Latest / Heart Check Podcast / Bible Study with Pastor Los | The Gospel of John (1:35-42)

Transcript

Bible Study with Pastor Los | The Gospel of John (1:35-42) · Heart Check Podcast

0:13
What's up everybody? Welcome back to Heart Check
0:15
podcast. I'm your host, Pastor Los.
0:19
Yeah, let's go. And I'm so excited to be back
0:22
with you guys. Thank you for tuning in.
0:24
It has been incredible for your support and your encouragement.
0:28
I hope you continue to walk in this journey of Heart Check
0:31
podcast. I hope you know that this is a
0:34
place to belong, to be known, and to become more like Jesus.
0:37
So thank you for being here. Thank you for joining.
0:39
If you have not yet, subscribe below.
0:41
But we are going to continue journeying through the Gospel of
0:44
John. And today we are going to be in
0:46
verses 35 through 42 of chapter 1 #1 is that big number in your
0:52
Bible? And the little number is the
0:54
verses. So we're going to be in chapter
0:56
1, big number and little verses, little numbers, verses 35
1:01
through 42. And I am reading through the NLT
1:04
version just as a reminder. But if you'd like to follow
1:07
along, I'm going to have the the passage below me.
1:10
But you can open up your Bibles or your digital Bible app and
1:13
follow along with me and take some notes.
1:15
I hope you continue to share this, continue to walk through
1:18
this, this even with other people and continue to be a
1:21
witness for Christ and share your faith.
1:24
Let's get straight to it though. John chapter 1 verses 35 through
1:28
42 reads like this. The following day, John was
1:32
again standing with two of his disciples.
1:35
As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, look there
1:39
is the Lamb of God. Verse 37 When John's two
1:42
disciples heard this, they followed Jesus.
1:46
Verse 38. Jesus looked around and saw them
1:48
following and Jesus said, what do you want?
1:51
He asked them, they replied, Rabbi, which means teacher,
1:55
where are you staying in verse 39, come and see.
1:59
He said it was about 4:00 in the afternoon when they went with
2:02
him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with
2:05
him the rest of the day. Verse 40 Andrew, Simon Peter's
2:10
brother was one of these men who heard what John said and then
2:13
followed Jesus. Verse 41 Andrew went to find his
2:17
brother Simon and told him we have found the Messiah which
2:22
means Christ. Verse 42 Then Andrew brought
2:26
Simon to meet Jesus. Looking intently at Simon, Jesus
2:30
said your name is Simon son of John, but you will be called
2:34
Cephas, which means Peter. Let's go.
2:38
I love it. I love it.
2:41
So now we we follow up last week where John sees Jesus and he's
2:47
pointing Jesus out in the crowd that he's letting them know that
2:51
the Messiah who they've been waiting for is here, that he's
2:54
in the crowd, that he announces Christ to everyone who's around
2:58
him. But then we kind of follow this
2:59
up and we enter into the story where Jesus gains his first
3:04
followers, that he has his first followers who choose to follow
3:09
him, to run after him, to be equipped by him, taught by him.
3:12
But if as we jump back up, I love this because these are two
3:16
of John the Baptist disciples as they're described, and we don't
3:20
get the other disciples name. As you read, we kind of learned
3:23
that one of these disciples who was standing there, one of the
3:26
two was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, who's one of the 1212
3:30
apostles. But it doesn't describe who the
3:33
other disciple is. And theologians believe because
3:36
in the Gospel of John that was written by John the Apostle, a
3:40
follower of Jesus, he never specifically mentions himself or
3:44
says his own name. So theologians believe that this
3:48
other disciple was John, the author and writer of the Gospel
3:53
of John the Apostle John, that the other disciple was him, that
3:56
it was Andrew, Simon Peter, and the other one was John.
3:58
But obviously we don't have a specific telling of the other
4:04
disciples because we don't get their name, but we can conclude
4:07
that it relates and shows the same pattern we see in the
4:11
Gospel John, where John does not say his own name in there.
