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Christ’s Call to Discipleship (Luke 9:18-27)
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Sunday Message recorded 10 August 2025
by Senior Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
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Transcript
Musical Prelude and Introduction
00:00:06
Speaker
I love that song and I love the way y'all played it Do you call it a trio when they're all instrumentalists? I think so. I'm not sure. Anyway, it was great. And thank y'all so much for lifting up the Lord and sharing it with
Exploring Luke 9:18-27
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us.
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i would like to invite you to look with me at Luke chapter 9, verses 18 through 27.
00:00:27
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Did you know that God has called you? Some you may be checking now your cell phone. Did he call me? Wait a minute. First Corinthians chapter one, verse nine tells us that God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
00:00:46
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you know that God has called you over and over again saying, I want to have a personal relationship with you. You know, the word Christian is a biblical term, but the word Christian is actually only used three times in the Bible. But the more common term that you'll read in the word of God is the word disciple.
00:01:08
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Disciple.
The Call to Discipleship
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It's not mentioned three times. It's mentioned 261 times. I think it's a clearer picture of what we're being called to.
00:01:19
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We're being called to be Christ's disciples. If you think about the New Testament record tells us when Jesus called somebody, he only used two words, follow me, follow me. Are you following Christ?
00:01:34
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You know, those words were not just related or the word disciple, not just related to the 12 apostles. If you were to go into the book of Acts, You would see that the word disciple there or disciples, it's used 28 times. And as best I can tell, none of them were about the 12.
00:01:54
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It was about others. As a matter of fact, like in Acts chapter 6, verse 1, and in Acts chapter 6, verse 7, you'll read these two references that use the word disciples.
00:02:05
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Disciples were increasing in number. So if they if it was just about 12, it's no longer just about 12. Because it says here in the word of God, the disciples number was increasing. As a matter of fact, you drop down to Acts chapter 6 verse 7 and it says, the number of the disciples multiplied greatly.
00:02:28
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By the time you come to Luke chapter 9 verses 18 down through verse 27, Jesus had been training his men. training them for two and a half years.
00:02:40
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Now it was time for the final exam. Our kids are getting ready to start back to school, so you don't have to worry about final exams. It's a long time yet, so just ah soak it all in.
00:02:51
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But as we read through our text for this morning, I want you to listen for the Lord's four, I guess you could call them topics or subjects, perhaps even questions.
00:03:03
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But listen for four questions or topics, issues regarding discipleship. and regarding following him as he speaks these things to the twelve. Would you stand in honor of God's word? Let me read this passage and then I'll open our time with prayer, asking God to help us understand what he's trying to tell us, and then we'll get started.
00:03:25
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Now it happened that as he was praying alone, The disciples were with him. And he asked them, who do the crowds say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist.
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But others say Elijah and others that one of the prophets of old has risen. And then he said to them, but who do you say that I am?
00:03:52
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Peter answered, not. the Christ of God. And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.
00:04:13
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And he said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it.
00:04:27
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But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself or his soul?
00:04:42
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For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words of him, will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the father and of the holy angels.
00:04:55
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But I tell you truly, There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. Let's go to the Father in prayer. Oh Lord, how we long to hear your voice.
00:05:08
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I know that your word is living and active. You can take it by your Holy Spirit and apply it to any one of us in any way. And so God, help us understand.
00:05:18
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Help us know what you intended it to mean to them. But help us also see by extension, what is it supposed to mean for us? What is it you had it written here so that we could learn from, so that we could be instructed and equipped?
00:05:33
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So bless our time and please, Lord, help us to understand the call to
Prayer and Personal Reflection on Discipleship
00:05:39
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discipleship. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you. You may be seated. You know, Christ's call to discipleship is a call to upholding his priority of prayer. Is prayer priority for you?
00:05:52
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but we're going to see in a moment it was a priority for him. But also a call to upholding not only the priority of prayer, but also a call to understanding his identity.
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But his identity based on scripture, based on the revelation of God's word. What is it that the Bible says? Not what's your opinion, not what's the opinion of others in our culture, but what does the Bible say?
00:06:16
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about Jesus and who he is. But then there's also something that unites all of us together. This morning we were reminded of it. We're united under Christ's adversity on that cross when he went there for our redemption.
00:06:31
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So we're going to learn more about that. But we're also going to see that God's calling us to unpack his clarity regarding loyalty. What does it mean to be a disciple?
00:06:43
Speaker
Well, it certainly means that you're going to be loyal to him. You're saying, Lord, I put you above everyone else and everything else. You see, Jesus began calling the 12 to follow him in Luke chapter five, verses one through 11. That's where we see Peter and he's talking to him about catching fish.
00:07:02
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And then he transitions into, you're gonna be catching men from now on. And he says, they left everything behind and they followed him. But then you go into the rest of chapter 5, verses 27 and 32, and you'll see where he called Levi. He was a tax collector.
