If you would turn with me, please, in the word of God to the book of John, chapter one, the gospel of John, its first chapter. And follow with me, please, as I read aloud beginning in verse 32 and going down through verse 39. John chapter one, beginning at verse 32. And John, that is John the Baptist bore witness. I saw the spirit descend from heaven like a dove and it remained on him, that is Jesus. I myself did not know him. But he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, he on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. The next day, again, John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, Behold, the Lamb of God. The two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, what are you seeking? And they said to him, Rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? He said to them, come and you will see. So they came and saw where he was staying and they stayed with him that day for it was about the 10th hour. The apostle John wrote his gospel so as to bring people to believe and then to bring believers to increasingly believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. He states his purpose for the overall book very clearly In verse 31, he wants to bring people to faith in Jesus. He wants to bring people to the conviction that Jesus is indeed the promised Messiah, the very Son of God. And he wants believers to grow in that conviction. He doesn't call for people just to take a leap into the dark. He presents evidence, witness after witness, that compels belief. in this truth that he is setting forth. And the first witness that the Apostle John brings forward in his gospel is that of a man named John the Baptist, a herald whose role was to point people to the Messiah, to announce that the Messiah promised of God at last had come. God had revealed to the Baptist that he on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And with his own eyes, the Baptist did see. He saw this one upon whom the Spirit of God descended on whom the Spirit remained in the form of a dove. Chapter one, verse 34, John recognized that this superior one, this preeminent one, upon whom the Holy Spirit came and remained, this was indeed the Son of God, one who shared the same nature, one who shared the same essence of the Father. God the Son became a man, Jesus, and John the Baptist witnessed the Spirit of God coming down and abiding on this unique God-man. The closing words of verse 34, this is the Son of God. Now, this was the witness of John the Baptist. This is the Son of God. Those words are well-attested, but there are some good manuscripts that have a different reading and have verse 34 ending with the words, this is the chosen one. Now, both phrases are true. The latter fits the immediate context well. God the Father had foretold through Isaiah the prophet, Isaiah 42, verse one, God had said, behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights, I have put my spirit upon him. And that fits this immediate context very well, where John witnessed the one on whom the spirit came the one who himself would baptize with the spirit. It's also true that when we think about the gospel of John as a whole, that we see a large amount of emphasis on the idea of God choosing his people unto salvation. For example, in John 6, 65, Jesus said, this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father. A little bit earlier in John 6, verse 44, Jesus had said, no one comes to me unless the Father draws him. A little bit later in the book, John 15, verse 16, Jesus said to his apostles, you did not choose me. but I chose you and appointed you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain. In the larger context of the whole Bible, it's clear that God's selection of sinners takes place in the context of their being chosen in Christ, who is himself preeminently the chosen one of the Father. In verses 35 and following, The Apostle John continues to describe a momentous week, perhaps the very first week in the public ministry of Jesus. He's giving us a day by day account of what happened on this particular significant week. On the first day, a delegation from Jerusalem had come out to where John the Baptist was investigating who exactly he was and what his credentials were. Jesus had approached the Baptist, and the latter had made grand declarations concerning Jesus. Now, verse 35 draws our attention to the third day of this special week. The Baptist is standing with two of his followers, and once again, he sees Jesus approaching. I want you to note with me this morning, six observations drawn from verses 33, excuse me, 35 through 39. Six observations from this third day. First observe the Baptist persevering Jesus-centered witness. John the Baptist persevering, Jesus-centered witness. Verses 35, 36. The next day again, John was standing with two of his disciples and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, behold, the Lamb of God. Now we know from Verse 29 of John 1, that on the preceding day, the Baptist had said the same thing. