If you don't have a Bible, there's these blue
ones on the back table, and we encourage you,
take one, write your name in it, keep it, it's
yours. But now, we're going to look at God's
Word. John chapter 1, verse 35. The next day,
John was standing with two of his disciples.
When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, look.
the Lamb of God. The two disciples heard him
say this and followed Jesus. When Jesus turned
and noticed them following him, he asked them,
what are you looking for? They said to him, Rabbi,
which means teacher, where are you staying? Come
and you'll see, he replied. So they went and
saw where he was staying, and they stayed with
him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the
two who heard John and followed him. He first
found his own brother Simon and told him, We
have found the Messiah, which is translated the
Christ. And he brought Simon to Jesus. When Jesus
saw him, he said, You are Simon, son of John.
You will be called Cephas, which is translated
Peter. The next day, Jesus decided to leave for
Galilee. He found Philip and told him, Follow
me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown
of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and
told him, We have found the one Moses wrote about
in the law, and so did the prophets. Jesus, the
son of Joseph, from Nazareth. Can anything good
come out of Nazareth? Nathanael asked him. Come
and see, Philip answered. Then Jesus saw Nathanael
coming toward him and said about him, Here truly
is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit. How
do you know me? Nathanael asked. Before Philip
called you, when you were under the fig tree,
I saw you, Jesus answered. Rabbi, Nathanael replied,
you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel.
Jesus responded to him, do you believe because
I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You
will see greater things than this. Then he said,
Truly I tell you, you will see heaven opened
and the angels of God ascending and descending
on the Son of Man. This is the word of God. You
may be seated. There we go. Wow, there's a lot
less of you when the kids leave. You guys ready?
Everybody got a Bible? Man, we're going to unpack.
There's a lot of ways we could go with this text.
So we'll unpack it though. We're verse by verse
today, but we need help. We'll try that. I'm
not normally preach with this, so we'll see how
it goes. It's been one of those days where every
little thing just keeps falling apart. So this
is just a real good indicator we need the Holy
Spirit, right? Because we can't do any of this
ourselves. So let me pray and we'll get going.
Lord, we come before you because we're just frail,
messed up, struggling people. who need a Savior,
and we need the work of the Holy Spirit in our
life. And so, Lord, we ask you to speak to us
through your word and by your spirit. Lord, I
ask you to even give me words to say today, maybe
that are not even on the pages that I've written
down. God, will you meet us here? Thank you for
your word. Amen. All right. We are now in the
third week of John and still in chapter 1. And
you're going to take that from me, right? Alright,
here we go. So, the reason we're spending three
weeks in chapter 1 is because chapter 1 is really
foundational for our journey through John. And,
I mean, it's just really foundational. And it
starts off by giving us this really big view
of who Jesus is. the prologue if you look at
your bible the title says prologue right there
and we talked about the prologue being like a
foyer that you need to come in and out of and
so and to remember it right and so it's kind
of like the reason we need john we're spending
so much time in john chapter one is because it's
kind of we need to remember and come back to
this over and over and it's kind of like reverse
hiking this is what i call reverse hiking just
pretend that you It's like you had a helicopter
drop you off at the top of the mountain. Right?
That's how it starts. And instead, and now you're
going to walk. You're up on top of the mountain.
You've done nothing to earn it. But now you're
up there. And you look around and you see everything.
Wow. And it's like, and John starts off and says,
here, I want you to have a massive view of Jesus
first. But then you're going to walk down the
mountain. And as you go down, you're going to
begin to see more about who Jesus is as we go
down. But we start with this massive view. And
so this is, in the first chapter, we see a whole
bunch of the names and titles. And part of that
is to help us get this perspective of Jesus.
We see that he's called, in chapter 1, he's called
the Word. He's called, it's more like an eternal
word. It's been there forever. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. And he's also called the Lamb
of God, and he's called the Son of God, and he's
called Rabbi or Teacher. He's called Messiah.
He's called King of Israel and Son of Man. That
all happens in the first chapter. And I think
the reason that's important is that John wants
to give us this, see how big a deal Jesus really
is. And then he's going to unpack it the rest
of the book. He's going to show us how big a
deal Jesus really is. And at the same time, he
wants to show us, by these names, how personal
Jesus is. Not just the fact that he's massive
and he created the universe, but that he came
to us in a very personal way. So if you remember
last week, we were looking at this guy, John
the Baptizer. Some call him John the Baptist,
but he's really, the name is John, and not the
author John, but it's John the Baptizer. And
we looked at the testimony about what John has
to say, what he has to say about Jesus and who
he was. And so we're going to continue with that
because John is still on the scene. We kind of
dealt with day one of John the Baptizer, and
now we look at another day, kind of the next
day. So let's just jump right in. and look at
starting in verse 35. It says this. The next
day, John was standing with two of his disciples.