4:14
He he calls himself usually the the the the apostle whom Jesus
4:19
loved. You know, he was the most loved,
4:21
as he says in his gospel. But we have this described these
4:25
two disciples of John the Baptist and I love in verse 36
4:28
as Jesus walked by. What's John the Baptist do
4:31
again? What is the the phrase that he
4:34
says that we just read in verse 29 in last week's episode that
4:38
he says, look, there is the Lamb of God.
4:43
John says this every time he sees Jesus.
4:46
It was the most important thing about Jesus to John.
4:51
John uses this strong theological stance in truth when
4:57
he sees Jesus, that he wants to point out to everyone that this
5:00
is the Lamb of God. That this isn't just an ordinary
5:03
man that's walking by. That this is the Son of God.
5:07
That this is the Messiah. That this is the Christ.
5:09
That this is the one who the prophets of old spoke about and
5:13
prophesied about that would come one day.
5:16
That this is the Lamb of God who will take away the sin of the
5:19
world. And when John's two disciples, I
5:21
love it in verse 37, it just quickly rolls over.
5:24
When John's two disciples heard this, they follow Jesus.
5:28
And it wasn't much convincing that there wasn't much of A
5:32
discussion that because of John's truth that he spoke
5:36
because of his proclamation about who Christ is, the
5:41
response to the people who are following him and around him.
5:44
They then real quickly decided to follow Jesus because of the
5:49
truth that John spoke. And that hit me when I was even
5:52
preparing this podcast, when I was praying about this and
5:55
reading through this, that when we are willing to be witnesses
5:59
for Christ and proclaim who he is to even people around us that
6:04
we don't realize that God can use, that God can use our
6:09
witness can use the proclamation we make about the truth of God,
6:13
the truth of Christ, that other people can then follow Jesus
6:16
because of your testimony. Again, we talked about this week
6:20
after week, guys, but look at this.
6:22
John proclaims who Jesus is and the disciples who are with them,
6:26
they follow Jesus, that we hear this truth of Jesus out of
6:30
John's mouth, and now they want to also follow Jesus because of
6:34
who he is. Do not be afraid to proclaim
6:38
Jesus anywhere and everywhere and around anyone and everyone,
6:42
because you never know that your witness, that your bold
6:45
proclamation of who Jesus is could open up someone else's
6:49
eyes and soften and turn someone's heart a stone to a
6:52
heart of flesh. That they may now want to follow
6:55
Jesus as well because of your witness, because of your
6:58
testimony, because of you preaching his truth.
7:02
And I just thought that was powerful that we see that even
7:05
deeper than that something that even thinking on that, that John
7:10
has these two disciples who are following him that real quickly
7:14
now follow Jesus. And I think in our day and age,
7:18
sometimes we may get caught up in even as pastors or leaders or
7:21
people who have impacted others with the faith that we want to
7:25
hold tightly to those who are in our circle or in our church or
7:29
in our community. That we've we've been the ones
7:31
that discipled. We've been the ones who reached
7:33
this person for Christ. And I want them to stay with me.
7:36
And I thought it's interesting that John doesn't debate this or
7:40
John doesn't respond with whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
7:42
You guys are my disciples. Don't leave me.
7:45
You guys are supposed to be following me.
7:46
Don't don't just leave and go follow Jesus.
7:48
No, no, John is but completely fine with this because it's all
7:52
about Jesus. That it's not about us trying to
7:55
hang on to who we've reached or who's around us or who we're
7:58
teaching, who we're preaching. That sometimes we can get so
8:01
controlling over the ministries of the people that God has
8:05
allowed us to shepherd over. That we get to be a part of
8:09
God's story and what he's doing in other people's lives.
8:11
But we don't then get to hold a grip on people, to not encourage
8:15
them to go to where Jesus wants to take them.
8:18
We should actually be the people cheering them on.
