August 27, 2026 • 25 mins
Jesus asks a question that cuts through religion, excuses, and image management: “What do you seek?” That single line from John 1 becomes the diagnostic for every heart, and it forces us to name what we are really chasing: comfort, meaning, approval, control, or Christ himself.
We continue the Basic Training mini-series by talking about the “core competencies” that mark a mature Christian and a healthy church. We connect discipleship to the Great Commission and get practical about what maturity looks like on the ground. We revisit worship as a weekly, corporate priority that declares God’s worth, not just with words but with our calendars. We also talk about serving God with the seriousness of someone who belongs to Jesus, because the gospel says we are redeemed by Christ’s blood and our lives are no longer our own.
From there we walk through John 1:35–36 and watch John the Baptist do something rare: he refuses to build his brand and points his own disciples to Jesus, saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” We trace the ripple effect as Andrew brings Simon to Christ and Philip invites Nathanael with two simple words that still work today: “Come and see.” We also define “disciple” plainly and press the uncomfortable tension that faith without following is not what Jesus calls Christianity.
If you want a clearer, more biblical view of Christian discipleship, evangelism, and spiritual growth, listen through and take one step this week: love someone enough to invite them. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find Foundations of Truth.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to Foundations of Truth, the
biblical teaching ministry ofDr.
Timothy Mann.
Our mission is to help you buildyour life on the unshakable
foundation of God's Word, rootedin Scripture, anchored in the
grace of the gospel of JesusChrist.
Each week, Dr.
Mann opens the Bible to bringclarity, conviction, and
encouragement for everyday life.
(00:22):
What is the most importantresponsibility of a faithful
Christian?
Is it simply to know the truthor is it to point others toward
the one who is the truth?
Today at Foundations of Truth,we continue our mini-series,
Basic Training.
Our scripture today, Johnchapter 1, verses 35 and 36.
John the Baptist is standingwith two of his own disciples
(00:42):
when Jesus walks by.
John does not call attention tohimself or attempt to hold on to
his followers.
Instead, he directs their eyesto Christ and declares, Behold
the Lamb of God.
That's the calling of everyChristian and every faithful
church to point people away fromourselves and towards Jesus
Christ, the Lamb of God whotakes away the sin of the world.
(01:05):
And now here with today'smessage is Dr.
Timothy Mann.
SPEAKER_01 (01:08):
We started talking about basic training.
Basic training.
I told you how in 1987 Igraduated from basic training in
the United States Army.
And to be able to do that,before you can even go on to
advanced individual training,you have to be able to be
proficient in certain corecompetencies.
Even after you complete youradvanced training and get to
your permanent party dutystation, where I was, we had to
(01:29):
be tested every couple ofmonths, a couple times a year,
on our core competencies to makesure those were where they
needed to be in our militaryservice, our capabilities as a
soldier.
There are core competencies thatall of us as followers of Jesus
should strive toward.
And these are goals for all ofus as Christians and as members
of this church.
(01:50):
They are biblical.
These are not something that Ijust arbitrarily made up.
However, I want them to be apart of the DNA of our church.
I want them to be our vision andour strategy for becoming mature
and committed followers ofJesus.
These are actually aspects ofwho we should aspire to be as a
church, who we we should aspireto be as individual Christians.
(02:12):
And that our stated mission,it's in our literature, it's on
our website, it's the missionthat Jesus gave us in the four
gospels, the Great Commission,four gospels and the book of
Acts, but we stated it this way.
We said that our stated missionas a church is to be, quote,
used by God to help other peoplebecome committed and mature
(02:34):
followers of Jesus.
To be used by God to help otherpeople become followers of Jesus
who are committed and mature.
Now, how do we do that?
In other words, what does thatlook like in the simplest terms?
How do we do that in thesimplest terms?
In basic terms?
I want to ask it these questionsagain this week.
(02:56):
Am I, are you a mature andcommitted follower of Jesus?
Are you a mature and committedfollower of Jesus?
Are you a follower of Jesus atall?
And if so, are you a maturingcommitted follower of Jesus?
And if you say yes, yes, I'm afollower of Jesus.
(03:17):
I'm wanting to be mature and I'mcommitted to that process, well
then what are some basic aspectsof your life that actually point
to that?
That actually show that.
That actually demonstrate that.
If you say yes, I'm a followerof Jesus, I'm a mature and
committed follower of Jesus.
What demonstrates that in yourlife?
(03:39):
There's also two of the basiccompetencies we talked about.
One was worship God, the otherone was serve God.
Worship God and serve God.
Jesus said, You shall worshipthe Lord God and serve him only.
Those commands are to be theultimate priorities of our
(04:00):
lives.
At the most basic level, theworship of the Lord God is
displayed.
Again, this is basic.
This is minimum.
At the most basic level, theworship of the Lord God is
displayed in our lives throughconsistent, regular, weekly
corporate worship with otherbelievers.
We discussed that.
(04:21):
A biblical Christianconsistently gathers with other
believers to praise, honor, andlearn of our Lord Jesus, of his
work, and of his will.
You ought to have, and I'mgrateful that the majority of
you do, you ought to have alocal group of biblically minded
believers that you commit to andyou join together with weekly to
(04:44):
publicly worship the Lord God.
And then you also are declaringhis worth to you.
Remember, we talked, that'sreally what worship means,
worship.
When I'm worshiping him, I amdeclaring his worth to me.
