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Ridgecrest Baptist Church is located in Dothan, AL and exists to Reach the lost, Build the believer, and Connect people of God to the mission and purpose of God.
Open your Bible to Mark's Gospel, chapter 1, this morning. Now, this is the second message in our new series, The Story of Jesus. We're looking at the lessons of His message. We're looking at the miracles and the lessons we learn from those and the lessons we pick up from His manner of living, the manner of living of Christ. And today I want to talk to you about God's call, His call to us, and His call for us to follow Him as disciples. Now, I think there's sometimes some confusion between the idea of following Jesus and being called by Jesus. Now, when I was 12 years old, I gave my life to Jesus Christ. And that's a calling. He calls us to salvation. But when I was 14, God called me to surrender my life to ministry. But both of those are callings, and sometimes we get that confused. We think, well, you know, the calling of God is about a person surrendering to vocational ministry. And certainly that is not the case. That is true. But all of us are called. If you're saved, you're called to serve. You're called to sacrifice. You're called to surrender. And I want to talk with you a little about that, following Jesus and Jesus' call. And we sometimes forget that the 12 disciples, we say, well, they were called. We sometimes forget something about that and that they were common people just like us. But what made them different was that their commitment to follow Jesus was made with all of their heart. It was a wholesale surrender to Jesus. And that's what made the difference. And that's why God was able to use them the way it was. I read the story of a young man who was eager to grow in his Christian life. And so he took out a sheet of paper, and he began to write down on that piece of paper a list of all the things that he would do for God. And then he took and made another column, and he wrote down all the things he would give up. He wrote down in another column all the places that he would go to serve God, all the areas. He wrote down all the things of ministry that he would engage in for God. And he was excited about his list. And he took the list to the church, and he went down front, and he laid it on the altar. God, here, this is what I'll do for you. This is what I'll stop doing for you. This is where I'll go for you. These are the things I'll do for you. But he was disappointed because he thought he would feel joy at doing that, and he felt nothing. Instead, he felt kind of empty. So he took his list. He went back home, and he sat back down, and he started asking. He started adding to his list. He wrote down more things that he would do and more things he wouldn't do. And he made a longer list, and then he went back to the church the next week, and he took that new list, and he put it on the altar, and he still felt nothing. He couldn't understand it, so he decided to go and see the pastor. And he went to see the pastor, and he sat down with the pastor, and he told him the situation, and he said, Can you help me? I thought this would give me peace. I thought this would give me joy. If I told God what I would stop doing and what I would start doing and all of this, and he said, But I have felt none of that. And this pastor, in wisdom, told the young man this. He said, Here's what I want you to do. I want you to get rid of that sheet of paper. I want you to take a new sheet of paper, and then I want you to sign your name on that sheet of paper, and I want you to bring the sheet of paper with your name on it, and I want you to put that on the altar. A wise pastor, wasn't he? Because you get it, don't you? You know what he was telling the young man to do. He was saying, Listen, you're trying to put things on the altar instead of putting your life on it. You see, the starting point for following Jesus is not your list of do's and don'ts. It is instead a surrendered life. And I want you to keep that in mind this morning as I share with you three things from our passage. If you're physically able to do so, why don't you stand with me as we begin reading Mark's Gospel, the second in our series, Mark's Gospel, chapter 1, verse 16. Now, passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets, and immediately he called them. And they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and they followed him. Lord Jesus, help us. To be modern disciples, following you with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Would you now open up your word, enlighten our hearts and minds. Father, speak to us. Take your word. Teach us, convict us, challenge us, and change us with it, we pray in Jesus' name. We're listening. Amen. Thank you. You can be seated. Now, Jesus, as we talked about last week, he was baptized, and he was beginning his public ministry. It's just started. And Jesus. Jesus already knows that he must invest in some men who will continue the work of God after his resurrection. Well, not every story is reported in each gospel. This particular story, the calling of the disciples, is reflected in all of the gospels in some way. And it's important for us because we need to understand that Jesus didn't have to have the disciples to accomplish the mission and the purpose for which he was sent into the world. Jesus was God in the flesh. He could have made it happen with no one. Would you agree with that statement? But Jesus understood that he wanted to invest in those that he had created for the purposes of God so that after he was gone, the mission would stay strong and would be carried on from generation to generation to generation. And so to perpetuate it, he chose some people to be his ambassadors for his work and through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's power to birth the church and to change the world. And I have to tell you, the cast of characters that he selected, do you