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(upbeat music) - Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions, our study together of
the Gospel of John. We're in our first week of that study, John chapter one
we're looking at. This is day four.

We're going to be looking at verses 35 to 42. These next couple of days, we're
going to be looking at what it means to follow Jesus. People talk all the time
about following Jesus.

Maybe you've heard that phrase, or maybe you've used that phrase. What does it
mean? How does that happen?

However short or however long you follow Jesus, or if you're considering
following Jesus, there are life transforming truths in these stories of those
who first followed Jesus. Personally, I never want to get over the fresh truths in
these stories for my life, for the way that I follow Jesus. We're going to look
these next few days at four disciples that Jesus called.

In one case it was two together, and how their lives were changed when they
decided, yes, I will follow you. First, a couple of guys by the name of Andrew
and John and how they decided to follow Jesus. John chapter one, verses 35 to
40.

The next day, John was there again, this is John the Baptist, with two of his
disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God. " When
the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, what do you want? They said,
"Rabbi," which means teacher, where are you staying? "Come," he replied, "and
you will see.

" So they went and they saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with
him. It was about the 10th hour. Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the
two who heard what John had said and who followed Jesus.

Now notice there it says it was about the 10th hour when this happened. If
you're counting Jewish time, which is time since sun up, since 6 a. m.

, that'd be 4 p. m. Roman time, if you're counting Roman time, it would be 10 a.

m. And there's a lot of ideas people have about whether this is Roman time or
Jewish time. I think it's Jewish time.

If you want to study online about which it is, it'd be an interesting day study.
But whichever of the two, these two guys went and they got to know Jesus Christ.
They were first two disciples of John the Baptist.

Remember that all teachers in that day had disciples. If you thought the only
disciples were those 12 disciples of Jesus, any teacher in that day had
disciples. And here John and Andrew decide to follow Jesus Christ because John
the Baptist points the way.

Now how do we know, by the way, that it's John? Well, there's other evidence in
this book and just the fact that he doesn't tell us who it is. John has a habit
of not telling the name when it's him as we walk through this book.

So it's most likely John, the writer of the book, and Andrew. How did the
message get there? And what barriers did it have to break through to get there?

And how did this message uniquely fit the character of these men? As we look at
these next few days at these four different people that Jesus called, five
people, four different experiences, I want to walk through those questions with
each of them. How did the message get there?

What barrier did it have to break through? How did Jesus's call fit their
character? How did the message get there in this case?

Well, it was a sermon. It was a very short sermon. John the Baptist said, "Look,
the Lamb of God.

" That's probably the best sermon you could ever preach. The greatest thing a
preacher can ever say is look at Jesus. If I can help someone to look at Jesus,
if you can help someone to look at Jesus, job done.

That's what we need to do. If I can look at Jesus, that's where the answers are,
that's where the hope is, that's where the life is. So he said to them, look at
Jesus, and they did.

But there was a barrier that they had to break through in order to look at
Jesus. And for them, the barrier was the past. For them, the barrier was they
had to stop following John in order to start following Jesus.

It was pretty exciting out there in the desert with John the Baptist. He was
baptizing people. People were coming out to talk to him.

It was getting noticed. And they had to stop following John in order to start
following Jesus. I wonder what you might need to stop following in order to
start following.

What barrier you need to break through. It may be a barrier that you have to
break through in order to come to faith in Jesus Christ. It may be a barrier
that you need to break through in order to live out your faith in Jesus Christ.

It's a pretty simple principle of life. You can't follow two things at the same
time. Oh, if they're going in the exact same direction, you can.

But two things do not go in the exact same direction for all your life. At some
point, there's a why in the road. And at that why in the road, you have to
decide, just like they had to decide that day, which one am I going to follow?

And they decided to follow Jesus. And it's interesting to me that with each of
these experiences, Jesus' call fits the character of the person he's calling.
Jesus knows our hearts.

He knew the hearts of the people that he calls in this chapter, and his call
fits their character. In this case, he starts with a relationship. He looked at
these men and he saw in their character the need for a relationship to know and
to understand who he really was.

And so he said, what's very interesting experience and exchange here. Jesus says
to them, "What do you want? " And they say to him, "Where are you staying?

" That's very interesting. Now, first of all, the words, "What do you want? "
Those are the first words of Jesus in the Gospel of John.

Up till now, it's been introduction. The first words of Jesus are a question,
"What do you want? " Not a bad way to start.

What do you want? What do you want about life? What is your heart set upon?

What are you looking for in life? Everyone knows what it's like to get up in the
morning and go to work and come home, watch a little bit of TV, go to sleep, do
the same thing the next day and the next day and the next day. At some point,
recognize I've never really asked, what is it that I want?

What am I looking for in life? Jesus caused them to ask that question. And then
they ask, "Where are you staying?

" That's a strange response. Well, no, not for a people-centered person. They
were saying, "We want to get to know you.

"That's what we want. " So Jesus invites them, "Come and see. "Come and see
where I'm staying.