8:20
We should be the ones who are equipping the Saints to go do
8:22
the work of the ministry that we're called in the fivefold
8:26
office of ministry. If you're a pastor, a shepherd,
8:28
evangelist, a prophet, a teacher, when you reach people
8:32
for Christ, we now get to equip them and hopefully one day they
8:36
get to go somewhere else that God calls them to go.
8:40
Now make more disciples. Remember the point of us here
8:44
for children of God, for those who have found faith in Jesus.
8:47
We are here to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and
8:50
strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
8:52
So therefore, we can go into all places, all areas, all
8:57
countries, all situations, and we can then make more disciples,
9:02
baptizing them in the neighbor name of the Father, Son, and
9:04
Holy Spirit that we as disciples of Christ should be making more
9:08
disciples of Christ and not just getting stuck where we are or
9:12
staying put where we are staying in this certain place because we
9:17
feel like we can't leave. Or maybe the person who's
9:19
discipled you doesn't want you to leave or is not encouraging
9:21
you to go to where God's calling you to go.
9:24
I just want to speak that over you.
9:25
When I read that, that kind of hit me.
9:27
And I think the reason why this is being spoken is because that
9:30
is very relevant to my story, that when I found Jesus, I had
9:34
people who had poured into me, discipled me.
9:36
And man, I'm so grateful for that.
9:38
That they helped equip me to grow in my faith, to grow in my
9:41
knowledge and understanding of God's Word.
9:43
That they were a part of a season of life that I
9:46
desperately needed them to be spiritual mentors in my life.
9:49
But when God then started to call me to follow him and to go
9:53
where He wanted me to go, I was sadly met quickly with
9:56
discouragement that I was kind of told I needed to stay put.
10:00
That man were trying to hold me where they wanted me to be
10:04
rather than where the Holy Spirit was taking me.
10:06
And I want to encourage you today that if you feel this tug,
10:10
if you feel this pulp, the Holy Spirit's saying you saying to
10:13
you to go, that he wants you to go here or there to go and reach
10:17
people for Christ to be an instrument of his.
10:22
Follow Jesus. We don't follow man, we follow
10:27
Christ. We have people who disciple us.
10:29
We have people who pour in us. We have pastors and shepherds.
10:31
We are called to a church to be rooted and plugged 100%, but
10:36
above all else, we follow Jesus. And I just love how we don't see
10:41
John the Baptist respond with a let me hold on to these two.
10:45
He responds with man, look at the Lamb of God.
10:48
Focus your eyes on Jesus. Look who comes man.
10:52
I hope you follow him and to see his disciples respond right away
10:56
with when the disciples heard what John said, they follow
11:00
Jesus 'cause it's about following him, not us.
11:05
And that made me think about if you've read through First
11:07
Corinthians chapter 3, I want to read verses 5 through 8 just to
11:12
just to kind of hammer in this point that that we're sitting on
11:17
'cause it's a biblical point. And I love Paul says this in
11:21
First Corinthians chapter 3, verses 5 through 8 when he's
11:24
writing to the church in Corinth.
11:25
He says, after all, who is Apollos, who is Paul?
11:30
We are only God's servant through whom you believe the
11:33
good news. Each of us did the work the Lord
11:36
gave us. You have the Church of
11:37
Corinthians who's arguing over who they follow.
11:40
I follow Paul, I follow Apollo's that they're worried about
11:44
fighting over who's their better teacher?
11:46
Well, I'm closer to Jesus because I followed Paul's
11:49
teaching. Well, I'm closer to Jesus 'cause
11:50
I followed Apollo's teachers. Man, that kind of sounds like
11:53
us, huh? Sometimes we can get arguing
11:56
about why I'm a part of this church.
11:57
Well, I'm a part of this church. Well, my pastor is this pastor.
12:00
Well, my pastor is this pastor. Well, I'm a better believer.
12:03
I'm I'm in a better place spiritually because I go to this
12:05
church. I follow this pastor and Paul
12:07
saying, who's Apollos? Who's Paul?