think you would have selected that cast? I mean, among them was a tax collector, uneducated fishermen, good fishermen, businessmen, but uneducated. But that's who Jesus chose. And I think that's important for us to understand because we sometimes think, well, God can't use me. God used those fishermen, the tax collector, all of these, because he did his most powerful work through. So let's look a bit deeper at the story. And I'll show you some lessons this morning I think will be helpful to you. The first thing I want you to notice this morning is the invitation extended to the disciples. In verse 17, we see that Jesus said to them, just simply this, follow me. Just stop right there. That's the invitation. This was an invitation, not a command. Now, oftentimes I will talk to you about the commands that the Scripture gives us. We call those imperatives in the Greek. And a lot of times we'll talk about this as an invitation. Imperative. So when an imperative comes along in the Scripture, it's a command. It's not, for example, Jesus or Paul or whoever the author is. They're not saying, here's a thought. Here's something you might consider. That's not what it's talking about. It's talking about God expects that or God commands that. This isn't a command. This is an invitation. Jesus was extending to them an opportunity to become what he created them to be. Now, some people might suggest, they had no choice. You know, Jesus came. They really had no choice. This was going to happen. But that's not how the invitation reads. I fully believe that they could have said, thanks, but no thanks, Jesus. We're going to stay in the family business. It's pretty good. We're fishermen. We know what we're doing. We're going to continue to fish for fish. I fully believe they could have made that decision. It's an invitation. It's not a command. So let me give you a couple of lessons about this invitation. First of all, it is a reminder. It's a reminder to us that you can reject the invitation to follow Christ. There were people in the Bible that turned down the opportunity to be disciples. Have you considered that? They were called by Jesus just like these men were, but they rejected the invitation. For example, if you want to look at it, you can open up to Luke chapter 9, verses 57 and following. It says this, As they were going along the road, someone said to him, Jesus, I'll follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, Well, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. He's telling them, by the way, right there, what your following may cost you. Are you prepared to pay the price? And then to another he said, Follow me. And that one said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. Now, most scholars agree this man wasn't saying, Well, my father just died. I've got to run. I've got to go back and bury him, and then I'll come. What he was saying was, I need to hang around here until my father dies, and after that, I'll follow you. And Jesus said to him, Leave the dead to bury their own dead. In other words, that's down the road. This is now. Follow me. And then yet another said, I will follow you, but Lord, let me first say farewell to those at my home. And Jesus said to him, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. What he was saying is, You can't stay in two worlds and follow Jesus. And then there's the story of the rich young ruler in Matthew chapter 19. You remember that story? The rich young ruler comes and says, I want to be one of your followers. I want to be one of your disciples. And you remember that Jesus said, Wonderful. He said, Here's what I want you to do. I want you to keep the commandments. I want you to honor your parents. And he gave him a couple of things there. And the man said, I've done it. I've done all that. No, he hadn't. And Jesus knew. But he thought he did. What he was really saying, I've been pretty good about that. And maybe he had been pretty good about it. Jesus didn't debate him about that. Jesus moves to the next thing. You remember what Jesus said to him? Jesus said, Then go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor. He was a man of great means, a young man. He'd been very successful. And Jesus said, Okay, you want to follow me? I want you to give everything up to follow me. Now, this wasn't about his money. You know, if Jesus can cause money to appear in a fish's mouth, he doesn't need a rich young ruler to provide the money. Does that make sense? So this wasn't about money. Now, if he'd have been a Baptist, this guy had all the criteria. You know, he referred to Jesus as a good teacher. He had manners, and he had kept the law, and he had morals, and he had money. But Jesus said, And the Bible says that the man's countenance changed. His face dropped, literally, in the Greek. His face dropped. He kind of went, I've got to do that? That's what he was saying. And it says he turned, and he left. The young man was sorrowful, for he had great possessions. This wasn't a money passage. This was Jesus saying, I'm calling you to follow me, and I need you to sell out if you're going to follow me. That's what it was really about. Who knows? Jesus might have said to him, if he said, No problem. I'll do it. Jesus might have said, Nope, don't need you to do it. Just wanted to know that you would. We don't know that. Now, a Baptist preacher would have said, Well, what would you be willing to give up? Right? Well, Jesus didn't do it. One of the things I love about Jesus, he never compromised what it meant to follow him. Not once did Jesus say, Okay, let's negotiate this thing. Let's talk about this. As I prepared this message, I was reminded that in the late 1940s, Charles Templeton was a close friend and preaching associate of Billy Graham. And he, like Graham, had effectively preached the gospel to large crowds in major arenas all over the world. But he began to have intellectual doubts. He went to seminary, and he began to doubt the validity of Scripture and