I. SERMON NOTES​

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Introduction

• Recap for last week: Confident faith is not about our greatness, but about knowing we are beloved children of God who point to Jesus, the Lamb of God.

• Today’s focus: Jesus’ repeated invitation, “Come and see,” and how faith is formed relationally over a lifetime, not in a single dramatic moment.

 

Framing the Passage

• Common ways of reading John 1:35–51:

  • How the first disciples met Jesus

  • How someone becomes a Christian

  • Inviting others to follow Jesus

• Deeper emphasis today: how faith grows slowly, relationally, and faithfully over time.

• Faith is not certainty without questions or sustained by our own strength, but a rhythm of life with Jesus.

 

The Life Rhythm of Faith Formation

Faith grows and deepens as we:

1. RECOGNISE – Jesus is present (v. 35)

2. REMAIN – Make space to abide (v. 39)

3. RECEIVE – Identity and calling from Christ (v. 42)

4. REDEMPTIVE VISION – Seeing the world as Christ is redeeming it (vv. 50-52)

Faith is shaped not only by church activities, but significantly, in ordinary daily life—family, work, rest, school, and quiet moments.

 

A. RECOGNISE: Noticing Jesus

John 1:35–37

• Discipleship begins with a simple moment: Jesus walking by and John the Baptist noticing Him.

• Jesus does not coerce belief; He invites attentiveness.

• God often works quietly:

  • Samuel mistook God’s voice for Eli’s.

  • Elijah encountered God in a gentle whisper.

• Faith begins with attention, not striving or certainty.

• John the Baptist, whose heart was aligned to the Lord’s purposes (v. 23), recognised and named Jesus rightly: “Behold, the Lamb of God.”

• What holds the centre of our lives determines what we notice.

• Distraction gradually leads to disengagement and disconnection from the True Vine.

• Practising attention:

  • Small, faithful habits

  • Moments of silence (morning, midday, night)

  • Daily Examen:

    • “Lord, where were You today?”

    • “Lord, where was I?”

• Illustration: a brother in hospital awaiting major surgery, reflecting with gratitude and readiness to be with the Lord.

• Confident faith often grows in quiet, unnoticed places where we recognize God’s presence.

 

B. REMAIN: Making Space to Abide

• Recognising Jesus is not enough; faith grows when we remain.

• Jesus’ first question in John: “What are you seeking?”

  • He begins with desire, not knowledge.

• Desire per se is not the issue; rather, it is distorted desire (sin bending desire) that causes us to stray from God.  Only Jesus can fulfil our deep longings. 

• The disciples ask, “Rabbi, where are you staying?”

  • A request for presence, not teaching.

• Jesus responds: “Come and you will see.”

  • Presence before clarity.

• “They stayed with Him that day.” No miracle recorded—yet this is crucial.

• Faith is sustained by being with Jesus.  Being in God’s presence gently confronts and reorders our distorted desires (Psalm 73).

• Abiding becomes harder as life fills up. Often, the issue is not our desire to be with God, but the structure of our lives that leaves no room for Him.

• Rule of Life: a trellis of rhythms and practices to support abiding.

  • Daily rhythms

  • Periodic rhythms

  • Communal rhythms (Growth Groups)

• Confident faith is sustained by continuity of presence, not intensity of effort.

 

C. RECEIVE: Identity and Calling

• In abiding, a deeper question emerges: Who does Jesus say I am?

• Jesus looks at Simon and names him Cephas (Rock).

• Identity in Christ is not defined by the world or our past, but flows from our relationship with Jesus, for God’s divine purposes.

• Worldly names and identities (student, professional, retiree) are temporary.

• Illustration: Jemina Ooi, called at 23 to serve as a missionary in Congo.

• Calling does not retire; it deepens. What would it look like to live in faithful obedience to the calling and identity God has given you?

• Jesus does not name us merely for who we are or who we have been,

but for who He is faithfully forming us to become.

 

D. REDEMPTIVE VISION: Seeing as God Sees

• Jesus promises: “You will see greater things.”

• Image of Jacob’s ladder from Genesis 28.  Heaven and earth now meet not in a physical temple or sacred location, but in a Person — Jesus Christ (see Eph. 1:10).

• Redemptive vision is learning to see the world as God is redeeming it through Christ.

And this vision is given to those who remain in Him.

• Spiritual danger is not losing faith, but settling—into comfort or maintenance mode.

• Personal testimony: call to Bukit Batok and journey with a man named John, leading to transformation and prayer.

• This is what Jesus meant by “greater things.”

 

Conclusion

• Faith begins with noticing Jesus and continues through abiding, receiving identity, and seeing redemptively.

• God is not done with us.

• Invitation to silence:

  • What is God bringing to your attention?

  • How is He calling you closer?

  • What new name or vision is He speaking?

• “Come and see”—again, and again, and again.