WEBVTT 00:00:04.290 --> 00:00:09.640 So we are opening a new series this morning in the book of Mark. 00:00:10.660 --> 00:00:13.919 And so I guess they said who should start the book of Mark? 00:00:13.949 --> 00:00:14.960 I don't know what they did. 00:00:14.961 --> 00:00:16.440 I don't know how they make these decisions. 00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:17.320 I'm not usually there. 00:00:17.960 --> 00:00:17.960 No. 00:00:19.089 --> 00:00:20.239 So yeah. 00:00:20.489 --> 00:00:28.000 So, um, the gospel of Mark, we're gonna go through the entire gospel of Mark this year and it's gonna be really good. 00:00:28.001 --> 00:00:31.160 So we're gonna start right now in, uh, chapter one verse one. 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:33.560 Since that the, that's the first verse. 00:00:33.560 --> 00:00:34.320 We're gonna start there. 00:00:34.969 --> 00:00:52.280 So if you read along with me, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way. 00:00:53.189 --> 00:01:01.250 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 00:01:02.700 --> 00:01:08.510 John appeared baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 00:01:09.629 --> 00:01:16.510 And all of the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river. 00:01:16.510 --> 00:01:18.230 Jordan confessing their sins. 00:01:19.420 --> 00:01:25.799 Now, John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 00:01:26.739 --> 00:01:36.439 And he preached saying after me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 00:01:37.269 --> 00:01:42.200 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. 00:01:43.370 --> 00:01:51.319 In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth to gal of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 00:01:51.819 --> 00:02:00.079 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove. 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:05.840 And the voice came from heaven, you are my beloved son with you, I am well pleased. 00:02:07.319 --> 00:02:13.319 And the spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness and he was in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by Satan. 00:02:13.780 --> 00:02:18.400 And he was with the wild animals and the angels were ministering to him. 00:02:19.810 --> 00:02:29.110 Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, saying, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. 00:02:29.460 --> 00:02:34.900 Repent and believe the gospel passing alongside the sea of Galilee. 00:02:34.901 --> 00:02:41.379 He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a na into the sea for they were fishermen. 00:02:41.960 --> 00:02:44.300 And Jesus said to them, follow me. 00:02:45.250 --> 00:02:47.580 I will make you become fishers of men. 00:02:48.740 --> 00:02:51.159 And immediately they left their nets and they followed him. 00:02:51.460 --> 00:03:00.080 And going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee and John, his brother, who were in their boat, mending the nets. 00:03:00.259 --> 00:03:08.120 And immediately he called to them and they left their father's eeb in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. 00:03:10.289 --> 00:03:12.659 Father, we're grateful to you for your word this morning. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:19.419 And we understand that your word is alive and powerful and it's sharper than a two edge sword. 00:03:19.419 --> 00:03:27.060 And it goes down into our souls and our spirits and it reveals our hearts and it does always what you send it forth to do. 00:03:27.990 --> 00:03:39.280 So, Lord, we're asking you that you would help us this morning to hear what you want us to hear, God, you know, each of us and everything that's going through going on in our lives. 00:03:39.281 --> 00:03:42.240 And you, you know where we are and what we need. 00:03:42.241 --> 00:03:47.280 And so God, speak to us by your spirit, we pray in Jesus name, amen. 00:03:47.430 --> 00:03:47.919 Amen. 00:03:48.349 --> 00:03:49.520 Gospel of Mark. 00:03:49.539 --> 00:03:51.319 Why would we study a gospel? 00:03:52.030 --> 00:03:53.800 What's so important about a gospel? 00:03:54.110 --> 00:03:55.879 Well, I'm glad you asked that question. 00:03:57.210 --> 00:04:07.319 So if you'll just slip your shoes off right now and then put on your sandals and go back with me about 2000 years into first century Palestine. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:10.159 We'll see why we need a gospel. 