Come and See

Good to see all of you here today. Welcome to our visitors, those on the web as well. Let me thank Mrs. Schreiber. Beautiful rendition of that song. Every time you hear that song, it just kind of gives a peaceful feeling to you, doesn't it? The words to the Psalm 23. So thank you very much for that. Last time I spoke in Cincinnati, I mentioned disciples. Just a brief part of the sermon I gave back, probably about a month ago now.

And after services, a few people mentioned that we hadn't heard much about disciples in recent years, and so I thought I would talk about disciples again today. Disciples, especially in the New Testament, they have quite a place in it. You and I have a responsibility to be disciples, to make disciples, become disciples. So let me start off in a few places with the commission that God has given us, because the commission He's given us, all of us would say, it's preach the gospel and prepare a people, and that is absolutely true.

But when you look at Matthew 28, 19, if you want to turn there, or I will just read it to you, this is the way Christ says the commission in that in Matthew 28 verse 19, He says, go therefore and make disciples, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. We know that the church teaches all the things that God commanded us, or that Jesus commanded us to observe. We're supposed to make disciples too, you know, to coin a phrase from another minister who you've heard the phrase before, we have to be disciples before we can ever make disciples. But that's one of the things that God has called us to do, and one of the commissions that God wants us to do as His church.

You're certainly preaching the gospel, the message of the kingdom of God to all the world is certainly something God has done. In Mark 16 verse 15, He says, preach the gospel to every creature.

And in Luke, if you want to turn back to Luke 24, he also talks about the commission that Christ gave us in Luke 24 verse, and I'm going to begin it in verse 45 of Luke 24. Luke 24 verse 45 says he, speaking of Christ, as he was talking to the disciples there before he was taken up into the clouds before the day of Pentecost. It says, he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. And he said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. And that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in His name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. So preach the gospel of the kingdom of God, as a witness to all nations. Make disciples of all nations preach the gospel of repentance and remission of sins to all nations. Certainly there is the hope of the kingdom of God that God has called us to. You know, as we live in a very troubled world today that we can see getting worse and worse and worse, as I often say, you can kind of see what is going on. We know exactly the direction this is going. We know what the end of it is, and we know that the only salvation from the world as it's spinning out of control today is Jesus Christ's return. Preach that good news, but along with that good news has to be repentance, remission of sins, and making disciples. That would include you and me because we've been made disciples. I'm going to say everyone here has become a disciple, but we are also supposed to make disciples because God adds to His church, the people He brings into it, the people that He calls need to be disciples or become disciples. Let's ask the question, you know, what is a disciple? What can we do to make disciples? What could we possibly do to make disciples? It's God who calls. It's God who opens the mind. It's God who puts the Holy Spirit in people so they can understand, so they grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ so they produce the fruits that God wants. What could we possibly do to make disciples and fulfill that commission that God said? Well, let's go back and just review a couple of scriptures on what it means to be a disciple so that we have that in our minds. We're here in the book of Luke. Let's go back to Luke 6. Luke 6 and verse 40, just so we're straight on the definition here. We don't need to turn to a dictionary because Christ Himself talks about what it is to be a disciple. In Luke 6 and verse 40, He writes, A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.

Well, we know our teacher is Jesus Christ, and we know that we're here in a training period in our lives, what God has called us to. We are here to be trained to become like God.

We can turn to scriptures and Ephesians. Our mission, our goal as we allow God to work in us and guide us by His Holy Spirit is to become like Christ. Everyone here, everyone listening, I hope, understands that's the goal, to become like Him. So Christ says that here. A disciple isn't above his teacher, but a disciple who's perfectly trained. Where do those disciples get trained? Well, they get trained in the church that Jesus Christ started. They get trained in the church where that preaches God's truth, that is dedicated to His truth, that's living His truth, that's doing His truth. Everyone who is perfectly trained will be like His teacher.

That sets the standard for us. Same thing that it says in Ephesians 4, 15, that we grow to become to the measure of the stature and fullness of Jesus Christ. That's the goal that should never be out of our heads, no matter whether we're in church, whether we're working at our offices, working at our jobs, working at school, in our neighborhood, shopping, doing whatever we do. That's the goal. That's the overall goal you and I have.

Matthew 10, 25, you don't need to turn there. You can write it down if you want. It also talks about being a disciple, and in that time, Christ says it's enough. It's enough to be like your teacher. It's enough. Now, too often, the Bible, do you hear, where it's enough? We're always striving for perfection. We're always striving for unity. We're always endeavoring to know more about God and put His way of life into our hearts and minds and souls. But He says it's enough.

It's enough for a disciple to be like His teacher. So we're clear. We're clear what it means to be a disciple and what the goal of it is. But what about disciples? You know, we can turn to other verses. In 1 John 2, it says we need to walk as Jesus Christ walked. Peter says in 1 Peter 3, you know, he set the example that you and I follow.

