[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Take your Bibles if you would and turn with me to the book of Mark, chapter 1, and we're going to look at verse 19.
[0:15] To start with, Mark chapter 1 and verse 19. I want to read this with you. This is kind of like getting you the preview of where we're headed in the message today. The title of the message, Sacrifice with a Purpose.
[0:26] The Bible says in Mark 1, 19, and when he had gone a little further, that's when Jesus had gone just a little further, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets.
[0:41] And straightway he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants and went after him. If you've got your Bible open, how about underlining this in that verse, they left their father in the ship.
[0:56] Father, I pray that you would work today, and I pray you would encourage your people, and I pray that your name would be glorified, and I'll give you praise for all in Jesus' name. Amen. I think they're going to show you some pictures here, and I'm going to work my way through them right quickly.
[1:11] If you are a parent of a missionary, you could just kind of focus in, or a pastor, you could kind of focus in on these verses here, and you might notice this. Jesus is walking along the seashore, and he sees Zebedee and his boys, and they're fishing.
[1:28] And Zebedee and his boys are fishing, and Jesus calls them, and the boys straightway, immediately get up and walk away from their daddy and their ships.
[1:39] And so if you'll see here, there's a picture. That's old Zebedee in modern times. Amen. And so Zebedee, and then his son's growing up, and just keep going through these pictures, guys.
[1:50] I don't know how to tell you when to change. You just change them. As Zebedee's growing up, and his little boy's growing up, there's preaching, there's fishing. That's terrible. There's fishing. And then one day he grows up, and he finds him a wife that he can marry, and then they get ready.
[2:07] After they've been married a while, they find out they're going to have a little fishing buddy. He's going to be born into the family, and then they grow up fishing together and working together in the fishing. And finally one day they are out together, daddy and his boys, and they start a company called Zebedee and Sons Fishing Enterprise.
[2:27] And then one day Jesus comes by and picks up his boys and leaves. And now you see Zebedee all alone, eating, missing his boys.
[2:40] And so today, in the story you're about to study and about to read with me, you're going to find these fishermen being called to go serve God. And I don't know if this is the first time I've ever really paid attention to it, but we have quite a few parents of missionaries here, or parents of people in the full-time ministry.
[2:59] Betty and I have a son and daughter-in-law living in Arequipa, Peru today with three of our grandchildren. We have a daughter who's married to a preacher who's over in our Spanish ministry working there.
[3:11] We have a daughter who's married to another pastor over in the Augusta area. And then we have a son and his wife and children. And so there's 19 grandchildren, soon to be 20.
[3:22] And he's over in the Ackworth area. He doesn't have 20, altogether 20. And so I was reading this passage of Scripture, and I was thinking about the sacrifice. I want to talk to you a little bit about that in just a minute.
[3:33] I was thinking about the sacrifice that these men have gone through. I've always preached about that because there comes a day, if you're going to be in the ministry, when you've got to stand up and say, I'm going to leave my fishing.
[3:43] I'm going to leave my nets. I'm going to leave my employees. I'm going to step out, and I'm going to do something that God wants me to do that might not be as lucrative and might not be what I could have dreamed about.
[3:54] But in the story here, in this story here, I noticed this time as I got ready to preach to you that old Zebedee's in the boat. I wish you'd go back to that boat with me just for a minute.
[4:05] I wish you could see them. They're in there. The day is kind of ending, evidently. Or maybe it's about to begin. I'm not sure what time of day it is. And they're working on the nets. They're getting everything ready. They're about to go out and do their regular job.
[4:16] And as they're about ready to go out and do their regular job, Jesus walks up and says, Hey, you two, follow me. And they stood up, walked out of the boat, and left Daddy sitting there.
[4:27] He had employees. He had people working for him. In fact, I noticed one commentator said, This wasn't even hard on the family because he already had employees. But I don't think that commentator ever thought about what it would be like to have your sons get up out of the boat and leave.