core Christian beliefs. And he finally abandoned his faith. And then he made an unsuccessful attempt to convince Billy Graham that he needed to do the very same. In fact, he even said he felt sorry for Billy Graham, and he made a comment. He said, Graham's committed intellectual suicide by closing his mind. Templeton resigned from the ministry. He got out of the ministry completely. He became a novelist and a TV anchor in Canada. In fact, he was such a good preacher while he was preaching before he had all of these intellectual problems that caused him to give up the ministry. Billy Graham even said it later on. He said, Charles Templeton was God's first choice to do what I'm doing, which is a reminder that God doesn't have to have you to get done what he wants to get done. But at any rate, he left the ministry, became a news commentator, a journalist, and Lee Strobel in his book, a great book, by the way, I highly recommend, called The Case for Christ, he interviewed Charles Templeton when he was writing that book. And he said that Templeton believed Jesus lived but had decided that he was not actually God. And in the interview, this is what Templeton said about it all. Templeton said Jesus was the greatest human being who's ever lived. He was a moral genius. His ethical sense was unique. He was the intrinsically wisest person that I've ever encountered in my life or in my readings. He's the most important thing. Listen to this. He's the most important. This is Templeton. He's the most important thing in my life. I know it may sound strange, but I have to say I adore him. Everything good I know. Everything decent I know. Everything pure I know. I learn from Jesus. He is the most important human being who has ever, ever existed. And if I may put it this way, I miss him. And then Templeton's eyes filled up with tears and he began to sob freely and couldn't say anything else. What a tragedy, right? Well, just as those that Jesus referred to and Jesus called to follow, and like a Charles Templeton, the fact is, and the Bible is clear, you can refuse to follow Jesus. You can refuse to follow Jesus. Paul talked about those, there were many in the church who had shipwrecked their faith because they'd stopped following Christ. Another thing that this invitation of Jesus teaches us is that the invitation to discipleship is not limited to the 12 disciples. You say, oh, that's who he's calling there. But did you know the Bible, the record of the Bible is that God is looking for any and all who will respond to his invitation. If these guys hadn't have responded, do you think Jesus would have walked off and said, Father, what are we going to do? I was counting on James and John. I was counting on Andrew. What are we going to do, Lord? They said, no, they're not going to follow you. What are we going to do? Peter's not coming. I was counting on these guys. You think Jesus would have wrung his hands and said, well, we're in trouble now, so much for that plan. Jesus would, this is the wonderful thing about the purposes and plans of Jesus. If you don't, he'll find someone that will. So it's a great privilege to be called, to follow him. It's a great honor that he would extend an invitation to us. And he's not just looking for the 12. He's looking for any. I learned this verse, 2 Chronicles 16, 9, when I was a teenager. It grabbed me. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, seeking one whose heart is wholly his, that he might strongly support him. That he might strongly support him. Man, that verse grabbed me. As a teenage boy, it grabbed me. God, you're looking for people. The invitation goes out. Out far and wide. Perhaps you remember Jesus told a story in Matthew 22 about a wedding feast that was being planned. And it's a parallel to that wedding feast in the kingdom one day. And Jesus is talking about this wedding feast that is being planned. He uses it as a parable of the kingdom. And he says, and so he sent out invitations. He sent out invitations to some people that were the hoity-toity of their day. The noble. And the wise. And the educated. And all of this. And all of them, the story says, had excuses. And they couldn't come to the feast. And so Jesus says, that's not a problem. He says, then go and call as many as will. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find. That's us. And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good, so that the wedding hall was filled with guests. For many are called, but few are chosen. Jesus didn't say, the ones I called aren't responding. In fact, they've rejected. See, you can reject it. He's saying, go find those who will. Go find those who will. That my house may be full. Jesus wants you to be a fully devoted follower. That's what a disciple is. You were created, listen, you were created to be a disciple of Jesus. And from the very beginning, God created you as an experience. Expression of himself. He said, let us make man in our image and in our likeness. So you were created to be in the image of God, his son, Christ. And because that's true, I want you to see the second thing. And that is the investment expressed to the disciples. So he said, follow me, right? He's just walking along the seashore. He sees these guys. He says, follow me. But here's the investment that he expressed. He expressed to the disciples. That's the next part of verse 17. He says, and I will make you become fishers of men. If you have a magic marker or a highlighter or a pen or lipstick or mascara, you ought to underline that phrase, I will make you. I will make you. And circle the word make. You see, Jesus didn't tell the disciples to follow him and figure out what they should be or what they should do. He told them, isn't this great? I will make you what I want you to be. In other words, he's saying, I will invest in you. I will invest myself in you. Jesus did not choose. Listen, Jesus didn't choose them for what they were. He chose them for what he could make out of them. He