Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Church. Before you take a seat, say hi to a bunch of people around you right now.
[00:00:07] Say hi to everyone you see. Kids Ministry, you are dismissed.
[00:00:12] Hello. What's up, Deb? I love you, baby. Say, good morning. Kids Ministry, you are dismissed.
[00:00:19] Say, what up? What up, brother? It's good to see you guys. Say hi to four more people. Four more. Do not sit down until you say hi to four more people. Yes. There we go, Eric. Nice job.
[00:00:32] Four more people.
[00:00:34] I don't know why I say four.
[00:00:37] Don't know why four is the number. Good morning. Good morning again. Kids Ministry, you are dismissed. Go and learn about Jesus. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Christchurch. Good to see each and every one of you guys.
[00:00:51] It is a pleasure, it is an honor to serve, serve each and every one of you. Can you guys say hi to everybody watching online? Can we say hi to our online family?
[00:01:01] So glad they are here with us, listening in, joining in, wanting to learn, wanting to grow again. We are thankful to be here with you, be a part of you. If you are new here or you have yet to connect to us and you want to learn more, you want to get connected, stop at our Connection Center. We say that every week and we mean it because we want to help you in your journey of faith. So if you looking to get connected and you want to know more about, again, who we are as a church, stop at our Connection Center. Fill out a connection card. There are life groups and ministries and all types of things to help you along the way that we want to help you get connected to. So that's what you should do. If that is, you just got one thing coming up. As you guys all are aware, we have our fall fest happening October 25th.
[00:01:50] We got baptisms happening that day. We have child dedications happening that day. We got food, we got costumes. They asked me to dress up as Buzz Lightyear. They called me Pastor Buzz. Don't know if that's a good name to have, but it's gonna be a fun, fun day for everyone. And if you have kiddos or you know someone who has kiddos, we want to encourage you to personally invite them to come to church, have them dress up as their favorite hero, their favorite character, and let's have some fun. But also come celebrate baptism and child dedications that day as well. It's going to be a great day. If you are interested in any of any of those things, come see us, talk to us. We would love to get you connected today.
[00:02:36] We are in week two. Get out those Bibles, y'. All we're going to study the Bible today like we do every Sunday.
[00:02:44] Today we are in week two of our sermon series invited. And we're looking at the life of Jesus and these moments that he has with people, whether it's his disciples or anyone else. And we're going to look at the invitations Jesus offers to these particular individuals. We're going to be looking at Mark, the Gospel of Mark. That's the second book in the New Testament, the Gospel of Mark, chapter one. We're going to begin at verse 16. I'm going to read all these verses. Once I'm done reading, I'm going to say, this is the word of the Lord in which you respond, thanks be to God. So let's go to Mark, chapter one.
[00:03:21] And we're going to start in verse 16. And it reads like this.
[00:03:26] As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon, who also happens to be Peter. For those who don't know, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew, and they were casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. Verse 17. Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will make you become fishers.
[00:03:52] Amen.
[00:03:54] At once they left their nets and followed him. Verse 19. Getting. I'm sorry, going on a little further. He saw James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John. And they were in a boat manning their nets. And immediately Jesus called them.
[00:04:13] They left their father Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men and followed Jesus. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Will you guys bow your heads? Let's pray.
[00:04:25] Father, we ask for your favor today.
[00:04:28] We ask for your presence in this moment. We ask that you would guide us, that you would instruct us that your spirit will convict us and that it would encourage us on what it looks like to follow you.
[00:04:43] Lord, I pray that you give us clarity today through your word.
[00:04:47] I pray that you give us clarity, not through what a man has to say, but what your spirit has already presented and revealed to us.
[00:04:56] So let us walk out equipped, prepared in all the good work that you have prepared for us today.
[00:05:05] And for those who are seeking to understand, seeking to know. I pray that your spirit would give them again the clarity that they need to become the people that you're calling them to be.
[00:05:18] Would you bless us, I pray.
[00:05:21] Would you bless our souls? Would you bless our spirits?
