All right, church, I want to draw your attention to the final statement he made there, who
is your one?
Now, who that was, was J.D. Greer, pastor of Summit Church in the Raleigh-Durham, North
Carolina area, and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and just a man
that God has moved mightily through to his church, to his community, to the world around
his church, has actually sponsored hundreds of beginnings, starting other churches, both
in the United States and all around the globe.
And so I'm grateful for his ministry, but several years ago, they began this campaign in their
own church, and our North American Mission Board, who we support, and part of our SBC
missions giving, picked up this campaign and kind of made it this national movement across
the country called Who's Your One?
And the idea is, each of us, each of God's children, prays for one person to share the
gospel with, to share the good news of Jesus.
And so that is the campaign that we're beginning here.
You'll start to see signs start popping up, posters start popping up.
You'll have resources placed in your hand throughout the next several weeks.
And so we're going to be looking at this idea of sharing our faith with one person.
Say, can I only share it with one?
No, you can share it with a whole lot more than that.
But let's ask God to give us one person to lay on our heart that we can see brought from
darkness to light and become a follower of Jesus Christ.
Could you imagine what would it look like if each of us, or break it down a little further,
even just each of our Sunday school classes, each of our discipleship groups saw one person
come to faith in Jesus, be baptized, start to grow in their disciple, in their walk as
disciples of Jesus.
There we go.
We got it now.
All right, let's take our word.
Let's take the word of God, your copy of the word of God, and turn to the book of Matthew.
We're going to be talking about the subject on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew chapter four.
We've been in Matthew chapter five for several weeks, looking at the Sermon on the Mount,
when Jesus talked about being salt and light.
We're going to back up just a little bit and see what he had to say before that.
What transpired?
What took place before this famous Sermon on the Mount?
Matthew chapter four.
We'll read verses 18 through 22 together.
If you found your place and you're able to join me in standing, would you mind doing that?
And let's read these verses together.
Matthew chapter four, verses 18 through 22.
As he was walking along the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers, Simon, who is called
Peter.
So just so you know, that's who we're talking about.
And his brother, Andrew, they were casting a nut into the sea because they were fishermen.
Jesus says, follow me, he told them.
And I will make you fish for people.
Immediately, they left their nets and followed him.
Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee and his brother, John.
They were in a boat with Zebedee, their father, preparing their nets.
And he called them.
And immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.
God, would you give us enlightenment from your word?
Would you illuminate the meaning of this, the application of this for our hearts and our lives?
Would you help us identify one whom you can call through us?
And we'll give you the glory for it.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
You may be seated.
Thanks for standing.
Before we dive back into that passage, I'd like you to look over maybe one or two pages to Matthew chapter 6.
And let's look at the model prayer called the Lord's Prayer when Jesus was teaching us how to pray.
Let's look at those opening lines in Matthew chapter 6 in verse 9 and we'll finish in verse 10.
Therefore, you should pray like this.
Jesus is teaching his disciples.
Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy.
Always a great way to start out the day, to start out our prayers.
And then in verse 10, what does it say?
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done.
And let's say these final words together, can we?
On earth as it is in heaven.
God's will will always be done in heaven.
And our prayer is that God's will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
That's what he told us to pray.
That's what he taught us to pray.
So that's kind of the theme.
The reason behind this passage, this sermon, and this whole campaign is that God's will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.
So I like to say it this way.
Your will be done.
So who's my one?
You liked that, didn't you?
Your will be done.
So who's my one?
God used me to find one person to share the gospel with, to share the good news of Jesus with, and see that person brought from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of life.
Your will be done.
So who's my one?
Can we say that together?
Your will be done.
So who's my one?
I pray that God would show us who our one is.
Now let's do a little word association.
Before we get any further, I want to share with you that this sermon and next Sunday's sermon came from that guy that you saw in the video just a moment ago.
J.D. Greer, pastor of Summit Church in Raleigh, Durham, North Carolina.
He preached these sermons as part of this campaign for who's your one to his church.
And now the North Carolina Commission Board picked up that material.
They printed up all kinds of handy stuff that we can use resources.
And they sent these sermons along with it.
So this is a great way to kick off this campaign by preaching these sermons.
So if you want to hear somebody better than I do, preach it.
You can go online.
You can hear this sermon again from J.D. Greer himself.
