Amen, you may be seated. At this time, children can be dismissed to Children's Church. And then if you will, open your Bible to the Gospel of John. Gospel of John in chapter one. We'll be looking at some verses in this chapter. We're gonna study on the life of Christ. Morning messages. and this morning we are thinking about the calling of the Twelve. When you think about the Twelve, you think of the term disciple. Disciple is, interestingly enough, the term that's most often used in the Book of Acts to describe the believers. The term Christian was not actually a term that we came up with. It was a term that the unsaved came up with. In Acts 11, verse 26, we're told that the believers were first called Christians in Antioch. As the unbelievers in Antioch observed these believers, they said, you know, they are Christ ones. They are followers of Christ. And they gave them the name Christian, the name that we most often think of for those who are disciples. But if you look at the book of Acts and study it, you'll find that that term disciple is the one that Luke used throughout the book of Acts to describe those who had put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. There was a song that we learned as children about Jesus calling the 12 disciples, and I actually want us to sing it together this morning. I've got the words up here, and we won't do it with the piano. The tune is Bringing in the Sheep, so if you're familiar with that song. That's the tune for this. How many of you learned this as a kid? Any of you? A few of you did, good. All right, so you know it, you sing out. Everybody else just, I mean, you know the tune, so you ought to be able to sing it. Just join me and let's try it together. Disciples, Jesus called to help him, Simon, Peter, Andrew, James' brother John, Philip, Thomas, Matthew, James' son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon, Judas, and Bartholomew. He has called us too. He has called us too. We are his disciples. I am one, are you? He has called us to. He has called us to. We are His disciples. We must do. All right. Well, now you know it. And if you want to try and memorize the names of the 12 disciples, you can use that song and you can learn it. So the Lord had many disciples, actually more than 12. You know, we usually think about the 12 as His disciples and they did eventually become the 12 if you want to refer to them that way, but it wasn't until later, it wasn't the beginning of Jesus' ministry that they became the 12. In John chapter 1, we have the beginning of what would later become the 12. We're introduced to the first of them in this chapter. Jesus has returned from the wilderness where he had been tempted by Satan. He's living near where John is baptizing, and so one day, We're told that John saw Jesus, verse 29, John seeth Jesus coming unto him. So the Lord is coming evidently to talk to John and John saith, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Well, in verse 35, again, the next day, John is standing and two of his disciples with him. And again, Jesus is coming by as he walks, John looks upon him and says again, behold, the Lamb of God. And those two disciples then heard him speak, they heard what he said, and they followed Jesus. They were disciples of John the Baptist, they're going to become disciples of Jesus. John said later when some of his disciples came and said, you know, Jesus is getting a following and you're losing yours, and John said, he, increase, it's not me, it's Jesus, this is exactly what, So we're told that one of the two that followed, verse 40 tells us, was Andrew. We're not told who the other one was. It is a reasonable assumption to think that the other one was actually John who wrote this gospel, John who wrote Revelation and the three letters that have his name in the latter part of the New Testament, because John hides himself in this gospel. He is there, but he never calls himself by name. He kinda hides himself, and so probably he is one of those two who are following John, and then so they didn't turn and follow Jesus. And then we're told that Andrew finds his brother Simon and brings him to Jesus. The next day, verse 43 tells us that Jesus would go forth into Galilee and He found Philip and said to him, follow me. And then Philip finds Nathanael and brings him to Christ. By the way, Nathanael, in the list of the 12, you won't find the name Nathanael there. But the name that you will find there is Bartholomew, and it's believed that Nathanael was also known as Bartholomew, so he would have been one of the 12. But so far we have how many disciples? We have Andrew, and we have probably John, and Andrew finds, Peter, his brother, and then Jesus calls Philip, and then Philip brings Nathanael. So this is the beginning of Jesus' ministry. We have five disciples, not 12, who are named, but five, okay? Now eventually we're gonna have 12, but we have five. So let's go ahead and get