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Amen. Well, uh, we're in a summer teaching series called Disciple, where we're looking through the scriptures at what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. We made some new disciple merch. Uh, there's some shirts available back at the connect table. A bunch of y'all bought them last week. If you didn't get one, there's still a few left at the connect table. Grab a new shirt on your way out. And I'm really excited this morning. We're gonna start unpacking what would arguably be one of the most important passages in all of the scripture. It's what no, it's what's known as the Great Commission. And the reason it's called the Great Commission is because these are Jesus' final words to his disciples after his resurrection, before he send uh ascended back to the throne in heaven. And if you've ever had the privilege of being with somebody in their last moments, maybe in a hospital room or on hospice, I'm sure you can remember the last words that that person shared with you, a special moment where somebody shared their final words with you. Those words, even right now, you can probably recall them, and they'll probably stick with you for the rest of your life. And so Jesus here is reminding his disciples of the one thing he didn't want them to forget as they were about to continue to move and advance his ministry and mission forward before he ascended into heaven. These are the final words Jesus shared with his disciples, and I think that they're important for us to look at this morning. So would you look down at Matthew chapter 28, starting in verse 16? It says, Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them, and they saw him and they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Now, as we jump into the Great Commission, which by the way, we're going to be unpacking for the next um three weeks or so, because there's a lot here. I need to start with addressing the problem in this passage. And the problem in this passage is simply this that most people, when they teach this, they jump straight to verse 19. They jump straight into go therefore and make disciples of all nations, and they skip completely over the context of what comes just before this, which is equally important. I want you to notice the passage doesn't start with, go and make disciples of all nations. The passage starts in verse 16 saying, Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee. The question is, why does Matthew waste the ink to say that there were now only eleven disciples? If you've read through the Gospels and specifically Matthew's account, you already know the story. We already know that Judas is no longer with them. We already know that Judas betrayed Jesus in the garden. But why now, before sharing the Great Commission, why now does Matthew again bring up that now there were only 11 disciples? And the reason Matthew brings that up, and the reason that's important for us today is this. We don't start with, go therefore and make disciples. We have to start with a question which Judas, no longer being with them, begs us to ask, which is, Am I a disciple? Because the reality is before you make disciples, you must first be a disciple. And that is the whole idea of what Matthew is trying to communicate here by recalling the story of Judas. And the story of Judas is one, if you're if you're unaware, um, which began about three years previously, where Jesus just spent 40 days and 40 nights fasting in the wilderness. He came out of that time of fasting and prayer, and he chose 12 disciples. And I'm sure to Judas's surprise, he was one of them. Jesus saw Judas and he called Judas and he chose Judas and he said, I want you, Judas, to be my disciple. Aren't you amazed that Jesus has called you to be his disciple? Like Judas was amazed. I'm amazed too every day. I'm like, wow, can't believe Jesus has called me to be his disciple. It is amazing. And Judas's entire life changed from that moment forward. Of all the people on earth, Judas Iscariot was one of the 12 people who had this very close proximity, proximity and intimacy to Jesus. He was one of the most privileged humans ever to walk the face of the earth. Jesus loved Judas, Jesus served Judas, Jesus taught Judas, Jesus trained Judas, Jesus prayed for Judas. And even on one account, Jesus washed Judas's feet before he betrayed him. After three years of being with Jesus, the story goes that Judas showed up in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus knew the cross was before him and he was sweating great drops of blood. And Judas showed up in the garden, and for 30 pieces of silver, he betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Even in that moment when he was being betrayed, Jesus called him friend. He said, Friend, why have you come? Friend, do what you must do. Even in that moment, Jesus was giving Judas an opportunity to change, an opportunity to repent, an opportunity to not go through with the betrayal. But from that moment forward, after being betrayed by one of his own disciples, Jesus