He's got some more personalized stories for his church and from his life.
But we'll try to adapt it to our church as best we can.
But you're going to hear a lot, primarily the bulk is what he preached as well.
So some word association, all right?
What comes to mind when you hear Dallas Cowboys fan?
Somebody laughs.
Yeah.
Until, I don't know if any of y'all are Mavericks fans and you just heard that the best player in a Mavericks uniform is in Zerkowitski.
He just got traded away for some unknown reason, right?
So how about Mavericks fan?
What comes to your mind?
Maybe a gloomy face right about now.
Frustrated.
Irritated.
Yes.
How about Trump voter?
Don't talk about it, okay?
We're not going to die.
This is what comes to your mind.
Careful now.
What about liberal Democrat?
All right?
We're going to die about sports, politics.
It's all the things that divide us.
We're going to go there.
You know, there's NASCAR fan.
How about NASCAR fan?
Anybody?
Maybe like a red, white, and blue bucket hat or something.
Tattoos.
I don't know.
NASCAR fan.
We get ideas.
How about a vegan?
What comes to your mind when you think of a vegan?
Hungry.
Somebody said hungry.
That is fantastic.
I love it.
If you're a vegan, we're not coming after you.
You just have to know you're one of very few probably in our county.
How about fitness fanatic?
Fitness fanatic.
Anything come to mind?
Bless you.
Funny you should ask that.
How about 5K Dominator?
5K Dominator.
Obviously, this is what's going to come to your mind, right?
The picture of physical fitness.
Obviously, I'm talking about Austin.
All right.
So we get ideas in our heads when we think of things.
Probably 5K Dominator isn't what we think of.
Maybe 5K Survivor would be a better way to put it.
However, and by the way, I have started running again, little by little.
Not going to lie.
I took a break after that.
And then the holidays happened.
And so now here we go again.
But what I want us to see is that we get ideas in our head when we think of different things.
Now, we stayed on some humorous topics and some topics that we can look at and chuckle about.
But there are maybe some deeper feelings that lie in some of those.
And maybe there are ideas in people's heads when they think of the word Christian.
What do you think of when you hear the word Christian?
What comes to your mind?
Christ's followers should be.
I'm not sure that's what comes to everybody's mind.
When they think of the word Christian, I'm not sure that everybody automatically thinks of Jesus and people who look and act like him.
Maybe there are people that think of Christians as those who are a bit judgmental, a bit judgy, a bit looking down their nose at everybody else.
Somebody said that Christians, specifically Baptists, can be described as those who think they're the only ones going to heaven.
And they're secretly satisfied that nobody else is going to get there.
Let that not be said of us.
Let that not be said that that's our attitude.
That certainly wasn't Jesus' attitude.
You know, the funny thing is the early Christians did not call themselves Christians.
That was a derogatory term.
It was an insult.
First views in Antioch, Acts 11, 26, we see that the first Christians were known as disciples.
The word Christian is used three times in the whole Bible.
The word disciple is used 281 times.
You think Jesus wants us to be Christians or disciples?
I would pray that both were the same.
But Jesus commanded us to be disciples.
Disciple is a far more accurate description of what it means to follow Jesus.
And as we'll see, the concept of a disciple exposes the fact that many who claim to be Christians are not actually disciples of Jesus.
So let's get back into the text.
As he was walking along the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, his brother Andrew.
They were casting a net into the sea because they were fishermen.
Jesus says, follow me.
In other words, be my disciple.
And what you'll do, what I'll make you, is a fisherman for people.
You guys know fishing.
You know fishermen.
You've been out there every night casting your nets all night long hoping for a catch.
And what I'm going to do is make you fish for something else.
Something far more important.
Something lasting.
I'm going to make you fish for people.
And what happened?
Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Then he goes and sees the other two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee.
And they were in a boat.
And they were getting their nets ready.
And he calls them.
And what happens?
Immediately they left their boat and their dad and followed Jesus.
Y'all, I've always struck, this has always struck me as odd.
And J.D. Greer preaches the same thing.
Apparently it struck him the same way.
I've always thought, what was it that made these guys drop everything and follow Jesus?
Did he have some weird magical impact on these guys?
Did he shoot laser beams out of his?
What was it that convinced these guys just to drop everything, leave their way of life, leave their family, and follow him?
I just assumed that God just pulled some kind of miracle then.