[4:39] I don't know if you have ever dreamed these dreams, but as a kid, when Chris was born, our first child, I told Betty, I said, I really believe God's going to give us a boy.
[4:51] And we named him Christopher before he was ever born. And there were no sonograms. There might have been, but they certainly weren't in my price range. So we had no idea what he was going to be. But I, by faith, knew he would be a little boy.
[5:03] I told her I want to name him Christopher, Christ-bearer. I hope someday he preaches the gospel. I'll never forget the day I came home from the hospital. And, you know, I'd been through all this trauma without a baby.
[5:13] I mean, watching my wife. Not that I ever did any of it. But anyway, we got in the car. I don't even believe there were car seats back then. I think we came on no car seats, you know. Everybody just was living risky and everybody died back then.
[5:25] Nobody ever made it home from the hospital. And so we brought him home. The doctor told us to not take this kid out of the house for like six weeks. Your wife needs to stay home. So that afternoon, my dad was there visiting.
[5:35] And I said, hey, you want to go to the store? And pick up some things for Betty. And so we got, I grabbed Chris and I stuck his head in my hand. His little backside was down here on my arm. And I said, we'll be back. Me and Daddy are going to take the boy and we're going to go to the store.
[5:47] So we went to the store and I walked around the store. And everybody come around and say, that's my kid there. Check it. He was just home from the hospital. The six weeks had not quite passed yet. And, but that's an exciting thing to be a dad.
[6:00] I don't want you to think today. Hey, Jesus is walking down the road. He's going to call people into the ministry. And as he goes to call them into the ministry, it called for sacrifice. But it was a sacrifice with purpose.
[6:11] So we're going to go back over to Mark chapter one and verse 14. But I want you to notice some things about these men going into ministry. Before their calls to the ministry, the apostles were not people who couldn't figure out what to do with their lives.
[6:24] That's the first thing I want you to get a hold of. These were not guys who couldn't get a job. These were not guys who were trying to seek their purpose in life. These were not guys thinking, maybe I ought to do this and maybe I ought to do that and maybe I ought to do the other.
[6:37] These were men running a successful fishing business with employees and ships. So I don't know what you think. Some of y'all buy boats.
[6:47] So maybe you got an idea what they cost. And these are fishing boats. And these guys are going out with crews. And they're doing that. Then there's a guy named Matthew. It's not in this story. He was a successful tax collector that could afford to offer lavish banquets.
[7:01] They were successful men. They were responsible workers. They were leaders. They were men of position. Have you ever considered his demands on your life?
[7:12] Have you ever considered his demands on your life? So go with me if you would to Mark chapter one, verse 14. Work your way through this passage of scripture with me. The Bible says, Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.
[7:30] Repent you and believe the gospel. So the time had come. Jesus, the whole Bible's been pointing towards this. You know that. The time had come. From the days of creation, from the days that Adam and Eve fall into sin, and the day that Satan stepped in and messed everything up, God had promised that someday he would send a seed.
[7:51] God had promised that someday he would send his son who would stomp the head of that serpent, who would win the victory for the world. And so now Jesus is here. John's been announcing it saying he's coming.
[8:02] And then Jesus steps out and said, It's time. I am here. I've come here. And he had come. He had come to call workers. He'd come to bring his kingdom. The war has been escalating between these two kingdoms we've talked about towards the climax.
[8:18] And when Jesus will reign forever and ever and take over this earth, this is what the kingdom of God's about. Leaving your will, leaving your way to follow his, leaving rebellion, and getting into obedience.
[8:32] Go with me, if you would, to Mark 117 now. So we've gone over that like for two weeks. So we just saw he came to get started. Now he's going to call some men to come after him in verse 17.
[8:45] The Bible said, And Jesus said to them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. In Mark chapter 1 and verse 16, I need you to look at that verse for me real quickly.
[8:56] See, it was a call to come after him. These were busy people. Look at Mark 116. The Bible said, That's not what the Bible says at all.
[9:14] Look at them. They were casting their net into the sea. They were working. They were busy people. God calls busy people.
