Transcript from Part 2 of the Sermon Discipleship: The Dogma and the Dugma

You know, it's one of those cranky days where you just demand people respond.

It's good to see you all here today.

We wanna welcome all of you who are here with us this morning.

And of course, we always welcome those who are visiting online from who knows where.

We don't know where unless you tell us.

So if you're watching online, take some time to leave a comment.

Let us know where you're watching from.

It's just a blessing to us and we wanna be a blessing to you, and we're glad you're here with us this morning.

So today, Chris and April and the family are out east ministering to another fellowship today with the different derphers and just pray that the Lord blesses them and everything that we hope and pray God does here in our midst today.

We hope and pray God does in their midst as well this morning or this afternoon, whenever they meet, I don't even know.

We're continuing our series that I have titled Discipleship, the Dogma and the Dugma.

Now I have to be honest with you, as a preacher I know that starting off with definitions is not the best introduction.

It's not a, oh please Brent, arrest my attention by giving me a definition.

You know, it's like suddenly you're back in elementary school and it's like grammar week and vocabulary day is like oh no, don't do that.

But in order for this series to make any sense, we have to kind of keep coming back to these definitions.

And so I wanna give you my definition of discipleship.

Now, granted, it's my definition, okay?

This is just me trying to encapsulate for you a way to remember discipleship, to kind of frame it for you.

You may write it or frame it in some other way.

This isn't the infallible definition of discipleship, but it's what we're, it's, hey, it's what you got, okay?

It's what we're using.

And so this is what it is.

For me, discipleship is the pursuit of Christ's presence and power in my life so that God will fulfill his purpose in me.

For me, that's discipleship.

Now, why do I say Christ's presence and power?

I just wanna remind you, Yeshua said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

" And his definition of the kingdom of God wasn't just the eschatological future, it was the manifest presence, the things that people were experiencing because of his presence and the power of God that was being experienced by them because of his presence.

So when he talked about Malkut Hashemayim, the kingdom of heaven, that's what he was most often speaking about.

And so that's why for me as a disciple, I want to pursue those very same things.

If the kingdom of heaven is drawn near, I don't wanna be going the other direction.

I wanna be pressing in to his presence, to his power, because ultimately only there am I gonna find not only his purpose, but my purpose in him.

And discipleship has a purpose.

Discipleship is a life of purpose, and that purpose is found in Messiah, meaning it's just not, we were never called to just exist.

exist.

We were never called to just make our way through life feeling like a human pinball, just getting batted around by the world and by circumstances.

We are supposed to be living our lives in the purpose of what it means to be in fellowship with him.

So that's discipleship.

And as we're looking at that, we're going to also look at the dogma.

And dogma is the word I introduced last week, it simply means doctrine or an established truth.

And the doctrine that we're gonna be looking at and referring to today and for two more weeks is really focusing on the deity of Jesus.

And I wanna make sure you understand that word because deity is not a word that we use on a regular basis in our daily lives.

But when we say that the deity of Jesus, we're talking about that he is in fact the son of God, the son of man, he is Emmanuel, He is God with us, he is the Word made flesh.

I just really don't know how we can make it any more clear than that.

It was very, very clear to the Pharisees what Jesus was saying, even when he wasn't saying it.

When he was just living it, they understood what was going on.

But here's the thing that I think is so exciting and what this series is really all about.

It's that that dogma, that truth about who he is within the context of how Jesus deals with his own identity as the word of God made flesh.

And in Jesus' relationship with the Father, we are given the best duke ma, the best example of what our life is supposed to look like as a disciple.

And I think that that's just, I have to be honest, It's not that I maybe didn't know that, but I've never framed it that way until I reread what Paul wrote in Philippians, which we're gonna read again here in a few minutes, and began to realize how essential that relationship is.

And by the way, I'll say it again, if that relationship with the Father as the Son of God doesn't exist, then Paul's illustration for you and I, how we're supposed to live, also doesn't exist.

If I'm supposed to model my life as a disciple based on the relationship that Jesus has with his own identity and his relationship with the Father, if that doesn't exist, there's nothing to compare it to.

And so it becomes very, very important.

Remember the Pharisees whom the scriptures record rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by John.

