We're in the book of Acts this morning, the book of Acts, chapter number 11. If you take your Bible and turn there with us, please. We were at national competition several weeks ago, and I went to church with Brother David Jones, a dear friend of mine, and the pastor was dealing with some subjects revolving around discipleship, teaching and preaching that evening, the Lord laid a thought on my heart that I never thought of before, and I want to try if the Lord will help us to look at it, and I need the Lord's help, gather my thoughts, try to direct us, kind of switch things around on how I lay things out. I've got a little Bible cover that I've used for years and haven't been able to use it because it wouldn't fit with my notes and things that we have used in the past, or here in the last recent days, or in recent days, and tried to change things around, so that's probably not a wise thing, especially when I'm a little bit confused anyway. So we'll try to obey the Lord. You trust you'll help us, amen, as we try to preach, be sensitive to the Lord. Just two verses this morning that we'll read. This'll be a little bit different look at, and this is gonna be a topical thought, Not something I always do. Normally I preach of an expositional sort of way, but this is topical, but very important. And I feel like I just got a burden. The Lord would just help us this morning, if he will, amen. I believe God can give us some things that'll help us move a little closer, amen. Verse number 25 of Acts chapter number 11, the Bible said, then departed Barnabas to Tarsus. for to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch and it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. I'm interested in that last phrase, very familiar phrase, been preached on no doubt a great deal through the years. The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. We often get the proverbial saying, the cart before the horse. We do that often, don't we? Meaning we lose focus on what drives the machine, if you will. Find ourselves polishing the paint and shining the wheels without servicing the engine. And so, when I read this, and the pastor alluded to it when I was down south, I thought about this and how it's worded. Who are called Christians? Who did they call Christians? The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. So we are clear, Christians were not called disciples. Right? Disciples were called Christians. Now if that's the case, and I'm not trying to be nitpicking, But if that's the case in what we are reading here in the text, then why do we say they are Christians and then try to make disciples out of them? You ever thought about that? Why do we have discipleship programs for people that we say are Christians? When here in the text, the Bible said that they were disciples, and because they were disciples, they were called Christians. Now, I'm fully aware of the great commission in Matthew 28, so don't try to argue with me. Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son. I understand all that. Teaching them to observe all things. I'm fully aware this morning of the progressive work of growth as a child of God, growing in grace. and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, I understand, amen, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that they may grow, thereby I get all that. Purge yourselves, I understand the progressive work, amen, of sanctification in our life as we learn and as we grow. But Jesus said, my sheep, hear my voice. and I know them and they follow me. They follow me. Who follows him? His sheep. They hear his voice and they follow him. So I could say, I believe on the authority of the word of God that saved people follow Jesus. Now, the first time you'll read the word disciple in the scripture, you'll read it in the book of Isaiah chapter eight in verse number 16. It's the only place, as far as I know, that the word is used in the Old Testament. Bind up the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples. So, the word disciple is connected with a testimony, and it's connected to the law of God in the Old Testament. Now, the word disciple means learned with an E-D on it. Not a learner. If you look it up, it's not a learner. The word disciple means learned. It means taught. It means to understand. Amen. A definition is this, it is an adherent who accepts the instruction given to him and makes it his rule of conduct. That's what a disciple is. So my question this morning is, and if I had a title for the message, I really don't have one, but I guess you could just title the message, Disciples Are Called Christians. So my question this morning is, are you a disciple or are you just one of these modern day Christians? What are these people that have assumed a position? maybe on the Bible, or maybe on a church and it's dogma. And by that, you know, you call yourself a Christian. But in reality, if someone looked at your life, your steps, your conversation, the direction of your life, amen, really no one would probably call you a Christian. Because disciples are called Christians. And disciples are followers of Christ. So my question this morning is this, do you follow the Lord Jesus? Do you follow him? Boy, that's rang out in my soul for the last several days, and I feel so inadequate to even address the subject, but I'm interested this morning in whether or not we are followers of the Lord Jesus. Do you follow him? Though I begin to look at that word, I begin to look at the phrase that revolves around the disciples and following the Lord. And the Lord gave me about five things and they could be a series of thoughts, but I'll move through them quickly this morning. But I want you to think about the question and assess your life this morning. And I want you to think about, do you follow the Lord? We did the what will Jesus do thing. That's been on and off, you know, with the bracelets and all that stuff. But I'm interested in not you wondering what Jesus does or did. I'm interested in whether or not you follow him. Do you follow the Lord? So I thought about John 1, verse number 37. The Bible said this, and you can turn to these verses or jot them down. If you're gonna turn to them, you're gonna have to move quick. In John 1, verse 37, the Bible said, and the two disciples heard them speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following, and saith unto them, what seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, come and see. And they came and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day, for it was about the 10th hour. So I wanna ask you a question this morning. These were disciples. You know where they followed him? They followed him to his dwelling. That's a simple thought. But do you follow him to his dwelling? Amen. Are you interested, amen, in the place that he resides? It's where he abides. The Bible said in verse number 39, they came and saw where he dwelt. They abode with him. The Psalmist said, a day in my courts is better than a thousand. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. So I'm interested this morning as to whether or not you are interested in following him to his dwelling. Now we know Jesus' relationship with the church, the body of Christ. We know that this is a building. I'm not gonna argue with you, amen, about that church of Christ philosophy, the meeting place of the church of Christ. We understand, amen, that God honors a church, sanctifying and setting apart a place where the body of Christ would gather together and worship the Lord. Amen. Knowing how to behave yourself in the house of God. Amen. Paul admonished Timothy. And so I'm not gonna argue with you about that this morning. I'm just asking you, are you interested in going to where he dwells? The psalmist said, Lord, I have loved the habitation of my house and the place where thine honor dwelleth. I preached about that verse a number of years ago on what you're gonna find, what you're gonna find that makes its habitation at the house of God. Amen. David said, Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? And then he gives a list of prerequisites concerning the life of the individual who is gonna find a place, amen, in the house of God that has meaning spiritual significance in their life. Amen. Are you interested in where he abides? What kind of relationship do you have this morning with the house of God? Now, I understand that we are the temple of the Lord. I'm not arguing that point with you this morning, but we would all be a ship of fools not to realize biblically, amen, that God honors the gathering of the people of God. Where two or three are gathered together, there he'll be in the midst. You see, it's where he abides. It's where he associates. The Bible said that they abode with him when they got there. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves, that's plural, together. Exhorting one another. You see, it's about all of us. It's meaningful, amen, when we get together. Do you follow him to the house of God? Or is it just a socially acceptable reality in the world that you live in that, well, we just go to church? Is that all it means? Or does it mean something to you, amen, when you awake on the Lord's day and start making preparations to attend the house of God with God's people? You see, it's a place of association. It should mean something to us. And I'm afraid, amen, amen, we get our young people and we got so many activities going on and so many things taking place that primarily entertains their flesh that the church loses all spiritual significance in their life. Amen. You see, it's where his affections are. I read this verse at the wedding yesterday. Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. You see, the Lord loved the church, and I understand what he's talking about. He loved the church, he gave himself for it. And God's not looking for someone else to give themselves for the church. Christ has already done that. He's just looking for people that will offer themselves a living sacrifice and give themselves to the church as a purpose in fulfilling the will of God. You know, every one of us are a liability to the house of God. You understand that, don't you? Every one of us have a need in our life that the house of God has the ability to fulfill in our life. We all have the potential to be an asset, thank God for that, but we also all are a liability. And when we can come to that conclusion in our prideful mind and humble ourselves to the place where we realize that we need each other and we need the household of the assembly, and then God can use us to be an asset. And I promise you, we can get along with each other far better. It's where his attentions are. Christ, amen. I preached, I remember preaching this in the living room of the house that we lived in on Sinking Creek Hill a number of years ago when rain came into the building and it was leaking and we had to move out of the place we had rented. And I was preaching through the book of John for the first time, and I was in John chapter two, and I preached on when Jesus goes to church. That was interesting. The Jews' Passover was at hand. Jesus went to Jerusalem, up to Jerusalem, and he found in the temple, now that was just a building, But he found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money sitting. When he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers' money and overthrew the tables and said unto them that sold doves, take these things hence. Make not my father's house a house of merchandise. And the disciples remembered that it was written, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Have you followed the Lord down that path? I mean the zeal of the house of God, the purpose of the house of God, the influence of the house of God, everything that the Pleasant View Baptist Church represents in the geographical location that God has given us to serve the generation that we serve in the will of God. Does it consume you? Or is it just a place you just show up? Amen. Is it just a candy store to you kids? Is it just a basketball court to you boys? And a volleyball game to you girls? It wouldn't take me much to jerk the goals down, amen, and pull the lines up. Amen. Come to church one time on Sunday so you can come and not be questioned to play ball on Monday. No confidence whatsoever in anything about that at all. Amen. Do you follow him to his dwelling? What does the house of God mean to you? What does