12:10
We're only God's servant through whom God gave you the good news
12:15
through you believe through, through what God has done
12:17
through us. And he says in verse six, I
12:19
planted the seed in your hearts and Apollos watered it, but it
12:23
was God who made it grow. Verse 7 It's not important who
12:27
does the planting or who does the watering.
12:30
What's important is that God makes the seed grow.
12:33
The one who plants and the one who waters work together with
12:37
the same purpose and both will be rewarded for their own hard
12:42
work. Paul's point is I came and I
12:46
preached the good news that I planted the seed of faith that
12:49
then I left that that I left Corinth.
12:53
And then there was Apollos, who was the pastor and shepherd over
12:56
this community, this body of Christ.
12:58
And he watered what Paul planted.
13:00
And God then grew that seed of faith into mature believers who
13:06
then produce more fruit, who reached then more people for
13:09
Christ who are disciples, who become disciple makers.
13:12
But Paul's point is, I planted, Apollo diswatered, but God grew.
13:18
God's the one who causes the outcome.
13:20
God's the one who produces the fruit.
13:23
God's the one who does the work through the power of the Holy
13:25
Spirit within us. That it's not about man's work
13:28
and it's not about what we do, but it's about what God does in
13:32
US and through us. That some of us may have people
13:35
that we plant to see the faith for, that we reach first with
13:38
the good news, but then they may end up somewhere else.
13:41
And there's other people who within water that seed of faith
13:44
that you planted, but then God's the one who ultimately grows
13:48
them, who matures them into who He created them to be.
13:52
But guess what? We are a part of 1 body, one
13:55
heavenly family, and we get to participate in God's work
13:59
together. That it's about God and not us,
14:01
it's about Jesus, it's about the Lamb of God, it's about
14:04
following Him, not man. So I just want to make that
14:08
point and encourage you today. Be a part of God's Great
14:11
Commission, but don't try to hold on to people or things with
14:14
a close fist. Don't try to control situations
14:18
that you have no control over. Just be God's instrument.
14:21
Just be his vessel. Preach His truth, say his truth,
14:24
proclaim the Lamb of God is here.
14:26
He's in this place. I promise you'd speak your
14:29
testimony, be a witness, and let God do the rest of the work that
14:33
it is about Jesus, not us. But then it goes on to say in
14:38
verse 38, Jesus looked around and saw them following.
14:40
He said, what do you want? He asked them the question.
14:44
He asked us, what do you want? I love that Jesus says this
14:49
because it was not an accident that the first words which the
14:53
Master spoke in his messianic office were this profound,
14:57
significant question, what do you want?
15:01
He asked it of us all. He asked us of this today.
15:04
I love this quote from a theologian with the last name
15:07
Tenny. He said he probed them to find
15:10
out whether they were motivated by idle curiosity or by a real
15:15
desire to know him. Jesus did not refer them back to
15:19
John the Baptist to say, well, John can tell you more about me.
15:21
He he asked them. He says, what do you want from
15:25
me? He connects with them.
15:27
He meets them. If you want to follow me, I have
15:30
a question for you about that, being a follower of Jesus.
15:33
I've talked about this before. A disciple means someone who
15:38
walks so closely with who they're following that they get
15:41
their dirt on them. That we follow so closely to
15:44
Jesus that we get Jesus's dirt on us.
15:47
That when you follow Jesus or when we talk about discipleship,
15:52
discipleship, discipleship is caught, not taught.
15:56
That Jesus welcomed these men. He invited John and Andrew to be
15:59
a part of his life. That when he asked them, what do
16:03
you want? And then he says, come and see
16:07
after they ask him where you are staying.
16:09
Jesus is inviting them to walk with him, to do life with him.
16:13
This is what discipleship looks like.
16:16
And sometimes we can get caught up in only wanting this
16:21
teaching, preaching, which is great, which is necessary, which
16:25
is a part of equipping the Saints.