[00:05:25] Would you bless our minds so we can behold the wondrous things that are in your word? Bless us, I pray. Help us, I pray. In Christ's wonderful name is who we pray. Amen. Amen and amen.
[00:05:41] Well, again, we are in week two of invited. We started this last week and where we'll be talking about the moments where we find Jesus having these interactions and this, this times where he's having these, these, these, these interactions with these particular groups of people. People, and he's inviting them into something. Now here's what's interesting. The Bible, the scriptures that we have, especially in the New Testament, was written what we have about 2,000, a little over 2,000 years ago. That same invitation that Jesus extended 2,000 years ago, guess what, friends, that invitation still exists today.
[00:06:18] This isn't just speaking to just a group of people in the past. No, that invitation is still present today.
[00:06:27] The Jesus that spoke and invited these men and women then is still speaking and inviting today.
[00:06:37] And that's the beautiful part that we're gonna continuously understand as we unpack more and more of these passages in the future throughout this series. But I got a question for you before we dive into the Scripture. Have you ever been invited somewhere?
[00:06:52] You weren't immediately excited to say yes, right? You ever been invited somewhere? Maybe you were invited to a dinner, to an event, maybe on the trip, and you weren't excited to say yes, right?
[00:07:09] And before you can answer, your brain, start calculating all types of scenarios. How much is this gonna cost?
[00:07:18] Right?
[00:07:20] What is this gonna require of me?
[00:07:23] Who's gonna be there? What do I have to bring? Right? We all, before we give our yes, we typically are trying to evaluate again, the cost, but we're trying to evaluate, okay, what's the thing I must do?
[00:07:40] Sometimes our hesitation to say yes to an invitation is less to do with what we've been invited to or into, but it has more to do with what saying yes might require of us.
[00:07:54] Does that make sense?
[00:07:56] Right? It's not so much saying yes to the person or the thing itself, but what is it going to require of me? Because most of the yeses that we will have to.
[00:08:08] Most of the yes that we would give to an invitation require some form of change. And here's the one thing about each and every one of us, we all don't like change.
[00:08:20] We have rhythms, we have routines, we have our thing. And anytime you get middle or frustrate my routine, Nuh, not me, right? This is how it's done. This is how I like it. This is how it is. You can't get in the way of that. Nothing wrong with routines. It's just sometimes we make routines king in our lives, right? And when Jesus approaches these men, these four Guys that we're going to see and study for the next two hours. These four guys.
[00:08:57] You think I'm joking? No.
[00:09:00] What we're going to see is as Jesus approaches these men, he's inviting them not to an event, not to a dinner, not on a trip, but his invitation, he's inviting them to rearrange what their lives look like.
[00:09:17] That's what we're going to see as we study these invitations, that it causes each and every one of us to rearrange something about our approach to life as a whole.
[00:09:30] This invitation that Jesus offers to them or offered to them and is offering to each and every one of us today, whether you said yes to him or you're on the fence of trying to understand this thing called Christianity, this invitation, it will change the way you understand who you are.
[00:09:51] This invitation, it will change who gets the final say of the direction of your life.
[00:09:57] This invitation, it will change who you are becoming. And ultimately, this change. I'm sorry. This invitation will change what you live for.
[00:10:10] What you live for. And here's where we're going. Here's the direction of today's text. Here's what we're thinking about, or here's what Jesus presents to us. Jesus invites you to place your entire life in his hands without rival.
[00:10:26] Notice the part without rival.
[00:10:30] The first part we like.
[00:10:31] The first part is cool, but then the second part requires rearranging.
[00:10:39] It requires something to change. Because if you're gonna see something or if we're gonna see something about Jesus. Invitations.
[00:10:47] Jesus is not looking for partial access to our lives.
[00:10:51] He's not looking for partial access to our lives. This invitation would reach every part of our lives from our identity, our future direction, our purpose, our mission, you name it. Jesus wants that as well, too.