it represent in your life and in the life of your children? Does this place have any spiritual significance in your life? The house of God. Are you listening? What are you saying, preacher? I'm saying disciples follow Jesus. In this text, they followed him to his dwelling. Amen. They came to the house of God because that's where he was at. They came to this place because that's where he dwelt and they had a desire to abide with him. Amen. I'm gonna tell you what, I'm not against, amen, vacations or whatever. We've not taken very many in 38 years of our life as a family because our world has been wrapped up in the house of God and I don't expect everybody to have that mindset because I know my role concerning the church house. But I told the couple that we seen married yesterday, I said, y'all need to learn to live together. You don't always have to have something going on. We got an amusement park generation where every week they gotta be doing something, gotta go out to eat, gotta go here, gotta go there, always gotta have something going on. And people can't seem to just learn what living is about. Just working through the day, coming home, eating supper, spending time with your family, sitting on the back porch, working in the garden, always gotta be running. And because of that mindset, the house of God has no place in your life. They followed him to his dwelling. Then the Bible tells us about the different movements and the directions of the Lord. And so I would ask you this, not only do you follow him, do you follow him to his dwelling, do you follow him in his directions? Now what I mean by that, what I mean by that thought is, Are you willing to go where he leads? John 12, 26 says, if any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my father honor. So the question this morning is, are you willing to follow him in the direction that he goes as a servant? Are you willing to be a servant? and follow him. The Bible said in Matthew chapter eight, verse 23, and when he, speaking of Jesus, was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And behold, there rose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves, but he was asleep. And his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we perish. Are you willing to follow him in the direction that he leads? Even if it's in the storm? I mean, they followed him, but they followed him right in the middle of a storm. Disciples follow the Lord. Do you follow him? The Bible said in Mark chapter two, and it came to pass that as Jesus sat at meat in this house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples, for they were many and they followed him. Follow him as a servant. Follow him in the storm. Follow him when he's with sinners. Are you willing to follow the Lord? Well, preacher, let me just, no, I'm asking you a question. My sheep hear my voice, I know them, they follow me. So before you're gonna put that Christian tag on who you are and what you are about, you would be wise to ask yourself the question, do I follow the Lord? In the book of Mark, the Bible said Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him. Sometimes a man, he separates. Some people have to be around people all the time. They gotta have something going on. As we said earlier, it's gotta be something going on. We gotta go here, we got this going on. And I realize there's a lot going on at this church, and there's a lot of ministry outreach, and you can get so busy, amen, that there's times that Jesus said, all right, it's time out, you need to withdraw yourself, and we need to sit down and get some things put back in order. Follow him in his direction. Do you follow him? Follow him in his dwelling. Follow him in his direction. Then I thought about this, and I used this word. Maybe it's not the right word to use, but that's what I'm going to use. Not only do the disciples, or did the disciples follow him to his dwelling, follow him in his direction, they followed him in his duty. What I mean by that is the will of God. Do you know anything about the will of God for your life? Do you know anything about the will of God for your life? Now, when we talk about the will of God, a lot of people talk about New England, or Brazil, or Mexico, or some outreach, whatever, and that's fine if that's the will of God, But the will of God, if you remember what Brother Tooley just said to us, the first words out of his mouth revolved around the Concord Missionary Baptist Church. That sanctioned his ministry and sent him out. So it's gonna start here. Amen, are you satisfied with God's will? In Psalms 40, then said I, oh, I come in the volume of the book it is written to me. I delight to do thy will, oh God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. The light in his will. Are you delightful in the will of God? Now I'm gonna say something to you and you're gonna fuss about it, amen, in your mind. But if this morning I woke up, Brother Josh, And I went on Rutherford Road to the Pleasant View Baptist Church in Taylor, South Carolina, and I run The Sound today, and I taught the adult men's Sunday school class. I wouldn't be any more satisfied if I was there this morning than I am here this morning. And you'll say, oh yeah, you can say that, cause you're here. But I'm telling you, I was satisfied. in the will of God and my lot for life in the service of the Lord. You see, when the disciples, those that have yielded their life and their heart to the will of God, amen, they find satisfaction in the will of God. I have pastored people in 38 years that were never contented with where they were at and what they were doing for the Lord. That's why they were insufficient in what they were doing for the Lord. because they wanted to be this or they wanted to be doing this. The reason why they were not is because they couldn't find contentment and fulfillment and satisfaction where God had placed them to serve. Amen. Jesus said in John 5 in verse 30, I can of my own self do nothing as I hear I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. Do you seek the will of God? Did you even think about it this morning before you come to church? Lord, Lord, I want to go to church this morning. Lord, I want to know what your