16:27
But discipleship, what it means to follow Jesus, what it means
16:31
to have a spiritual mentor to to follow someone, as Paul says,
16:34
follow me as I follow Christ. Cause again, Paul's point is
16:37
it's about Jesus, not me. But when we step into these
16:40
relationships with people and we have spiritual mentors, people
16:43
disciple in US. We should be so close to them
16:46
that we get their dirt on them. That when we are being disciple
16:49
makers, we are inviting and welcoming people into our life
16:53
to do life with us. To see, to see how we respond as
16:56
parents, to see how we respond as a brother and sister, to see
16:59
how we respond to that situation in our life.
17:00
To invite people to go grocery shopping with us, to invite them
17:03
to go to the park with our kids, to just be a part of our lives
17:07
so they can see Jesus in us. That they that what they learn
17:11
can be caught, not just taught because the discipleship is
17:16
watching and seeing how someone lives.
17:18
That's why it's so important to live out your faith to be like
17:22
Christ, not just in a performative way, but to let
17:26
people be involved and invited into the real and raw of your
17:30
life. To see you love Jesus through
17:34
bad circumstances, not just good circumstances.
17:36
To see them see you handle conflict in your marriage.
17:40
To see them handle conflict with your kids.
17:42
To see the them you handle conflict with your boss or your
17:44
job and how you respond to certain circumstances in your
17:47
life. That is the stuff that stays
17:49
with people. Sometimes we can get caught up
17:52
in too much of I need this fire point in my sermon message.
17:56
But a lot of the young adults that I have shepherd and been a
17:59
part of their lives, what they remember is the moments when
18:01
they were in my living room that they were doing life with me,
18:06
that they were just spending time with me.
18:08
That they were seeing me as a father, seeing me as a husband,
18:11
that they were watching who I was, not just listening to what
18:15
I say, but seeing me live it out.
18:17
And so I encourage you invite and welcome people into your
18:21
life so they can catch Jesus through your example.
18:27
And I love how it goes on in verse 39 when Jesus says come
18:31
and see. I love that it specifically
18:33
points out that it was about 4:00 in the afternoon when they
18:36
went with him to the place where they're staying.
18:38
It's cool 'cause theologians again, why they believe this
18:40
other disciple is the apostle John who wrote this gospel.
18:44
It was him was because this was such a memorable occasion for
18:47
the writer that he remembered the exact hour that he met
18:51
Jesus. But this is a subtle clue that
18:53
one of the two disciples who came to Jesus was from John
18:56
himself, the apostle John, because he is remembering the
18:59
exact hour and moment that he met Jesus.
19:01
Because I remember the exact moment hour that I met Jesus,
19:05
and I know you probably do as well.
19:07
That's something that I will never forget that I also
19:10
probably believe that you will never forget.
19:12
When we encounter the living God, our Lord and Savior, the
19:15
Messiah, we will never forget the day and hour.
19:18
And in verse 40, it goes on to say Andrew, Simon Peters brother
19:21
was one of these men who heard what John said and then follow
19:25
Jesus again, Andrew heard what John said and he followed Jesus
19:30
because of John's proclamation, because of John's witness,
19:34
because of his testifying about who Jesus was.
19:39
Andrew responded with, yeah, I'm following him.
19:43
But even to go on be that I love that that Andrew went to find
19:45
his brother, that when he heard the truth of God, that when he
19:50
encountered Jesus, his first response was to then run and go
19:55
and tell someone else that when you encounter Jesus, when you
19:59
now have faith in Jesus, what are you doing with that faith?
20:03
Are you running and telling everyone and anyone that I love
20:06
that Andrew is like, Oh yeah, this is Jesus, This is the
20:10
Messiah. This is who we've been waiting
20:11
for. Oh yeah, I'm running and getting
20:13
my brother. The people who I love and care
20:15
about, they need to also know Jesus, that this is not
20:18
something I'm playing with. That I have come to now know the
20:22
truth of God, that I know who He is.
20:24
I know who created us. I know who loves us.