We started last week looking at the subject, the necessity of humility as the starting point for our journey, because God's purpose cannot be fulfilled or found in a life that is focused on self.

Gonna be another one of those uncomfortable days, isn't it?

Can't we just talk about going to heaven?

Do we really have to dig any deeper into how consumed I am with me, Lord?

Yeah, we kinda have to do that.

Because God wants nothing more than for you to walk an abundant life.

And that can only happen when it's his purpose that is being pursued and fulfilled in our lives.

Amen?

Before we pray, let's remember just two quick things.

And I wanna read this section from Philippians and then we're gonna pray.

Let's remember that Jesus emptied himself.

He did not seize his rights as God.

He emptied himself of that divine prerogative.

And so we begin our journey, relinquishing our sin, and relinquishing our righteousness.

Now before I came up here, the Lord kind of laid something on my heart that I wanna say.

Some of you are here today, and when you look back at where this week started last Sunday, until now.

Let's just say this hasn't been your finest moment.

Don't worry I'm not gonna make you raise your hand.

Oh yeah that's me preacher.

Preach.

Some of you including myself can look back at this week and go, "I really, I looked more like like a diva than a disciple this week.

And I just felt like the Lord wants me to say something to you who may be here this morning as we're getting ready to dive into the scripture, who may be feeling unworthy to receive anything from him.

One of the lines in the song we sang this morning was this, I'm gonna stand on the word.

I'm gonna stand on that truth.

And this is a truth that I want you to stand on this morning as we dive in.

His mercies are new every morning.

Now can I get an amen?

Which means yesterday does not invalidate today.

What I didn't do yesterday doesn't make the Father fold his arms and turn away from me today.

He still wants to fulfill his purpose in you.

So cast aside any doubt that you are here by anything other than divine appointment, because the Spirit of God wants to meet you.

Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who although he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God, a thing to be grasped, seized, clung to.

But he emptied himself taking the form of a bond servant and being made in the likeness or form of a man and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

For this reason, God has highly exalted him and bestowed upon him the name which is above every name so that the name of Jesus, Yeshua, every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

The glory of God the Father, will you pray with me?

Lord, will you meet us here this morning?

in spite of our physical distractions, our relational issues, our financial obstacles, our political frustrations, our sinful failures.

Will you be so kind to fulfill your word in us today and call us to be your disciples?

Speak, Lord, for your children need to hear you.

In Yeshua's name I pray, amen.

So today we're gonna look again at the dogma, the dogma, and then some application about what it means to be a disciple.

Now I have to admit, as we start off talking about the dogma, the deity of Jesus, I really like this.

Because it allows me to do something that I really enjoy and that's to dive into the Torah, the law and the prophets and to kind of look apologetically at what is actually said in those passages and wrestle with it and listen to other people maybe saying things that I don't necessarily agree with.

But I want us to focus on the opening descriptions of Jesus' ministry and interaction with four Galilean men who would be the first to follow him as one of his disciples.

And I want you to take note of how early on in the infancy, infancy, I can say it, I'm a paid professional.

I can talk good.

The infancy of the gospel, how quickly this subject becomes not only relevant but dominant.

So there's two sections from John chapter one we're going to look at as we quickly look just this section of the dogma.

And it's from the storyline that John is recording for, John chapter one, verse 29 through 33.

So the first incident's gonna be about John the Baptist.

The next day he, John the Baptist, saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away "the sins of the world.

" 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.

"I did not recognize him, but so that he might be "manifested to Israel, I came baptizing.

" John testified saying, "I have seen the Spirit descending "as a dove out of heaven, and he remained upon him.

"I did not recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize "and water said to me, 'He who upon whom you see the Spirit "descending and remaining upon him, this is the one "who baptizes in the Holy Spirit, I myself have seen "and have testified this is the Son of God.

'" Now, I mean, just right off the bat, before Jesus, before we even hear a word from Jesus, John the Baptist is already testifying to who Jesus is.

John is already recording for us and testifying that the testimony that he has about Jesus came from the Father, how the Holy Spirit descended and rested upon Jesus when he was being baptized.

And so this is another central theme we're gonna keep coming back to, that the whole gospel of John is really bringing out how many times this subject of who Jesus is, the deed of Jesus, isn't solved by what Jesus just said about himself, but what the Father is testifying about him.

