“Follow Me,” Jesus is still putting this call on us, are you willing to respond to Him? Jump in with us in Sections 33 of the Gospel Harmonies @ https://www.harmonychurch.cc/tracking-jesus-timeline/. IT’S EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ).
WELCOME & INTRODUCTION TO SERVICE:
When I got back from Israel last summer, I was coming down the escalator, ready to go grab my luggage, but as I was coming out I saw my family waiting for me. I hadn’t seen them for weeks and I forgot everything else, all I wanted was to surround myself with them.
Look, this week we are doing something different for worship because tonight we are doing something different tonight – we are having an old-school worship & prayer night, where we are inviting people to come and share testimonies of the good things they’ve seen God do and we’re going to seek God.
And we thought, why don’t we bring that to Sunday morning. So, this morning, it’s just Anthony with a guitar, leading us – no lights, nothing fancy – not that all that’s bad. But we wanted to be sure that this morning – you come off of your week and you see that God is standing right there waiting for you…
David, writing the psalms said this:
Psalm 41:1-2
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
I’ll tell you when, today, today we are coming before God – we are inviting you to join us in worshiping Jesus with everything you’ve got… Because there is NOTHING better than Him! Nothing!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- Tonight – 6:30, right here – prayer and worship
- Ladies Night – March 10, 6-8:30pm, Scan to Register – $15 covers childcare & food
- Need Candy – today is last day to donate, but if you still want to give, text “Candy” to give number or select the fund when giving online
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OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
How many of you went to the Journey concert a few weeks ago on Valentine’s day?
oh man, I would have loved to have gone!
Have you guys seen the documentary, “don’t stop believing” about Arnel Pineda from the Philippines becoming the new lead singer for Journey? He was singing in bars in the Philippines – Steve Perry wouldn’t come back on tour with Journey and so they started just pulling up youtube videos of people singing and came across Pineda. He sounded just like Perry, so they called him up and asked him to eventually become the frontman of the band.
Crazy right?
He went from singing in bars to blowing out huge concert venues.
We love those kinds of stories, don’t we? Because we believe, maybe, just maybe there’s a chance for us too…
What do you do when an opportunity like that comes along?
-how about you? Would you be nervous? Would you let your worries and fears keep you from taking that step
-or are the kind of person who would just leap at the opportunity
Today, we’re going to look at the opportunity that’s before us and I’m going to ask you to step, so get ready!
check this out…
Jesus has been doing ministry, He’s met with John the Baptist, with Nicodemus, He’s turned water into wine and now He’s back in Cana after doing some ministry in other places – a leader from Capernaum comes and asks him to heal his son. He’s rejected at Nazareth… And now He’s up near Capernaum, He’s on the Sea of Galilee…
I’m going to read this out of Matthew, but Mark gives us almost word for word the same account:
Mt 4:18-22
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Maybe you’ve heard this story preached before. The way you’ve heard it was, “these guys are out there fishing, Jesus calls them and they just blindly follow.” I’ve said this before in here, but these guys knew Jesus before this – they had been with John the Baptist and had heard him say that Jesus was the reason he had come. They had heard John tell them that Jesus was the one who was the lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world.
I also have some really good reasons to believe that James & John are actually Jesus’ cousins
You need to rework your framework to see this as a calling of guys who already had exposure to Jesus, not a first contact.
Here’s what I want to show you today though about this historical account…
You have these guys out there fishing – I think Peter and Andrew have actually gone out early, trying to get ahead of other fishermen, because John & James are just preparing their nets, but Andrew and Peter have been fishing. It’s probably really early morning, these guys have maybe gotten started before the day began. Oh man, the Sea of Galilee is this beautiful spot where in the mornings as the sun comes up, the Sea is just glass still, in the evenings the winds stir and come up strong over the mountains, but in the morning, it’s picture perfect still. These guys are out fishing, I like to picture them trying to be a little quiet, not letting the other fishermen know they snuck out early to get ahead of the game. And Jesus comes up to them, He’s out walking. he sees Simon & Andrew and calls to them and Jesus says
“Come, follow me”
b
This is almost always Jesus’ invitation to people.
b
Can I ask you a question maybe you’ve never thought of?
b
Why does Jesus NEED disciples?
I mean, what He is going to do on the cross doesn’t need them. His Kingdom has lasted WAY beyond the life of these guys. They actually frustrated the process as much as helped along the way.
So, why does He need them?
The simple answer is, He doesn’t. It’s His deep pleasure to use them.
This has always been the case with God, it’s a peculiar piece of who He is and how He works, that
God is a God who longs to perform His work in community.
B
The original purpose of Humanity was to be stewards of God’s creation – we were to rule and subdue.
b
You were created to bear God’s image into the world – being His ambassadors to all of Creation
b
God didn’t need Humans for this, but His longing was to create a community that loved Him and reflected that love back into creation
b
So, why does Jesus NEED disciples? Because He is doing what He has always done, He’s going to love them and teach them to reflect His love back into the world.
ILLUSTRATION:
Have you ever been around someone so much that you start to hear their voice coming through you? I used to have to be careful about binging tv shows because I could sometimes hear myself preaching and saying something with the voice of a character in that tv show. All of a sudden I’m turning into Kramer from Seinfeld or something.
do you know why that is?
It’s because Humans are designed to mirror those we are around. It’s a way we subconsciously connect with others. We’re wired for it.
Scientifically speaking, it’s called
The Mirror Neuron System – it’s the part of your brain that picks up and learns behavior from others.
So, when Jesus calls these guys to follow Him, His goal is to enact their mirror neuron system and teach them a new way of life.
He wants to lift their vision and get them to see there is more than just fishing in life – they can be fishers of men.
b
When they follow Him, their vision will be lifted and they’ll learn how to reflect God’s love back into the world.
CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:
Can I tell you something? I’ve seen Jesus continue to do this over and over again. I’ve seen Him say to people, “you sell cars, I’m going to teach you to sell the Kingdom of God to people.” “you organize deliveries? I’m going to teach you how to organize a revival” “you teach children? I’m going to teach you to capture hearts”
Jesus has a vision for your life that is beyond the horizontal place you want to stay. He wants to call you to follow Him and learn from Him, to learn to mirror Him.
Did you know this was the job of a disciple, it was to learn to think, talk, and be like their Rabbi.
Their job was to become a mirror.
What do you think Jesus would say to you if He were here today calling to you to follow Him? How would He raise your vision of your life to partner with God as a disciple?
I guess the question is, what are you going to do now that an opportunity like that has presented itself to you?
[close – we have papers and pens at the cross, I want you to come up and write what it is that God is calling you to and write your response to Him and then pray over it, after that, go take communion]