[00:11:07] Because following him is not, do I believe in Jesus? Listen to me. Following him really means, does Jesus have authority to lead every part of my life?
[00:11:19] Does Jesus have authority to lead my marriage? Does Jesus have authority to lead my sexuality? Does Jesus have authority to lead how I understand relationship? Does Jesus have that kind of reign in my life? Have I given him that? Because the one thing we're going to see in these invitations is, remember, Jesus doesn't force you to follow him.
[00:11:46] He doesn't say, hey, you have to do this.
[00:11:49] He just says, hey, I want to offer you something that your soul ultimately is looking for, but it requires something for us to change about how we approach life. And as we're going to see, as we lay out and as we walk through this amazing and Beautiful text. And this is the text of the first disciples, y'. All.
[00:12:12] Yes. I'm excited for this one. This talks about the early disciples. Jesus, he comes to earth.
[00:12:19] The Gospels present to us that Jesus is the promise fulfilled of the virgin birth. And Jesus grows in stature and favor and wisdom with God. And then Mark, in his Gospel, he doesn't give us nativity. He doesn't give us any of that. He just goes right to the ministry of Jesus. Right. When Jesus. Early adulthood.
[00:12:39] Yeah, right. In Jesus early adulthood. And he records for us. Mark records for us Jesus recruiting his first or his earliest disciples. And that's what we find in Mark, chapter one, verse 16 through 20. Let me read this again and then we'll break this down. Let's go here with me. It says, as Jesus was walking beside the sea, Galilee.
[00:13:07] Jesus did a lot in the area called Galilee, right? You see that pop up a lot in the Gospels. He said, as he was walking beside the sea of Galilee, he saw. Now notice this. Notice this. This is so interesting. He saw Simon and his brother Andrew. And what were they doing? They were casting their nets into the sea, for they were fishermen, Right? Right. And then verse 17 says this. Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will make you fishers of men. Notice these guys, they were doing their own thing.
[00:13:50] They were bothering nobody. They were just doing the ordinary business work.
[00:13:55] And Jesus sees them and then he calls them.
[00:14:02] Right. I love this because it's easy to overlook this, right? Jesus, he doesn't call the ones who have.
[00:14:10] Who have something to offer, but rather he calls the ones who. And presents to them something that they desperately need.
[00:14:19] These men weren't looking for Jesus.
[00:14:24] You see that in the text. Nothing in the text says that.
[00:14:28] They were trying to understand their way. They were searching for the truth. No, they were getting dirty and smelly with fish.
[00:14:37] And Jesus sees them and he calls them. And what's this calling, what's this invitation look like when he says it in verse 16? Looks just like. Or it looks very familiar to last week passage. Jesus says, come, draw near Jesus before he tells them what to do, where to go. He calls them to himself.
[00:15:06] This is so important what we're going to read because we'll get to the what is, what does.
[00:15:15] We'll jump to what Jesus wants to do, wants us to do.
[00:15:19] Rather than focusing on where does Jesus want us to ultimately be and notice, he says, come to me.
[00:15:30] Because this invitation, it is relational.
[00:15:34] It's a call to belong to Jesus. My sons, they have a habit that whenever. And they do this all the time. Every time we go to, like, a park or anything like that, they have a habit. Every time they see or meet new friends, they always become best friends with them at that moment.
[00:15:54] Some of you are toddlers. You kind of understand, right? They're like, dad, this is my best friend. This is my best friend. I'm like, what's his name? He'll go, what's your name?
[00:16:03] It's the cutest thing ever. This is my best friend.
[00:16:07] Then they're running around, they're chasing him, and then they're arguing with them in two minutes, two minutes later. And all of that, right? They do this all the time.
[00:16:16] Every single time. While that's cute, right? While that's familiar for a lot of us, I think underneath all of that is something very human that exists in us. And that's the need to belong.
[00:16:32] It's the desire to have a place.
[00:16:36] Because every one of us were born seeking a place.
[00:16:41] Every one of us were born seeking to belong to something or to someone. And belonging is as. Is something that we strive for. Listen to this. Belonging is something that we were created for.