didn't say, oh, you're fishermen. We can always use fishermen. He chose them out of what he could make of them. And he would make them. And Jesus' statement points to the purpose. For which they were called. In their case, he says, I've called you to catch men and women for the kingdom of God. The call of Jesus to follow him connects you with the purpose of God. You know, I just finished the series on purpose about your life being designed by God to live on purpose. And your purpose is connected to the call of God. God calls you and connects you to the purpose. That's what he was saying to them. And the word make here means to change. In other words, Jesus said that he would change them from what they were. To what God wanted them to be. That he would do it. Listen, isn't that a refreshing word for us? Sometimes, sometimes we wear ourselves out trying to make ourselves into what God wants us to be. When in reality, God says, you just surrender. Put your name on the altar. And then I can make you, instead of you trying to make you, what I intend for you to be. I can change you. Listen, dear friend. Listen. Religion may. Make you pious. But it has no power to change you eternally. Friends and family may help you. But they can't change you eternally. Your education may enlighten you on some level. But it can't change you eternally. You must be born again. And the only way that change can happen is Jesus Christ. Listen, the Bible says, Christ in you, the hope of glory. You know what the. That he's talking about your eternity. The hope of glory. What is the hope of glory? It's Christ in you. The Bible says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. You notice the word in those two verses, in, I assume. It's not you in you becoming what God wants you to be. It is Christ in you. It is the Holy Spirit in you. It is Christ that makes the difference. Sin has corrupted us. And so we have to start over. That's being born again. That's the first call. And it's the first step in becoming a disciple. You can't be a disciple if you're not born again. The Bible calls a lot of people disciples. Did you know that the twelve weren't the only ones referred to as disciples? There's several occasions where it says that many disciples were following him. On one occasion, he talks to them about the atonement. And it's a very tough talk. And it says, and many of his disciples turned and followed him no more. They rejected the message. They considered themselves disciples. The Bible even calls them disciples. Luke called them disciples. They were followers, but they weren't converts.
The first step is you've got to be born again. And many of those who were calling themselves disciples just weren't born again. And this we see throughout, by the way, the scripture. If you go into the book of John, John says this, and they went out from us because they were never really one of us. And that answers the question, by the way, the parable of the soils answers the question, too. Why does it seem sometimes like people get it and then they just disappear? They just move away. They start living outside of the realms of a born-again life. What happens there? What happens is they never really were converted. You know, Baptists, we're bad about blaming everything on carnality. Oh, they're just backslidden. That's another word for carnality. They're just backslidden. Well, how long have they been backslidden? Oh, about 20 years.
Now, I do believe a person can backslide. All of us have at some point. And if you don't think you have, you just backslid.
But a person, I don't believe, can live out of fellowship with God for year after year after year after year and claim to have a relationship with God. Listen, a lot of things that we blame on backsliding, it's just simple. They're lost. We just don't want to admit it. It may be a family member, and we just want to believe the best. Well, they got saved, you know, 30 years ago. They hate God right now, or they live like the devil, but they got saved. I know they got saved. No, friend, they got religion. They got a taste. Did you know the Bible refers to that? Those who have tasted. A taste is different than digesting, isn't it? There are a lot of people that have had a taste, and if the taste was good and everything, they just didn't swallow.
They didn't, if you'll permit me to say it this way, inhale.
They took it in and blew it out, but it never went down inside. And there are a lot of people, by the way, it may be you, and I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, but I'm just simply saying to you, listen, you can't live out of step with God for years and years and claim to be a child of God. At some point in time, you've got to get your act together. By the way, go hear my message on get your act together. I preached, I think it was the first of this month. They all run together. I don't know.
But you've got to start there. And Jesus came into this world. He came into this world to transform us from the old us to the new us. Remember, I just quoted that scripture in 2 Corinthians 5. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Behold, the old things have passed away. All things have become new. Christ's life is death and resurrection. It was his investment in us. Christ coming into the world. Do you know what he's saying? I love you. I'm going to invest in you. He came into his own, but his own received him not. So, see, you can reject it, but that's his investment. He says, follow me. I'll invest in you. I'll make you what I created you to be. I'll connect you to your purpose. And Christ's death, life, his resurrection redeemed us eternally. That is, it secured us spiritually. It also transformed us internally. It makes us new. It cleans us up. It sanctifies us. And then it gives us that external connection to our purpose so that we can live as disciples. So, what's the big lesson here? Well, I think. It's this. Christ comes to ordinary people in order to do extraordinary things.
