Hey Clawson Family!

Song:

Scripture:

John 1:35-46

The First Disciples

35 The following day John was again standing with two of his disciples. 36 As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, “Look! There is the Lamb of God!” 37 When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus.

38 Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them.

They replied, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

39 “Come and see,” he said. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with him the rest of the day.

40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of these men who heard what John said and then followed Jesus. 41 Andrew went to find his brother, Simon, and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ”[a]).

42 Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. Looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, “Your name is Simon, son of John—but you will be called Cephas” (which means “Peter”[b]).

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Come, follow me.” 44 Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown.

45 Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses[c] and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”

46 “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

“Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.

Devotional

For many Christians, being on a mission to make disciples sounds strange, challenging, and incredibly difficult. Who do you start with, and how do you start? Do you pick up a Bible and go to the house across the street? Do you try to steer your conversations with your hairdresser to God-type things and hope something sticks? Do you tell your friends and family that God loves them? 

While there is always a cost, as we saw yesterday, the beginnings of disciple-making are much simpler and easier than you think. As you read the Scripture today, note how Jesus starts his mission with a small band of followers. See how comfortable it is for him because he starts with people who already seem to like him and want to be around him.

In this passage, we see two ways to begin to influence and mission for God effectively:

1.       Start with people who already like you. Jesus’ first disciples were already following his cousin John. They knew about Jesus and wanted to hang out with him for the day. This was before he shared the gospel with them. Think for a second. Who likes you, listens to you, trusts you, serves you, or wants to hang out with you? Maybe God has already put in your life those who are ready to hear about what Jesus has done for you. Often, the first step in someone giving their life to Jesus is having a trusted Christian friend.

2.       Invite them to ‘come and see’ Jesus. Andrew and Phillip both had the advantage of grabbing their brother and friend and taking them to see Jesus in the flesh. Of course, we can’t do that today. Or can we? Jesus’ body on earth is now the church, so even though we can’t introduce our friends and family to Jesus personally, we can introduce them to the body of people who have been adopted by God and who are trying to follow his teachings. 

Mission is very hard alone, and as we see in this passage, a very natural thing to do once you have found something wonderful is to invite someone close to see it, too. Time and time again, Christians in our church have invited their friends to spend time with our church family and to hear about our Jesus. New Christians are often the best missionaries because everything is so fresh, and the change in their life is obvious. Invite friends in your circle along to a service, to a small group, or to a barbecue with your church friends, and they will meet Jesus.

Of course, finding people who like you, sharing your story with them, and inviting them to a gathering of God’s people isn’t enough. At some stage, they must hear the specific good news and respond to Jesus’ invitation to believe, be forgiven, and “follow me.” But that may take longer than you think. To start, think, “Who has God already sent into my life right now, and what can I invite them to?” It might be easier to start a mission than you think.

Journal

Write down a person/s who likes you, listens to you, and serves you. How could you approach sharing your story with them, or what could you invite them to?

Training: 

Father

Show me who you have already prepared in advance for me to love, share my story with and invite to see Jesus. I’m excited to be used by you, God. Please give me courage and joy as I fulfill your mission for me.