The First Disciples

I know that lot of y'all have been searching or even wondering what your next step is going to be in your walk. i remember at one point for me, I felt like my next step was really getting into worship. I always hear people say how great worship was, but I never really agreed. I thought it was weird. then I realized I didn't enjoy it because I wasn't really into it.

This is my first challenge to yall tonight.

Dont be a distraction

really sing these songs like Jesus is standing on this stage. close your eyes if you want, lift your hands if you want and just really push yourself to worship God.

pray

Introduction

Jesus has recently come out of the desert for His time of fasting and focussing on the Holy Spirit. If you remember from last week we talked about the 3 different temptation types that Jesus experienced. I’ll say them and I want you to see if you can think and remember them.

Physical Temptation This was Satan’s attempt to distract Jesus from the Holy Spirit by having Him turn stones into bread.

Reputation Temptation This was Satan’s attempt to distract Jesus from the Holy Spirit by having Him turn His attention to His reputation. Satan wanted Jesus to remember those people who didn't like him and focus on that.

Power and Plan Temptation This took place when Satan talks to Jesus about Satans power in all the kingdoms of the world. Satan says that if Jesus would just bow to him that Satan would give jesus power and glory on Earth.

Jesus continued to fight Satan’s distractions with scripture.

Tonight’s Passage

Tonight we look are going to stick with the same questions we have been asking God as we look at this next passage in . This is right at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus has started to preach and teach along the sea of Galilee. Remember, Jesus is following His Father’s plan to explain him to the people on Earth. Part of That plan was for Jesus to teach other people. He would teach them in large group settings on the side of a hill and He would teach them in small groups with His closest friends called His disciples. Tonight, we are going to look at the first time Jesus pursued his disciples and began to build a community that would soon be the group that Jesus used to change the world.

Go ahead and direct your attention to .

Before we read these verses I want you to think of what Jesus’ plan was. He was going to find people who were willing to carry out the plan of the Father with Him as they taught others to repent and put their faith in Jesus.

If I am was asked to put together a dream team of people who were going to eventually carry the gospel to the rest of the world, I would think of significant qualities I would want them to have like

The ability to speak in public- I would think that that may be important for the gospel to be spread in a big way.

A really strong knowledge of the Bible. If they are going to pass the gospel on they are going to need to know it well

They must be followers of Jesus. This would be a must for me. I wound think that someone has to follow Jesus and have been following Him for a lot of their life in order to make a significant impact for Him.

Jesus takes all of these expectations and throws them out the window when He picks His disciples.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

These guys do not fit the description that I would have in mind for people who were going to take the gospel and spread it throughout the world! They are fishermen. When I think of this group, I think of people who have all the awesome qualities that we read about with Paul. But lets look to see what We can learn about people who follow Jesus.

Lets look at what happens next

English Standard Version Chapter 4

19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Jesus approaches these totally normal guys and sees

Them as they are

their dirtyness

their sins

their poverty

but Jesus also sees something that is not visible to others. Jesus saw His father’s plan for them. He saw the potential for their lives and the greatness that god had in store for them. That is one of those things that we push back on a lot of times when we hear it. We can look at church and the way people want us to act and think “ i dont want to change, I want to be myself.”. It can be off putting to hear that someone wants to change us, but that is not the message here at all.

Just imagine, Jesus walks up to these men while they are at work and says “I see you are in the middle of your job right now, but I can give you a different job that doesn't pay anything , people probably wont really like you all that much, and it will change the way you act (you down?).

Simon and Andrew wanted this bad! This is not their first encounter with Jesus based on John’s account. The gospel of John tells a story of Jesus walking by Simon’s brother, Andrew. Andrew was a disciple of John the baptist. As Jesus walked by Andrew began to follow Him because He knew that Jesus was the one who John the baptist talked about for quite some time. Andrew followed Jesus and they spent some time together. We dont know how much time passed between the and the time when Jesus called Andrew and Simon to follow him. You can imagine that Andrew told his brother and they talked bout the possibility of learning from such a great teacher.

Many people would respond to an offer like that and so “NO WAY MAN! I WANT TO JUST BE ME! I WANT TO DO WHAT I WANNA DO! I DONT WANT ANYONE TO CHANGE ME!

I want you all to remember this. Jesus is not just looking to change who He wants you to know who’s you are!

SO then we take this into the context of Simon and Andrew. They were grown men at work wen Jesus gives them this offer. THEY HAD A LOT TO LOSE!! they left their families, their business, their friends, their reputation, all to follow Jesus. And dont get me wrong, these Guys had friends to leave too. Simon ends up being one of the funnies, most energetic, and outspoken guy in the Bible so you know He had people who expected a lot of Him. But here is what changed the way these first disciples thought...

They realized that Jesus knew BEST! The realized that Jesus was not just a way, but He is THE WAY.

We look at this story in the context of the disciples, now lets look at it in our context.

I know there are plenty of y’all in here that have been living like Simon and Andrew for too long. I know that because I talk to you and because I was there too. Simon and Andrew spent a lot of time listening to people talk about Jesus. They even spent some time hanging out with John the baptist. But life change happened for the better when they met Jesus.

Challenge:

For people who are like Andrew and Simon before they followed jesus...

My challenge to you is to give your life to Jesus. Stop hearing about Him and start being about Him.

For those of you who are already disciples...

Start sharing. Find one person this week that is not a believer and have a conversation about God with them.