The Gospel According to Matthew - Following Jesus [April 12, 2026]

Okay, so I got really excited about this idea

of the following component, and then Chris came

up and he said, Michael Jackson. I was like,

that's exactly what I was gonna say. Because

for me, the first thing I remember being a follower

of was Michael Jackson. So I am a 1970s kid,

which means my musical awareness really started

in the early 80s when I realized I could start

making my own musical choices about the radio

stations. And Thriller had come out in 1983.

And I watched the premiere of the Thriller video.

And it absolutely terrified me and made it so

that I slept with covers right over my head for

years. But I mean, it was an amazing video. Can

we all agree if you saw it when it came out?

So Michael Jackson was the thing in every, every

single way. Seeing me try to figure out the moonwalk

was a sad story. but also I can laugh at it now.

I did never forget or figure it out. So yes,

for me the things that I have followed most through

the years have been like musical things. So Michael

Jackson for sure. Also in 1983 was the peak of

the band The Police. Thank you. And so that...

had my full attention, that's when Synchronicity

came out. And then from there, once Sting went

rogue, we are not breaking up, you totally broke

up. I followed Sting for the next... that hasn't

stopped. So, I've seen him. A lot. Like, I've

probably seen him 12 times. So I, like, feel

like I literally am following him across, like,

the country and the globe and being like, I actually

don't know how I've not met him at this point.

I have to tell you, that's where my delusion

stands on this. I can't believe I haven't met

him, and I cannot believe we have not sung together

message in a bottle. Do you understand me? This

is where following can take you from sometimes

if you let it really run the gamut of, like...

almost 50 years. I do love following global politics.

I obviously spend, I mean, if you know me, you

know that I work globally a number of times throughout

the year. So following global politics isn't

just like fascination for me, although it is

part that, but it is also awareness. Like I go

to places in the world where like what is happening

geopolitically impacts the people that I work

with and the work that I do. And so I'm fascinated

with the global the global enmeshment that we

all have, and so that's something that I follow

a lot. But guys, in the last 12 days now, what

did we follow? Artemis! That was amazing. Who

did follow that journey? Space nerds, where are

you? Right? It was the most incredible, beautiful,

inspirational stuff I have seen in a long time.

Not just the pictures that they sent, but the

people that were on that mission were incredible

people and doing something incredible together.

It was the most... If you were following Carol,

anybody? The Carol bit? Like one of them? They

got to name, thank you, a crater on the moon

after one of the crewmates late wife. I say one

of the crewmates. It sounds like one of his late

wives. After the, Reed's late wife, Carol. And

the crew got emotional. I'm watching it. Hearing

Houston say, copy that, Carol. Like, all of it

was so gorgeous. And her legacy will now live

forever in this named moon crater. So. Following

things can do something so incredible to us,

right? Like it brings us, it ties us together

in these really unique ways. And following something

brings people together that you might not have

expected you to align with, right? Like you might

be like, you and I, I didn't see it, but we are

here and we collectively are facing this together

and we love this. And so of course, when we're

talking about following something, obviously

I'm going to move towards following Jesus. We're

at a church, right? This is obviously where I'm

going. I'm not setting this up to tell you at

the end of the message, and did you know? Of

course we knew. But there's something so incredible

about following things. And this is a part of

the following with the church, right? You stand

side by side with others that you probably didn't

expect to find yourself side by side with. facing

the same direction, moving in the same direction

together, unified over this thing. In our case,

unified by this person. So yeah, with this. With

this idea of following, we're going to be looking

at, you know, we're in the book of Matthew for

this series. And so we're going to be looking

at the calling of the first disciples. Not all

of them. That would be a long message, which

I am known for. But we're just going to look

at the first four disciples that were called.

So we're not ready to go there yet, but we will

be in Matthew 4 if you want to get that ready.

There are Bibles on your table. You can pull

up Matthew 4 on your phone as well. But I am

going to give you some context. So we're in the

book of Matthew. We're going to be looking at

the calling of Jesus' first disciples. But brief

context, because chapter 4 in Matthew, that's

not very far along. And so the first two chapters

of Matthew are the Christmas story. It's the

families fleeing of Mary and Joseph and Jesus

to Egypt, and then a return. In chapter three,

though, so that's chapters one and two, spend

two chapters on that and then they make a big

jump, make a big jump ahead in chapter three,

where we go right to John the Baptist doing what

John the Baptist does. He baptizes. We know that

John the Baptist is Jesus' cousin. So we find

him in chapter four, he's baptizing people, excuse

me, chapter three, baptizing people. And John's

message is calling them to repentance. He calls

people to repentance, and he's spitting out wild

things like, you brood of vipers to the Pharisees.