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Now, with two of his disciples standing there with him, he once again reiterates this wonderful declaration. Behold the Lamb of God. There are key words, there are key phrases in the Bible that are well worth repeating again and again and again. There are concepts, there are ideas, there are terms that are so central to the good news of what God has done for sinners. like us that there are things that just need to be preached to ourselves and to others repeatedly, continually. The most basic need that we have as people is that we're guilty before God. We have not loved our maker as we should. We have not delighted in him. We have not relished him. We have not desperately desired him. We have not served him. We have not obeyed him. We have not feared him as we ought. This is our most basic failure as human beings. We were made by our creator for himself, and every day we have fallen far short of his glory. We have not loved him as we should, nor have we loved one another as we should. With that being our most basic failure, our most basic need is to be forgiven. You may have been exposed to Maslow's pyramid of human need. He's got it wrong. Because every secular theory of need puts God out of the picture. Our most basic need is to be forgiven by our Maker and by our Judge. And the most glorious, the most basic provision of the Good News is that God has set forth a sacrifice through whose work people like us can indeed be forgiven. Our sins can be washed away. The God-man came from heaven, the Lamb of God, as that ultimate sacrifice to take away sins. We may not be as bad as a lot of others are, but we're bad enough to deserve eternal condemnation. Hell is not just for the worst offenders. Hell is for people like me and you. who again, we have not loved as we ought to love. But the good news is that the Lamb of God has come. Now, John the Baptist had declared this great truth the day before, and as far as we know, his declaration did not move anyone to follow Jesus. On this day, he reiterates, again, this basic truth. Seeing Jesus, he opens his mouth and says, behold, the Lamb of God. And now, two of his followers, they leave his side, they disassociate themselves from his ministry, and they go to be with Jesus. Let us not lose heart. Let us not lose heart in pointing people to Jesus. Let us press on in talking with others as God gives us opportunity. We need to be wise. We need to be thoughtful. We need to be winsome, but let us not lose heart in looking for opportunities to talk with others about Jesus. Destruction is ahead for those that do not repent. and follow the Savior. And what our family members need, and what our neighbors need, and what our co-workers need, what our friends need, is that they need to know of this God-appointed sacrifice, this Savior that has come to take away sins. Let us look for opportunities to tell others what God in Christ has done for us if we're Christians. That's at the heart of personal evangelism is our witness. We have a story of what God the lamb has done for us. And let us tell others what he will do for them. What they most need has been provided for in this lamb from heaven. Second, observe that John's two disciples followed Jesus. John's two disciples at this point follow Jesus. And this is where those following Jesus, as far as we can tell, has its beginning. He had lived in obscurity for almost 30 years, a very private life, having grown up in the village of Nazareth. Now he is becoming, for the first time, in the timing of God's providence, a public figure. And as far as we know, these are the first two and begin to identify with him as his disciples. Verse 37, the two disciples heard the Baptist say what he said, and they followed Jesus. What the Baptist had proclaimed, again, registered with them. They understood that the Baptist's goal was not to gain a following for himself, but rather to gain a following for Jesus. they leave the Baptist in order to seek out the company of Jesus, hoping for a meaningful conversation with him. We should understand in our trying to rightly interpret the gospels that this following that is spoken of is not the following that will later be spoken of where these men became full-time followers of Jesus in the sense of being in training as one, as two of a special group of 12 that would give themselves full-time to being trained by the master teacher. And the reason I say that is what we read about in Matthew 4, and we won't take time to turn there, but let me read Matthew 4, verses 18 through 22, that does describe a later event when the first disciples began to give themselves to full-time training, living with, walking with Jesus of Nazareth. Matthew 4, 18 and following, while walking by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Immediately, they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately, they left the boat and their father and followed him. Now, if you look at that account, just read Matthew 4, 18 through 22, in its context, you see that that calling of the men where they left, literally left, their business, their vocation. They left their fishing nets and they followed Jesus in a full-time vocational sense from henceforth. They would live with him. They would go where he went. They would witness firsthand. his miracles, his preaching, teaching, and they would engage constantly in private conversation with him. In Matthew 4, that following follows, John the Baptist having been arrested, Jesus having heard of John the Baptist being arrested, Jesus leaving Nazareth where he had grown up, relocating to Capernaum to begin his public ministry. So the sequence that is given to us seek to harmonize the gospel accounts is as follows. One, John the Baptist, while still active in ministry, clearly identifies the Savior who had been supernaturally pointed out to him. Two, two of John's disciples, including Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, leave the Baptist in order to become better acquainted with Jesus. Three, subsequently John the Baptist is arrested, Four, Jesus, having heard of the Baptist arrest, leaves