00:04:10.229 --> 00:04:10.719 Okay? 00:04:11.530 --> 00:04:27.389 So here you are in Palestine in the first century and you're living under the oppressive rule of a foreign country and you're in an uncertain place, uncertain day to day you'll know what's going on. 00:04:27.391 --> 00:04:27.829 Always. 00:04:27.831 --> 00:04:32.829 It's like things are strange cuz things are always kind of stirring and unstable there. 00:04:33.810 --> 00:04:39.709 And your village might have been stirred up by a brief message that someone brought through about Jesus' life. 00:04:39.711 --> 00:04:50.709 Maybe you heard a preacher, maybe it was one of the apostles, maybe it was even Paul or Peter himself that came and told you about Jesus and told you about his death for your sins. 00:04:50.711 --> 00:04:58.189 And now God raised him from the dead and maybe your heart is really hungry and you'd love to know more, but you don't know more. 00:05:00.220 --> 00:05:10.160 Well, the gospels are the more, yeah, the gospels give you that beyond the message that you heard. 00:05:10.579 --> 00:05:12.720 And they show you the life and the teachings of Jesus. 00:05:13.100 --> 00:05:26.920 See, from Jesus' death, maybe 30 or so ad to 60 ad you had living witnesses that were actually there, many eyewitnesses or people who knew eyewitnesses of Jesus and his works, and they were telling it orally. 00:05:26.920 --> 00:05:30.879 So the gospel was communicated person to person orally. 00:05:31.139 --> 00:05:38.000 But when it got to about the year 60 or beyond, you know, people started dying off who knew Jesus. 00:05:38.420 --> 00:05:46.980 And so now a written testimony is needed, more permanent record is written and that's why the gospels are written. 00:05:47.110 --> 00:05:53.259 So the gospels are a collection of the teachings of Jesus and the works of Jesus, but they're much more than that. 00:05:54.639 --> 00:06:03.600 They're also prophecies that have been heard for ages that have been fulfilled and prophecies that are declared that are going to be fulfilled in the future. 00:06:04.088 --> 00:06:06.759 So it's really fascinating to read through the gospels. 00:06:06.761 --> 00:06:12.399 There's four of them because even though they're saying the same things, they're speaking to different audiences. 00:06:13.060 --> 00:06:20.319 And so we get a really large picture of who Jesus is in the gospels, but we're studying the, the gospel of Mark. 00:06:20.321 --> 00:06:23.199 And so, uh, what do we know about the gospel of Mark? 00:06:23.629 --> 00:06:24.838 Well, we know the writer. 00:06:24.860 --> 00:06:25.959 His name was Mark. 00:06:26.360 --> 00:06:27.360 It's pretty actually. 00:06:27.540 --> 00:06:31.680 His name was John Mark in some places, uh, it calls him John Mark. 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:35.399 And although he doesn't come right out to say this is, he was the one who wrote it. 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:38.240 It is unanimously test unanim. 00:06:38.350 --> 00:06:43.720 It's the unanimous testimony of early church history that it was Mark who wrote this. 00:06:44.180 --> 00:06:48.879 And he probably wrote it because he was a companion of Peter's. 00:06:49.019 --> 00:06:55.600 And he, it was mostly Peter's teaching that's been shaped and arranged by Mark. 00:06:56.439 --> 00:06:58.160 It's probably the first one that was written. 00:06:58.180 --> 00:07:00.160 But it's an urgent gospel. 00:07:00.528 --> 00:07:01.600 It is fast. 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:06.870 I don't know if you noticed it, but there's no ge gene genealogy here. 00:07:06.870 --> 00:07:13.430 You know, in the book of Matthew, in the book of Louv, you have really long genealogies like go, they go back generations and generations. 00:07:14.230 --> 00:07:15.430 Well, mark does have a genealogy. 00:07:15.430 --> 00:07:17.389 He has a really short one. 00:07:17.391 --> 00:07:23.310 Jesus Christ, son of God,, that's bam, that's mark. 00:07:23.310 --> 00:07:24.069 That is Mark. 00:07:24.071 --> 00:07:25.750 Mark is like okay to the point. 00:07:26.259 --> 00:07:27.189 I mean, this is it. 00:07:27.610 --> 00:07:32.310 The word immediately appears 41 times in this book, in 16 chapters. 00:07:32.310 --> 00:07:35.949 Immediately we, we read it four times in our little, did you notice that? 00:07:35.951 --> 00:07:38.589 And immediately this happened and immediately this happened. 