The Bible is full of examples of what we need to do, how we live our lives, how we become like Jesus Christ. We have the opportunity to study not only the words that He said, that we have plenty of in the Bible. And every time we look through the Bible, we understand those words a little more if we're really looking at them and allowing God to develop those principles in our minds. But we can also see how we acted in everyday life. How did He respond to people? What did He do? Did the while the Jews around Him were very, very much, you know, biased. They weren't going to sit down with what they consider to be sinners. They weren't going to sit down with Samaritans. They weren't going to do this, and they weren't going to do that yet. Excuse me. Yet Jesus Christ did all that. He was a Savior for all of mankind. He loved all of mankind. He demonstrated that it is God's will that all would receive eternal life, would repent and receive eternal life.

That He wasn't going to segregate anyone out and say, I won't talk with them or I won't deal with them. We saw how He talked. We saw how He acted. We saw how He reacted, how He was among people. We can learn His personality through the job, through the words that we have in the Bible as well. Study your teacher. Disciples just don't study the words. Disciples study the behavior, so they become like Him in every aspect of their lives. And so God called us to this.

Now, you'll notice that as I was talking, we become disciples. God calls us, and when we call us, we don't automatically become disciples. God calls many people. The Bible says many are called, the few are chosen. Many people hear the Word. Many people who may listen to this or are listening on the web and who may hear, look at any of the sermons or any of the booklets or any of the TV shows or any of the magazines that we publish, they, many, many hear, but not all of them become disciples. They may even recognize that it's the truth and that when we talk about the Sabbath, is the seventh day of the week. They may recognize that's the truth, but they don't really do anything with it. They just recognize it's the truth, but they don't develop into a disciple. Let's see that example back in Matthew 4. You know, Jesus Christ, as He was on earth, He would draw huge crowds to listen to Him. Huge crowds! You know that the time when He fed five thousand that were there, gathered to listen to Him for hours, and another time four thousand. And here in Matthew 4, in the beginning of His ministry, huge crowds would follow Him. They would just follow what He had to say and wanted to hear what He had to say, and they also wanted something else He was doing at this time. If we pick it up in Matthew 4 here in verse 23, it says, Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria. They brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon possessed, epileptics and paralytics, and healed them all. Well, His fame would grow. Great multitudes, great multitudes followed Him from Galilee to Capitalist Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. All these people saw the miracles that He did. All these people saw and heard His preaching, and they liked what they heard, or they wouldn't have continued following Him, as they did. In chapter 5, verse 1, Christ saw these multitudes, and seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated, His disciples came to Him. And then He spoke to them, what we know today or call today the Sermon on the Mount. His disciples came. The multitudes heard, the multitudes were there, but they weren't all disciples. The people who followed Him, who heard, and who knew who He was, and listened closely and patterned their life after Him and dedicated their life to Him, they were the disciples. Today we have the same thing as I mentioned. Thousands and thousands. I mean, recently we've been doing some 30-second ads on TV that have some pretty specific messages in them, and you know, we're told by the people who do these ratings things that three million people a week are listening to these things and hearing those ads three times a week. They're getting a strong message in that. Many, many here, I have no idea how many, are clicking into our website, or how many times it might take before they do anything, but the message is going out there, and we'll continue to go out there in ways that we've done and ways that we have in the past, because there's so many avenues that we can use today to communicate to the world. But there's a difference between hearers and the multitudes and disciples. And disciples, if we go back to the book of John, or the Gospel of John, forward, I should say, forward to the Gospel of John, we can see Jesus Christ as he's beginning to call those, or God calling, those who would work with Christ in his ministry, John 1.

And we see, you know, at this time, John the Baptist has been there. He's been preaching a Gospel of repentance. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Baptized, he baptized people. You read where he's got multitudes, crowds lined up with him at the Jordan River, just baptizing them. And he's developed followers. He's got disciples as well. These people who, what John is preaching, that's really good. And they've got people who follow him.

And we see this here in John 1, and verse 29, as we pick it up, as Jesus Christ is about to begin his ministry, says, the next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him, and he said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Here's the one, here's who I've been talking about, the Lamb of God. He's the one that you need to follow. John wasn't willing, John was willing to step down from his position because it was time for Jesus Christ to begin his ministry. This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me. I didn't know him, but that he should be revealed to Israel. Therefore, I came baptizing with water. Let's drop it down to verse 35. Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples, and looking at Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold, the Lamb of God.

The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Jesus saw what was going on. Here's John's disciples who heard the message, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. And then John says, Here's Jesus, he's the Lamb of God. Here's who you should follow, and they do. Jesus looks, he sees these two following him, and he asks them a very interesting question. Verse 38, Jesus turned and, seeing them following, said to them, What are you looking for?

What do you seek? Now, that's an interesting question, because Jesus knew what was going on. He had an idea that these, what John had said, and that these people were following him. But he asked them a question that maybe we can ask ourselves as well. What are you looking for? Were they looking? Perhaps like the multitudes? I have a disease that needs to be healed. I have an affliction that needs to be healed. Or I have a friend or a relative that needs to be healed. Is that what you're looking for? Are you looking just to hear some words that have some, that ring true in your ear?