00:07:19
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And he called him and said, follow me. And you know what? He got up and he just followed him. Does that describe your life? Well, in chapter six, verses 12 through 19, Jesus has been praying all night.
00:07:33
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He's been praying for wisdom and guidance from the Father on which men should I invest my time, my energy, my heart, my life, the truths that you've given to me in. And it says that he called his disciples and chose from all of them, which there would have been more than 12, he chose from those disciples 12 whom he named apostles.
00:07:58
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And then he goes on to say, a great crowd of his disciples. So I think I've spent enough time making sure that you understand that we are called to discipleship, just like many of them were called to discipleship.
00:08:14
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But let's look at what does that mean? I would say, first off, it means that you're gonna uphold his priority of prayer. Did you spend a little time praying today?
00:08:25
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Let's say this past week, did you spend some time talking to the father, asking him for wisdom and guidance, asking him for protection over your children as they begin school? You know, I think we can have a conversation with God. It's so possible. It's open to us in Christ Jesus.
00:08:44
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But what I find happening many times is prayer's not a priority in our lives like it was in Jesus' life. So I just wanted to kind of take you on a brief trail ride and remind you, you know how often Jesus prayed? It was quite often.
00:09:00
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So I think that the gospel writer, Luke, I think he was trying to tell us something. And that something was prayer was important to Jesus. If it was important to him and we're saying, I'm going to follow you, then is it important to us or should it be important to us?
00:09:18
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What about as we start a new day tomorrow? What about as we finish this day? Our family has a prayer time each night. Whatever it is and whenever it is, I encourage you, talk to God.
00:09:30
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Lay your burdens down. We're not meant to carry those burdens. He said, cast your cares upon him because he cares for you. So I want us to look first about this prayer life of Jesus. You see it mentioned in verse 18.
00:09:46
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Now it happened that as he was praying alone, Let's just pause there. It happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him.
00:09:58
Speaker
Wow. ah Which one is it? Is he praying a alone or are they praying with him? Or maybe he's praying and they're not praying, but they're there. He feels like he's alone. I don't know. But if you were to go all the way back to chapter three and verse 21, you would see that Jesus was praying at his baptism.
00:10:15
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I wonder if this morning, maybe no one else was praying, but I guarantee you three young guys were praying this morning. They were Lord, help me not mess up up there. Chapter 5, verse 16 tells us Jesus was not only praying at his baptism, also he would often withdraw to pray alone, pray by himself.
00:10:35
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you ever just say, you know what, hold the phone a minute. I'm going to seek the Lord about this. I'm just going to spend some time with him and him alone, asking him what I should do. Chapter six, verse 12 tells us that he prayed about important decisions.
00:10:51
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In Luke chapter six, verse 12, he was praying about an important decision that was so important, he spent the whole night praying. Why did he spend that time praying? Because he was about to invest his life in something.
00:11:03
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I would encourage any of you that are just beginning college, you're finishing up high school, somewhere in there and you're saying, what's the best way for me to invest my life?
00:11:14
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Well, I know somebody that can help you with that It's not the guidance counselor, although they can say great things. but it's the Lord himself. You ought to pray and ask God, Lord, how can I best invest my life?
00:11:27
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Maybe you're already in your retirement years and you're saying, how can I best invest this time in my life? Ask him, talk to him about
Understanding Jesus' Identity
00:11:36
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it. That's what Jesus did. He prayed before important decisions, but he he was also praying in chapter nine, verse 18. You know, a lot of Bible scholars say he's turning a corner here.
00:11:48
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It may not appear that way, but what's about to happen is he's going to be headed for Jerusalem. He's going to be headed to the cross. This is going to be the completion of his work.
00:11:59
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You know, Jesus' earthly ministry only lasted three years. And already he's been with them two years, two and a half years. So think about that.
00:12:09
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He doesn't have much time left. And so as he's completing the work of his life, He says, you know what? I need some time alone, guys. If you'll just be quiet over there, I'm going to just talk to the father right now.
00:12:23
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For you, what about you? Do you ever sense, I don't know how much time I have left. We are to say, Lord, help me maximize the time I have left. Maybe you're saying, well, I don't know. My kids are getting older. I'm about to be in an empty nest.
00:12:36
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As parents, we're going to be here and our kids are about to leave. heard about one guy who turns to his wife after they took the last child to college and said, who are you? You know, it can be like that. It could be like, oh my goodness, we've not been basing our lives on each other.
00:12:54
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i think it's a great time to seek the Lord when you're completing something and saying, Lord, help me to seek you. But also in verse 28, it says that he prayed with his three closest friends.
00:13:08
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You know, I think we all need friends. I think it's so important that you say, would you pray with me? i love it that our church prays for other people. If you don't know that, then just give us a prayer request and watch what happens.