He's kind of really all for it. He really goes

hard. So in this account, John, Jesus, so actually,

in the account, in the book of John, excuse me,

we're going to kind of be back and forth with

a few Johns, Jesus meets some of, John the Baptist's

own disciples, because John the Baptist also

had disciples. He was a teacher of a kind, and

he had followers. And so they are also preaching

this same message of repentance. And so Jesus

asks to be baptized. And then from there, he

heads into the wilderness, where he is tested

for a period of 40 days, where he is put under

a number of tests. But when he comes back, he

finds out that John the Baptist has been arrested.

John said some things that the political leaders

didn't care for, and they just decided to take

him in. So I'm gonna start with, this is not

our passage, but I'm setting it up by just reading

to you Matthew 412. And so it says, when Jesus

heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew

to Galilee, leaving Nazareth, and he went and

he lived in. Capernaum so from that time on Jesus

began to preach so we're seeing here the start

of Jesus's preaching ministry And so from that

time on Jesus began to preach repent which we've

heard before From the kingdom of for the kingdom

of God for the kingdom of heaven has come near

so he's effectively taking up John's message

Taking up John's mantle And so this does lead

us to the passage that we are in today Again,

I invite you to take a posture of response. At

the house, we often do that by standing, if you

are able to do that. However we respond, let's

give our full attention to the scriptures. This

is Matthew 4, 18 through 22. I'm reading from

the New Revised Standard Version, the updated

version. It says, as he walked by the Sea of

Galilee, he is Jesus. As he walked by the Sea

of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who's

called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting

a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And

he said to them, follow me and I will make you

fishers of people. And immediately, they left

their nets and followed him, and he went from

there. He saw two other brothers, James, son

of Zebedee, and his brother John, in the boat

with their father Zebedee. Mending their nets

and he called them and immediately they left

the boat and their father and followed him Let's

pray Jesus today as we read the stories and the

accounts of the calling of your first Followers

as it as it is This is the lineage we are attached

to these first followers Shared your message

and then There became more followers and more

followers. And we get to be here 2 ,000 years

later, followers of you, because of these four

people that followed you. And that is an incredible

thing to think about. We're so grateful. We're

so grateful for those that came before us. And

so as we talk about this today, help us be mindful

of what it means to follow you, what that looks

like for each of us, and how we see that in our

own lives. I pray this in your name. Amen. So

whether people are church people or not, Jesus

and his disciples are a known entity. That's

not something that most people are like, oh,

I don't know about that. Most people in the world

have seen, many people in the world have seen.

The Last Supper and Renaissance art alone will

tell you about this guy and his band of followers.

We have certainly mythologized them to a pretty

significant degree because we are far removed

from them and there's so much content when it

comes to Jesus and the disciples. Like I said,

Renaissance art alone had a very, very hard hold

on the narratives of the Bible. But certainly

songs and art and retellings and retellings of

Bible stories. And if you grew up in Sunday school,

like you would have heard about so many stories

about Jesus and his followers. It is easy to

have so much of that between us and these scriptures

informing us. That I think it's very easy to

treat these early followers of Jesus as something

extra human. almost as like magical and mystical.

And that Jesus was this unknown entity and he

showed up and he said, follow me. He just dropped

everything like zombies and walked away. The

account is that simple and so we keep it that

simple and therefore we forget that these are

human beings. That we're doing very human things.

And it's hard to remember that stuff. So we've

definitely sanitized the story, forgetting how

human it was and how even relatively small the

world was in these towns and how interconnected

things were. And so Matthew here is giving us

a bit of an origin story, like a clear starting

point. And though it's very likely that Jesus

knew each of these folks prior to this moment,

actually what we get here is the moment that

they chose to respond to and follow Jesus. So

Simon, who we come to know as Peter later on,

his brother Andrew, James, and his brother John.

These are four people that would become. incredibly

key participants in the story of Jesus here on

earth and in the establishment of the church.

