1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:05,960 Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives. 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:09,040 The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist 3 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:13,040 Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us 4 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:17,280 or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look 5 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,760 us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,080 message from God's Word will be a blessing to you. 7 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:26,680 We're going to look at Mark chapter 1. 8 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:29,360 We've been looking at missions, of course, this week and the 9 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:33,200 idea of what it means. And of course, Liberty Baptist 10 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:37,880 Church is a part of missions of man leaves his church and he 11 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:41,400 goes to a city. He's called by God to do that. 12 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:45,600 He feels LED of the Lord that this is a area that needs a 13 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,640 gospel witness. And now we have that here for 14 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:51,560 the last 12 years. And that's what missions is all 15 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:54,240 about. Sometimes people want to make 16 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,120 missions more than what it is or less than what it is. 17 00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:59,120 But really missions is church planning. 18 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:01,760 That's what missions is all about. 19 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:05,280 So what I would like to do is take you back in the scriptures 20 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:08,720 to when the church started and and let you understand. 21 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:13,240 And my challenge to you today is that for us to understand that 22 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:17,640 what Jesus Christ started, we're still a part of today, 2000 23 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:20,960 years later. We're doing the same thing today 24 00:01:20,960 --> 00:01:24,760 that the Lord Jesus Christ started in the, in the Gospels. 25 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:28,200 And he showed us, he shows us a pattern on what to do. 26 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:33,440 So if you would stand with me in Mark chapter #1 the book of Mark 27 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:36,680 chapter one, just to honor the Word of God, we're going to read 28 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:42,360 verses 14 down to verse #20 verses 14 and 15 gives us a 29 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:45,320 little bit of a background. And I'll look at basically the 30 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:47,680 1st 13 chapters in about two minutes. 31 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,080 And then we're going to be looking at verses 1516, 32 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:54,800 basically through verse 20. Now after that, John, that's 33 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:58,120 John the Baptist. After that, John was put in 34 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:00,600 prison. Jesus came into Galilee 35 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:04,920 preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God and saying the 36 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:09,320 time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand. 37 00:02:09,759 --> 00:02:12,360 Repent ye and believe the gospel. 38 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:16,080 Now let me stop right there. The Bible makes it very clear. 39 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,320 Now listen the Kingdom of God, listen to this. 40 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:23,600 The Kingdom of God is the rule of God in the hearts of willing 41 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:26,520 subjects. So people that would be be 42 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,840 willing to believe the gospel, which is the death, the burial 43 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:33,760 and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and then to repent of 44 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:36,240 their sins. And the word repent just means 45 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:39,640 I'm going in this direction and I'm going to turn and I'm going 46 00:02:39,640 --> 00:02:43,920 to completely put all of my faith and trust in Jesus Christ. 47 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:47,080 I'm not going to add him to my religion. 48 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:49,880 I'm not going to add him to what I knew it. 49 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:54,200 I'm going to forsake all and I'm going to ask him to save me. 50 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:56,360 And I'm that means complete surrender. 51 00:02:56,880 --> 00:02:59,280 That's that repentance is meaning I'm going in One 52 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:01,960 Direction. I turn and go to this direction. 53 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:05,120 I repent of my sins and I trust Christ as my savior. 54 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:09,040 Now listen, John the Baptist preached that Jesus Christ 55 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:11,560 preached that. And that's what we're to preach. 56 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,560 That's the gospel. And so now he he he shows us 57 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:19,440 that he is beginning this ministry of preaching the gospel 58 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:22,560 in the Kingdom of God. And then in verse 16, it says 59 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:24,880 this. Now as he walked by the Sea of 60 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:29,120 Galilee, this is Jesus. He saw Simon and Andrew his 61 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:33,320 brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. 62 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:39,520 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you 63 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:45,440 to become fishers of men. That's a part of church planning 64 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:49,080 and that's a part of what church is all about is that we are not 65 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:52,000 just fishermen. We are fishers of men. 66 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:55,080 We're seeking men that they might be saved. 67 00:03:55,080 --> 00:04:00,160 Now like verse 18, because this is a very strong evidence of 68 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:04,040 these men and what God had been doing in their life already and 69 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:07,760 verses before because it says in straightway they they didn't 70 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:10,120 argue about it. They they straightway they 71 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:12,840 forsook their Nets and followed him. 72 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:17,040 And when he had gone a little further thence he saw James, the 73 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:22,440 son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the 74 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:26,480 ship mending their Nets. And straightway he called them, 75 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:30,240 and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the 76 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:33,080 hired servants and went after him. 77 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:36,720 So if I had a title for the message this morning, it'd be 78 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:43,280 very simply this, the beginning of the church, the beginning of 79 00:04:43,280 --> 00:04:47,080 the church. Now, Liberty Baptist Church is a 80 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:50,960 church. It is a Church of baptized 81 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:55,680 believers who have coveted themselves together to carry out 82 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:58,760 the Great Commission. So you understand that inside, 83 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:01,880 in inside the Kingdom of God, which is the rule of God. 84 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:06,080 When a person believes, when a person is saved, God uses the 85 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:10,480 church inside of the Kingdom to do his business, to do the 86 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,560 gospel work. And so this is when it all 87 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:14,280 began. I get it. 88 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:15,800 I like it. Beginnings of things. 89 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:19,480 I mean, I, I get all fired up about something when it begins. 90 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:23,800 I love church planning and the idea of going to a place that 91 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:26,520 needs the gospel. And you see, it's not 92 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:28,080 necessarily you have to have a building. 93 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:32,000 You just gather the people. Jesus Christ with his disciples, 94 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:33,960 you understand, they never had a building. 95 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:37,640 They never had a building, but they were the same. 96 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:39,800 That's what we're doing right here. 97 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:42,520 Lord, I need your help today. I pray that it was this would be 98 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:46,360 very simple message, but understanding that the Church of 99 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:49,280 the Lord Jesus Christ is still alive in a well today. 100 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:53,200 Local assemblies of believers like the one that I pastor in 101 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:56,160 Springfield, MO and the one here in Easton. 102 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:59,720 And then we've had a couple of missionaries this week from New 103 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:04,120 Hampshire, and I believe somewhere else in my mind just 104 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:06,760 went blank on where the other brothers from I believe 105 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:08,720 Connecticut. And so I just pray, Lord, that 106 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:10,880 we'd understand those assemblies there. 107 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:14,640 Right now, those preachers are probably standing before their 108 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:18,360 congregations and people that may be visitors, and they are 109 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:21,240 proclaiming the gospel and they're wanting to see people 110 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:23,920 saved and then baptized into a church. 