00:07:38.620 --> 00:07:41.470 It's the action flick of the gospels. 00:07:41.471 --> 00:07:41.870 Okay? 00:07:42.060 --> 00:07:44.470 It's like the other gospels are like documentaries. 00:07:44.819 --> 00:07:52.720 This one is like, well it's not a series of Instagram posts, but it's like, you know, it's like a bunch of vignettes. 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:56.839 It's like a, it's like the fast and furious of the gospels, right? 00:07:57.870 --> 00:08:02.240 It's written to gentiles because there's very little reference to Jewish history. 00:08:02.329 --> 00:08:05.040 There's no reference to Jewish law at all. 00:08:06.199 --> 00:08:12.360 Uh, when he does mention something's Jewish, he's explaining it because the people he is writing to don't understand Jewish things. 00:08:12.769 --> 00:08:16.560 So probably they say it was written to sol, to to Romans. 00:08:17.420 --> 00:08:26.720 And so it was straight and clear and direct and simple and to the point, even a Roman soldier could understand it. 00:08:27.899 --> 00:08:32.759 And I'm not saying anything about our military people here and your ability to understand things. 00:08:32.760 --> 00:08:36.759 I'm just saying a Roman soldier could understand it, okay? 00:08:37.750 --> 00:08:42.919 Even, even someone in a different culture could understand it. 00:08:44.100 --> 00:08:47.889 So Mark is about action and it's about reaction. 00:08:48.039 --> 00:08:51.850 It's about what Jesus did and what people did in response to it. 00:08:51.850 --> 00:08:58.879 And so you also see this word astonished or amazed 20 times in the book, in 16 chapters. 00:08:58.980 --> 00:09:04.960 And Jesus did this and the people were astonished, astonished at him. 00:09:05.850 --> 00:09:08.678 There's so much to cover in this passage we read. 00:09:08.899 --> 00:09:17.240 And about three weeks ago, I've already talked about the baptism and the temptation of Jesus, especially in a light of the fact that he was the beloved son of the Father. 00:09:17.240 --> 00:09:21.240 And so if you wanna get, uh, the, that message, you can go back to that on the website. 00:09:21.539 --> 00:09:31.840 But I wanna focus this morning on the fact that Mark is showing us Jesus launching his public ministry and calling others to be a part of that ministry. 00:09:32.860 --> 00:09:32.860 Okay? 00:09:32.860 --> 00:09:40.659 So he called him and we read later in chapter three, I think you see that he, it gives the full list of the, of the names of the disciples. 00:09:40.660 --> 00:09:46.580 He called it, said that he called them to be with him and that they should go and preach. 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:48.820 And the order is very important. 00:09:50.629 --> 00:09:51.580 Be with him first. 00:09:52.808 --> 00:09:56.899 He's not really that interested in what you can do for him. 00:09:57.289 --> 00:09:59.860 He's more interested in being with you. 00:10:00.129 --> 00:10:03.019 He's more interested in relationship with you. 00:10:03.159 --> 00:10:07.940 But outta that relationship, there will be a go in preaching that happens. 00:10:09.470 --> 00:10:13.178 So from the very beginning, Jesus is not going to be doing this alone. 00:10:13.179 --> 00:10:20.139 He's calling people, he's passing by and he's finding people and he's calling them. 00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:31.220 And the odd thing is that in Mark's account, the disciples don't really re this account doesn't reflect well on the disciples, let's put it that way. 00:10:31.509 --> 00:10:35.139 They're like, kind of like they lack faith. 00:10:35.370 --> 00:10:37.178 They do awkward things. 00:10:37.610 --> 00:10:43.019 It's like when you read them, it's like these guys, they were a piece of work, man. 00:10:43.620 --> 00:10:48.259 and Jesus had to work and he had to be very patient with them. 00:10:48.260 --> 00:10:55.308 They had very similar challenges in their faith and their actions and their reactions as we do very similar. 00:10:57.649 --> 00:11:04.428 The extraordinary thing is that Jesus in inaugurating his kingdom on earth, calls and uses ordinary people. 00:11:05.970 --> 00:11:11.110 God does extraordinary things through ordinary people. 00:11:12.808 --> 00:11:16.230 God does extraordinary things through ordinary people. 00:11:16.230 --> 00:11:18.710 Are there any ordinary people here this morning? 00:11:21.058 --> 00:11:22.629 Some of you are not raising your hands. 