[00:16:53] That desire that exists in us. That desire was given to us because we were meant. Listen to me when I say this. We were created to find our deepest belonging in God.
[00:17:07] You were created. So what does Jesus do before Jesus tells them to go and fix their lives? He doesn't do that. Jesus doesn't say, hey, go and clean yourself up. No, he doesn't do that. No. Jesus doesn't say, hey, go get educated, right? And then come to me. No, Jesus says, come to me. Because the call Jesus extends to us is a call where he changes our identity and our identity is found in who he is.
[00:17:34] Meaning this. Meaning this. Friends, the Christian life begins with knowing who you are because you belong to Jesus.
[00:17:45] I belong to Christ.
[00:17:48] So many of us, we're going to spend the rest of our lives finding our ultimate worth in what we have and what we do.
[00:17:56] And while they may give some sort of joy, it can never be lasting.
[00:18:02] It's always temporary. We try to find our deepest worth. We try to find our deepest identity in how much we've achieved, how much we've made, who we've been around, what kind of job we have, what our credit score looks like and all of that.
[00:18:17] Wearing what my family looks like, all of that. Notice that many of us, we extend to find validation in things that ultimately have no eternal value.
[00:18:28] Sure, they give joy in the moment, but they don't give joy or peace that's everlasting meaning this. Jesus is not calling you, inviting you into something that he just demands something of you. No, he wants to give you an identity that is greater than we ever can imagine.
[00:18:53] Right?
[00:18:55] Because I want you to understand this, because this is kind of the pastor of me. As I read. As I read these texts, we're gonna notice one thing in all these invitations, behind every invitation from Jesus. Listen to me. It reminds us that we were never meant to build an identity apart from him.
[00:19:16] Right? If you think about it, Jesus, he doesn't have to invite us. He's God Almighty. He has it all. He is in all. He is above all, before all, and will last for eternity. He is God eternal. What is Jesus doing in every invitation?
[00:19:34] What is this? It's a callback to our original design.
[00:19:42] When Jesus spent his time here on this earth.
[00:19:45] This wasn't random. This is Jesus reminding each and every individual then and even today. You were never meant to build a life apart from God. You were made for God to be with God, to belong to God.
[00:20:01] He's calling us back to our original design.
[00:20:06] We were created for God by God, to be with God and to belong to him forever. So he says, come, come. Before you do anything, just draw near to me. Yes, you, you stinky fishermen. You smelly fisherman. Was a dirty job. Y' all wasn't easy, right?
[00:20:29] It wasn't your white collar type of job. No, you got dirty. He invites these men. He says, just come to me. And then the next part happens that we need to really understand. This just unpacks a little bit more of what he's inviting them into. Look at verse 16. Again. He says, come, come. Just come.
[00:20:49] Come to me. Be with me. Belong to me.
[00:20:53] And then he says, now follow notice. Notice the part where he says, come. This is positional notice. Follow is directional, right? He says, come with me.
[00:21:10] And now follow me.
[00:21:13] Come be with me. Be attached to me. Find your identity in me. And then follow me. My sons. I talk about my sons all the time. I know because I'm with them all the time. And y' all pray for me. And we have a lot of frogs. We have a retention pond. I've told you about this probably before. We have a retention pond in our backyard. We have a lot of frogs in our neighborhood. Just a lot of them, right? Whenever it rains, like, frogs just come out of the woodwork. Like, it almost feels like it's Exodus, you know, when God had all the frogs come. Like, it's just. It's crazy. And, you know, and it rained. And my son said, let's go look for frogs. I know the location where all the frogs hang out at, right? I know the frog.
[00:21:54] I just know where they hang out. Don't ask, ask me why, right? And we're out looking for frogs. And my oldest is like, hey, you know, let's go this way. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. Like, they're usually over here. Like, let's go that way. But of course, my son, he's stubborn. He doesn't get it from me. But of course, my son, he's stubborn.