What are you looking for? Because what God is looking for, and he asks us the same thing, what are you looking for? If you want to become an apostle, what are you or a disciple, what are you looking for? Is it from your heart? Or are you just looking for something that makes you feel good?

You hear the truth and that's enough just to be able to hear it is good enough. Because God didn't call us just to hear it. Hearing is important. Romans 10 verse 17 clearly says, faith comes by the hearing of the word. We must hear it. We must be where God wants us to be. But, but if it's just hearing, that doesn't do any good. Yes, it's good to hear, but God is looking what is in your heart. What are you seeking?

What were these men seeking? They were, were they seeking the Messiah? Who's the Messiah? That's, are you looking for the Messiah? And what does it mean when you find the Messiah? Are you looking for truth? And what does it mean when you find the truth?

And so, as they were there, and we have just this very brief account of the, of the encounter there between the two of them, he says, what do you seek? And they said something really interesting to him. They said, Rabbi, teacher, where are you staying? Like, what? What do you mean, where are you staying? I just asked you, what do you seek?

What do you mean, where are you staying? Do they need to see his house to say, oh, he must be someone good because look at the house he has or look at what he has in his possession? We know in another place in the Bible, Jesus Christ said, you know, boxes have holes and they, others have their dens. The son of man has no place to lay his head. So it wasn't a fine house or anything that he had accumulated on earth that they were being, but what are you, where are you staying?

In verse 39, Christ said to them a very simple praise, come and see, come and see, come and look and see, be aware and find out what you need to find out. He didn't go into a long dissertation on everything he saw, everything, every word of truth from repentance to discipleship to baptism, the whole thing. Just come and see, come and see. And they went with him. They went with him. And in verse 39, it says, they came, they went with him and they saw where he was staying and remained with him that day.

And it was about the 10th hour or four o'clock. They went there. They saw what Jesus Christ said, come and see. And one of the two who heard John speak and followed Christ was Andrew, Simon, Peter's brother. And he first found his own brother Simon and said to him, based on what we've seen in 38 and 39, we found the Messiah. It's him. This is what we've been waiting for. This is the answer to humanity. This is the answer to all our troubles. The Messiah has come. In that short little three verses there, we see, come and see. They went with Christ and they saw something and they learned something that they could say with certainty, we found the Messiah. We've found the truth. They were hearers before, but what they saw, what they did, made them become disciples. This is the man we will follow. This is who we will listen to. This is where we will be. Now, it's interesting as you dig into verses 38 and 39 there, as we sometimes do when something strikes you and you think, well, that's different.

And you look at the words and three times in verses 38 and 39, there's one Greek word that you use there. In other places, this Greek word is translated as dwell or abide, but in 38 and 39, the translators have used a different word. We find that in verse 38 when they said to him, Rabbi, where are you staying? Should have been, I guess. Where are you dwelling? Where are you abiding? That may be a loaded question. Maybe that's just an abbreviation of what they said, like, who are you? How do we get to know you? Where are you abiding? And he said to them, come and see. So they came and saw where he was, same Greek number 3306, mino, m-e-n-o. They saw where he was abiding. Saw that, because we can learn a lot about people, right? From getting to know them, see how they operate in everyday life, more so learn from their actions, in addition to their words, because words should match actions and behavior. So they came and saw where he was abiding, and they remained as 3306 again, and they abided with him that day. They spent the day with him until 4 p.m., and after they spent that time with Christ, where he was, listening to him, watching his actions, hearing what he had to say, how he conducted himself, they learned a lot about him, and at the end of the day, we found him. We've found the Messiah.

He is it. Now, you know, maybe as you've heard the word abide and as you've heard the word dwell, that this number 3306 is translated to another place, it might have drawn your memory to another few verses, verses that Christ hadn't said yet, for instance, in John 15, where, as he's talking to his disciples before he's arrested on that Passover night and prayed with them before he's arrested, when he says in John 15.4, abide in me. Abide in me, and I will abide in you. Abide in me, and I in you. They hadn't heard that yet, but we might think of that when we think of abide. Where does where does Christ abide? Who abides in him? Now, can we see that and feel that?

Can we feel his heart? Can we feel his sincerity? Do we there's something about him that we would know he is the Messiah? You might have to think back to Psalm 15, where it says, who, O eternal, who can dwell on your holy hill? Who can dwell? Well, those who have all those attributes in Psalm 15, who are every single one of which Jesus Christ would have, they saw in him something and what they saw in him, they went and became disciples.

Now, the same can be true for us because God says you make disciples. You're to be disciples, but when you are disciples, you make disciples. We can't make disciples by hammering something into their head. We can't threaten them and we shouldn't threaten them and whatever, but we can follow the same pattern. Who would we or who should we be if we're going to make disciples?

