Do You Follow Jesus?

[0:00] Turn with me to Mark chapter 1, and if you would please stand in honor of God's word as we read God's word.

[0:21] Mark chapter 1, beginning in verse 14. Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.

[0:42] And repent and believe in the gospel. 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 farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and Joseph, the brother, who were in their boat, mending the nets, and immediately called them, and they left their father.

[1:26] Father, thank you for your word. And now I pray that as your word is proclaimed, that our hearts would be open and receptive, that our wills would be conformed to yours, and that our lives would be obedient to you as we seek to follow you. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated.

[1:58] The scripture that we just read answers the question, what does it mean to follow Jesus? Mark answers the question. Matthew answers the question. But the bigger question today really is, do you follow Jesus? My 19-year-old son, his name is Cole, he was working at Falls Creek this summer, worked there all summer. By the way, right now, my son Cole is preaching his very first sermon.

[2:41] He's preaching at First Baptist Wayne, Oklahoma this morning. So if you would be praying for him that he stays focused. Anyway, Cole was working at Falls Creek this summer, and one Friday night, his mother had been wanting him to come home. Notice I said his mother wanted him to come home, and he kept telling her he was going to come home. But it ended up that he was not going to leave Falls Creek until after the service was over. And so it's about a three-hour drive from Falls Creek to where we live in Broken Arrow. And so we were cautioning him to be careful. He said, it's okay. There's another person that works there, a girl who is also going to be driving home.

[3:26] And so it was going to happen about the same time. And so my wife said to him, you should follow her.

[3:40] And he got quiet on the phone. And he said, why would I do that? And my wife, almost with this puzzled look on her face, kind of the, you know, here's your big theological word for the day, duh, said, well, you know, just to follow her. And he said, why don't, I don't even know if she has social media.

[4:23] So we were completely off track here. And it's crazy that you have to have that conversation now. We were thinking because it's late at night, because of safety, you know, drive behind her, make sure that you stay awake, that she stays awake, that if you have to stop or you have to talk to each other, whatever it is, for that reason, we want you to get behind her and follow her all the way home. And he was thinking about social media. We have this same kind of confusion in the church today about what it means to follow Jesus. Following Jesus means doing what Jesus does.

[5:03] It means having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. It means having every aspect of your life to be changed and conformed into the will of God, to be intentionally conformed to Jesus.

[5:20] Following Jesus is not some kind of passive looking into the life of Jesus whenever it's convenient for you, kind of like when you get on Facebook and you scroll over people's lives.

[5:36] That's not, that's not following Jesus. It's not adding Jesus to your list of friends. Following Jesus is a whole lot more. Simon says, the kids still play that today?

[5:55] Yes. Oh, look. Thank you. I appreciate that. It's a whole lot more Simon says than it is social media. You all understand.

[6:08] So let me ask you the question again. Do you follow Jesus? And what does that mean? Well, Mark answers it for us. And as you would imagine, being a Southern Baptist preacher, I have three points for you today. And I hope that you will follow along with me as we look through the text and we look to see what it means to follow Jesus.

[6:32] The thing that I want you to see today is following Jesus requires a response of believing. Following Jesus requires a response of believing. Look again at verse 14 and 15.

[6:51] Look at me. Look at the Bible. Okay. Mark chapter one, verse 14. After John was arrested, remember this follows the baptism of Jesus, the temptations of Jesus. Now, after John the Baptist had been arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God. Now, isn't that interesting? Because what we talk about when we think about the gospel, Jesus died on the cross for our sins. We couldn't pay for ourselves. He did something for you that you couldn't do for yourself.

[7:25] We think the gospel being that Jesus died, was buried and raised. And Jesus tells them he is proclaiming the gospel of God and he hasn't been to the cross yet. Can I tell you the gospel, the good news of God has always been present from the moment that God spoke the world into existence.

[7:51] The gospel is always about God. And he says in verse 15 and saying, filled in the kingdom of God is at hand, hint and believe in the gospel.

[8:08] The key word here being believe. The call to follow Jesus is always the call to believe.

[8:19] Believe. Well, to believe what? Well, he says it right there. The gospel. The gospel. Now, you and I know what, if you talk about the word gospel, we know what that means. It literally means good news. And I want to tell you today, your day is about to get a whole lot better.