" He spent the day with them and they got to know him. And that changed their
entire life. They came to follow Jesus because they developed a relationship
with Jesus Christ.

He said, "Come and get to know me. "Follow me. " Following Jesus changes
everything.

Andrew and John follow Jesus in these verses. And then in the next verses, Peter
follows Jesus. Verses 41 and 42.

The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We found
the Messiah. " That is the Christ, the promised one. And he brought him to
Jesus.

And Jesus looked at him and said, looked at Peter and said, "You are Simon son
of John. "You shall be called Cephas. " Which translated means Peter.

Now in this case, how did the message get there? What barrier did it have to
break through? And how did that message, that call fit Peter's character?

How the message got there in this case was through a personal witness. A brother
went and told his brother. In fact, it was the first thing that he did.

Don't miss this. We have found the Messiah. That's what they've been looking for
for hundreds and hundreds of years.

This is big. This is very big. This is bigger than Elvis is alive and he's at my
house for dessert.

Can you come over? Much bigger than that. Can you imagine this scene with Andrew
knocking on Peter's door and telling him with excitement, "I found him.

" Don't miss the reality of this, the human reality. Sometimes we miss the real
human nature of the Bible characters. Peter didn't say, "Oh, St.

Andrew, why call us now? " When he knocked on his door. These were real men.

And these real men were very enthusiastic and excited about the fact that they
had found the Messiah. Andrew went first and he told his brother. I've always
wondered what that might've took.

Andrew, we find out throughout the gospel of John and in the other gospels, he's
in the shadow of his brother. In fact, that's even true today. I mean, today
you've got St.

Petersburg, named for Peter, a great city in Russia. And then what does Andrew
get named after him? San Andreas, a fault.

That's all he's got named after him. He's still in the shadow and he was in the
shadow then. He worked in his business.

He lived in his house. He was not one of the three closest to Jesus. He lived in
his shadow.

And yet, even though he lived in his shadow and his brother's shadow, Andrew
didn't hold this good news about the Messiah to himself. Wow, I've got something
now that Peter doesn't have. He immediately went and he told his brother.

I wonder, even as I'm talking about Andrew and Peter, if maybe your brother or
your sister had an impact on your walk with the Lord, or maybe you had an impact
on theirs and what it took for that to happen. The message got there through a
personal witness and the barrier that had to be broken for that to happen was
the barrier of pride. Andrew had to break through his potential pride to tell
his brother Peter and then Peter had to break through his pride to follow his
younger brother to Jesus.

He was sought out by his brother. He was brought to Jesus by his brother, but
then he was caught up in the words of Jesus Christ. That's what changed his
life.

And Jesus' call fit his character. It's pretty evident in the Bible that Peter's
character is a purpose-centered, get-it-done, choleric kind of guy. And for that
kind of a man, Jesus' call was put in terms of a life challenge.

He gave him a challenge. You're going to be called Cephas, which means the rock,
Peter. You're going to be the rock.

You're going to be the anchor man. You're going to be the rocky of the
disciples. I could sing the theme to rocky right now, but you turn this off.

Well, I'm not going to do that, but I just want to say this. If you're a man
who's like Peter, if you're a woman who's like Peter, and you see the incredible
potential that maybe God has for life, but you've never really listened to God's
call and followed him. You may even be a believer, but you're not really
following him now.

What do you need? You need a challenge. You need a challenge.

The challenge of knowing that God wants to do something greater in your life
than you could ever do. I'll make you the rock. I'll make you what only I could
make you.

Someone on our research team, as they read through this chapter said, I think
Jesus gives us all new names in one sense when we follow him. He changed me from
a shy, insecure person who was afraid to talk to people into a teacher who can
teach in front of a lot of people. Although I'm still pretty shy, except when
God wants me to speak up for him.

For me, that was a perfect description. What I'm doing, what I know God wants me
to do, that's when the real me shines through. That's when the real you is going
to shine through.

That is the challenge for your life. This is not a matter of multiple
personalities, different yous in different phases of your life. It's a matter of
God sanctifying the personality that he's already given you, and he challenges
you to that kind of a life.

Follow me. That's what changes everything. Let's talk to him for a few minutes
together.

And if you're like Andrew, and your heart longs for a relationship with someone
who is real, follow me, Jesus says. You may need to begin that life of following
him right now. Trust him.

Trust him for forgiveness. Trust him for leadership. Trust him for life.

Jesus, I want to follow you. You may need to recommit yourself to trust in him.
Jesus, I want to follow you.

I want my relationship with you to be more important than anything in my life.
You might be like Peter, and you need to say to Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, I
need to follow you. I'm tired of just living life for the challenges I can think
up.

Show me the challenge that you have for my life. I want to follow you in that
challenge. I want to begin a life with you.

I trust you for forgiveness and leadership. I want to live out that life for
you. I trust you to lead me in the way that will be most challenging, most
fulfilling, most joyous for my life.

I want to follow you. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

Tomorrow, we're going to be looking at verses 43 to 51 of John chapter one, at how
Jesus says to Philip, and Jesus says to a man by the name of Nathaniel, I want
you to follow me.