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[ Music ] If Jesus goes with me I'll follow Him anywhere He's present to me wherever I be If He is there, I'm not in a river

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If He goes, His cross will bear If Jesus knows victory, our God, we will win. Amen. And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee,

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saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

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And they straightway left their nets and followed him. Going on from thence he saw other two brothers, James and John in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets,

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and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father and followed him. The subject of the message, directions for disciples.

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Directions for disciples. As the body of Christ, the task of the church is to carry on the master's work in the world. As modern day disciples,

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we are extensions of Jesus' ministry. ministry. It's our task as God's family in the world to develop disciples. Could you cut this down a little bit. As leaders and members, it's good for us to reconsider Jesus and his ministry and our relationship to him while we are yet

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in the morning of a new church year. Matthew in his gospel reports that Jesus begins his ministry in Galilee. Galilee is the region in which he grew up that's home. Jesus grew up in Nazareth. Nazareth was then and is now a humble village in

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Someone has said, "Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home." So as the leader of a new movement, Jesus begins at home. Home is where every leader ought to begin. Home is the starting place.

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the familiar. Home is where our roots are. Home is the place where we should produce our first fruits. Jesus begins his ministry at home in the region where he is known, where he has worshipped, where he has attended social events, in the region where he no doubt worked with his father as a carpenter.

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So as a leader he begins at home in Galilee after his baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan region, Jesus comes to Galilee and begins his public ministry. First of all, as we follow his actions, we notice in the story that Jesus moves from Nazareth to Cappadocia. He's no longer under the roof with his parents but this move

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indicates a new beginning. He is ushering in a new age so he begins by moving, moving from Nazareth to Caponium. Every leader needs to make a move. We need to know what it means to move from Nazareth to Caponium. At home in Nazareth, Jesus is treated as a child. He is the son of his mother and father. They are the parents.

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But in Caponium he is like a parent. He's in the role of a leader, an initiator of a new movement. And one cannot stand still and lead, one has to move. We must move from where we are, where we have been, to a place of new beginnings, new hopes, new aspirations. At home in Nazareth, Jesus performs household chores.

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In Capernaum, he is the head of the household of faith. It is from this new location, situated by the Sea of Galilee, that Jesus calls his first disciples and he says to them, "Follow me." significant words. For if we would follow Jesus, we must move from Nazareth to

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Capernaum. We must move as a family of God from performing household chores to meeting the needs of people at the crossroads of life. You see, Nazareth is just a small village, but Capronium is strategically situated at the crossroads. It's near the Sea of Galilee where many people gather.

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And so it's ours to make a significant move in our ministry, in the leadership responsibilities that are ours from this particular place, from these hallowed walls to move out into the streets of Austin, to move from this building located at East 10th

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and San Marcos to the streets of the city. Let us consider Galilee for a moment. It was called Galilee of the Gentiles. You see, it was a place where people gathered in large

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numbers, international highway, way of the sea ran through Galilee. It was a populous region, great deal of commerce. It was a very productive area of the country.

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The land produced almost anything, and still does today, a very fruitful region. So in making the move from Nazareth to Galilee, there were many prospects, prospects abound in Galilee.

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Here he is, near the Sea of Galilee, And as he walks, Jesus calls his first disciples. They're two brothers, Simon Peter and Andrew. They are casting a net into the sea.

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They're in the fishing business. And Jesus just utters two words, "Follow me." This is a call of the divine. It's a command. Follow me. It's the call of the eternal that meets us in our transitory existence. It's a demand of God. It is not

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only a command but a demand, follow me. In fact it's a divine imperative. Peter and Andrew are called to be disciples and the call is not a plea. The master does not beg them, he commands them. There's a divine sense of urgency. You see these disciples have other concerns. In fact, they're busy catching fish and

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really this call comes to them as an interruption into what they're doing. It really breaks into their schedule. But you see, Jesus does not pick what we may consider a convenient time. They are suddenly arrested by the divine summons, "Follow me, be my disciple, come and share my life, come and engage in

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ultimate contact or rather intimate contact with me. Come learn of me. Come follow my example. Now in order to follow Jesus first they must stop what they're doing. They can't continue casting their net into the sea and follow Jesus. But But they respond to the command.

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That's the task of every one of us today who are modern day disciples of Jesus Christ. It's a call that comes from the divine. It's a call that comes from the eternal. me, follow me. Sometimes I think we we think of a responsibility related to the

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church too much like the responsibilities we have in other social organizations. And many people treat their responsibilities just that way. But this is not to be compared with the fishing union to which they belong. It's It's not to be compared with many of the political gatherings that may have been held during those years.

