 I am choosing to go. I am choosing to follow Jesus. I am choosing to obey the Great Commission. I am choosing to love the way that He first loved us. I will not settle for anything less. I am choosing to be a disciple of Jesus. Well, happy weekend, Radiant Church. How's everybody doing today? Come on, September is in the air. Doesn't it feel good? No? Okay, well. Hey, this weekend is a very significant weekend in the life of Radiant Church. You may or may not know this, but today Radiant Church turns 24 years old. So 24 years ago, Jane and I and about five or six other people in a 15 passenger minivan pulling a red-borrowed trailer called Tabernacle One, backed up to the Goli community high school, unloaded all of the stolen, I mean, borrowed sound equipment from other churches that we could pull together. A couple packing plays, some plastic plants, and we had our very first service, September 8, 1996. And exactly 24 years later, here we are, worshiping together in one church, now in three locations because this next week, we are opening up our downtown Radiant City Center. And as we start seek on Monday morning, we're gonna have three prayer meetings a day for 10 days that is gonna be in our prayer center, also online for those of you who are joining us. And it's gonna be powerful. We got our occupancy permit, our production sound facilities team has been working like crazy to get it ready, and we could not be more excited. Also, we are grandparents. You may not know that. Well, Jane and I became grandparents 19 months ago. But let me tell you a quick story. About five years ago, good friends of ours, Jeff and Dina Hackard, wanted to plant a church in near Louisville, Kentucky. So Radiant Church, Kentucky was planted about five or six years ago. And that church now has swelled to about 1,000 people. They've just built or building a brand new sanctuary. And they just planted their first church out of their church that this weekend is launching in Kentucky. So it's our first grandchild. So the Radiant family continues to grow and Barrett and Allison and their whole team down there in Lynchfield, Kentucky are launching with about 100 people on day one. So it's an exciting weekend, everybody. The bookstores are open, T-shirts are for sale. I mean, that's when life gets good. You gotta rejoice. How many know we need to hear a message like rejoice? Paul said, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, now you gotta say it like you mean it. Rejoice in the Lord always. Thank you. That's better. And so we've got a lot of things that are going on. We're very excited to be here today and to start a brand new series called Disciple. So I wanna invite you wherever you're at to turn with us in your Bible to John chapter one. John, the gospel of John chapter one. This series entitled Disciple is actually going to be several weeks. I'm not sure exactly how many weeks. I know that it's gonna take us through September and October, and I've intentionally designed it so that it will at least take us up to the weekend after the election. How many know we're gonna need some discipling over the next couple of months? And so if you think, wow, that's really interesting how that all lined up. It's not by accident. It's by design. And we are gonna be digging deep, asking the Holy Spirit, looking into God's word to speak to us and to challenge us about what it means to truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ. See, the mission statement of Radiant Church is this, is that we lead people to become radiant disciples of Jesus. We don't lead them to become radiant converts. We're not here to lead people to be radiant followers alone. We're calling people. We exist to help people, to lead people to become radiant disciples of Jesus because that's what Jesus told us to do, go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. But oftentimes we don't really understand the full implications of that word, disciple. Disciple is both a noun and a verb. It's exactly who we're supposed to become and it's what we're supposed to invest our life in others. We're supposed to be a disciple and we're supposed to disciple others. And so today is the opening introduction to this series and I'll warn you that I probably have about three messages wrapped up into one today. So we're gonna go all over the place but we're gonna begin right here in John chapter one and I've been titled this message this weekend. Come and you will see. Come and you will see. Look at verse number 35. It says the next day again, John was standing with two of his disciples and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and he said, behold the Lamb of God. The two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and he said to them, what are you seeking? And they said to him, Rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? And he said to them, come and you will see. And so they came and saw where he was staying and they stayed with him that day for it was about the 10th hour. And one of the two who had heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. And he first found his own brother Simon and he said to him, we have found the Messiah which means Christ and he brought him to Jesus and Jesus looked at him and he said, you are Simon the son of John, you shall be called Cephas which means Peter. Verse number 43, the next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee and he