00:11:23.750 --> 00:11:23.750 . 00:11:24.889 --> 00:11:26.909 Are there any ordinary people here this morning? 00:11:27.700 --> 00:11:29.230 Okay, you're qualified. 00:11:30.289 --> 00:11:32.070 Any extraordinary people here this morning? 00:11:33.419 --> 00:11:34.629 I just wanna know my audience. 00:11:34.990 --> 00:11:35.070 . 00:11:35.071 --> 00:11:35.428 Okay? 00:11:35.580 --> 00:11:39.830 I wanna make sure what direction this sermon needs to go. 00:11:40.669 --> 00:11:40.669 Alright? 00:11:41.340 --> 00:11:41.830 Okay. 00:11:41.831 --> 00:11:42.149 Yeah. 00:11:42.470 --> 00:11:48.190 And, okay, so we're all ordinary, we're all, we're all qualified, okay? 00:11:48.250 --> 00:11:52.149 And I'm gonna do like a flyover of these men's lives this morning, okay? 00:11:52.150 --> 00:11:53.440 Really quick look at, at their lives. 00:11:53.700 --> 00:11:59.039 But I also want you to know that we could talk about the women who followed Jesus as well. 00:11:59.678 --> 00:11:59.678 Amen. 00:12:00.980 --> 00:12:02.019 That would be a great sermon as well. 00:12:02.279 --> 00:12:05.460 But this passage just has these men that are listed. 00:12:05.460 --> 00:12:08.340 And so we're gonna, we're gonna just talk about this, these guys here, okay? 00:12:08.341 --> 00:12:10.058 So the first one is John the Baptist. 00:12:10.580 --> 00:12:16.539 All right, John the Baptist is the first one is, and he's raised in an ordinary family. 00:12:16.940 --> 00:12:19.620 Ordinary Jewish family, godly family. 00:12:20.669 --> 00:12:24.330 But John is not like everybody else. 00:12:25.659 --> 00:12:33.169 He is, uh, you know, growing up one of those kids that mm, he's just kind of different. 00:12:33.970 --> 00:12:39.250 , I would say atypical, which means weird. 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:41.090 It's just a nicer way to say it. 00:12:42.058 --> 00:12:45.850 He grew up though, and he became strong in spirit, but then he isolated himself. 00:12:45.850 --> 00:12:46.928 He went away into the desert. 00:12:48.259 --> 00:12:50.928 Unusual man dressed really funny, right? 00:12:52.250 --> 00:13:01.690 Can God use a man who dresses funny, he, he ate, he ate a strange diet, right? 00:13:02.440 --> 00:13:04.120 Thank God we're not eating that diet. 00:13:04.149 --> 00:13:09.480 It's in the Bible, but you, but it's, you don't have to eat it. 00:13:11.558 --> 00:13:15.159 Uh, but he was in the desert until the day of his showing to Israel. 00:13:15.159 --> 00:13:15.600 It says. 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:18.480 And so when he was shown to Israel, he came for a purpose. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:21.399 It was to make the way for the king. 00:13:21.400 --> 00:13:21.879 Okay? 00:13:22.250 --> 00:13:33.558 So if the president came to town, it wouldn't just be the president, it would be a whole entourage and it would be people going before him and they would be going to the places where he's gonna go and securing the place. 00:13:34.070 --> 00:13:36.039 They would make a way for the president. 00:13:36.041 --> 00:13:38.840 That's what John did for Jesus. 00:13:39.710 --> 00:13:44.240 This strange man was Jesus's entourage going forward, right? 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:49.720 Super strong core values, zealous for holiness. 00:13:49.808 --> 00:13:53.320 He is set apart for God and he thinks you should be two. 00:13:54.440 --> 00:13:54.440 Yeah. 00:13:55.769 --> 00:13:56.909 And he won't back down. 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:00.549 He won't be quiet, he won't change his mind. 00:14:01.740 --> 00:14:10.389 He's rugged, he's uncompromising and he has an unpopular message kind of guy. 00:14:10.390 --> 00:14:12.029 You're not always comfortable being around. 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:13.629 Anybody know something like that? 00:14:14.250 --> 00:14:17.590 You don't have to name names here, okay? 00:14:17.720 --> 00:14:20.190 He was a line drawer, right? 00:14:20.820 --> 00:14:21.789 Draw the line. 00:14:21.791 --> 00:14:28.429 This is black, white heaven, hell hot, cold in out, nothing in between, right? 00:14:28.431 --> 00:14:33.850 This is the way it is with John burning convictions. 00:14:33.850 --> 00:14:36.649 And Jesus said he was a burning and shining light. 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:45.870 He did no miracles, but he had a mouth and he used that mouth and he had a heart full of conviction. 