Marks of True Disciples

Well, the history books are full of the stories of gifted people who were overlooked until someone took an interest in them and decided to help develop them and train them and bring them along. Men like Albert Einstein, who was four years old before he ever spoke and seven years old before he could read, men like Isaac Newton who did poorly in grade school, men like Walt Disney, a newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he said he wasn't creative enough, didn't have any good ideas. Leo Tolstoy, flunked out of college, Werner von Braun, failed ninth grade algebra and then went on to invent the rocket. Franz Joseph Heiden gave up on a young man who was studying under him, gave up on ever making a musician out of this young student who seemed so slow and plotting and no obvious talent at all. The name of that student, Ludwig von Beethoven. So there are lots of folks throughout history that have seemed to be nothing getting started and ended up doing amazing things. In a very similar way, Christ took an unlikely group of men and molded and shaped them into a force that shook the world in the first century. His disciples. In John chapter 1, we are introduced to the first five of them and how they came to meet the Lord Jesus Christ. So locate John 1 in your Bibles, please, and we'll look at the first five men who in this passage came to know Jesus in a personal way and would follow him as their Lord. There are lots of differences about these men, personalities, even the way that they were called to follow the Lord Jesus, lots of differences in these men, even these five who eventually would grow through a number of twelve, but there are some things that are common to these disciples and we see them in this passage. Some things that are common to these men, these early followers of Christ demonstrate the marks of a true disciple. And this morning we're going to look quickly at five of these marks of true disciples. The first one is knowing Christ. If you're in John chapter 1, look at verse 35. The next day, you've got a pause for a moment and say, oh, the next day, what was the day before this like? Well, that was the day that John introduced to a group of people, Jesus as the Lamb of God, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He had told them, this is the Son of God, he says. So he's introducing Jesus to the nation. Okay, now the next day, John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, look, the Lamb of God, when the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Now knowing Christ begins with seeing Christ. And that's where the story starts. These people see Jesus first. John the Baptist has been introducing Jesus to the nation. He has been proclaiming that the kingdom is at hand and the king is coming. And finally, he introduces him to the nation as the Lamb of God. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And then on this day, where two of John's disciples are following him. And by the way, the disciple means two things. The original word literally meant to be a learner and a follower. There's a component of being a disciple, which means you are a learner. You study at the feet of someone, you learn what they have to teach you, you learn more about them. And then the second component is you are a follower. It changes your life and you begin to live like that person who is your teacher. So a learner and a follower, that's a disciple. And these two disciples of John this day, John, when he sees Jesus, says, look, the Lamb of God. Now, the word look is a word which means to behold, to gaze at, to focus on. It's a word that basically is saying, come on, stop, stop, hold on, look, look at, take the measure of this man that I'm pointing out to you. Focus on him because he is the Lamb of God. So what he's doing is he's causing these two followers of him to first of all look at Jesus and see who Jesus is. This is the Lamb of God. You need to understand who Jesus is. First, you need to see him for who he is. The same thing is true of us. Before you can become a follower of Christ, you need to understand who he is. You need to understand that Jesus is God's son who came to this world as the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice to die for your sins. You need to understand who he is. But that's not enough, my friend, because seeing Jesus leads to a personal knowledge of Christ. And that's what happens to these men. Did you see it there? John points out to them, look, stop, focus, gaze on this man, the Lamb of God. Verse 37, when the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. This is where they become a follower of Christ. This is where they commit their lives to Jesus Christ. They've heard about Jesus for a long time. John has been preaching for months that the Messiah was coming. They have seen Jesus and they understand who he is. But this is a different step. This is a step of actually following, of actually proclaiming that Jesus is my Savior. And so this is placing your faith in Jesus. This is personal knowledge of Christ. You see, you can know who Jesus is. You may have heard about Jesus from the time you were a child. You may have heard about Him in Sunday school. You may have grown up in a church-going family. And you may have heard about Jesus all your life. But that's not enough to get you into heaven, my friend. There must come a point where you look at Jesus and you understand who he is and what He did for you. And you make a commitment that changes your whole life, the decision these two made, their life would never be the same