00:13:23
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But you know, it does say that he was praying alone, and yet it also says the disciples were with him. You know what I think he was doing? I think he was modeling. I think he was a pace setter.
00:13:34
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I think he was a trailblazer. And here's what he's saying. He's saying to his men, Guys, someday I'm not gonna be here. I want you to do just like me. I want you to pray and ask the Father for the wisdom, for the blessing and so forth, for protection and all of those kinds of things.
00:13:52
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Definitely, I would think he would want us as his followers to uphold his priority of prayer. I'm not asking, has it been a priority for you? What I'm saying, it was a priority for him.
00:14:05
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Shouldn't it be a priority for me, a priority for you? Let me move to the second thing. I believe not only call to discipleship, not only is a call to uphold his priority of prayer, but it's also a call to understand his identity, to understand his identity, but not just one you would make up.
00:14:25
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I remember a long time ago hearing about a professor at Southwestern Seminary who was telling those who were entering into student ministry, you got to be careful these days because the students are wanting more and more to have a pocket Jesus.
00:14:38
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If they've got an exam coming up, man, it's going to be they'll take Jesus, Jesus out of their pocket and they'll say, please help me on this exam. if they're trying If they're applying for a job, they'll take him out of their pocket. Please help me get this job. You know how important it is to me, Lord.
00:14:55
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But in terms of just really knowing who he is, a pocket Jesus is so small. You know God's way bigger. I remember one time hearing a guy say,
00:15:07
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this quote from and a poem of old, and he said, young man, young man, your arm's too short to box with God. You ever try boxing with God? I wouldn't recommend it.
00:15:19
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When I was five years older, my dad gave me a set of boxing gloves and I loved it because my arms were longer than my younger brothers. I could lob those punches over there. But I noticed my gloves had a lot of padding. His his gloves that came in the box were like bare knuckles almost. And so when he did get a punch in, man, he rang the bell. But anyway, you don't want to box with God.
00:15:42
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You want to get to know God. And so that's why Jesus is asking his disciples, Who do you say that I am? But he doesn't start there, does he And probably most of us, we don't start there.
00:15:55
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You know, life's most important question is, who is Jesus Christ? Tell me a question that's more important than that. It's so important that you know that he is the Savior, that he is the Son of God.
00:16:09
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It's so important that you know that he's the answer to what it is that you're looking for. But I believe that Jesus started with where they were. He knew that people were so important. And so he starts and says, what is the social evaluation out there, guys?
00:16:24
Speaker
And so they came up with a bunch of things when they were telling him, well, John the Baptist, Elijah, the prophets, and so forth. But you'll remember in John chapter 6, just after he fed the 5,000, they tried to make him a king, but they didn't want the kind of king and kingdom that he was and that he represented. They were like, no, we want you to help us. want you to back Rome off of our back.
00:16:52
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But then he goes and he says, but who do you say that I am? It's like this personal declaration. He's kind of fishing for it. He's calling for it. And I think when we're called to discipleship, we're called to answer that question. Who is he?
00:17:06
Speaker
Who do you say he is? If a friend asks you at a coffee shop, if you're at a ball game and suddenly someone says, who is God? I don't even know who he is. You know, if you're with your relatives as you're kind of tying up the summer vacation and the relatives say to you, who is who is Jesus? I don't even know who he is.
00:17:25
Speaker
Could you answer that question? you know the early Christians answered it? From AD 100 to AD 313, the persecution against Christians intensified. It was off the scales, some of the things that they would do, where they would feed them to wild animals in the Colosseum and applaud whenever they died.
00:17:47
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But you know what's amazing is that during all that time of persecution, They knew God and therefore the number multiplied. You see, they were trying to wipe out the Christians, but guess what happened?
00:18:00
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It multiplied. And so it's like, wait a minute, that's not what we thought was going to happen. As a matter of fact, by AD 313, Christian historians say that somewhere between 10 to 15% of the Roman empire were believers.
Stories of Faith and Martyrdom
00:18:15
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Can you believe that? i mean, that's incredible. You know, Peter answered and he said, I'll tell you who you are. You're the Christ of God. Matthew tells us in Matthew 16, 16, you're the Christ. But he goes on to record another thing that Peter said that day.
00:18:33
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You're the Christ, the son the living God, the son of the living God. Wow. I mean, that was so incredible. And Jesus looked right at Peter and says to him in Matthew 16, 17, flesh and bloods not reveal this to you, but my father who is in heaven.
00:18:52
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You know, there are over 200 names for Jesus that are mentioned in the Bible. For example, here we see he's called the Christ. You heard him called the Son of Man a little bit later in this passage.
00:19:03
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He's called Savior. He's called Lord of Lords and King of Kings, Son of God, Head of the Church, the Bread of Life, the Living Water, I Am, The good shepherd, the deliverer, the lamb of God, the mediator, the rock, the way, the truth, and the life.