And I'm gonna say it again.

If you reject Yeshua, you're rejecting the testimony of the Father.

And if you reject the testimony of the Father, you're never gonna have his purpose fulfilled in you.

Verse 30, he says, John says, he existed before me.

Micah chapter five, verse two, the Bethlehem passage says that he existed in the Hebrew, me ketim, from before time.

This one who would come forth to be the shepherd and the ruler of God's people.

Verse 34, he says that this is the Son of God.

Now I wanna just insert here and please take note, not only in this section, but in the next section, it does not say that he is a Son of God.

A Son of God was kind of a compliment that people would use.

In fact, I think I've heard it even today in Israel when someone says, oh, man, he's a Ben Elohim.

He's a son of God.

That's a compliment.

That's not the same thing as saying he is the son of God.

One is a compliment, one is an identity, all right?

We have already covered how John, the Apostles gospel, begins to focus on the deity of Jesus as the word of God.

But notice how important that truth becomes relevant and revealed, again in this early stage of Jesus' ministry, even by the one who is the forerunner.

And I just wanna stress this.

The dogma of the deity of Jesus is not an added doctrine concocted later by some rabbi named Saul of Tarsus who needed to make a name for himself.

The Saul of Tarsus didn't come along, Paul, and add this concept of the deity of Jesus.

It's literally the first sentence of John's gospel.

Now you say, well Brent, okay, all God's people said, well duh, we know that.

But if you start listening to anti-missionaries, they will make it so that people who try to undermine who Jesus is, they'll come along and try to tell you that Jesus never claimed to be God, that none of that was original to his ministry, that all of that got added.

Well John the Baptist was ahead of the game because he sought, testified to by the Father.

So don't buy that lie.

Now let's look at this next section in John and this one's a little longer and I'm okay with that.

We're gonna read verse 35 through 51 because honestly you don't need to just be here in my opinions, we need to hear the word of God amen.

Again the next day John the Baptist was standing with two of his disciples and he looked at Jesus as he walked and said, "Behold the Lamb of God.

" And the two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus and they turned and saw them following and Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What do you seek?

" Please stop for just a moment right there.

That's the first question that John records of Jesus.

What do you seek?

Folks, that's the message today, okay?

So underline that one.

They said to him, "Rabbi," which translated means teacher, "Where are you staying?

" And he said to them, "Come and you'll see.

" So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day for it was about the 10th hour.

One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

He found first his own brother, Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah," which translated means Christ.

He brought him to Jesus and Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon, the son of John, "and you shall be called Cephas, which is called Peter.

" Now, I'm just gonna insert this here 'cause I forgot to put it in my notes.

You wanna be a disciple?

Hello?

He's gonna change your life.

He's gonna change your identity.

He might even change your name.

You know, deciding to walk with Jesus is kind of like when a woman decides to marry a man.

What normally happens to the woman's last name?

It changes to the name of the bride, or the bridegroom.

Now I know a lot of people don't do that anymore, but that's the way it was.

She had no idea.

But when she said, "I do," her destiny changed.

Jesus looks at Peter and says, "You're gonna be called Peter.

"I've got a prophetic purpose for you.

" So you're gonna carry this name.

It's gonna be, we're gonna be here a long time if I keep doing this.

So the next day, he purposed to go into Galilee and he found Philip and Jesus said to him, "Follow me.

" Now Philip was from Baitside of the city of Andrew and Peter and Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, We have found the one of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, "Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

" And Nathaniel said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

" And Philip said to him, "Come and see.

" And Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him.

Instead of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit.

" And Nathaniel said to him, "How do you know me?

" And Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.

" And Philip answered, "Rabbi, you are a son of God.

" Nope.

Rabbi, you're a mensch.

Nope.

Rabbi, you are the Son of God.

You are the King of Israel.

Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, "do you believe?

"You will see greater things than these.

" And he said to him, "Truly, truly I say to you, "you will see the heavens opened "and the angels of God ascending and descending "upon the Son of Man.

" Now notice a few things.

Notice first of all that John uses the term Messiah and then defines it for us using the Greek word Christos, Christ.

Why is that important?

Because they didn't find a Gentile Messiah.

They found the Mosheach.

They found the anointed one.

