Sermon for 1/24/21 - 16 Minutes

Sermon for 1/24/21 - 16 Minutes

This morning I'll be reading Mark chapter 1 verses 14 through 20.

And I'll be reading from the King James Version Bible.

Mark 1:14–20

We are back at the beginning of Jesus' ministry again and here in these verses of Mark,,, beginning in verse 14,,, Jesus went to Galilee to begin His ministry.

Mark 1:14–20 (KJV 1900) —

14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 16 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. 18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him. 19 And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. 20 And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

-----------------------------------------------------------

This week we have seen the transfer of power from President Trump,,, to President Biden.

It's time for us,,, as Americans today,,, to refocus our priorities,,, from politics,,, where maybe we have put too much of our faith lately,,,, to where our priorities should always be,,, no matter what political power is in charge,,, and that is on God,,, and should always be,,, on God!

These verses reminded me this week,,, that our first concern should always be,,, on the kingdom of God!

We are told,,, not to worry about the time when Jesus will come,,, but to be ready,,, no matter what is going on each day,,, because we don't know the hour or the day when it will come.

Maybe we have lost sight of this today,,, and God needed to send this reminder,,, to get back to work getting people ready for the kingdom of God!

So lets look at these verses this morning and see how they can help us in our walk with God this week.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Verses 14 and 15 say: 14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

My Believer's Bible Commentary says,,, Jesus came to Galilee,,, preaching the good news of the kingdom of God.

His specific message was that:

1. The time was fulfilled.

According to the prophetic time-table set by God,,, a date had been fixed for the public appearing of the King.

It had now arrived.

2. The kingdom of God was at hand; the King was present and was making a bona fide offer of the kingdom to the nation of Israel.

The kingdom was at hand in the sense that the,,, "King",,, "Jesus",,, had appeared on the scene.

3. Men were called on to repent and believe in the gospel.

In order to be eligible to enter the kingdom,,, they had to do an about-face regarding sin,,, and believe the good news concerning our Lord and Savior,,, Jesus Christ.

That call remains the same today!

-----------------------------------------------------------

Verses 16 and 17 say: 16 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

As He walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee,,, Jesus saw Simon and Andrew fishing.

Now He called them to be with Him,,, promising to make them fishers of men.

Immediately they gave up their lucrative fishing business to follow Him.

Their obedience was prompt,,, sacrificial,,, and complete.

--------------------

Then it gave some examples of ways that fishing is like making disciples.

It said that fishing is an art,,, and so is making disciples.

1. It requires patience. Often there are lonely hours of waiting.

How many times have you spoken to someone about Christ and you were expecting immediate results,,, but it just doesn't happen like you thought it would?

We must give God the chance to work things out,,, and most of the time,,, we want results now,,, but we have to learn to wait.

2. It requires skill in the use of bait, lures or nets.

That's why we must read and study,,, not only our Bible daily,,, but be alert for anything that can be used to illustrate God's love to others.

We must be able to give examples when asked about problems that they are having.

3. It requires discernment and common sense in going where the fish are running.

We have to be with someone at the correct time and place,,, when they are open to listening to us,,, as we witness.

4. It requires persistence. A good fisherman is not easily discouraged.

We must be sure that we don't give up because the next time that we tell them something just might be the time that they are open to hearing it.

5. It requires quietness. The best policy is to avoid disturbances and to keep self in the background.

When we witness to others,,, we must allow God the chance to work in their life.

That means that we must step back and give them room and not make so much noise that they can't hear the Holy Spirit working in their life.

All of the time,,, we must be aware that we become fishers of men,,, by following Christ.

The more like Him we are,,, the more successful we will be in winning others to Him.

We must never forget,,, our responsibility is to follow Him; --- He will take care of the rest.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Verse 18 says: 18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.

This is the appropriate response to Gods call.

So many times,,, after being called,,, we hesitate,,, we wait,,, we make excuses,,, and on and on.

I've done all of this,,, made excuses for years.

I'm telling you now,,, if you feel Gods call,,, please answer,,, you will never regret it!

And it's best,,, if you answer immediately,,, as these disciples did!

-----------------------------------------------------------

Verses 19 and 20 say:

Again,,, we see where they have answered Gods call and immediately they have started to follow Jesus.

As I just said,,, it's best to answer His call immediately.

Of course I also know that so many things can get in our way and stop us.

That doesn't make it right,,, but God is gracious and loving enough that if possible,,, He will give us every chance to answer that call.

-----------------------------------------------------------

When Reverend Cynthia Cross called me and asked me to pastor here,,, the first thing that I did was to tell her that I'd pray about it and let her know the next day.

During my prayer time,,, God revealed to me that it had been exactly 40 years since I first came to Oakdale in 1978.

Now,,, 40 in the Bible is usually a time of testing,,, trial,,, or probation.

Not all of the time of course,,, sometimes it's just used as a number,,, but it's used in these ways enough to get our attention.

And what's really bad,,, is that I qualified for either of these three.

So I figured that I had better quit sidestepping the issue and answer His call like I should have many years ago.

And what a blessing for me it has been!

I can't begin to tell you the feeling that I get by knowing that I can finally say that I'm doing what God has put me here to do!

And He will do the same for you,,, if you are being asked by God to do anything for Him.

-----------------------------------------------------------

As I told you at the beginning,,, our first concern should always be for the kingdom of God.

In Matthew 10:39 in the Message Bible,,, Jesus says: 39 If your first concern is to look after yourself, you'll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to Me, you'll find both yourself and Me.

Maybe we have spent too much time looking to our own interest instead of Gods interest.

We need to get back to doing the job that God put us here to do instead of worrying about worldly things.

If all of the Christians,,, all over the world,,, will just begin to look out for Gods interest,,, instead of our own,,, many of today's problems can be fixed.

We have hate in this country right now,,, that can be fixed by showing God's love every where and by everybody.

We have racism in this country,,, that can be fixed,,, again by showing God's love every where and by everybody.

What ever problem you want to address,,, it can be taken care of,,, if we just begin to put God first!

-----------------------------------------------------------

In the scriptures that we looked at this morning,,, Jesus is beginning His ministry.

And He is searching for His disciples.

I believe that He is telling us today that He is still searching.

And our answer needs to be like the disciples in these scriptures.

We need to answer,,, and we need to go to work immediately.

We need to spread the "good news" of Jesus again,,, like we should have been doing all along.

Jesus said in verse 15: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

That is still true today.

Jesus is going to come back,,, and this time,,, He is coming back to set up His Kingdom.

We don't know the hour or the day,,, but we are told to always be ready,,, because it could be at any time.

We are also told to tell others about the "Good News".

That's how we fulfill our commission today as a United Methodist Church.

-----------------------------------------------------------

So as we go forward this week,,, hopefully we can remember these verses and they will help us to see that if our priorities are in the right place,,, we,,, all of us that are Christians,,, can continue our work,,, of telling others about the "Good News" of Jesus Christ and bringing others to know Him as their own personal Savior.

Because that's where we need our thoughts to be,,, and,,, where our deeds should be,,, because with Jesus first in our life,,, we want that for everyone else as well!

So as we start our new week,,, if you weren't already,,, get back to putting God first in your life,,, and everything else will be fixed,,, as well!

-----------------------------------------------------------