Worship Call 0608 The First Disciples

Robert, the veil is being removed ... Rev. 22:17  And the Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let the one hearing say, Come! And let the one who is thirsty come. And he willing, let him take of the Water of Life freely.  With the war breaking out in Ukraine there is a lot of speculation that we are in the end of days with the apocalypse on the horizon. Everyone who knows me knows I’m not a gloom and doomer, that I do acknowledge the days we are living in, but remain expectant and focused on the birth of the Kingdom. The book of Revelation begins with the word “apocalypse” in Greek. "Apocalypse" (Apokalupsis) can be translated as "disclosure" or the “lifting of the veil”! And we find that the Revelation of Yeshua culminates in a marriage, as the Heavenly Bridegroom unites with His Bride. "The spirit and the Bride say, "Come!"; [Rev.22:17] In the ancient (and some modern) weddings in the middle East, the bride was veiled before being presented to her husband. In a sense, we, Yeshua's Bride, are still veiled in mortal bodies, that is, until the time when we shall see Him, “face to face” [1 Cor. 13:12], and we shall be as He is. [1 John 3:2]. Then, the veil will be fully removed! Yet, paradoxically, even in this world we can taste this reality and walk with our faces "unveiled"; "But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit"; [2 Cor. 3:18]. And since the veil was torn in two, [Hebrews 10:19-22] we have access to the most holy place of God through what Yeshua (Jesus) did for us! Robert, a wedding is coming soon, and the veil of this temple, your mortal body, will be forever removed and replaced with immortality. If there are wars and rumors of wars be assured, that looking up, your redemption draws near, and a marriage supper is being prepared for you. Nevertheless even now you go with your face unveiled revealing the glory of the Lord, and all the more as you walk in fearless anticipation of that soon coming day when you will be removed from this veil of tears and be wed to the King of Kings. So walk unveiled until the day when your unveiling will be complete in the resurrection of the dead. As a young woman anticipates her wedding day, view these end time events as harbingers of the happiest day of your life, when your Bridegroom sounds the shofar announcing His return for your wedding! Simply allow Him to prepare you as a bride without spot or wrinkle! [Ephesians 5:25-27] Your family in the Lord with much agape love, George, Baht Rivka, Elianna & Obadiah Dallas, Texas

And this is another fine, grand and glorious day in the Lord. to serve and to love the Lord.

What a great gracious and merciful word that is spoken for the lips of our Lord is the word “Come” the words first recorded spoken invitation to Jesus’ first Disciples.

John 1:29–34 (NASB95) — 29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 “This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ 31 “I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” 32 John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. 33 “I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ 34 “I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

But who responded to the message? Many were being Baptized and being baptized, a Baptism of Repentance, but how many left John to follow the Lamb of God.

For a teacher, in this case, John the baptist, to refer His own students to another teacher would have been rare. and it would have taken humility to do so. and if here the teacher loved His students He would want the best. was it something that John saw in his students?

John 1:35–37 (NASB95) — 35 Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

This time two did choose to follow.

This was a Rabbi. A teacher. One who takes on students. As student is a Disciple. And it is the student who is regularly under the teachers wing. Morning, noon and night. there are no Class room times. Where the teacher goes the students follows.

This becomes the interview process to become a disciple of another. The two followed Jesus at a short distance behind. Not too close as to be a disturbance to the teacher but not so far back as to not be noticed.

They wait politely to be noticed and allow, in humility, the Rabbi to speak first

John 1:38 (NASB95) — 38 And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him,

Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon 2212 ζητέω

2212 ζητέω [zeteo /dzay·teh·o/] v. Of uncertain affinity; TDNT 2:892; TDNTA 300; GK 2426; 119 occurrences; AV translates as “seek” 100 times, “seek for” five times, “go about” four times, “desire” three times, and translated miscellaneously seven times. 1 to seek in order to find. 1A to seek a thing. 1B to seek [in order to find out] by thinking, meditating, reasoning, to enquire into. 1C to seek after, seek for, aim at, strive after. 2 to seek i.e. require, demand. 2A to crave, demand something from someone.

And that is the million dollar eternal question

“What do you seek?”

again as I have often said and repeat now in your hearing, when Jesus Asks a question, we can be assured that He already has the answer. the question is for their benefit. and it is for our benefit. and again we ask ourselves what is it about Jesus that we are seeking?