was taken to trial. Jesus was scourged, he was spit upon, he was mocked, he was beaten, and ultimately he was crucified after being betrayed by one of his closest friends. And so the story of Judas is a warning for, I believe, each one of us. And it is it in the story of Judas, we see that there is a call for us to examine our lives to see whether we are true disciples or not. Paul the Apostle invites us into this heart posture in 2 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 5. Paul the Apostle says, examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fail to meet the test? So I think the story of Judas for us is a call to do exactly this: to look at our lives and to examine ourselves and to say, Am I a true disciple of Christ or am I just a Judas? And so from the life of Judas, I think we see six primary principles of discipleship, of what it means to be a true disciple, that I want to share with you guys this morning. So if you're a note taker, six principles of discipleship. If you're not a note taker, you can take them in your phone, or you can try and memorize them up here, but I'm not really good at that. So I'd write these down if uh if you want to just meditate on these throughout the week. Six principles of discipleship we learn from the life of Judas. Number one is this it is possible for Jesus to choose right and yet us to choose wrong. Or to put that another way, divine sovereignty does not negate human responsibility. To be absolutely clear, Jesus chose Judas. Jesus called Judas and said, I want you to be my disciple. And in doing so, Jesus did not make the wrong choice. I'm sure some people would read the story and go, wait, he ended up betraying him? Didn't Jesus know that? Why did he choose him in the first place? Jesus did not make the wrong choice. Judas made the wrong choice in spite of what Jesus wanted for his life. We don't have a whole lot of details about Judas's life prior to following Jesus, but when Jesus saw him, he must have seen something in him that others didn't see. Jesus saw who he could become as he followed Jesus. Jesus saw his gifts and his talents. Jesus saw him and he wanted him to be a disciple. And that's ultimately the reason Jesus chose him. Jesus chose him because he wanted Judas to be his disciple. And that's the reason Jesus has chosen you. Jesus wants you to be his disciple. So Jesus chose Judas, but Judas chose riches over relationship. Jesus chose Judas, but Judas chose secrecy over intimacy. Jesus chose Judas, but Judas chose deception over discipleship. And in this, what we see is it is entirely possible for Jesus to want you more than you want Jesus. That was the case with Judas. Jesus wanted Judas more than Judas wanted Jesus. And that's true to some degree in all of our lives. Jesus wants us more than we want him. That's just the reality. Jesus loved, served, called, and chose Judas. And Judas, notice he responded to that call. When Jesus showed up and said, I want you, Judas, I am choosing you. I want you to be my disciple. Notice Judas responded. And Judas was following Jesus for three years. But here's the thing: being a disciple is not a one-time decision you make. Being a disciple is a daily decision you make, as Jesus said, to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. Yes, Judas was following Jesus, but he was not denying himself. Judas was not willing to take up his cross. Jesus was not, Judas was not willing to give up the desires of the flesh to continue to follow in the way of Jesus. And so what what what I know is this Jesus wants you. Jesus loves you. Jesus gave his life so that you could have a relationship with you. He made it possible for every person in the world to come and have a relationship with you. He has chosen and made it clear on the cross he has wanted you. He wants a relationship with you. The question is do you want that of him? Jesus has made it clear that what he wants for you is life, but are you continuing to choose death? Jesus has made it clear that what he wants for your life is freedom but are you continuing to choose and live in bondage? Jesus has made it clear that he wants you to be a disciple but are you choosing to remain distant at the end of the day Jesus has made it clear what his choice is that for God so loved the world that he gave his son that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have eternal life. He has chosen you but have you chosen to follow him so number one it is possible for Jesus to choose right but still possible for us to choose wrong. The second principle of discipleship we learn from the life of Judas is this sitting under good Bible teaching does not make you a true disciple. A true disciple believes and obeys the scriptures I'll say it again. Good Bible teaching and sitting under good Bible teaching that does not make one a disciple a true disciple believes and trusts and obeys the scriptures I want you to think about this for a moment. Can you think about and imagine the Bible teaching that Judas got for three years walking and living with Jesus every single day