the life-long habit of winning people to Christ! May God raise up manly men who will be faithful in spiritual matters and care more for lost souls than their own position or power or prestige. We could use more “Andrews” in the church of today!