the rest of them, and then we'll look at the message this morning. So in Matthew chapter nine, you don't need to turn, but Matthew chapter nine and verse nine, Jesus called Matthew. He was passing by, Matthew's sitting in his tax collecting desk, he's an IRS agent of that day, and the Lord says to Matthew, follow me, and he does. And so, and by the way, sometime later, when Jesus is in Galilee, he's passing by the city of Galilee, and Peter and Andrew are there with their fishing nets, and Jesus says to them, follow me, Now we already know they've already been following Christ, okay? But Jesus, as he's walking by the Sea of Galilee, he calls them to follow him. And then he sees James and John, and he calls them to leave their fishing nets and follow him. And James would have already been, he's not named, but he would have been already one of the disciples. He's now gonna become one of the 12. And so, You understand that, what I wanna point out here is that it wasn't just one time, it wasn't just one call for these 12. Initially, Jesus calls these five to follow him, or they come to follow him. He had multiple disciples. When he's passing by the Sea of Galilee and he calls Peter and Andrew and James and John to leave their nets and follow him, he's calling them to a higher level of following, where they're gonna walk away from their, occupation their business and devote their full time to following Christ. That's what Matthew does when Jesus calls him to leave his tax collecting and follow him. He's walking away from his job to be full time with Jesus. And so we have what up to that point now we have what seven by name. And then we add the last five in Mark chapter three and Luke chapter six, after Jesus spent a night in prayer, he, the next morning, his disciples are there with him, not the 12, 12 are part of them, but there's this whole multitude of people who've been following him, and he calls by name 12, and calls them to him, among whom would have been the seven that we've already been introduced to by name, and then the other five, and he calls them to him and they become at that point, the 12. So that's later in Jesus' ministry. Again, the first year of Jesus' life was not spent exclusively in Judea and around Jerusalem, but primarily there. The last two and a half years of his ministry were spent primarily in Galilee, because after that first year, the scribes and Pharisees began to seek a way to kill him. They turned against him. And so he prudently, in the will of the Father, spent his time primarily in Galilee away from them until his time was come to go to the cross. And so it's sometime in that time in Galilee, in the last two and a half years of his ministry, that they become the 12. They've been following him. Matter of fact, in Acts chapter one, when they're trying to choose someone to take Judas's place, they indicate that whoever it is has to be one who has been with us from the days of John the Baptist until Christ ascended into heaven, and they choose what Matthias is the one that they choose, but he was, though he's not named, he was among the disciples who followed Jesus, but he wasn't one of the 12. So I just want you to make that distinction in your mind. Everybody who's following Christ, everybody who's listening to his teaching and believed on him is a disciple. That's why in the book of Acts, every believer is referred to as a disciple. And then there were the 12 who had a special calling to follow him and he had a special ministry for them. They become the apostles and they become the founders of the church. So how did all of these 12 and really all the disciples, how did they become disciples? And there's one thing that John tells us that indicates how they became disciples. This is true of everyone who becomes a disciple, and that's every believer, they become a disciple by faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. That's the way you become a disciple. You notice what Peter said, of course John first of all declares about Jesus, pointing to Jesus and he's saying He is the fulfillment. You remember the Passover lamb in the Old Testament when they were leaving Egypt and they applied the blood of the lamb to the doorposts. That's a picture of the cross of Christ. Jesus is the Lamb of God. All those lambs of the Old Testament were pointing to Jesus, the one complete final sacrifice for sin. He is the Lamb of God that would be sacrificed on Calvary's cross for our sins so that we might be forgiven. He would take the sin of the world. Now, not everyone in the world is saved. Only those who put their trust in Jesus Christ as Savior. But Jesus died to pay for the sins of the whole world. He is the propitiation, John said, the satisfaction for our sins who have believed on him. And not for ours only, but also for the sins of the world. Jesus died and paid for the sins of every person that ever has or ever will live. And he paid it in full. We