Nazareth in order to move to Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee as public ministry begins to gain momentum. And then five, with people responding to Jesus's anointed preaching, Jesus calls the first disciples into full-time training, promising to make them fishers of men. They just want us to have a clear and accurate understanding of how these events relate one to another. And when we stop and think about it, it makes a lot of sense that when we read in Matthew 4 of Andrew and Peter, James and John, leaving everything to follow after Jesus in full-time vocational training, it makes a lot of sense that they were already at that point acquainted with Jesus and already had been brought to faith in Jesus. That's not to in any way belittle what the effectual call can do in a moment in terms of transforming the way someone thinks and the way that someone acts. But it just has a credibility to it, that these men already had been brought into a knowledge of the Savior. And then a little bit after that, they're called, as we see in Matthew 4, into the full-time training. The third observation is this. Note Jesus's initiative and note his question. Jesus's initiative and Jesus's question, verse 38. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, what are you seeking? It's evident as we imagine this scene being described that the two disciples of John leaving him and following Jesus were not in his immediate presence in the sense of a conversation taking place. They were following him, but at a bit of a distance. They may have been shy. And for those of us who are shy, we can readily relate to the sense of reluctance that comes in initiating a conversation, especially with someone that we recognize is very important. Related to that, perhaps they felt intimidated by the thought of getting closer to someone that their teacher John the Baptist had spoken of in such a reverent manner. Perhaps they were trying to muster the courage to draw nearer, so as to begin to engage him in a more personal way. Whatever precisely was going on in their hearts, we get a clear glimpse into what was going on in the heart of Jesus. He turns and recognizing that they were behind him at some distance, maybe it was just five feet, maybe it was 15 feet, but recognizing that they were behind him, looking at them, he initiates interaction with them. He did not wait for them to approach him, rather he pursued them. And I don't think it's reading too much into this brief narrative to recognize that we have here in brief a microcosm of the message of the entire Bible. This is what the story of redemption is about. Our maker, holy, just, and yet gracious, not waiting for guilty, fearful sinners to wake up to the fact that they need him and that they need to make their way to him, but he, in kindness and in mercy, takes the initiative, pursuing us in our lostness and in our need, taking that decisive initiative toward us. You think of the Garden of Eden. Our first parents were inundated with the generosity of our maker. given free access to all manner of delightful, wonderful blessings. There was one tree they were not to eat from. They do what was forbidden. In their guilt, they should have immediately sought the Lord, humbling themselves, confessing their crime. Instead, they try to evade God. They try to hide from God. God could have just ended it there, injustice, killing them, as He had said He would do. But what do we see God doing? He pursues Adam and Eve. They're hiding, He pursues them in grace, seeking to awaken them to their need, promising a way of deliverance. Think of the history of Israel. It all begins with God's initiative choosing, calling, pledging himself to a man named Abram. And then the rest of the Old Testament will unfold a history of God again and again taking the initiative in pursuit of this people, the descendants of Abraham that he had chosen out of all the nations of the earth. He sends Joseph ahead to Egypt in order to rescue his people. Later he'll send Moses to Egypt to rescue his people. Through Jeremiah the prophet, centuries after Moses. God would give this word, I have sent to you all my servants, the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, turn now every one of you from his evil ways and amend your deeds, Jeremiah 35 and verse 15. Of course, climactically, in the history of Israel and in the whole Bible, God initiates sending his own son God takes that decisive first step pursuing lost and needy sinners. Salvations of the Lord and every conversion that has ever taken place in this world, every conversion represented in this sanctuary this morning reflects on God having taken initiative to pursue people. not waiting for them to come to him. He moves towards us, pursuing us, winning us, overcoming our resistance, convicting us of our need. It's true these men followed Jesus before he turned and spoke to them, but his initiative in engaging them illustrates the divine initiative that already had been at work. Some of us who've been around for a while I remember an older hymn written back in the 1800s by an American woman, and she wrote concerning this theme, I sought the Lord, and afterward, I knew. It was, how's it go? I've forgotten it. Afterward, I knew he moved my soul to seek him, seeking me. "'It was not I that found, O Savior, true. "'No, I was found of Thee.'" And she's reflecting in a poetic way on a very profound truth. She's conscious that she sought the Lord. Becoming a Christian is not the act of a robot. It's not something in which we have no choosing in the matter. We