00:14:46.230 --> 00:14:52.799 Maybe you've never experienced miracles by your own hand, but you got a mouth on you. 00:14:54.529 --> 00:14:55.549 Can God use you? 00:14:58.210 --> 00:15:00.450 He drew lines, put away your sin do right things. 00:15:00.690 --> 00:15:03.090 His baptism was a baptism of repentance. 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:10.169 That means I'm going this way and now I'm changing and I'm turning and I'm going this way. 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:11.649 That's repentance. 00:15:12.059 --> 00:15:13.009 It was a line. 00:15:13.010 --> 00:15:17.009 So his, his baptism was a, a line of demarcation. 00:15:17.100 --> 00:15:20.649 It was, this is the line, people are changing, they're coming. 00:15:20.650 --> 00:15:28.940 So John came, he testified, he baptized Jesus and then he stepped down from his ministry. 00:15:31.179 --> 00:15:32.889 He gave his ministry away. 00:15:34.809 --> 00:15:39.159 He literally like gave Jesus his email list. 00:15:39.160 --> 00:15:41.240 I don't know what you do, what you did back then. 00:15:41.450 --> 00:15:53.279 He like, and he said he saw him one day and said, this is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and he has to increase and I have to decrease. 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:55.340 You should follow him. 00:15:57.320 --> 00:16:05.809 He gave his ministry away and then he was arrested and he was arrested because he had convictions. 00:16:05.811 --> 00:16:10.090 And he was, he had convictions about a Roman leader hared. 00:16:10.091 --> 00:16:14.009 And that, uh, backfired on him in one way. 00:16:14.620 --> 00:16:20.929 He spent its time in prison and the days dragged on in prison, his faith began to be shaken. 00:16:20.931 --> 00:16:30.289 And he went from behold the lamb of God to are you, are you the one or should we look for someone else? 00:16:32.149 --> 00:16:38.929 You imagine that this strong, powerful man, this po this witness becomes a doubter. 00:16:40.259 --> 00:16:47.320 The one who comes to make the way, the one who's so sure in porting people to Jesus now has doubts in his heart. 00:16:47.659 --> 00:16:49.919 Can God use a man who has doubts in his heart? 00:16:53.139 --> 00:16:54.899 Jesus gave him two messages. 00:16:55.330 --> 00:17:03.700 Tell John the blind sea, the deaf here, the lame are walking and the poor get the, the gospel preached to them. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:09.829 And second, blessed is the man who's not offended in what I do. 00:17:13.549 --> 00:17:19.720 I mean, we all can, can get, um, sidetracked. 00:17:19.721 --> 00:17:22.480 We all can doubt when things don't go the way we think they should go. 00:17:22.519 --> 00:17:23.079 Right? 00:17:24.599 --> 00:17:25.289 They should. 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:27.049 This is what I'm expecting. 00:17:27.050 --> 00:17:28.410 But that's not what happened at all. 00:17:28.411 --> 00:17:31.289 We all can have doubts when that happens, right? 00:17:33.539 --> 00:17:35.269 What are you gonna do when you have those doubts though? 00:17:35.270 --> 00:17:36.069 Are you gonna continue? 00:17:36.250 --> 00:17:37.190 Are you gonna believe? 00:17:37.191 --> 00:17:41.230 Are you gonna trust that there's a, a plan bigger than you can understand? 00:17:44.108 --> 00:17:45.319 That's what John did. 00:17:46.970 --> 00:17:50.960 So can God use an oddball, a fiery? 00:17:51.358 --> 00:17:51.358 Yeah. 00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:54.759 , all you oddballs on here, praise God. 00:17:55.670 --> 00:17:59.400 A fiery revolutionary is straightforward forward communicator. 00:17:59.670 --> 00:18:02.000 A a in yourface person. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:04.720 Yeah, he can, but he has to break him. 00:18:05.250 --> 00:18:06.599 He has to take him through a process. 00:18:07.490 --> 00:18:10.000 He has to sub be submitted. 00:18:11.880 --> 00:18:15.319 Interesting that he was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb too, right? 00:18:15.320 --> 00:18:16.799 He has to be filled with the spirit. 00:18:16.800 --> 00:18:22.920 He has to go through a process where he's willing to say, you have to increase, I have to decrease. 00:18:23.539 --> 00:18:25.640 Can God use a person who has doubts? 