Hello everyone. We are so glad you're here. Today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, Rick Warran kicks off an inspiring new series called

What Does It Really Mean to Follow Jesus? This is a powerful teaching, and Rick dives right into God's Word to explore how we grow spiritually, represent Christ

in the world, and find our place in God's family through the church. It's a really fresh look

at discipleship, purpose, and the life-changing power of spiritual community. Now here's part one of a

message called We Are Disciples. When Jesus was 30

years old, he began his public ministry. And the first thing he did was go gather a group of guys

who he could train. They are called his disciples. And many times in scriptures, it tells us that he invited people to become his

disciple. In Matthew 9, verse 9, it says this. As Jesus was going down the road, he saw Matthew

sitting at his tax collection booth. Come be my disciple, Jesus said. So Matthew got up and followed him. Now today, Jesus Christ makes this exact

same offer to you. Come be my disciple. Now, what is the disciple? The word disciple comes from the

Latin word disciplines, or disciplesus. In the Greek, it is the word mafetes, which

is in the Bible, and it means a student. It means a learner. It means a pupil. A disciple is an

apprentice. When a mentor takes on somebody to train them, they are called their disciple.

And the word in the Bible is actually used four different

ways. First, it's referred to as anybody who's just being trained by anybody else. If you're in

training, you have a supervisor who's training you, you are being disciple by that supervisor.

Moses' disciple was Joshua.

Elijah's disciple was Elisha.

David's disciple was his son Solomon.

Elisha had disciples of his own.

John the Baptist had disciples.

Paul had a disciple named Timothy,

...