Because Jesus Christ said, make disciples.

If we go one book forward to Acts, and in chapter 2, the beginning of chapter 2, of course, we have the account of the Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit, which last week you would have read and talked about. But as you go on through chapter 2, you see all the part the people who have been baptized as a result of Peter's sermon. Not a sermon that he had prepared, but a sermon that God gave him as he was there that day because God says he'll give us the words, he'll give us the direction that we need to go in. And we see this group of people that forms the Church of God. And we read about them in Acts 2 and begin about it in verse 42 because what they've done when they understood and when they said, this is the truth, this is the truth, what am I going to do with it? Something that God doesn't ask us to do now. But what they did was they sold their things. They got together. They wanted to be with people of like mind to be in unity with them. And they were there as a group of people living and learning with each other. In Acts 2, verse 42, it says, they, the New Testament Church that have been formed, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. Well, the apostles were teaching exactly the same thing Jesus did, exactly the same thing that God's Church would do today, teaching the Word, teaching the Gospel exactly the way God did, exactly the way He's given us in the Bible. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship.

Fellowship? That's not a verb there. We say we fellowship after services, but this is a fellowship. God put them in a group. He put them in a body. That's where they were going to grow. And that body, we know, is the body of Christ. It says in Colossians 1, the Church of God, which is the body of Christ. Continued in apostles' doctrine, continued in fellowship in the breaking of bread, means they got along with one another, they enjoyed being with one another, and in prayers, because without prayer, we are fooling ourselves. God is the author of everything we do. Jesus Christ is the reason we're all here without God in our lives, without our relationship with Him and continuing to look to Him to lead and guide us. We are wasting our time and we are missing the boat. So they did all those things, and there's some elements of the Church that went on there as people in Jerusalem would go by this community that's there now. And in verse 46, it tells us how they were received. So continuing daily, it says, with one accord, there's a Pentecost phrase, right? Continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, or singleness of heart, as we might translate that. They were praising God, and they had favor with all the people. With all the people. People passed by. They looked at this Church. What is about them? Look how they engage with one another. Look how they are with one another.

Who are they? Who are these? They're not like us. They're kind of were Jews, but now look how they relate to one another. There was something different about that group that was led by the Holy Spirit. You could see it among them. And as people walked by, they had favor. Look at them. Now later on, of course, as Satan got involved, they turned against the people, and they had to flee. But not in the beginning. There was something different about them. And in that environment, in that environment that sounds so healthy and so spiritually healthy, the Lord added to the Church daily those who were being saved. Something about making disciples. What can we do to make disciples? We go back to Matthew 5, where we began as Jesus began to, as Jesus was turning to His disciples, as we read just a few minutes ago. There's something about what we do that is so important. Our words are important. Absolutely need to be words of truth, words from the Bible. But it's something about who we are, too. That's important. Jesus Christ says in Matthew 5, 16, Let your light, remember He's talking to His disciples there. That's you and me, too. Right? Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Let them see how you live. Let them see how you are. Let them see how you are in the workplace. Let them see how you are at the stores, in school, in your neighborhood, in church. Let them see your good works. Who are these people? Why do they react that way? Why, when there's such stress, do they have such peace and calm among them? Why, in a world that's going crazy, do they not seem upset but so certain in what their future is that they don't get alarmed, they don't get dismayed, they seem to have a vision and a purpose in life that transcends whatever is going on around in them, and they are absolutely certain in it. At work, they are people who we can count on that put in a good day's work for a good day's wage, who are reliable, who are accountable, who do all those things that employers absolutely love to have working for them. They are living the Word of God, living the truth of God, and when people see it, it's like, whoa, that's refreshing. That's awesome. Let people see your good works and glorify God. The words, yes, but the words without the works, just like faith without the works, brings a little shallow. Got to have both, and if we're going to make disciples, perhaps there will be someone who we work with, lives next door, we run into some place, someone from our past that we run into in a reunion, family member who sees us and is like, well, now that I see them, I kind of want to know what is it about their life? Where do they abide? What motivates them? Why do they seem different? I would like to be like them and have that in my life.

Let's turn back to 1 Peter 3 as well. We can even apply in marriages.

You know, some people, it's an absolute blessing to have your spouse belong, believe the same thing that you do so that you grow together, but that isn't always the case. Sometimes a spouse isn't in the church, but God says your job as the spouse who is a disciple needs to be living that life.

Verse 1 of 1 Peter 3 says, wives, and I'm going to say husbands too, right? This works both ways. Wives, likewise be submissive to your own husbands, and husbands don't think you're off the hook because Ephesians 5 tells us exactly what our jobs as husband is. Wives, likewise be submissive to your own husbands that even if some don't obey the word, they, without a word, not you preaching at them, not you saying, what are you doing? Why are you so thick-headed? Why don't you see that the seventh day is the seventh of God? They, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Oh, we can be an example to people like Christ was an example to people. Oh, we might win some people, some might become disciples because of how we live and what we do and what they see in us.