no longer have to do anything to be saved, but believe on Christ. Admit that we are sinners, that we need forgiveness, believing that Christ paid for that forgiveness on the cross, that he died, he was buried, he rose again, he's seated at the right hand of the Father today, and ask God to forgive us and save us, and he promises he will do that. And that's what these men are believing. When they hear John say, behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world, the Spirit of God enables them to understand and believe on Jesus Christ as the Lamb who paid for their sin. And that's why, in verse 41, when Andrew goes to find his brother Simon, he says to him, we have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted, the Christ. John interprets that word for us, because it's an Aramaic word, and he's interpreting it into Greek. But we found the Messiah. We found the Christ that was written of and spoken of in the Old Testament, the Lamb of God. Though he doesn't use the same words as John, he's saying the same thing. We found him. the one who would come and be our Savior. We have found him, come with me. We have found him. And so Simon does. And then when Phil finds Nathaniel, and first Nathaniel's skeptical, we'll talk more about that in a moment, but when he realizes who Jesus is, Nathaniel says, verse 49, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. He's again declaring his faith in Jesus as the one that would come to be the Savior. And everyone who becomes a disciple becomes a disciple by faith in Jesus Christ, the Savior. There is no other way to be a disciple of Christ. I heard an interesting story this week I'd like to share with you. I went to a pastor's fellowship earlier in the week, and one of the pastors that was preaching told about a woman that he led to the Lord. And it's an interesting story. I don't think he made it up. I think it's a real story. I mean, you got a room full of pastors he's telling this story to. I don't think he's making it up. So there was this lady, she happened to be Catholic, but she was dying, and she was on life support, evidently. She was unsaved, and her, I think it was her granddaughter and her husband were saved, were believers, and they were concerned for her, knowing that she wasn't saved. I think they maybe had witnessed to her, she had been not responsive to the gospel. Other family members were not saved. And there, as she's dying, the rest of the family who are not believers are trying to keep the pastor and the believing granddaughter and her husband from this woman, lest they bother her with the truth. And so the pastor, his name's Rick Connor, he's up in Maryland, he's praying for an opportunity to witness to this lady. And he thought, well, they were going to, they had set a day to pull the plug. There was no hope for her, and they were gonna take her off life support. And so he can't get in there to see her because the family is keeping anyone from coming. And so he decided, I'll go down there in the middle of the night, The night before they're going to pull the plug, I'll go down there. Nobody will be there. I'll get into the room and at least try and talk to her. Well, he got down there and the family decided it's the night before they're going to pull the plug. They all stayed. Turns out, though, that she wakes up of all things in the middle of the night screaming, I'm going to hell. I'm going to hell. And she knew the pastor, and she asked for him. And so the Lord gave that opportunity for the pastor to talk to her. He went in and began to talk to her. And he asked her the first question. He said, why do you say you're going to hell? And she said, because I'm not good enough. He said, the pastor said, if anybody could have gotten into heaven on their goodness, it was her. She was really a good person. But she understood she wasn't good enough to get to heaven. And he explained in the gospel to her that it's not about our goodness. As a matter of fact, we must admit that we're sinners, that we're not good in the sight of God. But it's about God's goodness in providing salvation for us through Christ. And she trusted Christ as her savior that night. And she told all her family, I am not going to hell, I'm going to heaven, and not because I'm good, but because he is good. You know, she happened to be Catholic, You know, there's a lot of good Baptists in hell today. Because it's not about being a Baptist. It's not about being a Presbyterian or a Methodist. No matter what denomination you are, it's not denomination that gets you to heaven, it's Christ. And everybody, no matter what denomination they are, there's only one way to get to heaven and that's through Jesus Christ. Everyone who is saved has come to faith in Christ as their Savior. It's not us, it's Him and what He has done. And though once we are saved we want to live for God, it's not what we do afterwards. It's not Christ and anything, it's just