found Philip and he said to him, follow me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathaniel and he said to him, we have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathaniel said to him, can anything good come out of Nazareth? And Philip said to him, come and see. Jesus saw Nathaniel coming towards him and he said, behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit. Nathaniel said to him, how do you know me? And Jesus answered before Philip called you. When you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Nathaniel answered him, rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. And Jesus answered him because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these. And he said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man. I love this account of how Jesus called his first disciples. You can read a similar incident in Matthew's gospel. Mark, Luke, the synoptic gospels, they share a very similar narrative in art but John tells it from the perspective starting with John the Baptist and a few of his disciples and how they encountered Jesus. It's interesting that it says that they started off as disciples of John, but then when John points out Jesus, shortly after his baptism, he says, that is the guy. That they left John and they came to Jesus and they asked him, Rabbi, where are you staying? You know, Jesus saw that they were following him. He's just walking away from the crowds, but while the rest of the crowds are busy in their conversations, talking about what Jesus has just said, what just occurred, what's happened, how the heavens opened up and the voice of God spoke and they're enamored with John the Baptist. These disciples began to follow Jesus. Have you ever felt like somebody was following you only to turn around and see them? Jesus had that same sense. He stops and he turns and he sees these disciples of John and he says, why are you following me? Rabbi, where are you staying? Jesus invites them and he says, come and you will see. Come, find out. It's an interesting, interesting question that they asked Jesus and it's an even more interesting invitation that Jesus gave them. Come and you will see. Now they could have never known that their lives were going to be radically changed forever based on this invitation. They could have never imagined, hey, we're going to follow this guy back to wherever he's staying but we're never going back to normal. Our life is never going to be the same. They would never have guessed and turned to each other and said, hey, if we say yes to him, you know what's going to happen? We're not going back into the fishing business. We're not going back into the tax collector business. We're going to be following around the son of the living God in flesh, the Messiah of Israel, the savior of the world and books are going to be written about us. We're going to be on the foundations at the ground level of starting a worldwide movement that will change the history of millions of millions of people for all eternity. We're going to write books of a Bible and somebody's going to say, well, what's a Bible? Come and see. But we're going to write books of the Bible. God's going to use us. God is going to use us that could have never known that for many of them it was going to be martyrdom that they were going to lose their lives or better yet, that they were going to lay their lives down for the sake of accepting the invitation to come and to see. They were about to become disciples. Now, when I use that word, disciple, all kinds of different ideas come into our minds, because we equate being a Christian with being a disciple or of being a church-going person with being a disciple, but being a disciple is distinctly different from just being a believer in God. This might rock some of your theology, but the devil believes in God. The book of James says that the demons in hell believe and they tremble, but that doesn't make them disciples of Jesus. It just makes them logical tellers of reality, acknowledgers of what cannot be denied. And it's interesting that Jesus called these individuals to be his disciple, not just acknowledges existence, to not just follow him for a short period of time, but to literally become his disciple. Today I want to give everybody a definition right from the get-go of what we mean when we say disciple. So here is a definition of a disciple. A disciple is one who finds, follows, and becomes fully formed to be like Jesus. It's one who finds, it's one who follows, and it's one who is becoming fully formed to become like Jesus. That's what a disciple is. And it is this definition and the meaning behind this definition that is the reason why Jesus spent three and a half years on the earth. If Jesus just came to die on the cross to forgive us from our sins and all that God wanted out of us was for us to acknowledge that prayer prayer and then wait throughout all the days of our life to die and to go to heaven. And what we did on this planet really doesn't make any difference than Jesus would not have spent 3.5 plus years investing into 12 and 70 in multitudes and making disciples. Jesus was a disciple maker. If it wasn't important, if it wasn't significant, he could have just gone straight to the cross, but he didn't. What he did was he invested his life and he invited others to follow him and to become like him so that when Jesus ascended into heaven he could send them to