When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, look,
the Lamb of God. Look or behold, which we unpacked
that a little bit last week. But he says, I don't
want you just to look with your eyes. This is
the way this is. It's not like, hey, look, there
he is. This is more of a look. Look, John is
saying, look through the circumstances. Look
and see through your circumstances. Look who
that is. He says, I can see. John is saying,
I can see something you don't see yet. That's
really what's behind that word, behold or look.
What you see is this carpenter, but what I see
is the creator of the universe. I see the Savior
of all mankind, so behold, he's there. So one
of the things about John, especially in this
first chapter, is there's lots of deep meaning
in these words. And if we read it, it's almost
flat. But this word look or behold is one of
those. Behold the Lamb of God. Now, those hearing
John would have thought about the Passover Lamb.
It goes all the way back to Exodus. They would
have thought about this lamb being slain for
their sins and the blood being put on the doorpost.
And so for John to say, look, hold the lamb,
that was a big deal. It meant a lot to that.
What? I don't see a fuzzy little lamb. He says,
no, that's the lamb of God who's come to take
away the sins of the world. It's upon him that
all of your sins are going to be laid. Even though
they didn't fully understand it, John's bringing
it around and says that was very significant
what he said. Look at verse 37. The two disciples
heard him. These are John's disciples. Two disciples
heard him say this and follow Jesus. So I want
you to think about John in this moment. John
is a big deal. These two disciples have come
to John probably and said, could you be our teacher?
Could you be our, and they're his disciples.
And think about what John said in verse 23 about
his role, what he was about. In verse 20 he says,
I am the voice of the one crying in the wilderness.
Make straight the way of the Lord. So all that
John the baptizer did with his life was point
people to Jesus. Point of his life was to point
people to Jesus. And so I can just think, like,
the fact is that he not only says, look, the
Lamb of God, and two of his disciples leave,
and he's like, I don't care. Because his purpose
was about pointing people to Jesus. And so these
two guys. Two of John's disciples turn and they
leave and they begin to follow Jesus. Verse 38.
When Jesus turned and noticed them following
him, he asked them, what are you looking for?
They said to him, Rabbi, which means teacher,
where are you staying? This is a weird kind of
response. Jesus looks at them. Can I help you?
He kind of turns around and he says, what are
you looking for? And so in these verses we are
looking at today, we see how Jesus meets his
first disciples. That's what's going on. And
Tim Keller says this about this chunk of scripture.
He says, the gospel writer is not just giving
us information. He's showing us a pattern here
that's for all of us. And so each one of these
statements is patterns. For all of us is basically
the way of looking at it. John wants us to see
encounters with the real person, Jesus. So he's
going to walk through four basic encounters of
how they're coming to Jesus. You know, this last
week, Jared, Josiah, and Josh went through Convergence,
which is the pastoral leadership development
cohort we're doing. And the instructor there,
his name is Bill. Bill Clem had this to say,
and it was really good. He says, you know, a
lot of times when we come to God, we almost come
to him transactionally. It's like, do something
transactionally. But God doesn't come to us transactionally.
He comes to us relationally. He says, I want
you to come to me. Instead of being transactional,
think about coming to Jesus relationally. And
in this situation, we see a very relational Jesus
that these disciples are beginning to interact
with as they come to him. So Jesus stops and
he talks to these two disciples. It's okay to
have these thoughts. The king of the universe,
the creator of all things, is just stopping and
having a conversation with us. That's personal.
And it's meant to be that way. It's meant for
us to have it. And so what he does is he asks
a very soul, a deep soul level question. What
are you looking for? What are you seeking? What
are you really looking for? It almost sounds
real flat to us when we first read it, but that's
what's behind these words. What are you seeking?
I think... I think all of us, as I've kind of
pondered that question, I think all of us are
trying to answer this question, aren't we? What,
at a deep soul level, are you seeking? What are
you looking for? Are you looking for happiness?
For security? For purpose? We could keep going.
In fact, let's do this. What are the things that
we look for? with our life, to find purpose,
to make sense of our life? What are we seeking
to look for in our world? What do you think?
