Hi, everybody. How y'all doing this evening? Let's do that again. How y'all doing this evening? I tell you what, we are in God's house this evening. I am so excited to be here. I look forward to be here all day. I couldn't wait. I woke up kind of on the wrong side of the bed. I just couldn't wait till I get to church, because I knew that when I came here, the Holy Spirit would be here. And I tell you what, I am so thankful. I tell you what. I don't know if y'all noticed, I get so excited when we do a choir up here. I'll tell you what church, if you are not up here and if you can't sing, that's fine. Let me tell you something, we are here to make noise for Jesus Christ and for what Jesus Christ has done for us, and that's to die for our sin so we don't ever have to ever experience that awful place called hell. Because of Jesus Christ, we can be with Him forever. and ever and I'm just so thankful that's why I get so excited I'm redeemed oh my goodness that's the only thing that gets me every time. If you have your Bible I want to get Mark chapter 1 and we're going to be looking at verse 16. I'll tell you what I was thinking about this um today I was kind of getting this together I thought you know what if you are here this evening now I need to hear you guys I need to know that you guys are awake If you're here this evening and you are... Happy to be the child of a king. Will you say amen this morning? Oh Lord, I tell you what. Mark chapter 1 verse 16. What I want to be talking about this morning, this evening, if you look into the New Testament, if you just scan through the New Testament, you will find many references to God calling people to himself through his son, Jesus Christ. And my question for you, aren't you glad you've been called? God called you. Are you glad that you've called? God chose you. He chose you to be the one to go out and to be his disciple. And that's what I want to talk about this evening. I want to talk about Jesus calling. Can I tell you something? This story that we're about to read is one of my favorite stories because I've heard this story all my life. And it's so funny because sometimes when you look at it one way and you realize that, you know what? God could have called anybody, but he called these four men and they were the fishermen. And we're going to look into that. First up, we're going to get Mark chapter 1, verse 16. It says, 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 fisher. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, I will make you. I will make you to become fishermen. And straightway they forsook their net, and they followed him. Verse 19. And when he had gone a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who also were in the ship, manning their nets. And straightway he called them, and he left their father, Zebedee, into the ship with his higher servant, and went after him and let me tell you something guys I was reading this I think you know what I am so thankful that there is still hope for the one that are lost in this world but God is still calling just because listen he didn't listen just because just because he called you doesn't mean that he's done church he is still calling people today but it is so important that we understand that when Jesus calls us, we have to be obedient, church. Listen, we have got to go and start feeding Jesus Christ. We have to go start feeding His lamb, His sheep. There are so many lost people in this world that we forget that we have to reach out to them, give them an opportunity, tell them about Jesus Christ, so when Jesus calls them, they will be ready, church. I honestly believe this is one of the reasons why so many churches are failing, because what we want to do, we want to come to the church, we want to clock in, we want to clock out. Church, let me tell you something. There is so much more than just coming to a house to worship. We have got to take the word of Jesus Christ and go out and give it to the people. There are so many people that don't even know who Jesus Christ is. But what's amazing is that when Jesus Christ, when he called these fishermen, He didn't call them because they were special. Because guess what? Jesus was already special. He called ordinary people just like me and you. He called fishermen. It was amazing that these were just common men working a common trade. And when I was doing some research about these fishermen, of course we know who they are, but I was doing some research, I'm thinking, you know, were they out alone by themselves? Like, why did Jesus pick those four? And I was thinking, what's amazing, I was doing some research during that time, Honesty on the sea of Galilee. Yeah, they would be any given day 300 boat 300 boat where fishermen will be out there fishing But what's amazing is that Jesus Christ? Pick those four and the reason why that's amazing because when he picked them they weren't anything special It wasn't like they were preachers. They were ordinary people just like us So many times we get no head when Jesus tells to do something we say Jesus Christ. I can't do it I used to do that for a long time. I remember for the longest time, Jesus Christ would call me to teach, would call me to preach, would call me just to talk to somebody and tell them about the good news. And I used to give him so many issues, I used to say, well, Lord, I can't hear