do have a choice. We do have an agency of will that God has made us with. It's frightening the fact that you and I have such a choice. Our eternal destiny will be controlled by our choice. We have the ability to continue to choose against God. and spend an eternity in condemnation as a fruit of our foolish choosing. But the poet was profoundly recognizing that behind those who are enabled to choose Jesus is a prior choosing, a deeper choosing. It was not I that found, O Savior true. No, I was found of Thee. In this case, note how Jesus's initiative is expressed. He asked these men a question, what are you seeking? It's striking when you read the gospels thoughtfully to see how often the master evangelist asked people questions. For Jesus, evangelism was not at all about just give me an opportunity where you'll be quiet for five minutes and let me just give you paragraph upon paragraph upon paragraph of gospel information. For Jesus, evangelism was about meaningful dialogue. So often it was that way. There were times where he just preached, but so often he was interested in trying to rightly understand what people were thinking and trying to help them to think about the kind of things that they needed to be thinking about. And the way in which he entered into what people were thinking, what was really going on inside of them, and the way in which he sought to steer them in a wiser path of thinking was he used questions. And again and again he asked, not just in a rhetorical sense, but anticipating an answer. He wanted to know what were people thinking. In this case, what was motivating these men to leave John and begin to follow after him? It's an honest question. What are you seeking? Were they seeking a great earthly leader, a Messiah that would come in a political and military way to bring deliverance from the hated oppression of the Roman thumb? The Jews longed for freedom from being a subjugated people. Is that what these people were seeking? Were they thinking, this is the guy, this is the guy who's going to lead us away from the Roman tyranny? Were they hoping for some insight into what they needed to do. What blanks did they need to fill in on their moral and spiritual resume so that they could have an assurance that they'd make it to heaven? There are people who worry about what's going to happen when they die. Will they make it through the pearly gates? And we read in the Bible of someone who came running up to Jesus very earnest with the question, what must I do to know that I have eternal life? Were these two wrestling with that question of what do we need to do? What deed do we need to perform in order to be sure that we're going to be in this life ends? Did they have personal struggles, perhaps with anxiety, perhaps in relationships that they hoped this Messiah figure could fix? Did they have a genuine concern to know God, to be at peace with their maker, their judge, to be forgiven? What were they seeking? And what a pertinent question that is still for us here today. You know, why are you here today? That's a question worth considering. What are we seeking in a relationship with God, if indeed we are seeking that? Are we trying to gain some points, hoping that our good things are gonna end up outweighing our bad things? Does this just tie in to our thinking about how respectable people live? They go to church, they're religious. Are we hoping that Jesus will fix us? Our marriage, a child. We're certainly people who need fixing, aren't we? Part of the good news is that Jesus is sincerely interested in people like us. Whatever you are seeking, Jesus wants you to talk with him about that. He wants you to be honest. He wants you to be real. He wants to hear about your innermost desires, your underlying burdens and concerns. He already knows what you're all about, but he seeks relationship. And he desires that you would seek the most important thing of all, namely a relationship with his father for which we were made. He himself was the answer to that most important quest. Fourth observation is this. Notice the fourth observation, the men's interest in a deeper private conversation with Jesus. The men's interest in a deeper, private conversation with Jesus. We read in John 1, they said to him, Rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? It would be a mistake to view this as simply small talk. Maybe they were caught a little off guard by his question and nervously they just ask a small talk type question. what's your address, what's your lodging place? I think it would be a mistake to interpret their question in that way. It was a request for a meeting, for an opportunity to engage Jesus in a larger way. They were not satisfied to simply have the Savior identified to them, they wanted to know him personally. They desired a level of communion with him that required time, that would require perhaps some privacy to their minds, Perhaps an agreed upon meeting where he would know and they would know that this would be a time where they could really focus on one another. They had perhaps particular questions that they wanted to pursue with him. They addressed him as rabbi, which literally means great one. It was a common honorific in that age among the Jews for respected teachers. The Apostle John explains for his non-Jewish readers that the term rabbi means teacher. We're given some insight, and to John's anticipated audience, he doesn't assume that everyone would know what rabbi means, so he interprets that designation for his readers and hearers. These men wanted a deeper, private conversation with the