Come, beloved of the Lord, and consider all the love that the Father has poured out on you. With joyful hearts, in one accord, come and look upon the love of the One who gave His all for you. Oh.
That is the burden of my heart this morning: that we would be able, with the open eyes of our heart, to somehow fully enter into the depths of God’s love for us—to really see it. For He is worthy.
Let us begin with a word of prayer.
Lord, we come to You this morning. I just have this one little thought on my heart, and I pray that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, You would give me the grace to express it in such a way that it could be received in such a way, Lord, that indeed our hearts would be refreshed in Thee, refreshed in Your love.
But Lord, also that You would find a great response of love within our own hearts for Thyself. Lord, love defines all things. Love is God. God is love.
Lord, we come back to You this morning. I just ask Your blessing upon this time, and the anointing to be able to speak and to hear. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Well, let us begin this morning by reading some Scriptures. We will begin with John 13:23, the Gospel of John, chapter 13, verse 23.
Now there was at the table leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.
There was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. Now turn to John 19:26, chapter 19, verse 26.
Our Lord was on the cross:
When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple standing by whom He loved, He saith unto His mother, Woman, behold, thy son!
When Jesus therefore saw His mother and the disciple standing by whom He loved. Chapter 20, verse 2—this is speaking of Mary Magdalene, who had seen the open tomb and ran back:
She runneth therefore and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved.
The other disciple whom Jesus loved. Chapter 21, verse 7:
That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord.
Therefore, the disciple whom Jesus loved said unto Peter, “It is the Lord.” Now chapter 21, verse 20. The Lord was challenging Peter at this time about his love, and He had just told Peter the death that he would die.
Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following.
Peter turned about and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following.
This morning, I want to share about our brother, the apostle John. Quite a brother in the Lord.
If you read his Gospel, you understand that John, more than any other, had a deep appreciation for Christ as the Son of God. That is who we see when we read his Gospel: the Son of God. He also had a great appreciation for love—the love of God for us, the love of Christ for us, and our love for Him.
This great disciple referred to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved.
A lot of paintings that you see of the apostle John depict him as a mild, meek, gentle, yielding, even effeminate type of person. Actually, that is far from the case with John.
John was a fisherman. Now, that is a hard life. They had the nets, and they had to row out in these boats into the lake. There were storms they had to deal with, but it was a hard life.
Actually, a fisherman’s life even today is a hard life, but even more so in those days. From dusk to dawn, and even beyond, they were repairing nets at night and getting ready for the next day. Day after day, it was a hard job. It is not easy.
Actually, John was most likely very strong, kind of a wiry, steely type of guy—not gentle at all, probably very muscular and manly, as we would say today.
In fact, when our Lord Jesus called John and his brother James, He gave them a nickname: “Sons of Thunder.” That does not sound too gentle, does it?
Sons of Thunder—vehement, zealous, very intense. That is the Greek rendering: very intense people.
Actually, you saw that in a few places in the Gospel. One time John came across a man casting out demons, and he was not one of the disciples. John went up to him and stopped him: “You need to quit this.”
Then he went back to the Lord and said, “Lord, I saw this man casting out demons. He was not one of us. I stopped him.” The Lord said, “No, John, no, no. He that is not against us is for us.”
There was another time. The Lord was on the way to Jerusalem. He was in a hurry to get there, but He was going through Samaria and needed to spend one night there. He had sent John and a couple of other disciples to prepare the way for Him to have a place to stay.
The Samaritans got upset. My understanding is that they were upset because He was not willing to stay; He wanted to go on. They thought He was just blowing through, so to speak.
John got so angry. He came back to the Lord and said, “Lord, look at these lowly Samaritans.” He did not really say that according to the Word, but that was, I am sure, his thought. “Look at these lowly Samaritans, Lord. They are upset with You.”
He said, “Lord, just give the word. I will call down fire from heaven and take care of these guys.” Now, that is John.
He was not quite the gentle soul that we thought John was. He was a tough, hard man—intense, very determined, very zealous in the Lord.
But John was transformed. John was transformed into a man who was characterized by the word love.