[8:41] Because there's good news for you today. But the good news always starts with the bad news. And the bad news is that the Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That means we've all done something that God didn't want us to do. Bible declares that we are enemies of God.

[9:03] All. I don't know what your definition of all is, but I'm going to tell you what the Greek says, because it's a whole lot like what we speak in Oklahoma. It means all y'all.

[9:17] All of you. Everybody lotty dotty. Everybody who's ever breathed a breath. Everybody who's ever life in them at all. All of us are sinful. It means we've transgressed against God. We've deflated God. We have disobeyed God. But there is, there is good news in the gospel. And you know this passage, Romans 10, 9 and 10. And it says it like this. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Be saved from what? You'll be saved from God. From God's wrath against sin. You'll be saved from a devil's hell that you justly deserve. The Bible says that we all deserve condemnation. But here's the good news is that while you have committed a crime, you've broken the law of God, which by the way, if you break the law, what does that make you? Makes you a criminal. Makes you a criminal. You are a criminal.

[10:37] You've committed a crime and the crime that you've committed deserves the death penalty. Even if, even if I've just, just a little bit, well, time out. Yes. Even if you've just sinned a little bit, but by the way, I'm gonna tell you a secret. You haven't sinned just a little bit.

[10:59] The Bible says that we have thoroughly transgressed against God and that none of us are righteous, not even one. So we deserve the death penalty. But here's what the Bible says. It says that, that God, in his great mercy, sent his son, his one and only son, the Lord Jesus Christ, 100% God and 100% man. He came here to live a perfect life, to fulfill the law completely, what you could not do on your own. And then he took the death penalty that you deserved. In other words, when the verdict came down, we're guilty. Jesus stepped in and said, Father, I've this one.

[11:39] I'll take the punishment for this one. I will take the death penalty for this one. And the Bible says that he was crucified on a cross. Not only did he shed his blood, but he died a horrific death.

[11:55] He was buried, by the way, listen to this, on the Sabbath. Even Jesus rested on the final Sabbath, completely fulfilling the law. And on the third day, God raised him from the dead.

[12:11] And he's alive now. And the Bible says, if you believe that you are a sinner and that Christ has done everything for you that needed to be done that you couldn't do for yourself, if you would entrust your life to him, the Bible says, you will be saved. This is much more than a belief that God exists, that there is a God, that there is some kind of supernatural power. Many, many people believe that God exists, but they do not believe in a Christ who saves. Biblical belief is staking your entire life on that reality. That you are a sinner. That you are a sinner that cannot make yourself right. But Jesus did everything in his substitutionary sacrifice. And the Bible says now that you must entrust, that's literally what the word believe means. It means to entrust your life fully to Christ. Many of you would know the name Harry Houdini.

[13:21] Houdini, an incredible illusionist, magician, escape artist from the early 20th century. One of the most famous escapes that Houdini ever did, if you want to call it an escape, was that, I guess it would be an event. Let's just call it that. Is that they strung a rope from one side of the Niagara Falls to the other? And Houdini gathered people on one side of Niagara Falls, and he was such a showman. He would whip up the crowd. He would get everybody fired up. And here he did this same thing. He got everybody fired up and kept saying, how many of you believe that I can walk all the way across this rope to the other side? People were screaming, yeah, Houdini, they're screaming his name, you know, probably high-fiving each other, whatever. And he kept doing this. How many, how many believe? Do you really believe? Do you really believe? Now legend says, I don't know if it's true or not, but legend says that after the crowd was so whipped up into a frenzy that Houdini brought out a wheelbarrow.

[14:34] And he moved it with the front wheel right on top of the rope. And he pointed at a man in the front, and he said, do you believe, sir? And he said, yes, I absolutely do. And he said, good, get in the wheelbarrow. The word believe is that. It means to entrust your life into the hands of someone else.

[15:03] It means that someone is going to do something for you that you can't do for yourself. Jesus, when he said, believe in the gospel, repent and believe in the gospel, what he meant by that was not to say, yes, yes, I believe that there is a God. Yes, I believe that Jesus existed. Yes, I believe that there is some kind of good, better power, super higher power out there. No, what Jesus was saying was, get in the wheelbarrow. Entrust your life completely to me. Turn over the reins of your life completely to me. Allow me to be Lord. That's what the Bible means, to be Lord of your life.