[00:22:14] She's not here. And he goes his way, he goes his direction. He's like, no, no, I know where it is.
[00:22:21] It's over here. The frogs are over there. And lo and behold, they go over there and there's nothing but mosquitoes. And that's what they get. But that's just.
[00:22:31] They found themselves taking their own path and not trusting in my direction.
[00:22:39] The problem wasn't that they didn't love me.
[00:22:43] The problem was they didn't trust me enough for my direction.
[00:22:51] They didn't trust me enough to give them direction, right? And what's interesting is that's a lot of us.
[00:22:58] Because a lot of us say this.
[00:23:00] I decide where I'm going.
[00:23:02] I determine what matters most. I choose my priorities. I choose who I am. I choose my purpose. And Jesus, in this invitation, he doesn't say, hey, believe something about me.
[00:23:14] No, he says this.
[00:23:16] Let me be the one who determines the direction of your life. Because belonging to Jesus leads to us. Going to where Jesus leads us.
[00:23:31] It means going where Jesus leads us, right? And following him means this. When Jesus says follow him again, he's reminding us, you were never meant to be your own guide.
[00:23:48] You were never meant to be your own leader.
[00:23:52] You were never meant to be the one who calls the shots.
[00:23:56] You were never meant to be the one who determines the course of your life, Right? Because belonging to Jesus means going where Jesus leads.
[00:24:05] And it's the next point I want us to know. To follow Jesus is surrendering. It surrenders self direction and trusting his direction.
[00:24:17] It's surrendering. It's saying, I go where Jesus leads.
[00:24:23] I go where Jesus leads. Now it's interesting. I want you to take a look with me. These guys again, fishermen, which means this. They already had their life already kind of figured out.
[00:24:37] They already had routines and plans and a direction for their lives. And Jesus comes in and he invites them. Not merely to improve those plans, no, when Jesus says, follow me, this means he isn't asking.
[00:24:54] It isn't asking Jesus to help accomplish the life we've already decided.
[00:24:59] It's trusting him enough to let his purpose redefine ours.
[00:25:05] Because following Jesus is trusting him to lead you into the life he has already purposed.
[00:25:14] Right?
[00:25:15] It's not about figuring out life.
[00:25:19] It's following the one who's already purposed your life.
[00:25:24] It's not merely inviting Jesus saying, bless my plans. No, no, Jesus, you've already have a plan.
[00:25:31] And sometimes I don't know what that looks like.
[00:25:34] Sometimes I don't know where that leads.
[00:25:37] But I know the one who's doing the leading.
[00:25:40] And I can trust his heart because he reminded me last week. What did he remind us for? I am gentle and lowly at heart.
[00:25:52] Jesus proves that we can trust him. We could trust him that he's already purposed our lives and that he will faithfully, continually lead our lives as well. Doesn't mean I will always know where I'm going, but I do know who's always leading.
[00:26:12] The one who is faithful and true. Jesus says, follow me.
[00:26:17] Just don't stand and admire me. Just don't stand and learn from me. No, I want you to follow me.
[00:26:24] Follow me. Interesting. In the ancient world, Jesus would have been a rabbi, right? Spoiler alert. Jesus was Jewish.
[00:26:33] Jesus was Jewish. And rabbis, they would have followers.
[00:26:38] These followers, they weren't just ordinary followers. No. These guys would be literally right behind the door, right behind the rabbi, following his direction, following his ways. Right.
[00:26:50] They literally, there's like, stories that talk about how, like, they would have the. The sand of the rabbi literally leap off the ground and it would always hit their legs because that's how close they were to their teacher. Right.
[00:27:05] But also, Jesus gives us another understanding of what it looks like to follow him.
[00:27:11] Because following him is more than just belonging to him.
[00:27:15] Following him is also becoming like him as well.
[00:27:22] Because, listen, you are shaped by what you consistently follow.
[00:27:27] You are shaped by what you consistently follow. If you don't like your character today, you have to ask yourself, what ultimately has. What ultimately am I following?