And of course, we know their story is on this

side of things. And I would say at the time that

this gospel was circulated, so did those hearing

it. They also had the later version because they

had, by that point, they knew Peter as a significant

church leader. John had become effectively Mary,

the mother of Jesus, he had become her son as

Jesus, at the foot of the cross, handed her over

to him to be cared for. Andrew became a church

leader to the northern Greek cities of Byzantium

and James's missionary work was said to have

gone as far as Spain. So if anybody's heard of

the Communio de Santiago, Daryl has walked it.

Friends of mine and I have walked it. The community

of Santiago is known as the Way of St. James

because the cathedral in Santiago allegedly has

the bones of this James here. But did Matthew's

contemporaries in the time of his writing know

their origins? So just like today when you hear

someone younger talk about something you grew

up with, you hear them talking about it like

they just discovered it. Like it never existed

before in the world. A while ago, there was a

reel going around of a girl saying, we need a

phone. We need a phone, but it stays at home.

And it only stays at home, but it's for everyone.

And then this guy stitches in. He goes, oh, gosh.

Oh, gosh. What year is it? She's talking about

a landline. Yes, what a great idea. We should

have a phone that stays. I can't believe we haven't

thought about that. Or you get the like, were

you around when? And then they tell you something

about something that happened in your high school

years. So Matthew is like, we need to go to school

because I need you to sit down, dear readers.

There's some stuff you don't know. And we gotta

get this stuff to you. So we're gonna do some

construction today and piece together some stories

of these friends and followers of Jesus. So back

to the verse, it says, as he walked by the sea

of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is

called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting

a net into the sea, for they were fishers. So

in this account, we meet Simon Peter first. This

is one of those moments where you can imagine

the kids later on saying, did you know that Peter

used to be called Simon? And then everybody's

like, we knew. We all knew. So it's like that.

However, in the collective gospels, we actually

meet Andrew first in the account of Jesus' baptism

in the book of John. In the first chapter we

read at verse 29, the next day, John the Baptist

saw Jesus coming towards him and said, look,

the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the

world. And then John the Baptist gave this testimony.

I saw the spirit come down from heaven as a dove

and remain on him. And I myself did not know

him, but the one who sent me to baptize with

water told me. The man on whom you see the Spirit

come down and remain is the one who will baptize

with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and I testify

that this is God's chosen one." So John's testimony

here is key. John the Baptist's testimony here

is really important. Goes on to saying that verse

35, the next day John was there again with two

of his disciples. And when he saw Jesus passing

by, he said, look, the Lamb of God. Y 'all pay

attention. I'm telling you, this is him. You've

all been looking. Because if you are Jewish,

you are looking for the Messiah. This is it.

So when the two disciples heard him say this,

they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw

them following and asked, what do you want? That's

my interpretation. It could be very like, what

do you want? What do you want? What do you want?

They said, Rabbi, which means teacher, where

are you staying? He said, come, you'll see. So

they went and saw where he was staying, and they

spent the day with him. Andrew, Simon Peter's

brother, was one of the two who heard what John

had said who had followed Jesus, and who had

followed Jesus. So we meet Andrew, who has already

now met Jesus. and has spent some time with him.

After this meeting, the first thing Andrew did

was to find his brother, Simon, not yet Peter,

and tell him, we have found the Messiah. And

Andrew, he brought Simon to Jesus. So the day

when Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee that

we see in Matthew 4, and he comes upon the brothers,

this is not a weirdo story of a stranger coming

up. and being like, hey, get in my van. Andrew

had already spent a small bit of time with Jesus.

So when Jesus says, follow me, Andrew had the

full testimony and witness of his own beloved

teacher giving credence to this Jesus. In scripture,

broadly, Andrew is not spoken about much. We

don't get a ton of his story, but let us say

here. that we do not have Peter, three time denier

of Christ and the eventual rock on which Jesus

says he builds his church. We do not have Peter

without his brother Andrew. And without Andrew

and his trusted word, Peter does not follow Jesus.

On to Peter. We know Pete. cutting off years

of soldiers, denying Jesus three times, first

leader of the church, known for his impulsive,

passionate personality. He was named the Rock

by Jesus. Peter was often the spokesperson for

the 12 apostles, known for being outspoken, enthusiastic,

impulsive, sometimes brash. He was the first.