The words and the beliefs that we profess have to be matched by what we see in church, what we see in our lives, and the conduct that we live every single day. That's what it means to be a disciple.

And if we're ever going to make disciples individually and as a group, we have to be disciples. We have to be living as disciples that people can see what is going on.

So as Christ said, come and see, we can ask ourselves, what did they see? But they saw in one day, I want to be like him. He's it. He's the Messiah.

When we have people come in, you know, to our church services, do they have the reaction? I think they have a good reaction. I think people everywhere here are very friendly and outgoing and and whatever. But do they have that reaction that I've found the truth? They're here because they've heard the truth. They're here because they know what we believe. And they come here to see who we are.

Some watch in on the web for a while before they come in here, and that's perfectly fine.

Who are they? Where do they abide? How do they act? What are their church services like? What can I learn about them? And then they come. Do they like, yeah, this is this is this is a group. They know the truth, and I can see that they live the truth. Not like other churches that may call themselves Christian, but don't have the truth of God and don't have the Holy Spirit that should lead us into the way that we should be with each other. The in-one accord that God wants us to be. The oneness that He wants us to have in our lives.

Come and see. And when they came and saw those disciples, they were able to go back and say, we found the Messiah. Let's go back to Matthew 13.

Matthew 13 verses 44 and 45. Familiar parables about when we find the truth, what we what we do or should do. Matthew 13 verse 44 says again. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found in hid. And for joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Look what I have found. I've found the truth. There's no doubt it's the truth. There is nothing on earth that is worth as much as finding the truth. Whatever I have to pay for it, whatever I have to do, the truth is the most important thing. I've found it. Verse 45. Again, the kingdom of heaven. Christ repeats it. The same principle. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all the things that he had found. All that he had and bought it. And so, people come and it's like, I've found it. I've found the Messiah. I've found the truth. What do I do? Whatever it takes. Whatever God wants. Now, going back to Matthew 4, we find we probably, once we know the truth, and once Christ called his disciples, or God gave him the disciples, gave him the team that was going to follow him, we see what they did. In verse 19 of chapter 4, verse 18, you see that he's walking by the sea. He sees Peter and Andrew his brother. They were fishermen. Verse 19. And he said to them, follow me. Follow me. Now, he wasn't saying follow me, just like a dog might follow us as we're a little, well, we take him on a walk and we take him along a path, or we might tell our young children, follow me, stay close behind. No, follow here is means you follow me, you learn me, you are with me all the time. I'm now your profession, if you will. This is what your training is. You're going to follow me. You're going to learn because you believe me, because you want to see how I act, you want to study me, you want to study my words, you want to become like me. That's what follow me is. And Jesus Christ, when he saw Peter and Andrew, follow me, follow me. The same thing that God would say to us and has said to us when we understood the call, and we said, we are ready, we've found the truth, we want to be part of your church, we want to be baptized. Well, we have repented. We've ready to cast away our past life, cast away our past attitudes, cast away our past whatever is, and become like Christ. Follow me, he said in verse 19, and I will make you fishers of men. And what did they do? They did Matthew 13, 44, which they hadn't even heard at this point. He said to them, follow me, I will make you fishers of men, and they immediately left their nets and followed him. Left it all behind. This is the truth. This is the Messiah. This is the pearl of great price. I leave the stuff behind from here on out. I follow him.

I do what he says. I go where he goes, and that's going to be my life. Now, we don't do that today. We follow him certainly spiritually. It doesn't mean when you're baptized you leave your job, leave your house, and do all those things, but you follow him. That's the overriding thing in our lives. Verse 21, going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, John, his brother, and the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets, and he called them, and immediately they left the boat, and their father, and they followed him. This is the truth.

This is what I do. This is where my heart is. This is who I need to become. I'm going to absorb everything I can. I'm going to learn what I need to learn, and when we make that decision and repent, are baptized, receive the Holy Spirit, we become disciples, following him wherever he goes. God gives some definitions of disciples. We've talked about a few of them in Luke 6. Let's go back to, or let's go forward to Luke 14. Luke 14.

And while most of what God says is positive, because it is a positive message, become like him, and God gives us the tools to become like him. If we're willing, if our heart is in it, and it's not just about whatever surface we may be doing, a surface, and God isn't looking for people who just praise him with their lips, but praise him with their actions, as we've seen in everything. In Luke 14, we find a few things where God says, this is not the definition of a disciple. Verse 26. Verse 26, if anyone comes to me and doesn't hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, in his own life also. Hate, we know, doesn't mean we hate. God isn't saying, okay, now you've got to hate your relatives. No, he's saying you love them less by comparison. You love God more, first commandment. No other God before me, he's first place. It comes a conflict between what wife says and God says, you do what God says. Comes a conflict between what child wants you to do, what God says, you do what God says. That's the concept here. If anyone comes to me and doesn't hate his relatives and the way he says yes in his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. It makes it pretty clear, if you're my disciple, you become like me, you follow me, you follow what I say. Follow the Lamb wherever he goes. Do whatever he says, whatever he commands, that's what we learn. Not always easy to do, not the simplest thing on earth to do, just as God says, do this. And it's the antithesis of what we want to do or what we think we should be doing. It's not real easy to just say, find whatever you say, wherever you want me, however you want me, that's that's what I will do. Let him lead. And he says, he cannot be my disciple. Pretty clear. Verse 27, whoever doesn't bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Verse 27, he gives some pretty good definitions of what it means to be a disciple. We follow him. Our life becomes led by God, directed by him, whether we like what he gives us or not. We become like him. We do what he says.