00:18:25.641 --> 00:18:26.000 Yes. 00:18:26.690 --> 00:18:37.839 If he's willing to submit himself to the uncertainty to things going away that I'm not, I didn't think it was supposed to go. 00:18:39.349 --> 00:18:46.549 If there's humility there, there's one that comes after me that's really before me, that humility. 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:53.789 So maybe you're not sure God can use your doubting heart or your strong personality, but he can. 00:18:55.460 --> 00:18:56.108 Next one. 00:18:56.109 --> 00:19:10.950 Simon Peter man, Simon Peter needs a whole sermon by himself because he, he did a lot of things that were really encouraging to us because they were really kind of the wrong thing at the wrong time, right? 00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:14.549 He was a fisherman by trade, you know, along with Andrew, his brother. 00:19:14.849 --> 00:19:20.349 And it's interesting that, that when he, they were called, they were doing what, what does it say? 00:19:20.380 --> 00:19:22.309 They were casting nets, right? 00:19:22.890 --> 00:19:37.390 And that what they were doing in the physical, when, when they, when Jesus called them, that's exactly the same thing that both of them, them were doing in the spiritual, in their calling, their, their actual, uh, ministry calling Peter was a net caster. 00:19:37.740 --> 00:19:44.829 When he had a chance at the day of Pentecost, after the spirit filled him, he was casting a net. 00:19:45.549 --> 00:19:46.230 Thousands got saved. 00:19:46.230 --> 00:19:53.950 The next chapter, he's a man gets healed and he casts a net and he pulls in these fish and thousands saved. 00:19:54.250 --> 00:20:00.190 And then in Cornelius's family, a gentile family, he's going there, he's casting a net. 00:20:00.191 --> 00:20:01.150 He's always doing that. 00:20:02.279 --> 00:20:05.108 Simon's son of Jonas, Jesus called him. 00:20:06.660 --> 00:20:12.099 So he is named after Jonah, or his father was, he's the son of Jonah. 00:20:12.190 --> 00:20:15.900 Do you think he got any jokes like big fish jokes when he was fishing? 00:20:16.500 --> 00:20:21.460 , you think somebody like, he probably never, never heard the end of that, did he? 00:20:21.579 --> 00:20:31.868 Jesus called him a rock and Jesus made him into a person that the early church depended on, constantly relied on, constantly return returned to. 00:20:31.869 --> 00:20:34.069 But that wasn't an easy transformation. 00:20:34.559 --> 00:20:36.309 It wasn't a straight line. 00:20:36.310 --> 00:20:37.190 It was a circle. 00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:38.829 It was an up and down thing. 00:20:39.150 --> 00:20:44.750 Peter is called in the middle of, you know, a desperate situation with under Roman rule. 00:20:45.130 --> 00:20:50.839 And Jesus calls him and, and then he's like, okay, he's, he's following Jesus. 00:20:50.840 --> 00:20:52.599 He's casting out demons. 00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:54.279 Things are going incredibly well. 00:20:54.339 --> 00:21:01.839 And then suddenly he comes back and Jesus says, actually, it's not about casting out demons, it's not about the power that you have here. 00:21:01.840 --> 00:21:03.880 It's really about your names written in heaven. 00:21:04.430 --> 00:21:06.799 It's really about your relationship with me. 00:21:07.140 --> 00:21:08.680 And so he had to adjust that. 00:21:08.681 --> 00:21:13.920 And then he went back out and he's preaching, he's healing the sick and he's casting out demons again. 00:21:13.921 --> 00:21:16.118 And one demonn can't, won't come out. 00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:23.640 And he comes back and Jesus said, okay, I lesson number two, you have to sometimes pray and fast for these to come out. 00:21:23.650 --> 00:21:26.400 There's another step here. 00:21:27.019 --> 00:21:27.960 And he's learning. 00:21:27.961 --> 00:21:28.720 And he is learning. 00:21:29.779 --> 00:21:34.059 And he, one time, one day is called by Jesus to come out, get on the water. 00:21:34.060 --> 00:21:35.220 He actually does it. 00:21:35.710 --> 00:21:39.220 He actually has the audacity to get outta the water and walk on the water. 00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:43.299 And then he takes his eyes off of Jesus and on the ways, and he is begins to sink. 00:21:43.390 --> 00:21:44.500 He learns that lesson. 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:46.660 His life is full of ups and downs. 