The Making of a True Disciple

Thank you, Mr. Andretti. Happy Sabbath, all of you! So good to see you. Hope you had a wonderful week. You know, the weeks are going by so rapidly, aren't they? It seems like time is speeding up. You know, and I guess that they tell me it's also a sign of old age, but I don't believe it. But there might be. You know, many people in the world today claim to be Christians, and I think we all are aware that upon the earth there are probably a billion-plus people who claim to be Christian. And, of course, when we look, though, at what the pages of the Bible say, we find that it doesn't, you know, add up. It doesn't equal out. And that, in fact, that simply can't be true. That all of these people are Christians, because Christ did not live the way many in this world do that call themselves His followers. You know, they simply do not. You know, you can go look up the word disciple in a dictionary, and the word disciple is a pupil to a teacher. Or it can mean an apprentice to a master craftsman. Now, Jesus Christ was a master teacher. In fact, He was called master, as we know. In the case of many who referred to Him, they referred to Him as master or teacher. And they were indeed disciples of Jesus Christ. And, of course, the things that Christ did, people today do not do. Christ kept the Sabbath, we know. And we can show that very clearly within the Bible. We can prove that. There's no question. In fact, even those who do not believe in keeping the Sabbath will openly admit that Christ kept the Sabbath. We know also He kept the Holy Days. Without question, we can show Him doing it. In fact, in the Scriptures. And, you know, we will not see Him observing, by the way. Customs that became Christmas and Easter and those kinds of things, you know, that in fact are condemned in the Bible. We won't see that, but we will see Him observing the Sabbath and observing the Holy Days, as we all know. And so, the world, of course, is on a different course. These souls are claiming to be Christians. Or on a different course than Jesus Christ was on. He was not, you know, living the way people in this world are living. Let's go to Luke 9. Luke 9. The Bible tells us over here, Jesus Christ, of course, probably had a lot of people that sort of followed Him around. They were enamored by His ability to heal the miracles that He performed. I'm sure, you know, when He multiplied the fishes and the loaves, that attracted a lot of attention. You know, we've got a food replicator here, and we're going to stick real close to Him, they probably thought. You know, for some of you who are Trekkies, know what a food replicator is. But anyway, Luke 9 and verse 23, let's notice here what Jesus Christ said. It says, and He said to them all, here were all these multitudes that were following Him on this one particular occasion. And He said, if anyone desires to come after Me, if you're going to follow Me, if you're going to be My disciple, is what He meant. Let Him deny Himself and take up His cross daily and follow Me.

I wonder if Jesus Christ, when He said this, had a bite in His voice. And, you know, it wasn't just a, you know, a simple instruction. I don't think He said it this way. I don't think He said, you know, if you want to follow Me, you've got to be willing to take up your cross and follow Me and deny yourself. I don't think He put it that way. He probably had a bite, you know, in His voice when He spoke, for whoever desires to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it toward man He went on to save if He gains the whole world and is Himself destroyed or lost? And then He says, For whosoever is ashamed of Me, in My words, of Him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes into His own glory, and His fathers, and of the holy angels. You know, if we're ashamed of what Christ did in His own life, and I think there are there are some people that are ashamed of that, that He did these Jewish things. You know, so that's one of the things, by the way, they say with a bite, you know, in their voices, did these Jewish things. You know, they're ashamed of that. Well, in the Kingdom, God will be ashamed of them. He will be ashamed of us if we're ashamed of those things, which we do. You know, brethren, do you have a life that has a future? You know, you can live a life that has no future. Or you can live a life, brethren, that leads to salvation. And this is what Jesus Christ is talking about here, living a life that leads to salvation. If we want eternal life, we have to be true followers of Jesus Christ, or true disciples. And of course, we have to be led by God's whole spirit, and not the spirit that is within human beings, the spirit of man, which is in fact what happens. Most people are led by the spirit of man, their own spirit. They're not moved by the spirit of God, they're moved by the human spirit. I want to talk about here in this message with you this morning. How can we be true disciples of Jesus Christ? How can we be His true disciples? Because we certainly don't want to be left out in the cold, do we? You know, let me say this also as a preface to what else we're going to say during the course of this message. These disciples are not just born. You know, but in addition, they're made. You know, a disciple is born of God, and that's why I say a disciple is not just born, because we are born of God. But let me tell you, just because you are born of God through the power of the Holy Spirit, in other words, the spirit man has begun to to germinate and begun to grow in you, does not mean that you are a true disciple.