20:26
I know who has saved us. I'm going to run and tell anyone
20:30
ever. I'm going to go and tell the
20:31
people I love that I want them to also now know Jesus.
20:35
I love that that is the response of Andrew.
20:37
And I hope that we have that same heart posture and reaction
20:41
when we've encountered Jesus, that now that we know him, that
20:44
we know the truth of God, that if you've even been found Jesus
20:47
for a long time, that you don't let this become mundane.
20:49
The gospel should never become just another story.
20:52
It is the greatest story ever told.
20:54
It is the the life changing message of Jesus Christ that we
20:58
are going and telling everyone that we're running up to people
21:02
that we're grabbing our brother, we're grabbing our sister, our
21:04
cousin or auntie or uncle, everybody our Co worker and
21:07
we're letting them know. I know Jesus and he loves you.
21:11
He created you and he wants a relationship with you and he
21:14
died for your sin. And if you put your faith in
21:16
him, you will receive eternal life.
21:19
This is the Messiah. And I just love that.
21:22
This is Andrew's response to first go and tell his brother.
21:27
And it's cool because it says in verse 41, Andrew went to find
21:30
his brother and he told him again, witnessing and testifying
21:36
just as John did. I love how you see man,
21:40
Obviously Andrew followed John the Baptist because he is
21:43
following John the Baptist's example of proclaiming the truth
21:46
of Christ that he finds. He finds Simon and he says guess
21:52
what? Andrew went to find his brother.
21:54
He said, I told him we have found the Messiah.
21:59
We have found the Messiah who we've read about, who we've
22:02
taught about. Again, Andrew and Peter being
22:05
being Jewish men who grew up hearing of the Torah, being
22:09
taught of the Torah as every Jewish child learned about the
22:12
Torah. The first five books, the
22:14
Pentateuch and the old scriptures that they know in the
22:17
Old Testament. These prophecies, this truth of
22:20
the Messiah to come. And now to have your brother
22:23
walk into the room and say we have found the Messiah, This
22:27
would have been like monumental as we read these scriptures
22:31
sometimes when Andrew came to say this to Peter, I bet you
22:35
Peter was hype to have your brother come and say that this
22:40
is not just a light thing, not just a thing of like, oh cool.
22:43
Oh yeah, you found him a side cool.
22:44
No, no, no, no. This would have impacted and
22:47
changed everything. And then in verse 42, it says
22:50
Andrew then brought Simon again. He doesn't just run and tell
22:53
him, he then brings him to Jesus.
22:58
This is a this is a 2 step process.
23:01
Run and tell, testify, witness, proclaim Jesus, but then bring
23:05
and invite people to meet Jesus. Say, hey man, now that I've told
23:11
you about the truth of God, now that you've heard about Jesus,
23:13
what he's done in my life, would you like to come to church with
23:16
me? Would you like to come to this
23:17
community group I'm a part of? Hey, man, you know, we go and
23:20
play pickleball, you know, on Monday nights with, with my,
23:23
with my brothers and sisters in Christ.
23:25
You know, in our community, we'd love for you to come along and
23:27
hang out with us. We don't just tell people about
23:30
Jesus. We then bring them to meet
23:31
Jesus, to be around Jesus followers to be surrounded
23:35
around people who love Christ, that we invite them into our
23:39
life again, guys, this is caught, not taught.
23:42
And I love that Andrew doesn't just go and tell Peter about
23:45
Jesus, he then brings him to meet Jesus like, Oh yeah, yeah,
23:50
we found the Messiah. Now you're going to come with me
23:53
and meet the Messiah and I'm not just only telling you about him,
23:55
I'm going to bring you with me to experience him.
23:58
Let's go. I love that so powerful.
24:01
And it says, looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, which This is
24:05
why he's God. This is why Jesus is God, that
24:08
he knows this. Jesus doesn't get told this by
24:11
Andrew, but he looks intently, he looks at Simon, looks at his
24:15
heart, and then prophecies what is to come for Simon that Jesus
24:20
says your name is your name is Simon, son of John, but you will
24:23
be called Cephas, which means Peter.