for three years how cool would it have been to be there in that moment Jesus makes a bonfire in the morning maybe they're roasting some fish that Peter and John went out of cod and and Jesus says hey come on in boys we're going to have a little morning Bible study. And he says turn to the book of Daniel and I'm going to tell you about the time when I showed up in the fire when Shadrach Meshach and Abednego were there. Whoa that that that'd be pretty cool to hear Jesus teach that story. We don't know exactly if he did or not but maybe we could assume or or that Jesus says hey boys come on in it's time for a Bible study. Open to Genesis chapter one I'm going to tell you about the time when I created the heavens and the earth whoa to hear that to hear Jesus talk about when he created the heaven that is some phenomenal Bible teaching and for three years Judas was one of 12 students that Jesus hand selected and was given the opportunity to be enrolled in the greatest seminary ever the seminary of Jesus Christ like Judas was enrolled and Jesus was his professor. For Old Testament survey Judas's Jesus for hermeneutics Judas's professor was Jesus for church history his professor was Jesus for systematic theology his professor was Jesus for biblical leadership his professor was Jesus all of the things that Judas learned it was hand taught by Jesus and despite all the amazing Bible teaching that Judas had it profited him nothing. I want you to think about that having Jesus teach you personally for three years and it profited him absolutely nothing. And the reason it profited him nothing is because he chose to hear it but not believe it. He chose to hear it but not obey it. And this is a warning for us because in our culture today especially with the digital revolution and technology we have more access to the scripture and amazing Bible teaching and Bible study resources and tools and commentaries and conferences and books we have more access to the scripture today than at any other point in human history. And so the story of Judas serves to us as a warning that Bible teaching is not enough. That hearing the word is not enough. And in fact in the book of James James 122 it says exactly this it says but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves Judas was deceived. He thought I'm good I know the word Jesus is my professor I'm good but he was self-deceived because he was not willing to walk in obedience I'm assuming that at least some part of the reason that you're here today and especially if this is your home church if you come every single week I'm assuming at least a part of that reason is that you at least kind of like my Bible teaching. Like if you didn't I assume that you would probably go to church somewhere else. So if you show up here every week part of it is I'm guessing we like the Bible teaching that Zav gives us but I again I want to tell you this my Bible teaching is not enough. What I give out to you every single Sunday is not enough. My Bible teaching will profit you absolutely nothing if you don't believe it and if you don't actually walk in obedience to it. You could come week after week year after year and in 40 years we could be sitting here and I'll be up here with the cane by the grace of God. And for 40 years it could do absolutely nothing in your life if you don't believe it and obey it. See sitting under a good Bible teaching it can do one of two things. It does have the potential yes for you to grow in grace and intimacy with Jesus. And that's why we teach the Bible every week and that's what our prayer is every week that through the scriptures that you would grow closer to Jesus the word of God has potential to do that but it also has the potential to increase your spiritual deception. That's what James says if we're hearers only we have deceived ourselves and that's the danger of sitting under Bible teaching is you think, well I'm taking it in well I heard that I checked that box I went to the Bible study. I went to church I listened to the word I'm good to go. And you might actually be falling into a deeper state of self-deception if you're not actually putting it into practice and walking in obedience. The mark of spiritual maturity is not how often do I go to church? The mark of spiritual maturity isn't how much do I read the Bible. The mark of spiritual maturity isn't even actually how much time do I spend with Jesus because Judas did all of that more than any of us ever will. He spent more time with Jesus than I ever will. He spent more time in the word with Jesus than we ever will. And yet it profited him nothing because the true mark of spiritual maturity is this it is are we walking in obedience to the scriptures by faith are we believing that this is what God wants for my life and allowing the living word to transform us from the inside out good Bible teaching is not enough. You have to believe it. So my question for you today is this do you call yourself a disciple do you identify as a disciple as a follower of Jesus just because you go to church or just because you read the Bible