Christ. and Him alone, and we need to rest in Christ as our Savior. He paid for your sin. All you must do is trust in Him as your Savior, and that woman did that, and no doubt she's in heaven today. He didn't tell the rest of the story. I don't know if they pulled the plug the next day or not, but she must have passed away at some point, but she passed away trusting Christ as her Savior. And so these guys came to Christ. They saw Him for who He was. They believed on Him as their Savior. And they followed Him. Now, how did they come to faith? Well, there are a number of ways in which they came to that faith. Of course, ultimately, it's through hearing the Word and the Holy Spirit applying that Word to their hearts, giving them that understanding. But they came through preaching. John the Baptist is preaching, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. John is preaching that there is one coming after me. He says, he tells the scribes and Pharisees who come to him, there's one who's coming after me. And I'm not him, but I'm pointing to him. And John is preaching about Jesus who is coming. And so when he appears, he says, behold, the Lamb of God has taken away the sin of the world. And Andrew and probably John then become followers of Jesus Christ. God uses preaching as a means of reaching men with the gospel. You know, Charles the Virgin was saved while hearing a sermon on Isaiah 45, 22. It says, look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. Sometimes people hear God's Word being preached, they get under conviction of their sin and their need of Christ, and they believe on Christ as their Savior. I was talking to somebody recently and was reminded one of my grandmothers was saved by listening to Oliver B. Green preaching on the radio, an old time evangelist, and she got saved listening to a message on the radio. Some come to Christ through preaching, through those preaching services. But that's not the only way to reach the lost. Some come through personal witness. Peter becomes a follower of Jesus Christ because of the witness of his brother Andrew. Andrew comes and says, we found the Christ. And he brings Peter to Jesus and Peter becomes a follower of Jesus Christ. And it was through Andrew's personal witness that Peter becomes a believer. I was reminded of Bill Lutke. and how he worked with a believer, Ed Elgin, who was his boss. And for a year, Ed witnessed to him sharing the gospel. And finally, Bill trusted Christ as Savior. God uses personal witness. You know, we're all called witnesses to Christ. The first outreach program of the church is every member who is saved telling those they know who are not saved how to be saved. Whether it's on the job, whether it's in your family, whether it's your friends, whether it's somebody that you just meet along the way. That's the way that we're supposed to reach others with the gospel. That's our outreach program. everyone telling others of their faith in Christ. And by the way, most people don't come to Christ through a cold turkey witness, if you will. I mean, this one encounter with a believer who they hear the gospel for the first time from somebody they've never met, they don't know, and they hear the gospel and they get saved. Now that does happen, but it doesn't happen often. Most often it happens because someone they know is sharing the gospel with them over time, and they come to Christ. Most people that come to a church, unless they're moving into a new area and they're looking for a church, and they find the church that they feel like is what they're looking for, most people that come to church come because somebody they know invited them. And so we need to be evangelists. We need to be witnesses for Christ. We need to be seeking to reach those that we know who are not saved or who are not in a good church. We need to be reaching out to them. And sometimes it's through personal... Nathanael, when Philip comes to him, verse 45, he finds Nathanael, he says to him, we have found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Now, Nathanael's from Galilee, Nazareth is in Galilee. Nathanael, can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? He knew the reputation of Nazareth. How can the Messiah come out of Nazareth? I know that place. I live up there, I know those people. How could anything good come out of there? Now, Philip then began to expound the Old Testament Scriptures to him and try and explain to him, is that what your Bible says? No, he just brought him to Christ. What do you do when you encounter a skeptic? Just give him the truth, just bring him to Christ. He wasn't discouraged. Daniel's skepticism, he just directed him to Christ. I don't have the answers, he does. Just go see Christ, see for yourself. Maybe sometimes you find a skeptic, just say, look, here's a gospel of John, read it. I don't have to convince you. God has to convince you. If you'll just come to Christ, if you'll