[9:25] They were fishing and mending their nets. These aren't people that are vagabonds looking to be in the ministry. These aren't people. These aren't people who have positions. They have employees. They have family.
[9:36] They're busy at the very moment. He calls them. I want you to look at this with me. In Mark chapter 1 and verse 17. Look at this. I really hope you'll circle this in your Bible. In Mark 117 it said, And Jesus said to them, Come you after me.
[9:51] Would you put a circle around the phrase, After me. You see, when he called them, he wasn't calling them to a job. He was calling them to him. He was calling them to him.
[10:02] Come ye after me. He wasn't the normal teacher that taught and people liked him and followed. He wasn't the teacher that people had to seek out and look if they could work to be one of his students.
[10:13] He sought them out. He was going to put them in the ministry. They weren't called to study the Torah. They were called to risk it all and to follow him and to obey him. That's a major decision that's going to happen in these verses.
[10:27] Because they're going to forsake their nets and follow him. You got your Bible open. Look at this. They forsook their nets and they followed him.
[10:37] They left their father and their nets and they went after him. It was not going after the world. It was not going after yourself. It was going after him.
[10:48] It was them giving up their plans to follow Jesus. Can we be just a tad honest for a second? The majority of us live for us.
[11:01] The majority of people on the planet have one thing in mind. What do I want? What does my mama want? What does my daddy want? What's the plans that have been made for me? What are the plans I've made?
[11:12] What does my spouse make for me? What do my wife, my husband want? What plans have they made? And I'm about doing what I want to do. I want to do what I want to do. I want to figure out how I can make money, how I can make a name for myself, how I can do all of that.
[11:26] I don't know if you can see it at all. These guys were fishermen. This is a big business. They're not out fishing like you do when you go out to catch a fish. You know, you practice catch and release.
[11:36] They practice catch and sail. So they're in the business of making money with these fish. And to follow him was to give up their plans. What's it mean when he said, come after me?
[11:49] What's it mean when they said, we will follow you? Look with me, if you would, at Mark chapter 8 and verse 34. Let me give you a few things about following him and what it means. The Bible said, when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
[12:09] Underline that if you would in that verse. Underline those words right there. It says, deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.
[12:22] So here's what Jesus is calling them to do. He is literally walking up to these guys who are in business. I mean, it's like me showing up where you work and saying, hey, we need somebody to surrender to be a missionary.
[12:33] How about you? And it's like, you just turn around and say, that's it. I'm out the door. I'm gone. I'm going to go do that. That's what's happening in the story. And here's what Jesus meant when he said, follow him. He meant for them to deny them.
[12:44] So don't do what you want to do. Don't do what your plans are. Do what my plans are. Take up a cross, men. Hey, prepare to die. Prepare for sacrifice.
[12:56] Prepare to make your life count and come and follow me. So what is following him? It is seeking him first. Matthew 6, 33, you know by heart, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added.
[13:11] It's falling in love with Jesus. It is like being in love with Jesus and saying, I want what he wants. I want to follow him. I want to honor him. In Philippians chapter 3 and verse 10, in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 10, the apostle Paul said two things I want to show you in Philippians 3 that are so beautiful, but here's what he said.
[13:29] Look at this verse. That I may know him. That I may know him. Look at that phrase. That I may know him. I really want to know God.
[13:41] I really want to know Jesus. I want this personal, intimate relationship with him. I got married 44 years ago in August and just a few days, 44 years ago, I thought I knew Betty, but I've spent the last 44 years learning to know Betty and I like knowing Betty and I like learning more about Betty.
[14:01] I got saved on May the 6th, 1962. I've been knowing Jesus for a long time, but I want to know him. I laid in the bed this morning thinking as I, before I got up, it just, the sun had just come up.
[14:13] I'm just laying in the bed in the quiet and thinking to myself, man, I love you, God. I love you, God. I thank you so much that I get to serve you. You're everything. Thank you for my wife.