will is for my life. I mean, just simply in worship. What role you would have in this service today could be the last one you ever attend. Could have been the last hymn that you ever sang with the people of God this morning. You listening? been the last opportunity that you could have rejoiced and worshiped, amen, during the song service that's magnifying the Lord. Never crosses our mind. But I'm gonna tell you something this morning. It's very important that we understand something about the will of God. Following the Lord in the will of God, it's a serious matter. I guess the seriousness of it we could find in the book of Luke, verse 39 of chapter 22. Jesus came out and went as it was wont to the Mount of Olives, listen, and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them by the stones cast and kneeled down and prayed. saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. Being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly. And his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. When he rose up from prayer and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow. And said unto them, why sleep ye? Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. And while he yet spake, behold, a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the 12, went before them and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. You see, following the Lord and the will of God's a very serious matter. It's flippant in this generation. Don't mean a whole lot. But if you're gonna follow the Lord, amen, the will of God's gotta be serious to you. He goes into the garden and he's about to take on the sin of the entire world and he is in agony. And as he prays, his sweat becomes as great drops of blood fall into the ground. And he says, Lord, if this cup could pass. But he's interested in the will of his father. My question this morning is, are you that interested in the will of God and following Him? What do you want in life? What do you want in life? Got it figured out in your mind? What you'd like to be doing right now? So what if all that you want in life is completely rearranged in a different direction because of God's will? Are you ready? Are you ready to say, not my will, but thine be done? Following him as a disciple means you follow him in his duty. Disciples follow him to his dwelling. They follow him in the direction that he leads. They follow him in the duty as he fulfills the will of God. And so much more could be said. They follow him when he is denied. You see, he was in the world and the world was made by him. Yet the world knew him not. He came into his own and his own received him not. Are you ready to follow him? You listening? Everything about the Lord, you're willing to follow him when he's denied. And then are you willing to follow him in what he denies himself of? He denied his flesh. You read the temptation in the gospels. I'll not take time to read them. But everything that the Lord, amen, had came to this earth to see happen, the devil offered him in a moment of time. But he denied his flesh. In John's gospel chapter four, he hasn't eaten. They went to get meat and Jesus, the disciples came to him and hath any man brought him out to eat? They thought because he's not eating. Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Say not ye there yet for much, and then cometh harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. You're gonna follow him when it means you gotta deny your flesh. We're living in a flesh-driven world. When I say flesh, I'm not talking about drugs and drunkenness and fornication and adultery. I'm just talking about living in a convenient, comfortable world where you get everything you want at the snap of your fingers. Everything you want, this world we're living in knows nothing about what it means to deny their flesh. Amen. Brother Tripp preached about the feelings of the Lord Jesus. He could be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Are you gonna follow him, amen, as he denies his flesh? Are you gonna follow him as he denies his feelings? Have you ever got that close enough in walking with the Lord as a disciple? When you simply just denied how you felt? Amen, to fulfill, amen, the path in which the Lord Jesus, amen, has walked and you desire to be like him? We're governed by our feelings. We're regulated by our flesh. Are you listening? The devil offered him the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. He said, I'll give you it all if you'll just bow down and worship me. You ready to deny your flesh? Deny your feelings? Deny your future that maybe you have mapped out? I had no aspirations, no desire, no knowledge in my mind of even the thought of the commonwealth of Kentucky. But it was God's will for my life. Me and my wife were building a house right across the road from our pastor. We never moved a stick of furniture in it. In fact, when we packed the U-Haul up in the truck to move to Kentucky, Brother Joe was putting in the carpet of that house so we could sell it. Designed it just to suit what we wanted. I'm not saying we sacrificed anything because we haven't in reference to what Christ has done for us. We didn't even wrestle with that, at least I didn't. It wasn't even something I even thought about at all as man, we're going to have to leave this house, we're not going, and I don't know that my wife did, at least in 38 years of being here, she has never said one word to me that I recollect at all, then nor now, about that house and not being able to move in it. and we're nothing. But I'm just asking you, where is the generation of people that just simply followed the Lord? We were able to get a house and I felt guilty. And maybe it was good for me because we had a storefront building and we didn't have a church building, but I had a house to live in. And I thought, you know, what am I doing with a house? when I came here to start a church. And God honored all those things and I understand that, but I'm glad I felt that way. Denied a future. I don't know how many, I think this name just popped in my mind, he's home with the Lord right now. My brother Bob Garrett was an engineer of sorts. I don't know if it was electrical or something, but I remember him