24:27
And if we read again in the other Gospel of Matthew 1618, it
24:31
says when Jesus said this to to Peter, he said, now I say to you
24:35
that you are Peter, which means rock.
24:38
And upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of
24:43
hell will not conquer. Or in the old school way I
24:46
learned it, the gates of hell will not prevail.
24:50
That Peter is going to be the rock which the church is built
24:54
upon, that Jesus has a call on his life.
24:59
But even step back for a second, let's think about this.
25:05
Andrew, who could have heard this truth of Jesus, ran to tell
25:10
his brother and to then bring him to meet Jesus.
25:14
But little did he know the person that he just brought to
25:18
Jesus, that he witnessed to, would make an impact on all
25:23
future believers to come. That he would have this call on
25:28
his life from Christ. That he will be the rock which
25:31
the church will be built upon. That Peter will one day and acts
25:37
to stand, stand amongst a vast crowd of Jewish people on the
25:42
day of Pentecost and preach the good news, be filled with the
25:46
Holy Spirit, and then proclaim the good news of Christ.
25:50
And then it says 3000 thousands of people were then baptized in
25:56
the name of Jesus through Peter's preaching.
26:01
That you don't even understand that God is letting you be a
26:04
part of his grand story. That you get to go and testify
26:09
and witness to people and then bring them to meet Jesus.
26:13
And you get to be one of those people who plants the seeds and
26:16
waters the seed and then see God grow it and have God's will over
26:22
people's life and God's purpose over someone's life and God's
26:25
call over someone's life for the Kingdom of God.
26:29
Man, we get to be a part of that, that Andrew was a part of
26:32
bringing his brother to Jesus, but little did he know what
26:35
Jesus was about to do with his brother's life.
26:38
That's so cool. And man, it gets me emotional
26:41
that this is an incredible thing that we get to be a part of as
26:48
flowers of Jesus. We get to tell other people
26:49
about Jesus and bring them to Jesus to encounter the God who
26:54
created them. And you have no idea what God's
26:56
about to do in and through them for the Kingdom.
27:00
I love you guys so much. I hope this encouraged you.
27:03
I hope this just reminded you that God is good, that God has a
27:10
plan, that God has you right where you're supposed to be.
27:13
And I hope that you stop maybe trying to get out of where you
27:17
are or go somewhere else or just be upset or complaining about
27:21
where you are. But that you sit back and say,
27:23
God, show me what you want me to do here.
27:25
God, give me a boldness and a courageous spirit to preach your
27:29
good news, to proclaim your truth so that I can then bring
27:33
and invite others to come to know you as well and to see what
27:35
you're about to do. I love you guys.
27:37
I thank you. Let me pray so we can get a body
27:39
here. Dear Heavenly Father, you are
27:43
awesome. You are so good.
27:46
I thank you for your word. I thank you for the ways it
27:48
pierces through our hearts. Lord, that it just even do read
27:52
this to see what you've done, to see what you've already done,
27:55
and to see what you're about to do.
27:56
God, I pray that you give us, your children, a spirit of
28:00
boldness and that we're courageous to go out into this
28:03
Dark World and to preach your truth.
28:06
To bring the hope that we have God to others and that we invite
28:10
them and that we bring them with us to meet you, Jesus, to follow
28:15
you. That we are out in this world
28:17
planting seeds, watering seeds, God, but then watching you grow
28:20
them. That we get to work together as
28:22
one body, a heavenly family, the Kingdom on earth to reach those
28:28
who don't know you yet. God, we love you.
28:30
We thank you. I pray that your spirit
28:32
continues to move within your children to go and preach your
28:35
good news and to reach all nations, all tongues, all
28:39
tribes, and to be disciples of yours and disciple makers in
28:43
Jesus name, Amen. I love you guys, God bless.