111 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:27,640 And then we become disciples. Every time that we have church 112 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:30,640 service, we're making disciples. We're learning from the Word of 113 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:35,120 God and then we'll have to make a decision on what we're going 114 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:36,680 to do with what we've learned today. 115 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:40,160 So I pray that'd be the case as we've looked at Wednesday night, 116 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:42,840 Thursday night, and Friday night as the idea of faith promise. 117 00:06:42,840 --> 00:06:45,040 And then today the beginning of the church. 118 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:49,200 And then tonight as we'll look as an Old Testament story about 119 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,120 a New Testament application. I pray you'd help me in there 120 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:54,160 tonight. Also, bless these people. 121 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:57,600 Thank you for being here this morning in Jesus name, Amen. 122 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:01,120 You may be seated this morning. I, I can't overemphasize how 123 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:05,360 excited that I am to be here. We have supported this ministry 124 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:07,760 for many years. We love brother Rivero, his 125 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:12,440 wife, their children. And so we're, we're, we're, I, 126 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:17,320 I'm always excited to be able to go and see where our finances 127 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:20,560 have gone to. And, and listen, as I say, one 128 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:24,640 of the things I say in front of our congregation a lot is one of 129 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:27,280 them is like we support Heartland Baptist Bible College. 130 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:32,200 And then when there's a somebody like Brother Dan here or Brother 131 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:35,920 Rivero, we've been supporting them long before he ever came 132 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:38,840 here because we were supporting him when he went to college. 133 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:41,960 We just didn't know he was coming here, but God did. 134 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:45,360 And now he is here and what he does every week is he stands 135 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:48,280 before you and he preaches the word of God. 136 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:52,200 Now in the in this in this passage of Scripture, we have if 137 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:55,400 you want to look back at Mark chapter one, one and the very 138 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:58,840 first beginning, I'm going to go through this real quick because 139 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:03,040 what we're seeing here in Mark chapter 1 is Jesus starting his 140 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:07,320 public ministry, Jesus Christ. Listen to this, Jesus Christ, 141 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:11,320 the Son of God, He went who would eventually go to the cross 142 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:15,280 and die for the sins of all mankind and pay for our sin debt 143 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:17,320 that we might have the forgiveness of sin. 144 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:19,880 But He did that before he did that. 145 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:23,880 He is starting His church because when he leaves and 146 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:27,440 ascends into heaven, it's going to be the church that He leaves 147 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:29,560 to keep on the work that he started. 148 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:31,880 He's going to be our intercessor. 149 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:33,760 He is at the right hand of God the Father. 150 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,039 He makes intercession for us. Praise God for all of that. 151 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:41,200 But Jesus started the church so that when he ascended into 152 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:43,880 heaven that the church would continue. 153 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:46,960 And over the last 2000 years, that's exactly what's been 154 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:49,360 taking place. But when you come to the book of 155 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:51,800 Mark, you have a man named John the Baptist. 156 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:56,160 And John the Baptist is the man that God used to introduce the 157 00:08:56,160 --> 00:09:00,280 world to Jesus Christ. And he, you can see words like 158 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:05,000 in verse, verse #2 of chapter 1, prepare the way before him verse 159 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,880 #3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare you the 160 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:13,400 way of the Lord verse #5 He was preaching that they would 161 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:16,480 confess their sins. And then he's a, he's kind of a 162 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:18,040 wild guy. You know what I'm saying? 163 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:19,880 I mean, he's, he's a little bit different. 164 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:23,640 He's a, a man who's clothed with camel's hair and a girl of verse 165 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:26,200 6 and girdle about the skin of his loins. 166 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:31,080 And really what John the Baptist does, as we find out, he comes 167 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:36,000 in the, he comes in the spirit of basically Elijah the prophet. 168 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:39,120 He is the, he is the guy that paves the way. 169 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:42,760 He's the guy that paves the way and lets people know that he 170 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,640 must decrease, Jesus will increase. 171 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:49,400 And that he, it is Jesus that he's introducing everyone to. 172 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:52,680 And so Jesus comes in verses 9 through 11. 173 00:09:52,680 --> 00:09:58,680 He's baptized in verses #12 through #13 he goes into the 174 00:09:58,680 --> 00:10:01,280 wilderness. He fast for 40 days and 40 175 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:04,560 nights as he's prepares himself for the ministry. 176 00:10:04,560 --> 00:10:07,760 And then John the Baptist gets thrown into prison. 177 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:11,800 And, and when John the Baptist gets thrown into prison, Jesus 178 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:17,160 does not use this opportunity to go to the religious community 179 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:21,800 and and really go at them. Instead, he goes to Galilee and 180 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,720 there in Capernaum, the city that he basically does his 181 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:30,360 ministry from, and he begins to call out his disciples. 182 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:34,280 And the message that Jesus Christ is preaching is the 183 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:36,520 message that John the Baptist preached. 184 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:39,760 Jesus preached and we preach today. 185 00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:44,400 And here we find in our text this morning that Jesus Christ, 186 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:49,880 the Son of God, who listen to this, who was all God 100% but 187 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:54,080 was all man 100%. So he's all God and he's all 188 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:55,720 man. And the reason that he becomes a 189 00:10:55,720 --> 00:11:00,960 man is that he might die for us and know the feeling of our 190 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:03,280 infirmities. There's going to be people who 191 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:05,400 say, well, you just don't know what I'm going through preacher 192 00:11:05,560 --> 00:11:08,480 Jesus does. There'll be people who say you 193 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:12,680 just don't understand. No, Jesus knows the the 194 00:11:12,680 --> 00:11:16,120 firmities of of us. He knows everything about us and 195 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,360 he and he knows that because he was all man, but at the same 196 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:22,440 time he can save us because he is all God. 197 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:27,160 So Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the world was a 198 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:29,760 church planner. That's amazing. 199 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:33,240 Church planning was the hope of the world in Jesus day. 200 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:37,680 And I will say this, church planning is still the hope of 201 00:11:37,680 --> 00:11:40,760 today. Revivals are not Somebody 202 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:44,160 putting up a tent for three weeks and doing all kinds of 203 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:48,600 revival comes by church planning, by seeing people say 204 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:52,080 baptized and become disciples. And you know, that doesn't 205 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:54,760 happen overnight. It's hard work. 206 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:58,120 It takes a while. It's taken you 12 years to where 207 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:00,760 you are. The church I pastor, we have a 208 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:04,760 long legacy in history. And we go all the way back to 209 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:08,040 1966 when our church was was established. 210 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:12,520 There was a couple of pastors before my pastor came and he was 211 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:18,360 there for 33 years until 2000. And then in 2000, I came there 212 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:20,720 and I've been there for the last 25 years. 213 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:25,080 And, and so, but you have to start somewhere and a church 214 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:28,000 planner must begin at the beginning. 