00:19:19
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i mean, we could go on and on. and So many different names that that describe or try to tell us a little bit of who Jesus was and who he is.
00:19:31
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You know, back in that time when those Christians were dying, in 155, they gave a guy that was years old said, we're going to give you one more chance, Polycarp.
00:19:42
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See, Polycarp had been won to Christ by the apostle John. And now Polycarp is old. He's lived for the Lord. He's walked with the Lord. He knew who the Lord was.
00:19:53
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And so they said, all you got to do is curse Christ and you'll get to live. And he said, how can I curse my king? And so he confessed Christ before that big audience that was gathered there in Rome. Would you be willing, if put to the test, would you be able to say, you know what, I'm going to live for Christ.
00:20:17
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I want to skip to the end and tell you about two men who did that. Maybe you would remember it may be the name Dietrich Bonhoeffer would ring a bell in your mind.
00:20:28
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But Dietrich Bonhoeffer, um he wrote these words. He said, when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. you know, that's exactly what happened to Bonhoeffer.
00:20:42
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He had accepted Christ, he had walked with Christ, he set up a seminary, a Bible school, and he was trying to teach people during the time that the Nazis were trying to wipe out everyone. And later he was martyred by the Nazis in a concentration camp on April the 9th, 1945.
00:20:58
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nineteen forty five Dietrich only years of age. But you know what? He knew who God was. There was another guy who knew who God was named Jim Elliott.
00:21:10
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Jim Elliott's life inspired me when I was a student at Union University and a student at Southwestern Seminary. I have a sort of like a quote. It's not a quote, actually. It's actually a photograph of his journal.
00:21:25
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And what he wrote in his journal October 28th, 1949. Here's what Jim Elliot wrote. He said, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that, but cannot lose.
00:21:40
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Wow. How about you? Does that kind of call you out? Well, Jim Elliot and some other men were on a beach trying to reach the wad Wadani tribe in Ecuador.
00:21:52
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And on January 8th, 1956, at 28 years of age, that guy right there, Jim Elleth, he was willing to lay down his life for Christ. How about you?
00:22:04
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What about you? Have you answered Christ's call to discipleship?
Commitment to Discipleship
00:22:09
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You know, the last words written in Jim Elliott's journal, you know, they had a base camp where they were trying to reach out to this lost tribe.
00:22:17
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And at that base camp, he would write each night in his journal. So they found that and they found the last words that he said. Let me read them to you. Oh, the fullness, pleasure, sheer excitement of knowing God on earth.
00:22:35
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Oh, the fullness, the pleasure, the sheer excitement of knowing God on earth. I care not if I never raise my voice again for him. If only I may love him, please him.
00:22:49
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That's where it ended. That's where it ended. But you see what was happening? He answered that call to discipleship. He said, I know who he is. Just knowing him makes me unafraid of anything.
00:23:01
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I am willing to follow him until my last breath. I pray that those three young guys that were baptized earlier, that they would say, Lord, i want to follow you. I want to get to know you.
00:23:13
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No matter what others may do at school, no matter what others may do later in my career, I want to follow you, Lord, because you're worthy. Is that how you feel today? I want us to stand. We're going to have a time of invitation.
00:23:28
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Ask our musicians to come take their places because they're going to lead us in this song.
00:23:35
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The song simply says, wherever he leads, I'll go. Wherever he leads, I'll go. I appreciate the example of one of the young ladies that was up here leading us in singing, Sophia Mick. She's back.
00:23:49
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She was willing to share some of her summer to go up to Alaska and serve alongside of Aaron and Alyssa Litzler. And it's so good to hear her story now, to be able to talk with her. so I'm looking forward to learning more and I want to set her up where we can hear from her as a congregation.
00:24:08
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But are you willing to say, wherever he leads me, I'll go? know, there's not many people in Tulixack, Alaska. It took something to say, you know what? I'm willing to go there.
00:24:19
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So let's close in prayer. And if you're here today and you do not have that personal relationship with Christ, want know you can have We can get that conversation started so you can walk with him each and every day.
00:24:33
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Lord, thank you so much for coming to the cross for us. We read about that earlier in the scripture that you laid down your life for us as a substitute for our sins.
00:24:44
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And the father accepted your life because it was perfect. It was sinless. And that's why your substitutionary death was so powerful.
00:24:55
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It can change our lives. It can change our lives so much that we saw these young families that are changing, and now their children, their lives are changing.
Conclusion and Invitation
00:25:05
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Lord, thank you.
00:25:06
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So if anybody's still on the outside of all of that, help them to come on the inside. Help them to know that Jesus went to the cross for them as well. Bless this time of invitation. In Jesus' name we pray.
00:25:25
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This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.