[14:23] Thank you for the church. Thank you for all you're doing. I love you. Here's what Paul said, man, I want to know him. I want to know him. I don't want an academic knowledge of God. I want to know him in my heart. I don't want to, I want to know about God.
[14:35] I want to know him. I want to have that relationship. And here's what he said he wanted to know about him. Verse 10, Philippians 3, 10. He said, I want to know him in the power of his resurrection. I want God to do something with my life.
[14:47] I want God to show his power in my life. I want to even be involved in his suffering, the fellowship of his sufferings. I want to even be willing to die for him. I want to know him.
[14:57] That's what it means. And you might read that verse and say, well, that's a little bit spooky and crazy right there. But it wasn't when you got married and better, for better or for worse, for life and death, whatever, health and sickness, it doesn't matter.
[15:10] You are in. That's how it was with Jesus, following him, knowing him. In Philippians 3, 17, just a few verses below that, he said, brethren, be followers of me, together of me.
[15:23] And so that's the exact same idea. See, what he was saying was, find people that love Jesus, mark them and say, man, I want to be around those that are on fire for Jesus. I want to be around those that know the word of God, that know how to pray, that know how to serve God, that know God in their life.
[15:39] That's who I want to be around. That's what it meant, to follow him. It meant loving him, knowing him, following him. Go back with me, if you would, to Mark chapter 1 and verse 17.
[15:51] Now, when they followed him, he gave them purpose for their life. In Mark chapter 1 and verse 17, the Bible says, Jesus said unto them, come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men.
[16:04] Come you after me, and I will make you fishers of men. Look at this verse. He says, come after me. That is like the sweetest thing in the world. He wasn't saying, I need some workers.
[16:16] He was saying, I need some people that want to love me, and I can love. I need some people that want to get involved, with me. I need some people that I'm going to spend special time with. And if you love Jesus, you can imagine they spent the next three, three and a half years with him day and night, watching him preach, watching him work, watching him pray.
[16:33] They knew Jesus. But then he said, I got something, guys. If you follow me, I'm going to give you purpose. If you follow me, I'll give you a purpose in your life. I will make you to become fishers of men.
[16:45] You've been fishing for fish. I'm going to make you disciple makers. I'm going to make you guys that can go out and see lost people get saved and see lives changed. I'm going to change you from catching a few fish to eat, to make you into somebody that does something, not for daily food, but for eternity.
[17:03] The call was not to him, was to him, not to a ministry, to following him, to following him and knowing him. Now go with me, if you would, to Mark 118. Look at the next thing. Mark 118.
[17:14] There was a cost associated with following him. There's a cost. If somebody's going to give their life to be in the ministry, like these four men gave their life to be in the ministry, that's a heavy cost.
[17:27] And so when you serve Jesus, by the way, it is a cost. Because if you're going to serve Jesus, nobody but us was in a room today when somebody stood up and said, why don't y'all think about giving money?
[17:40] Nobody else was in a room saying, why don't you voluntarily contribute a large percentage of your money to make a difference for the kingdom of God and the cause of God? Only people like us go through that. Look if you would at Mark 118.
[17:51] The Bible says, and straightway they forsook. Would you want to know they forsook? That means they left. That means here is my stuff. Here's my, I like my stuff.
[18:03] We all like our stuff. And he said, they left their stuff and they followed him. That's a price. That's a price. They left their plans. What was I going to do with my life?
[18:16] What were my plans? Someday Zebedee dies. And when Zebedee dies, I get to take over and be the number one name on the sign. Someday I'm the one that's going to run the show. But they forsook.
[18:26] And they left. Look at Mark 120. Mark 120. And straightway he called them and they left their father. Underline they left. Father hired servants and went after him.
[18:41] Hired servants. They had people on the payroll. They had employees. They were not just peon guys. They chose Jesus over their stuff and their families.
[18:55] They left successful occupations and professions. They left their business, their ships, their nets, their employees, their money. They gave up success. Their family had prepared for them and had worked for.