215 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:31,960 He must start by gathering a group of people who he can 216 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:35,360 preach and teach the burden of his heart, which is to be the 217 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:39,680 heart and the will of God. So this what I just read in the 218 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:45,000 verses before you is basically God laying the foundation of the 219 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,880 church inside of the Kingdom of God. 220 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:51,640 And like I've said before, I say this all the time to the people 221 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:55,880 that I preach there is the the the Kingdom of God is bigger 222 00:12:55,880 --> 00:13:00,400 than anyone church, but every church should be involved. 223 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:03,040 In the Kingdom of. God and that's the way that I 224 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:05,160 put it. So my first question is actually 225 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:08,880 I think I might ask a series of questions based on this text 226 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:10,640 here. The first question I would ask 227 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:14,840 is, who are these men? Who are these men that listen to 228 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:19,040 John the Baptist and listen to him preach and listen to what he 229 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:22,440 had to say when he said verse #5 of chapter 1. 230 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:25,480 And there went out unto him all the land of Judea. 231 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:28,920 This is John the Baptist and they of Jerusalem, and they were 232 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:33,320 baptized of him in the river Jordan confessing their sins. 233 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:37,320 So you know what happened. John received his authority from 234 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:40,960 heaven when they confessed their sins, when they repented of 235 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:45,000 their sins, when they believed that, when they believed, then 236 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:47,800 they were baptized and John took the men. 237 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:51,480 Gee, I'm sorry, Jesus took the men that John, the, that John 238 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:55,320 baptized and these were the first disciples that were going 239 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:59,200 to be inside of the church. But my question is in what we 240 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:03,520 just read, who were these men? Well, the Bible makes it very 241 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:07,760 clear they were fishermen. It's amazing to me that Jesus 242 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:14,400 would always use, he would always use getting to preach in 243 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:16,360 parables. He would he would tell his 244 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:20,000 disciples, I'm going to teach you a heavenly truth, but I'm 245 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:23,800 going to use an earthly example. And one of his first parables 246 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:27,720 was a sower went forth to sow and they all understood that in 247 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:31,520 that culture about us sower sowing the seed and, and 248 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:34,480 basically what Jesus Christ was trying to get him to understand 249 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:38,280 in that parable is when the seed hits the ground, it falls on 250 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:41,920 four different kinds of soil. Sometimes it hits hard soil 251 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:44,920 that's no good. Sometimes it hits soil that, 252 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:48,080 that the, the, the, the weeds come and choke it out. 253 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:53,000 But 1/4 of those people that the seed hit the ground, it hit good 254 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:55,720 ground, good soil and produce fruit. 255 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:59,400 That is an earthly illustration of a heavenly truth. 256 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:04,440 Will Jesus in this case, he calls fishermen to be in the 257 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:07,080 ministry and he uses this analogy. 258 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:13,280 You fish for fish, forsake that. Follow me, you'll fish for men. 259 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:17,120 So they were fishermen. Now, what was a fisherman in 260 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:19,000 that day? Well, I'll tell you exactly what 261 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:22,400 he was. He was about the most common man 262 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:25,720 that you could ever run into. He was just, they were just 263 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:29,840 common men of their day. Josephus, the Jewish historian, 264 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:33,840 who by the way, at one time was the governor of Galilee, said 265 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:39,920 that in his day there were 330 fishing boats that sailed on the 266 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:43,160 Sea of Galilee. I had the opportunity to go to 267 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:48,360 Israel in 2010 and my wife said that her favorite part of the 268 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:54,720 trip to Israel was getting on the Sea of Galilee and, and 269 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:58,400 going out into that, taking about a 30 minute boat ride or 270 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:00,920 45 minute. And you know, you're thinking, 271 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:02,600 I, I mean, I was thinking stuff like this. 272 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:04,360 I'm looking, I say, Robin, look, look over here. 273 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:07,040 Jesus could have walked on this water right here, right in this 274 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:09,000 spot, right here. Well, how do you know that I go? 275 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:12,000 I don't know that I'm just saying it's possible, but I do 276 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:14,760 know this is the Sea of Galilee that Jesus walked on. 277 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:18,680 I know this is the Sea of Galilee that John and James and 278 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:21,040 Andrew and Peter, they fished out of. 279 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:25,800 And the historian said that this area, there were so many fishing 280 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:29,480 boats that at one time that when when he was the governor, that 281 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:33,280 330 fishing boats sailed on the Sea of Galilee. 282 00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:37,840 The ordinary man in that Ridge region did not eat meat, but 283 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:40,960 they ate, but they ate fish. In other words, they didn't go 284 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:44,640 to Walmart and buy cow. They didn't go and buy pig. 285 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:46,160 Well, they were Jews. They didn't eat pig. 286 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:48,600 Let's get that squared away. All right? 287 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:53,080 But they did eat fish. And if you go there, if you go 288 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:56,440 to that area and you go into a restaurant, guess what? 289 00:16:56,440 --> 00:17:00,080 You're going to eat fish. And there's a lot of analogies, 290 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:03,720 like they would soak those fish in salt and that's how they 291 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:07,280 would preserve the fish. And they were just the ordinary 292 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,040 men. The fish was the staple, died of 293 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:13,839 the region. Beseda, which was a city around 294 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:18,319 close to the Sea of Galilee, was called the House of fish. 295 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:22,040 Another city in that area was called the place of salt fish. 296 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:25,720 And if you go to that area, it is likely you will be offered 297 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:28,119 fish as a meal. Now, I'll just have to confess, 298 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:30,920 when they brought out the fish, it had the head on it. 299 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:34,640 So either is going to have to cover up the head or order 300 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:38,960 chicken. So what I did was I ordered 301 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:41,320 chicken. All right, I'm just telling you, 302 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:44,000 I know I'm from the South, but there's some things that gross 303 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:46,480 me out. And that's like, if I eat fish, 304 00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:49,080 it's not with a head on it. Somebody say Amen, This will be 305 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:51,800 your opportunity. And I'm just saying that. 306 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:55,120 So if you, you need to understand that this was an area 307 00:17:55,120 --> 00:18:00,000 of fishermen and the first group of men that Jesus called to be 308 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:03,880 his helpers in the work of God's Kingdom were fishermen. 309 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:07,400 But here's what he said to him. You're not going to fuck. 310 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:08,880 You're not going to catch fish anymore. 311 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:13,000 You're going to catch men. And these men I want you to 312 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:16,840 listen to this would form what we know as the New Testament 313 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:18,560 church. And they would be taught and 314 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:23,080 they would learn by observation. And they eventually through a 315 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:27,360 church would be given the task of carrying God's Commission all 316 00:18:27,360 --> 00:18:30,120 around the world. If I had time, which I don't 317 00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:32,920 have time because it would be, it would make the message so 318 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:36,600 long, But I would suggest that you go and look at the 319 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:39,800 historical way in which some of these men died. 320 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:42,480 It's a, it's a, it's unbelievable, like Peter being 321 00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:46,760 crucified upside down and becoming the apostle to the Jews 322 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:51,400 and, and, and Andrew going as far as India, history tells us. 323 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:55,400 And, and Thomas, I should say I apologize, Thomas going as far 324 00:18:55,640 --> 00:19:02,440 as as India, Andrew going into Europe, even to where Scotland 325 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:05,160 was. I mean, these men were a part of 326 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:08,360 that first church that carried the gospel around the world. 