But beyond the basic, everythingelse you do in your life, you
are declaring his worth to youin everything you do.
(05:06):
And so we touched on that.
Also, a biblical Christian is aservant of the Lord.
The Greek word translatedservant in most English
translations is actually slavein the Greek.
For the Christian, the LordJesus bought you by his blood
out of the slave market of sin.
He redeemed you, and now youdon't belong to you.
(05:27):
You don't volunteer for theLord.
You don't volunteer for him.
You are his servant.
You are to serve him.
Everything you are andeverything you have belongs to
him.
And so the question is, are youliving your life as his servant?
Or for something else?
Are you living your life as hisservant?
(05:49):
And if so, if you say yes, well,in what ways are you
specifically serving the Lord?
Can you articulate those?
So there are other aspects,other basic realities to
consider today that should bethe priorities of our life.
And we're going to see anexample of those two aspects,
and I'm just going to touch baseon them briefly this morning.
(06:10):
They're self-evident, doesn'tneed a lot of explanation.
John chapter 1, verse 35 through36.
Here's an example of these othertwo competencies.
So let's read the scripture.
John chapter 1, verse 35 through36.
Are you ready for the scripture?
Say amen.
Alright.
(06:30):
Again, the next day, John, thisis John the Baptist, it's
speaking of, stood with two ofhis disciples.
And looking at Jesus as hewalked, he said, John the
Baptist said, Behold, the Lambof God.
The two disciples, that's Johnthe Baptist's disciples, heard
(06:51):
him and they followed Jesus.
And then Jesus turned and seeingthem following, said to them,
What do you seek?
They said to him, Rabbi, whichis translated, which is to say,
when translated teacher, Rabbi,where are you staying?
He said to them, Come and see.
They came and saw where he wasstaying and remained with him
(07:12):
that day.
Now it was about the tenth hour.
One of the two who heard Johnspeak and followed him was
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
He first found his own brother,Simon, and he said to him, We
have found the Messiah, which istranslated the Christ.
In other words, I know theSavior.
We found him.
(07:32):
And he brought him to Jesus.
And now when Jesus looked athim, he said, You are Simon, the
son of Jonah.
You shall be called Cephas,which is translated a stone, or
more popularly known by us,Peter.
The following day Jesus wantedto go to Galilee, and he found
Philip and said to him, Followme.
(07:55):
Now Philip was from Beth Seda,the city of Andrew and Peter.
Philip found Nathaniel and saidto him, We have found him of
whom Moses in the law and alsothe prophets wrote, Jesus of
Nazareth, son of Joseph.
And Nathaniel said to him, Cananything good come out of
Nazareth?
Philip said to him, I'mbeginning to see a pattern here,
(08:16):
aren't you?
Come and see.
Jesus saw Nathaniel comingtoward him and said of him,
Behold, an Israelite indeed inwhom is no deceit.
We'll stop there.
Let's pray.
Father, we come again now, andLord, I'm grateful for the
opportunity we had to hear thismorning of how you're at work in
another place.
(08:37):
We get so wrapped up in our ownlittle world, our own life, our
own sphere, our own circle, evenour own church, in our own
community.
But Lord, it's good to bereminded that you are very much
at work somewhere else, orindeed around the world.
Thank you for your blessings andgrace in our life.
And now, God, would you speakthrough your word these next few
minutes that we have to impresson us these core realities of
(09:02):
our life that really ought to bepresent if we're going to be a
follower of Christ and helpothers become followers of Jesus
who are mature and committed?
Help me to preach now in Jesus'name.
Amen.
The location here, let me giveyou some context.
The location here is just eastof the Jordan River, where John
the Baptist, cousin of Jesus,was preaching repentance and
(09:26):
that the kingdom of God wascoming and was baptizing all
those who repented.
And one day we find John theBaptist speaking of the Messiah
as one who is somewhere inIsrael among his people, but
he's not yet recognized.
That's back up in verse 26.
We didn't read that.
And then the next day, he'sproclaiming Jesus as the
(09:49):
promised Messiah, which is whatwe just read.
And the identity of Jesus isfully revealed to John the
Baptist and those around at theLord's baptism when John
immersed him.
Not because he needed it, butJesus said this is to fulfill
righteousness.
And immediately then John theBaptist begins to declare that
Jesus is the one of whom he hadbeen speaking, of whom he had
(10:12):
been preaching about.
And then shortly afterward, theLord walks by John and two of
his disciples.
And as Jesus walks away, Johntells his disciples that Jesus
is the Lamb of God, referencingback, of course, the motif of
the Old Testament and even whatwas happening in the temple
worship of that day.
He said, Look, the Lamb of God.
(10:35):
So those two disciples of John,they set out and they leave
John's side and they set outafter Jesus.
And as they begin to draw nearto Jesus, he turns around and
seeing that they're behind him,following him, he asks, What do
you seek?
Now it's interesting to me,Jesus did not ask them, Whom do
(10:58):
you seek?
He said, What do you seek?
Now that's not an unfriendlyquestion intended to put them
off.
Rather, I think the questionseems to be designed to
encourage them to actually thinkthrough and verbalize what they
want from him and to crystallizejust what it is that they're
doing.
And that really is, don't youknow this to be the case?
(11:18):
That really is the basicquestion of life.
What are you after?
What are you after?
What do you seek?
Are you seeking meaning,purpose, significance in life?
Are you seeking a religion ofself-improvement and human
development?
Is that what you want?