What are you seeking Andrew?

what are you seek John?

What are you seeing that apparently no one else at the river cared to venture in the way of Jesus to find.

what is it that you crave, Christian.

You who woke up with me this morning. You, who have your bibles open? You, who have your mind fixed on knowing the Lord and His truth? Why are you following Jesus when so many professed Christians are not?

What are we looking for?

What is your motivation for following the Rabbi?

Is it the same as another?

What caused any of us to respond in such a way to believe the gospel? And then after being saved to continue on to build a relationship with this one whom we have never seen with our eyes but though we love Him?

If your looking for an answer, I don’t know.

what would cause many throughout history, to this day to sign their own death warrants to proclaim Jesus and be His disciple? What causes any to be a fool for Christ.

Oh sure we can go into a be heavy theological reason, but I’m not talking about what you know now, but what was it that caused you in the first place, when you knew little to nothing about this Jesus.

Maybe also we might ask,

Why did you turn away? did you not find that which you are looking for? What was so greater in your heart to take you away from following Jesus.

You see I have been a Christian, one who have been baptised by the Spirit much longer than I have been a follower and a disciple of Christ. A learner. One who craves to know my Jesus. I have not yet grown close enough and pray regularly to be brought closer. But still why? or why not?

“Where are you staying?”

the word is Abide

Where do you abide?

Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon 3306 μένω

3306 μένω [meno /men·o/] v. A root word; TDNT 4:574; TDNTA 581; GK 3531; 120 occurrences; AV translates as “abide” 61 times, “remain” 16 times, “dwell” 15 times, “continue” 11 times, “tarry” nine times, “endure” three times, and translated miscellaneously five times. 1 to remain, abide. 1A in reference to place. 1A1 to sojourn, tarry. 1A2 not to depart. 1A2A to continue to be present. 1A2B to be held, kept, continually. 1B in reference to time. 1B1 to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure. 1B1A of persons, to survive, live. 1C in reference to state or condition. 1C1 to remain as one, not to become another or different. 2 to wait for, await one.

The conversation could have ended right then and there. But Jesus knew their hearts. their hearts were quite different than those who stood on the coast of the Galilee as Jesus was preparing to cross.

Matthew 8:18–23 (NASB95) — 18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. 19 Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” 20 Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 21 Another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.” 23 When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.

Jesus did not say that any could not go, but pointed out the reasons why each wouldn’t.

one was set on his comfort.

Another had another allegiance.

Only the Learners (disciples) would follow Jesus into the boat.

to Follow Jesus requires one to seek out after something greater than what one has now. It requires of setting aside within the heart those things that anchor us to this world to seek out that which is infinitely greater than this world. and that is found in Jesus.

To Andrew and John, Jesus did not find any anchors in the hearts of these two. They were seeking. they were under the ministry of John who testified about the truth, and when the truth was revealed in this Jesus there was no need to follow John but to follow Jesus.

notice also that Jesus invitation was to come.

“Come”

What an exciting word when spoken by Jesus

Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon 2064 ἔρχομαι

2064 ἔρχομαι [erchomai /er·khom·ahee/] v. Middle voice of a primary verb (used only in the present and imperfect tenses, the others being supplied by a kindred [middle voice] eleuthomai (el·yoo·thom·ahee), or [active] eltho (el·tho), which do not otherwise occur); TDNT 2:666; TDNTA 257; GK 2262; 643 occurrences; AV translates as “come” 616 times, “go” 13 times, translated miscellaneously 13 times, and “vr come” once. 1 to come. 1A of persons. 1A1 to come from one place to another, and used both of persons arriving. 1A2 to appear, make one’s appearance, come before the public. 2 metaph. 2A to come into being, arise, come forth, show itself, find place or influence. 2B be established, become known, to come (fall) into or unto. 3 to go, to follow one. Additional Information: For synonyms see entries 898, bathmos; 4198, poreuomai; and 5562, choreo.See entry 5818 for comparison of synonyms.

We want Jesus to come to us. we want Jesus to come and fellowship with us in our own lives,

But these two wanted to know where Jesus lived. not inviting Jesus to follow them, but wanting to follow Jesus.