going to college and graduating graduating with an engineering degree of some sort, but God sent him to the mission field. Do you realize how many people that have served the Lord through the years that could have been very successful in life in a carnal manner, but they laid that aside just to simply follow the Lord. So what are you saying, preacher? I'm just saying, are you just one of them Christians? Or are you a disciple? And because you follow the Lord, people would say, he's a Christian. Boy, if we could get back there. It transformed the world we live in. Lastly, you follow him, follow him to his dwelling. How important is the church to you? Respect, the reverence. You need to teach your children that this is God's house. I call them down, run, I know kids are kids and we got a bunch of them and I thank God for it. But they need to have respect for the things of God and the house of God. Amen. Amen. Follow his directions. willing to go where he leads. Sometimes it might be a storm. You can go through the scripture in every place, his disciples follow him, mount a transfiguration, follow him, amen. Amen to his glory, there's so much other things it could be dealt with, I'm just trying to get you to understand that disciples, disciples follow the Lord. Lastly, in Mark chapter eight and verse 34, The Bible said, and when he, speaking of Jesus, had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, follow me. You follow him? You willing to follow him to his death? Paul said, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God that loved me and gave himself for me. Paul's saying, I've died with him. I've followed him. I'm bearing a cross. Paul said, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, doth no more death, hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Then he said, likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Have you died with him? You see, disciples follow him. They follow him to the cross where you die to sin. You dead to sin this morning? Or has it prevailed in your life all last week? You came this morning to the house of God with a corrupt mind. and a filthy heart because of what you've seen and looked at and said and been involved in this week or do you die to sin? Die to sin. Die to self. Paul said, we then that are strong ought to bear the firmness of the weak, not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification, for even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. Christ died to self. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Do we have that kind of spirit toward those that offend us? Those that hurt us? Those that create problems in our life. Are you listening? Died to society, came into his own, his own received him not. He died. But he died to live a resurrected life. The question is, have you ever died with him? Followed him to Calvary. Are you bearing a cross? Did you come in here with a cross? Will you go to work in the morning with a cross, bearing a cross, signifying that you are dead to this world, you are dead to the things of this world. They have no pull and they have no influence in your life. My simple point this morning is, are you a disciple? or just one of those Christians that we have tagged in this generation. You see, Christians, Christians were not called disciples. That's where we're at, right? We get them Christianized and then we try to make disciples out of them. But that's backwards from what the work of grace and the power of the gospel does in the life of an individual. And I'm not shortchanging growth. I'm not shortchanging a progressive work of God and increasing in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm just telling you, there is an initial work that does a work in the heart, amen, of the sinner that causes him to hear his voice. and follow him. Just assess your relationship with the house of God. You boys just come here because you got friends here? You couples just come here because it's just a way of life? Or does this place mean anything to you? Now we're building a new building, and what we do with this part of the facility, maybe we've said formal dinings, recitals for our children that are taking lessons, whatever the case may be, and all that this represents in days ahead will be transformed or transferred to that facility out there. But right now, this is where the body of Christ gathers. What does it mean to us? If Jesus was here this morning, I promise you, it would take on an altogether different place in our heart and mind. But he is here. Just not in your mind. Disciples are called Christians. Which are you? Years and years ago, I was at camp meeting at Pleasant View, and Brother Albert Hardin was preaching, and I said this before here in this church. I wrote it in a Bible back years ago, probably the Bible that I used when I started the church here. It's written somewhere in the fly leaf. He may have read this verse. In fact, I think this was the text that he used, And he said, are you a Christian? And he paused, didn't say a whole lot. Are you a Christian? Who's calling you one? If you're gonna be a Christian and called by that name by the world around you, you're gonna have to be a disciple first. Because you see, disciples are called Christians. Follow Jesus. Young man, follow Jesus. You boys listen to me? Follow Christ. You young ladies, follow Jesus. Now I realize Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. I understand that. You have examples that's set before you. Nothing wrong with that. but make a priority of who he is, the example he set, and follow him. Follow him to his dwelling. Make church a priority. Our life, you can ask my wife and my children, before we came to this area and started this church, our life revolved around the ministry of Pleasant View Baptist Church. When something was going on at the Pleasant View Baptist Church, our schedule revolved around that. We stopped, halted, or put aside any plans we had that interfered with the events of the house of God. That's just what we did. Whether it was work or whatever. Amen. Follow him to his dwelling, you won't regret it. Let's stand to our feet. We won't sing this morning, Brother Travis, just maybe play follow him, follow him.