We follow him and we allow it and we yield. We learn that more and more as life goes on.

Don't battle Christ. Don't battle God. If you're led by the Holy Spirit, do what he says.

Just do what he says. Sounds so simple, but the human nature that's still in us, still wants to resist, still wants to rebel, still wants me. It's going to be my way. I don't like what that is. I'm going to do it my way. Forget the rest of it. God obviously made a mistake. That's what we're saying to God. Does God make mistakes? No. Does God overlook something in our lives? No. Everything that we go through in life is there for a reason. God is teaching us. He's training us. And through the trials and tests, he's molding us into who he wants to be. And sometimes through those trials and tests, just like Job learned during his time, something is revealed in us that we need to overcome, to yield to him, to become, to become like him. Let's go back to Luke 9. Yeah, Luke 9. I should have read these a few minutes ago. But as we were talking about when God calls and we say we're ready and we're ready to be disciples and we really are ready to be disciples, our heart is in it.

We have committed to him. Luke 9, Christ again, kind of shows this example.

In verse 57, it says, it happened as they journeyed on the road that someone said to Christ, Lord, I will follow you wherever you go. We probably all said that. Well, I will follow you wherever you go.

But this man had an issue. You know, he apparently didn't follow. Whatever he wanted, Christ makes the common fact that have holes, birds of the year, have nests, the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. What did that mean to that man? I'm not ready for that. That's not kind of what I bargained for, I guess.

Verse 59, he said to another, follow me. But that man said, first, let me go and bury my father. Christ responded, let the dead bury their own dead. He didn't mean I have to go to a funeral. He didn't mean that. He meant I want to complete what I do in life in order to, and then when I'm done with what I want to do, then I will go ahead and join you.

Christ, you know, said, nope, you go and preach the kingdom of God. Another said, Lord, I'll follow you, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house. I got some other things I want to finish up first. I'm just going to have to put this on hold until I get done what I want to get done. If I have my personal agenda, I have to get it done. God said, well, then you're not ready to be my disciple.

Jesus said to him, no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Go where I say to go. Do what I say to do. Then you have become my disciple. And that's something we grow into.

It doesn't happen on day one. It's something we learn through life to just do what God wants us to do. And that's what we have to do. God leads us into light. In John 8, John 8 and verse 12, Christ spoke to them again. It says, this is the right after the occasion where the woman is caught in adultery.

One by one, Christ dismisses her accusers. He says, I don't condemn you. Just go and sin no more. Just live the life that you need to do. Christ didn't come to condemn the world. He came to save the world, to open our minds to what we need to do to receive the eternal life that God wants us all to have.

And then in verse 12, Jesus spoke to them again saying, I'm the light of the world. I am the light of the world. He who follows me, my disciples, shall not walk in darkness.

There's a lot of darkness in the world. There's a lot of things that can mess us up if we get too close to the world, if we start buying into their concepts and concepts that we don't find in the Bible. My disciples don't walk in darkness. They walk in light. Christ is the light of the world. Christ is the light that we follow.

He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. We have to be very careful and discerning in the world that we live in today. There are some clever arguments out there. And parents, you know, your children who are in school or who are working, I mean, they will hear some clever arguments on why this is really right and this wasn't really done right through humanity and this is more loving and whatever. Don't buy into it. Understand what the Bible says.

No one condemns people just like Christ didn't condemn that lady, but we know what is right, what is wrong, and we teach the truth. And at home, if we're disciples, we should be more than ever making sure that daily, daily, our children are getting a good dose of the Bible, that they're understanding what we believe, what is the way to the kingdom, what is truth. Don't let Satan, don't let the world around dictate what truth is. It is God who dictates truth.

It's God who defines truth. It's the Bible that defines truth. So make sure that what we're doing at home is teaching our children truth and do everything you can to offset a world that will do everything they can to upset their psyche, their ideas, and take them away from the truth. But it's also very important for us, very important for us to be even more closely in the Word of God, understanding more closely what He is, and not buying into the deception that's in the world.

Just remember, Satan was so clever, so cunning, just made such sense to Eve that even though she knew God and she knew exactly what God said, somehow He convinced her to not believe God and take that fruit. And she lost a lot. And Adam who joined her, the same thing. So we have very significant things that we need to do. We need to be growing in God. That's what disciples do. Just becoming a disciple, it doesn't stop there.

