“What Do You Want?” | The Invitation to More

In this episode, we’re looking at John 1, where Jesus asks a simple question: “What do you want?”

Before the disciples were fully committed… before they understood who He really was… they were just curious. They followed at a distance, wondering if there might be more. And Jesus turned to them with a question that still meets us today. No matter where we are on the journey with Him, He is inviting us to spend time, getting to know Him more.

He meets their curiosity by saying, “Come and see.” That curiosity led to time spent with Him, and ultimately, their lives would never look the same. That’s what He wants for us too. We don’t have to have it all figured out to be on the journey with Him. We just have to keep pursuing Him and commit to the journey.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Committing to a lifelong journey with Him
• Falling in love with Him so deeply that we desire what pleases Him, as He shapes and fulfills the longings of our hearts

You don’t have to have it all figured out to begin.
 You just have to be willing to respond.

Because Jesus is still asking…
 “What do you want?”

And He’s still inviting you:
 Come and see.

https://www.therootedministry.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You are listening to the Rooted Podcast with Crystal War. Together we go deeper in order to live lives that bear more fruit. Thanks for tuning in. Hey everybody, and welcome to the Rooted Podcast with Crystal War. Today I have a pretty stripped back, pretty simple episode for you. It's going to act as a reminder for probably many of you and for some. Maybe it's an episode that you need to share with somebody. But uh I want to start with a question and ask you, what do you want? What do you want? It's so much easier for you to ask, for me to ask you that than to ask myself that, because often I don't really know what I want. But I think that the more that we spend time with Jesus, the more that we learn his heart. His word says that he will grant us the desires of our heart, meaning that our desires can align with what his word says. And through relationship with him, we can actually want the things that he desires for us, the things that are best for us. And the thought of this whole conversation came about through the small group that I'm doing this semester. And we're going through the book of John and we're breaking it down verse by verse. I am completely learning and nerding out with these group of ladies. We study and read it out loud together after studying it by ourselves. And so we come together with our questions and our perspectives using tools like, you know, harmony of the gospels. And you've heard me talk about blue letter Bible. One of my friends is using Bible Hub, so she's bringing some of the commentaries and things from there. And sometimes we just simply ask questions. Sometimes we walk away saying, That was strange. I don't know what that means. We'll come back to it. But either way, I'm loving it, and that's where this whole conversation came from. And there is a verse in John chapter one, and this is verse 38. This is as Jesus is starting to get together his disciples. And so we know that he started, he eventually gets together all 12 disciples. One falls off Judas, so he ends up replacing Judas with another. And then those 12 disciples, after Jesus is gone from the earth and he's gone back up to heaven, these 12 disciples are the ones who build his church, which is essentially what we are today. We are his church, right? So we should be also showing other people how to live and to walk with Jesus. And because he lives inside of us, there's this whole overflow of a life of what it looks like to live with him. Not that it's always pretty. Sometimes I'm like, man, he's been so good to me. I wouldn't even want to ask him for anything else. I wouldn't even want to tell him what I want. But that is not the relationship that he wants with us. He wants to be in communication with us. He wants to hear what our thoughts are and what our desires are. And as we spend more time with him, the Bible is clear that he will grant us the desires of our heart when they align with his heart. So we learn more about him and his heart and how our desires can align by spending time with him. So the cool thing here in this story, if you go to John chapter one, I'm not going to go through the whole thing. I always like to give you some context to go back and study by yourself. But in John chapter 1, verse 38, Jesus says, What do you want? And the two men that are following him, they're just kind of curious. They're like, something, you know, something about this guy that they want to know more. So they were at least wise enough to say, Where are you staying? And he says, Come and see. So they, the story later goes on that they go and spend the day with him. Not only do they spend the day, they continue to spend and just do life with him after this. And they begin to go and tell other people, like, hey, you got to come check this guy out. They begin to share what they're starting to see. And this is even before these verses or before they've seen him work miracles. It's just being around him that they're enjoying. And that's where that's the place that I want us to get. Because when I answer that question, if I'm honest, what do I want? There are things that I'm actually asking for. There are miracles. I mean, genuinely, the way that I'm I'm hoping he will show up in some situations, it will be a miracle. But there's also more that I need to know about him. There's more that I need to know about his character. There's more that I need to release these old ways that I've been functioning in and sometimes even just surviving in to get rid of myself to allow more of him in. And we do that by spending time with him. So a couple things that I think can help us is once we get on this journey, like like we see the two men, they're curious. So you might start out with curiosity and from there go to deciding that you're gonna stay on this journey. Because what it is, is it's a lifetime thing. And so Jesus doesn't initially turn around and say, What do you want? And if you want to follow me, ask yourself, are you spending hours a day in prayer? Have you learned all of, you know, the the scripture? And do you promise to never sin again? He doesn't give any of those stipulations. Because if that were the case, number one, we wouldn't need him as our savior. And so we're in this season of celebrating the resurrection. We're in this season of celebrating what he did. So I want to talk about what it means to just simply be around him for the sake of getting to know him better. And as I've been thinking about this conversation, I went through and came up with a list of 12 things that the disciples did that reflected their humanness that I think we can all relate to. Because being on this