Francis - So many people miss the beauty of like how the Old Testament flows  into the New I know for years for me I just thought they weren't too different to it, you know, it's and when you start looking at the Old Testament like we've been  looking at suddenly Christ not that he could be any more beautiful, but it just  enhances this picture of like, wow, this is amazing. I mean this from Genesis on  and you start getting the sacrifices and the atonement and the Passover and on  and on and on, and all the prophecies and there he is, the Messiah shows up  like it's this triumphal moment and make sure you know, we're getting that as we dive into the New Testament that, you know, some people go wrong, you know,  suddenly this new Jesus thing isn't a new, anything like this is from the  beginning. This is a promises of the Messiah. This is what makes a Scripture so  beautiful.  

David - The culmination of it all and this is God in the flesh. And just sit back and you soak that in and then especially, you get to Matthew 4, and he goes up to  four fishermen, he says follow me. Now we talk a lot about the word follow.  Okay, what does it mean? But just grip the magnitude of the me that's inviting  here. This is Jesus God in the flesh saying, Okay, follow me be my disciple. And  this is who we are called to follow. This is where it's just, we can never reduce  following him to casual routine, religion, spirituality, monotonous spirituality. No,  this is a living, breathing relationship with Jesus God in the flesh, that we are  helping lead people in discipling relationship to see, and to know and to  experience. And so just to emphasize the life,  

Francis – And to make sure that it never gets casual and common like Jesus,  this Jesus that, Jesus, like a, you know, when the New Testament writers write  about him, like, like, John is like, that, which was from the beginning, you know,  that the Creator, they could from the very beginning, you know, I actually  touched him, I saw him, I heard him and I have fellowship with Him, like it was a  shock to him. You see him in the book of Revelation, like, Jesus, you know, just  just, and we have to have that same awe in our lives, like, do we realize who  we're talking to, hopefully, you're seeing that now that you've gone through the  Old Testament going, Man, that's why it was such a shock when he showed up,  it's like, 1000s of years, we've been waiting for this moment, and he's right  before is the word becoming flesh,  

David - You know, and then that's key. Jesus is unique. In all of history, he alone  is set apart from every other religious teacher, every other person, and sort of in  might even be beneficial to spend some time with the person or people you're  discipling and just talk about what makes Jesus unique as the fulfillment of all  these things in the Old Testament. I mean, he uniquely lived the life, we are not  able to live a total obedience to God and He died the death and we deserve to 

die when he conquered the enemy, that we could not conquer sin, Satan and  death, nobody else has done that. And so just to emphasize, like, Christianity is  not just one other choice in a cafeteria line of religions, that kind of works for  somebody. No, this is this is the only man who is supremely worthy of all  worship, and that's why we follow Him. And that's why we make Him known  because we want all people to know, his work.  

Francis - And that's why we get to make Him known, you know, because it's also at this point, like, we can sometimes go, Oh, I gotta make disciples, he told me,  it's this idea of, when you understand who Jesus is, is like, I get to follow him,  you know, And the disciples were, you know, when he said follow me that that's,  that's a privilege and an honor. And, and so I get to now make disciples, you  know, especially at this point, make sure your disciple is going out and making  disciples and going man, do you understand, you get to do this. And as you do  it, you get to experience the presence of the living God, you can experience this  fellowship with Him, that then John had with him and the disciples had with him,  was waiting for you to have with, like, we can have that with him today, as we go out and make disciples. And so think that through and I would just make sure  this is always an honor to us, and honor to pray, a joy to pray, a joy to make  disciples



Last modified: Monday, July 31, 2023, 7:28 AM