You know, through the years, in fact, we may have seen many people who have been baptized, and that's no, in fact, guarantee that they're going to be true disciples at all. In fact, some of them may never have even received the Holy Spirit. So how can we be true disciples? Like I say, it's, you know, a true disciple is not just born, but in addition, they are made. And being a disciple is something that we must learn. All of us have to learn how to be a disciple. Let me tell you, rather than when I started myself back in the 60s, honestly, I didn't know how to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. You know, I looked in this book and I saw certain things, and I think God revealed them to me. And I thought, well, if I just do these things, I'll be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

And as time has gone on, I realize that that simply is not true. You know, one has to have a different mental set, a mindset that is different if they're going to be a real disciple of Jesus Christ. Let's go to Luke 9. Luke 9. I want to start the message, you know, even though I've already initiated here, I want to somewhat start the discussion here with this particular account here.

And Luke 9, down in verse 37. Luke 9 and verse 37. Let's notice here, you should be there already. And it says, "...not happened on the next day when they had come down from the mountain that a great multitude met him." Remember, Christ went up into the mountain. He took the three disciples within, you know, Peter, James, and John, up in the mountain, and they saw the transfiguration.

And the next day, they're coming down from the mountain here. And the great multitude met him. And suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, Teacher, I implore you, look on my son, for he is my only child. And behold, the Spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and it departs from him with great difficulty bruising him.

And so I implored your disciples to cast it out, but they could not. And notice what Jesus Christ says on this particular occasion. Again, you could probably hear the disciples are with Christ, the three that were with him, and were in the mountain, coming down with him. And, of course, you know, no doubt, there were others of the disciples there as well. But notice in verse 41, and then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and bear with you?

Bring your son here. And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. And then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father. So apparently this was a young child here. But notice here that the disciples could not cast out these demons. And presumably there were nine of the disciples that could not do it. Nine of them. Now, why couldn't they? I think that's a good question, isn't it?

Why could they not cast out this demon here? Well, Christ indeed called. He said this is a faithless generation. It was a generation he said that lacked faith. I think that probably were that phrase characterizes our own time right now. There's so many people that just don't believe an awful lot anymore that it's in the Bible. It is a faithless generation. Now, probably the disciples evidently lacked faith. But what else did the disciples lack? What else did they lack?

You know, their mindset was different, and as it well would be. Because, you know, Jesus Christ, of course, was the Messiah. They were his disciples, his students. They were with him. And, of course, they didn't have the book that you and I are reading today. So, in a way, we can understand why they would be faithless. We'd understand why it would be that they, you know, just lacked the things that they did. Just as we understand, maybe with Abraham, you know, before Abraham started out, he was the only one upon the face of the earth.

There weren't very many, you know, that God had even worked with. And so here, you know, what is it that they lacked? Well, let me give you a point, brethren, that might help to frame this message better. A true disciple must learn to totally trust in God. A true disciple must learn to totally trust in God. I don't think we know that. And maybe academically, brethren, you know it. I know I knew it for a long, long time academically.

But, you know, to know it within your heart and to believe it with all of your heart is a far different story. It's hard for us to do that, to internalize things within ourselves. In Proverbs 3 and verses 5 through 6, I won't turn there.

You know, it says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Notice the phrase, all your heart. In other words, not part, but all of your heart. And lean not on your own understanding.

And it says, In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. No, if we are acknowledging God in all of our ways, in other words, everything we do is based upon what God desires for us to do, then he will direct our paths.

Now, why could they not cast out the demon that this boy had?

Well, let's go to Matthew 17 and start putting it together. Matthew 17, because this is about a corollary over here. Of course, Matthew has a different perspective, but in Matthew 17 and verse 19, let's notice what else Jesus Christ told them, besides what we read in the book of Luke. But in Matthew 17 and down in verse 19, sorry, I misspoke myself, and then it says, The disciples came to Jesus privately. This is after this whole event took place and said, Why could we not cast it out? Why could we not cast this demon out? And so Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief. For assuredly I say to you, If you have faith as a mustard seed, the tiniest of seed, as you know, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. And then he said in verse 21, However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. What did he mean? Did he mean that faith must be built with prayer and fasting? I think also that would be in addition to that. Did he mean only that you have to be fasting and praying to cast out this demon? What did he fully mean? I think you have to explore everything, to put it all together, to understand it. So obviously the disciples lacked the faith. They didn't even have the faith of a grain of mustard seed. Amazing, isn't it? Sometimes I think my faith is about like that. I don't know what you think about your own faith, how much you believe.