And just made these guys do that.
But that isn't consistent with who Jesus is.
He doesn't go and make us do things.
He wants us to willingly follow him.
He calls us into a relationship with him.
And he wants our obedience to him to grow out of that relationship.
Not by placing a magic spell over us that makes us drop our nets and go follow him wherever he goes.
Like some Pied Piper.
Anybody remember that kid's story?
The Pied Piper?
Plays his musical instrument and all the kids follow him everywhere.
That's not what's happening here.
Jesus didn't just place this spell over them and they dropped everything and followed him.
Any Star Wars fans in here?
We got a few.
Come on, I know there's more than that.
Y'all know about Jedi mind tricks?
That's not what was happening.
Jesus didn't pull some Jedi mind trick and just use the force to make these guys follow him.
So why then?
Why would they drop everything and do this?
Maybe I'm the only one that asks these questions.
But I don't think so.
Well, when you study the history, we're going to get a little bit history here, okay?
I'm not trying to take y'all to school this morning, but we're going to get a little bit deep into this.
So just nerd out with me for a little bit into Hebrew history.
All right?
Here we go.
All Hebrew boys back in those days went to what they called Torah school.
The Torah was their Old Testament readings that they would have, their scrolls.
And so they would go to school to learn these Old Testament prophets.
Torah was just learning the first five books of the Old Testament.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
You started at age five.
I don't even think we have any five-year-olds in here.
I think they're all in preschool church.
It started with a ceremony where they would bring all the five-year-old boys in.
They would take a drop of honey and they'd put it on their tongue.
Now, do you realize that for most of these kids, their families were poor.
They had probably never tasted anything sweet.
Probably the closest they had come was maybe a piece of fruit.
So having that pure sugar of honey would have awakened their senses to a whole new food group.
Like, Mom and Dad, what have you been keeping from me my whole life?
You're telling me this is out there.
And then while they would eat their honey, the Old Testament, the Torah would have been read to them.
So they associated, and there's even a verse in the Old Testament that says,
My words are like honey.
So they would associate the Bible, God's word, the Old Testament Torah, with this honey.
And they would crave it.
That's how they started off.
Maybe a little bit of manipulation?
I don't know.
So this sensation of sweetness would flood into them.
And at the same time, they're hearing the first chapters of Genesis.
So the word is going to be sweet to you.
And for the next five years, they would memorize huge sections of the Torah.
So by age 10, five years go by.
And by age 10, there would be a weeding out.
They would say, okay, now we're going to select the best ones from this group.
And they're going to continue on in school.
They would only take maybe the top 20%.
And the rest of them who didn't make the cut would go back to their families.
And they would likely join the family business at that point.
You say, why would everybody want to be, continue on in Torah school?
Because if you continued on, you would become a rabbi.
You'd become a rabbi.
Do you know what the rabbis were?
The rabbis were the superheroes, the rock stars, the professional athletes, the famous actors.
That was the job to have.
They made the most money.
They had the most power.
They had the most influence.
They were the most respected members of society.
The rabbis were the ultimate career that you could have.
Every little boy wanted to be a rabbi.
So, if you got selected when you were 10 to be in that top 20% and stay in rabbi school,
then you were on the fast track to becoming a rabbi.
And your life was laid out for you just as beautifully as it could be.
So, rabbi means teacher.
Talmud means disciple.
The boys who would remain in Torah school would study for about the next seven years till they're about age 17.
And then they would learn the rest of what we call the Old Testament.
So, not just the Torah, those first five books.
They would learn the rest of the Old Testament.
Joshua through Malachi.
And they would study that for the next seven years till they're 17.
Then there was a final cut.
And if you wanted to go on with your religious studies after that, the best of the best would stay.
And then you had to find yourself a rabbi.
A rabbi that you admired.
A rabbi that was willing to have you.
When you found your rabbi,
you would go and you would sit at their feet and listen to them teach.
That was your request to learn from that rabbi.
To be his Talmud or disciple.
The rabbis would then examine you with a series of questions.
To see what you've learned in your, what, 12 years of Torah school and Old Testament learning.
They would put you through a series of tests to see if you were worthy to be one of their disciples.
The rabbis had to be very selective.
In those days, the rabbi was the best job possible.
Their reputations were on the line.
They had to make sure that their disciples would be in line with their teaching.