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:55.740 And then he goes to the mountain transfiguration and he sees things that the others didn't get to see. 00:21:56.569 --> 00:21:59.380 Only those, those three inner circle guys got to see. 00:21:59.640 --> 00:22:05.779 And so he's looking at the like the glory, the heavenly glory of Jesus on earth. 00:22:05.780 --> 00:22:09.420 And he's like saying stuff that is just silly. 00:22:09.421 --> 00:22:10.740 He just says silly things. 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:15.940 And the voice of God from heaven says, Peter, let me adjust you. 00:22:18.250 --> 00:22:18.740 Okay? 00:22:18.868 --> 00:22:20.500 He gets rebuked from heaven. 00:22:21.608 --> 00:22:23.779 Have you, has anybody gotten rebuked from heaven? 00:22:23.780 --> 00:22:25.380 Like I've actual voice from heaven. 00:22:26.849 --> 00:22:29.539 Okay, all right, good. 00:22:30.500 --> 00:22:34.220 It's wanna know my audience here, make sure, all right. 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:37.220 And then Jesus' ministry is gaining momentum. 00:22:37.221 --> 00:22:42.900 But then Jesus speaks of his crucifixion and Peter says, no way Peter rebukes Jesus. 00:22:43.059 --> 00:22:47.539 Jesus rebukes Peter triumphal injury. 00:22:47.890 --> 00:22:49.339 Everything is great. 00:22:49.340 --> 00:22:50.660 It's going just like it's planned. 00:22:51.329 --> 00:22:55.460 Arrest, denial, denial, denial. 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:03.920 Can God use a person who talks a big talk? 00:23:05.180 --> 00:23:09.289 But when it comes down to it is scared? 00:23:12.210 --> 00:23:15.660 Yeah, he really can. 00:23:17.490 --> 00:23:19.470 How about a person who thinks he knows it all? 00:23:21.190 --> 00:23:21.230 . 00:23:22.180 --> 00:23:23.630 Yeah, he can. 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:40.829 There's a process of humiliation though of humbling that God takes us through when he is emptied of his pride and he's filled with his Holy Spirit, then the day of Pentecost, when he's in a place where he felt like, I can't, everything is over and I'm just going fishing again. 00:23:41.368 --> 00:23:43.910 And then God uses him again. 00:23:44.660 --> 00:23:48.910 The day of Pentecost, this loudmouth guy who's always opening his mouth at the wrong time. 00:23:49.210 --> 00:23:52.470 Now God says, okay loudmouth, I need you right now. 00:23:53.220 --> 00:23:56.670 Step forward and just open your mouth. 00:23:58.019 --> 00:23:59.910 Yeah, God can use that. 00:24:00.130 --> 00:24:02.750 And then he goes on, there's powerful miracles. 00:24:03.029 --> 00:24:07.230 He, he goes to jail, he gets broken outta jail by angels. 00:24:07.450 --> 00:24:10.069 And then he has a sheet left down from heaven. 00:24:10.349 --> 00:24:13.750 This vision, he's seeing visions and it shows him his prejudiced heart. 00:24:15.420 --> 00:24:18.240 Can God use a person who's had a prejudice pass? 00:24:21.089 --> 00:24:30.680 Yeah, maybe you're not sure God can use you because mistakes in your past haunt you. 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:37.319 You made decisions that weren't good or you've been prejudiced in the past. 00:24:37.618 --> 00:24:38.519 God can do it. 00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:45.240 And then you've got Andrew, Andrew, his brother, who was a disciple of John the Baptists. 00:24:45.240 --> 00:24:47.920 You know, oh no, not another one of those guys. 00:24:49.180 --> 00:24:51.240 But Andrew was not another one of those guys. 00:24:51.240 --> 00:24:53.440 He was not like John at all. 00:24:53.441 --> 00:24:55.200 And he wasn't like his brother Peter at all. 00:24:55.440 --> 00:25:04.319 It, he really didn't seem to be a rash person or a person who's like against the world or he was actually nice. 00:25:06.170 --> 00:25:08.039 He was a connector. 00:25:08.730 --> 00:25:15.930 He actually was always meeting people and winning them over and taking them to Jesus. 00:25:17.358 --> 00:25:25.049 It's like he was, Jesus took him from working with nets to being a networker. 00:25:26.200 --> 00:25:29.009 He's said, bring these people to Jesus. 00:25:29.380 --> 00:25:32.289 He brought his brother, Simon Peter to Jesus. 00:25:32.339 --> 00:25:34.250 We found the man who's a messiah. 00:25:34.740 --> 00:25:39.368 He brought the man, the boy who was uh, had the, the fish into Lowe's. 00:25:39.369 --> 00:25:40.490 He's brought him to Jesus. 