just meet Him, then maybe you'll come to Him, and in this case, He did. So Nathaniel came to Jesus, and Jesus, as he sees Him coming to him, Nathaniel's never had a personal encounter with Jesus, but Jesus says about Nathaniel, Nathaniel hears this, behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Here is a man who is sincere in his beliefs. And Jesus says that of him, and Nathaniel then, he, wait, how do you know that? I don't know you, and you don't know me, and yet, you're right. I mean, that's me, I'm not a hypocrite. And by the way, it's not a matter of pride to understand that Jesus is speaking truly about him, and he recognizes that. There's something different about this man because he's telling something about me that he doesn't have any way of knowing unless maybe he is the Messiah. Maybe he is the omniscient God. And then the Lord goes further. Nathanael says, how do you know me? Jesus answered, verse 48, and said unto him, before that Philip called thee when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Now I don't think that Jesus is saying here, it wouldn't make any sense, the full impact of what he's saying. Maybe he's saying he literally physically saw him. But when he's answering the question, he's saying to him, Philip, when you were under the fig tree before Philip even, or Nathaniel, when you were under the fig tree before Philip even called you, I knew what was in your heart. You were talking to God, and I'm God. That's the essence of what he's saying is, not just I physically saw you, what good would that do? How would that help him to know that this is a man indeed in whom is no guile? He had to know Nathaniel's heart And that's what he's saying to him when he says, I saw thee, I saw your heart, I know your heart for God because I've seen it, and the only one that can see your heart besides you is God. You can share your heart, and I guess in that sense we can see it, but if you don't share it, we can't see it, but God sees it. Matter of fact, what happens oftentimes, an unbeliever reads the Bible and God shows them their heart and they realize, I am a sinner. And God exposes their heart. and they believe on him. But Philip realizes this man, Jesus, who came out of Nazareth, though he came out of Nazareth, he's not an ordinary man. And Philip said he's the Messiah, and he obviously is. And so Nathaniel turns and says, Rabbi, Master, Teacher, you are indeed the Son of God. You are the King of Israel. And he expresses his faith in Jesus. And so, you know, he comes to Christ not so much through Philip's witness, though that's a part of it, but through his own personal encounter with Christ. And sometimes people just, because they're exposed, read the Bible, and they understand and believe. And so, however, whatever means God uses to get the truth to people, you become a disciple by believing on Jesus Christ. And by the way, even when your witness is rejected, Phillips was initially, don't quit, don't give up, don't get discouraged. As long as they're listening to you, keep sharing the truth with them and just let God do his work. It's not up to you to convince them. All is up to you to do is to witness to the truth. And then God has to do the work in their heart. And God can do it and he will indeed do it. So how do you become a disciple? Faith in Jesus Christ. What is a disciple? And I've got more to say than I've got time to say. So let me try to say it quickly and maybe just hit the high points. But you'll notice there's a statement that's repeated over and over again. A disciple is a follower. When the two disciples, verse 37, heard John the Baptist speak, they followed Jesus. And in verse 43, Jesus found Philip and said to him, follow me. In Matthew 4 and verse 19, Jesus said to Peter and Andrew, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. And he called to James and John and they immediately followed him. Jesus said to Matthew, the tax collector, follow me. A disciple is a follower of Jesus Christ. What does that mean? It means, the word literally means to walk the same road, to go wherever Jesus went. They followed Him, they went where He went. In Matthew 8 and verse 23 it says, when Jesus was entered into His ship, His disciples followed Him. Jesus gets into the ship, they get into the ship. They're following Jesus, they're walking the same road, they're going where Jesus goes. Matthew 9, 18 and 19, the ruler of the synagogue comes to Jesus and tells Him, my daughter's dead, but come and lay thy hand upon her, she shall live. Jesus arose and followed Him and so did His disciples. Now again, in both of those instances, the word disciple is referring to the 12, okay? So he's gonna go to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead. They had been threatening there to kill him. The disciples think when he goes back there, his enemies are gonna take him and they're gonna kill him. Jesus knows it's not his time yet, it's not