well. And he's like, well, I made you hear me, didn't I? And I'm like, well, you got me there, Jesus. I used to say, Lord, I'm not a good speaker. Well, he's like, well, guess what? You're loud. People are going to understand you one way or another. I used to give God so many excuses. And let me tell you something, church. If you would just let it go. God will take care of the rest. We have got to stop coming up with excuses because when God calls you, He has a purpose for you. His purpose is not just for you to come to the church and just put your butt on this pew. He wants you to go out and be a disciple. He wants you to go out to sacrifice yourself to others. Like I said, there's so many people that are lost. There's so many people in pain. There's so many people in this world where they're trying to fill their heart. There's a void in their heart and they're trying to fill it, but they keep filling it with drugs or sex or just all the social media, the politics. It's all garbage. All we need is Jesus Christ. And what's amazing is when Jesus Christ doesn't follow, guess what? Those four men follow. Oh, that's amazing. Two of them even left their father. They said, see ya, Dad. They're like, see ya, you got the highest servant. I'm going to follow this man. Yeah, I'll tell you why. And I'll tell you what, what's amazing is that Jesus Christ, he called ordinary people. He didn't call no one special. He didn't say, hey. He didn't say, you don't have to be awesome. All you have to do is be yourself. That's why Jesus made you the way you are. Because let me tell you something, you guys are going to be able to reach out to people that I would never be able to reach out. You think I'm going to go work for Brother Garrett? No. I would not put my life in danger just to make sure someone had heat. I would not do it. OK? I ain't going to do what Luke does. Turn on Pat. I don't know what he does. He does something with AEP. But hey, I just shake my head every time he talks about it. But these guys, they can reach out to people that I would never reach. That's why it's so important that when Jesus Christ says, follow, when Jesus Christ says, hey, I need you to do this, we have got to be obedient. But guess what, church? There's going to be a time that it might be intimidating. There might be time where we think, oh, Lord, this is hard. I'm out of my comfort zone. I want to read a verse here that gave me strength. It will give you strength. It will encourage you. Let's go to 1 Corinthians. We're going to go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Give me a second. I will find it. We're going to go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and we're going to look at verse 26. Like I said, when I was reading this verse, I thought, thank you, Lord. This verse gave me so much courage. I thought, oh, OK, I have to share this to the church. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26 says this. For ye see your calling brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the fullest things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world and the things which are despaired hath God chosen ye and things which are not to bring to naught things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence. Verse 30. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. We don't have to be wise. We don't have to be powerful. So many times Jesus Christ will call us to do something, we think, you know what, I'm not strong enough, but let me tell you something church, without God you can't do anything, but with Jesus Christ you can do everything. And some people always say well, you know Jesus is no he's not gonna give you more than you can handle No, no, this is just do what Jesus says and don't worry about what you can't handle what you can't handle just follow Jesus Christ respond to him and answer and to his call. And what I love about this is that when Jesus went to the fishermen, he didn't start shouting at them and said, hey, for you to follow me, you gotta, you know, give me three, dance three times, give me three spins, jump two times, and then you can follow me. Jesus Christ doesn't say, hey, I need to go to seminary or go to college to be a preacher. Or God doesn't say, hey, for you to follow me, I need to do all this X, Y, and Z. All he said was, follow me. That's all he says. But so many times as Christians, and the reason why I get so frustrated because I'm thinking, so many times as Christians, we miss the opportunity when Jesus says, follow me. We think, you know, we keep missing it. Jesus would say, hey, I need you to do this. I need you to step up. But guess what? We keep missing it out because we want to say, you know what? We keep putting the worldly things before Jesus Christ. And I'm going to tell you right now, church, this world is falling apart, and it's going to keep falling apart. There is no way you can get a hold of it. I don't care if you run for governor. Guess what? You're not going to fix anything. This world's going to keep falling and falling. But let me tell you something, with Jesus Christ, you'll have that peace. You'll have that joy knowing that with Jesus Christ, no matter what's going on in this world, I am serving the greatest thing on this earth, and that's Jesus Christ. But like I said, so many times Christians miss this opportunity of following