You know, of course, all of us have made a commitment, at least I hope we have, all made our commitment to live this way of life. And whatever cost might be entailed, we've been willing to pay it. And through the years, maybe we have paid the price in different ways. But is there ever a price too big to pay? You know, if there is a price, brethren, too big to pay, what would it be? And, brethren, if there is this too big a price, maybe that stands in the way of our having the faith of a grain of mustard seed, so that we could move mountains. We believe God, absolutely, resolutely, as God's people. And the idea is, brethren, I'm trying to teach, to admonish, is that faith in God is tremendously important, and that a true disciple must come to totally trust and totally depend upon God in all of their ways, in all of their doings. That's another way of saying it. Depend on God. Trust in God in every walk of your personal life. And yet, you're putting Him number one.

You know, in this account also, about the same time, Jesus was also telling them, if you put the whole story together, you know, from the time they come down from the mountain, this example of the disciples not being able to cast out demons. On another part of the story, Christ was telling them about His impending crucifixion and death. Let's go to Luke 9, chapter 9, from where you are there. And we'll be going back and forth, you know, to Luke 9 several times during the course of this message. But in Luke 9, down in verse 43, we'll sort of continue in on this. And it says, they were all amazed at the majesty of God. When this, you know, boy's demon was cast out, they were amazed by it. But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, notice here, brother, what He said, by the way. This is in the Bible, not, brethren, just to tell a story. It's for message for us. It says, let these words sink down in your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be prayed into the hands of men. Let these words sink down into your ears. Now, again, not just the words that, that here Luke recorded, by the way, but the words that we put together for what Mark said and what Matthew said as well. The whole account. The faithless generation, you know, if you had the faith of a mustard seed, you could move mountains, all of that. Let these things sink down your heads, because the Son of Man is going to be betrayed at the hands of men. He's going to be crucified. Christ did not put that blunt, bluntly to them, but that's what He meant. But He was saying to them, look, this is really important. Pay attention! But it was hidden from them. Notice in verse 45, and they did not understand the saying. And it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask Him about this saying. And so it was hidden from them. And He called the 12 together, sometime after this, and He gave them power, then after this, to cast out demons and to heal the sick. And we just read, by the way, brethren, that people were amazed at the majesty of Jesus Christ and the miracles that He performed. Of course, we know He did many, many healings. He also, as we know, on one occasion, raised the dead. And it was well-known, all over. But He gave His disciples these incredible powers. And they went out, and they began to do the same thing. And the people were just as astonished at them. And the things that they did, the things which they were able to do in a faithless generation at that particular time, because of the power that God had given to them. And they were amazed by this. But let me help us to put this into perspective. What a true disciple is, brethren, because God does give to His servants powers, and we see that within the Scriptures, in certain gifts. And I think in the end of the age, we're going to see these gifts poured out on the church again. But let me tell you, brethren, it's not going to be because of the man, you know, that these things are going to take place, but it is going to be because of God's power. You know, apparently, presumably, one day they didn't have the power to cast out demons. They didn't have the power to heal. They didn't have the power to do these things. And later they did. They were able to do it. And that only goes to God's credit. And it leads me to point number two here, brethren. A true disciple doesn't glorify the self.

So, number one, a true disciple trusts totally in God, puts total confidence in God, and a true disciple does not glorify the self. If we are to be, brethren, true disciples, we must learn to glorify God. And guess what? We have to get out of the way. You know, our selves need to be diminished to this, basically. We cannot think about ourselves. No matter what God may do through us or with us, brethren, we can't think about ourselves. It's not about us. The world doesn't revolve around us, brethren. And the future world's not going to revolve around us either. It's going to revolve around God. You know, in the world today, the world revolves around, you know, basically whatever's popular at the moment. And you can notice that on the news. If you go on on news or you go on television, you know, it's whatever, you know, you know, they're talking about that moment in time. You know, and that's what's glorified. But in the kingdom, brethren, and hopefully in our own lives, God is number one. He's being glorified in our lives, and not only by us, but what we do as well. Not by our words only, but what we do as God's people. We're glorifying God. And so if we're going to be true disciples, we have to learn to glorify God. Remember, Jesus Christ himself said, of him by himself, he could do nothing. He could do nothing. He had total reliance on the Father in heaven. Said as an example, a tremendous example of what a true disciple is and what they shall be. You know, and what we must be, brethren, he didn't come to glorify himself. He even said that.

He came to glorify the Father in heaven. And so that's what we have to do as God's people. Remember, Paul had to rebuke the Corinthians because of their pride and their arrogance.