multiply what he had given them in others so that the earth would be filled with the knowledge of the Lord and that those who were lost and bound in captives in a broken way who literally had become disciples of darkness by default could actually become followers of the one true living God. So if Jesus found it significant to invest 3.5 years into this process then the process is as important as the person when it comes to becoming a disciple. The greatest threat though to the purpose of God in our lives is that we would have a misunderstanding about what Jesus meant when he said two words. Two most important words Jesus ever said because the ramifications of these two words are eternal. Are you ready? Here they go. Two words. Follow me. Simple words. Follow me. Follow me. If we get those two words wrong it can affect our eternity. If we misunderstand those two words we can think that we're one thing when in reality we have become another. Do you know what's interesting is Jesus isn't the only one who says those two words. There are many voices in our lives even to this day that are saying the very same phrase to all of us. Follow me. Follow me. No, no, no, no, no. Follow me. No, follow me. Here's my platform. Follow me. No, no, no, no, no, no. If you're really sharp, if you're really smart you'll follow me. If you care about people you'll follow me. If you care about X then no, you'll follow me. No, if you follow them you don't care about this. This is the world we live in. How many voices in how many different pitches and how many different keys and how many different platforms are crying out to the human heart saying follow me. But in the midst of that there is one who is both God and fully man who stands at the apex of all of history and he says it's neither that, it's neither that, it's neither that voice, it's neither that voice. I am he who was and is and forevermore will be. I am the one who was alive and was dead and yet I am alive again forevermore and I hold the keys of death, hell and the grave. I am the resurrection. I am the life. I am the savior of the world. I'm the author and the finisher of your faith and the only one who has the right to say follow me. And Jesus Christ is Lord and he invites all of us. He invites every man every woman to follow him. But the ramifications of following Jesus are huge. There's a difference between and I'm going to use this phrase today there's a difference between being a cultural Christian and being a disciple. This is where the misunderstanding comes in. There's another way of putting it. Maybe cultural Christian doesn't connect with you. Historically when we say cultural Christian it's this kind of idea that I'm in America I've inherited Christianity most of my mom and dad are Christians we're in a Christian nation therefore I'm a Christian but you could also say a casual Christian. What is the difference between being a cultural or a casual Christian and being a disciple? Well let me just give you a machine gun list here really quick. I'm not even going to expound these I'm just going to give them to you really quickly. Number one a cultural Christian believes because it's convenient. A disciple submits to the process of being fully formed. A disciple believes because it's true. A cultural Christian believes because it's convenient. A disciple believes because it's true. A cultural Christian enjoys the benefits of the cross. A disciple willingly embraces the sacrifice of the cross. A cultural Christian reads the Bible as a menu. A disciple reads the Bible as a mandate. A cultural Christian sees Jesus as an add-on to their already good life. A disciple sees Jesus as the only true way of life. A cultural Christian feels at home in this world a disciple is a sojourner that is in pursuit of a kingdom to come. A cultural Christian acknowledges Jesus. A disciple obeys Jesus. A cultural Christian is a fan of Jesus and a disciple is a follower of Jesus. Those are the differences and there's like five in this room because they're the ones clapping right now and the rest of us are like going Woo! Wow! Where do I fit in in that? Am I casual? Am I Christianity? Or am I following Jesus? What made the first disciples the disciples? It was their acceptance of the invitation to come and see. Jesus said it in chapter 5. He says it to Nathaniel. Follow me. He says it to Peter and to John and to James and to Andrew in Luke 5 when they bring their boat to shore after Jesus says just wild them with this massive catch of fish and he says I will make you fishers of men. Follow me. They had an option. They had a choice to follow Jesus to become a disciple. John Wesley said this, the church changes the world not by making converts but by making disciples. We change the world not by making converts and I think part of the problem that we have and that we're facing one of the things that Jesus wants to alter especially in our very comfortable very casual culture in western civilization to make no mistake about it. I love it. I wouldn't trade it for anything but we have so many options, so many comforts. I believe that one of our biggest problems is we have misunderstandings about what it means to really follow Jesus and it's not because God hasn't been clear. It's because the world and the culture we live in has blurred the windshield of our vision and we need to get a clear vision of what Jesus means when he says, follow me because the