These disciples were from the region of Galilee. Now, the Galileans had a reputation as being kind of crude. They were earthy. They were rough. You might say they were, and I mean this with no offense, living in South Alabama. You might say they were the rednecks of their day. That's kind of how the Galileans were. But listen, when God wanted to change the world, no offense, on the other hand, he didn't recruit from the medical school of Samaria. He didn't go after the CEO of the Bethlehem Gazette. He didn't go to the law school of Judea. And he didn't go recruiting from the seminaries of Jerusalem. No offense to any of those. But the fact is, he just walked along the seashore looking for the ordinary and the common. It teaches us that it's God's plan. To invest in ordinary people like us to accomplish his kingdom work. So, by the way, never ever say, God can't use me. Oh, God can't use me. When you say that, you know what? Listen, dear brother and sister, you're insulting God. You say, yeah, but I'm just too common. I'm the last person qualified to be used by God. I've had people tell me that. I'm the last person. Paul said he was the least of the apostles.
But listen, if you think you're just too common, or you're the last person qualified, listen to this. For consider your calling, brothers. Paul writes this to the Corinthians. Not many of you, consider your calling. Not many of you were wise. He's not talking to the preachers.
He's talking to the people. Consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful according to worldly standards. Not many were of noble birth. Not many were of noble birth according to worldly standards. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. Now, that doesn't mean God can't use the wise or the noble or anything. He longs to. But what he's saying is, we always think, well, that's who God will use, but God would never use me. That's an insult to God. Because what Paul is saying, when you look at who God calls and who God has used, if you look at it, more often than, not, it's the common person who just simply says, God, if you can do anything through me, here I am. I don't have the talents, I don't have the pedigrees that others do. You see, it's not an act of humility to say that God can't use me or do anything through me. No, it is, as I said, it's an insult. You are insulting the Almighty God by saying, you can't do anything with me. Others you can, but your power, when it gets to me, you have, you can't do it. When I was growing up, the home I lived in had an attic, and from time to time, as a boy, I would climb up in that attic because it was a storage place, you know, probably like many of yours. And there was an old bookshelf that had been built up there before we ever lived in the home, but in that, on that bookshelf were some old books. My dad had put old books up there and things like that. And I would go up there sometimes, and I would dig through some of those books. And on one occasion, I came across a book that was up there. It's called Acres of Diamonds. Have any of you ever heard of that book, Acres of Diamonds? It's an old, it's an old book. And let me tell you the story just quickly. It is a story of an African man who was living in a period in, on the continent of Africa where people were making millions of dollars by discovering diamonds as Africa was full of diamonds. And this man longed to be rich. And so he sold his farm and he set out to discover diamonds. He needed the money to do that, to cover his travels. And so he was going to travel around the continent until he too could make his fortune in diamonds. So he sold the farm that he had and he began his quest for diamonds. But he never found them. And finally, at the end of his money and despair and dejection and failure, he took his own life. He threw himself in a stream and drowned himself. He died by suicide. But that's not the end of the story. You see, the man who bought the farm, that he sold one day, was walking across the farm and passed the stream on the farm. And he noticed an unusual looking rock in the stream. And he reached down and he picked it up. And he discovered that it was a magnificent diamond. And then he discovered that the entire farm was studded with diamonds. And it became one of, true story, became one of the richest diamond mines in all of Africa. This man who sold the farm, had been standing in the middle of acres of diamonds. And he didn't even know it. And so he sold his diamonds to go off to look for diamonds when all the while he had been standing in the diamonds. You know, we sometimes spend too much of our lives trying to find something that is right under our feet. Like the way God created and crafted and designed us. We always say, well, if I were like so-and-so, if I were like this person, that person, if I had their talents or their gifts. But God has given you spiritual gifts. They're right within you. They're right under your feet. And he's given you the ability. And he wants to make you. He wants to invest in you. He wants to develop those gifts and those abilities for the kingdom of God. You see, he really has invested in you with gifts and these abilities. You're in the middle, my friend, of acres of diamonds. Bestowed upon you by God Almighty. If you will only take time to say, what has God, how has God made me? The Bible says he has carefully woven and crafted you like a tapestry. Listen, in Acts chapter 4 and verse 13, the church had been founded. Peter and John, these two fishermen that we just saw called, they're preaching. They're preaching. And man, are they having invitations. The first time Peter preached, he'd never preached before. But he was full of the Holy Spirit. Which is another lesson for us. If you want to be used by God, just get full of the Holy Spirit. Peter was full of the Holy Spirit and he stood up and preached. And he gave an invitation that every Baptist preacher envies. On that day, 3,000 people gave their life to Christ and were baptized. Go listen to last week's message. Wow, what an invitation. A couple chapters over, 5,000 men got saved. And many in their family, you can be sure. And then if you go over a couple more chapters, it says, and the church multiplied. Wow. Because of these uneducated, these uneducated followers. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, I didn't say it, the scripture said it. I just repeated it. That they were uneducated, common men. The people were astonished. And they recognized, listen to this, they recognized that they had been with Jesus. I tell our staff, I tell our staff, listen, stay close to Jesus. Proximity to Jesus makes all the difference in the world. And it did for them. And they were full of the Holy Spirit. Why were the people amazed? It was because God was using ordinary people. They'd never seen anything like this. And God was doing extraordinary things. And they had been with Jesus. Do y'all get it? Now look, say amen if you get it, or I'm going to keep going on this point, okay? I need to know that you got it. Can I go on to point number three? That always gets an amen. Oh, please. Oh, we got it. We got it. We had it long before now.