Because they, remember, they were tolerating the act of adultery right in their very midst, right under their very noses. And they thought they were, I guess they thought they were Christian by turning, you know, the eyes away, or in just simply accepting, you know, this adulterous, incredible thing that was going on among them. But notice, he said to them, I'm not going to go there, but 1 Corinthians 5 verse 6, he says, your glorying is not good. It's amazing what people glory about, isn't it? He said, your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little 11, 11 is a whole lump? And the same is true, brethren, for us. If we glory about ourselves, if we think we're all important, brethren, a little 11, 11 is the whole lump. That's what happened to Satan. You know, he began to think how wonderful he was.

In fact, maybe God even told him all the things that he had put in, the abilities that he had put in, you know, Lucifer as he was before he became the adversary. As we know, God changed his name to Satan after his rebellion, and then became the adversary of God. But he got enamored with that beauty and that glory that God put in him. And that's where he went wrong. And so, brethren, we need to learn to glorify God and get out of the way as God's people. You know, how, brethren, do you measure greatness? Well, how did the 12 disciples measure greatness?

Remember the occasion where, a little bit later, the disciples were arguing about who was the greatest. I guess they all thought they were Muhammad Ali. In Christ knew their hearts, the Bible says. You know what was going on in those minds. And what did he do? Do you remember what he did? We rehearsed this every year after the feast. He put a child among them in their midst, the Bible says. And he said, unless you are converted. Now, the word converted has this sort of Christian theological sound to it. He could have used the word changed. Unless you change, he's telling his disciples, to become a little child, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. And Christ could have shouted to them, brethren, you must change. You've got to get over this, fellows. You've got to change. Brethren, how did you define greatness? How do people today define greatness? Look around in the world today. How people define that? How do they measure themselves? Well, don't they measure themselves against other people? By comparing themselves to somebody else? You know, somebody's up and coming in sports, or they're up and coming in anything, basically. The news will make comparisons. The sports channels will make comparisons with former athletes, or former businessmen, or who have been, quote-unquote, successful. The way we measure greatness in this world, brethren, is by comparing one to another. Now, the question is, why would the disciples even think of this? Who is the greatest? Why would they?

You know, that is, I think, an interesting question. Why would they think about that, well, I must be the greatest. Well, if you understand again the context of all of this, brethren, then you have a little understanding of it. And you have to, again, compare the Scriptures to come to understand it, in a fuller way, at least. But, you know, all of us go through our lives, and we have this mentality of comparing ourselves among ourselves. You know, I'm sure there are people that sit in an audience, and so I could do as well as that guy. Is that the way people think? You know, we started that way when we were little kids, didn't we? You know, my dad is stronger than your dad. I don't remember when I was a kid growing up anybody ever saying, my dad's uglier than your dad. You know, people don't talk like that, do they? They don't talk about the bad things, you know, although that would probably be better context among men, sometimes. But anyway, when we start that way, my dad's better than your dad, or my dad's stronger than your dad, it continues throughout our lives, and it just evolves. You know, evolutionists love to talk about how things evolve. Well, that's something that evolves in your life. I believe in evolution. You know, somebody asked me, yeah, I believe in evolution. I think human beings are evolving. You know, they're evolving into, worse and worse, not better and better. But, you know, and I'm not talking about growing, you know, pointed ears or losing their fingers, as I had a zoology teacher in college years ago that was telling us in the zoology class that he was losing his little finger. I guess he didn't feel that eventually it would serve any purpose. And of course, by that he meant both of his little fingers. So anyway, he didn't think it served a purpose. Well, you know, with that kind of argument, maybe the brain would disappear, too, you know, because that's got to serve a purpose, too. Doesn't it? We've got to think. We've got to reason about things. God, put the little finger on your hand because it serves a purpose. Makes your grip firmer, you know. And certainly, you know, this is not the way the world thinks. But like I said, we begin as children comparing ourselves among ourselves, and it goes on into adult life. We're constantly comparing ourselves. And competition is what makes this world go around. It's Satan's world, and that's what makes it go around. Not cooperation, but competition. And Christ was telling his disciples, this is what he said, let the least among you be the greatest.

Now, that is a whole new paradigm right there. A servant mentality, in other words, is what Jesus Christ was telling his disciples. This is what my disciples have to have. A servant mentality to be a servant to all. Remember when he took the towel and he knelt down and he washed all of the disciples' feet? He showed he had that servant mentality as an example to his disciples. No, he was not, by the way, wanting to start another kind of competition. You're seeing who could be the least. I like to play that game a little bit. You know, when I go to the lunch line, I want to, you know, when we go to the potluck, I like to be at the end of the line. You know, so I can prove I'm the humblest. Of course, I'm joking about that. Brother, I hope you know. Brother, I hope you know. I'm not, you know, I want to eat just like you do.

But he's saying the heat is going to be the greatest among you. Let him be the least. Let him be your servant.