This is your turn. What's that? Peace. Good.
Sorry. Bob. Now Bob Davis and my wife are telling
me I need a hearing aid. I'll get them. What
else? What else are we looking for? What are
we trying to answer in our life? There was one
of those terms we used to use when I was doing
Young Life. We called it, there's like this God
-shaped hole inside of us. We're trying to fill
it. What are we doing? What are we trying to
seek in our life? Meaningful direction. Good.
Happiness. Purpose. Security. There's a few more.
What else? Connection. That's a good one. What
was that? Understanding. What about pleasure?
Happy. Satisfaction. I think when Jesus asked
this question, he's really poking at a heart
level right out of the chute with his disciples.
And their response to Jesus is, you know, we
don't really know. But what we are seeking, we're
interested in you. We can see something there,
and so we're going to follow you. But their response
is really like, I don't know where you're staying.
I love Jesus' response. He doesn't go, oh, really?
You want to know where I'm staying? I love his
response. Look what he says in verse 39. Come,
and you'll see, he replied. So they went and
saw where Jesus was staying, and they stayed
with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.
Come, and you will see. This is a beautiful invitation
and gracious invitation. Again, he's just, there's
no conditions. God just meets, Jesus just meets
him right there. And Jesus meets us right where
we're at. Not with any, like, he's like, really?
That's going to be your response? He's like,
okay, come see where I'm at. But then notice
the detail that the author writes in there. He's
like, and they stayed with him all day. Why?
Why would he throw that in there? I think he
throws it in there because he wants to show us
just how personal and relational Jesus is. He
says, come out. It was before in the afternoon,
so they spent the whole day, the rest of the
day with Jesus. So they just followed him, one
step at a time. I don't know what Jesus told
them in their conversation together that day.
We don't know what they talked about. But whatever
they did had a deep impact on their lives. Look
at what he says in verse 40. Andrew and Simon,
Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who
heard John and followed him. He first found his
own brother Simon and told him, we have found
the Messiah, which is translated the Christ.
Okay, so Andrew is convinced. Whatever happened
in that moment, he's like, yep, that's it. That's
the one. I named my son, one of my sons, Andrew,
around this idea that whenever you see Andrew
in the Bible, he's always bringing somebody to
Jesus. It's a cool picture. But whatever it is,
Andrew didn't have a lot of answers because he
only spent one day. But the first thing he does
is he runs and finds his brother, and he says,
you've got to meet him. We found him. We found
the Messiah. Like, you could sense this, there's
a sense of excitement in Andrew going, okay,
something, something's, we found him. How long
has it been since they've heard anything from
God? 400 years. And now, we have found the one
that's been promised, that we've been waiting
for, for 400 years. John's like, I can't keep
this to myself. So turns and right on, the next
day he goes and tells his brother. Look at verse,
now we have the encounter with his brother. Look
at verse 42. And he brought Simon to Jesus. When
Jesus saw him, he said, you are Simon, son of
John. Your name will be called Cephas, which
is translated Peter. Okay, this is a weird encounter.
We're going through it really slow because some
of this stuff is like chunky. You're like, what?
So here's Andrew's strategy. It's not a soft
sell. He's just like, hey, I found Jesus. You've
got to meet him. I found my Savior. You've got
to meet him. I want you to meet him, so come.
That's it. That's his whole strategy. Like some
of us, we should probably do that. You've got
people in your life, maybe one of your one mores,
you just say, hey. I've got to tell you about
something. Something that really has changed
my life. His name is Jesus. I want to introduce
you to him, so why don't you come to Easter with
me? It's not an advertisement. It's just saying,
just be honest. Bring him with you. Come on.
Don't be afraid. Notice here, first of all, Simon's
like, okay, I'll go with you. So they walk over.
Sometimes people respond that way. They just
show up and go, oh. I'll go, sure. You're that
excited about it, I'm going to go meet him. So
he walks in, and there's Jesus. And Jesus looks
at him and says, hmm, you're Simon. He hasn't
been introduced. You're Simon, son of John, which
is, I know who your daddy is. And your name is
going to be Cephas. Huh? Josiah, your name, hi,
your name's going to be John. It's kind of weird.
Like, why would he, what is he doing? Well, next
part of this verse, I mean, it's just strange.
But it's very significant. See, John looks at
Simon and says, I'm going to change your name.