We know that he was the one at the Last Supper who was leaning on the Lord. He was so concerned about the Lord. He was the only one of all the disciples there at the cross of Calvary.
He was the one on the Isle of Patmos who was so concerned about the Lord’s church. His whole character had changed.
If you read the writings of John, there are three things that John emphasizes: light, life, and love—particularly the last one. He is the apostle of love.
Tradition says that in his last days, he would just walk around and say, “Love your brother. Love your brother and sister. Love the Lord. Love your brother and sister.” Quite a transformation in this tough, intense man.
You know, he was a fisherman. But somewhere, as they were fishing one day, word had gotten back to him that there was this man who would come out of the wilderness wearing goatskins, sheepskins, preaching, and they were calling him a prophet.
John went to hear John the Baptist. And John the Baptist said, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” That touched John. There is no doubt it touched John’s heart, and he began to follow John the Baptist.
Actually, he was there—he and Andrew, his buddy. You know, it was James and John and Peter and Andrew. They were there one day, and the Lord Jesus showed up.
John the Baptist turned and said:
Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!
And John responded. He and Andrew started following the Lord as He went on His way. The Lord turned around and said, “What do you seek?” They said, “Where are You staying? We want to abide with You awhile.”
So you see, John was drawn immediately to the Lord Jesus Christ. This tough, intense man’s heart had been touched by the Lord Jesus.
We know that one day—and we do not know what went on in that conversation that night, other than that the Lord spoke to them personally. I think that most here have had those personal times with the Lord Jesus Christ and are so drawn to Him.
One day, the Lord came by, and John, his father, and his brother were mending the nets in the boat. The Lord said to him, “Follow Me.” Immediately, he and his brother dropped their nets, and they began to follow the Lord. They had given themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ.
We know that John became part of basically the inner circle of the disciples. You remember a number of times the Lord pulled aside Peter, James, and John and had them go with Him—just those three.
One of those times was the Mount of Transfiguration. Remember John, Peter, James, and John? He took them up to the top of the mountain, and there the Lord Jesus began to transfigure.
The glory that was inside that body—the glory that had been shielded by that physical body—began to shine through. They were talking about His departure, His coming departure at the cross, and that glory began to shine through. Shine through.
It was an amazing sight. We remember Peter: “Let us build some tabernacles here for Moses and Elijah and Jesus,” because Moses and Elijah were there.
But there was One there greater than the prophets and the lawgiver. God spoke from heaven:
This is My beloved Son: hear ye Him.
Just think of the impact that must have had on John. Think of the impact it would have on you—to see the Lord Himself, the One you knew as a man.
He had been with Him, he had heard His ministry, and he had seen some of His miracles. Then all of a sudden, He began to transfigure, and God spoke from heaven. What an impact.
It made an impact on John. Remember the first chapter of the Gospel of John:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father.
A personal witness, brothers and sisters, of the Shekinah glory. Very few have ever seen that Shekinah glory. There were three men, and John was one of them. I am convinced that is why he had such a clear revelation of Christ as the Son of God.
Of course, we also know that at the Last Supper all the disciples were there. John was there, leaning on the Lord—this big, burly, strong, tenacious man.
The love of God had so captured his heart that he wanted to be as close as he could to the Lord.
He was the one, as a matter of fact, when the Lord said, “One of you here will betray Me,” who said, “Lord, who is it?” John was concerned. I do not think John was confident at all. I think John was really concerned, and he wanted to be sure it was not him.
Then there was the Garden of Gethsemane. There in that garden, once again, the Lord pulled aside Peter, James, and John.
He went a little distance from the rest of the disciples, then a little further distance from the three, and said, “I want you to be here and pray with Me.” He wanted them to pray with Him in this last hour, this most agonizing hour of His history—indeed, of His life.
In that garden, He and the Father—these three had the opportunity to observe Him, the opportunity to pray with Him. Now we know that the three fell asleep.
But apparently, brothers and sisters, they saw a little bit. Because it is recorded, the Lord’s words: “Father, can this cup pass from Me?” They must have heard that.
They must have heard Him say, “Not My will, but Thine, be done, Father.” It is recorded.