We continue to grow. In a minute, we'll see what God did with His disciples. But let's go back to Matthew 18 because there's an attitude that we must have if we're disciples.

If we want to be in the kingdom of God, it's an attitude we cannot forget. And in the world and in our own personalities and the things we do, it's very easy, very easy to fall back into old patterns and the sin that does so easily beset us. In Matthew 18, we have the parable, not the parable, we have Jesus Christ receiving little children to Him.

This morning in the service, we had the Sabbath School of Recognition. And I don't know, 35, 40, maybe even 50 little children here. It was a beautiful ceremony. You see that many young children in this church area that had gone through the Sabbath School year. And you look at them and you think, man, they're so innocent and they're learning. And thank you to all the parents who are working so well with your children. But here in chapter 18, he says, that's how you and I need to become, right?

That's what we need to become. Verse 2 of Matthew 18, Jesus called a little child to Him, set Him in the midst of them and said, Surely I say to you, unless you are converted, you know what converted is, right? That's changing who we are, no longer being transformed to the world, no longer looking to the world for all the answers and all the things, but coming out of the world and doing the things that God said, being transformed by the renewing of our mind, converted by the Holy Spirit, changed people that look to God.

Surely I say to you, unless you are converted and become His little children, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven. No gray area there. Unless you're that way, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. How important is humility? Huge, huge humility, willing to go wherever God says, willing to do whatever God says, submitting to Him holy, not just in words but with our heart, understanding He knows best and willing to do what He wants us to do.

He knows the way. He is the truth. He is the life. And then He says, you know, it was touched on in the sermon as well, whoever receives one little child like this and my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Does God love His children? Absolutely. He doesn't want to see any of them harmed.

When He puts them in the body, when they're here with us or wherever we are, our job is to be just like Jesus Christ so that no one is offended by what we do. And offended doesn't always mean I said something to deliberately offend you. We can offend people by our actions, reactions, by the way we handle a situation that's confronted to us.

If someone was to come among us and they kind of saw, well, man, they say one thing, but I saw this other person doing something completely different. And they did whatever. I don't want to give any examples because I don't want to, you know, have anyone think that I think something of them.

We can offend people just by what we aren't doing. When they see in us that you don't really believe, your heart doesn't look like it's in this church that you're attending to. Whoever causes one of these in me to sin, oh, you know what? Yeah, I did. Those people in church, I did see them doing that. I saw someone there do this thing that, you know, they heard we weren't supposed to, but they did it.

Well, therefore, it's okay if I do it, right? Because that's the way people are. It's a responsibility, a huge responsibility. I have a whole huge responsibility we all have to be living God's way of life. If we're going to fulfill the commission of making disciples, we have to be disciples who do what God wants us to. Whoever causes one of these, okay, yeah, I won't go any further in that. You get the message on that. So we have this growth that has to occur because we don't become that way in the time. That's what our life now is. I'm sure you heard that on Pentecost.

This is our time. When we become firstfruits, when we become members of God's church, that we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. We become spiritually mature. We become, or to be becoming, like Him. If we go over John 15. John 15.

John 15 verse 4. I'll read verse 4 again because just to take us back to, come and see. Come and see when they're looking for the truth. Come and see who I am. And they abided with Christ, and when they abided with Him for a day, He's the Messiah. Verse 4. Abide in me. These are words to you and me. Abide in me. Live in me. What I say, what I've given you, the example to do, you follow. Abide in me, and I in you. What does it say? The Father will make His home in you. When you do the will of God, abide in me, and I in you. The branch can't bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. We can't grow unless we're attached to the vine. We can't grow unless we have God's Holy Spirit. We can't grow with just words. We have to be nourished, nurtured, grown, honed by the Holy Spirit. That doesn't just pat us on the back and say, good job. It does do that. It is an encouraging spirit that God gives us. It gives us the courage to go forward, but it also teaches, corrects, molds us into who we want to be. The training isn't just about good job. It's about doing what we need to do. Sometimes the response for not doing what we do can be a little harsh, all designed for our good. Because what God has in mind is, I want you in my kingdom. I want you born into my kingdom. Don't fight against me. Don't war against me. Follow what I have to say. Without being attached to the vine, you can't bear fruit. You can't grow, is what he's saying there. I'm the vine, verse 5, you're the branches. Who you who it abides in me, and I in him bears much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. I mean, Christ himself said of my own self, I can do nothing. If Christ could say that, absolutely with us, I mean, that's kind of an even understatement. If he says of my own self, I can do nothing, certainly we can do nothing. If he said the words I speak are not mine, they're the Father's. You know the words that we need to speak? They need to be the words of truth. They need to be the words that come from the Bible, not our own interpretations, not our own little ideas, the words that God gives us, and as he gives us the understanding that comes from him.