That's the first encounter he has with him. First
time, he's like, you don't know me. I know who
you are. I know your daddy. I know where you
come from. And no, by the way, your dad had the
wrong name. Your name is Cephas, which means
Peter. In Jewish culture, naming is a significant
event. My parents thought they were Jewish in
the Jewish culture when they named me Caleb.
And we learned growing up, it's Caleb Mark, Joel
Philip, Enoch Timothy, and Joshua Luke. They
got all into the Bible names, right? But one
thing, growing up, I knew what my name meant.
I knew what it was about because we were reminded
of that. Your name means something. And so in
Jewish culture, it means something. It indicates
something. But renaming someone indicates something
of the authority of the person that's renaming.
So you don't go in and say, I'm going to give
you a nickname. No, it's a way of saying. I actually
am a person of authority, and I'm going to give
you a new name, and you have a new identity now.
Wow. So Jesus is asserting his authority over
Peter and telling people, or Peter, that he's
a different man. Right out of the chute, he says,
you're a different dude. You have a new identity,
and Peter means rock. And we know the story of
Peter. How does Peter do living up to that name?
Horrible. If you read any of the Gospels, Peter's
like, and then he falls and crumbles. Like he's
more sand than rock. But Peter is giving a name
because Jesus is giving a vision for what Peter
is going to become. See, over my life, I was
thinking about this. The opposite is true too,
right? Over my life, I've had a lot of names,
nicknames, mainly. Most of them were designed
in my childhood. Most of them were designed to
tear me down. And I'm not going to talk about
me here, but there's a lot of really bad ones
I started thinking about. So the world does that.
The world gives us names. The world gives us
a lot of names, don't we? You're worthless. You're
stupid. You're fat. You're weird. You're annoying.
You're a slut. You're dumb. You're an addict.
You're not enough. You're a failure. You're divorced.
You're ADHD. You're ADD. You think of any others?
Maybe some other names that you've received from
the world? If you're in Christ, you're given
a new name, a new identity. That's the beauty
of being in Christ. And so Peter, he starts out,
and he doesn't do this with every one of the
disciples, but I think it's almost like, I want
you to see something. What I do to you, the one
who has authority over you, which is going, the
one who made the universe, he looks right at
Peter and says, I got a new plan for you. A new
purpose for you. You have a new identity. In
fact, in Scripture, when it talks about those
who are in Christ, it says, you are sons and
daughters of the Most High King. You are more
than conquerors. You are righteous. You are forgiven.
You are co -heirs with Christ. That's a pretty
good list. If you're in Christ, those are all
true for you. You don't have to live by those
other names. A big part of belonging to Jesus
and being his disciple of Jesus is embracing
who Jesus says you are. Part of the problem we
struggle with is we're believing what has been
spoken to us that is not who you are. I believed
for a long time that I was dumb. Couldn't read.
Fourth grade, I got set back. Because I didn't
understand why, but I was told I was dumb. And
so for a long time, I struggled with that. Like,
no. And then it was part of Jesus that really
helped me see that that's not my identity. What's
yours? Are you living in the world's what they
say you are or what Jesus says you are? Look
at verse 43. The next day, Jesus decides to leave
for Galilee. He found Philip and told him, follow
me. Now, what's significant? I love this. Philip
doesn't find him. Philip didn't get brought there.
Jesus goes after Philip, sees Philip and says,
follow me. That's it. That's all we know. Philip,
follow me. I choose you, Philip. It doesn't even
make sense, Philip, but I'm choosing you. Come
follow me. Is that what Jesus has said to you?
He's looked at you and he said, come follow me.
Give me your life. Follow me. Guys, that's a
big deal. That's a huge deal. Because if he said
that to you. You are a daughter or a son of the
Most High King. You are more than conquerors.
You are righteous. You are forgiven. You are
co -heirs with Christ. That's what that means.
And he says that to Philip. He says, come. Hey,
Philip, follow me. I choose you. Verse 44. Now,
Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew
and Peter. So what he's basically saying here
is these guys knew each other. They probably
were friends. They all kind of, you know, they're
in the same town. Philip found Nathanael and
told him, we have found the one Moses wrote about
in the law, and so did the prophets. Jesus, the
son of Joseph from Nazareth, he says, look, we
found him. Right here. Everything that's been
talked about in the Old Testament has been pointed
to him immediately. And Philip's like, we found
him. And so immediately he goes and says, and
finds his friend, and he says, Nathaniel, you
know, Nathaniel, everything that's been in here,
we found him, the Messiah. Everything that's
been talked about in the Old Testament. He says,
we have found the one. And now it shifts to Nathaniel.