You know, competition, brethren, causes people to compare one person to another. And as the Bible says, you know, that's not wise. It simply is not wise. In fact, the Scriptures tell us that those who compare themselves among themselves are not wise, because that's not God's way. Competition is not God's way. You know, when we compare ourselves among ourselves, you know what we do? We limit the other person. That's when we compare ourselves among ourselves, it causes us so that we don't rejoice in somebody else's accomplishments. Why? Because we think we ought to be the ones to make those accomplishments. And we ought to be praised for our accomplishments, because we can do just as well. If we were in those positions, we at least argue that way. And so competition limits, brethren, what you can do. And competition is supposed to not limit me, though. And by that, I'm talking about all of us individually.

If I'm becoming great by serving you, though, my being great doesn't prevent you from being great as well. You see, all of us can be great if we learn to be servants of God and serve one another. Who was the greatest among the twelve disciples? Who was the greatest?

Well, we know a Jewish, a scary it crashed and burned. He didn't make it.

But what about the other eleven? Well, we know history shows that all of them served God faithfully. All of them died in the faith as martyrs. And all of them were great.

You know, God sent them out, as you know. I believe Thomas went to India. You know, others of the disciples went to other parts of the world and covered the globe. And wherever they went, there were miracles that took place. And wherever they went, you know, the work was further in those areas. And they all became great and will be great in the coming kingdom of God.

And so let's remember this, brethren. A true disciple is about glorifying the self and getting himself out of the way. And he becomes a servant. He becomes a servant. No, Mr. Koster talked about how going to the feast that we need to get in, serve in some way or fashion at the feast. Should we even have to say that, brethren, to true disciples of Jesus Christ?

You know, should we? I'm asking you, should we? I don't think so. I think all of us should be willing to do something for somebody else, even if it means just taking a widow out to lunch or or helping her get to services or helping somebody else in some way, you know, to serve in some way at the feast. We know the problem, of course, with the disciples is certainly, probably when those men who went up with Christ the three, Peter, James, and John, went up in the mountains and they saw, you know, Christ, you know, transfigured. And, you know, they said, well, let's make tabernacles, you know, for them. And remember, they came down from the mountain. Then they met the individual that confronted Christ that his son did not have the demons cast out. So there were at least nine, probably, that were involved in that whole affair that were unable to cast those demons out.

And it's kind of interesting that Peter and James and John probably had, you know, they probably had a little more confident clip in terms of their gait. They stood up for a wreck, you know. They felt that they were, you know, certainly among the chief of all the apostles. So their future was pretty well ensured. You know, they were going to be, you know, tops in the Kingdom of God, which they thought, you know, the world of moral was going to be established just like that. It'd be just a matter of time. And I'm sure this discussion must have been engaged in and maybe three, who knows, maybe John and James said, well, you know, we know we're going to be, you know, up there, right there with Christ. I just wanted to tell you guys that. You know, in fact, we're going to ask if we could be on Christ's right hand and left hand in the Kingdom. I mean, since we're going to be already promoted.

I'm sorry about you other guys, but those are the breaks. You didn't see Christ transfigured. We did. Now, we don't know about Peter here, but we think, you know, he's the one, you know, that is always putting his foot in his bow. So, you think he may not be up there with us, but just once you're on, we'll be there, you know, and my door is always open.

You never heard people say that. My door is always open. Very humble attitude. Well, so you see why they got into this argument. And maybe the other nine were highly offended at this, as they probably would be. So, this great conflict came up that Christ used to teach his disciples.

But who's going to be greatest among you? Christ said he that is least.

And we know that eventually his disciples got it. It just took a while. They began to understand it. So, comparisons, rather than don't determine greatness. Also, when the young boy or child was there in the midst of the disciples, Christ also said whoever humbles himself as this little child, you know, could have been a little girl or a little boy, is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Humbles himself as this little child. You get down on their level.

You see a little baby crawling around. Get down on that level. If you forgot what that was like, they crawl around down there with them and look up at adults. Humble yourself as a little child. Now, please don't come to church that way. That might be a little bit, you know, uncomfortable. But it would be a good exercise to remember the view from down there.

So, point number three, brethren. A true disciple is humble and service-minded.