again. They turned and left all they had and followed Christ. They said, I want to be your disciple. I want to learn from you. I trust you. This is a personal knowledge of Christ. You can go to church all your life. You can grow up in church. You can know about Jesus. Hear about Jesus. Sing the songs. Hear the messages. And never have placed your faith in Him as your personal Savior. Never really come into a knowledge of Christ as your Savior. My parents were great examples of this. My dad grew up in a church-going family. Went to church. All of his life. But it wasn't until a fellow railroad worker shared the gospel with him. And he understood that he didn't really know Jesus as his Savior, that he placed his faith in Christ as a good moral man who provided for his family. Loved his wife and children. He came to understand that he was a sinner and needed Jesus. My mother had 14 years of pins of perfect attendance in church. She grew up in a church-going family. All of her siblings went to church. Her parents took them to church. She was in church all of her life. And as an adult, 14 years of perfect attendance pins and then was asked to go sing at a revival meeting in Oakville where preacher Jimmy was preaching. And for the first time she understood, I'm a church-going person. I'm a good moral person. But I've never placed my faith in Christ. He understood her need for Christ and trusted Christ as Savior. Maybe you're here like that, my friend. Maybe you come to this church. You've been to other churches. Maybe you grew up in church and you have seen Jesus. You've heard about Him. You've seen Him from the time you were a child, but you've never personally placed your faith in Christ as your Savior. And you've never come into a personal knowledge of the Lord Jesus as your Savior. That is what is required for you to get into heaven. You don't get into heaven by going to church and knowing all the stories about Jesus and saying, I know God, I know Jesus. No, no, you may know about Him, but you don't know Him personally. You've never committed your life to Him and trusted what He did for you on the cross to be your Savior. That's what you need to do. That's what knowing Christ is all about. And that's where discipleship starts with knowing Christ. But it moves on from there to following Christ. The second mark of a true disciple is one who follows Christ. Look again at verse 37. When the two disciples heard Him say this, they followed Jesus. Following Jesus is a natural conclusion to knowing Jesus. Knowing Christ personally as your Savior will lead to following Him. In other words, when you come to know Christ as your Savior, your soul is awakened. You have new life. The Bible calls it a new birth or a regeneration. You are actually born again, this time spiritually, first time physically, this time spiritually. You're born again and you get new life. And that new life is going to make a difference in the way you think and the desires you have and the motivations you have and the way you act. It can't help but make a difference. You will be a changed person if you come to know Christ as your Savior. Jesus said it this way in John chapter 10 and verse 27. He said, my sheep, listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. If you're truly a sheep, if you're one of his, if you claim that Jesus is your Savior, you're Savior, then Jesus says there's some evidence in your life that you're walking in the way I'm walking, you're following me. Now obviously we grow in that evidence. Obviously we grow as believers and hopefully we come to resemble more and more our Lord and Savior and live more like he would have us to live. But from the moment of salvation there is some evidence of a changed life. James, Jesus' half brother would say it this way in his little epistle he would say, in the same way, faith by itself if it is not accompanied by action is dead. In other words, it's not really genuine faith at all. But someone will say, you have faith, I have deeds. Boy, that's what people say today, right? Okay, whatever's good for you is okay. You know, you talk about getting the way you talk about it. I'll talk about getting the way I talk about it. And what's good for you may not be good for me. Well, you talk about your faith. I'll talk about my deeds and that's why I'm going to get to heaven. And James says, no, no, it doesn't work that way. There's only one way and it is a genuine faith that shows itself in a changed life. He says, okay, he throws out the challenge. Show me your faith without deeds, which by the way is an impossibility. But he's kind of throwing out the challenge. Okay, show me, come on, show me your faith without your deeds. And I will show you my faith by my deeds. And that's true of every believer in Christ, every believer in Christ, the faith will be seen somehow in a changed life. There's a changed direction. There are new inclinations and desires and motivations. You have a desire now to learn more about Christ, to read His Word, to pray, to get close to Him. You have a desire to be with God's people. You have a desire to tell other people about Him. That desire is not always pumping at 100%. Obviously, but there is some change in your life. And you don't walk the same way you walked and live the same way you used to live. And being sin like you were all the time, that's gone. That's different. Is it possible for a person's soul to be made alive and still be dead to spiritual things? No. Is it possible for blinded eyes to be open, but to be unable to see how to follow Christ? No. Is it possible to be made a new creature