327 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:13,440 And, and we can talk about when the gospel first went into 328 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:15,520 Europe. That was through the Apostle 329 00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:19,000 Paul when he went to Philippi. We we could talk about we could, 330 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:22,880 we could go up here to Plymouth and we could talk about when the 331 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:26,160 Pilgrims came here. But but the pilgrims are not as 332 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:30,160 much as our ancestry as the brothers that came into Rhode 333 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:32,560 Island. And Clark who said, hey, I want 334 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:36,480 to have an experiment that this be the place where men have the 335 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:40,840 ability to worship without fear or without favor. 336 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:45,480 And listen, it is the Baptist that brought in the freedom of 337 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:51,760 of it is the Baptist people who brought in the idea of freedom 338 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:53,480 of speech and freedom of religion. 339 00:19:54,120 --> 00:19:56,040 Now, I don't know if you know this and I don't know why this 340 00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:58,920 is not taught and this is not even a part of my message, but I 341 00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:00,120 don't care. I'm going to go ahead and say it 342 00:20:00,120 --> 00:20:03,640 anyway. When, when, when I when our 343 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:08,040 revolution against the British was going on. 344 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:12,640 One of the things that. George Washington did and you 345 00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:16,960 can go and find, you can go and find the letter he wrote to the 346 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:21,320 governors of the of the States and he said, listen, don't send 347 00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:24,440 me any more Anglican priest. We don't need them. 348 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:29,520 The Anglican priest are being paid by England and therefore 349 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:32,200 they are loyal to England. He said. 350 00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:34,200 What I need is Baptist preachers. 351 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:37,640 That's George Washington. And the other thing people don't 352 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:44,640 realize is George Washington was baptized by John Gaino outside 353 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:48,840 of New York City and John Gaino was a Baptist preacher and 354 00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:52,360 there's still there's still artwork in the some of the 355 00:20:52,360 --> 00:20:54,360 places where that you can see that. 356 00:20:54,360 --> 00:20:57,480 Go look it up, John Gaino and and we have it in our church. 357 00:20:57,480 --> 00:20:59,880 We've got that. We've got a copy of that because 358 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:03,600 I want our people to know that the founding George Washington 359 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:07,120 was the founder of who was our founding father. 360 00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:09,800 I'll get it out here. Was baptized by Baptist. 361 00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:12,520 You know why? Because he saw the loyalty of 362 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:14,480 the Baptist during the Revolutionary War. 363 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:16,120 Now, listen, this is all in this area. 364 00:21:16,120 --> 00:21:17,520 You should be all excited about this. 365 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:21,600 And unfortunately this is not always taught in school, but it 366 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:25,240 is still a part of history. But then you come up to the you 367 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:28,080 come up to the Constitution. So you have this Constitution 368 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:31,440 that was written and John Hancock, you know, had the big 369 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:33,880 signature. And the men that that made the 370 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:35,800 Constitution, they listen to this. 371 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:39,400 They took their life in their hands by signing that document. 372 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:42,720 But, you know, there was a problem with the Constitution 373 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:46,480 and that was it was having trouble being ratified by the 13 374 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:50,240 states, especially the especially Virginia. 375 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:55,400 And Virginia would not ratify the Constitution because they 376 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:58,120 were concerned about religious persecution. 377 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:01,440 And they were already being persecuted by the 378 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:04,840 Congregationalist because they wanted them to baptize their 379 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:07,200 babies. And, and the Baptist said, no, 380 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:09,920 we're not baptizing our babies. That's not in the Bible. 381 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:12,760 People get baptized after they get saved. 382 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:17,160 And so they would not pay the vestry tax and they would not 383 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:21,280 have their babies baptized. And so John James Madison, 384 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:27,160 listen to this James Madison went to, went to John Clark went 385 00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:30,200 to a Baptist preacher. I don't know why my mind's going 386 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:32,760 blank. And he said, hey, listen, we 387 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:35,120 need to get the Constitution. We need to get it ratified. 388 00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:38,880 And our problem is, is Virginia and the and the preacher, the 389 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:42,800 Baptist preacher looked at James Madison and said, you got to 390 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:45,480 give me guarantees that we'll have the word. 391 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:49,480 We'll have religious freedom, the right to bear arms. 392 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:53,120 And those are the two things that we need to make sure that 393 00:22:53,120 --> 00:22:55,160 we're going to be able to have a hold of. 394 00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:59,480 And so James Madison looked at the brother the Baptist preacher 395 00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:03,280 and he said, listen, I guarantee you, if you'll go as a Baptist 396 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:05,640 preacher and you have all of this influence in Virginia 397 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:09,760 Schubel Stearns and he had great influence and all these men. 398 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:14,320 So he he goes out and he starts going to the churches and he 399 00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:16,800 said, let's ratify the Constitution because James 400 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:21,160 Madison gives guarantees that if we do this, they'll give us 401 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:24,240 amendments to the Constitution. Now listen to me, folks. 402 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:26,320 That's how we have the 1st Amendment. 403 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:30,880 There would have been no religious freedom in America. 404 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:34,080 Without the Baptist. Now that should that gets you to 405 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:37,840 say Amen. And here we have Jesus Christ 406 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:44,920 taking John the Baptist baptism and men who started with him and 407 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:50,040 he builds this church. And now we live in America and 408 00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:54,240 we have the freedoms that we have because of Baptist people. 409 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:58,840 No one believed in the ordinary person like Jesus Christ. 410 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,680 These men did not come from the schools and the colleges, these, 411 00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:06,280 these disciples, they did not come from the religious schools 412 00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:08,040 of the scribes and the Pharisees. 413 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:12,640 These men were not wealthy or in the upper upper social social 414 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:15,920 echelon. Hey, they were fishermen, which 415 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:20,320 means they were ordinary and that means they were ordinary of 416 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:21,760 the ordinary. And I don't want to, I don't 417 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:25,520 want to bust your bubble. But if you look at Berea Baptist 418 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:28,720 Church and the people that are there on a weekly basis. 419 00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:30,880 You know what? They are ordinary people. 420 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:35,080 You know what I look at this morning when I look out at 421 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:38,800 Liberty Baptist Church, I just see ordinary people. 422 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,800 Amen. Just ordinary people and no one 423 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:46,360 believed in the ordinary like Jesus Christ and no one listen 424 00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:47,360 to me. This is what you got to get a 425 00:24:47,360 --> 00:24:50,440 hold of. No one uses the ordinary like 426 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:54,040 Jesus Christ. Abraham Lincoln said that God. 427 00:24:54,120 --> 00:24:55,680 This is a quote from Abraham Lincoln. 428 00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:58,880 God must have loved the ordinary man, because he made. 429 00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:01,720 So many of them. That's a great quote. 430 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,040 Who were these men? Ordinary men? 431 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:08,600 Second question, what were these men doing? 432 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:12,320 I'm telling you man, my messages are deep. 433 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:15,240 Like way deep. What were they doing? 