Welcome to this Daily PBJ devotional. Read Matthew 4. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. But Jesus answered, It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple. If you are the son of God, he said, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Jesus replied, It is also written, Do not put the Lord your God to the test. Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. All this I will give to you, he said, if you will fall down and worship me. Away from me, Satan, Jesus told him, for it is written, Worship the Lord your God and serve him only. Then the devil left him, and angels came and ministered to him. When Jesus heard that John had been imprisoned, he withdrew to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which is by the sea in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah, Land of Zebulun and Land of Naphtali, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people living in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. From that time on, Jesus began to preach, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will make you fishers of men. And at once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Jesus went throughout Galilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering acute pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. Large crowds followed him, having come from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. This is God's Word. Frank Sinatra's famous song, New York, New York, contains this lyric, If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere. If success in someone's line of work requires finding a really big audience, then that line of lyrics is true. Get famous or successful in New York or Hollywood, and you'll be famous and successful anywhere else on earth because New York and L.A. are trendsetters for the rest of the nation and for most of the world. Here in Matthew 4, verse 12, Jesus began the public phase of his ministry He had been living in Nazareth, a small town southwest of the Sea of Galilee, where his mother, Mary, and his stepfather, Joseph, were from, according to Luke chapter 2 verse 4. When he heard that John the Baptist was put into prison, we can see that in Matthew 4.12, That's when Jesus moved out of Nazareth, away from his hometown. But he didn't move to Jerusalem, Israel's equivalent of New York, New York. Instead, he moved to Galilee, according to verse 12. Specifically, he moved to Capernaum, according to verse 13b. Capernaum was probably a bigger town than Nazareth, but not much bigger or more influential than Nazareth. So the move to Capernaum wasn't about seeking the largest possible audience. He would go to Jerusalem for that. Jesus also didn't seek out the most influential audience or team members either. In verses 18 through 22, we read about the call of Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John. They were hard-working Galilean fishermen, but they weren't anything like Frank Sinatra in terms of influence, or fame, or probably even singing skill. Jesus also didn't go minister to the wealthy and powerful. Instead, he went to the neediest, most neglected group of people there were, the sick, as we saw in verses 23 and 24. So there you have it. When Jesus wanted to build a ministry, he moved to a small town far away from the bright lights, metaphorically speaking, of Jerusalem. He called average guys to help him, and they went to serve the least influential people possible. Nobody, nobody would try to build a career this way. Nobody but Jesus, that is. But it worked. Verse 25 told us that large crowds from all over Israel, Jerusalem included, came to follow Christ. And that's because Jesus's ministry was about the power and grace of God, not the power of talent, or of networking, or of one's hometown. Are you relying on any of these things, your talent, your network, your place of ministry, or something else, for success? Jesus did go to Jerusalem, and he did minister there eventually, so it isn't wrong to go where the population and the power is. But do we really trust God as we build lives and ministries for Him? Or is our confidence in our cunning decisions, like finding the right location and the right influencers? Put it another way. Can you be content to serve God, where He has put you, and let Him decide how to use your faithful life and service to Him? If you found this devotional helpful, go to my website, dailypbj.com slash subscribe, enter your email address there, and you'll be subscribed by email to receive my daily devotionals. Every day you'll receive an email from me containing a link to these devotionals, And more importantly, a link to the daily scripture readings so you can be reading God's Word every day and so my devotional can help you apply God's Word to your life every day. This is completely free and you can unsubscribe at any time. So give it a try. Go to dailypbj.com slash subscribe. And if you can help me with financial support and become one of my monthly donors, please go to dailypbj.com slash support. Please share this with someone else, and I'll see you next time. May God bless you. Hope you have a great day today.