Point number two was we have to learn to glorify God and get out of the way. A true disciple is humble and service-minded. Greatness comes from humbling ourselves from faithful dependence on God and learning to serve and to be a servant. That's the goal, brethren. It's not a competition, again. Let's not compete with each other, you know, who can bow over the lowest as sometimes the Pharisees did. You know, they wanted to show themselves so humble that sometimes they would walk around, you know, like this. They couldn't even see where they were going. They'd bump into things. So, we don't want to be that way. That's not a competition. But we want to humble, be humble-minded, and not look upon ourselves, you know, thinking we're better than anybody else. In fact, the Bible tells us we should look upon other people's needs before ourselves. Let's go on here down in verse 49. And it says, John answered and said, Master, we saw someone casted out demons in your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us or follow with us. And Jesus said to him, Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side.

You know, so here with John, John's pride begins to come out here, doesn't it?

But Jesus taught his disciples to leave people alone who are not against us. You know, frankly, even though I know that of the 1.1 or 2 billion Christians are in the world, that 99.9% of them are not Christians. I'm glad they claim to be Christian. I'm glad that they at least, on some levels, try to apply Christian principles in their lives. I think the world's a better place. I think the United States of America, by the way, is the kind of nation that it is because of those roots, which now it seems people demean. At least some of the political leaders demean want to say that this is not a Christian nation.

And the way they do that, by the way, is they try to say that people like Jefferson and others didn't, you know, they weren't Christians, they were deists. But you go and you read the writings of Jefferson. Some of you have done much more research in the history than I have, and look at all of those men. They were very religious Christians from the standpoint of, at least from their limited knowledge, and God used them to help to found this country. And it was based on Christian principles. No question about that. You know, we could talk about a lot of things with that, but I don't want to belabor the point. There are many things that we do as a nation that keeps us ahead and shoulders above all of the nations because we have Christian roots, not only going back, of course, to Christ, you know, nearly 2,000 years ago, I think, going back to the Old Testament scriptures, going back to the time of the children of Israel, in fact, that had been embedded in the Israelite mind. Laws of cleanliness would be one example of that. You know, you go to some of the Gentile nations, brethren, you don't find what you find in the United States. You find that out real fast. I remember the first time I went over to the Middle East, and at that time, you know, Israel had just been taking over the old city.

And now, I wasn't there previous to that in the old city, but they told me over there that the old city was was a cesspool, basically. Just a cesspool. But as soon as Israel came in and took over, you know, it became a place where people enjoyed. They went.

You know, so, and when I would go there, I enjoyed walking the streets of old Jerusalem. You know, the walls around the city. And so, I walked all the way around, by the way, the old city. And all of that, I think Israel, in a much better way, preserved it in a much, much better way. And I think, again, the world is a better place because of Israel. And the heritage of the peoples of Israel that are, I think, passed on even down to the peoples of the United States and Britain and Canada and South America and Australia today. But here, in this case, John's pride gets the better of them. And again, Christ taught them to leave them alone if they're not against us.

No, Christ did not say lack of discernment because the Bible warns us, brethren, about how Satan and his ministers appear as angels of light. But it isn't our job to stop all those who claim to be speaking for God. It's just not our job. Our job, brethren, is to preach the gospel. That's what our mission is, as God's people. Now, let's go down to verse 51. And now it came to pass when the time had come for him to be received up, that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem and sent messengers before his face. And as they went, they entered the city of the Samaritans. The Samaria was that nation, remember, in the split nation of Israel, Samaria to the north and Judea to the south. And so he was going through the village of Samaritans to prepare for him. And it says that they did not receive him because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. Now, it was a direct route, by the way, from Galilee down to Jerusalem to go through Samaria. But oftentimes, the Jews of Christ day, you know what they did? They would go around Samaria. They wouldn't go into a Samaritan city.

And the reason is because they looked upon the Samarian people as dogs.

However, Jesus had a mission. He was going to preach the gospel, you know, in those areas. But in the story, they reject him. They don't accept him as he's headed to Jerusalem. And why would they do that? It's because they rejected him. Because Christ would have rejected their claim that Mount Gerizim, which was in Samaria, was the place to worship rather than Jerusalem or Mount Sion. And in any event, they reject Jesus Christ. They say, well, look, your face is set to go to Jerusalem. You don't think much of us anyway, so you just keep right on going. And they rejected Jesus Christ in this particular account here, which we read. And you know what? I'm sure that James and John, if they had hoisted themselves up, you know, in their old minds of how great they were, remember what they said? Basically, do we Christ? You want these people, ah, disgusting. You want us to call down fire out of heaven and just blot these people out? It's just us, you know, Christ. You want to block them out? I mean, after all, they rejected the Messiah! They deserved death! Can you see what was going through their minds? They thought they were really great. They lacked that humility and that service-mindedness that they were supposed to have.

You know, they didn't have that right attitude, did they?

They just did not. And, you know, Christ had to rebuke them. He said, you don't know what man or spirit you're of.