Jesus Christ. And I want to show you why so many people miss that opportunity. Let's go to Mark 12, verse 30. There's a verse I want to read right here. Mark 12, verse 30 says this. Mark chapter 12 verse 30 says this. Like I said, this is why I honestly believe, and I'll tell you why I believe this. This is why a lot of Christians end up falling short because I remember thinking, I have to give it all to Jesus? I can't just keep a little to myself? But no, Jesus Christ, he wants us to give it all to him. Mark chapter 12 verse 30 says this. And now shall love the Lord, thy God, now listen church, with all thy heart. Not just half of your heart, not just one quarter of your heart, all of your heart. That's why I honestly believe a lot of Christians always, you know, they walk through their Christian life and they feel like, you know, they're not doing anything for the Lord, they're not feeling the blessing or the joy, it's because they're not giving all of it They're not loving God with all their heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, with all thy strength. Oh goodness, I'm lost. Strength. This is the first commandment. The first commandment says that we need to give it all. We need to love God. Not love God and love this world. That's why it's so important that when those fishermen, when they follow, when Jesus says, follow me, guess what? They put all that worldly stuff behind them. That was their job, guys. Fishing, that's how they were able to make a living. When Jesus Christ said, hey, we're following. In church, we have got to do the same. And my question for you is how many of us strive to do this? How many of us will sit there and say, you know what? I'm giving God my all. Now, I'm going to tell you right now, I don't think we are. I'm talking to myself. I don't give it all to God. I know I don't. But we have to do better. When we follow Jesus Christ, that means when we follow Jesus Christ, that means we have to do what he says. We have to do what he wants to do. We have to be obedient, church. Let's go to 1 Peter. And I think this is going to be a problem. Yeah, let's go to 1 Peter. 1 Peter, we're going to look at verse 2. 1 Peter 2. I'm sorry. 1 Peter 2. We're going to go to verse 21. If we're going to follow Jesus, we're going to have to do what He says. We're going to have to live the way He lived, church. We're going to have to follow the step that He took. We have to do everything that we can to be like him. And I'm going to be honest with you, church. You can't do it by yourself. You can only do it with Jesus Christ. You can't buy your way to heaven. You can't rely on your mom and dad. I used to think as a young kid, you know what? My dad been a preacher all my life. Maybe he'll get me to heaven. But no. I had to be the one to make that decision. I had to be the one to answer that call when Jesus was calling me when I was a lost boy. And I realized that nobody can get me to heaven but Jesus Christ. Not money, not fame, not wealth, nothing. But I tell you what, so many Christians think they can buy their way into heaven. So I've heard so many people say, you know what? I'm a good guy. But guess what? I'm sure that rich man was a good guy. The one that went to hell, I'm sure he was a decent guy. But even him, without the blood of Jesus Christ, you have nothing, church. Let's look at 1 Peter. 1 Peter 2 verse 21, For even hereunto will ye call because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his step. We are to live as Jesus lived. We are to suffer as Jesus suffered. We are as to speak as Jesus speak. And this is the last thing, I wrote this on my note, I said, we ought to react the way Jesus reacted. That's a hard one, church, because sometimes the way we react is what people are going to judge us for that. Oh, you don't agree with what I believe in? No, I don't. I'm sorry. I don't believe what you believe in. I'm sorry. You are a man or a woman. I cannot help you. God made you that way. That'd be like me all of a sudden bleaching myself, saying I'm white. I'm not white. I'm mixed. That's the way God made me, and I'm proud of it. Why? Because Jesus did that to me. He gave me the hair on my head. He gave me my little height. I used to dream, oh, I wish I was 7'5 playing basketball. But God said, no, you're going to be 5'10. I said, OK, Lord. I'll do what you want me to do. But if I wear my boot, I'm 6', right? That's why I'm wearing my boot. I want to be as tall as Jeremy Eastwood. I'm like, I'm gonna see how tall I am next time with my boot on. But church, we ought to react to people that Jesus reacts. And what's amazing is when you get into the Word of God, there are so many examples that Jesus has laid out for us. But what's so sad is though, we'll take this Bible and we'll leave, we'll walk out these doors and we'll close it and leave it in our car all week. How can we grow as Christian if we don't even try to get into the word of God? How can we grow as Christian if we don't even try to build that relationship? I always say that, I'm sure some of you have heard me say this, if I don't talk to my wife on a daily basis, our relationship would never grow. We would not get stronger as a relationship. So imagine your relationship with Jesus Christ if you never talk to him. Well, guess what? You're not gonna have a relationship with Jesus Christ. That's why