[00:27:40] What ultimately am I giving my most attention to?
[00:27:43] What has my affection, what has my direction? Because you are shaped by what you consistently follow.
[00:27:52] And it's not just belonging to him. No. The more I am with him, the more I delight in him, the more I draw near to him, the more that I find my rest in him. That there's something about him that rubs off on me.
[00:28:06] There's something about his character that begins to impact my character. There's Something about His very presence that just shapes the very essence of my soul.
[00:28:20] And I want to say this. I want to say this. Following Jesus, this is key. Following Jesus is allowing him to. To make you into the person you cannot become on your own.
[00:28:35] That's the part right there.
[00:28:38] Keep that up there for them, crew.
[00:28:42] Following Jesus is trusting him to help you to become the person you can't become on your own.
[00:28:52] I can't become the man, the Father, any area of my life.
[00:28:58] I can't be without being near to Jesus.
[00:29:04] I can't be.
[00:29:06] I can't be. And that's what Jesus is. He's not just inviting us just for a aimless direction. No. As he leads our lives, he also begins to shape the very character of our souls.
[00:29:20] More and more.
[00:29:23] It is trusting him not just to lead you, but trusting him to make you into the person he is calling you to be.
[00:29:32] It's trusting him to make you into the man that God is calling you to be. It's trusting him into the woman that he is calling you to be. It's trusting him to become the Father that He is calling you the mother, the co worker, the husband, the wife, the leader, the friend. It is the trusting him to form within you, to become what you can't become on your own.
[00:29:55] That's what it means to trust God. Not just to trust him with direction, but trust him with the very character of your soul.
[00:30:04] The very character of your soul. Now, what's interesting is I want to give you a little pastoral insight.
[00:30:11] The Gospel of Mark, one of the great things. Logan's going to love this. One of the great themes of the Gospel of Mark is these men that accept the call that we see. These men that accept the call. One of the great things in the Gospel of Mark, but also in all the other gospels, but a little bit more in Mark's Gospel. One of the great themes is, yes, these men accept the call, but what happens after is shocking. You want to know what happens after?
[00:30:35] These guys suck.
[00:30:40] Is that theologically correct? I don't know.
[00:30:44] Don't know if we can use that in seminary. But that's okay, right? These guys suck. They get it wrong.
[00:30:51] Peter, James, John, Andrew, Bartholomew, Matthew, all these guys, they get it wrong, right? They deny him, they run from him, Right? They struggle to believe.
[00:31:07] Right? They rebuke him.
[00:31:10] Listen, they try to control the outcome.
[00:31:14] They do it all.
[00:31:15] And you know what's interesting is, guess what? You know what's even more powerful about all of that?
[00:31:20] Jesus knew all of that, and he still called them.
[00:31:26] He knew all of their shortcomings. He knew all of their sin. He knew all of their. He knew all of that. And he still, still caused them. He knew all of it. And he still calls them.
[00:31:41] And here's what's beautiful about this. Sometimes Jesus calls you today.
[00:31:47] Yes. Jesus calls you knowing that there is still a lot in you that needs to change.
[00:31:55] He calls you knowing that there's still a lot in you that needs to change. And following him doesn't mean following him perfectly. They didn't do it. And guess what? If the apostle Peter was awful, what should we expect? Listen, following Jesus, it's not about following him perfectly.
[00:32:17] Because our hope. Our hope is not in our faithfulness, but our hope is in the one who was faithful to continually form us time and time, over and over, over.
[00:32:33] And here's the one thing I want you to know. Your failures, they don't exhaust Christ's faithfulness.
[00:32:39] Your failures, they don't exhaust his faithfulness.
[00:32:42] These men, they. They fail Jesus plenty of times.
[00:32:46] But Jesus patiently, over time, continually formed them to be the men that he's called them to be. And what has he called them to ultimately be? Let's close up the sermon. He. Jesus says it in verse 17. Bring up verse 17 for him 1 more time. Logan, look what he says.
[00:33:04] Jesus says, come, follow me.