That they would be faithful to follow them.
That they would be prominent, upstanding, dependable members of society.
Leaders of society.
So, the job of the disciple, the Talmud, was to learn everything they could about their rabbi.
They would learn their mannerisms.
They would learn how they answered questions.
They would learn how to respond in different situations.
The highest compliment you could pay a Talmud or a disciple in that day.
We've talked about it actually before here.
Was that the dust of your rabbi is all over you.
That means, not that you need to go take a shower.
But that means that you were following so closely in your rabbi's footsteps.
That literally the dust from walking on those dusty roads would be kicked up all over you.
Say, wow.
This guy is really like his rabbi.
Kind of like you're a teacher's pet back then.
That was a compliment.
A compliment.
Money, power, influence was all at stake.
With a disciple and his rabbi.
So, in Jesus' day, there was a very rare form of rabbi.
Who possessed a characteristic that the Jews called.
You ready for this Hebrew word here?
I'll teach you a little bit of Hebrew.
Shmiha.
Thank you for repeating that, some of you.
You just couldn't help yourself, right?
Shmiha.
Y'all want to try it out?
Shmiha.
Kind of rolls off the tongue.
Shmiha.
It's a fun word.
You know what it means?
Basically, it translates as authority.
Special, divine authority.
But authority isn't as fun to say.
So, let's say shmiha.
Shmiha.
These rabbis who had shmiha were very rare.
Extremely rare.
We only know, have records of about a dozen from the whole first century that were rabbis recorded with shmiha.
Shmiha.
These guys were named Hillel, Gamaliel.
Shmiha.
Famous rabbis.
And the difference between a regular rabbi and a rabbi with shmiha was these guys were masters of the Torah.
Other rabbis could maybe reach that status if they studied enough.
But these guys had this spiritual authority where they could alone give new interpretations of reading God's word.
They were thought to be so close to God that they could give unheard of new insight into scripture.
And people would listen and they would believe it.
For Jewish people, that was highly unusual.
I don't know if y'all know any Jewish people.
They're not usually as a culture fond of new things.
Very history based.
Very much reliant on their past.
On what they've been taught.
What's been passed down.
So to listen to new things about God from a rabbi.
Boy, they had to have absolute confidence in that guy.
So that was reserved for rabbis with shmiha.
A couple other things here.
To be regarded as a rabbi with shmiha.
There had to be evidence that you had done miracles.
Actual miracles.
That were credible.
That could be confirmed by witnesses and other people.
Probably other people in the Sanhedrin.
Finally, if you were regarded as one with shmiha.
It had to be officially conferred on you by two other rabbis with shmiha.
So you had to get two other guys with shmiha to say,
Yes, we recognize that this rabbi has shmiha.
Just understand this was a very small event.
It's an elite group.
So, now that we've gotten this background.
What the rabbis were.
What the schooling was.
Everybody wants to be one.
And these guys with shmiha are the best of the best.
So we look back at Matthew chapter 4.
And here comes Jesus.
Who was a master of the Torah.
You realize that at age 12, he was in the temple correcting the religious rulers, other rabbis in their teachings.
Because they'd gotten some of the Torah wrong.
And he was correcting them at age 12.
He frequently says things when he's teaching.
Like, you've heard it said this way.
But I say to you, this other way.
Then there's this new interpretation authority throughout the New Testament.
We see his hearers are constantly amazed at his authority.
A couple chapters after Matthew chapter 4.
In chapter 7, it says they were amazed because he taught them as one with authority.
Or shmiha.
These people were blown away.
Because this guy that they'd never heard of.
Hadn't been conferred by other rabbis with shmiha.
All of a sudden, he's teaching.
And acting.
And performing confirmed miracles.
And he's a master of the Torah.
And they realize that he has shmiha.
So it's the craziest thing happening in the Jewish world.
That's why there was this big uproar.
It wasn't just that Jesus was going around and teaching people.
It wasn't just that he was going around and healing sicknesses.
It was that he showed all the evidence of having shmiha.
They taught him as one with shmiha.
Not like the other scribes.
Luke chapter 20.
They're saying things like, where'd you get your authority?
Where'd you get your authority?
Where'd you get your shmiha?
Who conferred it upon you?
We need to know you're doing miracles.
Matthew chapter 4 verse 23.