and still live the same way you've always lived? No. Is it possible to be indwelt by the Spirit and never feel that twinge of guilt when the Spirit is grieved by your sin? No, that's not possible. Is it possible to be translated out of the kingdom of darkness and still serve its king? No. No. A thousand times no. If you know Jesus as your Savior, your life will be changed. It will be different. Now Jesus talks about the seed finding good soil and it springs up and brings new life. And there is fruit. There's evidence that there's life there. And He said some will be 30 fold and some 60, some 100. Not everybody's going to have the same level of evidence and fruit, but there's going to be something there that indicates your life has been changed if you really know Jesus as your Savior. That's following Christ. So being a disciple is knowing Christ. It's following Christ, but it's also spending time with Christ. Notice what happens to these men once they begin to follow Him. Verse 38. Moving around, Jesus saw them following and asked, what do you want? That's Jesus' question. And we want to pause for just a moment here and notice that question because what Jesus is doing with this question is He's probing deep into their hearts. He's penetrating into their very soul. And He's trying to find out what are your motives for following me? These two men leave John. They start following Jesus. Jesus sees them. He turns around and says, what do you want? In other words, why are you following me? As we will find, if we move through this gospel in Jesus' ministry, there will be many who follow Him for the wrong reasons. They're all about themselves. They're selfish motives. Some people will follow Jesus because there's a huge crowd gathering to hear this guy preach. I want to be where the action is. So they kind of get swept away in the crowd. There are some people who go here because it's the thing to do. It's the end thing to do to go here in the new prophet. You've heard of the new prophet. Let's go hear Him. That's the thing to do. So you follow around, place to place to hear Him. Some people will follow Jesus because of what they will get out of it. Some of them will get fed. We'll find a few chapters later in John 6 that Jesus feeds 5,000 of them and they immediately want to make Him king. Yeah, sure they do. So what does Jesus do? He withdraws from them and then comes back and preaches a sermon that is so scathing half of them, most of them leave because he does not want that kind of kingdom and he does not want that kind of following. Some of them will follow Jesus because they'll get healed. Some of them will follow Jesus because there's the potential for the overthrow of Rome and it's to be delivered from Rome and yoke of bondage. There will be lots of reasons why people will follow Jesus and so Jesus looks at these two and says, what do you want? What are you in this for? What are you doing this for? And he asks us the same question today. What are you doing here? I think if Jesus were here today and he were to walk from pew to pew and look you in the eye, he would probably ask you today, why are you here? What do you want? What are you here for? Are you here because it's Sunday and it's the thing all good, respectable people are supposed to do to be in church? Is that the reason you're here? Are you here because I want to be respected in the community and everybody knows if you have a good resume in the community, you've got to be a church going person, right? Is that why you're here? Why are you here? What are you doing? What do you want? Are you, is it about what you can get or is this about Jesus? What are your motives? What are you here for? Are you here because you really love him? Are you here because you want to learn more about him? You want to be with his people so you can be strengthened by the fellowship? Is that the reason you're here? Christ is testing our motives today. If you're truly saved, he wants to know from you what do you want? Why are you here? What do you mean by following me? What are you in this for? And I want you to see their answer. Their answer shows their heart and their heart is in the right place. Look at their answer. Verse 38, Jesus asked them, what do you want? They said rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? Come, he replied and you will see. So they went and saw where he was staying and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon. Now what an answer. It is packed full of sincerity. It is packed full of meaning, real meaning from their hearts. They begin by saying rabbi. And John tells his Gentile audience that he's writing this gospel for who would not be maybe familiar with that Jewish term. That means teacher. But it means more than just a title. It means that they recognize it is him they now want to learn from. He becomes their rabbi. They're going to be his students. They will follow him wherever he goes and they want to learn from him. They want to learn what he has to say. They want to learn how he lives. They want to become like him. They place themselves in submission to him as their teacher. That's what that means. So why are you coming? Are you coming to get food? Are you coming because it's a popular thing to do? You come because you want room to be overthrown? No. We want to be with you and hear you teach. That's what we want. So rabbi. And then they ask, where are you staying? That's a fascinating question. And what it evidently shows in their hearts is they want to go wherever he is where they can sit down and spend some time with him. It's not like we can