All right. It's Jesus that makes you. It's His investment in you through the Holy Spirit to make you what you ought to be and enable you to be what He created you to be. All right? Number three. I want you to notice last the involvement expected of the disciples. The invitation, the investment, and the involvement. There was something. There was something expected. We see it in verses 18 and 20. It says immediately. It says it twice. Immediately. In both cases, when He first came across the first couples, Simon and Andrew, it says immediately they followed. And then He comes across James and John, and immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat. There is involvement expected of the followers, the disciples, and of you and I. You see, the call of Christ is one thing, but answering the call is still another. We all live, we live in the age of cell phones. In fact, many of you no longer even have landlines. We live in the age of cell phones. We probably could have never imagined that many years ago. And with cell phones, well, even with landlines to some degree, there came this neat thing called caller ID. It helps you ignore people that you ought to answer. You don't ever do that, do you? You just backslid again.
I'm asking you. I'm not talking to me. Okay?
But, you know, you know, caller ID. And I would bet most of you, if you don't recognize a number, you say, no, I'll let that go to voicemail, and I'll find out who that is and what they're selling. You just let it go to voicemail when that kind of call comes. But now listen to me. Jesus doesn't make unknown calls. And by the way, He does not leave voice messages. When He calls, you will know it, because He wants you to know it. Jesus isn't playing cosmic hide-and-seek. See if you can figure it out. You can figure out who I am. Jesus wants you to know. He wants you to hear the call.
Jesus, because of that, expects a response from you and from me. And the response that Jesus expects is, listen, very simple. It's obedience. It's to say yes to Jesus. And listen, delay or ignoring that or no response is a response to Jesus. Do you get that? There's only one legitimate response to Jesus, and that is yes. Everything else is disobedience. You say, well, I didn't respond. Yes, you did. You didn't respond by not responding. You did respond by not responding. In one of my churches I served many years ago, there was a man, and he was an engineer, and he had been called to ministry when he was a young man. He told me this later on because he had refused it. And I don't... When I think of a person that refused to follow God, his name always comes to my mind because he was a miserable man. And when I came to know him, he was in his 60s, and he had become bitter. You ever met a person like that? And his bitterness, and he became really angry, just a mean-spirited man, discontent with his life. And it all stemmed from not obeying the call of God in his life. And he didn't obey the call. You know, you know why? Because he didn't want to pay any price that might go with it. And so he... But he paid a price, didn't he? You see, there's a price to be paid if you don't obey the call of God. If you don't follow Jesus, there is a price. Then on the other hand, just this week, and here's some neat... There's some neat stuff going on in our church. One of the great things about pastoring a great, healthy church is you get all kinds of wonderful stories about what God is doing. And just this week, I sat with a young man, a young college student. He came to see me. This is the second time he's come to see me. And God has called him to the mission field. You realize how... We've got kids right now. I say they're kids. Well, everybody's a kid to me. I mean, getting close to that, you know. And they're on places right now overseas serving God. We have families overseas serving God. God has been calling people out of our church to go and serve, not just necessarily in missions, but in ministry too. I mean, like vocational church ministry and that sort of stuff. But all of it is ministry. This young man, this young man came to see me this week, and we're talking about a process. And he said, will you mentor me? Will you help me and coach me along? He's off at school. He said, how do we do this though with me being off at school? I said, it's no problem. I said, when you're home, I said, you do come home every once in a while, don't you? He's not too far away. I said, you do come home every once in a while. I mean, at least to make mom wash your laundry and stuff like that, don't you? He said, yeah, I come. I come. I said, when you know you're coming home, you set up an appointment, and that's how we'll do this mentoring sort of thing. But he's heard God's call, and he's a sharp young man. And he says, I just want to make sure I do. And he said, there's some things I don't understand. I said, it's all right. Quit worrying. You don't have to have it all figured out. Do you think these guys understood it all when Jesus walked by and said, hey, come on, follow me. I'm going to make you fishers of men. You think they even understood what fishers of men meant? Fishers of men. Probably Jesus keeps walking, and they're behind, and they're going, this is something about this guy, but that fisher of men thing, I don't know if I get that. But at any rate, they followed. You don't have to understand it all to obey God. That's kind of a misnomer, because we live in a world that says, you have to explain everything. You have to explain yourself. You know, the older I get, the more I understand faith. The more I understand, just say, God, I'm just going to trust you. I'm going to quit trying to make a defense of everything. When I was a young man in ministry, I felt like I had to answer everybody's question. And what I realized, a lot of times, people were asking questions, and they didn't really want an answer. They just wanted to see if they could trip me up.