434 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:21,480 They were fishing to get that. You know why they were fishing? 435 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:26,280 Because they were fishermen. Ordinary fishermen. 436 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:27,440 Yeah, that's it. That's fine to say. 437 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:30,440 What were these men doing? They were doing their ordinary 438 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:32,680 day's work. They were going to their 439 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:36,120 occupation and they were doing the work that they did. 440 00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:38,960 They were catching fish and mending Nets. 441 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,800 Why? Because men who fished in this 442 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:45,400 area with Nets caught fish and mending Nets. 443 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:52,760 So what's the point, preacher? God saves us where we're at and 444 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:56,200 God uses us where we're at as ordinary people. 445 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:00,600 It's the same with men who had been in the past that God has 446 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:02,640 called in the ministry. Like if you go in the Old 447 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:06,920 Testament and you read about like Amos Amos the prophet in 448 00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:09,520 the Old Testament. Here's what Amos said in Chapter 449 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:13,200 7 verse 1415. I was no prophet, neither was IA 450 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:17,000 prophet son, and I can say this my daddy wasn't a preacher. 451 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:18,720 My grandfather wasn't a preacher. 452 00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:20,600 My great grandfather wasn't a preacher. 453 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:24,000 I was no prophet fact. If you go back and check out my. 454 00:26:25,360 --> 00:26:31,800 Heritage you'll find a few horse thieves a man, my great 455 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:34,920 grandfather beat a man to death with a walking stick over a 456 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:36,680 poker game. I'm telling you that's. 457 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:39,840 That's rough business back in Tennessee, you know what I mean? 458 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:42,880 But but Amos said I was no prophet. 459 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:47,120 Neither was I prophet's son. But I was a herdsman. 460 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:49,200 He said. I was a farmer. 461 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:53,640 I I gathered Sycamore fruit, and the Lord took me as I followed 462 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,440 the flock. And the Lord said unto me, Go 463 00:26:56,440 --> 00:27:03,640 prophecy unto my people, Israel. So Amos was AI mean Moses great 464 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:08,200 great man of God in the Bible. He was somebody as far as, as 465 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:12,640 far as a Prince in Egypt, but before God could use him, he had 466 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,720 to put him on the backside of the desert for 40 years and make 467 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:19,800 him A and make him a shepherd. And you know what the Bible says 468 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:22,680 about the Egyptians and what their belief was about 469 00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:25,000 shepherds. They were abomination. 470 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:30,280 So here this Prince of Prince of, of Egypt had to go to the 471 00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:33,640 backside of the desert for 40 years and become a shepherd so 472 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:35,600 God could use him as an ordinary man. 473 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,640 Isn't that amazing? And the call of God can come to 474 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:41,880 a man not only in the House of God, not only in the secret 475 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:44,760 place, but it could also come in the middle of the of a day's 476 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:46,800 work. These men were doing the work. 477 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:51,160 I was in the Air Force doing my work when I got saved, just 478 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:55,600 minding my own business, doing my job as a contracting 479 00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:58,880 specialist, meaning I I was a. Buyer for the government. 480 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:02,080 I understand contracts. I understand that world. 481 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:05,200 I did all kinds of contracts when I was. 482 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:09,000 One of the biggest contracts that I was involved in was 483 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:13,720 procuring nurses because the Air Force, when I went in under 484 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:15,840 Reagan, the Air Force had been depleted. 485 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:20,600 Of nurses and other things that needed to happen because of the 486 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:25,440 previous administration and so we had to procure nurses from 487 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:31,200 civilian world until the military could get recruit 488 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:33,240 nurses. And things like that to put them 489 00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:35,920 in the hospitals. And I wrote this giant contract. 490 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:38,520 You know what I was doing? I was just doing my job when the 491 00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:41,480 gospel came along and a man behind me started witnessing to 492 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:43,080 me. And I was not very nice to him. 493 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:45,600 And maybe you weren't too nice before you got saved. 494 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:48,840 And maybe since you got saved, you maybe need to work on being 495 00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:53,400 a little nicer. But here's his, here's his 496 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:55,080 direction that Jesus gave these men. 497 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:57,680 And here's the direction that God will give you. 498 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:01,760 Follow me. Follow me. 499 00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:05,520 Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. 500 00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:09,360 And you know what these men did? They heard Jesus preach. 501 00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:14,280 They saw Jesus heal the he caused people to see and then 502 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:16,360 preach the gospel. He saw. 503 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:20,520 They saw Jesus heal leopards. They saw Jesus raise the dead. 504 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:23,280 Oh, by the way, can I say this? Only God can raise the dead. 505 00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:26,800 Only God can cleanse leopards and he doesn't. 506 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:30,200 He didn't do this just so that he could cleanse leopards and 507 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:32,880 cause blind people to see and raise the dead. 508 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:36,400 He did it so that he could, he could show people who he was, 509 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:40,240 that he was God. He authenticated who who who he 510 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:42,400 was. And you know who else Jesus is? 511 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:46,240 Jesus is the word of God. You know what Jesus left us the 512 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:49,560 word of God. And this, this is Jesus Christ. 513 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:51,800 This is everything that we need to know. 514 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:53,440 Do you need to know how to be saved? 515 00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:55,600 Right here The Bible tells you how to be saved. 516 00:29:55,600 --> 00:30:00,960 Repent, believe the gospel, and you can be saved, get baptized, 517 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:04,400 be a part of the church, and become a disciple of Jesus 518 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:07,040 Christ. What I'm saying is, as Jesus is 519 00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:11,320 doing here what we're still doing today, follow me. 520 00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:14,520 These men had been in the crowd. They'd heard John the Baptist 521 00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:18,120 declare that Jesus was the Lamb of God that took away the sin of 522 00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:20,760 the world. These men had no doubt about who 523 00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:22,560 Jesus was. They had they had been 524 00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:25,760 astonished by how he spoke with great authority. 525 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:28,160 That was one of the things that it said about Jesus. 526 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:30,640 When he came on the scene and regular people started listening 527 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:33,280 to him. They said no man spake like this 528 00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:37,000 man. Listen, the scribes and the 529 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:40,320 Pharisees, they were religious. They had no power. 530 00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:43,320 They had no salvation. And listen, let me tell you 531 00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:46,880 something right now. Religion won't save you dead 532 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:50,480 dry. Religion will not save you. 533 00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:55,560 A personal relationship with Jesus Christ in repentance 534 00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:58,440 toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 535 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:00,240 That's what salvation is all about. 536 00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:03,840 They knew he was different than any man they had met. 537 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:07,640 And I believe personally they had already felt in their heart 538 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:11,520 the pulling of a greater person than just being a fisherman. 539 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:15,720 And, and here they were right for discipleship. 