or just because you know the Bible or just because you're in Bible college or do you call yourself a disciple because you are daily choosing to believe what God has revealed in the scripture and saying God by your grace help me live this out but by your grace allow this to continue to transform my life. For Judas we see good Bible teaching wasn't enough you have to believe it. Number three, the third principle of discipleship we learned from the life of Judas is this being in community with other disciples does not make you a disciple. You have to be a disciple yourself. I want to say that again being in community with other disciples or other Christians or believers that does not make you a disciple you have to make the decision I am following Jesus see Judas not only sat under the greatest Bible teaching ever but I would argue Judas had the greatest community ever could you imagine being in a small group with the men who wrote the gospels like we are reading the gospel of Matthew the guy who pinned these words by the Holy Spirit Judas was in a small group with them. That's pretty legit like I've never I love all y'all I've never been in community with anybody like that who's pinned the scriptures. Could you imagine being in community with the apostles who performed more miracles than any of us will ever see could you imagine your closest group of friends being the guys who birthed the early church and saw Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit bring more people to salvation than we'll probably ever see in our lifetime that was Judas's inner circle that was his community. He was daily in proximity and community with these amazing men of God and yet it profited him nothing. Isn't that amazing the the the it's terrifying too that you can be around all these people who love Jesus serve Jesus follow Jesus and yet you never have had your heart transformed you can grow up in a Christian family you can go to a private Christian school you can get a biblical education and Bible degree you can be a part of a Christian church you can be a part of what God's doing you can even experience the fruit of what God is wanting to do in your life and yet still remain not a child of God that was the story of Judas he was surrounded with all the right people but surrounding himself with all the right people was not enough there there is a benefit there is a blessing to being in relationship and in proximity to other people who follow Jesus yes they can move you and point you towards Jesus but at the end of the day only you can make the decision whether you personally are going to follow Jesus whether are you whether you personally are going to submit to the lordship of Christ and say you are ruler you are king you are the ultimate authority in my life and so the question for us in light of this is simply do you merely surround yourselves with good influential people do you merely surround yourselves with Christians is it do you identify as a Christian because you show up amongst a bunch of other Christians on a Sunday morning or do you personally know Jesus? Do you personally love Jesus? Yes it's great to have people who know and love Jesus around you but you have to make that decision for yourself. And if you've been in Christian community but never actually given your heart to Jesus I want to encourage you today that today would be the day of salvation for you. That today you would say I'm trusting in the finished work of Jesus that when he went to the cross his death burial and resurrection that is the redefining moment of my life and that today you would become a disciple of Christ. Amen so being in community with other disciples doesn't make you a disciple number four the fourth principle we learned from the life of Judas is this doing ministry and serving other people does not make you a true disciple. The primary ministry of a disciple is to love and serve Jesus I want to say that again doing ministry and loving and serving other people that is not the mark of true discipleship. The mark of true discipleship is you are loving and serving the person of Christ. Again this this is pretty mind boggling when you understand that Judas was in full time what we might call vocational ministry for three years of his life he was in full time ministry for three years of his life Jesus was the senior pastor and Judas with the other 11 disciples were like the associate pastors and they're showing up in towns and they're praying for people Judas was praying for people they're teaching people Judas was teaching people he was in full time ministry for three years of his life and yet this is a sobering reality you can be in ministry pointing people to Jesus you can be in ministry serving people in the name of Jesus and yet never actually know Jesus yourself and never actually Actually, walk with Jesus yourself and never actually trust in Jesus yourself. And that is a pretty terrifying reality. That today, this is true. Today, there are people in ministry, there are people who teach the word of God. There are people who you might even look