really talk here in this street or on this road. But if we can figure out where you're staying, that's where we want to go. We want to sit down or a cup of coffee and we want to talk. We want to spend some time with you. We want to learn from you. So where are you staying? That's where we want to be. And it's not anything about what. It's not what we get. It's who we're with. Where are you staying? Where are you staying? Rabbi, teacher, Jesus, that's where we want to be. Wherever you are staying. This personal knowledge of Jesus fuels a desire to spend time with him, to learn more from him and about him and then to let that change our lives so that we live more like him that is spending time with Christ. In my friend, if you're going to be a follower of Jesus, if you're going to be a learner and a follower, a disciple of Christ, if you're going to be one of his, then there is something in you that wants to spend time with him, to spend time in his word, to learn more about him, to spend time in prayer, to yield yourself and submit yourself to his plan for your life and what he wants of you and to draw closer to him. There's going to be a desire to be with God's people in God's house so that you can learn more of his word and have him speak to your heart and mold and shape you to be like himself. There's going to be some kind of a desire there to be with Christ if you really know him as your savior. It's just part of being a follower. Whatever you have a heart for, whatever you really have an interest in, whatever you're committed to, you'll find time for. And I will too. Whatever it is that we are really committed to, we will make time for that. If you're committed to making money, you'll work extra hours. You'll get a second job. You'll find time somehow to break in a little extra. If you're committed to your family, you'll find time for them. Regardless of how busy the schedule is, you will make time for them. If you're committed to that hobby, you'll find time for it. You'll find time for hunting or working on cars or the workshop or fixing up the kitchen or painting or whatever. You'll find time. If that's what you really are committed to, if you're committed to a game and learning the skills to know how to play that game better, you'll find time to practice. You'll find time for whatever you are really committed to. And if you are really committed to the Lord, you will find time for him. It's just a natural outflow of the heart of one who wants to follow Jesus. If I really am committed to him, I'll find time to spend in his word and prayer with God's people at church. And that'll be the, it's not a legalistic thing. I have to do this and mark it off a list. No, I want to be with him to spend time with him. That's part of being a disciple. A disciple is one who knows Christ, who follows Christ, who wants to spend time with Christ, but also one who witnesses of Christ. It is natural just as natural as a baby drawing its first breath. When you get saved to have a desire to tell someone else about Jesus. I know we all have different personalities. I know some of us are very outgoing about nature and some of us are very withdrawn by nature. And that will affect your comfort level maybe and how you share the gospel and share Christ with others. But if you're genuinely a Christ follower, there will be some desire to let other people know about him. And that's exactly what happened to these who first came to know him. Look at what happened with Andrew and Peter, verse 40. Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The second one is not mentioned, but characteristic of that way of referencing himself throughout the book. It was probably the one who wrote this book, John the Apostle. He always refers to himself that way, kind of an third person. But we know that one was Andrew. And so Andrew heard what John said, followed Jesus, verse 41. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, we have found the Messiah, that is the Christ, and he brought him to Jesus. There's something about coming to know Christ that you want others to know about him. Or at least we should, if there's real genuine life, if we really found the answer, if we've really found the one who saved us from our sin and has given us a home in heaven, hey, that's more exciting than the new car you bought. That's more exciting than the new kitchen you got. That's more exciting than the new kid you brought home from the hospital. This is something to talk about. This is something to share with other people. And Andrew doesn't know anything yet. He's never been to an evangelism training course. He hasn't been through Bible college, never spent a day in seminary. But he has a burning desire to tell his brother about Jesus. It does not take a thorough Bible knowledge for you to have a heart to just tell other people about Jesus. I want to show you what I've found. I want to tell you about what I've found. That's the testimony that Andrew gives. New baby Christian and he's already telling people about Jesus. But notice what happens with Philip and Nathaniel. By the way, Jesus looks at Simon in verse 42 and says, Simon, your son of John, you will be called Seifas, which being translated as Peter. Both of those mean rock. Seifas is the air-mayic term spoken in the first century in Israel. And Peter is Petros, the Greek term. He would be called rock because you will be a rock. By the way, I love that because Peter wasn't a rock yet. Peter is very up and down in the gospels. He's growing, but he's very unstable. So Jesus is looking at him in terms of what he's going to make him. That's how Jesus looks at all of us. Jesus is looking at the Peter in the book of Acts. Not perfect yet, but stable. A rock. I love that. So what happens with Philip and Nathaniel? Verse 43, the next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee, finding Philip. He said to him, follow me. Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethesda. Philip found Nathaniel and told him, we have found the one Moses wrote about in the law and about whom the prophets also wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. So Philip is the same way. When Philip is introduced to Christ, he immediately wants to tell someone else about Jesus. Look at what we've found. Look at who we've found. He describes. We've found the one Moses wrote about in the law. What we saw last time, Deuteronomy, where Moses talked about a prophet that would come. Listen to him, Moses said, and Philip is saying, hey, we found him. He's here. Not only that, he's the one about whom the prophets wrote. His name is Jesus. He's from Nazareth. He's the son of Joseph. It's obvious Philip didn't know a lot yet. He didn't know about the Virgin birth. He's not really the son of Joseph, but he did grow up in Joseph's household and just was assumed by everyone to be the son of Joseph. So Philip doesn't have a Bible education yet either, but he wants to tell someone about Jesus. And that's all it takes is a personal experience with Christ to be able to tell someone about Jesus. But oh, here's the first one who's going to face an objection. Here's the first witness for Christ. It's going to face someone that says, that's not, that's not, that could be right. Notice Nathaniel's objection, verse 46. Nazareth, I can just feel that coming through the clinch teeth, spitting it out by Nathaniel. Can anything good come from there, Nathaniel asked? And by the way, that's an honest, good objection. Not only was Nazareth a pretty bad place in the first century, there was a Roman garrison right outside Nazareth and it had become like many military towns can be with all the corruption and sin and so forth that can happen with a transient military population. It was like that. Nazareth was like that, but there's more to that than this objection. Nazareth has never mentioned in the Old Testament. It's never associated with the Messiah. In fact, maybe Nathaniel knew his Old Testament well enough to know that the prophet, you tell us this is one of the prophets told us about, well, the prophet Micah told us he would be born in Bethlehem. Thank you, Philip. Not from Nazareth. Well, obviously, Nathaniel doesn't know the whole story yet either. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but grew up in Nazareth. Isn't it amazing? We've got two people who really know nothing about Jesus, but God uses one of them to introduce the other one to Jesus. And I love how Philip answers the objection. Nazareth, can anything good come from there? Nathaniel asked, come and see, said Philip. Amen, see. All he does is press the claims of Christ. Now, there is definitely a place for answering the objections of people on their level. There's a place for that. There's a place for good apologetics. There's a place for being able to reason with people and help them think through issues. There's definitely a place for that. But the one thing above all else that will convince people of their need of Christ is pressing the claims of Christ through the Word of God. This is the book that produces faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And so when somebody raises objections, and by the way, this is one reason why people are so afraid to witness, they're afraid somebody's going to ask them about how Noah got all the animals in the ark. Are they going to ask them, how could a God allow evil in the world? Why don't I answer that? Well, okay, just press the claims of Christ. Proclaim the Word of God. And it is the Word of God the Spirit will use to penetrate hard hearts and open up dark and minds. And when you have the opportunity and a listening audience, yes, give all the reasons you can. But do like Philip and just say, come and see. Come and see. Test it out. Here's what the Bible says. Place your faith in Christ and you will see. And Nathaniel does that. Nathaniel will do that. But one of the greatest things that is true of a disciple is witnessing of Christ. Whatever Cromwell was Lord Protector of England in the mid 1500s, he had helped overthrow the monarchy and set up a Protectorate and was ruling during the 1550s in England. And he recognized that the country was short of currency. There was short of silver. And so he sent some of his men out to find whatever silver they could find throughout the country. And they came back and reported to him, the only silver we can find is the statues of the saints and the churches. And all of our Cromwell is reported to have said, let's melt down the saints and put them into circulation. And I believe that's what Jesus would say today. We need some saints melted down and put into circulation. We need some saints who have melted hearts, hearts that are full of compassion for lost souls. And we'll be willing to get out in circulation and spread the gospel to other people. Witnessing of Jesus Christ is a mark of a disciple. But notice the final one quickly, trusting in the power of Christ. Here's how Nathaniel is introduced to Jesus, verse 46. He says, Nazareth, anything good come out? Phillips says, come and see, verse 47. When Jesus saw Nathaniel approaching, he said of him, here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit. What