They found the one that Moses wrote about that was testified to in the prophets It was written about in the Psalms and the writings.

Andrew finds Peter and tells him.

Then Jesus finds Philip and calls him to be a disciple.

Philip then finds Nathaniel and tells him.

There's a whole lot of finding going on in this passage, isn't there?

Well, that's interesting 'cause what was Jesus' first question?

What are you seeking?

There's a lot of seeking and finding going on here.

which I would suggest is a hint at what discipleship is supposed to look like.

Notice how quickly the dogma is woven into the story.

Nathaniel declares Jesus is the Son of God.

Now let me just address something here.

How much of that term Nathaniel really understand?

It was used as I've already said as a term of endearment for those doing the work of God, and some will claim that it didn't really mean that he understood Jesus to be the Son of God.

But whatever he understood about the term, he applied it to Jesus, and this would be the same designation that the Pharisees would definitively understand to be acclaimed to be equal with God or God.

And I read some pretty heavy commentaries, really scholarly stuff, and I get that there's no way to know exactly how much Nathaniel actually understood about that term.

But we're gonna come back to that here in a little bit because Jesus is going to do something really interesting and how he answers Nathaniel.

So let's talk about the dugma, the example Jesus sets.

Notice how Jesus affirms what Nathaniel has said without actually stating, hey Nate, you're right, I'm God.

I mean, he could have said that, right?

But remember, his purpose is to let the Father's purpose be manifest through him, which means it's the Father's testimony that matters most.

Jesus says, "It's great that you have come to the conclusion from me seeing you under the fig tree, but you are going to see greater things than this.

" What's he saying?

greater testimony of who I am is yet to come, and you're gonna see it, and you're going to hear it.

What is Jesus saying?

If you think that's something, wait till you see what the Father has in mind to prove to you who I am.

So what are you seeking?

Are you seeking easy answers?

Are you seeking the revelation from heaven?

Jesus is saying, "Your heaven is going to bear witness to me.

" When you see the angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man, serving the Son of Man, you are going to see that heaven is gonna bring the witness.

And I go back to this dogma, this example, of how we live our lives.

How many times when we're interacting with people, when we're ministering to people, when we're sharing the gospel with people, Or do we spend so much time trying to figure out how we're going to do it?

So, month or so ago, couple months, I'm in Israel, I'm in Jerusalem.

And I'm hoping for opportunity to share the gospel.

And I'm fired up.

Some of you prayed for me and I appreciate that.

And I go walking into the Holy City, Jerusalem the first day and man I am nothing but confidence.

'Til I go through the Zion gate and then it's like, what wait, what are you doing?

You see we used to take outreach teams years ago and I had a band, I had a worship team and they could kinda start playing, we could kinda create a little crowd but now I'm in the old city and it's me And I got nothing.

I don't pass out tracks.

I don't play the guitar.

I don't juggle.

I have zero plan on how this is gonna happen.

And suddenly my confidence goes, bye-bye.

And here comes the self doubt.

What do you think you're doing, Brent?

How are you gonna start a conversation?

I look up as I'm entering the Jewish quarter and I see a couple friends and I walk up and when they see me they say, "Oh, we're so glad you're here.

"We want to talk to you about something.

" That's all right.

Do you know what they want to talk to me about?

I'm like, "Oh, here it comes.

"Tell us about Jesus.

" Nope.

We're thinking about opening another store where we can sell whiskey.

What do you think about that?

Now I just wanna tell you, if Brent was planning how this was gonna work out, that was not where I thought it was gonna go.

And in the course of my explanation, I said, well, to be honest, most evangelical Christian and charismatic Christian groups probably aren't coming to the holy city of Jerusalem to catch a buzz, at least not that kind.

They're probably not, whiskey is probably not on their shopping list.

Now forgive me, but maybe in Catholicism, you know, of course I told them, now no one's gonna be looking for that as long as there are pastors around, once the pastor's gone, they'll maybe take a free shot.

Let's just be honest and real.

And then he looked at me and said, "What do you mean by evangelical and charismatic?

"Tell me about that.

" And three minutes into that conversation, I am neck deep in sharing with them how Yeshua ascended to the right hand of the Father and poured forth that which they were seeing and hearing, having received the promise.