Just a couple verses after what we read.
It says that right after this passage, he goes throughout the region.
Healing every disease.
Sickness among the people.
And here's the best part.
Right before this account in Matthew 4.
John.
John the Baptist.
Right?
He goes out in the wilderness.
The camel skin wearing.
Locust and honey eating.
Greatest preacher probably who ever lived.
The prophet preaching in the wilderness.
He was a teacher dripping with shmiha sauce.
If there ever was one.
By the way, John the Baptist was probably Jesus' favorite teacher.
Referenced him quite a bit.
Had great respect for him.
And so John the Baptist.
He's out there preaching.
And he says, hey, there's somebody in this crowd.
And he points to Jesus.
And he says, he is greater than I am.
He's so much greater than I am.
I'm not even worthy to lace up his shoes.
I'm not even worthy to lace up his sandals.
He has shmiha.
He has authority.
And then at the same time.
As this happens.
The people standing there listening to John the Baptist preach.
All of a sudden hear a voice from heaven.
And God the Father says, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
You want to know who conferred shmiha on Jesus?
First John the Baptist.
Then God the Father himself.
And everybody standing there.
I mean, red lights going shmiha, shmiha, shmiha.
Jesus has it.
Okay?
We realize it.
We recognize it.
And word is spreading all across the land.
Why do you think they hated him so much?
Why do you think the rabbis hated him?
Why do you think the Pharisees hated him?
Because he had shmiha.
And he didn't follow their system to do it.
So when you read that Jesus is walking along the beach.
And he sees these fishermen who hadn't made the cut.
Remember, age five, they start their Torah school.
Age ten, they get weeded out.
And if they weren't the best of the best, they go home to the family business.
Guess what these guys had done?
They'd gone home to the family business.
They weren't good enough students.
They didn't memorize all their Torah passages.
They had some mistakes along the way.
So by the way, kids, if you make some mistakes sometimes, you know, and you don't quite get a verse right.
Or maybe you mess up a little bit or you get in trouble a little bit.
Guess what?
God still might choose you.
God still loves you.
That's actually the one he looks out for.
So instead of choosing the best of the best, Jesus goes and chooses these guys who didn't make the cut.
The B team.
Maybe the C team.
That takes us to a principle.
Jesus doesn't choose the best.
He chooses the willing.
Jesus doesn't choose the best.
He chooses the willing.
The great philosophers were at Athens.
The powerful were in Rome.
He passed over Herodotus, the historian.
Socrates, the great thinker.
Julius Caesar, the great ruler.
He chose men to be his disciples.
And they were so ordinary, it was crazy.
It was funny.
Not a single rabbi would ever do this.
No teachers, no religious experience experts were among his followers.
Not even a synagogue ruler.
Half of them were fishermen.
One was basically an IRS agent.
And everybody loves the IRS, right?
One of them was a former terrorist.
He chose the B team because his work in the world would not come from their abilities.
It would come from his shmeha and his power.
So, Jesus chose the willing, not the best.
It's not how you and I think.
When we're putting, you know, when I was a kid, we put together a playground basketball game or football game.
The best of the best would always get selected first.
And then me and the rest of the kids would try to figure out who's not going to be last, right?
Don't pick me last, please.
Next to last is fine, just not last.
But God is looking for those who get picked last.
God's looking for those who aren't relying on their own smarts, their own strength.
So, if you're relying on your own smarts, your own strength, your own goodness,
can I tell you, you're probably not a disciple of Jesus.
I'm sorry.
Jesus set up the system.
If you think you're a Christian because of how good of a person you are,
you're not a disciple.
So, learn Jesus' way.
Humble yourself before your rabbi.
Recognize his authority.
Say, God, I recognize I'm not good.
I'm not smart.
I'm not strong.
I need you.
And so, I humble myself before you.
I follow closely behind your feet.
I sit at your feet.
I listen to you teach.
I just want to be willing.
I don't have to be best.
God wants to use you and your family, at your workplace.
People with a lot of talent and ability sometimes get in the way of what God wants to do.
Because they'll never learn to lean on God's power.
But Jesus taught that his power would show up best in our weaknesses.
So, he embraces our weaknesses.
So, he can show his strength.
So, stop making excuses that you're not able, you're not strong enough, you're not good enough.
Say, man, I don't fit in with that Christian crowd.