He was the first one to truly recognize among

them Jesus as the Messiah. Matthew 16, 13 says,

Jesus came into the country of Caesarea Philippi.

He asked his followers, who do people say that

I am, the son of man? He's like, what are you

hearing? And so the disciples said, some say

you are John the Baptist, and some say Elijah,

and others say Jeremiah. one of the early preachers,

and he says to them, he points the question at

them, who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter,

because his brother told him, his brother followed

John, and as John's witness, I think Peter is

ready to say, you are the Christ, you are the

son of the living God. Jesus said to him, Simon,

son of Jonah, you are happy because you did not

learn this from man my father in heaven has shown

this to you. And I tell you that you are Peter.

This is where Jesus names him. On this rock,

I will build my church. If it's not clear, Petra

means rock. The powers of hell will not be able

to have power over my church. And I will give

you the keys of the holy nation of heaven. Whatever

you do not allow on earth will not be allowed

in heaven. Whatever you allow on earth will be

allowed in heaven. Then, with strong words, he

told his followers to tell no one that he was

the Christ. I just revealed big stuff. What are

we going to do? Do you guys ever, like, for those

of you who follow the Avengers Marvel stuff,

like, there's the whole thing about don't tell

Tom Holland the end of a movie because he will

inadvertently spill it on live TV. Don't tell

Tom Holland that Jesus is the Christ before it's

time to let people know publicly. I mean, I can

imagine this moment being one of those like,

you know those like, the little features like,

you may be wondering how I got here. This is

like Peter being like later on like, how did

I get, how did I, I just got handed, did you

just hand me the keys of heaven? I don't, what

do I do with those? What, I don't understand

what just happened. I don't know that I'm ready.

And so Peter, who needed his brothers leading

to get him here, became one of the most prominent

leaders in the early church, arguably the most

prominent leader. So next we come to James and

John, known as the Sons of Thunder. who wanted

to call down, they're called that, because they

wanted to call down fire on a Samaritan town

when the people there did not welcome Jesus and

the disciples. But they were rebuked, so Jesus

rebuked them. He took care of it. He was like,

do you want us to call down fire from heaven?

Because they didn't say, welcome in. So James,

they have a whole thing going for them. But James

and John, son of Zebedee, their father. They're

all fishermen and due to the proximity of the

boats in the sea with Andrew and Simon It is

actually believed that this was a group like

in business with each other that these were connected

Fishing like a fishing industry And so these

four these four that were called were likely

already friends if not just business partners

So James, John, and their dad, Zebedee, were

likely partners with Andrew and Peter's family.

Not them, but we also potentially know something

about their mother. Church tradition, as well

as biblical scholarship. There's been a lot of

talk about this with a lot of biblical study.

We know of a woman named Salome. It was a common

name, but Salome was Zebedee's wife. therefore

their mother, and it is believed by some that

she is actually the sister of Mary, mother of

Jesus. There's a lot of times where Salome is

there with Mary in situations that would be appropriate

that this is a sister relationship. So if in

fact this lineage plays out as scholarship holds,

James and John are also Jesus' cousins. So to

that note if they are indeed cousins hearing

Jesus call them sons of thunder is more like

a oh gosh you sons of thunder You know like it's

one of those like a brotherly a brotherly sort

of rebuke a knowing you dudes are like bulls

in a china shop and So here we have James and

John and they were also quite likely not just

random strangers getting in the van as well So

what we are beginning to see is that Jesus, understanding

that it was perhaps time to step up into the

gap left by his now imprisoned cousin, knowing

that John was really leaving a vacancy, he went

to those he knew were without a teacher and he

had already built some trust with. So those he

knew John had already had trust with as well.

So he reached out to them and began his circle

of disciples with them. As an aside, later in

the story of Jesus when on the cross he looks

down at his mother and sees next to her John,

it makes some great sense as to why he would

say to him and his mother, When Jesus saw his

mother there and the disciple whom he loved standing

nearby, he said to her, woman, here is your son.