They must have seen, somewhere in that dullness of trying to stay awake, the sweat drops of blood coming from His pores. The Son of Man, Son of God. Oh, John saw something. That garden had a great effect on John.
Then, remember, they took our Lord Jesus before the Sanhedrin. John was there. He knew some of the officials there.
Peter was there, and that is when Peter denied the Lord three times. John witnessed all of that. He witnessed the Sanhedrin’s trial. John most likely also went on to witness the rest of the trial before Pilate. He was a witness.
He was the only disciple at the cross of Calvary. The rest had scattered.
John could not leave. Something about John—that tenacious character of his—he could not leave the Lord in His most desperate hour.
Not only that, but John was helping Mary, trying to comfort Mary. Probably they followed our Lord Jesus up the Via Dolorosa, the pathway of sorrow, from where He was tried before Caesar up to Calvary’s cross.
I am sure he was helping Mary all along the road as they watched the Lord Jesus Christ being scourged and beaten, falling down with the heaviness of the cross, finally having to have someone help Him all the way up.
They observed as the soldiers laid our Lord Jesus on the cross and drove those nails in His hands and feet. John saw. John saw it.
John saw when our Lord was on the cross. Our Lord actually spoke to John while He was there on the cross. He saw John with His mother, and He said, “John, you be a son to My mother. You take care of her. Mom, this is your son.”
He saw that. He heard that. He heard the Lord cry out, “It is finished.”
The Son of God dying on the cross of God. What a mystery. What great love for sinners. John saw. He witnessed it.
He was also a witness to the risen Lord Jesus Christ. As the Lord came into that upper room that day, John was there.
Remember when they were by the sea? The disciples were going fishing, going back fishing, not quite sure what to do. The Lord showed up on the shore.
John and James, Peter and Andrew—they were all out in the boat. This man showed up on the shore, starting a fire. John looked and said, “It is the Lord.” He was the first one to recognize that it was the Lord.
Of course, Peter got out of the boat and went and met the Lord.
John was not only a witness to the risen Lord, but he was a witness at the ascension of our Lord, when He left this earth and returned to heaven with the promise that He would come back again.
He was a witness among the one hundred and twenty at Pentecost—all the Holy Spirit coming down, creating the body of Jesus Christ, that spiritual body, the church. He was there.
Brothers and sisters, he gave his life to the Lord’s purpose: to the building of the house of God, to the one that would be His bride.
He also witnessed when he was exiled on the Isle of Patmos because of his testimony. He had that living witness, and he was testifying of this risen Lord. They exiled him to the Isle of Patmos.
There he witnessed the Lamb upon the throne. He witnessed the throne, brothers. If you read Revelation, it says he saw a door opened.
God said to him—or that may have been the angel, I cannot remember—“Come up hither.” John was taken up into that third heaven, and we know what he witnessed there.
He saw the Lamb and all falling down, worshiping the Lamb. He saw the risen King. He saw the King of kings and the Lord of lords—the first one to see the Lord Jesus in such a way. What a witness he was to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was the only disciple who was not martyred. Tradition says they tried to martyr him. Tradition says he was put in a pot of boiling oil to kill him, but it had no effect on him.
So they took him out and exiled him to the Isle of Patmos. Now, we do not know for sure about the boiling oil, but we do know he was exiled to the Isle of Patmos, where he had that great vision of the risen Lord, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
He was the apostle of love.
First John 4:7 says:
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God.
We know at the end of the Gospel of John, the story he tells us is about the Lord saying, “Peter, lovest thou Me?” Love was so much on his heart. He was a great witness to the Lord.
Let us read 1 John 1:3. Well, let us start with verse 1. I want you to get the impact. We have just gone through, very briefly, the life of John—the spiritual life of this man.
This is John. In the Gospel of John, he says, “In the beginning was the Word. The Word was God. We beheld His glory.” Now listen to 1 John, the epistle:
That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes,
that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life—
and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness,
and declare unto you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us—
that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also,
that ye also may have fellowship with us:
yea, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Do you understand these words a little more? How taken John was with the Lord Jesus Christ? Light, life, and love—that is John’s theme.
These things all define and help us understand who John the apostle is. But when John had to identify who he was to others—and to us in his Gospel—how did he identify himself?