540 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:20,240 And Jesus comes out there and I, I love some of the stories like 541 00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:21,960 1. You know, one of the stories is, 542 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:24,160 you know they fished. All night and they caught 543 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:27,640 nothing and Jesus shows up and he said Peter Castornet on that. 544 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:29,800 And they're like, Laurie, man, I'm tired. 545 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:31,760 I'm tired. You know, we fished all night. 546 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:33,680 I don't know why you made me do that. 547 00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:36,080 But never at that. But you know, Lord, I 548 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:38,560 nevertheless at thy word I'll do it. 549 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:40,320 And they threw. The net out and they couldn't 550 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:42,200 even hold the fish. Now if you don't think Jesus 551 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:47,360 laughed, I'm sorry I did boy. And he said probably something 552 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:52,160 like this boy, these are these fella got a lot to learn and 553 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:54,400 they realized you know what Peter did He fell down at the 554 00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:57,520 feet of Jesus and he said my Lord, he just said I am. 555 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:01,880 I'm a sinful man. When Thomas doubted that Jesus 556 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:05,080 Christ had been raised from the dead, he wasn't, by the way, He 557 00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:08,880 wasn't in church on Sunday night reading in the Bible, and Jesus 558 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:11,600 showed up in the middle of them and they told Thomas, Man, Lord. 559 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:13,480 Was here but we had a church service. 560 00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:17,320 It was amazing. And Thomas got that whatever. 561 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:19,760 That's why we call him doubting Thomas. 562 00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:24,600 But nevertheless, Thomas came to church the next Sunday night and 563 00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:27,640 Jesus showed up again. And Jesus looked right at Thomas 564 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:30,720 and said, you want to see my hands, the scars, you want to 565 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:32,520 see my side, the spear that's been cast through. 566 00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:35,560 And what did Thomas do? Fell on his face and said, my 567 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:38,320 Lord and my God, you know what Jesus said? 568 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:40,840 Blessed are to those that don't see these things, but yet they 569 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:44,600 believe that's us. I've never seen the Lord Jesus 570 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:46,960 Christ with my physical eye, but I've seen him with the eye of 571 00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:49,880 faith. I've been following for over 40 572 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:52,640 years. I've never regretted one time 573 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:57,520 when I got saved back in April of 19184 as a 24 year old Air 574 00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:01,480 Force Airman and I got saved by the grace of God and I've been 575 00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:05,920 saveth ever since it and I wouldn't have it any other way. 576 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:10,240 And I'm just telling you, man follows Jesus not only for what 577 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:13,480 he says, but for who he is. And here's what he said to those 578 00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:15,880 men and here's what he says to us today. 579 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,800 Follow me. You know, there's two things. 580 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:21,200 This is just Pastor Abel's. And so I'm just going to throw 581 00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:24,480 this out there and it probably don't mean anything, but there's 582 00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:29,240 two things that I don't like. I don't like disrespect and I 583 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:32,720 don't like disloyalty. And let me tell you about these 584 00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,080 men. They were loyal to Jesus Christ. 585 00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:39,560 They respected him as this, as Lord and Savior. 586 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:42,840 And you know what? If they did so should we be 587 00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:45,200 loyal to me? Jesus said, put your trust in 588 00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:48,000 me, follow me and I will give you purpose. 589 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:49,440 I will give you an abundant life. 590 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:51,600 I will make you to become fishers of men. 591 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:55,680 And it all begins with a personal relationship to Him. 592 00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:59,800 Who are these men? Ordinary fishermen, what were 593 00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:02,520 they doing when he called him? They were doing their work of 594 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:05,240 fishing. What did he call them to do? 595 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:08,520 Follow him? Has any of that changed? 596 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:16,719 No, 2025, almost 2026, Still the same today. 597 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:20,800 And by the way, can I say this? There's still a bunch of 598 00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:25,400 Pharisees and scribes and dead religion all around us. 599 00:34:26,159 --> 00:34:28,560 And it's bigger than we are, isn't it? 600 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:32,719 It's bigger than we are. It was bigger than this little 601 00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:34,760 church that was started with 12 men. 602 00:34:35,679 --> 00:34:38,920 Do you know, do you know how I know that it was a church? 603 00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:41,000 Just so you'll know because I read the Bible and here's what 604 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,840 the Bible says. The Bible says in Luke chapter 605 00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:48,280 6, from the disciples that were around, he called 12 men and he 606 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:50,440 called them apostles. He named them apostles. 607 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:55,440 And in First Corinthians chapter 12/26, 12:28, it says this. 608 00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:58,840 He said first in the church apostles. 609 00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:02,240 That's why I know this is a church, even though they didn't 610 00:35:02,240 --> 00:35:05,000 have a building. You know, a lot of church plants 611 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:09,160 don't have a building. I went to India in 2010 and I 612 00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:13,040 went to places where people were congregations of churches met 613 00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:17,240 under a banana tree. I've been to, I've heard of 614 00:35:17,240 --> 00:35:20,040 places I'd have no, I've not been to Africa, but I've heard 615 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:21,800 of places through brother, brother Boonster. 616 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:24,200 He'll say hey. We'll go to this place and, and 617 00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:27,160 they don't have a building, but what they do is they have a, a 618 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:29,480 place in the park and everybody knows it. 619 00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:32,720 On Sunday morning, they all come to this park and the church, the 620 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:34,440 church meets in the park. You see that? 621 00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:38,320 A church is not the building, a church is the people. 622 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:42,920 And Jesus gathered these people, these people that were saved. 623 00:35:43,240 --> 00:35:45,920 And had been baptized. And now we're beginning a 624 00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:47,760 church. And what did he say? 625 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:50,400 Follow me. Now the third question I would 626 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:54,160 like to ask is what would be the task that they should perform? 627 00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:57,560 Well, here's what he did. He called them to a life not of 628 00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:02,640 ease, but to a life of service. Serving the Lord is not always 629 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:04,720 easy. Pastoring a church is not always 630 00:36:04,720 --> 00:36:06,600 easy. Let me tell you why. 631 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:08,760 Pastoring a church is not always. 632 00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:14,280 Easy, 'cause there's people. That's a good time to laugh. 633 00:36:15,240 --> 00:36:17,280 Because there's people involved, you know? 634 00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:20,720 You know what? Jesus compares his people as 635 00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:24,640 sheep. Did you know that sheep are 636 00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:27,600 night like the most intelligent animal on the face of the earth? 637 00:36:28,640 --> 00:36:31,080 So that's kind of who we are, sheep. 638 00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:34,280 For 10 years I drove a truck for FedEx. 639 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:39,760 I was a Courier and I, I would do a lot of driving in the 640 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:42,440 country. You know, I remember, you know, 641 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:46,480 I remember back in the day when they didn't have Rd. numbers and 642 00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:48,720 all that, you'd call somebody up and say, ma'am, I got a package. 643 00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:51,440 For it says. Rule Route 3, Box 85. 644 00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:53,360 Now, how in the world is anybody going to find Rule Route 3? 645 00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:56,480 Well, you just go down this road and when you see the when you 646 00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:58,760 see the tree that's been hit by lightning, turn right. 647 00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:02,920 I'm like, what? Those are the kind of places I 648 00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:07,520 went to and I remember one time that I went by this sheep, there 649 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:10,880 was a sheep farm there and there was 1 sheep on the other side of 650 00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:13,600 the fence. And I hate could I could see in 651 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:16,000 my, you know, I could see that he had roamed down there and got 652 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:18,240 around the, there's one little spot and got around there. 