[15:50] Life. There are many, many people who believe in certain things. There are a lot of people, there are some, maybe even you. If you know somebody in here, please don't point when I say this, okay?

[16:05] Many people believe in aliens. But the fact that you believe in aliens doesn't necessarily change the way that you live your life.

[16:17] I mean, unless you go down to Walmart and you've got a tinfoil hat on or something like that. There are many people who believe in global warming, but they still fly on airplanes and drive their big SUVs. It doesn't change the way that they live their life. What Jesus means when he says believe is that your life would radically change. That it would be completely and wholly given over to him.

[16:48] That you would say to Jesus, not my will, but yours be done. That's what he means by believe. The Bible says that even the demons believe that Jesus existed. And what does it say about him?

[17:02] It says that they tremble. They tremble. Saving belief entrusts your entire life to Jesus who completely changes you. I want you to look at one particular passage with me that's quite telling.

[17:18] John chapter 3. Hold your place there in Mark chapter 1, but turn over to John chapter 3 and verse 36. 36. This is the very end of the conversation with Nicodemus. Not Nicodemus. Yeah, Nicodemus.

[17:38] I said Nicodemus and I was thinking Zacchaeus. He was a wee little man. End of the conversation with Nicodemus. Look at what it says in verse 36.

[17:49] Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not. And what do you expect him to say?

[18:02] You expect him to say believe. That's not what he says. Again, he says whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. Let me ask you a question again.

[18:22] Do you follow Jesus? Following Jesus is more than just appreciating grace. It is entrusting your life to him.

[18:36] Every area of your life. Are you all in? Are you in the wheelbarrow? See, following Jesus requires a response of believing.

[18:50] Second, I want you to see this in the text as well. Not only does following Jesus require a response of believing, but following Jesus also requires a response of leaving.

[19:03] Of leaving. Look what it says. In verse 18, he says this twice. In verse 18, it says, And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

[19:18] Jesus had said, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And it says, Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And then in verse 20, another set of brothers, it says the same thing.

[19:31] And immediately he called them and they left their father, Zebedee. They left. left. Both times, the word that's used there, it's an incredible word that's used many, many times throughout the New Testament.

[19:51] It means to release. It means to open your hands and let go. To drop. To push away from you.

[20:02] That's what it means to leave. They left. Left. It's also the word that's used again and again and again in the New Testament.

[20:15] Forgive. That's what it means to forgive. Now, that's a whole other sermon. They left. They saw what was in their hands.

[20:27] They had inside of their hands what was important to them. But when Jesus calls, they open their hands, they drop what they have and they follow him.

[20:41] What did Jesus command these men to leave? I want you to think about this. Everything that they knew as young Jewish boys, all of their family, their income, their comfort, their home, their children, their parents, their livelihood, their expertise, everything.

[21:02] Jesus asked him to leave everything. And he asked him to do it now. To leave now. If you're going to follow Jesus, by the way, that's what it means to be a Christian.

[21:21] Following Jesus is not some higher step in being a Christian. to be a Christian literally means to follow him. If you're going to be a follower of Jesus, you're going to be a Christian, you will be required to leave the safe confines.

[21:41] It means that you're going to have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. It means that in the context of your life, you can't keep one foot in the boat.

[21:55] we give it up. There is a cost to following Jesus. Listen, there is a cost for you to follow Jesus.

[22:12] And usually, it's a high cost. Luke 9.23, Jesus said, if any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

[22:28] Following Jesus is not simply adding a little bit of Jesus to your busy life so that you can add grace. It's not another box to be checked.

[22:38] Following Jesus is surrender of your life. It's opening up your hands and dropping it and leaving it to Jesus. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great German theologian, said, when God calls a man, meaning when God calls him to be saved and when God calls him to follow, when God calls a man, he bids him to come and die.

[23:06] Peter and Andrew, James and John, did not simply reorder their life to make Jesus one of several priorities. they left.

[23:21] They abandoned ship. Every allegiance that they had was deserted for Christ. And to walk with Jesus for you, to follow him, you will have to leave some things.