Are you seeking rules andregulations and laws of
(11:40):
righteousness?
Are you seeking fellowship andcompanionship?
Are you after deliverance fromtrials and trouble and
suffering?
Are you seeking approval andacceptance of God?
Are you after and seekingblessings from God and his care
and his provision and security?
Really?
What do you seek?
(12:02):
You yourself.
What are you after?
That's the question of life.
Well, these two men might havebeen caught off guard by the
question because this is howthey responded.
Rabbi, where are you staying?
Now I must confess, I initiallywas inclined to think that was a
rather dumb response.
The kind I would have given hadI been caught off guard and I
(12:25):
really couldn't think of theright thing to say.
Their answer, though, may haveactually been more thoughtful
than I first suspected, becausethey might be politely asking
Jesus to be his disciples.
Because our Lord's answer isvery encouraging.
When they said, Rabbi, teacher,where are you staying?
What does he say?
Come and see.
An invitation.
(12:45):
Come and see.
That's a very different answer,by the way.
I was thinking about this, andit's a very different answer
than the one the Lord Jesus gaveto another volunteer in Luke 9.
Because in Luke 9, there's anoccasion in verse 57 and 58, the
scripture says, as they werewalking along the road, someone
(13:05):
said to him, so they're allwalking along the road, someone
said to him, I will follow youwherever you go.
So he's volunteering, right?
Jesus turns to this guy, though,and says, Foxes have holes, the
birds of the air have nests, butthe Son of Man has nowhere to
lay his head.
Little bit of a differentresponse.
If being a disciple literallymeans following one's master,
(13:29):
and it does, then one would staywith the master.
Jesus was telling that would bevolunteer, that there would be
no place to stay.
That might have been a verypolite way for our Lord to
decline the offer to become hisdisciple because he knew this
guy wasn't serious.
Jesus was in essence saying, Youdon't really know what you're
(13:49):
getting into.
When Jesus here actuallyencourages two of John's
disciples to come and see wherehe's staying, he seems to be
inviting them to follow him ashis disciples.
Now some students of Scriptureunderstand that these two men
who would encounter Jesus at 4p.m., that's when this is, would
spend the night with him andwherever he was staying.
(14:10):
And now after spending time withJesus, Andrew goes and gets his
brother.
See, he had a relationship withhis brother.
He cared about his brother.
He loved his brother.
Andrew tells his brother Simon,who later gets renamed Peter by
Jesus, about Jesus and thenbrought him to Jesus.
The next day, Jesus travels toGalilee, and once he's there, he
(14:31):
finds Philip and gives him avery commanding invitation.
It's an invitation, but it's acommand.
Follow me.
Follow me.
And that's a clear invitationfor Philip to become a disciple
of Jesus.
So do you understand what adisciple is?
SPEAKER_00 (14:46):
Thank you for listening to Foundations of
Truth, the biblical teachingministry of Dr.
Timothy Mann.
If this ministry isstrengthening your faith and
helping you understand God'sword, would you consider
supporting Foundations of Truth?
Your financial gifts help uscontinue producing and sharing
these Bible teaching broadcasts.
If you'd like to make adonation, you can give a gift
online, foundationsoftruth.net.
(15:09):
That's foundationsoftruth.net.
And thank you.
Let's return now to today'smessage.
Here's Dr.
Timothy Mann.
SPEAKER_01 (15:16):
You understand what a disciple is?
See, a disciple is a believerand a follower.
Someone who actually adheres tothe teachings of another, making
them his or her own rule of lifeand conduct.
So anyone who claims to be aChristian and is not a disciple
of Jesus is missing what ittruly means to belong to Christ
(15:38):
and to be a Christian.
Am I speaking English?
Is this on?
Hello.
Anyone who claims to be aChristian, let me just let that
land for a second.
Anyone who claims to be aChristian but yet is not a
follower of Jesus, is not adisciple of Christ, is
completely missing what it trulymeans to belong to Christ and to
(16:00):
actually be a Christian.
It's difficult to make the casethat, oh yeah, I'm a believer,
but you're not a follower.
You're not a disciple.
Jesus actually says, and youread all the way through the
gospels, Jesus says that doesn'twork for him.
It's only a disciple who issaved.
It's only a disciple who's afollower.
(16:21):
Now we're not always the bestfollower.
Can I get an amen?
I I surely we can get a witnesson this one.
We're not always a faithfulfollower.
Hey, we're not even always agodly follower, but someone who
has truly believed the gospel isa follower of Jesus.
I mean, when you understand,when you really understand what
you were and where you were,that you were a sinner, lost in
(16:44):
your sin, separated from Godforever, that you do not deserve
or earn the mercy and grace ofGod.
When you know that, and you seethe love of God on the cross
demonstrated through JesusChrist, and he was raised from
the dead, and on the cross, hetook your penalty and your
punishment, and he was raisedfrom the dead to give you life,
to get you out of death andbring you into life, to get you
(17:06):
off the road to hell, and to putyou on the road to heaven.
When you see yourself for whoyou really were and what Jesus
did for you, then what'll happenis you'll actually love the
master and you'll love the Lordwho has saved you by his grace,
and you will want to trust himenough that you will want to
live his way and obey hiscommands.
You'll be a follower of Christif you're saved, if you're truly
(17:29):
a believer.
So if you're not following Jesusin your life, and yet you say
you're a Christian, there's amajor disconnect there, and what
you're saying does not anywhereline up with what Jesus says.