Guys, I didn't plan nothing.

God did it.

Through the weirdest start of a conversation, I couldn't have imagined it.

I wouldn't have imagined it.

Discipleship involves letting Him take over.

Amen?

Got sidetracked on that.

Jesus is saying the dogma of who I am will be seen in a demonstration of God's witness about me in the things that I do.

Now from these two interactions, Jesus with John the Baptist and with the other four, we see how important this doctrine really is.

It's the starting point of their journey as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So if it was a starting point in how Jesus interacted with them, where should it be in our lives?

Is it just a theological doctrine to be debated and argued about?

Or is it a reality, an example for us?

So armed with that, let's move on and go back to our theme verse, or back in Philippians, and I want you to look at Philippians chapter 1 verse 21.

because Paul writes, "For me to live is Christ, "and to die is gain.

" I don't think you could come up with a better definition than that.

I probably should use that one for my definition of discipleship.

You see, Paul found something so profound in the Messiah that Christ becomes the defining purpose of his existence in life and in death.

There's nothing more significant.

I want you to think, I don't want you to disconnect from who is the one that is writing those words.

He is a Pharisee of Pharisees, a Jew of Jews, a Hebrew of Hebrews, Paul is on course to become, if Paul had not become a believer in Yeshua, Judaism would talk about Hillel and Gomeliel and they would be talking about Shaul of Tarsus.

That was his trajectory.

It's still a sore spot.

I literally saw an article, what happened to Saul?

How do we lose him?

He's on this trajectory, and yet he found something so much more profound than being identified as the Torah scholar of his age that it totally changed the direction of his life.

To live is Messiah.

Now there is a lot of finding, as I said, going on in this.

Paul found the Messiah, or the Messiah actually found him.

Andrew found Peter and told him, we found the Messiah.

Philip found Nathaniel and told him, we found the one of whom the law and the prophets write.

There is a whole lot of seeking and finding that's going on because fundamental to discipleship is that you begin as a seeker, which is exactly what those four men were doing.

These first four men are not just random Galileans.

They are men who have been impacted and are associated with the ministry of John the Baptist, and they're not running around contrary to what so many Christian commentaries wanna tell you.

They weren't running around looking for a Messiah with a sword on his side.

They weren't looking for someone just to get rid of the Romans.

This is the most nonsensical misrepresentation of Jewish history that has perpetually passed down in Christianity.

I'm not trying to bash Christianity, I'm just trying to tell you, it's not true.

They weren't just looking for someone to get rid of the Romans, they were looking for the person who was going to restore Israel's relationship with God.

And they found him.

Philip says, "We found the one "that Moses and the prophets write about.

" May I suggest to you a bit of sad irony about this.

Nathaniel's use of the term, "Son of God," as I said, raises all sorts of questions about what it meant.

But there's a tendency, as I said, in scholarship to superimpose the modern Christian Jewish debate into the first century use of terms.

And what I mean by that is this.

Philip and Nathaniel and the others did not have 1,900 years of Jewish anti-Jesus documents telling them how to understand what the law and the prophets said about the Messiah.

They had the Torah, the prophets, and the writings.

That's what they had.

They didn't have a cottage industry of documents being written to try to undermine who that man was.

And when they read Isaiah chapter nine, verses six and seven, that he will be called wonderful counselor, everlasting father, mighty God, they didn't have a group of anti-Jewish missionaries trying to tell them that those weren't descriptions of the child, they were descriptions of God.

Now I want you to listen, this is part of why I like this series, why I like getting to talk about this stuff.

So I'm watching an anti-missionary this week online.

And he's talking about this verse in Isaiah 9, 6, and 7.

And he starts off by admitting that the way that you have this verse translated in your English translation is absolutely grammatically correct.

The child will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal father, Prince of Peace.

It's an absolutely grammatically correct translation of that sentence.

But then he goes on and he says two things that are just kind of silly.

One is that the Christians don't understand that just because a name has a form of God's name in it, "Yah" or something like that.

Or one of the words for God, "El" - "Mika'el" all right, doesn't mean that name means that person is God.

Which is incredibly helpful for them to tell me that because now I can stop worshiping my older brother Mike as God.

Now why is it just silly?