That should never be said.
Because we should be the ones with the weaknesses.
We should be the ones that would never get picked first.
He doesn't need your ability.
He only requires your availability.
As we often will say, God doesn't call the equipped.
He equips the called.
I've heard that my whole life.
God will give you what you need.
He doesn't require you to be all ready for it beforehand.
So, have you just made yourself available?
Jesus doesn't choose the best.
He chooses the willing.
The second part is he chose us, not we him.
We won't spend a lot of time here, but I want to make this point clear.
He chose us, not we him.
Jesus came to them and said, follow me.
The normal way is that you would choose your rabbi and you would go sit at his feet and hope that he saw the best in you
and decided that you were good enough to be on his team, to be among his disciples.
If you were the best of your class, you would get to go choose your own rabbi.
And that would give you all kinds of confidence.
If he said, yeah, you make the cut, then you would just fill up with ego.
You would fill up with pride.
Yeah, man, I got picked.
It's like a first round draft pick.
If you follow the NFL or the NBA, you know, they have their draft selecting the best players in college and say, yeah, I'm the best of the best.
I was a first round pick by my rabbi.
How about you?
If they were struggling, they could say, oh, but my rabbi believed in me.
He chose me.
But Jesus even started the process further back than that.
They didn't have to come sit at his feet.
He came seeking them and then taught them to sit at his feet.
They weren't even looking for him.
They never would have dreamed that he would have ever chosen them.
Some of you are struggling right now.
And you need to come sit at Jesus' feet.
But understand this.
You can find confidence in the fact that Jesus chose you.
Not because you were good enough.
The Bible says not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but only by his mercy he saved us.
So you can have the confidence to say Jesus chose me.
He picked me.
He wanted me on his team.
He wanted me as his disciple.
His follower.
He saw value in me.
Maybe when I didn't even see it in myself.
If I asked you to raise your hand, I dare say every hand in the room would be raised.
Has there been a moment in your life when you thought, I'm not valuable?
There's no value in me.
I'm not good enough.
And the truth is, you're not.
And that's why God chose you.
That's why God chose me.
It's who he's looking for.
He chose us, not we him.
John 15, 16 says, Jesus is teaching them.
He says, you didn't choose me.
I chose you.
And I appointed you to go and produce fruit.
And that your fruit should remain.
So that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you.
Do you understand?
It's all about me working through you.
You don't have to bring anything to the table.
So he chose us, not we him.
Number three, our primary calling is to be with him.
Our primary calling is to be with him.
We had our second meeting of this next round of starting point discipleship for new believers
this morning upstairs in the classroom.
And we talked about how a relationship with Jesus is what God is calling you into.
God will ask you to do things along the way, but he's not calling you to do.
He's calling you to be.
You understand the difference there?
God's not calling you.
He doesn't need people going out and doing for him.
He needs people being with him.
When you be with him, you will know what to do.
But if you just go do, and you don't be with him first, you know what the result of that is?
The Christians that have the wrong word association that we started out with.
The Christians that give off the bad reputation of what church people and Christians are like.
That's a result of doing and not being.
That's a result of not sitting at Jesus' feet, but just trying to act like you're his disciple.
You don't really know him.
You just know about him.
You've studied.
You've read.
You've filled your head with facts, trivia.
You could probably stump me on the Bible a time or two.
But you don't know him.
You don't have a real relationship with him.
So you go out, and you don't act like he acts.
You might do some of the same things he would do.
You might do some of the things he would want you to do here.
But it's going to be with the wrong spirit.
It's going to be with the wrong heart.
It's not going to be in the way that Jesus would do it.
And that's when people get turned off by Christians.
That's when people get turned off by church.
When Jesus was walking around this earth, what did he attract continually?
Anybody know?
Crowds.
He attracted crowds.
Crowds.
Everywhere he went, people wanted to be around him.
They wanted to hear him.
Not just to get healed, but just to listen to his teaching.
They just wanted to be around him.
Why isn't that true with you and me?
We're missing something.
It's not just his shmeha.
It's him.
It's his love.
It's his compassion.
It's how he really cares.
Do we really care?
Our primary calling is to be with him.
The greatest example of this in the New Testament is Mary and Martha, right?
Martha wanted to do, do, do, do, do for Jesus.
And Mary was content to just be, be, be with Jesus.