Remember, I said at the beginning, brethren, that the world's Christians are led by the spirit and man. And, of course, they can be led by another spirit, too, not of God.

But God's people are led by the Holy Spirit. But Christ said, you don't know what spirit you're of. You're on the wrong side here with this one.

And so, when Christ said that, brethren, obviously it was a signal of this. Again, Christ is telling you, you've got to change! You've got to change! You've got to overcome!

And look through, brethren, the book of Revelation, where does it say, he that overcomes, he that overcomes, he that overcomes, he that overcomes. What do you think we have to do, brethren? Overcome! It's very easy, isn't it? And Christ says, change, change, change! What is he expected to do? Change. A disciple, brethren, must be a new creation, a new creation, and the old person is gone! He said, you don't know what spirit you're of.

You need to get of a different spirit. You're going to be my disciple.

You're going to be a true disciple. Their attitude was wicked. Just plain wicked. I mean, any Gentile leader would have taken the same approach, wouldn't he? Just wipe them out.

He used to have one fellow used to say, just wipe them out, and God saw them out in the resurrection.

No, that's not the way we ought to be thinking. Christ did not come, he said, to condemn the world, but to save it. And so, a true disciple, brethren, must accept his role to change.

He changes who he is. He changes the way he thinks.

And that is so hard, brethren, to do. Let's go to Matthew 5. I want to go over here and read this scripture over here. Matthew 5, where Jesus Christ, and I know we've read these before, but I want to go ahead and read this again, because, you know, it just, we need it hammered in our minds, I believe, as God's people. I know I do have to have it hammered in my mind. He says, you've heard that it is said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

This is when people start turning off. Oh, I've read this so many times. But I say to you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your father. You want to be sons of your father? This is what a true disciple is. He that is led by the spirit of the sons of God. A different spirit. The spirit of God. No longer, again, having this desire to destroy and hurt other people, but a desire to help other people, loving other people, doing good to those who hate you, and praying for those who spitefully use you. Have you ever been used, brethren? Have you ever had anybody spew out venom against you, or persecute you? And he said that you may be sons of your father in heaven. In verse 45, he goes on for he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good, and send rain on the just and on the unjust. If you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? Therefore, you shall be perfect, or become perfect as we understand this means. Not something that happens right away, but we're becoming perfected. And, ultimately, we'll be perfected when we're changed out of this flesh. That's when we'll be perfected and be, hopefully, like Christ, just as your father in heaven is perfect. So, brethren, we need to become new creations, new creatures, and the old person must be gone. But sometimes, you know, that old man raises his hoary head again, and we need to put him down, put him back in his place, put him back in the coffin, to kill him, and then make sure he's dead. But sometimes he can come back. It's this amazing thing to think about. But, you know, going on, let's now go to Luke 9 and verse 57 over here. Luke 9 and verse 57. Now it happened as they journeyed on the road that someone said to him, Lord, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Then he said to another, Follow me. So, here, Christ is actually telling somebody, Follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father.

And Jesus said to him, Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God. By the way, this particular man who wanted to bury his father, not that he was going to go to a funeral, but he was going to go and take care of his father and be with his father. And he could not, of course, serve Christ. And by doing that, apparently Christ was offered him a job, a responsibility, as one of his disciples. But he was not willing to do it. And another also said, Lord, I will follow you, but let me first go and did them farewell. We're at my house. Yeah, and how long will that take? And Jesus said to him, No one having put his hand to the plow, looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

So here, Jesus is challenging their hearts to examine themselves.

Is this person a real disciple? Are you a real disciple? Are you dying to yourself? Christ was saying to them, again, paraphrasing here, and dying, brethren, means following even if one must leave his home in this country, even as Abraham. And Sarah left, you know, and went to a country that they had never been in before, from what we understand. They didn't know where they were going. The Bible says, but following Christ, brethren, is our first priority.

And all else is second. Even our family is second to following Jesus Christ, following God's way of life. And Christ said, in fact, I'm not going to go to Luke 14, but He said, Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has, He said, He cannot be my disciple. Now, by the way, He's not saying that, okay, once you, you know, become a disciple, you leave your husband, you leave your wife, and you go traipsing off to some idea that you may have about what God wants you to do. But if need be, if need be, might be necessary sometimes. I think my wife and I understand one another in this. No, I did put a first priority on the work of God through the years, but I think most ministers do. And she's put a first priority on it as well, by the way. We sacrificed our family for the Church as much as we humanly could. Of course, our kids are grown now, but, you know, I don't think that sacrifice ends, does it? I think you keep on sacrificing. You know, we love yearly, by the way, to go down and spend time with our grandkids and get to know them better and them get to know us better. But, you know, right now the circumstances just do not allow that. So what is a priority, again, is the job, the work that we have to do. Our kids understand that, by the way. Very much so. They understand the priority of the Church and of the work. And I'm not saying, again, to neglect the family. We're not doing that, but we do put a priority on serving the Church. Put a priority on serving the Church, brethren, you know, even above your health.

