The Way of Jesus: Be With Jesus

Intro.

(SP NOTE: share a story of a time where you took a natural next step. I’m using when I picked what college I’m going to, I share all the details of what it meant for me to decide to be all in with that, it means I have some more steps to take… hint to that’s what it’s like when you decide to follow Jesus.)

Who starts back at school tomorrow? Wow, that’s crazy. It feels like you blinked, and summer is just over. What about our new seniors? Class of 26’ are you ready? You start your senior year so soon and with that comes SO many things.

I remember when I was a senior, Class of 2014! Here’s a picture of me going into my senior year, haha I know I had hair and a lot less weight haha. Senior year is crazy because there’s so much to do, but especially the big decision of what are you going to do after high school. I remember when I picked the college I would go to it changed everything for me. Once I decided I would go to the University of Texas at Arlington, came all the natural next questions… would I live on campus or off, what would my major be, what college ministry would I be a part of, how many classes would I take, would I ever pick an 8 am class??!! (hint, don’t do that.)

With these natural next questions, I realized there were a lot of next steps I had to think through.

Turn.

In life there are so many examples of us taking a natural next step:

Doing well in a class → Being recommended for honors/AP next semester

Have a crush → Dating

Parents trusting you with a small thing → Gaining more freedom next time

Training in a sport → Competing and getting better

Tension.

What about in our faith? Maybe you just had an experience with God at CAMP a few weeks ago or maybe you’ve been following Jesus for years. What is a natural next step for you to take?

Something I care about deeply is that you would be growing in your relationship with God, and what I want to show you the next few weeks. And I’m showing you all my cards right now… There is a natural pattern of next steps that anyone who wants to follow Jesus does after having an encounter with him. Here it is:

Be With Jesus → Become Like Jesus → Bring Others to Jesus

This pattern is what everyone follows, in fact I am going to give you a challenge right off the top… over the next 3 weeks I want you to read the book of John with me. It should be simple, there’s 21 chapters over 21 days. We’re starting today in chapter 1.

The reason I want you to read John, is because I want you to see for yourself… read the stories where people encounter Jesus. This is the pattern that everyone follows and I want you to see for yourself.

There’s only one qualifier, only one reason someone wouldn’t follow that pattern… and it’s that they’re not following Jesus. They’re not actually wanting to see what it’s all about.

Over the next few weeks we’ll focus on a specific part of this pattern, so tonight we’re going to focus on the Be With Jesus part.

Some of you in here this is a whole new idea. Now before I dive in too much, there might be some of you in here that think… I’ve been coming to Wednesdays a long time. You might think that you’ve graduated beyond this part. Like yeah yeah, Zach, I know I should spend time with Jesus. But when are we going to get deeper. When are you going to talk to me about the real stuff…

I cannot stress this enough, Being with Jesus is the whole point. So student that’s been coming a while… will you give me the opportunity to prove it to you tonight?

Because I know that when it comes to this idea there’s a big thing that gets in our way, it’s that your life is already full…

If life is so full, how do I be with Jesus?

How else can I prove it unless we start with a story of when the first people started following Jesus?

Like I said it’ll be in John 1, starting in verse 35.

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want? ”They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

39 “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.

The stories of the first followers of Jesus always blow me away. You mean to tell me… these people just dropped everything and started literally following him?! Like they saw he was walking this way, and they got right in line behind him.

Like the reason we say, “When did you start following Jesus?” is because the first people who did it… literally started following him.

The truth is there’s not much recorded in this interaction. Jesus said come with me and I’ll show you where I’m staying, and they spent that day with him. Have you ever met someone and then wanted to spend the whole day with them?

(SP NOTE: share a story of a time you met someone new and just instantly wanted to hang out with them all the time.)

It reminds me of the first time I met my friend Zach, I was new to Georgia and I didn’t know anybody but one of the first people I met was Zach. It was crazy how much we had in common, and how easy it was for us to connect. By the end of the day we went and saw Avengers: Infinity War. I love impromptu plans with people you didn’t even know the day before.

The disciples though are doing this to the extreme, they spent the whole day with him. And did you notice the end of the verse? It says:

they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

It was about four in the afternoon. They remember the moment they met Jesus. They remember where they were and what time it was when they met Jesus. They didn’t have apple watches back then, there wasn’t an easy way for them to tell time. But it was so marking, that they remember everything about their first interaction with Jesus.