You might be doing a lot for Jesus.
And I love it.
I appreciate it.
I want you to keep doing it.
But if maybe you have to step back and spend some time being with him.
I understand that.
You might need to take a season off in doing a ministry.
Isn't that funny?
After last week, we talked about signing up and doing more ministry.
Some of you need to do that.
Some of you need to step in and start doing because he's ready for you to do.
Some of you might need to take a break.
Say, I've lost my time being with him because I'm more concerned about doing for him.
But our primary calling is to be with him.
Number four.
Number one, if you've taken notes in your bulletin, Jesus doesn't choose the best.
He chooses the willing.
Number four, he chose us, not we him.
Number three, our primary calling is to be him.
Number four, to follow him, we have to leave all.
We see that back in Matthew chapter four.
Immediately, they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Why did they do these things?
Why did the author of this gospel feel compelled to mention these two things?
Because usually, these represent the most significant things in our lives.
The boat was their career.
They left the boat.
They left their nets.
They left the tools of their work that made them money.
The way we provide for ourselves, for our families.
They walked away from it.
Is God calling us to do the same?
Is there something that you're holding on to that you feel like you have to just to make it,
and you're not willing to take that risky step of leaving it behind and saying,
Jesus, I'll follow you, and I'm so serious about it, I'll leave this.
I'll leave my job because it keeps me out of the fellowship of the believers too much.
I'll leave this hobby because it's taking me away from my family.
It's taking me away from my time with the church.
What is it that you're holding on to that's holding you back from following Jesus?
Jesus.
And then they left their father.
That represents the most important and significant relationships in our lives.
Maybe there's a relationship that has become toxic for you.
Maybe it's a grandchild.
Maybe it's a boyfriend, a girlfriend.
Maybe it's a spouse.
Maybe it's a son or a daughter.
Maybe it's parents.
And you have to look at that relationship and say,
is that relationship affecting me in such a way that it's drawing me away from Jesus?
Jesus said, if you want to be my disciple, you have to hate your father and mother.
You have to hate your wife.
Leave them and follow me.
Say, what?
What?
Now, am I really teaching you that you need to get divorced to be a Christian?
Of course not.
That would be completely contrary to the bulk of the teaching of Scripture.
What you have to do is understand that Jesus comes first.
Because in putting Jesus first, in being with him,
more importantly than being with any of those other people,
you learn how to treat your wife well.
You learn how to parent your kids well.
You learn how to be a healthy, positive impact in that relationship.
And if not, if you don't learn those things,
then those relationships could come between you and God
and the only good, positive source of anything helpful in your life.
So you've got to keep that path clear.
Between you and your heavenly father.
So you must be willing to see relationships change.
To see dynamics change.
To follow Jesus, he has to take precedent over career, over relationships.
Most of you won't literally lose your parents over a relationship,
or a spouse over Jesus.
But it's happened.
Sometimes, when one spouse commits to Jesus,
the other spouse, over time, just can't handle it.
And even though that wife or that husband might be praying
and begging God to change the heart of their husband or wife
and bring them to faith in Christ,
sometimes it doesn't happen.
And a relationship ends.
And we hate the effect of sin in this world that causes that.
Sometimes parents might disown a child.
I've seen it happen.
Hardcore parents deep in earthly religions,
if a child leaves that religion,
whether it's in a third world part of the country,
honestly, it even happens here in America.
You say, I'm going to go follow Jesus.
Say, oh no, you're not.
Not my son, not my daughter.
Don't you come back home.
You're going to call yourself a Jesus follower.
Therefore, sometimes relationships end.
But you know, more often than not,
God provides a way to have a healthier relationship than ever before.
He can heal broken relationships.
That's that power, that shmeha that he has.
Then number five, he commands us to spiritually reproduce.
And this is our last point.
Jesus said, follow me and I will make you fish for people.
Following Jesus means you subject everything in your life to his lordship.
He's in charge.
Forsaking all that he has forbidden,
pursuing all that he has laid out for you.
Just like he was a fisher of men,
Jesus' followers would also become fishers of men.
It's an essential part of being a disciple.
It's not optional.
It's not something only a few of us do.
It's something each of us must do.
There's no such thing as a non-reproducing disciple.
So what kind of fruit have you produced?
Have you produced another disciple?
When was the last time I produced another disciple?