[19:09] They forsook it and they left it. They forsook it and they left it. That's the words the Bible uses there. Now just for a moment for you to think with me about the cost to Zebedee.
[19:20] This is a wild day. This is a wild day. Four of the twelve apostles are called on that day. In this passage of scripture. Four of the guys are called that day to go into ministry.
[19:32] And you can obviously see that this was probably a wild thing. If you've ever surrendered to do anything like being in ministry, you can imagine it's a wild thing. If you're in college and you're studying to be a lawyer or an engineer or a doctor or a nurse or somebody important and you walk into your family and you say, I really believe God wants me to preach.
[19:58] To be in the ministry. Instead of going after the money, instead of being in real estate, instead of being in business, instead of being I'm just going to be a preacher. On the whole, most families react somewhat negatively to that.
[20:15] Now, what are they going to pay you? How are you going to make it? If you do that, what's going to happen to you? How are things going to work there? Maybe, son, you could go to college and have a fallback job.
[20:30] So go prepare to be an engineer and work as an engineer for at least two years so you get your resume built good. Make sure you get all your documents in line. Then you can go try that preaching thing and if it don't work, you can always fall back on that.
[20:43] Go be a teacher, go be a doctor, go be a lawyer, do whatever, but don't do that. So they left, they forsook and they left. Think with me about old Zebedee for just a minute. These boys left home.
[20:57] I think it's the craziest story in the world. It's in the Bible, but these boys left home. Where's mom? I mean, Zebedee comes home, Zebedee walks in the house and she hears Zebedee coming in and she's waiting for the noise of these two grown men, sons of hers, at least late teens, early 20s.
[21:16] They're supposed to be coming walking in the room. They usually come in smelling like fish. They work in a fish factory. That's what their job is. They're fishermen and she's waiting on them to come in and she's like, come on in boys, sit down.
[21:26] I got them. Where are the boys? No comment about them talking. By the way, they are both going to suffer for following Jesus.
[21:37] Every parent dreams about protecting their children. nothing's more important to us than our children have it better than we had it and be protected and life go better for them.
[21:49] But James, in just a few short years, will be run through with a sword and John will be exiled to the Isle of Patmos and then possibly boiled in oil afterwards.
[22:03] We're not sure what happened to him. Imagine how a parent trying to protect their children feels. They want them secure but they're gone. What about time on Sunday afternoon when the children and the grandchildren and the Sunday dinners and Thanksgiving and Christmas?
[22:18] I can remember telling my children when they were small, I said, when you grow up, here's what I want. You don't have to be in the ministry. You don't have to be preachers. You don't have to follow Austin and Sons into the ministry.
[22:29] But here's what I want. I want you serving Jesus with the same spouse she married sitting at my table for Thanksgiving or Christmas and here we are one family in love with Jesus.
[22:40] These guys are going to be missionaries. They're going to be gone. These guys were out with Jesus probably not coming back. Old Zebedee gave up his dreams. Old Zebedee gave up his plans.
[22:52] He gave up his plans for their future. It impacted the family business. Two less crew members. Two less crew leaders. Two men that he could have extreme confidence in.
[23:04] I was talking to one of our men that used to be a deaconess and a missionary and his dad's in the drywall business. I said, so if somebody came and got your brother out of the drywall business, he said, oh, it'd hurt my dad's business.
[23:15] I said, he's got employees. He said, oh, it'd hurt my dad's business. My dad needs my brother. My dad needs my brother there because they can run two crews and you don't have to worry about it because you know the brother's going to do the job.
[23:25] It hurt old Zebedee. How does a missionary parent feel similar to that? And I thought about it. I've watched it happen over the years. I was in Carrollton, Ohio at an ordination service and a dad came up to me as we were ordaining his son who's now a missionary over in Ireland and he came up to me and he said to me, he said, this is horrible.
[23:48] This is awful. I am dying. And I said, what's going on? He said, he's leaving. My boy's leaving. Now today, one of his sons is out in the couch.