Nathanael's first response to Philip's endorsement
of Jesus is what? Skepticism. He's a skeptic
right out of the chute. And just so you know,
if you're a skeptic or you have a friend that's
a skeptic and you're leading them to Jesus, it's
okay. Because right here we see how Jesus responds
to a skeptic right out of the chute. A skeptic
isn't a bad thing always. Okay, prove that to
me. That's not a bad thing. That's not a bad
posture, is it? Look at verse 46 says, can anything
good come out of Nazareth? Like, I don't know
what's even behind that statement. Nathaniel
asks, and what does Philip do? So let's just
assume that he's got a problem with Nazareth
people. He's a racist or he's whatever. We'll
assume that. Or let's just assume, yeah, let's
just assume that. How does Philip respond? He
doesn't get worked up over it. Well, come and
see. Come and see. You've got nothing to lose.
See, Nathaniel's first response of hearing about
Jesus is not positive, is it? That doesn't bother
Philip. He just says, come and see for yourself.
And so, Nathaniel does. All right. We'll see
who this Jesus cat is that you're talking about.
Look at verse 47. Then Jesus saw Nathaniel coming.
Guys, even that statement right there is significant.
He's not surprised. He's like, oh, there he comes.
I've been waiting for him. Come on, Nathaniel.
John uses this term saw a lot in the Bible. Saw.
He looked. He saw. It's this way of saying Jesus
knows what's going on. And Jesus saw Nathanael
coming toward him and said to him, Here truly
is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit. Okay?
Jesus says, Nathanael, I get you. I get you.
I see in you, though, something the world doesn't
see. I see it. I don't mind your skepticism.
I see you. I see what's going on in your heart.
And when Nathaniel meets Jesus, his heart is
instantly exposed. That's what's going on here.
Jesus exposes his heart. I see your heart. I
see what's happening. I think Nathaniel feels
it. Look what he says in verse 48. How did you
know me? How do you know me? Nathanael asked,
before Philip called you, when you were under
the fig tree, I saw you. Jesus answered, Rabbi,
Nathanael replied, you are the son of God. You
are the king of Israel. Something big just happened
there. Right? When you look at that, something
big happened like. So Jesus' response strikes
Nathaniel powerfully. It hits him. He knew Jesus
could see into his soul at a soul level. That's
what's happening. Jesus saw both the inside and
the outside of Nathaniel even when he was not
aware of it. He knew what was going on. He says,
look, I saw you sitting under the tree. There's
a lot of speculation about what. jesus referring
to nobody really knows you know was was he reading
what's going to happen in verse 51 in the bible
or was he like was he just there and he goes
hey dude i remember you were under that tree
i know that's exactly where you were when philip
came to find you how do i know i'm the king of
the universe i'm the one in charge basically
because i get you i know what's going on in your
heart Jesus sees us, guys. Sometimes we don't,
we may know that intellectually, but do we really
know that Jesus knows what's in our hearts? He
sees it in here. And he's fully aware of all
that has happened to you. He's all, he's fully
aware. Of all of the sin that's been done to
you. He's fully aware of all the sin you've done.
He's fully aware of your heart's condition. He's
fully aware of your skepticism. He's fully aware
of your questions. And it's okay. He just takes
you. And he just takes Nathaniel. And all these
disciples. He just takes them right where they're
at. He knows not only what happened. On the outside
of condition, but he sees his heart. So Nathaniel's
response is, I believe. You are the son of God.
You are the king of Israel. One of the commentators
had this to say that I was reading about this
section. He said, the gospel of John is bracketed
by accounts of unbelief melting into belief.
Nathaniel, here in chapter 1. And Thomas in chapter
20. Think about doubting Thomas. Both men were
inclined to disbelieve, but in encounter with
Jesus won their faith. Changed it. Jesus met
them at a heart level. It wasn't a transaction.
It was relational at a heart level. Jesus is
not done though with Nathaniel. He's got more
to say. Look what he says. Verse 50, Jesus responds
to him, responded to him. Do you believe because
I told you I saw you under the fig tree? Nathaniel,
you will see greater things than this. There
he is, casting vision again. You are going to
see greater things than this. And then he says,
truly, truly, I tell you. That word right there,
truly, I tell you, is really a way of saying,
we don't use it like this in our language, but
it would be like amen and amen, and now I'm going
to tell you something. It's like it is, comes
with authority. It's amen and amen. It's our
truly, truly. It's like big deal. You will see
heaven opened and the angels of God ascending
and descending on the Son of Man. What? Another
weird little statement. So let's unpack this.