Great One. Do you desire that? with Jesus Christ. We can't see him. We cannot hear his voice. He's no longer here on this earth, but he's very much alive. He's in heaven. He has given us words and scripturated and the holy book called the Bible. And do you desire a deeper personal relationship with Jesus? Are there those here who are satisfied with a superficial peripheral connection to Jesus? If you were to be asked, do you believe in Jesus? You would say yes. but you're content for that relationship to be somewhat distant, to be somewhat remote. It's not a relationship that colors your life day in and day out. It doesn't color how you spend your money. It doesn't color the activities that you might pursue in your leisure time. It doesn't color your thoughts about your stewardship in life as to serving God and others. Are you content for a more superficial relationship or is there within you a sincere desire that his friendship and his insights are the most important thing. You want to have a relationship with him that has depth. You want personal communion with Jesus. I believe it's not reading too much into the passage to think that these two disciples, that's what prompted their leaving John the Baptist to follow after Jesus. And when he asked, what are you seeking? They say, where are you staying? Which in their own way meant we want a meeting with you that goes deeper than perhaps what can be accomplished right here on the public roadway. Notice the fifth observation. Jesus's invitation to a deeper private conversation. Jesus's invitation to a deeper private invitation. He said to them, come and you will see. Now again, we could misinterpret this just viewing it as small talk. You want to know the address of my lodging place? Well, come and you'll find out. You'll find out the street name and the number and that question will be settled. There's something deeper that's going on here. He was inviting them to come to his lodging place so as to have a personal visit with him. Evidently, it was common for rabbis in that era to use this language of come and see. a phrase very well known in the Jewish culture, which was a way of saying, let's come together and dig into matters more deeply. You want to understand the truth? You want insight into religious things? Well, come and see. It was a way of speaking that would say, it was basically just an invitation. Let's go on this journey together and let us learn together more insights. into the ways of God and the way to heaven. It's encouraging to think that Jesus is always ready for fellowship with those that seek him. It's encouraging to reflect on the gospels and to remember that when little children, there are little children here in the sanctuary. There are not so little children here in the sanctuary, We think on the Matthew 19 account where little children were being brought to Jesus and the disciples felt so strongly that he's too important for little children to be bothering him. And we remember Jesus saying, do not forbid them. Let the little children come. And Jesus had time and he has time today. In John chapter four, we're gonna read of a well-known account of Jesus taking time in the midst of being exhausted and weary, he takes time to pursue fellowship with a tainted woman with a long-standing reputation. of sexual immorality. He was interested in a relationship and was ready to pursue that. John 9 will read of Jesus pursuing a man handicapped severely from his birth. His life had been dominated. He was an adult. His life had been dominated by a substantial handicap. He was blind, which in that day, especially, was such a huge impediment to living life. Jesus wants a relationship with that man. born blind. He always welcomes those that want to go higher and deeper. And when these two, maybe they were back 10, 15, 20 feet, we don't know precisely, but as he pursues them, you know, what do you want? Where do you live? Come and see. You know, he's very ready to go higher and deeper with those who are seeking it. Is that what you want? Is that an ambition in your life to go deeper with Jesus? He invites that, he delights in that. The sixth and last observation is that the interaction that followed was life-changing. The interaction that followed was life-changing. We read that they came and saw where he was staying and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the 10th hour. And it's significant that not only the particular day, but even the specific hour was remembered when this sacred visit was first initiated, when it took place. John the Apostle was reluctant in this book of the Bible to identify himself as its author. generally will refer to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved later down the road. Here in this account in John 1, he is gonna tell us that one of the disciples of John the Baptist who followed Jesus at this point was named Andrew, that's coming in verse 40. He does not identify the name of the other disciple. It almost certainly was John himself. Again, there's this characteristic reluctance throughout this book to identify himself as in a prominent way. But the account has such an eyewitness flavor to it, does it not? It's clear that someone was there, someone was listening, someone was watching what is here recorded, and it's very likely the apostle John himself The details being given under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by himself many years later. One of those details was the specific hour in which the two disciples saw where Jesus was lodging and they went in and they ended up staying with him