[23:59] I think one, maybe one, I know two of the sons have gone. One of them's further off, the furthest off is Travis over there. What's he feel? Abandoned, abused, alone, unappreciated, unloved.
[24:13] What happens to that sweet relationship you had for so many years? There's nothing like it. Some of the things, my favorite, boy, y'all are dead this morning. I don't know what's wrong with you, but this is like the quietest, deadest church I've ever preached in.
[24:26] If a flea burps in here, I'm going to hear it. I'm just telling you. But anyway, but anyway, I want you, I want you to, I got these pictures. I got pictures of me holding my daughters when they were little girls.
[24:40] Those are like the sweetest things in the world. This very week, I was laying on my bed and I got this little granddaughter who doesn't know the rules and doesn't understand when her mama tells her not to leave the basement, she just sneaks out.
[24:53] And she comes running up and she'll come up and she'll go, I'm here! Come here! So I was laid up in the bed and I had my phone there. I was playing solitaire on my phone, laying there on the bed. Something was on the television and she got over and grabbed my phone.
[25:05] She said, I want to play. And I said, well, I don't think you know how to play. I mean, she's like, what, 16, right? Three. I don't know how old she is. Anyway, she's little. And so she's laying there with me and she's laid right up against me and she got her head laying on my head and she found the camera.
[25:20] And boy, she went crazy. We were taking pictures. She said, boy, you look funny, granddaddy. And, you know, I was just thinking, I told Betty, I said, I did this with her mamas. Well, not a phone.
[25:30] We didn't have phones and we didn't have pictures. But, you know, it was sweet. Zebedee, what's he feeling? I want to bring you to something really quick. I want you to think about this in the cost.
[25:42] Was it a sacrifice for those guys? Did they consider it a sacrifice? Is it a sacrifice when you consider that they found purpose in their lives and they weren't looking back but they were looking forward to Jesus?
[25:58] And then I think about this. 44 years ago, I married a girl who lived in a house whose bedroom and walk-in closet, walk-in, I'd never heard of a walk-in closet.
[26:11] First off, I hadn't heard of many closets. I thought you hung your clothes, what few you had, on some nails, drove in the wall. I mean, come on, you rich people don't even understand it. I thought you strung, I thought you strung a pipe across and hung a few things there somewhere in the room.
[26:26] I didn't know about closets. Then I went to Betty's house and there was a walk-in closet. I mean, it was so big, you could walk into it. I know you're like, well, everyone knows about that. Well, in 1973, I know one guy who did not know about that.
[26:40] And I, and I, but she had her own walk-in closet and she had her own dressing room. She could go sit down and with the mirror there and all the little fancy lights and her little stool to roll, and her own sink that she could put on her face.
[26:52] My mama never even put on her face. I think she thought she was born with it and didn't know she had to put one on. And, and then, and then over to the right, if you look to the left, this walk-in closet to the right is a, is her own bathroom just for her.
[27:05] We had an outhouse that we all shared. Say amen. And so, I got married to her and you know what? I brought her to a little apartment, a duplex. It had four rooms, really three rooms and a small kitchen area where you had to have the washing machine and dryer and, and, and, and the sink and the, and the little table and there's a living room and a couple of bedrooms.
[27:27] And our little apartment wasn't much bigger than her bedroom. But I'm hoping on August the 18th, 1973, she didn't think it was a sacrifice. I'm hoping she wasn't going, oh, all my stuff and now I got to go live with that beggar moron.
[27:44] I hope she wasn't thinking that. I don't think you were. We had one of our girls got married and was in another church building and she got married when she got to the back door. She's holding on to her husband's, a brand new husband's arm and she skipped like a little girl that was like, finally free.
[28:00] Finally, I got the guy I wanted. I'm out of mama's house. I'm into daddy's house. Ain't this good stuff. I'm into, not daddy's house. I'm into my husband's house. Ain't this good stuff. You know, that's really how they felt about serving Jesus.
