Part 2 following
Jesus
The Next
Step
Religion says change and you can join us, Jesus says
follow me and you can’t help but change
·
Only real
change comes from Jesus
·
From being in
relationship with him
·
From being near
him and his people
·
True lasting
change can only happen when you follow Jesus
·
Religion can’t
change you
·
Self-help books
can’t change you
·
Only Jesus can
·
True repentance
comes from the kindness of God
The question is are you following??
·
If you believe
this should be a question you ask yourself every day
·
If you don’t that
is the question, I ask you know
Today we look at two different books of the bible
with the same (sorta) story told from two perspectives
Matthew’s version is very short because of the
audience he was writing to, mainly Jewish
Matthew
4:18–22 (NLT)
18One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the
Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and
Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living.
19Jesus called out to them, “Come,
follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”
20And they left their nets at once and followed him.
21A little farther up the shore he saw two other
brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee,
repairing their nets. And he called them to come, too.
22They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and
their father behind.
·
To the unbeliever
this sounds crazy
·
Irresponsible even
·
And this is
where the church folks say “if Jesus isn’t lord of all, you’re doing it wrong”
·
And this is
where most unbelievers cut bait and run!
But luckily Luke gives us the whole story!
Luke is writing to folks
like you and me
And he tells us the
whole story
Because that is just
crazy that we would consider to follow anyone without any reason
Luke 5:1–9 (NLT)
Luke 5:1–11 (NLT)
1One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the
Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God.
2He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for
the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.
3Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon,
its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the
crowds from there.
4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to
catch some fish.”
5“Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last
night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down
again.”
6And this time their nets were so full of fish they
began to tear!
7A shout for help brought their partners in the other
boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.
8When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell
to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of
a sinner to be around you.”
9For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had
caught, as were the others with him.
10His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be
afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!”
11And as soon as they landed, they left everything and
followed Jesus.
First, following Jesus always starts with
information
Following Jesus always
is listening and learn
Jesus always gave folks
information to make a decision
If anyone or
organization want you to follow them without info, Run!
Second, he inconvenienced them
2He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for
the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.
3Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he
sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.
Can I borrow you boat?
And during this time
Jesus was teaching
And as they sat there cleaning
there nets, they listened and gathered information
They didn’t even know
who he was
But they were listening
They didn’t believe,
Jesus didn’t cast a spell on them
They were just listening
Then Jesus asked them to do something they had done
a thousand times, but ask them to do it different.
4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where
it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”
5“Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and
didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.”
They had just cleaned their
nets
They didn’t catch
anything
It had been a long night
They were expert
fishermen, they knew that the fishing wasn’t good during the day
But Jesus ask them to do something they had done a
thousand times and ask them to do it differently, do it his way!
This is a big deal,
because some of you are in this moment right now
Jesus is asking you to
do something different right now
And like Peter, its not
a big thing, its not a life altering thing
Its small, he saying to
you, do this or that, but do it my way
And all relationships
start this very way, we give a little of our self over to test the waters
And Jesus is not asking
you to do anything different, just trust him with one small decision, and do it
his way
Could be how you act at
work
How you treat your kids
How you spend your money
I don’t know what it is,
but you feel it
And like Peter, this one
decision could cause a cascade of changes, that lead you down an amazing
journey!!
Doing is the key, not praying, not thinking, faith
is action!
6And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear!
7A shout for help brought their partners in the other
boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.
8When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be around you.”
9For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had
caught, as were the others with him.
Do you see what happens
here?
When he pushed the boat
out he called him master, the term used for any other Rabbi in that day
After doing and seeing
the results, he called him Lord
At this instance, Peter
saw Jesus for the first time for who he really is
He had been standing
shoulder to shoulder, eyeball to eyeball for hours
And it took that little
step of faith to truly know who he was
At that moment, he saw
Jesus for who he was (Lord), and saw himself for what he was (sinner)
At that point, his heart
was opened to the amazing love and power of their savior!
He was finally standing
in the presence of God
It’s all about that first baby step!
10His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be
afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!”
11And as soon as they landed, they left everything and
followed Jesus.
At that moment when
their little step of faith with one small thing they had done a thousand times,
but did it his way
Intersected with Jesus
faithfulness
Their whole life changed
It was not a blind call
to follow, it was the first, and most important, step to trust him with one
small thing
What stage of following Jesus are you in?
The sit and listen stage
·
Are you in that
phase?
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A big bold step
for you would be to simple keep coming back
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Keep listening,
keep getting information
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Might be buying
a good bible and reading a little everyday
lone him your boat stage
·
it’s time to be
inconvenienced
·
that might be
getting in a bible study
·
find someone to
answer your hard questions about faith and following
·
take that bible
and start to study it a little deeper
·
it won’t cost
you anything, but your time!
Take him fishing stage
·
It’s time to do
something you have done a thousand times, but do it differently
·
And you only
know what it is
·
You have been
here listening for a while
·
You have got
your hard questions answered
·
And there is something
tugging at you
·
Pulling on you,
weighing on you to do it differently
·
Its will
probably have to do with
·
Work
·
Relationships
·
Or money
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And this one
decision is at the core of what God has planned for you
·
This one step
will change you forever
·
And you’re
scared, because it’s not how everyone else does it, and change is scary
·
But Jesus in
your ear saying follow me!
·
And this is
when you will realize that Jesus really cares, he is really listening, and you
matter to him!
Leave your nets stage
·
You have taken
the baby steps
·
You have given
over parts of your life
·
You have tested
the relationship
·
And it’s time
to surrender your whole life
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It’s time to
stop testing and start trusting
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