Did he say, “Oh, I am the one who was on the Mount of Transfiguration with the Lord. I was the one exiled on Patmos”? No.
This is his description of who he is:
I am the disciple whom Jesus loved.
How would you define yourself in your life? Think about it.
All that the apostle John wanted us to really know was that he was a disciple whom Jesus loved. Are you a disciple whom Jesus loves? Think about it.
I think it is profound. That is what captured me when I read these Scriptures. John wanted to be identified, and identified himself, as a disciple whom Jesus loved. That was what was important to John.
You know, as I was thinking about this, I was saying, what if a reporter came up to John in heaven and said, “Well, sir, who are you?”
“I am a disciple whom Jesus loved.”
“Well, somebody told me your name was John.”
“Well, my name is John, but I am the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
“Well, others have told me that you and your brother were fishermen.”
“Well, that is true. My brother and I were fishermen before the Lord called us. But I am a disciple whom Jesus loved.”
“Well, look, I heard that you were appointed as an apostle of Christ.”
“Well, that is true. I am a disciple whom Jesus loved.”
“Well, can you relate to us about this experience on the Mount of Transfiguration?”
“Yes. I beheld His glory, glory as the Son of God. What a privilege I had. I am a disciple whom Jesus loved.”
“Well, what about your experience on Patmos? Can you kind of review that with us? Go over and tell us what happened there.”
“Yes, I can. I can summarize it in this way: it was a training ground. I am the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
Look, you want to know who I am? I am a disciple whom Jesus loved. That is the way I identify myself, and that is the way I want to be known.
That is what my whole life is about. I am a disciple, and Jesus loved me. That defines my life. That defines who I am. That defines what I am concerned about.
A disciple whom Jesus loves. Jesus loved me. He gave His life for me. He died for my sins. He called me. Yes, He called me to be a disciple. He called me to be an apostle.
I went through many amazing experiences with the Lord, but you need to know what defines my entire life: I am a disciple whom Jesus loved. His love has captured me. He has captured my soul. I love Him, and I want to follow Him. I am His disciple.
Now, brothers and sisters, who are you? How do you define yourself?
If someone were to say to you, “Who are you?” most likely you would respond with your name. “Well, I am Jerry.”
They might press on: “Yeah, well, tell us a little bit more.” Then you would probably begin to tell the things that are most important to you in your life.
“Well, I am married. My wife is Ann; we have been married for fifty years. We have two sons and three grandsons. They are all healthy and doing well. I am still working. I am a structural engineer.”
That is probably the kind of thing we would say. You know, on Wheel of Fortune—I watch that occasionally. I am not good at it, but I do watch it. They always get it before I do. I think it is because I was such a poor speller.
But they always ask them at the beginning of that show to tell a little bit about themselves. If you ever watch it, that is what they do. Each one of the contestants says, “Tell us a little bit about yourself.”
Invariably, they will say, “I am married to a wonderful husband, and I have three glorious children, and I work for an unknown, unnamed chemical firm,” or something like that.
That is what they say, almost invariably. Every one of them will say the same things, the same way.
We tend, when people ask us who we are, to tell them the things that are really important to us. These things are important, the things I have talked about.
But when you talk to John the apostle and ask him who he is, he says, “I am the disciple whom Jesus loved.” That is who I am.
“I am a disciple whom Jesus loved.” That is the defining thing, as far as John is concerned, about his whole life. That is what meant most to John, and that is how he wanted to be known by others: the disciple whom Jesus loved.
Now, what touched me so much in John’s response as to who he was was his obvious deep appreciation, first of all, to be a disciple of the Lord, and number two, to be loved by the Lord.
That is what John so appreciated. He was a disciple of the Lord. That meant a lot to John. Apparently, it meant more than his apostleship.
“Just a disciple. I am just a disciple. I am a follower of the Lord. He loves me. That is what counts.”
Such a deep appreciation he had for the Lord’s love for him.
Brothers and sisters, the Word of God says:
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
If that is not love, what is it, brothers and sisters? To a perishing people, to people sick with sin, to people headed down the path of destruction, comes this great word: God so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.