[28:11] You realize that, don't you? They saw Jesus as like, look, that's Jesus. That's the man of God. That is God in human flesh and I get to follow him. I'm not sure what Zebedee thought.
[28:22] It might have been a little harder for him that night because he didn't go home with Jesus. And so today, I tell you, for all you parents and missionaries, I love you and I feel for you and I want to help you.
[28:32] But anyway, that's the story we got. Go with me to Mark 1.18. Mark 1.18. There's a commitment now. In Mark 1.18, the Bible says, and straightway they forsook their nets and followed him.
[28:46] Would you want to a line straightway? You want to talk about commitment? Now at Vision, we don't give long invitations. You probably think that's kind of weird if you've come out of another independent Baptist church or Southern Baptist church.
[28:59] I grew up in Southern Baptist churches and you know, 32 verses of Just As I Am and then we get to go home. And so the, you know, because basically, here's what a preacher thinks.
[29:09] There's a guy over there and there's a guy over there that ought to come to this altar and I'm going to sing until they get tired and if they come. This is like, we're playing mercy here. Somebody's giving in and I ain't giving in. We're singing until they come.
[29:20] And if just one will come, we'll go on another verse. Well, that's not how it was when Jesus walked by. Jesus didn't go by and say, hey, follow me and let's be fishers of men. I'll make you fishers of men.
[29:31] And the guys went, I haven't talked to Daddy about that. All right. Hey, Zeb, what do you think? I mean, Dad Zeb, what do you think?
[29:42] Papa Zeb, what do you think? Do I go or do I not go? It says straightway. Did you notice that? Look if you would, look if you would in Mark chapter one and verse 20 and straightway he called them and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants and went after him.
[29:58] So they straightway, they knew what God wanted and they just did it. They were giving immediate obedience. They stood up and they left.
[30:10] There is no record of a last meal or a family conference about what to do. No record. They simply knew what God wanted and they did it. By the way, they were out of their element and into something they didn't really understand.
[30:27] These are fishermen. These are fishermen. I mean, I am sure they know all about nets. I am sure they know all about sails and oars and I am sure they know all about where to catch the best fish and I am sure they know all about the business and how to sell them but these are fishermen and all of a sudden they're going to be preachers.
[30:44] But they stepped out and went to do that. They will spend time with him and then he will send them out to do the ministry. Look at Mark 3.14. The story comes up a little later. Mark 3.14.
[30:55] Look at it. And he ordained 12 that they should be with him that he might send them forth to preach. He said, come after me. Come spend time with me. Come get to know me.
[31:05] Come get to know the ministry. Come watch me and spend time in it then I'll send you forth. You do not need to know how or even what. You just need to know who you're following and who you're serving.
[31:17] You don't need to know how or what. You need to know who you're serving. They knew about fish but not men. He could use them because they were willing to commit, to obey, to follow. You know why he could use fishermen?
[31:29] Honestly, he should have gone over to the seminary where they were training young preachers but he went to guys who were willing to jump out of the boat and commit themselves and go do something. That's what he went for. There comes a time for all of us to just do what God wants us to do.
[31:44] I realize 98% of you are never going to be in the full-time ministry but I sometimes think we're still not doing the straightway part. I think we're just kind of sitting there like well I know I ought to be faithful to church but let us have a family conference on that.
[31:58] I know I ought to be a giver but let's think about that a minute. I know but I need to weigh the pros and the cons but that's not the story seen here. It was like straightway we'll do whatever God wants us to do.
[32:10] Straightway. He may be calling you to ministry but He may be dealing with you about your service, your giving, your faithfulness. It's not about the church or the ministry it's about Jesus. It's about obeying Him and doing what He asks you to do.
[32:23] Jesus had the authority to tell them what to do with their lives. Where are you in your commitment to Him? Do you like the world still want it your way? You remember we're talking about these two world kingdoms they're fighting there's a world that's in rebellion against God and then there's the kingdom of God that obeys God?