for the rest of the day. The Jews marked their time by night and by day. The 12 hours of the day began at 6 a.m., ended at 6 p.m. When John refers to the 10th hour, he's referring to 4 p.m., the 10th hour in the day. And in an age where there was no artificial light, no man-made light, the days generally started earlier than ours do, and the days ended much earlier than ours do. So the end of the day was drawing near, and it is not a far-fetched inference at all to think that they ended up spending the night there in Jesus' lodging place. Interestingly, we're not told a thing about what they talked about. We infer that as some other disciples would talk about a few years later, did not our hearts burn within us as he opened the scriptures to us? That's from Luke 24, verse 32, the disciples on the road to Emmaus walking with the resurrected Jesus not recognizing at the time that it was Jesus, and he was talking to them from the scriptures, and then their eyes are open, and they realize who it is, and reflecting on that conversation that they had while they were walking along the road, they testified, did not our hearts burn? Was there not something profoundly life-changing going on in the words that were coming forth of this man's mouth? And it's quite likely that Andrew and the other disciple would have said the same thing. What we know is that they went into his lodging place and they stayed with him that day. We know that much. And we know that what happened there and the things that they talked about and the things that they heard were such that decades later, the Apostle John could say, it was on this day and it was at four o'clock in the afternoon that I first saw where my Lord was staying at that time And for the first time, I had a meaningful face-to-face interaction with him. And I'll never forget it because my life has never been the same. The hour was permanently imprinted on his memory. He had been a believer. He was an Old Testament believer. He obviously was a disciple of John the Baptist. He was a believer. but he met Jesus Christ face to face, and it changed his life forever. Do you have that testimony? Most believers, especially those that have grown up in a Christian home, that have been taught all their lives to believe in Jesus, to love Jesus, to follow Jesus, most believers, Especially those that have grown up in a Christian home will not be able to identify the day on which they believed. And certainly not an hour. There may be some here who could say, I could tell you the day and I can tell you the hour when I asked Jesus to save my guilty soul and I believe he said, yes, I will forgive you and I'll make you new and old things will pass away and new things will come. There may be some people here, I'm sure that there are people here who have a more dramatic account of conversion and there was such a dramatic transformation and perhaps such a sudden transformation that you can pinpoint certainly the particular period and you may well be able to pinpoint a day and even an hour when you met Jesus in a saving way. Most people, again, growing up in a Christian home, have always believed. And have we not prayed, by the way, Christian parents, that our children would never remember a time when they didn't know Jesus and didn't love Jesus? Is that not a good way for us to pray? We don't want our children to go into the far country of sin. We don't want our children and grandchildren to have scars and to have horrific memories so that they can have a dramatic testimony of what God in Christ did for them. Praise his name. We'll take it if that's the way to heaven. We'll take it. But our desire as godly parents is that our children might never recall a time when Jesus was not precious to them, when Jesus was not the one they trusted and followed and worshiped. But even if we have no sense of this was the day or this was the month or this was the season. Every real Christian does have a story of having encountered Jesus. And it's life-defining and it's life-changing for everyone in the household of faith. It may have begun when you were four years old, but everyone who knows Jesus knows how much he has colored their lives. And for those of you who don't have a saving relationship to Jesus Christ, those of us who do tell you this, come and see. Please care for your soul that will never die enough to sincerely explore Jesus Christ. This world will insist that he doesn't count, he's not relevant, that what matters is making money and pursuing pleasure and having friends. This world will insist to you, Jesus is not a top five issue. We beg of you, come and see. You can ask him any question, you can bring any objection you want. Jesus is not intimidated by your questions, your confusion, your objections. Come and see. Your life will never be the same. Let's pray. Our God, we thank you for the supernatural power of the message of the Good News. We thank you that it does what it does because it is what it is. And we thank you that that almighty gospel has not diminished in strength at all over the thousands of years, the hundreds of years since this account was first penned by the Apostle John. Oh Lord, back then, the spoken phrase, behold the Lamb of God, had such transformative influence upon these two men. And we thank you that still today all over the earth, lives are being rescued through this great message of the sacrifice of Christ, Oh Lord, may it have a powerful impact here among us in this sanctuary. Do things that would draw attention to your great name. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.