[23:39] It may be that you have to leave some dreams or some goals or some priorities. Now, I will tell you this before you get too verklempt.

[23:53] Sometimes, Jesus gives back some of those things that you've surrendered. And sometimes, he does not. Matthew 16, again, if you'd hold your finger there in Mark chapter 1, but Matthew 16, verse 24, and 25, Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, this is the passage I quoted earlier, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me, for whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

[24:39] That's Jesus. The Apostle Paul says it this way in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 13. He says, Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

[25:10] So I would just ask you today to pervertly, maybe metaphorically, look at what you're holding in your hands.

[25:24] Look at what you cling to so desperately. look at what it is that you have that you have to have. Maybe it's an ideal that you have in your head about what life is to be like.

[25:46] Maybe it's some goal or some priority. Maybe it's your sin. In Mark chapter 1, he says, as he's telling them that they must believe, he says, repent and believe, meaning to turn and leave your sin.

[26:10] If you're going to follow Jesus, it's going to require you to leave something. Following Jesus requires a response first of all of believing, second of leaving, and then finally this morning following Jesus requires a response of serving, of serving.

[26:33] Look with me again in Mark chapter 1, and let's look at verse 16, begin in verse 16 again. 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.

[26:51] They're just doing what they normally do. And Jesus said to them, follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.

[27:06] Following Jesus requires a response of serving. God has called you, God has saved you, God has called you in order that you may serve him.

[27:18] And I just have to say this, serving Jesus is awesome. Is this on? Did you all miss that?

[27:32] That was a real good plug. Do you get them to say amen? Thank you, brother. Serving Jesus is awesome. Serving Jesus is going to be one of the most thrilling things you've ever done in your life.

[27:49] Listen, I am a self-professed adrenaline junkie. I raced motocross when I was in high school. I made my first parachute jump when I was 16 years old.

[28:02] My dad told my mom we were going to buy a car. It was a good thing they were already divorced. Really not a good thing, but you know what I mean.

[28:15] I have done all kinds of adrenaline things in my life, but listen, there is nothing that makes me feel more alive than serving Jesus and this is why.

[28:26] Because God made you for it. That is what God made you for. Listen, you are not an accident. You are playing and playing God planned you to serve him in some way.

[28:43] God has called you to serve him. Look at this. Literally, he says, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. You are saved to serve.

[28:55] These men were passionate about fishing. What are you passionate about that God can use to serve him? God equips us with gifts with gifts and talents and experiences to serve him.

[29:11] He super empowers your life. In fact, the Bible does not speak of a saved person who does not serve.

[29:25] The Bible doesn't talk about that person. In fact, I want you to think about this and by the way, you know, I don't know any of you all.

[29:36] You all look like a very nice bunch. But I'm going to say this because it's true and because I have a car and I can go home after this.

[29:51] What is the gratitude of us if God has saved us and we don't serve? I knew that wouldn't get a lot of amens but I didn't say it to get amens.

[30:08] It's just true. What ingratitude we are really demonstrating in our life. If we ask God to forgive us of our sin and to give us his grace and then we just decide to keep doing life the way that we want and not serve him.

[30:28] serving rarely is glamorous. Serving in the church doesn't have all the bells and flashes and whistles and stuff.

[30:41] It's not what we would call to be sexy. It's not always glamorous. Exciting? Yes! But many times it's mundane, it's unseen.

[30:54] But listen, serving Christ is never ever wasted. No matter what job you have, no matter what you're called to do, it is never ever wasted.

[31:10] It is always a part of God's greater kingdom purpose. 2010, I was in the Argandab River Valley in Afghanistan just outside of Kandahar.

[31:23] I was with the 82nd Airborne Division and we were trying to run the Taliban out of a particular village. This village would be what you would think of as something like an Afghani subdivision.

[31:39] But all of the homes are made out of mud. They were these large one-room mud hut buildings. All of them had a mud wall that would surround the mud hut in order to keep whatever livestock they had to keep it in.

[31:58] There were several dozen of these scattered along this sloping hillside down in the Argandab River Valley which is the front porch of the Taliban.

[32:10] We knew they were in this village and we knew that they were planning their terroristic activities from this village.