00:25:41.390 --> 00:25:45.490 And then he and Philip brought all these God-fearing Gentiles to Jesus. 00:25:45.490 --> 00:25:46.569 They wanted to see Jesus. 00:25:46.680 --> 00:25:49.569 He's always bringing them to Jesus. 00:25:49.570 --> 00:25:50.930 Always connected with people. 00:25:51.730 --> 00:25:55.410 Maybe you're not sure God can use you because you're not a fiery prophet. 00:25:56.440 --> 00:26:01.970 You're not a person who's out front and always loud spoken. 00:26:02.380 --> 00:26:06.289 No, you're too nice. 00:26:06.910 --> 00:26:08.490 God can use you too. 00:26:09.579 --> 00:26:14.490 He will, he can use people like you to network and get people to Jesus. 00:26:15.160 --> 00:26:23.579 Then there's James, James and you know, for an important biblical figure, we don't know much about James. 00:26:24.789 --> 00:26:28.460 It doesn't say that much about James, but we know he was a brother of John, right? 00:26:28.470 --> 00:26:30.299 We know he was part of the inner circle. 00:26:30.300 --> 00:26:37.460 James and John and Peter got called away to take, uh, Jesus took them away into places and they saw things that others didn't see. 00:26:38.779 --> 00:26:49.400 Um, but we do know some things if you read the scripture because he was a fisherman, but it wasn't just that he was, it was a family business, okay? 00:26:49.868 --> 00:26:51.440 Successful family business. 00:26:51.441 --> 00:26:53.920 It was his 70, it was James and John. 00:26:54.630 --> 00:26:59.130 And we know it's successful because they had their own boat and also they had hired servants. 00:27:00.599 --> 00:27:00.599 Okay? 00:27:00.601 --> 00:27:03.000 So he had employees under him. 00:27:04.089 --> 00:27:05.759 He was running a business. 00:27:05.809 --> 00:27:17.118 So probably somewhat well off unlearned, probably not educated, not much school, but natural leadership skills had a good future. 00:27:17.819 --> 00:27:20.720 But he saw Jesus as more important than that future. 00:27:20.721 --> 00:27:22.039 And he left it. 00:27:23.630 --> 00:27:29.769 And he also not only could run a business, he was a pillar in the church. 00:27:29.770 --> 00:27:39.410 God took that natural ability and he made him a pillar in the church and used his management skills to help run and organize and lead the early church. 00:27:39.411 --> 00:27:46.130 We know that from the book of Acts, he was also among the disciples who were lacking in faith. 00:27:46.131 --> 00:27:47.049 He was imperfect. 00:27:47.050 --> 00:27:51.849 How can God take, IM imperfect people and make them pillars of the church. 00:27:51.851 --> 00:27:52.650 What's the difference? 00:27:54.640 --> 00:27:58.250 Well, in one place it says they took note that they had been with Jesus. 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:00.809 That's the difference. 00:28:01.220 --> 00:28:08.250 He had been with Jesus and Jesus changed him into a pillar of the church. 00:28:08.250 --> 00:28:11.170 Maybe you're not sure God can use you cuz you don't have a great education. 00:28:12.108 --> 00:28:14.089 You just got natural business skills. 00:28:14.090 --> 00:28:19.130 You got, you got, um, you're, you, you're a craftsman, whatever it is. 00:28:20.430 --> 00:28:21.849 But Jesus thought differently. 00:28:21.851 --> 00:28:23.130 He called those kinds of people. 00:28:23.670 --> 00:28:27.730 And if you surrender those skills to him, you don't know what he's gonna do through that. 00:28:30.509 --> 00:28:31.650 And then there's John. 00:28:32.599 --> 00:28:35.809 John, what was John doing when Jesus called him? 00:28:35.940 --> 00:28:37.210 He wasn't casting a net. 00:28:37.211 --> 00:28:37.849 What was he doing? 00:28:38.700 --> 00:28:40.170 He was mending the nets. 00:28:40.819 --> 00:28:43.049 He was always a net mender. 00:28:43.660 --> 00:28:45.890 He was always fixing broken things. 00:28:45.891 --> 00:28:49.970 The thing he was doing in the natural is what he also did in his ministry. 00:28:50.579 --> 00:28:53.369 He, he was fixing broken doctrine. 00:28:53.779 --> 00:28:56.049 He was fixing broken churches. 00:28:56.099 --> 00:28:57.890 He was fixing relationships. 00:28:59.859 --> 00:29:09.569 He's one of those persons who can see a problem and run into it, not run from it, but run into it because he thinks he can see a way to fix it. 00:29:10.299 --> 00:29:11.490 He was a restorer. 00:29:13.690 --> 00:29:20.250 Two warring parties or people who are thinking incorrectly bringing order back. 00:29:20.250 --> 00:29:27.609