Anyway, Philip goes on and findsa friend, or at least someone
who's an acquaintance, goodacquaintance, Nathaniel, tells
him about Jesus.
Nathaniel is someone with whomPhilip has a relationship.
(17:52):
He cares enough about Nathanielto tell him about the Savior.
Now, Nathaniel is skeptical andscornful, but what does Philip
do?
Philip issues an invitation.
Come and see.
Come and see.
Now, what's interesting in allof this, there's no record here
of Andrew arguing with Peter.
There's no record of Philiparguing with Nathaniel.
(18:12):
They're merely inviting the oneto whom they were witnessing to
what?
Come and see.
That's what they're doing.
In the last couple of minutesthat I've got here, I want to
give you two principles in thispassage that actually points to
the other two goals, the othertwo core competencies that we
should have in our life.
We talked about worship God andserve God.
(18:35):
That's very vertical.
These two are kind ofhorizontal.
Love others, invite others.
Love others, invite others.
See, Andrew and Philip hadpeople they cared about.
They had relationships withfamily and acquaintances, and
they demonstrated love towardthem by telling them about
(18:56):
Jesus.
Biblically speaking, Christiansare to love others and other
believers, other unbelievers.
We talked about last week howlove is not primarily a feeling,
but love is an action.
We can demonstrate love in manyways: hospitality, helping,
sharing.
But the greatest demonstration,I'm telling you, the greatest
(19:18):
demonstration of love towardothers is to tell them about
Christ.
Loving others means giving themthe gospel.
Now to do that, you have to haverelationships.
You have to have some level ofrelationships.
Let me ask you, how manyunbelievers are in your network?
How many unbelievers are in yoursphere of influence?
(19:40):
Do you intentionally try tobuild relationships with people
who are not Christians?
Now, see, Christians are to showlove to one another, other
Christians for sure, but we alsohave to love non-Christians and
demonstrate that love by tellingthem about our knowledge and our
experience with the Lord JesusChrist.
On the other hand, let me put itthis way if all your hangout
(20:03):
people, if all of your hangoutpeople are not Jesus followers,
and you never talk about youloving and following Jesus and
why they should, do you reallylove them?
If all your hangout people arenot Christians, that's who you
spend your time with, that's whoyour buddies are, that's who
(20:23):
your gals are, and you nevertalk to them about loving and
following Jesus, why you do andwhy they should, do you really
love them?
Do you care about them at all?
Now, these men, they do also goon to build relationships with
other Jesus followers.
See the rest of the NewTestament.
See Acts chapter 2.
(20:45):
These men go on and they buildrelationships with other Jesus
followers.
And in those relationships, inthose groups, they discussed
Jesus' teachings with otherdisciples.
They shared meals together, theywent to synagogue and temple
together.
These relationships and thefellowship continued after Jesus
ascended back to the Father.
They did ministry together, theyprayed for each other, they
(21:08):
greeted each other, they carriedone another's burdens, they
admonished and corrected oneanother, they demonstrated love
toward one another.
And the letters of John andPeter and Paul all give abundant
instruction about loving otherbelievers.
And by the way, you can only dothat when you're intentional
about spending time with otherchurch members, with other
(21:29):
believers.
And the starting connection atProvidence Church, practically
speaking, for you to be in anopportunity to have that is to
be a part of a Bible fellowshipgroup.
Now I know, Lord, it's a heavysacrifice.
That's an additional hour onSunday morning.
(21:50):
Man, you're suffering for Jesus.
It's gonna wear you out, Ipromise you.
But it's a venue to buildrelationships, to get to know
other folks.
And have a place and a people soyou can love others.
It's really what the churchdoes.
And it's not necessarily aboutyou.
(22:10):
It's about really what othersmay need from you.
You see it all through the NewTestament.
There are over 30 one another.
These commands to one another,one another.
In all kinds of ways.
And the truth is, you can onlydo that.
You can only one another ifyou're around and with others.
(22:31):
Specifically, other followers ofJesus.
Jesus gave an invitation toAndrew and another individual.
It's probably John himself.
It's actually implicit thatAndrew gave Simon an invitation
when he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus gave an invitation toPhilip.
Philip invited Nathaniel.
How many of you know thismorning that the easiest
(22:52):
invitation is come?
It's the easiest invitation inthe world.
Come.
If you are a believer and you'reGod's servant, part of your job
as God's servant is to actuallyinvite others to come to Christ
in faith and repentance.
It's part of your jobdescription.
It's who you are.
And you can start with thequestion that Jesus asked with
someone.
What are you seeking?
(23:13):
What do you want out of life?
What are you after in life?
And then you can say what Andrewsaid.
I know the Savior.
I know the Savior.
And then you can give theinvitation to come and see who
Jesus is.
And along with inviting othersto respond to God's invitation
of grace to salvation, you canalso invite others who are not
believers to worship services,to church, to Bible fellowship
(23:36):
groups, or in fact to anyactivity of God's assembled
people to see for themselves.
And listen, their response isnot up to you.
It's not in your hands.
However, whether or not youissue the invitation is in your
hands.
Whether or not they reject thegospel, or whether or not they
make excuses, it's not in yourcontrol, but whether or not you
give the good news of theinvitation is in your control.
(23:59):
It is in your control.
If you're not inviting others,how much longer are you going to
continue to disobey?
You say, Well, I didn't know.
Well, now you do.
Now you do.