gonna happen. But Jesus is determined to go. They tried to stop him, he's gonna go. And so Thomas says to the other disciples, let us also go. that we may die with him. We're gonna follow him wherever he goes. They are followers. Walking with Jesus. You know, I was thinking this morning as I was thinking about this message, Jesus always walks with us. We need to learn how to walk with Jesus. We don't always do a good job of walking with him, but he is always walking with us. But we're all, if you trusted Christ as Savior, you are a disciple. But we're not all good disciples. But we need to be growing in our discipleship. We need to be growing in this matter of following Christ and walking along with Him. And part of that means that we will have to go wherever He leads, no matter what it costs us. Again, let me just give this one illustration to shorten things this morning. But these 12, with the exception of Judas, they followed Christ and it cost them their life. But they followed Christ even to death. And there were many bumps along the way. Paul becomes one of the disciples and Paul is beaten a number of times, he's stoned and left for dead, he's shipwrecked a number of times, one time even spending 24 hours in the ocean waiting to be rescued. That was all part of following Christ, as he was following Christ, going where Christ was leading him, it was costing him. And when we follow Christ, if we're gonna follow Christ as he wants us to follow him, we have to follow him wherever he leads us and no matter what it costs us. Jesus said, if a man comes to me and doesn't hate his father, his mother, his wife, his children, his brothers, his sisters, and his own life, also he cannot be my disciple. Discipleship is about following him and putting him first above every other thing and every other person in our life. matter of fact in Luke chapter 9 there was a man who came to Jesus and he said Lord I want to follow you wherever you go and Jesus said well you need to understand foxes have holes the birds of the air have nests but the son of man has not where to lay his head it's going to mean that you don't have a home You don't have a house of your own. You don't have a home of your own. Another man said, Jesus said to him, follow me. But he said, let me first follow my father. His father's not dead. He says, let me go home and take care of my father. And once he's died and he's buried, then I'll come follow you. And Jesus said, let the dead bury their dead. You come and follow me now. There are other people that can take care of your father. I'm calling you to follow me. Let the other people take care of him. You follow me. Whatever the cost, we follow him. wherever he leads. That's what we're being called to when we're being called to be a disciple. But a disciple is also a learner. That's what the word disciple means. It's somebody who learns so that they can be like the person who is teaching them, to imitate them. In Matthew 28, 19 in the Great Commission, Jesus said, go ye therefore and teach all nations, literally disciple all nations, make disciples of, go preach the gospel so that people will get saved and become disciples, and do it in all the nations of the world, and then baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And so it's about learning. Jesus taught those 12. The reason that he called them to forsake all and to follow him was so that he could teach them the things that they needed to know because he was going back to heaven after the cross, after his resurrection, and they were gonna continue his ministry. And they needed to have an understanding of what that involved and what they were to teach. And they needed to learn so that they could then go and teach And part of being a disciple is not only being committed to all and wherever he leads and paying whatever price, but it also means that I'm constantly learning from him how to be like him. And then once I have learned, then I go out and teach others. The Great Commission says, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have told you. And so there's following and there's learning. And then one last truth, a disciple then is changed. As he follows Christ and learns from Christ, he becomes different. Matter of fact, in back here in John chapter one, when Simon comes to Jesus, verse 42, Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. Your name is Simon Bar-Jonah. but you're gonna be called Cephas. And again, John interprets, because John is writing not just to Jews, but to Gentiles, and so he interprets the name Cephas means a stone. The Greek word is Petros, from which we get our English word Peter. What Jesus is saying is Peter is not at that moment a stone. And many times throughout that, With Jesus we see him not being very solid, but Jesus is looking at him and saying, I know what you're going to be. The Lord knows that the time's going to come when Peter's going to deny him, but it'll be