[32:42] We're supposed to be the people that say you just say jump and on the way up I'll ask how high. Now not to me not to a preacher but to God because you're spending time in prayer and you're in the church services and you're listening to the Holy Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit of God is dealing with you and you're supposed to be saying God I just want to do what you want me to do.
[32:59] I just want to do what you want me to do. Teach me, guide me, show me. Do you think it's unreasonable that you would ask so much? I think reading this story we might all walk away going good night man.
[33:10] What a traumatic day. Traumatic for those four guys. Traumatic for the parents. What about Mrs. Zebedee? Poor lady. He comes in the door she says she says where are the boys?
[33:21] And he says honey you're not going to believe this. You're that guy that John the Baptist was talking about he came by today and he just called the boys and they got up and walked they didn't look at me they didn't think about it they didn't give me a goodbye kiss they just got up and left dad left dad sitting there.
[33:38] Pretty wild day. Let me show you the last thing Mark 121 He taught with conviction. They went into Capernaum and straightway on the Sabbath he entered into the synagogue and taught and they were astonished at his doctrine for he taught them as one that had authority and not as the scribes.
[34:00] This is an amazing little passage of scripture right here too if you look at it. First off you know what he did? He just went straight to the place to preach. He just went straight to the house of God. It was Saturday Sabbath day which was their day to get together it was their day to worship and he wasn't questioning about where he ought to be he went straightway there.
[34:17] That's an interesting thought you can look at there and he entered into the synagogue and he taught and you know what the people in the synagogue were like this guy is not like everybody else. They were astonished they were like what in the world?
[34:30] Who is this new guy? Who is it that is preaching like that? Because he taught them not he taught them as one who had authority not like a scribe. See the people were hungry to hear from God.
[34:41] They'd had enough teaching from the scribes that was mechanical and academic. They had no authority when they preached. They dumped facts with no fire.
[34:53] They had a footnote for everything. They knew but they didn't have experience in what they were talking about. They knew about the truth but they didn't know the truth. But Jesus was the truth and he taught the truth.
[35:06] People even lost people are looking for truth not philosophy. They're lost and they know something's wrong. They don't know one who seems to have the answer.
[35:17] They want something that will impact their lives. There's a hole in every heart that only Jesus can fill. where was truth? It's about Jesus.
[35:28] Do you know anyone that really knows him? That would be the question. What will we do? Will we give everything to make him known here and around the world? Will we feel responsible that our families know him?
[35:42] Are we willing to get out of our lives and make them count for him? You listen if this stuff is truth that we teach and preach if there really is a hell if there really is a heaven if you really have to know God as your Savior through Jesus Christ if there's no other way to God but Jesus we've got to quit being so lackadaisical.
[36:03] We've got to quit being so lazy and non-committed and not on fire because your aunt and your uncle are going to die and they're going to go to hell and you can be as sweet and nice to them as you want to be but if they don't know Jesus they will die in their sins.
[36:16] And your neighbor and your friend and your mom and your grandmama one of the things about the Peruvians when they grabbed a hold of that truth they used to say to me would you go with me to see my mama? Would you go with me to see my grandmama?
[36:27] Would you go with me to see my aunt? I can't let them die and go to hell. Somehow we've gotten so used to this that this is just simply a discourse in Bible with no real change in our lives no straight ways in our lives nobody getting up and said I'm going to go do what God wants me to do.
[36:45] We get through today we say that's a good message Austin enjoyed that. I didn't hear anything that I'm going to do nothing's going to affect me. What would happen if he walked by and called you to serve him right now?
[37:01] If he walked by right now and said you I call you what would happen? Are you loving him enough to show that you're already ready to give it all for him? Does his kingdom show forth in your life?
[37:15] does your management of your life and good show that Jesus is first? Because the truth is there's not a special will of God for just preachers or apostles or pastors you belong to him you belong to him he bought you with his blood he calls you to obey him and serve him straight way.
[37:42] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times location contact information and more audio and video recordings.