You know, there was a message I never gave locally, but how that, you know, we need to be willing to play injured. You ever see a football game and sometimes you have a man that goes out and plays football? You know, that's a physical game. And they go out and they're injured. But they do it for the team. Sometimes we have to do that as God's people. You do it for the team. And you do it for what we're doing and trying to accomplish as God's people. I'm not going to go to Revelation 14, verse 4, but over there, Jesus, you know, we know is going to be standing on a mountain in the future and there are going to be 144,000 with Him. And those 144,000, we're told, are the firstfruits, those that were the very first to be called. And it says there that they have followed the Lamb with or so ever He goes. Does that define you, brethren? Are you a new creation? Has the old person gone? Are you out of the way? Are you putting God first?

And you're calling first. Are you a true follower of Jesus Christ? Now, that's a true follower. That's a true follower. You know, finally, I want to give you one final point. And it's something I hope that you will remember the most about what I'm saying here in this message. True disciples have to learn to be true disciples. You have to learn to be a true disciple. Now, just because somebody is baptized, let me tell you, brethren, you know, that's just the beginning. You're on the right path, but it takes a while for all the gel. And, you know, I know I can speak for, you know, the other elders here and others, you know, that have been around for a little while that I know I'm not the cast-neow when it comes to what a true disciple ought to be. I'm sure they wouldn't think they are either. They have that attitude about themselves. I think there's going to be some little old ladies, by the way, are going to really shock us, you know, in terms of what God does with them in the future. You know, but as God's people, we have to learn how to be true disciples. Let's go over to Luke 10. Luke 10 over here in verse 1. And I saw still, oh, I'm sorry, I'm in Revelation. That's no good. Luke 10. Luke 10 in verse 1. And after these things, the Lord appointed seventy others also and sent them two by two before his face in every city and place where he himself was about to go.

Then you can read what he said to them there. But he sent them out, and he told them to teach that the kingdom of God has come near to you. You know, he was conveying to them then, rather, that they were representatives of that coming kingdom. And if they don't accept you, it's going to be more tolerable, you know, in the kingdom for, you know, San Gomorrah, than it will be for them. It's going to be more tolerable for some of these other people through history that indeed did not obey God, but and are considered, you know, shipwrecked spiritually speaking, that could be more tolerable for them because if the miracles had been done among them, they would have repented. They would have changed. And remember, these disciples are going to do miracles, and they did many miracles where they went, as Jesus Christ did. But they were representatives of that coming kingdom, and they went out powerfully. And that's how the world today, brethren, you know, there is such a thing as Christianity today because of the work that these men did. Everybody else stood on their shoulders, and they were standing on the shoulders of Jesus Christ. You know, they were his disciples. I'm not going to go over to 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 26, but it says over there, and you're well aware of these scriptures, that God is called the base things and the foolish things and the things that are despised. He isn't called the mighty. He isn't called the noble. But he is called, brethren, the base things to confound the mighty.

We're not going to confound the mighty now, but we will in the future, brethren, when they're brought up in that second resurrection. That's when they're going to be confounded. Who are these guys? And somebody's going to lean over. Well, you know, they're the guys you put to death.

Or you... those are the men or women that you persecuted.

But who are they now? Well, well, they've been ruling for a thousand years.

A thousand years? They're going to be amazed by what they hear. And so God says that... then He says there in verse 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. No flesh.

There's going to be any glory, brethren, in the future. God will have to do it for us, to us. We won't be doing it ourselves. Like Christ was glorified, we're going to be glorified as well. In the future, as the bride of Christ beside Christ, you know, for a thousand years and pass that into eternity. So no flesh is the glory. But I want you to consider this, brethren. Who chose what was foolish? Who chose what was foolish? Who chose what was base and despised in the world? Brethren, it was God who did. He chose you and me. Broken vessels who could be used to glorify Himself.

And, you know, that exalts God in humbles man, humbles us. We're not very much, are we? Chose we're very small. So, brethren, acknowledge your need for God. Step out in complete faith on Him and in Him for His power. Hold on to His promises in His Word. And marvel, brethren, at the grace of God that has been shown you. And go out, brethren, leaving behind, all behind, to follow Jesus Christ. If you and I could do that, brethren, then we are going to become true disciples.