[00:33:09] Listen to this.
[00:33:11] I will make you become fishers of men. Last week it was, come and I will give you rest.
[00:33:21] Now it's, come and I will make you into something you cannot become on your own.
[00:33:30] That's just fishers of men. Interesting fishermen. Their goal is to use tools and use instruments. I'm not. I barely fish. Or if I sound stupid, illiterate. I'm sorry.
[00:33:44] Right. Okay. All right. Give me a Bible and a barbell and I'll be okay. Okay.
[00:33:51] But Jesus, it's interesting. These men were fishermen and fishermen, their goal is to draw fish out of water.
[00:34:00] They use tools and instruments to do that. A net, that's typically what was used.
[00:34:06] And these men were skilled at it. Right? You can't just take just any random person and they instantly be. No. It takes time to get good at it.
[00:34:15] Right. And the goal and their purpose is to draw the fish out of the water and bring them on the boat.
[00:34:22] And I love that Jesus uses this imagery. Fishers of men.
[00:34:27] Right? Because what Jesus is going to do, he's not just giving them a new identity. He's not just giving them new direction. He's ultimately giving them a new mission, a new purpose, and it points beyond themselves. Jesus says, I want to give you a life where merely. It points beyond who you are, but it points to whose you are.
[00:34:51] It points merely beyond what you do, but rather who you do it for.
[00:34:59] Right? And I want to use your life to draw people to me.
[00:35:06] That's what Jesus says.
[00:35:08] I'm going to use your life to draw people out of something, right? Because they're in the water, and now they're coming out of the water. That's the fish. They are in the water, and now they're coming out of the water. And Jesus says, I want to use you. I want to be at work in you. Because the work Christ does in you becomes the work Jesus does through you as well.
[00:35:29] And Jesus, what does he do as we belong to him, as we follow him, as we walk and go where he goes? Jesus forms you into someone whose life draws others towards him.
[00:35:43] That's what it means.
[00:35:45] I'm gonna use I want your life.
[00:35:48] It reminds me of this, my son, not too long ago, and not my proudest dad moment. Not my proudest dad moment. But he wore.
[00:35:56] It was a hero day at school and pray for us, guys.
[00:36:02] He wore a LeBron James jersey to school.
[00:36:06] Yeah.
[00:36:07] The traitor himself.
[00:36:09] And he wore. And he was. He was excited about it. It was when LeBron was with the Cleveland, you know, and then that was, you know, right before he left us the second time.
[00:36:19] But he wore his LeBron James jersey to school. And he was so excited because he knew as soon as people saw him, they would know that his jersey pointed to someone else.
[00:36:32] And he came home and he told me, dad, everyone complimented me on my jersey. And I said, really?
[00:36:39] That's nice. Should have wore a Bulls jersey. You really would have been good. But he says, everyone, he said, everyone knew I was wearing a LeBron jersey because the jersey himself, what did it do?
[00:36:57] It didn't point to the one wearing, pointed to the one who was represented on it.
[00:37:04] And the question is, and as I follow Jesus, as I become like Jesus, as I find my deepest longing in Christ, the next step, I have to ask myself, is when people see my life, do they see something of Jesus in it? It.
[00:37:23] I've asked you this a hundred thousand times, and I'll do it again.
[00:37:27] If people were to study your life this week, what would they learn about Jesus?
[00:37:35] People would have studied the way you act at work, the way you treat your wife, the way you treat your children, the way you treat your family, the way you treat those who hurt you, what you do when you're alone.
[00:37:54] People were to see your life with something of Jesus become visible in that very moment.
[00:38:03] That's just life. Jesus calls them into. I want your life to be a representation of the One who was at work in you and the one who was working through you.
[00:38:14] That's what Jesus means in this moment. And these men, they hear this call and notice their response. Andrew, Simon, James and John, they left everything. What did I say last week?
[00:38:30] Every call of Jesus requires for us to leave something behind.