And to the disciple, here is your mother. From

that time on, this disciple took her into his

home. And it's quite possible that he's saying,

she's your aunt, but she's now your mother. And

you are to take care of her. And so in partnership,

this group of four, and sometimes three out of

four of them emphasized, formed this informal

circle of trust among the 12 disciples. Jesus

allowed them to be the only apostles present

at three particular occasions during his public

ministry, the raising of Jairus' daughter, the

transfiguration of Jesus, and Jesus' agony in

the Garden of Gethsemane. James and John, and

in another tradition, also their mother, asked

Jesus to grant them seats on his right and left

in glory, which is not as wild of an ask and

not as random of an ask if it is, in fact, an

aunt asking about this for her sons, his cousins.

They should have this place. They are your family.

Wouldn't that be the right thing to do? About

the group Jesus sent only Peter and John into

the city to make preparations for the final Passover

meal John together with Peter took a prominent

part in the founding and guidance of the church

eventually He was with Peter at the healing of

the lame man at Solomon's porch in the temple

and he was also thrown into prison with Peter

Later only Peter and John went to visit the newly

converted believers in Samaria Remember when

John wanted to bring down fire on a Samaritan

town Is John the right choice? While he remained

in Judea and surrounding area, the other disciples

returned to Jerusalem for the apostolic council.

This is in 48 to 50 AD. Paul, in opposing his

enemies in Galatia, explicitly recalled that

John, along with Peter and James, the just, were

collectively recognized as the three pillars

of the church. So this is an origin story. with

a through line. Because these are the things

that the hearers of and the readers of this passage

would know about these guys now, but may not

know the starting point. So it's easy to forget,

especially when we know of their accomplishments

later on, that these are real people. Humanizing

them is not just helpful, but it reminds us that

we are disciples and followers also in the same

lineage. So Andrew and Simon Peter followed Jesus

because they believed he was the promised Messiah,

a conviction driven by their previous discipleship

under John the Baptist and witnessing Jesus'

authority. Andrew was immediately convinced,

subsequently bringing his brother Simon to Jesus,

who then recognized Jesus' authority and potential

to transform their lives from fishermen into

leaders. John and James may have followed because

Andrew and Peter did and they trusted them So

I think it's important that Jesus started with

these men Because John the Baptist had not just

paved the way in his pronouncement of Jesus's

identity, but he helped to pave the way in these

men's lives He was setting Jesus up for them

to follow so that when their teacher was taken

from them and a vacuum was left, Jesus was able

to extend the invitation to instead follow him

with a message they already knew, but being the

one who could then take it to its fullest expression.

Truthfully, I think the setting of this narrative

and the setup is incredible. And truly, I have

no grand revelation of a spiritual nature to

this message. You know, sometimes, like, messages,

you expect them to have this, like, spiritual,

reflective moment. We don't have a spiritual

truth bomb. But the point in telling these stories

today, in the remembering, I hope, unveiled mythology

has moved, has fallen away. That we have entered

into a very human... story and seeing humans

engaging with each other at a human level. Because

the Bible is a big collection of stories, many

of which feel hard to access sometimes, and it's

often because we are asking it to impart deep

spiritual wisdom every time we open its pages

or its app or its audiobook, however you ingest

it. And of course, it does that. God speaks to

us through the words that are held in this anthology.

But if that's what we're always expecting of

it, that can also often be a lot for us and can

make the Bible overwhelming for us to the point

that we're like, I just not today. But if the

book also gives us access to the vast and varied

stories of people through time, that have also,

just like us, sought to know and connect with

God, then what we will find is a deeply accessible

book full of hope for our own, as A .W. Tozer

says, pursuit of God. And so today, the story

is of these four and how they came to follow

Jesus and become deeply integrated into Jesus'

life. It makes me think of my own following of

Jesus. The book of Matthew was probably written

somewhere between 75 to 90 AD, at least five

to 10 years after Mark's gospel, which we have

said is the first one dated to be written. And

Matthew and Luke for sure were likely, I say

for sure, most likely were based on Mark. It

was written. Matthew was written to Jews to emphasize

that Jesus was the promised Messiah that they

had been looking for. But at the writing of this

book, nearly all of the people he's writing about

here in this passage would have likely have been

killed by this time. Peter died a martyr in Rome

during Nero's reign in the late 60s, notoriously,

notoriously violent. His brother Andrew also

martyred on the known date of November 30th AD.