We've dropped on to verse 8. By this my Father is glorified. That's our job, to glorify God in everything we do, to glorify God. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.

Only one way to bear that fruit. And then he says, by this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, colon, so you will be my disciples. Disciples bear fruit. If we're not bearing fruit, we may call ourselves disciples. We may say words.

But if we're not different people as we grow in God's Church than we were when we were first baptized, then we're not God's people. If we're not beginning to look more like Jesus Christ, as we go through life, then we aren't growing as disciples.

As Christ worked with His disciples then, and as He works with us now, that's not the end result, His disciples. Disciples were always disciples, but it builds on one another. So disciples, as the 11 that followed Him, Judas was just about words. Jesus never overcame what He is. He lets His weakness overcome Him rather than really realizing the treasure that He had when He found the Messiah. The disciples were with us. We've dropped out in verse 13, I guess.

Now let me read verse 12. Verse 12. We find what God will do when He sees the, Now I know, now I know that whatever I send their way, they will continue to follow Me. There comes a point in time where we've gone through the tests and trials and God sees our heart. Whatever I say to do, they'll do. Verse 12. This is my commandment that you agape one another as I have agape you. Greater love has no one than this to lay down one's life for His friends. You are my friends. Disciples, you are my friends. You are my friends. I have seen you. You have grown. You trust in Me. And I know who you are. You are my friends. If, if you do whatever, I command you. If you do whatever, I command you. Simple. Simple words. Not so simple, but as we humble ourselves and just do what God leads us to do, we learn that and we learn and trust where He's leading us. He knows the way and is the only way. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant doesn't know what his master is doing. They knew we know exactly what God is doing. He's not leading us down some garden path. He's leading us to the kingdom of God. He alone knows the way. Only He knows the way. He is the only way to salvation. For a servant doesn't know what his master is doing, but I've called you friends for all things that I heard from my father I have made known to you. I've given you the tools you need. I've given you everything. You know what I'm doing. You know what the plan is. You know where you're going. Follow me. Do whatever I command you to do. I will lead you to where you say you want to be. But that responsibility is on us to do what He said. You didn't choose me, Christ said. You didn't choose me. I chose you. What a privilege that God looked down and for some reason chose me and you. You didn't choose me, but I chose you and I appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give you. Friends. Disciples become friends. Before Christ died, He called His disciples friends. Abraham was his friend.

Abraham did whatever God said. When He said, get out of the land of earth to the place I'll show you, He just went. He didn't ask questions, didn't bargain with Him, whatever. Okay, that's where you want me to be. Leave your family behind. Go to Ur. Do whatever it is. He never had a permanent place. God moved him from place to place. He did whatever God said to do. Wherever the Lamb goes, follow. Abraham did it. God said the faith He had in Him, the fact that Abraham was there, He's my friend. He's my friend. He's the Father of the faithful. We're told Moses. Moses. God calls Moses his friend. Moses started off a little shaky. When God called him, I don't think I can do that. Can't you get someone else to speak for me and do these things and whatever? But look what Moses learned. Look how he grew. Look how he grew. Look who he became. He became God's friend. He trusted God implicitly. Whatever God asks me to do, I can do because it's Him who strengthens me. It's Him who provides everything that I need. And without Him, I am nothing. It's there that God wants you and me to be. He wants us to become friends to Him, following the Lamb wherever He goes. Disciples, friends, firstfruits. Disciples, friends, firstfruits. And what does it say about firstfruits? You heard it last week. These are the these are those who go wherever the Lamb goes. Wherever He goes, they follow. These are the ones who are without guile in their mouth. They have become virgins. They have become spiritually mature. They have become like Christ. And they will be born into the Kingdom of God. They've gone through the nurturing, the nourishment period, the training period, and they're ready to be born into the Kingdom of God when Jesus Christ returns. It's a beautiful thing that God has called us to, to become one, to have that love that people can see and that can be demonstrated in our lives, one with one another, one with God. The examples to the world that when people see, it's like, you know, come and see. Well, come and see. Come and see what we're about. Come and see who we are. Come and see who I am. Get to know what it is if we're living God's way of life and it's our heart as well as our words. Let me close. Let me close in Psalm 66. You know, God is working with all of us. He wants us in His Kingdom. Never forget that. He never gives up on us. It's us who give up on God or who just simply tell Him, I'm not going to give that up. I'm not going to give that up and whatever.

We can't be people that are that way. Christ said to those who come to Him and sometimes we have to go back and ask ourselves and look, come and see what it is that He has called us to. Psalm 66 verse 5, it says, come and see. Come and see the works of God. He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of man. He is an awesome God. He is a loving and merciful God. He is a God who wants every single person here, every single person listening on the webcast or ever hears this, every single person that He calls in, He wants them in the Kingdom of God. He wants all of mankind in the Kingdom of God. Come and see and remind yourself of what it is God does and let's do the things and become the disciples that He wants so that we can fulfill His commission of making disciples.