journey with Jesus is never gonna mean that we get it all right. It's actually gonna be so messy at times that we're gonna think, you know, have I messed it up so much that I'm past, am I past him fixing it? And I want to clear that up that you've you've never gone too far. You've never, whatever place you're in on this journey, you've never gone too far. So some ways that the disciple give us examples of their humanness and the ways that we probably do these things too, if you're like me, starting out with doubt and fear, misunderstanding Jesus. They had selfish ambition, they were impatient, they compared and showed jealousy, they had fear of man, lack of faith, inconsistency, misplaced priorities, they were slow to grasp spiritual truths, they struggled with temptation and control and neglecting prayer or their dependence on God, dependence on self, basically. And I'm like, I don't know about you, but I'm like, wow, is that a list of them or is that a list of me? Because so often we're not gonna get it right. But he's also saying continuously, what do you want? What area do you want to grow in? And by telling him, being honest with him about what we want and how we need to know more about him, is gonna invite him in in different ways. And we never really know how he's going to answer our prayers. That's one of the exciting, and if I'm honest, sometimes frustrating things about Jesus. The more that I stay on this journey with him, I do get less frustrated knowing that if he's not answering it in the way I want him to answer it, and he's not answering it in the time I want him to answer it, he's certainly got something much better. But there are days where all of that still sounds like a cliche, if I'm just being honest, because I'm very much learning to walk this out myself. I'm very much still learning, like he says, come and see. Come and see what I have in store for you. Come and see how I'm going to meet you in your weaknesses. And that's exciting to me. It's exciting that every single day of my life until I get to eternity with Jesus is going to be continuing to be on this journey with him asking me, What do you want? And then me being able to get close to him and come and see what he has in store for me. You know, and a lot of times when we set out on a journey, especially now, we always have a roadmap. You know, I often pull up my phone and I I want to know, even if I know where I'm going, I want to know how long it's gonna take to get there. What's traffic gonna look like? If I'm going somewhere new, I'll look at the different ways and choose the way that I think is best. And of course I want to get there the fastest way. We also live in a world where you can get online and get like a seven-step program to anything, you know, how to make your child sleep better, how to lose weight, how to um prioritize and strategize your day to be the best version of yourself. I'm not knocking those things, but this journey with Jesus is really so opposite from that. Like he's never given us the quickest route. Not for me, anyways. Maybe, maybe I'm just stubborn and he has to take me the long way. You don't necessarily know traffic conditions, like you don't get all of that when you set on the journey. But if you think about the fact that you're on this journey and sometimes like the best conversations are when you're on a car ride. And so think about it that way. Like stay in communication with him. I'm for me, I'm writing out, I'm journaling. What do I want? And so often I'm like not getting the answer right off the bat. I'll come back to it. I'll go and go about my day and I'm I'm cleaning the house or I'm I'm working on something. And then it's like it just kind of drops into my spirit. This is what I want. This is the vision that I have for that. This is what I want my life to look like five years from now. Oh, this is how I need him to show up in this relationship that feels completely broken. And I'm taking these things to him as they come to my heart. Of course, I'm always gonna say, be in your word. This is a great time to remind you to be rooted in a church. You're gonna be around other people that are gonna get it wrong, that do the things on that list of 12 things that I just mentioned. Um, and you're gonna feel at times like, will it just be easier to not be plugged in to and to do life on my own? And I want to give you that reminder. Part of being on the journey with him is journeying with his people. The Bible's really clear about being in a house and serving that house. That is a church. I don't want to tell you which one works for you because I think there's so many great churches that you have to pick out the one that works for you. If you're in one that isn't working, try some more. Make it to where you get up on Sunday and you're excited to be around his people and you're excited to be in the house that he has you planted in and make the decision to stay planted there. And then one thing too, think about this. As we come to a close, following Jesus isn't just about getting all of the answers. It's about getting close to him. So you are winning if every day you feel like you've gotten closer to him. Some days that's gonna look like closer to him on your knees, maybe, maybe through tears. Some days it's gonna look like with your hands raised high, praising him for what he's done, for the way he's shown up and just blown your mind better than you could have ever thought or imagined. But either way, you're continuing on the journey with him because that's what it's all about. So please share this with a friend. I hope it's a reminder for many of you. Um, but share this with somebody who's maybe new on the journey and they just need this life-giving understanding of what it's like to come close and to come and see and to be on the journey with him. So let me pray for you before we go. And I hope that you have the best week ever. Jesus, thank you so much. Thank you again for the fact that we get to celebrate you going to the cross, dying for our sins, being our savior, and then you rose from the dead, you ascended back to heaven, your spirit now lives inside of us, each and every one of us, even when we mess up, even when we get it wrong. Your spirit's there, gently nudging us, gently convicting us, filling us with joy, filling us with peace. It only comes from you. So thank you, Lord. Thank you for every listener on the other side of my voice. I pray that you would just fill them and meet them in new ways, and that they would be able to honestly answer what do I want? In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you, guys. As always, thank you so much for listening. I would love to connect with you if you have show ideas or topics that you'd like to hear about, or if I could be praying for you, I would love to connect. You can find us on Instagram at therooted.co underscore or therooted ministry.com. Thanks so much, guys.