[32:21] On the very corner of that village where the only dirt road in the village met with the only paved highway through all of southern Afghanistan what we called Highway One right on the corner of that was a hut that we took over.

[32:42] On the outside it looked like a mud hut with a six foot mud wall but if you walked on the inside it looked like the Pentagon. Big screen TVs communication setups.

[32:58] We had all the great the latest and greatest surveillance equipment that you could imagine and we were watching every single movement from the eye in the sky and all of it was being centered right here in this mud hut.

[33:12] We had about a platoon maybe a heavy squad of men who were there to watch this and on one guy sat on top of that mud hut.

[33:28] He would sit there for about four hours at a time in what we call full battle rattle. He had all of his Kevlar equipment on. He had his ballistic vest on.

[33:39] He had his M4 rifle with ACOG scope and 30 had seven 30 round magazines full of 5.56 ammunition. He had one job.

[33:52] He couldn't listen to his headphones. He couldn't read a book. He couldn't do a crossword puzzle. He wasn't supposed to be watching videos or anything like that. He only had one job and his job was to watch and to warn.

[34:09] If there was anything that was abnormal that happened in the village, he was to let everybody down below know. And by the way, this guy was a private E nothing. He had no rank.

[34:22] None. He was at the lowest end of the totem pole. There were officers that were below that were collecting intelligence, that were developing plans, that were looking over operations.

[34:37] There were other non-commissioned officers, sergeants, and others who were out there directing what was supposed to be going on, but the guys who sat on top, they had no rank.

[34:48] They were not collecting intelligence. They were not responsible for the operations. They just had one job to watch. Not very glamorous at all.

[35:02] On this particular day, this soldier told me later that he saw a car that had started up at the top of the sloping hill and was driving down.

[35:13] It got to the place where we had a barrier that was set up, a serpentine barrier to make everything slow down. There was an Afghan National Army soldier that we were cooperating with who would inspect the car before it made its way right next to that six-foot wall and that mud hut.

[35:33] As the car came down, the soldier was watching, nothing unusual or abnormal, and he saw that the Afghan National Army soldier got out of his little hut and he walked over there to the car, but as he got to within about five feet, he threw down his AK-47 rifle and took off running.

[35:54] Our soldier immediately knew that something was wrong. The car moved through the serpentine barrier and then gunned it, speeding as fast as he could.

[36:06] This soldier told me that he stood up out of his metal folding chair that was set up on top of that roof, 120 degrees outside, full battle rattle.

[36:17] He stood up and he brought that M4 rifle to his cheek and he got his sight picture through the ACOG scope right on the vehicle.

[36:29] But as he did that, as he pulled that rifle up to get his aim correct, he noticed out of the peripheral vision that there were a dozen soldiers that were between the hut and the six-foot wall that were working and had no idea what was going on.

[36:51] He had a choice to make. It was a split second he had to choose between engaging this car and warning these soldiers. He said he dropped his rifle that much so that he could be plainly heard and he yelled down at those soldiers to get down.

[37:12] He screamed at the top of his lungs get down. As he was screaming, he dropped down to get down on top of the roof but he told me that between him yelling for them to get down and him actually hitting his chest on the roof of this mud hut, gone.

[37:30] the car was packed with artillery shells and a suicide bomber from the Taliban was trying to take out our entire operations. It wiped out the wall, completely demolished that mud hut, millions of dollars worth of surveillance equipment inside and soldiers.

[37:50] I had some bad deployments. My first deployment I had one soldier that I was close with that was killed, shot in the heart and killed.

[38:04] My second deployment I had one other soldier that was killed, a guy that I had just been playing catch baseball with the day before. But on this deployment we lost 65 soldiers.

[38:17] It's still considered the deadliest deployment of an American unit during the war on terrorism. This was making out to be another very bad day.

[38:32] But because one guy was doing a very unglamorous job, a guy who had no rank, no say, no authority, but he just did the job he was given to do, on that day, none of our soldiers were injured.

[38:57] None of them were killed. I wish I could tell you I remember that kid's name. I can't. I talked with him in the hospital that day.

[39:11] He was the only one that was really injured. Both of his eardrums were completely blown out. In fact, when he talked to me, he talked at the top of his lungs. He would scream at me.