First of all, Christianity does not have a history.

of identifying people with a form of God's name or a form of the word God in their name as being deity.

I'm sorry, but we've only done that once and we're pretty sure we're right as to who it applies to.

It's just kind of a silly argument and you're gonna see why, how silly it really is in just a moment.

Secondly, he suggests that maybe the Christians just don't understand there's another way to interpret the passage or to translate the passage.

And the translation that he offers is that all these titles, the wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, calls the child the Prince of Peace.

Have you heard this?

Have you seen that?

So suddenly wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal father is not about the child, it's about God who calls the child the Prince of Peace.

Now he says this after he has already admitted that they're grammatically and historically accepted interpretation and understanding of the text down through the centuries, even through most of Judaism up until the modern age has been all of these descriptors are about the child.

He ignores the fact that in Isaiah chapter 7 the virgin shall conceive and call his name Emmanuel, the emphasis is on the name of the child.

In Isaiah chapter 8 the emphasis remains on the name of the child as Emmanuel, but he also forgets that God told Isaiah, "When you go to confront Ahas, "take your son, Shai'ariah Shubh," which means a remnant shall return, "take your son with a prophetic name "and stand in front of him.

" By the time you get to Isaiah chapter nine, the context is absolutely clear.

The focus is on what is the name of the child.

And so he doesn't want us to do that.

Even though he knows grammatically That's the correct way to do it.

So here's the irony.

If those terms in that Messianic prophecy do not imply the deity of the child that is given, then why do they need to retranslate the verse?

Come on.

If wonderful counselor, El Gibor mighty God, Eternal Father is not about the child, then you don't need to retranslate the verse.

But when you retranslate the verse, you just admitted all of those terms are about God.

Now wait a minute.

just because a name has some form of the name of God and it doesn't mean the one being described as God, right?

Isn't that what you just told us?

Yet in your retranslation, you emphasize the fact that all of these terms are in fact deity, God descriptors.

Are you following me?

You just made our point.

Don't you love it when that happens?

You just proved that when you see those terms, you know exactly what they're saying and who they're about.

You just don't wanna admit it's about the child.

Peter and Andrew, Nathaniel, they didn't have that kind of nonsense to contend with.

They simply read those prophecies, the writings, and they were seekers, and they wanted to find the one that had been written about.

And like Paul, once they found him, it changed everything.

I mean, honestly, if you think about it, if there's someone out there who is wonderful counselor, mighty God, Prince of Peace, eternal father, Running into that guy would be a pretty good thing, amen?

In fact, I would think it would become the most important thing that you could set your heart and life to do.

I love the word for find in Greek.

It's the word that we get our word, eureka.

I found it.

And if you hear old enough to remember the, I found it, evangelistic effort by the Southern Baptist years and years ago when I was a teenager.

Maybe that's way too far back for some of you.

The Southern Baptist did a whole thing, bumper stickers, I found it.

And the whole idea was to get people to say, well, what'd you find?

And then you could tell them.

The disciples were seekers and they found it.

And what did Jesus say?

seek first the kingdom of God, his power and his presence and his righteousness.

Now, I picked on some Christian scholarship a little bit, so let me pick on some things a little closer to home.

I have to confess that my heart breaks when I hear people talk about how they found the Torah.

Listen, I found the Torah.

I found the Hebraic context of Scripture starting from the first time I went to Israel in 1990 and it rocked my world.

It provided context and understanding and all those things.

But as we've talked about in the past, pretty soon I watched a lot of people who found Torah lose Messiah.

And And I wanna tell you right now, if Moses and the law, the prophets and the writings wrote about Yeshua and you found the Torah and you lost Messiah, you never found the Torah.

Amen?

From the scroll of the book, from the head of the book, it is written of me.

And what breaks my heart is that the Messiah who is the Word of God came here so that we could find him.

The priority of the disciple is the relationship that the father created and designed for us to have with Jesus, and that is the central priority and most important element of being a disciple.

Being a disciple means you are a follower, a follower of what?

Commandments or the commander?

You know, if I were to tell you that next week I'm gonna show up with a book written by John Grisham, which I've never even read one, okay?

So it's just an illustration.

How many of you would be excited that Brent was gonna show up with a book by John Grisham?

What if I told you next week John Grisham was gonna be here?