[00:38:36] These men, they left behind their business. Now this isn't go and put your, you know, two week resignation tomorrow at work.
[00:38:44] Right? No, but, but, but merely they understood now this wouldn't have been their first time meeting Jesus. A lot of people think like this is like, oh, they just met Jesus for the first time. No, they probably would have. This would have been maybe the first or, I mean, sorry, the second or third time interacting with Jesus.
[00:39:00] But what's interesting about it is they left something behind because. Because the response to follow him is that whatever keeps me from following Him, I'm leaving behind whatever keeps me from becoming like Jesus. I'm leaving behind whatever keeps me from trusting in Christ. I'm leaving behind whatever keeps me. Which means this following Jesus. Listen to me, it's not a one time. Yes.
[00:39:30] It's not about the question isn't, have you accepted Jesus?
[00:39:34] Following Jesus is an invitation. We spend the rest of our lives learning.
[00:39:40] We spend the rest of our lives learning. It's not, have I accepted Jesus? No. Have I attached my very life to who he is, who he's calling me to be, and what he calls me to do as well?
[00:39:58] That's the question.
[00:40:00] Because Christianity isn't I believe in Jesus.
[00:40:03] It's not just that.
[00:40:05] It's the next step of saying, I believe in him and my life has nothing without Him.
[00:40:14] My life is nothing without Him.
[00:40:16] So I follow him, I trust him and I ask him to make me into the person he is calling me to be. I ask him to give me direction where I can give on my own.
[00:40:31] That's the response. The question is, what do you need to leave behind?
[00:40:38] This isn't a, oh, cute message. Thank you, Pastor. This is. What does this require of me?
[00:40:44] This isn't a, oh man. I learned some things about this Bible today that's really cool. No, Jesus, what is keeping me from following you?
[00:40:55] What are some nets I need to cast aside?
[00:40:59] What are some things in my life that is keeping me from trusting you?
[00:41:04] That takes a humble prayer to God to ask you to give to you, but you desperately need to follow Him. Let's pray.
[00:41:18] Dear Father, I love you and I thank you. I ask that today you would form within each and every one of us the people you are calling us to be.
[00:41:26] Lord, there are some in this room today that have accepted the call years ago.
[00:41:32] But I pray that that call, that they don't lean onto that one time, that one time moment, but rather they will continuously lead onto you for every moment of their lives.
[00:41:48] Pray that they just don't give their yes to you.
[00:41:51] Yes to believe in you, but they're yes to entrust you, trust onto you everything you are calling them to do and to become in their lives.
[00:42:04] Pray that they can trust your direction above theirs.
[00:42:07] I pray that they can trust what you have for them above theirs.
[00:42:16] And I pray for those in the room today who haven't yet accepted the call.
[00:42:22] But they can hear the whisper of your spirit today saying, come, put it aside.
[00:42:35] Draw near to me.
[00:42:38] Become who I've called you to be.
[00:42:42] Belong to me. Know me.
[00:42:46] I pray that yout give them the willing spirit to approach the throne of grace.
[00:42:53] Receive mercy the time that they need it.
[00:42:57] I pray that today, Lord, that. That for many of us, we wouldn't just say yes to youo, but rather we would spend our entire lives trusting all that you want to do.
[00:43:12] So would you help us, I pray.
[00:43:15] Would you bless us? I pray.
[00:43:19] Whatever we need to put aside whatever thing we have allowed ourselves to be convinced that it is the way or is our truth or whatever it may be. Lord, whatever is keeping me from following you, show me.
[00:43:39] Show me, Lord.
[00:43:41] Show me what is keeping me.
[00:43:44] And Lord, give great exposure so I can learn to cast it aside.
[00:43:51] Because I want to follow you.
[00:43:54] Because I know I can't be the man that you've called me to be. I know I can't lead my own life.
[00:44:00] But I need you.
[00:44:03] So help me to put aside what keeps me from following.
[00:44:07] Bless us, I pray.
[00:44:09] Help us, I pray, in your Son's perfect and wonderful name. Amen.