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It's a special relationship and responsibility into which they enter. And as they hear this voice from above, they respond to it, because they know that it is a call that has priority over all other callings. Follow me.

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One thing that needs to be heard today by every person who seeks to walk in the steps of the Master is that call to follow me. to follow some person as such that may be going in a different direction from that which is ordered by our Lord, but the pastor, the deacon, the choir member,

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the circle leader, the church member, everyone is to hear the call of the Lord Lord of Lords, follow me. Follow me. We are to walk in his steps. And secondly, it's interesting to note that when they heard this call, the kind of response that they made. Immediately, they left their nets and followed him. They heard the call to

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follow and what did they do? They forsook their nets. There must be something that we leave. He goes on after having called Peter and Andrew and he calls James and John the sons of Zebedee and they're with their father in a ship mending their nets and they left the ship and their father and followed him.

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They left the ship and their father. Now there are those who point up the fact that James and John and their father were engaged in a fishing business that they were somewhat business people of some note. They were able to own a ship

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and engage in a pretty lucrative business. And here they are doing the work that they're prepared to do. And you would think that, well,

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maybe the father had been in this business before, but now he has the sons, and the sons are the heirs of this business. They had made quite an investment in it.

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This was their life's work. And here comes this man Jesus as he walks by and he says to them, "Follow me." Now one would say today according to the way most of us

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think, what kind of, what right does this man have to ask me to leave this business? that my father has invested so much in and our livelihood is dependent upon it but it's a higher call that is made follow me and they left the ship they

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left the ship and their father and followed him not only do we have here the material concerns, whatever they may be, and Jesus knows that we have need of these things. He uses a ship on different occasions, so he's not against us having ships. But somehow our relationship to him must be above and beyond our

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relationship to these material things. Follow me, follow me. They left the ship. As I often say, Bonhoeffer says that they burned their boats. In other words, they put this behind them and they followed Jesus. And they also left their father.

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That their relationship to Jesus Christ takes priority over their relationship even to their father. It's a loyalty that is above every other loyalty. They followed him.

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So you see, discipleship has a sense of urgency. They did it immediately, straightway. So the demands of Christian discipleship are often diluted to suit our likes or dislikes. Duties of church officers are often abbreviated to suit our fancy.

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So, well, I don't have as much time to do this, and so I'll just do that. You know, I know this demands far more, but I have so many other concerns that if you expect me to do this, no, no, I'll just do what I want to do. That's what some will say.

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But somehow as we begin again, every one of us needs to hear the call of the master saying, "Follow me. me. And it said not only that they heard the word follow and they went to the point that they forsook all and followed him but he calls them to the task of

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being fishers, fishers of men. He says follow me and I will make you fishers of men. I will cause you to catch men. You will still be fishermen but you will focus not on fish in the sea but on men who are in chaotic waters. Discipleship is the task of the church. Our task is to catch people. Evangelism is our main

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focus, to reach out, to compel others through our witness to accept Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives. So if you if one is to to be a fisherman, first of all there needs to be patience. Every person who fishes needs to be patient. Sometimes those who may go and sit on the banks hours and hours. Some even get

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in a boat and go out and spend hours and sometimes come back having caught nothing. But we go back again and again and again. A fisherman needs to have patience. A fisherman needs to have the proper bait and skills. A fisherman needs to be able to wait and to spend long hours and to try and try again. A

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fisherman needs not only to have patience but a fisherman needs to have perseverance, to have the will to keep on keeping on. That's what it means to follow in the steps of the master. And as we read this particular passage what does it say? It says that Jesus went all around in this region, all about in

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Galilee, teaching, preaching, and healing. And that, brothers and sisters, is our task today to teach the biblical revelation, to teach God's Word. That's the task of the church. Our teaching ministry must never be minimized and somehow we need to give the very best that we have to bring all that we can into that

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teaching experience and not to think that this is just something I can wait until the last minute and I can rush before class and whatever I have that's good enough. The teaching ministry is one of the most important ministries that the world has, the ministry of Jesus Christ teaching people

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to be like Jesus Christ. It's not just remembering a Bible verse, but it's somehow getting people to make a decision to follow Jesus Christ to let his spirit come in and shape and mold their lives. That's what it's all about. Jesus went about teaching. He also went about preaching. So we are to proclaim

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the Word. Everybody has to do that. That's the task of the church. It's not just a task of a minister who stands in the pulpit at 8 o'clock or 11 o'clock on a Sunday morning, but to proclaim that sermon, to proclaim Jesus Christ not only in word but in deed. That's the task of the church. Jesus did it in the first

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century and he has disciples who are called of his spirit who constitute his body in the 20th century who must be about the Father's business. Teaching, preaching, and healing all manner of sickness and disease, that's our task. And sometimes the church, the institutional church, forgets that.