Now that'd be pretty cool, wouldn't it?

Which would excite you more?

The book or the author of the book?

Somehow in our quest to become disciples, Yeshua has to become the priority of our, to live must be Christ.

And you say, Brad, oh, that preaches well.

You know, I get that.

accept that when we go out of these doors, it's so easy for everything other than him to become the priority.

Well, I'm gonna, and please, I've studied the temple, the tabernacle, the times of the Lord, the typology.

I love all of it.

If you've been around here a lot, you know I love the word of God.

I don't just love what it says, I love how it says it.

I am a word nerd, and I love all of it.

Genesis to maps, I love all of it.

Wow, tough crowd.

But nothing is more important to me than him.

And when I leave here, I may go engage in a study of the fruits of the Spirit or the typology of the tabernacle.

I mean, it's all great.

Until it becomes more important than me personally walking with the master.

We sang a song.

It said, Lord, come walk with me.

I want to tell you something.

Nothing against that song.

I like it.

But most of the time, the problem is not that the Lord is not wanting to walk with us.

It's a we're too busy walking in other directions.

There is a primacy to being connected to Yeshua that makes us a disciple or a wanderer.

There are a lot of people who think they're disciples, but the truth of the matter is they are spectators.

They're more like people in the stadium watching, but they're not really engaged in the game.

We're called to so much more.

To live as Christ, that is so filled with meaning that we would take weeks to unpack it all.

To live as Christ, my purpose is found in Messiah and lived out in Him.

I just don't know how I can stress it any more than this.

and the application as we're talking about being a disciple is simply not to condemn you, but to challenge you as you leave this place today.

How central is Yeshua in my thought process, in my prayer life, in what I'm, you know, am I spending all my time trying to figure, well, if I just understand this Hebrew term or this concept, then it'll all make no.

The word became flesh.

"the Son of God, the Son of man.

" And he looked at these men and said, "Hey guys, come follow me.

"Walk with me.

"See how the Father testifies about me.

" And then go do the same.

So what does all of this teach me about my life as a disciple?

What is my purpose in Christ?

Paul says, "Fruitful labor.

" But what is the purpose of that labor?

That others may find him as well.

Now let me state the obvious.

Others will not find Jesus in you or in me.

if we are not found in Jesus.

Come in, think it through.

I want all these people, I wanna share the good news, then be the good news.

I want them to walk with Jesus.

Well, then walk with Jesus.

Because it's what the Father will do through you.

Paul writes, "For to me to live as Christ and to die as gain, but if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me.

I do not know which to choose.

" Isn't that kind of ironic?

He says, "I'm hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.

Yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.

" realize that's the exact same dilemma Jesus had.

I mean sitting on a throne in heaven and glory with no conflict and no bodily pain is being with the Father.

It's much better.

But what did he choose?

It was better for you, for me, for him to empty himself of that and come hang out with us.

Wow.

And I think about the things I don't want to let go of to be with him.

Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue for all your progress and joy in the faith so that your proud confidence in me may abound and Messiah Yeshua though through my coming to you again, only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

So that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.

Messiah chose to do righteousness.

to empty himself and to come to walk with us.

And the question we have to face is, am I willing to lay down so that I can be found in him?

Paul writes in Philippians three and worship team, you can come back.

but whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Messiah Yeshua, Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ and hear this and may be found in him.

Having or not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Messiah, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

I haven't already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which I was also laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

Brothers, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind the yesterdays of my life, and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, to be found in Him, because to live is Christ.

And that is discipleship.

We're gonna enter into a time of response.

You know, growing up in the church, we had, you know, sometimes we called this a hem of invitation.

Sometimes we called it a hem of decision.

One time I ended the service and invited people to stand as we sang the hem of indecision.

This is just a time that as we press in and worship one more time, my prayer and our hope is that you would let what you've heard resonate in your spirit.

Prepare yourself to go live as Christ.

Be honest with yourself.

When people find me, do they find that I've been found in Him?

And if that hasn't been the way I lived last week, then today, with the new mercies of the sunrise, we start again to be a better disciple, to cast aside everything else, reach our hand toward the Master, and say "I want to walk with you.

" You can stand, you can sit, however, you want, but use this time as a time of decision and purpose in your life.