up to and go, I want to be like that person because look at the way that they lead. But there are people in ministry today who proclaim the good news of Jesus who have not believed the good news of Jesus. It's terrifying. It's absolutely terrifying. And and maybe you're here today and maybe your faith was actually hindered or hurt because of one of those people. Maybe you were a part of a church and you were like, wow, that pastor or that leader, they're so amazing. And then maybe you had a bad church experience. Maybe the church leader who you look up to, maybe they took advantage of you. Maybe they abused you. Maybe it was physical, maybe it was spiritual manipulation, maybe it was emotional abuse, maybe it was sexual. Maybe you were taken advantage of by a person you thought that was representing Christ. And when they hurt you, you walked away from your faith. You said if that's what it's supposed to be like following Jesus, now I don't want anything to do with following Jesus. And and if that's you here today, my heart absolutely goes out to you. But could could I remind you that it is possible that that individual actually didn't want anything to do with Jesus either? It is possible that they were playing the role of a disciple and at the end of the day, they were actually just a Judas. They were actually in ministry for a wrong reason. They were in it for the influence, they were in it for the popularity, they were in it for the money, they were in it for whatever reason to build their own platform. But it is possible to be hurt by people who don't actually love and follow Jesus that are in ministry. And so if you've been hurt by the church or if you've been hurt by somebody in church leadership in your past who misused their spiritual authority at your expense, what I want to encourage you in is don't let that stop you from pursuing Jesus. They might have stopped pursuing Jesus, they might have walked away from Jesus, but that doesn't mean that you have to. You can continue to press into the person of Jesus and trust and know that he will redeem all of the brokenness and all of the pain that you went through. That Jesus will meet you right in the midst of that. And so this is also a warning for people who are in ministry or who have ministry platforms to know that at the end of the day, ministry to Jesus is always the foundation. Ministry to Jesus is the foundation, and ministry for Jesus must flow out of that. Here's where churches and people and leaders go wrong. They say, I love doing ministry. I love serving people, I love people, I love the platform, I love influence. And you love serving people, and there's nothing wrong with that. But if that is not an overflow of your love for Christ, that's what will lead to your downfall. Ministry and serving other people is always an overflow out of ministry to the person of Jesus and serving and loving Jesus. So let that be the foundation. Let that be the foundation in your life that you love Jesus first, you serve Jesus first, and everything else trickles down out of that. I get I'm getting a little emotional because it's hard to understand how this is how the love of the ministry became greater than the love of Jesus. So let us search our hearts and make sure that the foundation is Jesus Himself. Amen. The fifth principle for discipleship we see is this. It's similar to the last, but it's a little different. Following people who follow Jesus doesn't make you a disciple. You must follow Jesus. I'll say that again, number five. Following people who follow Jesus doesn't make you a disciple. You must follow Jesus. So again, here's the thing. At some level, you follow me. And I'm assuming the reason you show up here is because you you see I'm following Jesus, and you're you're you're saying, I want to be more like Jesus, and that's why I'm showing up. I'm I'm you're you're following my teachings in hopes to become more like Jesus. And we all do this. We all follow people who follow Jesus, whether through the podcast we listen to or YouTube, um, some of you are here and you follow and you learn from Tim Keller because he helps you follow Jesus. Some of you are here and you you follow and listen to Craig Rochelle because he helps you follow Jesus. Some of you are here and you follow Matt Chandler because he helps you follow Jesus. You're here and you listen to and follow Stephen Furtick or John Mark Comer or Chad Veach or Rich Wilkerson. You follow people and pastors who hopefully help you follow Jesus. And there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, that's really good. Like it's it's it's it's good to learn from other people. However, we need to be careful not to build our faith in Jesus based off of someone else's walk with Jesus. We need to make sure that we are not just replicating who God has made them to be, because the reality is this no Christian leader is gonna be perfect other than the person of Jesus. If your faith is built on another person and another Christian leader who you are following because of the way they follow Jesus, you will be