Oh, how God wants to pour out His love upon us by giving us His Son. Yes, in getting His Son, you have eternal life. But what you have gained is Christ. That is God’s love.
God’s love is impartial. He loves because He loves. He does not require one to love Him back before He loves them.
You know, human love is that way. We tend to love those who love us. But the Lord loves us even in our fallen state. If there is no response, He still loves us.
But brothers and sisters, let us not be deceived: love is not fulfilled unless there is a response. Do we want God’s love to be fulfilled? Then we need to respond to His love.
For those who respond and accept the Lord Jesus Christ, it fills up that love that has gone out, because God loves us. He gives us His Son. He wants us to receive Him, and in receiving Him, it brings fulfillment to God the Father.
Unfortunately, brothers and sisters, we well know that most of the world rejects the love of God in rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ. They will not have any part of Him.
That is so tragic. That is so sad, because there is so much love there. We should be ones, brothers and sisters, who really want love to respond to love.
They tell us that what humanity wants is love, but why are we rejecting Jesus Christ? Why are we rejecting the love of God if that is what we so desire?
I think what we desire is to be gods. We want to be our own gods. We want to live for ourselves, not for God. I think that is probably our problem: this mighty self that wants to replace God in our lives.
Therefore, we reject the love of God instead of receiving it. Others are drawn because they want eternal life. They want their ticket to heaven. They do not want to go to hell.
I have to confess, that was the reason I came to the Lord, because I was scared of going to hell. But the Lord was merciful to me. I did not have really great reasons to come to the Lord. They were kind of selfish, if you want to say it that way.
But He loved me, and He accepted me on those terms, and I am so grateful. But we should desire Him because He loves us so much, brothers and sisters.
Yes, some know the Lord, but they have no desire to become a real disciple of the Lord. They have no real desire for a relationship with the Lord. I think that is so sad.
That is such a weak spiritual birth, that if we are born again and do not have this great desire to follow Him and to love Him, there is something desperately wrong. It is like an almost aborted birth, but you are still there.
Discipleship. It was important to John.
Discipleship is really a response to God’s love. That is what it is. You see the Lord, you see who He is, and just like John in those early days, he could not get away from it. He had to follow the Lord.
The Lord finally called him and took him through marvelous, great experiences for John to realize who He was—the Son of God—yet He loved John. What an amazing revelation to John.
The Lord Jesus, brothers and sisters—and young people, because you just talked about this—said first, deny yourself, take up the cross, and follow Him.
When the Lord Jesus called His disciples, that is what He told them. He said, “You cannot be My disciple if you are unwilling to take up the cross and follow Me.”
I am afraid there are a great many Christians who are not disciples. It should never be that way, but it is so sad.
A true disciple is one who is willing to deny self, take up the cross, and follow Him.
Denying self is really saying, “I do not recognize this self anymore.” When self wants to rule your life, you say, “Well, wait a minute. The Lord has judicially crucified you at Calvary’s cross. I do not have anything to do with you anymore.”
“You are not really a part of my life. I reject you because Christ has rejected you. God has rejected you and put you on the cross. No, I do not recognize self anymore.” That is denying self.
You have no more rights to my life, to control my life. The Lord now has that ultimate right over my life, to control it.
I am not going to live for self-satisfaction and self-desire and self-glory, but I want to live for the glory of the Lord. I want to live for Him. That is a disciple, brothers and sisters.
And they must take up the cross. I will simply say in very simple terms: you want to know what taking up the cross is? “Not my will, but Thine, be done, Lord.” That is the cross.
Not my will, but Thine be done. My will becomes His. My mind becomes His mind. My emotions become His. They are one. We are in union with Him.
That is the life of a disciple. It is a narrow path. The Lord was very clear about that. He is clear about it. It is a hard path.
The minute you become a disciple of Christ, you are in His school. You are being trained by Him.
He loves you dearly, but He is going to put you through some hard testing. There are going to be some tough times—times when you do not think you can survive, I guarantee.
And you will, because of His great love for you. In that trial, in that temptation, in that testing, you learn the life of the Lord Jesus Christ that is in you:
Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Christ in you, the hope of glory. That is the way we learn Christ. That is the way our lives are transformed, brothers and sisters.
