Welcome to the Pastor Mike Drop podcast. It's day three on our 40-day tour of the Gospel of John.

Today we pick it up in verse 35 of John chapter 1. And this is where the story meets us right where we live,

because almost certainly someone somewhere along the way invited you to meet Jesus. And that

introduction is the most valuable gift that anyone could ever give. Because it leads so often to

new life and to the assurance of everlasting life.

What could be more valuable than that?

Of all the things that we could share with loved ones,

this gift of an introduction to Jesus Christ is the gift that has the potential to last forever.

And it's the only one.

So praise God for whoever's invited you to meet Jesus

by inviting you to a worship service or a Bible study or a Bible camp or a podcast or an alpha

course or whatever it might be. And then pass on that gift to somebody else. That's what John the

Baptist did in verse 35 and following for two of his friends. He wanted

them to meet Jesus because he wanted them to have this valuable gift of a relationship with God

through Jesus Christ. Behold the Lamb of God, John said, follow him, not me anymore. You were my

disciples, but now I want you to be Jesus' disciples. Those two first

disciples of Jesus were named Andrew, and, well, this is one of the fun, mysterious parts of John's

Gospel. The other disciple isn't named. In fact, this will pop up from time to time, and might be

worth noting as we read forward over the

next 40 days through John's gospel. All the disciples are named except for this one who's often

referred to as the other disciple or the beloved disciple. A lot of biblical scholars, and I'm

persuaded this is true as well, believe that this other disciple is John himself,

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