If you are personally rejectingGod's gracious invitation of
salvation to you and makingexcuses, you might not get
another invitation.
(24:20):
You just might not.
Your eternal fate is in hishands.
I would urge you to obey hisinvitation today.
Turn from your sin.
Turn from your rejection andyour contempt of God's grace and
surrender to Christ.
SPEAKER_00 (24:36):
Thanks for spending part of your day with us on
Foundations of Truth, thebiblical teaching ministry of
Dr.
Timothy Mann.
If you'd like to hear thismessage again or give a
financial gift or get morebiblical resources, you can do
so online.
Foundationsoftruth.net.
That's foundationsoftruth.net.
And thank you so much.
Join us again tomorrow foranother opportunity to study the
(24:58):
scriptures and discover theunchanging truth of God's Word.
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Welcome to Foundations of Truth, the
biblical teaching ministry ofDr.
Timothy Mann.
Our mission is to help you buildyour life on the unshakable
foundation of God's Word, rootedin Scripture, anchored in the
grace of the gospel of JesusChrist.
Each week, Dr.
Mann opens the Bible to bringclarity, conviction, and
encouragement for everyday life.
(00:22):
What is the most importantresponsibility of a faithful
Christian?
Is it simply to know the truthor is it to point others toward
the one who is the truth?
Today at Foundations of Truth,we continue our mini-series,
Basic Training.
Our scripture today, Johnchapter 1, verses 35 and 36.
John the Baptist is standingwith two of his own disciples
(00:42):
when Jesus walks by.
John does not call attention tohimself or attempt to hold on to
his followers.
Instead, he directs their eyesto Christ and declares, Behold
the Lamb of God.
That's the calling of everyChristian and every faithful
church to point people away fromourselves and towards Jesus
Christ, the Lamb of God whotakes away the sin of the world.
(01:05):
And now here with today'smessage is Dr.
Timothy Mann.
SPEAKER_01 (01:08):
We started talking about basic training.
Basic training.
I told you how in 1987 Igraduated from basic training in
the United States Army.
And to be able to do that,before you can even go on to
advanced individual training,you have to be able to be
proficient in certain corecompetencies.
Even after you complete youradvanced training and get to
your permanent party dutystation, where I was, we had to
(01:29):
be tested every couple ofmonths, a couple times a year,
on our core competencies to makesure those were where they
needed to be in our militaryservice, our capabilities as a
soldier.
There are core competencies thatall of us as followers of Jesus
should strive toward.
And these are goals for all ofus as Christians and as members
of this church.
(01:50):
They are biblical.
These are not something that Ijust arbitrarily made up.
However, I want them to be apart of the DNA of our church.
I want them to be our vision andour strategy for becoming mature
and committed followers ofJesus.
These are actually aspects ofwho we should aspire to be as a
church, who we we should aspireto be as individual Christians.
(02:12):
And that our stated mission,it's in our literature, it's on
our website, it's the missionthat Jesus gave us in the four
gospels, the Great Commission,four gospels and the book of
Acts, but we stated it this way.
We said that our stated missionas a church is to be, quote,
used by God to help other peoplebecome committed and mature
(02:34):
followers of Jesus.
To be used by God to help otherpeople become followers of Jesus
who are committed and mature.
Now, how do we do that?
In other words, what does thatlook like in the simplest terms?
How do we do that in thesimplest terms?
In basic terms?
I want to ask it these questionsagain this week.
(02:56):
Am I, are you a mature andcommitted follower of Jesus?
Are you a mature and committedfollower of Jesus?
Are you a follower of Jesus atall?
And if so, are you a maturingcommitted follower of Jesus?
And if you say yes, yes, I'm afollower of Jesus.
(03:17):
I'm wanting to be mature and I'mcommitted to that process, well
then what are some basic aspectsof your life that actually point
to that?
That actually show that.
That actually demonstrate that.
If you say yes, I'm a followerof Jesus, I'm a mature and
committed follower of Jesus.
What demonstrates that in yourlife?
(03:39):
There's also two of the basiccompetencies we talked about.
One was worship God, the otherone was serve God.
Worship God and serve God.
Jesus said, You shall worshipthe Lord God and serve him only.
Those commands are to be theultimate priorities of our
(04:00):
lives.
At the most basic level, theworship of the Lord God is
displayed.
Again, this is basic.
This is minimum.
At the most basic level, theworship of the Lord God is
displayed in our lives throughconsistent, regular, weekly
corporate worship with otherbelievers.
We discussed that.
(04:21):
A biblical Christianconsistently gathers with other
believers to praise, honor, andlearn of our Lord Jesus, of his
work, and of his will.
You ought to have, and I'mgrateful that the majority of
you do, you ought to have alocal group of biblically minded
believers that you commit to andyou join together with weekly to
(04:44):
publicly worship the Lord God.
And then you also are declaringhis worth to you.
Remember, we talked, that'sreally what worship means,
worship.
When I'm worshiping him, I amdeclaring his worth to me.
But beyond the basic, everythingelse you do in your life, you
are declaring his worth to youin everything you do.
(05:06):
And so we touched on that.
Also, a biblical Christian is aservant of the Lord.
The Greek word translatedservant in most English
translations is actually slavein the Greek.
For the Christian, the LordJesus bought you by his blood
out of the slave market of sin.
He redeemed you, and now youdon't belong to you.
(05:27):
You don't volunteer for theLord.
You don't volunteer for him.
You are his servant.
You are to serve him.