That is an historic record. Also during Nero's

reign. James was beheaded by Herod Agrippa in

44 AD. John would have been the one to have still

been alive at this time, believed to have died

in Ephesus where he took Mary after a lot of

the Christians left Jerusalem. He moved there

with Mary and it is believed That's where they

both that's where their lives finished if you

go to Ephesus there is a Alleged location of

Mary's house and the the first church that was

established there was the church of in Mary's

name So these stories as Matthew wrote them would

have been stories for encouragement but also

stories of remembrance. Do not give up the cause.

Do not fade. And though it may take you to the

fullest extent where your life may even be taken,

those who already have been gave up their lives

because of Jesus. Don't lose heart. And so reading

through these narratives, I'm reminded myself

of when I first chose to follow, when I knew

the invitation was directed at me to participate

in God's love and goodness, and that not only

was I invited, but I was also meant to generously

extend the invitation to others, extending it

so that they would know that God's love, joy,

freedom, forgiveness, fullness of life were also

extended to them. Jesus said to the group on

the water that day, I will make you fishers of

men, because he was clever and they were fishing

and it made sense right then. But in looking

at his ministry, Jesus continued to tell people

about the kingdom of God and that it was made

open and available for them too. The church is

founded on Christ, but it is linked together

in time through its followers, through Christ's

followers. I became a follower when I was 14.

It was preceded by faithful followers that I

knew following Jesus. And I am overwhelmed quite

often when I think of the history of the church

and those who did follow in times of safety and

in times of danger. I have been to ancient cities

and landscapes where the early church lived and

served each other. A few years ago, a friend

of mine and I went to the site of Laodicea. It

is an excavated, reconstructed site. There is

a first century Byzantine church there that rose

up in the city. And she and I both got quite

emotional standing in front of the baptismal

that's in the floor. Those who were baptized

and understood. that the call of Jesus to follow

him was of no small consequence. And they took

steps to declare openly that they were followers

of Christ. And they are undoubtedly the reason

I am a believer today. The reason I have the

life I have, the reason I have the local and

global community I have, the reason I get to

know Jesus is such a gift I'm so grateful. And

because of their faithful following of Jesus,

I get to be here today as a follower. I have

now followed Jesus for 36 years as my full human

flawed trying my best most days self. I hope,

I believe others have found their way to Jesus

because I have followed Jesus. I also know I

have been a deterrent and that others have not

experienced invitation. from me, and that is

also sobering, that I have been a wall more than

a door to the goodness of God a fair number of

times in my life too. But taking the veneer off

the people in the Bible, seeing them as people

I think is an encouragement to me, because they

were also flawed, and they were also complicated

and messy. They were not sanitized in any way.

These accounts that we have are simple because

of an economy of materials and, you know, in

a time where papyrus was a little hard to come

by and writing materials and those sorts of things.

So we have a bit of an economy of words. But

we have to recognize that the story is there.

The story of the humans are there when we synthesize

it all together. So taking that veneer off is

incredibly helpful, but it also helps me understand

Jesus more. He was not this stiff figure walking

around. Come, follow me. Come, follow me. Get

in my van. It also helps me understand seeing

Jesus through these people. Some of them friends,

some of them family. It helps me see him as they

did, and it also helps me understand, like, Who

were you with this group of people around you

when you invited Andrew to come hang out with

you for the day, just off the cuff? Well, come

see where I'm staying. Come hang out. It's not

time yet. Don't tell anybody, but I'm letting

you guys know I am Jesus. I am the Messiah. What?

But keep it under wraps. It helps me see him

as they did and helps me understand more why

when faced with the physical person not just

the spiritual idea They followed him This helps

me in my walk as well So today with this in mind

We're given an opportunity to you know, we say

when we do baptisms here if you've already been

baptized remember your baptism If you've been

baptized before, you don't need to be re -baptized.

Just remember your baptism. And today is a great

opportunity to remember your calling to follow

wherever you are in that journey, whatever that

looks like. You may have been a follower your

whole life, and that has looked a lot of different

ways throughout your lifetime. You may just be

new at this and figuring out a lot of things.

You may not be there at all yet, but intrigued

by this story. All of that though, we're all

facing the same direction in here. We're all

looking to Jesus, trying to know more. And I'm

encouraged by that. And so let our following

also encourage others along. Let our following

be alongside of others. And let us remember our

following. Let us remember our call to follow

Christ as he's given us the invitation. And also

help us remember that we are called to extend

that generously wherever we are in our journey

too to others as well.