653 00:37:18,240 --> 00:37:21,520 And then he's standing there and he's, he's looking at the rest 654 00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:26,960 of the sheep on the other side of the fence and he's going, you 655 00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:28,520 know why? You know why sheep want to be on 656 00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:31,280 the other side of the fence? They think the grass is greener 657 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:33,280 on the other side of the fence. Oh, really? 658 00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:34,840 There's just a septic tank sitting there. 659 00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:38,280 And I was like, I wanted to stop. 660 00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:40,880 I felt sorry for the little thing, but I had, I had to 661 00:37:41,240 --> 00:37:43,720 deliver this package by 10:30. So I went by. 662 00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:46,560 But when I came back by, I thought, I'm going to stop and 663 00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:48,400 see if I can help that little sheep because he's going to get 664 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:50,800 hit by a car. Well, I didn't need to because 665 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:55,120 the shepherd was there. And the shepherd was like doing 666 00:37:55,120 --> 00:37:55,960 it. And here he came. 667 00:37:56,640 --> 00:38:00,200 He followed the shepherd. But we ain't too smart. 668 00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:05,440 And when you're a pastor, you have to shepherd the people. 669 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:09,160 And sometimes you get you get people who get on the other side 670 00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:11,600 of the fence and you're trying to do everything you can to help 671 00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:14,680 them. So stay on the right side of the 672 00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:18,600 fence. And remember, I yelled that at 673 00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:19,320 you, too. Amen. 674 00:38:19,960 --> 00:38:21,360 Well, you're, you're not very nice. 675 00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:23,600 I didn't, brother. Rivero's the nice one. 676 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:25,720 I was thinking today, good cop, bad cop. 677 00:38:25,720 --> 00:38:27,240 I'm the bad cop. He's the good cop. 678 00:38:27,240 --> 00:38:29,000 You know what I'm saying? I. 679 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:34,600 Believe everyone needs a purpose, I do, and the purpose 680 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:37,240 of the gospel is greater than any purpose we could have. 681 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:40,880 Everyone needs something to which they can invest their life 682 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:42,960 in. He called them to serve others 683 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:46,440 by becoming fishers of men. He called them to a task whereby 684 00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:50,120 they could win something for themselves, but it had to be by 685 00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:53,680 giving their all to Him and then to serve others. 686 00:38:54,400 --> 00:38:58,320 These were ordinary men called out of their ordinary work to do 687 00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:01,040 and perform an ordinary work of service. 688 00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:04,280 And he used them based on who they were. 689 00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:09,320 I always tell a young lady, you know, if you ever heard of a 690 00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:10,640 young lady, I. Love him. 691 00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:14,040 I'm going to marry him. I'm going to change him. 692 00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:17,240 No, you're not. He is who he is. 693 00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:19,640 If he's an idiot today, he'll be an idiot. 694 00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:21,400 Tomorrow, so don't marry an. Idiot. 695 00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:27,720 Somebody say Amen. I'm just saying he used them 696 00:39:27,720 --> 00:39:31,320 based on who they were. At the very beginning of his 697 00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:35,320 public ministry, Jesus would gather around him an inner group 698 00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:38,480 of men whom he would direct his purpose to listen. 699 00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:42,200 Still same thing going on today. He called men who were who were 700 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:45,800 different from each other. Now to me, the greatest 701 00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:48,920 dynamics. And when you're early in March, 702 00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:52,280 listen, we're talking about the first people that were in the 703 00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:54,240 church. We're talking about four 704 00:39:54,240 --> 00:40:00,680 fishermen, basically Andrew, Simon Peter and his brother 705 00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:04,480 Andrew, and then these two guys who were the sons of Zebedee 706 00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:08,400 called John, who later became John the Beloved or John the 707 00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:11,720 Revelator, wrote the revelation. But you know what Jesus called 708 00:40:11,720 --> 00:40:14,640 John in the beginning, called him the Son of Thunder. 709 00:40:15,480 --> 00:40:18,840 He was not the guy who wrote first, second and third John. 710 00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:21,520 He was got. He was the guy in the beginning 711 00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:23,560 that when they were going to go into a city and prepare 712 00:40:23,560 --> 00:40:26,520 everybody for Jesus to come and they wouldn't listen to him. 713 00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:29,080 They said, he said to Jesus, hey, can we call? 714 00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:34,600 Fire down out of heaven and consume these yahoos and Jesus 715 00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:36,280 said John. That's that's not the right 716 00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:39,560 spirit. But by the time you get to 1st 717 00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:44,040 and 2nd and 3rd John, you you read the beloved, you see a man 718 00:40:44,040 --> 00:40:46,560 that's different. How did how did that happen? 719 00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:53,400 Jesus son, when I before I got saved, I just soon whip you as 720 00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:58,440 look at you and you say, well, you're kind of small, to which I 721 00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:00,800 say dynamite comes in small packages. 722 00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:05,720 But I found out. I mean, I listen, this is a true 723 00:41:05,720 --> 00:41:07,520 story. I'm in Bible college. 724 00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:09,520 I am in Bible college. I'm fired up. 725 00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:12,560 I want to serve the Lord and I came into one day and I'm 726 00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:16,120 drinking coffee in this coffee shop and this guy comes in and 727 00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:20,000 he is bad mouthing a preacher and then I realized he's bad 728 00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:23,280 mouthing my preacher. I put that brother up against 729 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:25,280 the wild brother. I had this elbow right in his 730 00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:29,360 throat and I was fixing to take him back to where Jesus started 731 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:33,480 out all There was three guys that pulled me off and they 732 00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:35,080 said. He said he's. 733 00:41:35,080 --> 00:41:36,880 Gone to jail. I said, one of us getting ready 734 00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:42,600 to go back and then my pastor got a hold of it, called me into 735 00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:47,440 his office, said, Brother Jeff, you can't be doing that if 736 00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:50,040 you're going into the ministry. And I said, well, I'm not a 737 00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:51,880 pastor yet. It says a pastor can't be a 738 00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:53,800 striker. But I'm still in Bible college. 739 00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:57,120 He goes, brother. And I listened to him and he got 740 00:41:57,120 --> 00:42:00,040 on to me, read me the right act. And I was like, man, Lord, 741 00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:02,880 you're going to have to help me because I just can't stand 742 00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:07,040 stupid. And the Lord's changed me. 743 00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:10,040 Now sometimes the old flesh riles up in me a little bit and 744 00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:13,360 I have to go lay down and take a baby aspirin and take a nap till 745 00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:18,200 I get over it. But that's not the spirit that 746 00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:20,560 the Lord wants us to have Somebody say. 747 00:42:20,560 --> 00:42:26,600 Amen. He doesn't take a stand, 748 00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:28,360 brother, but have the right spirit about it. 749 00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:30,760 All right. I'm with you, I understand you. 750 00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:34,960 We'll have coffee together and bemoan our station. 751 00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:41,920 But but here's the point. John, John, John was not always 752 00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:45,520 the son of Thunder. He became the beloved love. 753 00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:48,280 He he was the one that Jesus loved and laid on his breast. 754 00:42:48,280 --> 00:42:50,640 So everybody getting this, God wants to change us. 755 00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:53,600 God wants to mold us. What about Peter? 756 00:42:53,600 --> 00:42:57,160 Think about Peter. Peter, the bold and brazen one 757 00:42:57,920 --> 00:43:00,360 said to Jesus, hey, I know these other guys. 758 00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:02,600 Hey, listen. But Peter basically said this 759 00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:04,640 Lord, I know these other guys, they're a bunch of losers. 760 00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:10,160 I will never forsake you. And Jesus bowed his head and 761 00:43:10,160 --> 00:43:12,960 looked at Peter. And he said on the very day that 762 00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:17,080 Jesus was going to be crucified, he said, Peter, before the cock 763 00:43:17,080 --> 00:43:20,360 crows three times he'll deny me thrive, he'll deny me. 764 00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:22,800 Three times. Peter said no. 765 00:43:23,080 --> 00:43:25,240 And then when they come to get Jesus at the Garden of 766 00:43:25,240 --> 00:43:27,120 Gethsemane, he pulls out a sword. 