Everything you are andeverything you have belongs to
him.
And so the question is, are youliving your life as his servant?
Or for something else?
Are you living your life as hisservant?
(05:49):
And if so, if you say yes, well,in what ways are you
specifically serving the Lord?
Can you articulate those?
So there are other aspects,other basic realities to
consider today that should bethe priorities of our life.
And we're going to see anexample of those two aspects,
and I'm just going to touch baseon them briefly this morning.
(06:10):
They're self-evident, doesn'tneed a lot of explanation.
John chapter 1, verse 35 through36.
Here's an example of these othertwo competencies.
So let's read the scripture.
John chapter 1, verse 35 through36.
Are you ready for the scripture?
Say amen.
Alright.
(06:30):
Again, the next day, John, thisis John the Baptist, it's
speaking of, stood with two ofhis disciples.
And looking at Jesus as hewalked, he said, John the
Baptist said, Behold, the Lambof God.
The two disciples, that's Johnthe Baptist's disciples, heard
(06:51):
him and they followed Jesus.
And then Jesus turned and seeingthem following, said to them,
What do you seek?
They said to him, Rabbi, whichis translated, which is to say,
when translated teacher, Rabbi,where are you staying?
He said to them, Come and see.
They came and saw where he wasstaying and remained with him
(07:12):
that day.
Now it was about the tenth hour.
One of the two who heard Johnspeak and followed him was
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
He first found his own brother,Simon, and he said to him, We
have found the Messiah, which istranslated the Christ.
In other words, I know theSavior.
We found him.
(07:32):
And he brought him to Jesus.
And now when Jesus looked athim, he said, You are Simon, the
son of Jonah.
You shall be called Cephas,which is translated a stone, or
more popularly known by us,Peter.
The following day Jesus wantedto go to Galilee, and he found
Philip and said to him, Followme.
(07:55):
Now Philip was from Beth Seda,the city of Andrew and Peter.
Philip found Nathaniel and saidto him, We have found him of
whom Moses in the law and alsothe prophets wrote, Jesus of
Nazareth, son of Joseph.
And Nathaniel said to him, Cananything good come out of
Nazareth?
Philip said to him, I'mbeginning to see a pattern here,
(08:16):
aren't you?
Come and see.
Jesus saw Nathaniel comingtoward him and said of him,
Behold, an Israelite indeed inwhom is no deceit.
We'll stop there.
Let's pray.
Father, we come again now, andLord, I'm grateful for the
opportunity we had to hear thismorning of how you're at work in
another place.
(08:37):
We get so wrapped up in our ownlittle world, our own life, our
own sphere, our own circle, evenour own church, in our own
community.
But Lord, it's good to bereminded that you are very much
at work somewhere else, orindeed around the world.
Thank you for your blessings andgrace in our life.
And now, God, would you speakthrough your word these next few
minutes that we have to impresson us these core realities of
(09:02):
our life that really ought to bepresent if we're going to be a
follower of Christ and helpothers become followers of Jesus
who are mature and committed?
Help me to preach now in Jesus'name.
Amen.
The location here, let me giveyou some context.
The location here is just eastof the Jordan River, where John
the Baptist, cousin of Jesus,was preaching repentance and
(09:26):
that the kingdom of God wascoming and was baptizing all
those who repented.
And one day we find John theBaptist speaking of the Messiah
as one who is somewhere inIsrael among his people, but
he's not yet recognized.
That's back up in verse 26.
We didn't read that.
And then the next day, he'sproclaiming Jesus as the
(09:49):
promised Messiah, which is whatwe just read.
And the identity of Jesus isfully revealed to John the
Baptist and those around at theLord's baptism when John
immersed him.
Not because he needed it, butJesus said this is to fulfill
righteousness.
And immediately then John theBaptist begins to declare that
Jesus is the one of whom he hadbeen speaking, of whom he had
(10:12):
been preaching about.
And then shortly afterward, theLord walks by John and two of
his disciples.
And as Jesus walks away, Johntells his disciples that Jesus
is the Lamb of God, referencingback, of course, the motif of
the Old Testament and even whatwas happening in the temple
worship of that day.
He said, Look, the Lamb of God.
(10:35):
So those two disciples of John,they set out and they leave
John's side and they set outafter Jesus.
And as they begin to draw nearto Jesus, he turns around and
seeing that they're behind him,following him, he asks, What do
you seek?
Now it's interesting to me,Jesus did not ask them, Whom do
(10:58):
you seek?
He said, What do you seek?
Now that's not an unfriendlyquestion intended to put them
off.
Rather, I think the questionseems to be designed to
encourage them to actually thinkthrough and verbalize what they
want from him and to crystallizejust what it is that they're
doing.
And that really is, don't youknow this to be the case?
(11:18):
That really is the basicquestion of life.
What are you after?
What are you after?
What do you seek?
Are you seeking meaning,purpose, significance in life?
Are you seeking a religion ofself-improvement and human
development?
Is that what you want?
Are you seeking rules andregulations and laws of
(11:40):
righteousness?
Are you seeking fellowship andcompanionship?
Are you after deliverance fromtrials and trouble and
suffering?
Are you seeking approval andacceptance of God?
Are you after and seekingblessings from God and his care
and his provision and security?
Really?
What do you seek?
(12:02):
You yourself.
What are you after?
That's the question of life.
Well, these two men might havebeen caught off guard by the
question because this is howthey responded.
Rabbi, where are you staying?