disappointed and let down at some point in time. And we don't have this in the scripture, but I can only imagine. Could you imagine when when Judas fell away and betrayed Jesus? As Judas was following Jesus, most likely there were there were people who were like, some people were like, I like Peter and how he's followed Jesus. Some people were like, I'm I'm trying to follow Judas as he follows Jesus. Could you imagine how shocking that must have been for the people who had an affinity towards Judas because of how close he was to Jesus to Jesus when Judas fell away? How many people's faith may have been shook and deconstructed when Judas fell away? Because the foundation was not Jesus, it was somebody else who was following Jesus. So again, this this is important for us to know that there are there are influential leaders and pastors who can preach good sermons, who can have good theology, who can come from good seminaries and good denominations, and yet they can still go in a bad direction. So for us, we need to make sure that our faith is not based off of that pastor. Our faith is not based off of that person I follow or that person who's a good Bible teacher. We must say, regardless of what they do or how long they follow you or fall away, my faith is in Jesus Christ. I'm following Jesus. I'm not following Zav to get to Jesus. I'm not following this pastor to get to Jesus. I'm following Jesus. And so this is an important question to ask yourself is this is your walk with Jesus contingent on anybody else's? Your walk with Jesus cannot be contingent on your pastor. Your walk with Jesus cannot be contingent on your spouse. Your walk with Jesus cannot be contingent on your parents or your grandparents or your best friend. Have you made the decision that even if all else turn away, even if all else forsake the Lord, I will continue to follow Jesus. May that be the foundation that you build your faith upon. Amen. Sixth and finally, I close with this the sixth principle from discipleship that we learn from the life of Jesus. Remorse and regret over sin is not the mark of discipleship. Repentance is, and this is really important. There's a key distinction here. I'll say it again. Remorse and regret over sin is not the mark of a true disciple. Repentance is. In Luke chapter 22, Jesus is instituting the Lord's Supper. It's a few days before he's about to be crucified. And he's in the room with his 12 disciples, including Judas, and Jesus says, One of you is gonna betray me. And the response to that is all of the disciples say, Lord, is it I? I want you to think about that for a moment. Jesus says to his 12, one of you is gonna betray me. And all the disciples said, Is it I? They didn't go, Oh, yep, it's Judas for sure. If you traveled back in time 2,000 years ago and you sat in a room with Jesus and his 12 disciples, you would not be able to pick out Judas. When you watch the movies or the shows, you know, Judas is hiding in the shadows with a black hoodie, and you're like, that's him, yep. That wasn't it. It legit, if you went back and sat, there is no way you would know which one is Judas. He was exactly like the rest. And Jesus said, One of you will betray me. And that one that even the other disciples didn't know was Judas. Well, here's what's crazy immediately after that conversation at the Lord's Supper, Jesus pulls Peter aside. Luke chapter 22, pulls Peter aside privately, and he tells Peter that, Peter, you are about to deny me three times before I go to the cross. You, Peter, are gonna deny me. Now, I don't believe sins are actually ranked, but I would say denying Jesus and betraying Jesus, those are both pretty high on the list if there was a list. Like those are pretty damnable sins. Betraying Jesus and denying Jesus. In one night, he said, one of you is gonna betray me and one of you is gonna deny me. The question is, so what was the difference? What was the difference between Judas the betrayer and Peter the denier? And the difference was this Peter denied Jesus three times, but he was led to repentance. Judas betrayed Jesus, but it just led to remorse. And we see that very clearly in Matthew chapter 27, if you want to flip back real quick. And Matthew chapter 27, I want you to notice this. Judas was remorseful over what he did. Judas regretted the decision that he made. Matthew 27, verse 3 says this when then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? See to it yourselves. And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed and he went and hanged himself. Judas regretted the decision that he made. He said, I have sinned. I don't want this money anymore. What do I do? And they said, What does that have to do with us? And his remorse and his regret actually led to him hanging himself. It actually led to death itself. And you know what? That's exactly what the scriptures say remorse and regret lead to. In 2 Corinthians 7, verse 10, I want you to notice the contrast here. It says, For godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret. Whereas worldly grief produces death. Judas had worldly grief. He