it's so important, church, that we are obedient. That's why it's so important that we remember when Jesus called the fishermen, they didn't question them, they just followed. And He said, follow me. He said, I will make you a fisherman. And let me tell you something, church, you do not have to be a preacher to spread the Word of God. You do not have to be a teacher to spread the Word of God. God has you right where He wants you to be. And if you're here this evening and you're questioning, you're like, You know, Lord, I know you're calling me to do this, but I'm not sure, but guess what? Just follow Jesus and he will get you through what he wants you to get through. Be obedient. When Jesus said go, go. When Jesus said stop, stop. We have to start putting Jesus Christ first in our life. I'm going to tell you what, listen. This world can be scary. I know it can be scary. All you got to do is turn on the TV and you'll be scared in two seconds thinking, oh my goodness, this world is about to come to an end. And guess what? It might come to an end. Whenever Jesus Christ is ready, He will come down and get us. But let me tell you something, church. While we are here waiting, we must live for Him. and not for the people in this world. We must live for Him and don't live for your preachers because we're not God. We're just here to remind you. We're just here to say, hey, get in the Word of God. We're just here to tell you, hey, listen, maybe what you're doing isn't right, but you need to go this direction. But don't worship us. Worship Jesus Christ. We are nothing without Him. And let me tell you something, Church. As you all go throughout the rest of this week, I want you to challenge yourself. You know, get into the Word of God. I want you to challenge yourself and say, you know what? If God is telling me to give, I'm gonna give. If God's telling me to go and talk to someone and tell them about the blood of Jesus Christ, well, guess what? Go! And I promise you, the joy that you will get, even if that person hates you forever, you go, well, I did what I could do. Listen, I gotta do what I gotta do, because listen, church, I want to get to heaven, but here's the thing though, I want to bring as many people with me. But so many times, church, I feel like we get so selfish. We think, you know, well, this is my little church. New Vision is my little church. We got to stop being so narrow. We need to say, you know what? We're all in this together. If you believe in the blood of Jesus Christ, that he died and rose from the dead after three days, let me say, we have to start working together, church, because I'm going to tell you right now, there are so many people that are lost. Honestly, it's scary. I'm thinking, if I was lost during this time of life, I wouldn't even know how to respond to anything that happened to me in my life. Everything that I have experienced in my life, and I'm not bragging, I'm not talking about myself. Everything that happened in my life, Church, if it wasn't for Jesus Christ, I would've been dead a long time ago. I would've given up a long time ago. So if you're here this evening, and you're ready to give up, listen. Just follow. Get into the word of God. Keep coming to church. I know it's hard. Listen, it's hard. When you got a one-year-old and you're trying to keep her up because you want her to sleep tonight, it is tough. No one warned me about this part. No one's that age. Now listen, when you bring a baby to this world, you know, the baby's going to be loud. Just like you, the baby's going to be loud. Goodness, I'm done. So just follow Jesus Christ. We've got in this world, please remember that when Jesus says follow, follow. We make this stuff so, so hard that we just, we make things so hard. And listen, I remember for the longest time in my life, I made things so hard for myself. And I realized, Church, that if you just give it all to Him, listen, He'll figure it out. And here's one of my, this is my little testimony. This is no joke. Me and my wife were living in Cerrito, And I prayed, you know, the Lord's calling me to preach, you know, Brother Garrett, Brother Jeremy was talking to me, and I'm just like, I don't know. I get started, I'm like, okay, you know, I feel like I'm doing what I need to do. Then there was a moment in my life where I thought, you know what? There was a moment where I just, I got a little selfish, and I thought, you know what? I want to move back home. My dad's not doing well. I would like to take over his church one of these days, not right now. And the Lord said, no. He said, you know what, I'm going to put you over here. I'm going to sell this house, I'm going to put you over here because I want you here for a long time." And I said, okay Lord, okay. Your way is the best way. And I'm going to tell you right now, the best thing to do is not to get in Jesus Christ's way. That's the best thing. Don't get in His way. Just follow Him. Follow, follow, follow. Here's another thing. Do your best not to give up. Because I'm going to tell you something. Jesus Christ is there. He will drag you through the mud pit. He will hold your hand. But I'll tell you what, church, with Him, you will have victory. You'll have victory and victory. And I'll tell you what, I can't wait to get on top of that mountain and be at the top and praise the Jesus Christ forever and ever.