I find that so amazing, because like I mentioned, they don’t give us much information about this moment so I know the fact they wrote down what time it was… it was a big deal to them. That’s not the end of our story for today though… watch what the next few verses say:

40 Andrew, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.

Remember our pattern we’re leaning into the next few weeks:

Be With Jesus → Become Like Jesus → Bring Others to Jesus

I’m telling you this is ALL over the gospels and especially the book of John. Andrew was with Jesus, became like Jesus and the first thing he did was bring his brother to Jesus.

This isn’t just a pattern to acknowledge though… this is a way of life.

Which is why I want to focus on my man, Andrew. He’s not one of the most well-known disciples, because I can summarize the other moments he’s mentioned in the Bible

Which is why I want to focus on my man, Andrew. He’s not one of the most well-known disciples, because I can summarize the other moments he’s mentioned in the Bible really quickly. Here’s what he’s known for:

In John 1, which we just read, it says that he is the first disciple. He was literally the first person to drop everything and follow Jesus. That’s a pretty cool fun fact. That would crush in 2 truths and a lie.

In John 6, when Jesus was preparing to feed the 5,000. He brought forward the kid who had the loaves and fishes. He’s quoted as saying… “Here is a boy with 5 loaves and 2 fishes.”

In John 12, he brought some Greeks to meet Jesus. Which Greeks were outsiders at the time.

Andrew, followed first, trusted Jesus with even the smallest things, and constantly brought people to Jesus especially outsiders.

Again Andrew made this, a way of life:

Be With Jesus → Become Like Jesus → Bring Others to Jesus

Application.

But in order to focus on the being with Jesus part, I want to go back to John 1 to see what we can take away. Let’s put the verses back on the screen:

37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want? ”They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

39 “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.

You might not think there’s a lot here, but I promise it could change how you see your relationship with God if you lean in.

I already said it, but they spent the day with him. You know what that tells me? They weren’t in a rush.

To be with Jesus, you can’t be in a hurry. I realize with our day and age, it’s easy to feel on the go all the time, especially as we’re starting back in school.

(SP NOTE: say this next part quickly on purpose, get exhausted… feel the hurry. Fill it in with the things you feel like students are carrying the weight for.)

You’re going from this sport, to that class, to that club, to that extracurricular because if you don’t, you won’t get into a good college, and you’ve got to spend time with your family or they’ll resent you, and also you have friends you want to actually hangout with and good luck if you are splitting time between two households, and then at the end of it all you hear me telling you that in order to be with Jesus you can’t be in a hurry.

How is that even possible… can I tell you, I feel that way sometimes too? It’s so easy, to experience life in a way that makes it hard to slow down enough to be with Jesus.

More than that, when I notice I’ve been so busy I haven’t spent time with Jesus in a minute. I feel a ton of shame. Like, I’m a pastor. I can’t go more than a week without being with Jesus. Right? And sometimes it’s not just the time, it’s also the weight and pressure of life. Like the things in my life that just feel like it’s too big to bring to God if I haven’t been with Jesus lately. You know what I mean, have you ever had a relationship where you don’t want to ask them something because you haven’t hung out with them in a while?

I felt that recently… and it’s crazy, because the thing that helped me have a breakthrough… was so simple I struggle to even say it:

Spend every moment with Jesus.

You do that by knowing that God’s presence is with you at all times. There’s a reason Paul says, pray without ending. Because it’s possible that you learn that you can continually pray, you can continually be in God’s presence.

One of my favorite books on this idea is called, Practicing the Presence of God by Brother Lawernce. Brother Lawerence is a 17th century monk that worked in a kitchen at a monastery and he had a crazy goal. To spend every moment with Jesus. And he did it. And in his book he tells us how…

God’s presence is available at all times. – in order to do this you have to know it’s available, like it’s on us to take God up on this opportunity.

Prayer isn’t a set time – it’s a way of life – you don’t need formal words or your hands folded, it’s as simple as giving God a thought while you’re in school or work or going about your day.

Ordinary tasks can be Holy – he said this in his book… “We can do little things for God; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of Him.” Everything can be sacred if it’s done with love and awareness of Him.

Closeness with God will transform your soul and your life. Now I get it you’re not a 17th century monk that works in a kitchen, you’re likely in a hurry everywhere you go… but can I just give us a moment. We’re going to pause right here and now and give you space to spend a moment with Jesus, so you can know that you can spend every moment with Jesus.

(SP NOTE: allow a few moments in the room with a pad going, that will allow them to embrace time with God even just for a moment.)

Now that you’ve spent a short moment, we’re going to go to groups now where you’ll talk more about how you can do this as soon as today.