adventure begins but so does the struggle. The challenge begins. We can change the world but changing the world begins with changing our paradigm about what it means to follow Jesus because there are many places right now on the face of the earth where following Jesus has an immense price attached to it. Just recently we had a leader from the church in Iran who came and spoke to our staff. He's an American. He's Persian by descent. He's been living in Iran for several years now. He's a leader in the underground church and that's about all I can say about him but when he comes and he speaks to our staff, he's done it a couple different times, we all get agitated. We get irritated. I'll just, I get mad when he starts challenging, provoking us that's exactly why I have him come because I need to get uncomfortable. I need somebody to challenge my perspective. I'll never forget, he challenged us one time and he said, do you know why he said this, he says, how many of you know the name of the person who checks your receipt at Costco? I said, I think I know one and it's only because it's my son's friend. And he said, do you want to know why you don't know the name of the person who checks your receipt at Costco? Because you really don't care that they're going to hell. And it made me mad. I was deeply offended. So offended that I went home and was like, I'm never having him back again. You know what the Holy Spirit said? You need to grow up. And I know it wasn't my imagination because I wouldn't ever tell myself to grow up. I just wouldn't. It was the Holy Spirit. He's like, you need to grow up. But there's a price that's attached to following Jesus. And he tells us, he says, the reason why I wake up and I pray for hours in the morning before I leave the house is I know that one wrong turn in whatever city that I'm living in will cost me following Jesus. Do you know that this year, 2020, while we've been fighting pandemics and all kinds of other things in America, and it seems like it's the end of the world, more Christians will be martyred for their faith globally than any other single year into the 2,000 year history of the church. Follow me for them means follow me to the firing range. Follow me to the prison cell. Follow me to the courtroom. Follow me to the front room where you will watch your wife be raped. Follow me as we burn your church down. See, follow me means a whole different thing to the original disciples and to many who today pay an immense price of following Jesus. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who himself became a martyr during World War II for resisting Hitler in Nazi Germany, became a leader in what became known as the Confessing Church, while Christian flags were replaced with swastikas and hymnals were replaced with Nazi hymnals and churches swore allegiance to the furor instead of allegiance to the lamb. Ultimately, he resisted and he was imprisoned and one month before the end of World War II he was shot in a German prison. He said this, discipleship is not an offer that man makes to Christ, but it is an invitation to which man responds. Discipleship is not an offer that man makes to Christ. It is an invitation and when he bids a man come, he bids him come and die. Now in our American Hey, ShamWow 1999 and wait, there's more. If you pray this prayer now, not only will you get eternal life, but we're going to include financial prosperity. That's right. All of your dreams are going to come true and God's going to give you six pack abs. He's going to build you a firm. You're going to be famous. Everybody's going to know your name and we're not just going to do it once. We're going to do it twice and three times. Call now and pray that prayer in a world where that is what we're used to being sold. Jesus stands over here. Come and see. Come and see because it's not some sadistic invitation to just pain and frustration and trial that Jesus is calling us to. It's actually life that he's calling us to out of death. It's actually light that he's calling us to out of darkness. Jesus is the one who said if anyone would lose their life for my sake, they will actually find it and anyone who tries to hold on to his life will actually lose it. We think we've got this thing called life by the throat, but really it's nothing more than sand in our fist and the tighter we hold onto it, the quicker it filters through our fingers. No man can hold on to life, but Jesus said you can lay it down. You can lay it down with all of its privileges and all of its rights. What does it mean to become a disciple? Look with me at verse number 38. It is answering the question what are you seeking? This is what Jesus said to the original disciples. What are you seeking? We're all seeking something. We're all looking for something. Are you seeking? What are you seeking? Jesus asked them. Jesus asks us are you looking for something to add to your life to make it better? Because that's not why Jesus came. Are you looking for someone to tell you you're okay the way that you are? Because in God's perfect holiness and grace He will never do that because He knows it's not true. If we're okay the way that we are, if nothing is broken nothing is lost and all we need is affirmation, then Jesus died a useless death on a wrathful cross. But Jesus suffered and became sin so that we could become the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. It's called the great exchange and I want you to know He is no fool who will give up what He can't keep in order to gain what He can never lose. And it is the grace of God that I am so grateful. Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Do you know today that it's funny when you see even secular audiences bust out and do amazing grace. It's the only time you will see a secular world that is built on I'm okay you're okay actually say the truth because it's a traditional hymn but they're actually saying the words of the gospel that saved a wretch like me. I dare you to tweet. If you don't live according to God's word you're a wretch. And see what kind of responses you get. But those same people who respond to you will sing that at a baseball game someday. They'll say it saved a wretch like me but it's truth. Are we looking for someone to tell us you're okay because that's not why Jesus came. Are you looking for a spirituality to give you a sense of greater self-esteem that is not why Jesus came. Are you looking for an avatar who will show you one of many ways to enlighten men in this life then that's not Jesus because Jesus did not come to do that. Here's what Jesus said John 14 verse 6 I am the way the truth and the life no man comes into the father except through me. Jesus claimed to be the exclusive truth the exclusive way and the exclusive life. Why did the disciples come to Jesus because they were looking for something. What were they looking for? They were looking for a different way. We've seen the way of the world we've seen the way of religion but Jesus rabbi teacher we want to know your way that's what they meant when they said Jesus where are you staying they weren't interested in checking out the thread count on his sheets where are you staying at Jesus motel 6 or are you at the Hilton check it out they could care less about the soap dispensers or the amenities in the hotel what they meant when they said to Jesus where are you staying they were saying Jesus we want to peek behind the curtain and we want to see your way we want to see the way you live we want to see the way that you relate to God the father we want to see the secret you we've seen the public you we want to see the secret you what does Jesus say come and you'll see they were looking for a way they were looking for truth and they were looking for life they were desperate for significance in their life they were hungry for truth and they were looking for a teacher of the way that's why they said Jesus rabbi where are you staying now in Jewish culture a rabbi means teacher and the word that we use for disciple if you were looking up means actually student but in Judaism the word teacher or the way of life that a Jewish rabbi taught was called the Talmud which meant it was his teaching there was a yoke if you were a rabbi you had what was called a yoke remember when Jesus said my yoke is easy and my burden is light he wasn't talking about literally like an egg yoke or even a yoke that you put on a cow he was talking about his Talmud his teaching he was saying I'm not burdensome it's not going to break you down it's not cumbersome it's easy it's light and so it was called a Talmud the disciple was called a Talmudin which meant one here's the definition of a Talmudin a student of a rabbi or another way of saying it was this one who wore the dust of his teacher because if you follow close enough to a teacher as he walked down the dusty roads of Israel you were going to get dust on you one who wore the dust of his teacher let me ask you a question are we walking so close to Jesus that the residue and the dust of his presence is on us that's the definition of a teacher one of the greatest movies of all time was a movie called Karate Kid may I remember that Daniel San sweep the nigh sweep the knee but Mr. Miyagi said to Daniel Daniel San he said here is vow we make I say you do teacher say student do always that's discipleship teacher say student do lax on lax off lax on lax on lax off lax on lax off this is stupid Mr. Miyagi why am I doing this lax on teacher say student do that's discipleship Jesus says we do Jesus invited the disciples come and you will see seeing only comes after the following Jesus invited them come and see you know what he was inviting them to he wasn't inviting them to more information he was inviting them to encounter and to experience what it is like to learn to follow and to become like Jesus this is the way of Jesus follow me close enough and get some dust on you follow me and become formed to be like me students not greater than his master but you have to be close enough he invited those disciples and they came to his camp they saw where he stayed they sat next to fires with Jesus they learned Bible stories from Jesus they asked questions from Jesus their world view over the next three and a half years began to be reformed and reshaped by Jesus how they saw the world how they saw themselves how they saw others and guess what they made a lot of mistakes along the way Jesus you want us to call down fire and barbecue this town Jesus corrected them he says you don't know what your spirit are of get thee behind me Satan you are not mindful of the things of God but the things of man one of you is a devil he is going to betray me Peter I prayed for you because satan desires to sift you lord I am never going to I will go to death for you yeah guess what before the rooster crows you will deny me three