Now I must confess, I initiallywas inclined to think that was a
rather dumb response.
The kind I would have given hadI been caught off guard and I
(12:25):
really couldn't think of theright thing to say.
Their answer, though, may haveactually been more thoughtful
than I first suspected, becausethey might be politely asking
Jesus to be his disciples.
Because our Lord's answer isvery encouraging.
When they said, Rabbi, teacher,where are you staying?
What does he say?
Come and see.
An invitation.
(12:45):
Come and see.
That's a very different answer,by the way.
I was thinking about this, andit's a very different answer
than the one the Lord Jesus gaveto another volunteer in Luke 9.
Because in Luke 9, there's anoccasion in verse 57 and 58, the
scripture says, as they werewalking along the road, someone
(13:05):
said to him, so they're allwalking along the road, someone
said to him, I will follow youwherever you go.
So he's volunteering, right?
Jesus turns to this guy, though,and says, Foxes have holes, the
birds of the air have nests, butthe Son of Man has nowhere to
lay his head.
Little bit of a differentresponse.
If being a disciple literallymeans following one's master,
(13:29):
and it does, then one would staywith the master.
Jesus was telling that would bevolunteer, that there would be
no place to stay.
That might have been a verypolite way for our Lord to
decline the offer to become hisdisciple because he knew this
guy wasn't serious.
Jesus was in essence saying, Youdon't really know what you're
(13:49):
getting into.
When Jesus here actuallyencourages two of John's
disciples to come and see wherehe's staying, he seems to be
inviting them to follow him ashis disciples.
Now some students of Scriptureunderstand that these two men
who would encounter Jesus at 4p.m., that's when this is, would
spend the night with him andwherever he was staying.
(14:10):
And now after spending time withJesus, Andrew goes and gets his
brother.
See, he had a relationship withhis brother.
He cared about his brother.
He loved his brother.
Andrew tells his brother Simon,who later gets renamed Peter by
Jesus, about Jesus and thenbrought him to Jesus.
The next day, Jesus travels toGalilee, and once he's there, he
(14:31):
finds Philip and gives him avery commanding invitation.
It's an invitation, but it's acommand.
Follow me.
Follow me.
And that's a clear invitationfor Philip to become a disciple
of Jesus.
So do you understand what adisciple is?
SPEAKER_00 (14:46):
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Truth, the biblical teachingministry of Dr.
Timothy Mann.
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Your financial gifts help uscontinue producing and sharing
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(15:09):
That's foundationsoftruth.net.
And thank you.
Let's return now to today'smessage.
Here's Dr.
Timothy Mann.
SPEAKER_01 (15:16):
You understand what a disciple is?
See, a disciple is a believerand a follower.
Someone who actually adheres tothe teachings of another, making
them his or her own rule of lifeand conduct.
So anyone who claims to be aChristian and is not a disciple
of Jesus is missing what ittruly means to belong to Christ
(15:38):
and to be a Christian.
Am I speaking English?
Is this on?
Hello.
Anyone who claims to be aChristian, let me just let that
land for a second.
Anyone who claims to be aChristian but yet is not a
follower of Jesus, is not adisciple of Christ, is
completely missing what it trulymeans to belong to Christ and to
(16:00):
actually be a Christian.
It's difficult to make the casethat, oh yeah, I'm a believer,
but you're not a follower.
You're not a disciple.
Jesus actually says, and youread all the way through the
gospels, Jesus says that doesn'twork for him.
It's only a disciple who issaved.
It's only a disciple who's afollower.
(16:21):
Now we're not always the bestfollower.
Can I get an amen?
I I surely we can get a witnesson this one.
We're not always a faithfulfollower.
Hey, we're not even always agodly follower, but someone who
has truly believed the gospel isa follower of Jesus.
I mean, when you understand,when you really understand what
you were and where you were,that you were a sinner, lost in
(16:44):
your sin, separated from Godforever, that you do not deserve
or earn the mercy and grace ofGod.
When you know that, and you seethe love of God on the cross
demonstrated through JesusChrist, and he was raised from
the dead, and on the cross, hetook your penalty and your
punishment, and he was raisedfrom the dead to give you life,
to get you out of death andbring you into life, to get you
(17:06):
off the road to hell, and to putyou on the road to heaven.
When you see yourself for whoyou really were and what Jesus
did for you, then what'll happenis you'll actually love the
master and you'll love the Lordwho has saved you by his grace,
and you will want to trust himenough that you will want to
live his way and obey hiscommands.
You'll be a follower of Christif you're saved, if you're truly
(17:29):
a believer.
So if you're not following Jesusin your life, and yet you say
you're a Christian, there's amajor disconnect there, and what
you're saying does not anywhereline up with what Jesus says.
Anyway, Philip goes on and findsa friend, or at least someone
who's an acquaintance, goodacquaintance, Nathaniel, tells
him about Jesus.
Nathaniel is someone with whomPhilip has a relationship.
(17:52):
He cares enough about Nathanielto tell him about the Savior.
Now, Nathaniel is skeptical andscornful, but what does Philip
do?
Philip issues an invitation.
Come and see.
Come and see.
Now, what's interesting in allof this, there's no record here
of Andrew arguing with Peter.
There's no record of Philiparguing with Nathaniel.
(18:12):
They're merely inviting the oneto whom they were witnessing to
what?
Come and see.
That's what they're doing.
In the last couple of minutesthat I've got here, I want to
give you two principles in thispassage that actually points to
the other two goals, the othertwo core competencies that we
should have in our life.