I want to tell you something. Aren't you glad these guys didn't go, well, Jesus, you need to explain that fisher of men thing. We know how to fish for fish, but we don't understand that at all. You don't have to understand it all.
Now, I want to be clear about something this morning. The call of God is not about everyone going into full-time Christian service, and following God is not about that. If you think, in fact, that's just one element of it. The following Jesus is a decision all of us have to make, and it is a call. So don't think you say, well, I want to obey the call of God. That means I guess I've got to go be a pastor or a staff or something like that, a missionary. But what is God wanting you to do right where you are? That's following and obeying Jesus. Does that make sense? Do like this. Right where you are. What does God want you to do in your family? What does God want you to do? What does God want you to do in the church? At your workplace?
Remember, don't say, well, God can't use me. Oh, yes, he can, if you'll surrender. And Jesus expects a response. You can be Jonah.
Jonah, I want you to go here. Nope, I'm going here. Okay, I'm going to chase you down with a big fish.
Maybe that's what being a fisher of men is, when a whale swallows you. You can be Jonah. That can be Jonah. That man I referred to, that engineer, he was Jonah. Jonah did eventually get reoriented, but he never did. You can be Jonah, or you can be Isaiah. Isaiah said, woe is me, Lord, for I am a man of unclean lips. You know what he said? He said, I'm a sinner. But then he said, but here am I, God. Send me. Use me. That's what he was saying. Here I am. I am not the model, but I'm available. And if you can use me, here, my Lord, what an honor it would be if you could do something through me and in me. Jesus expects a response. Will you be Jonah, or will you be Isaiah? And then the final thing, and I want to close with this, is that Jesus expects it, your response. Listen, he respects it now. He expects it now. You remember, it says immediately, you think that's accidental? Of course not. We see it twice, and just so, that handful of verses, immediately, immediately, again, if you take notes in your Bible, you ought to circle that word, immediately, right now, Jesus expects a response, and he expects it right now. They left their nets, and they left their father as well.
Jesus doesn't negotiate.
You remember the story, well, let me go bury my father first. Let me go say goodbye to all these other people, hang out with them for a while, and then eventually I'll catch up to you. Jesus doesn't negotiate. And by the way, he has given us the Holy Spirit, not as a negotiator. The Holy Spirit is not a negotiator. The Holy Spirit doesn't live in you, so that when God speaks, and God has something he wants you to commit to, or be involved in, the Holy Spirit doesn't go, okay, Ray, I'll go negotiate a deal with him. You know, these sports agents, they're always negotiating, negotiating, negotiating contracts and everything. The Holy Spirit wasn't put in you to negotiate with the Father. I've got this connection with the Father, you see. And so I'll just negotiate, because you, some of what's going, that God wants you, you probably, you would feel better if you could negotiate a better deal. The Holy Spirit isn't in you. Listen, the Holy Spirit's not in you to negotiate with God. The Holy Spirit is in you to communicate to you what God has said.
And then to help you navigate the path. I'll give you the power, I'll help you do it, I will make you. The Holy Spirit is to communicate. Here's what God says, I'm not a negotiator for you. And I will help you navigate what God has communicated. That's, but now, Jesus expects it now. You, again, you don't have to understand it all, but you do have to say, wherever he leads, I'll go. Y'all remember that song? Or how about this one? We sometimes still sing it, I surrender all.
You see, that's the operative, that's the operative idea of following Jesus. Wherever he leads me, I'll go. Had a young man, some years ago, and he came and he said this to me, he said, I believe God's called me. Well, two different guys. Two different stories. One of them came to me and said, I believe God's called me into ministry. He said, I want to work in a big church like you. How do you do that?
I said, well, you really want to know? He said, yes. He said, I do. He said, I said, well, you say yes to Jesus wherever you want me to go, that's where I'll go. You say yes to Jesus. I said, it may surprise you that my first little church was a coal mining church. And I was thrilled to death because God had let me serve him. Little coal mining church. Those poor people. I would, when I preached, I would beat the life out of them.
You know, I'd just sling snot all over the place. They were so kind, so sweet. I was learning and they put up with me. And I can remember they'd come up every once in a while, I had a cup of sweet and I was poor, poor college student. And they'd shake my hand and they'd put a $20 bill in my hand. Now, this is in the 70s. Now, that's a lot of money, especially for a college student. It let me take Allison out on a date. They'd shake my hand. But one night, I had just really unleashed on them. And preachers do have a tendency to beat up the people that are there. It's kind of weird. You, you, you know, and you say, but I'm here.
