Themes
Discipleship • Hostility • Persecution • Devotion • Belonging • Friendship with Jesus • Life • Light • Peace • Joy • Fruitfulness • Obedience • Perseverance • Identity • Transformation • Reordered desires • Detachment from idols • Resistance to cultural pressure • Truth • Freedom from sin • Salvation • Resurrection • Protection • Honor • Hlory • Unity • Answered prayer • Endurance • Trust • Loyalty • love
Perhaps our unwavering commitment to Jesus yields benefits that far surpass all the combined privileges we’d receive from pursuing our professions —and YouTube.
Scripture reading
John 1:7,12 John 10:10 John 12:46 John 14:21,23, 27 John 15:8,11,14 John 16:1 John 6:66–68
This call to worship1 is from the Gospel of John. About Jesus, John wrote the following:
He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through Him all might believe. To all who did receive Him— to those who believed in His name— He gave the right to become children of God. John also records for us many profound things that Jesus said. Jesus said: I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I, too, will love them and show Myself to them. And We will come to them and make Our home with them. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. My joy will be in you and your joy will be complete. You are My friends. All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. And finally, Jesus said: This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples. And elsewhere in John’s gospel, we read: Many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him. So Jesus asked the Twelve, “You do not want to leave, too, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Prayer
Father in heaven, You have invited us to follow Jesus. And Your invite comes with the understanding that there will be hostility. There will be persecution. So why have we followed Him? Why would we continue to follow Him? Maybe because of the glorious rewards that You extend to us when we do. Maybe our continuous commitment to Jesus brings benefits that far outweigh all the combined privileges we’d receive from following our professions, following our careers, following social media influencers, following podcasters, following our political leaders, following fashion, following all the directives we read on billboards and on Facebook and YouTube. You have shown us that discipleship with Jesus places us in Your divine family. Discipleship with Jesus keeps us in an abiding relationship with You and with the Son through the Spirit. It gives us life. It keeps us in the light. Discipleship with Jesus designates us as royal friends of Jesus. And just maybe, these benefits make every other benefit— from every other thing that could possibly lead us— pale in comparison. Father, our devotion to Jesus, our discipleship with Him— a devotion that’s not even enabled or sustained by our own strength, but by power You give us from Your Spirit— our discipleship with Him intertwines us in a relationship with You and with Him, and we can’t help but continuously believe in Him, follow Him, give witness to Him, love Him, remain in Him. All of our behaviors are changed because of the existence of this personal attachment called discipleship that’s reshaping our entire life. We get to be in Your family. We get to be in a relationship with You. We get to be friends of Jesus. And from these, every other benefit flows: life itself, love, knowledge of You and of all truth, freedom from sin, light that we walk in, salvation, resurrection, protection, fruit and the performance of great works, honor, glory, unity, peace, joy, and even our requests answered. Father, why would we ever not be His disciples? To whom would we go? He has the words of eternal life. In the name of Jesus Christ, in Whom we abide, Whose words we receive, Whose teaching we remain in, Whose voice we hear, Whose commands we obey, Who we follow, Who we serve, Who we confess, Who is light, Who is life, Who is one with You, Father, Amen
Inspiring resources
A call to worship creates wonderment, amazement, curiosity, yearning, captivation, provocation, hopefulness, thankfulness, affection, rapture, delight. As these mix together, the response is worship.
If this call to worship leaves you wondering or curious or provoked or hopeful, consider diving into this awesome book.
This call to worship was given to the small assembly of Christians that gathered at Pathway Church, Beaverdam, Michigan, on Sunday, September 15, 2024.