When was the last time God used you to reproduce another disciple?
How do you prove you're a disciple?
By making another disciple.
God can do that through you.
If you're not bearing fruit,
you have to question whether you're connected to the tree at all.
Jesus is the vine.
We are the branches.
The branches bear fruit.
If we're not bearing fruit,
are we really connected to the vine?
Because if we are,
we'll produce fruit.
And all throughout the New Testament
and even the Old Testament
and Proverbs and other places,
it makes it clear what the fruit of the righteous is.
The fruit of the righteous is more disciples,
more followers of Jesus.
So if you're not producing that,
are you a disciple?
So our job then would be,
God, give me fruit.
Maybe it's been years.
Maybe it's never happened.
And say, God, before I die,
give me one.
Give me one.
So who's your one?
Who's your one?
Would you bow your heads with me?
God, give us one.
Give every man, woman, and child in this room one.
And then after that, give them another one.
And another one.
But let's start with one.
Who's our one, God?
Our primary calling is to be with Jesus.
To follow Jesus, we have to leave all.
And you command us to bear fruit,
to spiritually reproduce fruit for you.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Church, would you look up here?
I want to give you our takeaway.
Jared's going to begin to play.
What is your next step?
I don't want to just preach this sermon to you
and not call you to respond.
So here's your next step.
Throughout the New Testament,
we see different challenges from Jesus,
different callings from Jesus.
His first one we read about to his disciples was,
hey, come, come and see.
Come and see what I'm going to do in this world.
Come follow me.
The next part was a little tougher.
He said, come and die.
Die to yourself.
Die to what you hold important
and embrace a new life with me.
And then the last one was go and tell.
Go tell everybody else what I've taught you.
Go tell everybody else what you've learned
in walking with me.
Y'all, I know so many of you
have been walking with Jesus for years,
for decades.
Some of you half a century or more.
You've got a lot to tell
about walking with Jesus.
So go tell it.
Go tell it.
Ask God to give you one.
So what's your next step?
Is it to move from come and see
to come and die?
Is it to move from come and die
to go and tell?
What is it for you?
Would you ask God that question right now?
You can keep your seats,
but would you bow your head with me
in prayer right now
and just say, God,
what is my next step
in identifying something
that you want me to do
or someone
that I can go and tell?
Maybe you're in this room
and you need to take the first step.
Jesus is calling you
to turn from your sin
and turn to him
for the first time.
Just like he called those boys
on the beach that day,
he's calling you
to be his disciple.
But you've got to humble yourself
and say, okay, God,
I will give my life to you.
Maybe I've been hearing about you.
Maybe I've been in church.
Maybe I haven't been.
But today's the day
I'm going to give my life to Jesus
for the first time.
If that's you,
would you just share that with me
and slip your hand up real quick
and I'll pray for you.
If that's you,
would say,
I'm going to give my life to Jesus
for the first time today.
Slip your hand up.
Maybe some of you would say,
I gave my life to Jesus
maybe recently,
maybe a long time ago,
but Jesus wants me
to take the next step
and sacrifice.
That's the come and die part for me.
Got to give something up for him.
Something else has distracted me.
It's...
You're sitting at my rabbi's feet,
following him,
covered in his dust.
That's not me.
How many of you would say,
pray for me
because I've got some things
I need to leave
so I can follow Jesus more closely.
Slip your hand.
Thank you.
You can put your hands down.
How many of you would say,
this is the next step,
the last step,
I need to go and tell somebody.
And I'm going to ask God
to give me one person
that I can pray
and find opportunities.
Ask God for opportunities
to tell them about Jesus.
Would you slip your hand up too?
Say, I'm going to ask God for somebody.
Thank you.
All around,
you can put your hands down.
Thank you.
God,
you know what's going on in our hearts.
You know the people.
You know the faces in their minds.
You know the names.
You know the experiences.
The obstacles.
Would you go before them
and prepare the way
through your spirit?
Would you prepare the way
to each one
that we can go and tell them?
God,
I can't imagine
what Henrietta,
Clay County,
and beyond would look like
if our church
each said,
give me one
to reproduce,
to bear fruit.
God,
it's all for your glory,
God.
It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Would you stand to your feet?
Let's sing one verse
of this together,
one verse in a chorus,
and we'll be dismissed.
for this
Amen.