I think what Jesus is preparing, I think here
Jesus is preparing Nathaniel for what was coming
down the road for him. He's giving him some vision.
He says, but in this verse, in verse 51, the
last verse there, there's a shift that happens.
See, first it was you will see, and then in 51
is you will see shifts to you all will see. See
that in your Bible? There's a difference in the
word, the two. One is he's looking right at Nathaniel,
then he's basically saying, everyone here, you
all will see. What will you see? What is he talking
about? This goes back to Genesis chapter 28,
which you can go back and read that if you want.
You probably remember this story if you've read
that part of the Bible. There's this story of
Jacob, and Jacob is on the run, right? stole
his brother's birthright, and he's on the run,
and he lays down. He's tired, lays down. He puts
his head on a rock for a pillow. Remember that
story? It's probably coming back to a few of
you. And he falls asleep, and God reveals to
him, to Jacob, something very important in a
dream. In this dream, Jacob sees this ladder
that is extended from heaven to earth. And the
angels are using this ladder to move between
heaven and earth. And above the ladder stood
the Lord God. What Jesus is saying is, I'm the
ladder. You're going to see some amazing things.
I am the ladder to God. I am the way to God's
presence. I've come to you. He promises Nathaniel.
He will recognize that Jesus alone can bring
a person into the presence of God. He's it. Nothing
else. Now, why does he choose to reveal that
to Nathaniel? I don't know. I think it's like
just these chunks in the story we see. But here's
the big idea. Nathaniel, you're going to see
much greater things. And you're going to see
me, the latter, break into this world. And you're
going to watch all of that happen. And as we
conclude today, the band, you guys can come up.
As we conclude today, let's go back to the first
words of Jesus in the Gospel of John. Verse 38.
This is the first time Jesus speaks. He says
this. What are you looking for? What are you
looking for? This is the question that confronts
each one of us. What are you looking for? What
are you seeking with your life? Is it acceptance,
position, influence, excitement, escape? Is it
love? Is it security? Is it experience? Is it
approval? After this question, John points to
Jesus. He says, look. Look to Jesus. Come and
you'll see. I think the idea is real simple here.
Whatever you're looking for, whatever you're
desiring for, it's found in Jesus. Come and see.
The Gospel of John is an invitation for us to
be in relationship with Jesus. It's what's constantly
happening here over and over. And I'm not just
talking to a first -time encounter with Jesus.
I'm talking about a continuous relational encounter
with Jesus. Jesus. Come and see. And I would
just encourage you today, and this applies to
me too, that's the mission God has us on is seeing
and experiencing him. Why do we want you to be
reading your Bible every day? That you might
see Jesus. That you're living under there to
experience Jesus. Jesus does something later
in the gospel. He says, I got to go. This is
when he goes to ascend back into heaven. He says,
I got to go. And it's better for you that I go.
Because the spirit of God will come and dwell
in you. Why? Because he wants to show us more
of Jesus. And he does it in a much greater way.
And that's available to you and me. So whether,
I don't know where you stand, but if you've never
said, I need Jesus, today's a good day. Just
step forward and say, I don't have all the answers,
but I'm going to come see you. I'm going to follow
Jesus. But if you are here and you've been tracking
with Jesus, maybe you've been in the church your
whole life, has it been transactional? Or is
it relational? And I think John really wants
it to invite us into a relational, come and see
type relationship with your creator. That's intimate,
that's close. And my prayer is that that's where
you begin to press in and say, I need to see
Jesus personally. I don't care how long you've
been walking with Jesus, that's still part of
your mission. is to keep pressing toward Jesus.
Let's pray together. You know, as we go into
just a time of response, we celebrate communion.
And I think part of the reason why God gives
us this command to constantly come back to the
Lord's Supper is... that we need a regular reminder
of what Jesus did and how he came after us relationally
enough that he gave his life, his blood was shed,
his body was broken for you and me. Lord, we
come before you today. So personally, I just
so want to get out of the transactional way of
approaching you. And to step more into the relational.
Knowing that you come to us. And you know us.
You see us. You know the details inside and outside
of us. And God, that's my heart. My heart for
our church here. The heart for us as a people
is that we will know you. And see you. Lord,
we give this. this day to you. Thank you for
your word.