John was committed as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we were baptized—we recently had the baptism—that is a commitment to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus. That is your life.
That was why John said, “I am a disciple whom Jesus loves.”
Our commitment to this life of discipleship will fail unless there is an ever-increasing experience of the love of God and an appreciation for His love for us.
Let me say that again. I think our life of discipleship fails because there is not that ever-ongoing, increasing love for the Lord. It should grow.
If it stops, you are actually going backwards. Now, I do thank the Lord. I have been there many times, and the Lord has pulled me out of that pit. So I thank Him for His mercy and grace.
But brothers and sisters, there should be an ever-growing appreciation of the love of Christ for you. That is what captured John: how much the Lord loved him.
A disciple of Christ whom Jesus loves. There is no higher honor, no greater profession, if you want to put it that way, than being a disciple of Christ. That is what you were born for, brothers and sisters.
I believe, unfortunately, one of our biggest mistakes is the lack of developing an appreciation for the love of Christ for us. Do you know what I mean?
Developing a desire, a life of appreciation for the love of Christ. The Lord blesses us every day, does He not? The Lord is praying for us every day.
But somehow, where is our appreciation for that? You know, the more you appreciate it, the more you love Him. The more you sense His love, the more you walk with Him. The closer you get to Him, the more you appreciate His love.
That is the way it works.
You know, recently I have come to the conclusion, “Lord, I have just never really developed in my heart an appreciation for Your great love for me.”
Lord, I ought to be waking up thankful. I want to be going to bed thankful. I ought to be in the midst of trials thankful for Your love for me and how You are taking care of me.
Lord, I may not be able to see the end of this trial and a way out, but Lord, You are the way. I love You, Lord. I appreciate Your love for me, Lord.
I know that You are committed to me, and You will not fail me. I appreciate that, Lord. Appreciation.
That is what touched me so much about John: how much he appreciated the love of Christ for him.
Remember one day, in the story in Luke 17, the Lord was walking through this little town where the lepers were. Ten of them cried out to the Lord, “Lord, heal us. Save us.”
The disciples were with Him, and He turned and said to them, “Be healed. Now go to the priest and let him do what he is supposed to do.”
According to Levitical law, when somebody was healed of leprosy, the priest had to verify it. Well, nine of them left. They were obviously Jews.
One of those ten was a Samaritan, a Gentile. When he saw he was healed, he was not going anywhere. He turned around and said, “Lord, praise You. Thank You. Thank You for healing me of this leprosy. Thank You, Lord Jesus.”
The other nine were just walking on. Where was the appreciation?
In fact, the Lord took note of it. He turned to those disciples and said, “Where are the other nine?”
“This one, whom I have healed, so appreciates what has been done for him. But where are the other nine?” In other words, the Lord is saying, “Where is the appreciation for the great love that was expended in healing these ten lepers?”
Where is appreciation? It happened to come from a Gentile.
Brothers and sisters, I just think that we need to learn to develop a living appreciation for the Lord’s love for us, to be able to express it just like this man.
He was not just saying, “Oh, Lord, I do want to thank You for being healed of this leprosy.” He said, “Lord, thank You. Praise Your name. You have healed me of this leprosy. I thank You. I appreciate it.”
It was known all over the town.
That is what I mean, brothers and sisters. When we gather, particularly around the Lord’s table, our hearts ought to be full of appreciation and be willing to express it to the Lord.
The Lord does take note. He took note of this one Gentile as He went on.
This is the way that the apostle John wanted to be known. I think if you were to ask John, “What would you want on your epitaph?” John would say, “I am the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
That is the way I want to be remembered: “I am the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
Let me end today and ask you: Who are you? What is your response to that question, “Who are you?” How do you want to be known? How do you want to be remembered?
Lord, we just come to You today. Lord, we want to express our appreciation to Thee for Your great love for us.
Thank You, Lord, so much for my brother John, who saw that, who was able to express his great appreciation for You. Lord, I thank You for the life of this man and how You have used him to reveal Your great love to us, and Your desire for us to be disciples of the Lord Jesus.
Lord, we come to You. We want to be true disciples whom Jesus loves. Amen.