felt bad for himself. He felt shame. He felt like I wish I didn't do that, but it did not lead to repentance. Notice his confession was not to Jesus, his confession was to other people. The mark of repentance is I am bringing this back to the foot of the cross. The mark of repentance is I am taking this to Jesus. I acknowledge, as the psalmist David said, against you and you alone have I sinned. So the true mark of discipleship is not that we regret our sin, it's not that we're grieved by our sin. It is that we are moved to repentance. That in our sin we move back to the cross, we look back to the cross and we say, God, today I need forgiveness again. Today I need grace again. Today I need mercy again. And when you're moved to repentance rather than worldly sorrow, the burden and the shame that you feel over sin, that's where it's lifted. Worldly grief will not do that. It will produce more death in you. You'll feel worse about yourself. You keep looking at yourself, look how bad I am. And Jesus says, Stop looking at yourself, look to the cross. I know what you've done, I know what you would do, I knew when you would betray me, I knew when you would deny me, I've dealt with it at the cross. So my question for you is simply this How are you dealing with this sin in your life? Every one of us has a little bit of Judas in us. Every one of us has a little bit of Peter in us. But the question is, how are you responding? Are you just woe is me and well, God must hate me and I'm not good enough? Or are you moving towards repentance, saying, you know what? I just fell short again. I just I just gave into the lies of the enemy again. I just gave into the temptation again. But I am going back to the cross. I am I'm confessing to God what he already knows. I am coming into agreement with God that you took this and that you paid for this, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So my prayer for you as the mark of a true disciple is this that when you fall short, when you fall into temptation, when you're overwhelmed by the burden of sin in your life, that you would, like Peter, come back to Jesus and you will hear Jesus saying, Do you, like you did to Peter, hey, I know you deny me, but this, do you love me? Peter, I know you deny me three times, but three times, do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? And when Peter confessed that, he was restored to the place of fellowship and intimacy. May that be the way that we as disciples of Christ deal with the sin in our lives. Not worldly regret and grief and shame, but repentance that leads to eternal life. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you. Saint, thank you so much for by the power of your spirit inspiring Matthew to put that little note in there. Now the 11 disciples, for us to reflect on the life of Judas, a man who appeared to be a disciple, a man who served people with you, a man who was taught by you, a man who did ministry with you, and yet his heart was never changed. And God, I pray today for any person in here that might have the appearance of discipleship, but their faith is built on someone else's. They're moved to worldly grief over their sin rather than repentance. They're in community with Jesus people, but they're not in community with you. God, I pray today for anybody in here who, like Judas, appears to be a disciple but has not placed their faith in the finished work of Christ, your death, burial, and resurrection, by faith confessing, you are Lord, you are King, and the work is finished. That today, even right now, for anybody who's never made that decision, that even in their heart right now, anybody who says, I'm ready to be a disciple, not a disciple by proxy, but I'm ready to follow Jesus and look to Jesus and walk with Jesus and trust in Jesus as my foundation. Even right now, by your spirit, we just, we just we praise you that right now, God's salvation is coming. We praise you for the people who right now are saying, I need Jesus. I'm trusting in Jesus, I want to follow Jesus. And God, for those of us who are disciples, for those of us who have trusted in you, help us to continue to do so daily. Not just like Judas responding the first time you called us, God, but every day denying ourselves, every day taking up our cross and following you. And I pray that even as we go out today, God, as these disciples in this room, as we go out into the community, as we go back into our neighborhoods, as we go back into the workplace, that people would see what it means to be a true disciple. That people would see our lives and see Jesus inside of us and say, Man, I want what you have. What is it that you have? And then we'd say, It's it's just Jesus. It's just his grace, it's just the cross. So, God, today as we go out, would we, your disciples, live in such a way where we are not only hearing the word, but we are living and walking in obedience so that you might even use our lives to bring other people to faith and the finished work of Jesus as well. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Everyone said, Amen.