And, and, and, but one of the deacons, a kind man, he came up to me, he said, now, Ray, he said, I want to tell you something. He's in his 60s. I want to tell you something.
You can preach to us like that because we love you. But you're going to have to learn you can't preach like that to everybody and every message. There's a place, but not every message. It helped me immensely. By the way, my wife, she wasn't my wife at the time, she would sit out there when I'd preach and at a certain point in time, she'd be down there on the front and she would go, I better not see any of you doing it.
I know we're getting close to that right now.
She would sit up and she'd go, and I know what that meant, so I would wrap it up in 20 minutes.
Some things haven't changed. Did you say that, Chuck?
Here's what I want you to understand. There may be a price. There may be a cost. This young man said, well, I want to work in a big church. And I said, well, just tell Jesus you'll work anywhere He wants you to. That's how you get, and then He can put you in a big church if He wants to. He may not.
And you know, it would have been okay with me.
I just wanted to be in the will of God. I still do.
You know what He told me? He said, well, I'll tell you what I think I'm going to do. I'm just going to start going around some of the larger churches around town knocking on their door and just saying, hey, y'all need a staff member. Here I am. I said, go for it.
Because I knew, well, you know. I had another one. That was years ago. I had another one since I've been your pastor here that came to see me and said, I believe God's called me into the ministry, but, but he said, I want to make sure God gives me a church right here in the Dothan area. I said, don't count on it.
I said, because the, the key to being used by God is to say, God, wherever, whenever, whatever, God, I, here I am. Send me. He's not in ministry. Because God doesn't work that way. You don't negotiate with God. You just say, God, I'm available. And there may be a price. They left successful businesses. It doesn't mean you'll have to, to follow God and obey God, whatever it is he wants you to be engaged in. But the question is, would you? That's the big question. You see, you can't follow Jesus and not be involved with him daily. That's why Jesus said, take up your cross daily and follow me. Well, we started with the invitation to be a disciple. Let's end there too. Are you following, following Jesus? Let's follow Jesus. I know you would agree with this statement. Jesus is worth following. Amen? I mean, anybody that would leave his throne in heaven and come and take on a flesh and hang on a cross for your sins and show us that there's victory beyond the grave. I mean, that guy's worth following.
It changed, it changed these guys.
And it'll change you today. It's still happening 2,000 years ago. Father, help us. Help us to say yes however you want to use me. My home, my work, my neighborhood, the church, or even if you have some extended call. Here am I. Use me. Send me. Do what you want. Lord, I surrender all. I put my name on the altar just so you'll know it's just me. I don't understand at all how you might want to use me and connect me with the purpose for which you created me. But I trust that you will make me what you want me to be. Father, for any that are listening on radio or television, watching by live stream, Father, that need to give their life to you, would you cause them today to turn and call on you.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Father, let it be true of us and those who do not know you that we call on you today. In Jesus' name. Amen. Would you stand? Well, I'm so glad that you have tuned in to the broadcast today. I hope you've been encouraged by God's word. It sure has been a joy to share it with you. And even now, people at Ridgecrest are making decisions for Christ. Perhaps as you've watched this broadcast, you've recognized the need for your own decision for Christ. The prompting of the Spirit has caused you to recognize that you need Christ as your Savior. And the good news is you can receive him right where you are. The Bible says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Right where you are, you can call on him. Say something like this from your heart to him. Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me. I know I'm a sinner and I know that you came into this world and died on the cross for my sins. And right now, I invite you to come into my life. Forgive me and be my Savior. I can assure you if you'll call on him based on what God has already told us in the Bible that he'll hear that prayer and he'll answer that and he wants to begin this new journey in your life with you, transforming you into his image. We'd love to help you with that. We'd love to help you with that decision as well. You'll see a QR code on your screen. And if you would scan that or you'll see contact information or if you'll contact us about your decision today, we'd love to help you take next steps. There are no strings attached, no fees involved. We'd just like to help you begin that journey with Christ. You may be watching this broadcast today and say, I need a church family to belong to. I already know Christ as my Savior and I'd like to be a part of the Ridgecrest family. Also, if you will, scan that QR code that'll take you to a location and we'll be able to help you make those kinds of decisions like becoming a member here or if you've never been scripturally baptized, those kinds of things. So contact us through that QR code or through the contact information on the screen. Well, again, it's been a joy to have you with us today and I hope you've been encouraged by God's word. Whatever decision we can help you with, by all means, contact us. May the Lord bless you.