a growing process for Peter. Peter will come to the end of himself. I can't, I'm not as strong, I'm not that rock in and of myself. The only way I can be that rock is by trusting Jesus to help me, to enable me to serve him. And so once Peter has learned not to trust himself, but to trust the Lord, he becomes that rock. And then he goes out and he is the apostle to the Jews, helping to establish the church. But Jesus is looking at him at the beginning of his following, at the beginning of his discipleship and say, I see you for what you're going to be. when this process is completed. When Jesus looks at every one of us, not only does he see us where we are, but he sees us where he's going to take us, and he sees what he's going to make of us. Because he which hath begun a good work in you will complete it, will perform it until the day of Jesus, until the day that we are caught up to be with him, he's gonna be continuing to change us and to make us like himself. And the more faithfully we follow him, the quicker that process takes place. The more faithlessly we follow, the longer it takes and the harder it is. But he wants to change us to make us like himself. And so the 12, with the exception of Judas, became apostles. They were sent out by Jesus to preach the gospel and to teach others what they had learned as they walked with him. And we are to follow in their footsteps. So let me ask you this morning, are you a disciple of Jesus Christ? Has there been a time when you recognize that in the sight of God, you were a sinner and you realize that you're not good enough and you never will be? But it's not about you being good. It's about the goodness of God that provided a savior for you. And his name is Jesus. And you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. And you want God to forgive you and save you. There was a time when you did that. You asked God to forgive you, to save you. You believed on Christ as your Savior. Has there been a time when you did that? If so, you are a disciple. And if not, you can become a disciple today by simply admitting to God, I'm a sinner. I cannot save myself. I believe Jesus died for me. And I'm asking you, Lord, to forgive me and to save me. And if you'll just say that to him, He will save you, that's His promise. And you can take that to the bank as they say. But if you're a disciple, are you a good disciple? Are you seeking to follow Him wherever He leads? Are you trying to learn from Him and to grow in Him? And then are you trying to lead others to be disciples of Christ? Trying to be a witness to those who do not know Christ? and even encouraging those who do and sharing truth with them that has helped you that will help them as well. Are you one of his disciples? Ernest Blandy was a Salvation Army officer and he wrote a hymn entitled, Where He Leads Me I Will Follow. He wrote that hymn after choosing between a comfortable post at an established church and an alternate assignment to the New York City waterfront and slum called Hell's Kitchen. He chose Hell's Kitchen. He chose to follow Christ to that waterfront slum and serve him there. But as a result of that experience, he wrote, where he leads me, I will follow. He understood what it meant to be a disciple. We're going to have a word of prayer, and then we're going to sing that song together as our invitation hymn this morning, where he leads me, I will follow. But stand with me, and let's pray, and then we'll sing. Our Father, we thank you For the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, we thank you that there was that day that we believed on Christ as our Savior. Lord, you know our hearts today, just as you knew Nathaniel's. You know who's saved and who's not. Lord, if there's one here today, you know that they never trusted you as Savior. Again, we pray that you might take your word and drive it home to their heart of their need of Christ, and may they put their trust in Him today. Lord, if we have been disobedient, walking at a distance from You, not following closely and learning from You, and not being willing to pay the price of following You, Lord, may we repent of that distance, that disobedience, and may we come back to you. Lord, you promised if we draw nigh to you, you will draw nigh to us. And so if there's one who's walking at a distance, Lord, may they draw near to you today. May they confess their sin and begin to follow faithfully again. Lord, help us to be your witnesses. Give us boldness. The early church didn't boldly witness in their own strength, they boldly witnessed because you gave them that boldness and that strength. And may we experience that in our lives that would cause us to open our mouths and share your truth. Even when in our flesh, we shy away. May your spirit embolden us to be your witnesses. May we follow you wherever you lead and we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. As we sing this hymn this morning, the words