767 00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:29,520 And he wasn't a very good swordsman because he only 768 00:43:29,520 --> 00:43:31,480 whacked the guy's ear off instead of his head. 769 00:43:32,080 --> 00:43:35,080 I'm glad he only whacked his ear off because I think it have 770 00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:37,440 freaked everybody out of Jesus to pick the guy's head up and 771 00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:42,240 stuck it back on his head. So don't do that because Jesus, 772 00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:43,880 it doesn't say he picked the year up. 773 00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:47,240 It doesn't say that, but I just like the thing in my mind that 774 00:43:47,240 --> 00:43:49,600 he picked that up and stuck it back on the side of his head and 775 00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:58,240 said, Peter, stop it. Peter denied the Lord, but he 776 00:43:58,240 --> 00:44:02,880 became a great preacher. He became the apostle to the 777 00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:07,960 Jews. Paul persecuted the Church of 778 00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:11,360 the living God and was zealous about it and thought he was 779 00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:17,720 doing the right thing till he got saved and God changed his 780 00:44:17,720 --> 00:44:20,440 heart. You see what I'm saying? 781 00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:24,880 That we're just ordinary people and God changes ordinary men and 782 00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:29,800 ordinary churches to build ordinary churches like this 783 00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:32,600 right here. There's nothing, nothing new 784 00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:35,720 under the sun, I mean, but we. But it's amazing that you get to 785 00:44:35,720 --> 00:44:40,360 see it right here in the Bible. And so Jesus just took this 786 00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:44,520 inner group of men and called men who were so different from 787 00:44:44,520 --> 00:44:46,280 each other. They would display different 788 00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:47,720 gifts and be used in different ways. 789 00:44:47,720 --> 00:44:51,400 What I was going to say that slipped my mind is Matthew is 790 00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:53,160 not in here right now. Matthew. 791 00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:56,000 In fact, if you read Matthew free the Gospel of Matthew, 792 00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:58,320 Matthew don't show up until several chapters. 793 00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:00,680 So he's got eyewitnesses of what's. 794 00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:04,280 Going on and then Matthew shows up and when Matthew shows up, he 795 00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:07,320 he wants everybody to he, he has this big supper. 796 00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:11,600 And invites everybody to come to it so they can see Jesus and 797 00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:13,560 that he wants them to be saved like he was. 798 00:45:14,160 --> 00:45:15,600 Now, Can you imagine, listen to this. 799 00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:20,720 Can you imagine Peter and Matthew in the same church? 800 00:45:20,720 --> 00:45:24,600 Well, what's the deal, preacher Matthew was a tax collector. 801 00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:29,160 The most hated man in the city. He collect. 802 00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:30,560 Yeah. They still they're not the most 803 00:45:30,560 --> 00:45:33,720 popular. I can tell you that they and he 804 00:45:33,720 --> 00:45:35,840 collected taxes. Guess who he would collect taxes 805 00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:39,280 from? James and John, Peter and 806 00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:43,880 Andrew, and I can just see Jesus or I can just see Peter. 807 00:45:43,880 --> 00:45:45,360 Going What are what are you? What are you? 808 00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:48,960 Doing him as a disciple well, because I want him to be 809 00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:51,600 fisherman too. And it and it was Matthew that 810 00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:54,920 brought many people to the Lord as far as that supper was 811 00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:57,320 everybody getting this hope everybody's understanding this 812 00:45:57,560 --> 00:45:59,720 what I'm trying to get across this morning. 813 00:45:59,720 --> 00:46:01,880 He used the men and who they were. 814 00:46:02,680 --> 00:46:05,240 He and and again Peter was a fisherman. 815 00:46:05,520 --> 00:46:08,240 He would deny Christ. He would be used greatly by the 816 00:46:08,240 --> 00:46:09,640 Lord. He would become a public 817 00:46:09,640 --> 00:46:13,160 preacher and pastor after his time as pastor in Jerusalem. 818 00:46:13,160 --> 00:46:17,720 Basically, Jesus gave Peter the pastor after him, and then later 819 00:46:17,720 --> 00:46:22,880 on it was James and Peter became the apostle to the Jews. 820 00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:27,040 And Simon Peter's brother was entirely different than his 821 00:46:27,040 --> 00:46:29,040 brother. Me and my brother, we are so 822 00:46:29,040 --> 00:46:32,000 different if we were to stand next to each other and you hear 823 00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:34,760 us talk and all that. You'd never even, you'd not even 824 00:46:34,760 --> 00:46:37,520 know we're brothers. They were different, but you 825 00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:39,080 know. What Andrew had, he had a he had 826 00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:41,000 a gift of bringing others to Christ. 827 00:46:41,440 --> 00:46:44,160 He's the guy who brought Peter to Jesus. 828 00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:49,040 He was the disciple who brought the boy who had the five loaves 829 00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:51,400 and the two fishes. He was the man who won others to 830 00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:54,040 the Lord. John was a man of spiritual 831 00:46:54,040 --> 00:46:57,360 insight, a man of passion, the Son of Thunder, but he came the 832 00:46:57,360 --> 00:47:01,280 beloved disciple. The 4th man is James, who was a 833 00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:04,680 man of courage and devotion. He would be one of the earlier 834 00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:06,760 martyrs of the Church along with Stephen. 835 00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:09,280 And John the Baptist, those are the three martyrs. 836 00:47:10,240 --> 00:47:13,040 So let's bring this all together if we can, and close. 837 00:47:14,080 --> 00:47:18,080 This brings us down to a simple application where I hope that 838 00:47:18,080 --> 00:47:20,240 everybody can understand this morning. 839 00:47:20,240 --> 00:47:22,720 Boy, if you got your lunch at 12:00, you got it burnt. 840 00:47:23,880 --> 00:47:26,040 Who does God use today in his church? 841 00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:29,920 The ordinary. Who's performing their everyday 842 00:47:29,960 --> 00:47:33,680 ordinary work? What should be the task that 843 00:47:33,680 --> 00:47:36,400 we're performing? It starts with a personal 844 00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:40,440 relationship with Jesus, repentance toward God, and faith 845 00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:42,280 in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then listen. 846 00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:43,960 Doesn't matter if you're a preacher. 847 00:47:44,520 --> 00:47:47,160 Doesn't You don't have to be a preacher to be called to a life 848 00:47:47,160 --> 00:47:53,040 of service. We may not all be preachers or 849 00:47:53,040 --> 00:47:55,040 missionaries, but we're all called to serve. 850 00:47:57,240 --> 00:47:58,920 And he's going to use those that are here. 851 00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:04,080 He's going to use us as we are. We're not to stay the same. 852 00:48:05,480 --> 00:48:11,440 He's got to chip off the edges. He's got to mold us and make us. 853 00:48:13,040 --> 00:48:14,720 He will use us as who we are, though. 854 00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:16,440 Who are we? Well, I'll tell you, I look 855 00:48:16,440 --> 00:48:17,640 around. I think we're a bunch of 856 00:48:17,640 --> 00:48:20,840 ordinary people who've been called out of our ordinary work 857 00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:22,880 to perform an ordinary work of service. 858 00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:27,480 Church planning is the same today as it was when Jesus did 859 00:48:27,480 --> 00:48:28,960 it. Very sane. 860 00:48:29,400 --> 00:48:31,120 Now the question is, are you a part of it? 861 00:48:32,240 --> 00:48:35,440 And you can't be a part of it unless first you enter into the 862 00:48:35,440 --> 00:48:39,240 Kingdom of God. And the Kingdom of God is the 863 00:48:39,240 --> 00:48:43,120 rule of God in the hearts of willing subjects. 864 00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:46,640 And then when you get in the Kingdom of God, you need to be 865 00:48:46,640 --> 00:48:51,400 baptized into the church and become a servant of the Lord 866 00:48:51,400 --> 00:48:54,360 Jesus Christ. And he may, he may very well 867 00:48:54,360 --> 00:48:57,440 call you to a life of missions or pastor. 868 00:48:58,120 --> 00:49:03,760 But if not, you're still to serve in the church that Jesus 869 00:49:03,760 --> 00:49:06,000 started. Are you saved? 870 00:49:06,520 --> 00:49:09,960 Do you know the Lord? Are you a part of his work? 871 00:49:10,840 --> 00:49:14,440 Well, preacher, I'm saved, but I'm not a part of the work. 872 00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:17,080 Get a part. Be a part. 873 00:49:17,080 --> 00:49:20,840 You're going to have to stand before the Lord one day, and 874 00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:24,920 you're either going to have to hear well, well, well, well, 875 00:49:25,160 --> 00:49:27,840 well, Lord, you know, I just thought I'd do it my own way. 876 00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:29,360 No, no, no, no. I didn't want you to do it your 877 00:49:29,360 --> 00:49:30,800 own way. I wanted you to do it my way. 878 00:49:31,960 --> 00:49:34,080 Well, I like to go. Out and finish, you know, and I 879 00:49:34,080 --> 00:49:36,200 worship Lord out. No you can't not, not if you do 880 00:49:36,200 --> 00:49:39,200 it Jesus way. Be a part of his work. 881 00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:43,680 Are you saved? Are you in the Kingdom of God? 882 00:49:43,680 --> 00:49:47,640 And if you are, have you moved yourself into the church that 883 00:49:47,720 --> 00:49:50,800 Jesus started? Thank you for listening to the 884 00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:53,440 sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church. 885 00:49:53,840 --> 00:49:57,000 If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we 886 00:49:57,000 --> 00:50:00,160 can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at 887 00:50:00,280 --> 00:50:05,040 info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday 888 00:50:05,240 --> 00:50:08,920 at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA. 889 00:50:09,200 --> 00:50:12,000 May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.