[39:26] I can't remember his name, but I bet that there are a dozen soldiers that remember his name, and a dozen wives that remember his name, and an untold number of children, that will forever be grateful that there was one guy who stood up on top of that mud hut and did a very unglamorous job, but he did it well.

[40:00] And I just want to say to you, for some of you, you are a Sunday school teacher, or you sing in the choir, you play an instrument, you greet at the front door, you give out coffee or donuts, or you pass out bulletins, you work with children on Wednesday nights or on Sunday mornings, or you clean around here, or you do whatever it is that you do.

[40:22] You pray for people, you talk to people, you call people, whatever it is that you do, you do it like the dude on the roof, because someday it's going to matter to somebody.

[40:35] In eternity, there's going to be somebody who said to you, you made a difference in my life and you would have never known. Serve Jesus.

[40:50] In whatever God has called you to do, serve him. Serve him like it matters, like the guy who was on the roof, like people's lives are at matter, because people's lives are at stake.

[41:12] Jesus never overlooks the sacrifice that you make to serve. And by the way, if God has called you to salvation, and he has, he has also called you to serve.

[41:26] So, serve. If you're not serving now, find your pastor. Find Tyler and say, how can I serve?

[41:37] I guarantee you, there is a way that you can serve here in the church. And if there's not, I bet they can make one up. Decide today to leave the boat and to follow Jesus by serving.

[41:58] These men did. Verse 18 and verse 20, Mark uses the word immediately. immediately. Jesus said it like this in Mark chapter verse 45.

[42:11] I did not come to be served, but to serve. If you want to be like Jesus, if you want to follow Jesus, you'll be required to have a response of serving.

[42:26] following. Well, it's not a question whether God has called you to follow him or not. He has. He has called you, and he requires you to follow, to believe, and to believe, and to serve.

[42:45] That's not being a higher level Christian. That's being a Christian. following is the expression of being saved.

[42:56] It's not perfection. It's just direction. If there's no fruit evident of following, I'm just going to say you should seriously examine your heart about salvation today.

[43:11] What is the direction of your life? Is it your way, or is it following Jesus? Because following Jesus always requires a response of believing, of leaving, and of serving.

[43:31] I'm going to ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes for just a few moments. We're going to have a short time of invitation today. It may be today that you have never believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.

[43:44] It may be that you believe that there is a God. You've come to church. You think of yourself as a fairly good person, and the truth is, is that none of that matters. Are you in the wheelbarrow?

[43:59] Have you gone all in? Have you entrusted your life to Jesus? If you've never done that, today is the day. The Bible says today is the day of salvation, and I want to invite you today to entrust your life to Christ, to get in the wheelbarrow today to say, I am all in.

[44:18] Your pastor is going to be standing here at the front in just a moment, and during the time of invitation, he'll turn off the microphone, and we invite you to come and ask God to save you and to declare to God that you want to be a follower of Him.

[44:36] It may be today that you need to leave something. Maybe you need to come to this altar and pray and to say, God, I just want to leave this thing in my life. I've prioritized this above you.

[44:47] I have not made you the Lord of my life, the boss of my life, and today, God, there are some things that I need to leave behind. Perhaps today you need to come and say, I want to serve Jesus.

[45:03] I don't have any authority. I don't have many skills. I don't even know what to do, but I just know this. I want a grateful heart, and I want to serve Jesus. If you need to do that today, we invite you to come.

[45:15] Whatever God is telling you to do today, would you follow Him? He's calling. Just like He called these disciples, He's calling you today.

[45:26] He's calling you by name right now. He's calling you today, and He's saying, come follow me. Father, thank You for Your Word.

[45:41] And now I pray, God, that You would move among us in only the way that You can. May many come to believe today. May many come to surrender their life completely to You today, leaving behind things that we have longingly embraced and refuse to let You have control.

[46:11] And today, may many come to serve. And I pray that as they do, that they would know the joy of serving Jesus.

[46:24] We know that You are good, God, and I pray that as Your Holy Spirit moves now, You would give us hearts to be doers of the Word, to be obedient and have life.

[46:36] We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

[46:46] I'll see you next time.