We talked about worship God andserve God.
(18:35):
That's very vertical.
These two are kind ofhorizontal.
Love others, invite others.
Love others, invite others.
See, Andrew and Philip hadpeople they cared about.
They had relationships withfamily and acquaintances, and
they demonstrated love towardthem by telling them about
(18:56):
Jesus.
Biblically speaking, Christiansare to love others and other
believers, other unbelievers.
We talked about last week howlove is not primarily a feeling,
but love is an action.
We can demonstrate love in manyways: hospitality, helping,
sharing.
But the greatest demonstration,I'm telling you, the greatest
(19:18):
demonstration of love towardothers is to tell them about
Christ.
Loving others means giving themthe gospel.
Now to do that, you have to haverelationships.
You have to have some level ofrelationships.
Let me ask you, how manyunbelievers are in your network?
How many unbelievers are in yoursphere of influence?
(19:40):
Do you intentionally try tobuild relationships with people
who are not Christians?
Now, see, Christians are to showlove to one another, other
Christians for sure, but we alsohave to love non-Christians and
demonstrate that love by tellingthem about our knowledge and our
experience with the Lord JesusChrist.
On the other hand, let me put itthis way if all your hangout
(20:03):
people, if all of your hangoutpeople are not Jesus followers,
and you never talk about youloving and following Jesus and
why they should, do you reallylove them?
If all your hangout people arenot Christians, that's who you
spend your time with, that's whoyour buddies are, that's who
(20:23):
your gals are, and you nevertalk to them about loving and
following Jesus, why you do andwhy they should, do you really
love them?
Do you care about them at all?
Now, these men, they do also goon to build relationships with
other Jesus followers.
See the rest of the NewTestament.
See Acts chapter 2.
(20:45):
These men go on and they buildrelationships with other Jesus
followers.
And in those relationships, inthose groups, they discussed
Jesus' teachings with otherdisciples.
They shared meals together, theywent to synagogue and temple
together.
These relationships and thefellowship continued after Jesus
ascended back to the Father.
They did ministry together, theyprayed for each other, they
(21:08):
greeted each other, they carriedone another's burdens, they
admonished and corrected oneanother, they demonstrated love
toward one another.
And the letters of John andPeter and Paul all give abundant
instruction about loving otherbelievers.
And by the way, you can only dothat when you're intentional
about spending time with otherchurch members, with other
(21:29):
believers.
And the starting connection atProvidence Church, practically
speaking, for you to be in anopportunity to have that is to
be a part of a Bible fellowshipgroup.
Now I know, Lord, it's a heavysacrifice.
That's an additional hour onSunday morning.
(21:50):
Man, you're suffering for Jesus.
It's gonna wear you out, Ipromise you.
But it's a venue to buildrelationships, to get to know
other folks.
And have a place and a people soyou can love others.
It's really what the churchdoes.
And it's not necessarily aboutyou.
(22:10):
It's about really what othersmay need from you.
You see it all through the NewTestament.
There are over 30 one another.
These commands to one another,one another.
In all kinds of ways.
And the truth is, you can onlydo that.
You can only one another ifyou're around and with others.
(22:31):
Specifically, other followers ofJesus.
Jesus gave an invitation toAndrew and another individual.
It's probably John himself.
It's actually implicit thatAndrew gave Simon an invitation
when he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus gave an invitation toPhilip.
Philip invited Nathaniel.
How many of you know thismorning that the easiest
(22:52):
invitation is come?
It's the easiest invitation inthe world.
Come.
If you are a believer and you'reGod's servant, part of your job
as God's servant is to actuallyinvite others to come to Christ
in faith and repentance.
It's part of your jobdescription.
It's who you are.
And you can start with thequestion that Jesus asked with
someone.
What are you seeking?
(23:13):
What do you want out of life?
What are you after in life?
And then you can say what Andrewsaid.
I know the Savior.
I know the Savior.
And then you can give theinvitation to come and see who
Jesus is.
And along with inviting othersto respond to God's invitation
of grace to salvation, you canalso invite others who are not
believers to worship services,to church, to Bible fellowship
(23:36):
groups, or in fact to anyactivity of God's assembled
people to see for themselves.
And listen, their response isnot up to you.
It's not in your hands.
However, whether or not youissue the invitation is in your
hands.
Whether or not they reject thegospel, or whether or not they
make excuses, it's not in yourcontrol, but whether or not you
give the good news of theinvitation is in your control.
(23:59):
It is in your control.
If you're not inviting others,how much longer are you going to
continue to disobey?
You say, Well, I didn't know.
Well, now you do.
Now you do.
If you are personally rejectingGod's gracious invitation of
salvation to you and makingexcuses, you might not get
another invitation.
(24:20):
You just might not.
Your eternal fate is in hishands.
I would urge you to obey hisinvitation today.
Turn from your sin.
Turn from your rejection andyour contempt of God's grace and
surrender to Christ.
SPEAKER_00 (24:36):
Thanks for spending part of your day with us on
Foundations of Truth, thebiblical teaching ministry of
Dr.
Timothy Mann.
If you'd like to hear thismessage again or give a
financial gift or get morebiblical resources, you can do
so online.
Foundationsoftruth.net.
That's foundationsoftruth.net.
And thank you so much.
Join us again tomorrow foranother opportunity to study the
(24:58):
scriptures and discover theunchanging truth of God's Word.
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