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Sometimes we get so caught up in the institutionalized things of having an order of worship and having a budget and all of those things that we forget the main task of the church. But the main task of the church is to teach Christ, to preach Christ, and to cast out demons. Somehow the healing of the Spirit of God

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is at work in us and through us changing the world. And that's when the church is the church. That's what God is about. That's what he's up to in the world. Teaching, preaching, and healing. And he said I will make you, I will make you become more than you are, I will make you fishers of men. That means I will make

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you a new you through my word. I will make you a new person through the fellowship of my spirit. I will make you new through my power. I will make you vicious of men. Follow me. Where does he lead? Well if we follow him we're going to move from Nazareth to Capernaum. We're going to move from just our sanctuary to

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the outside where cross the crowded ways of life. If we follow him we're not only going to go about all Galilee for all kinds of people. You know sometimes some people think that this church is just for certain kinds of people. You know so well now if you if you fit into this category or that category well maybe you

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should go to Ebenezer. No, it's for all people. The gospel is for everyone and as the people of God, it's ours to reach out for every person who's outside the arc of safety. Follow me, follow me. So as we follow him, he goes into all Galilee. His is a message to the outsider. Gentiles are outsiders and Galilee is

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heavily populated with Gentiles is to other people, not just to ourselves, but to follow him. And as as he goes on, we see him as he preaches what we call the Sermon on the Mount from the Mount of Beatitudes. Follow me and his disciples sit there at his feet and listen to his words and it's ours to listen to the

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teachings of Jesus. They listen. And as we follow him we see as he continues to bless, to heal, to cast out devils, we see him as he comes near the end of his public ministry. And as we follow him we see that he goes into the garden of Gethsemane, tide of public opinion turns against him, and he goes into Gethsemane

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if we would follow him we must follow him into Gethsemane. Sometimes as we follow him our souls will be heavy and our eyes will be stained with tears, but his voice says, "Follow me." And in Gethsemane he prays as he lifts up his heart to God saying, "Not as I will, but as thou wilt." Father if it's your will let the cup

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past, but it's not my will, I just want to do your will." We must follow him to the Garden of Gethsemane. We keep on as we walk in his steps, we must follow him to Calvary, to Calvary, to the cross. We must follow him. Calvary is the crisis experience, Christ. Christ goes to Calvary. He's pierced in the side, nails

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are driven through his hands and feet. He suffers, yes, he suffers redemptively and he says to us, "Follow me, follow me." We must follow him to Calvary. Not only do we follow him to Calvary, but we see him as he goes from Calvary, he's taken down from that cross and he's placed in a tomb and he stays in that tomb all night

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Friday and all night Saturday but early early that Sunday morning he gets up and he walks about the streets for every Calvary has its Easter experience and so he says, "Follow me, follow me, follow me through floods and flames. If Jesus lead, I'll follow where he goes. Hinder me not shall be my plea, though earth and hell

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oppose." That's the language of a disciple, to follow in his steps. Follow wherever he leads through the hills and valleys wherever it is to follow him that's our task as the people of God to follow wherever he leads as we come now to the time of commitment it's a time of dedication it's a time when we are to

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make the decision for Jesus Christ to be his disciples, to recommit ourselves to the task that he has assigned to us, we invite you to respond now as the invitation is extended. If you're here without a church home, we invite you to accept Jesus Christ and

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become a part of the family of God here at Ebenezer. (�� bı...) I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus.

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Go dirty, man. Go dirty, man. ♪ Though you avoid me ♪ ♪ Still I will follow ♪

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♪ Though you avoid me ♪ ♪ Still I will follow ♪ ♪ Though you avoid me ♪ ♪ Still I will follow ♪

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♪ No turning back ♪ ♪ No turning back ♪ ♪ The world behind me ♪ ♪ The cross before me ♪

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♪ The world behind me ♪ ♪ The cross before me ♪ ♪ The world behind me ♪ ♪ The cross before me ♪

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♪ No turning back ♪ ♪ No turning back ♪ ♪ I have decided ♪ ♪ To follow Jesus ♪

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♪ I have decided ♪ ♪ To follow Jesus ♪ ♪ I have decided ♪ ♪ To follow Jesus ♪

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♪ O Burning Man ♪ ♪ O Burning Man ♪ - All right, those persons who are officers, you hold some office to which you've been elected

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in this church, would you stand where you are? Every person. [BLANK_AUDIO]