times following Jesus is not about us checking boxes to prove our worth it's about following close enough to the person of Jesus letting him teach you his word taking upon you his yoke following in his way not some other way not being discipled by anybody else not saying to any other person I'll follow you I'll follow you but it's responding to the invitation of Jesus to come and see and the seeing only happens after we've said yes to the following Paul on the road to Damascus it's one of the most ironic stories in the Bible because here's this one who knew more about the Bible than probably anybody else in his generation but yet he missed Jesus and it was only in seeing Jesus that his physical eyes were blinded but his heart came alive and he recognized who Jesus really was so here's what I want to invite you today I want to invite you to come over the next few weeks over the next few months I want to reissue Jesus's invitation to you to come and see come and see I'm not just talking about oh yeah I know a bunch of stuff about Jesus if you're content with cultural Christianity casual Christianity then you can put it in autopilot you can have what you've always had you can be who you've always been you can struggle with what you've always struggled with and you can say yes to one of the other voices and you know what that's your choice but today if you would dare respond to Jesus as he looks back he looks towards you and he says and you will see the next couple of months could change your life and your eyes can be open you can see we can find Jesus we can follow Jesus and we can become fully formed to become like Jesus would you stand with me wherever you're at today I want to invite you wherever you're at to just bow your heads in prayer close your eyes in line portage today is a sacred moment because the same Jesus who issued the invitation to follow him 2,000 years ago to a few Galilean young men and turn the world upside down with them it's the same Jesus who right now is resurrected alive here he's saying to you to many of us follow me and there's two things that I'm going to ask you to respond to today one is a call to make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior today and begin the journey of being a disciple of Jesus and the second invitation is for those of you who have already said yes to that invitation but for whatever reason distance has grown there's become a casualness about your faith and I believe the Lord is issuing an invitation even for those of us who are disciples to speed up our steps and draw closer to him because there are things about Jesus and facets about Jesus and things that he wants to form in us in this hour that are pivotal for the next season of your life that he's saying come and see so before we open our eyes and look around tonight today I want to just speak to those who may be listening to me and as you heard the list of a casual Christianity versus true discipleship that saves you the other deceives you cultural Christianity deceives you into thinking that because you check the boxes of these things that somehow you're truly saved born again on your way to heaven but yet it's only by repenting and saying God I'm no longer going to be my own master I surrender absolute surrender at the foot of the cross it's there that we can receive the gift of grace and forgiveness for our sins it's there that God puts his life his spirit on the inside of us and it's there that we leave our rights we leave our privileges our old identity behind and we stand up in the newness of life and we chart out on this journey of following Jesus until the day we see him face to face it's leaving the old life to gain the new if you're listening to me today and you know as you look at your own life you know you've never decisively laid down your life repented recognized I'm a sinner I deserve judgment but today I'm asking God give me mercy save me forgive me and I will follow you Jesus Lord if you'll give me new eternal life if you'll give me eternal life I willingly lay down this old life if you'll teach me how to follow you I will follow you today I'm on my way to heaven I want to know that Jesus is Lord of my life and I want to grow in following Jesus I'm willing to exchange the old for the new pray for me if that's you wherever your ask want you to raise your hand indicate that say today I choose Jesus and I'm asking God save me thank you one hand two who else three four if you've not raised it tonight he's here to save you who would receive the gift of eternal life who would receive the gift you could never purchase that has not yet oh what treasure if you've not raised your hand final final call I want you to raise your hand now thank you I want everyone in this room to pray this with me say heavenly father especially if you just raise your hand you say the say heavenly father I come in Jesus name and I believe that Jesus is the son of God I believe he died on the cross to pay for my sin and I believe that you've raised him from the dead and he is alive and he is the soon returning king God I repent of my sin of my pride and I lay it all down forgive me cleanse me give me a new heart fill me with your Holy Spirit today I turn my back on every other allegiance and I choose to follow Jesus from this day forward no turning back thank you for loving me saving me in Jesus name amen amen come on if you just prayed that prayer life has begun