Jesus does is he speaks directly into Nathaniel's heart and says, I know, I know in your heart. And I know you're a true Israelite, one who really loves God. And there's no guile, there's no deceit, there's no trying to pull the wool over people's eyes in your heart. Now while Nathaniel may not have said that about himself, Nathaniel knew enough about his own motives to know that Jesus was pinpointing his very heart. He could see into his heart. And then Jesus gives additional proof of his power. This is the power of Christ being shown here. Verse 48, how do you know, Nathaniel asked, Jesus answered, I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you. Wow. So I know what's in your heart, but I also know what you were doing this morning before we ever met. I know where you were. You know, it's interesting that in New Testament times a fig tree was a very well shaded area that we're talking about a hot dry climate in the Middle East. This is where people would often go to get a break and just to pray and think and meditate. Get a little C.S. to maybe think about the Old Testament. It was the typical place for prayer and meditation. Is that what Nathaniel was doing in all likelihood? And Jesus says, I know what you were doing there. I saw you under the fig tree. And that blows Nathaniel away. Look at his response. Verse 49, then Nathaniel cleared, Rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. It's just his heart overflows and he spits out three declarations about Jesus. First of all, Rabbi, in other words, you have just become my teacher. I'm going to submit myself to your place, myself at your feet, submit myself to your teaching. And you are the son of God, the highest declaration that could be made about Christ. He has just seen his omniscience that he knows all things and he knows he is the son of God. You are the king of Israel. So Nathaniel is in. He is all in. He is following Jesus now. He knows who Jesus is. And notice Christ's promise in verse 50, Jesus said, you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that. He then added, very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man. Harkening back to the story in Genesis 28 about Jacob, which is obviously what Jesus is referring to. Jacob is running for his life from his brother. He saw, he just stole him the birthright and he saw his bow to kill him and Jacob is running. And he is leaving the land of Canaan and just before he gets across the border, he lays down to sleep at night and he dreams. Remember the dream? The ladder that reaches from heaven to earth, the angels ascending and descending on that ladder literally a stairway, staircase. And when he woke up the next morning, Jacob would say, surely God was in this place and I did not know it. God was communicating to him through that dream, Jacob, go where you will, but I'm going to protect you and bless you and care for you. I have angels coming back and forth to watch over you and protect you and bless you. And you know what Jesus is saying? Jesus is saying, you will see that same link between heaven and earth. God's showing that he's coming down, that he is reaching and meeting the needs of people, but those angels descend on me. I am the link between heaven and earth. You've called me the Son of God. I'll tell you I'm also the Son of man and those two wedded together link man and God. I am the staircase. I am the ladder. The angels come back and forth on me and you will see amazing. You'll see amazing evidence of God's power and protection and blessing in these next three years. Nathaniel, you're going to see what you've seen just tip of the iceberg. You're going to see much greater things than these. And Nathaniel becomes the fifth follower of Jesus that day. And so Christ's ministry begins and it begins with choosing his first followers, his disciples, those who will be learners, those who will be followers of him. My question for us this morning is, am I a disciple? Are you a disciple? Have you come to know Christ personally as your savior? Are you following him? Is there some evidence of change in your life that your life has now taken a new direction and you're following him? Do you have a desire to be with him and grow through his word? Do you have a desire to tell others about him? And are you seeing increasingly growing the power of Christ in your life? As you pray and you see answers to prayer, you're seeing God work in your life? Are you a disciple? Here's the bottom line, my friend. If you're truly saved, there will be some evidence of these marks in your life. Maybe you can just find a little bit right now, but there'll be some evidence if you're truly saved. As you grow, there will be more evidence of these marks of a disciple in your life. Because as you grow, these qualities grow. As you learn more of Christ, you become more like him and you have a greater desire to be with him and to tell others about him and to trust in his power and pray so that you can see him working in your life. Are you a disciple? Do you know Jesus as your savior? And are you following close to him as your Lord? Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the way you call these initial disciples to follow you. Maybe we understand what it means to first of all know you in a personal way and then to follow you day by day and to grow to be more like you. Thank you now, Lord, for these will be baptized who are showing their friends and family and others publicly that they have become your follower. They are truly your disciple. Thank you for that. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.