Sunday January 24, 2021

Called to a new career

Mark 1: 14-20

John the Baptist was imprisoned by Aaron Herod who must have thought that it would end the call for people to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins.

However, this was not the case. The Messenger, John may have been silenced .but the message could not be silenced.

As Mark’s Gospel account tells, after John’s arrest, Jesus went to Galilee where He preached a similar message: Repent and believe the gospel. Have faith in God through Jesus Christ! it is still a message for us today in this troubled world.

(Prayer)

Repent for the Kingdom of God is near.
Jesus was not speaking about a future Kingdom, In Luke 17: 20 -21 the Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come. Jesus replied:
That is why as true and faithful believers we can say that we are Kingdom people. The Kingdom is already with us and in us - our hearts.

Jesus made the call because he knew that those who do not repent and believe deny themselves the opportunity of being a part of God’s Kingdom. it was the central theme of Jesus teachings and ministry; one that says each of us must act upon with urgency in answering His call. It is also this ongoing ministry that has been entrusted to us, (church) by Jesus and it is a ministry that calls for total commitment. Commitment On the part of those who answer the call to service saying as Isaiah Hear am I send me, here am I, use me and all that I am and that I have.

As he was walking along the Galilee shore Jesus saw Simon and Andrew two fishermen were casting their nets in a lake and said to them come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.

He repeated the call soon after when he saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were also involved in the fishing industry with their father. The scriptures record that in each instance they left what they were doing and followed.

The call was not for them to be simply companions. It meant leaving what they did for a living. They were called to Commit themselves to be followers, worker for and with Jesus.

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“The coming of the kingdom of God is in your midst.

Remember, these men were working at their trade, making a living; but readily committed their lives to Jesus, who in turn made a commitment to them I will make you fishers of men.

Sisters and brothers the call still goes out today for us to follow Jesus. Like those early disciples, we must be prepared to make sacrifices and commit to following Jesus.

It is really saying to us that We should never be too busy to do what God desires of us. it means having our priorities in the right order - God first, others after, and self, last. That is what following Jesus calls for.

The Gospel of Matthew and Luke of Jesus calling others to follow him. One was a scribe who volunteer I would follow you wherever you go. Jesus said the foxes are holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head.

in other words, must first understand what you are getting into, following Jesus is not for the glamour and glitter not just following the crowd. Following Jesus calls for humility and sacrifice.

When called another man said: Lord first let me go and bury my father. Jesus said let the dead bury their own dead.

Yet another said first let me go back and say goodbye to my family. Jesus said to him no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God .

They failed as many of us continue fail to set their priorities in the right order and follow for the right reasons. That is, you repent and believe the good news to be shared with those who have not yet believed.

Indeed, these times in which we are living requires the faithful to echo the call need for the call for men and women to repent, for the nation to repent and believe the good news. God is calling the faithful, he is calling for workers today, those of us who claim the Jesus Christ as Lord. He calls us to be His voice proclaiming to the nation, leaders and followers, friend and foe; the Kingdom of heaven is near.

Paul declared in

In other words, it is not about self-satisfaction, nor about the things that are temporal, here today and gone today. It is about things eternal it is about us keeping the royal law: royal law that is Love your neighbor as yourself.

And I want to say that when others see that Christians love each other unconditionally it can serve to bring them to God, because our living will be in step with what we proclaim with our lips. That is what Jesus taught his disciples then and is what he teaches us today.

It is the commitment we must make today as we follow our Lord.

Jesus also made a commitment to make these fishermen, and by extension each of us to be fishers of men.

Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and

drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

There are times when God in Jesus Christ calls us to go where we would rather not go and interact with people we when we do not want to be seen in their company, times when He calls us to do things that we may want to do.. times when he calls us to go where we might not be comfortable in ourselves

But let remember that if we are to be fishers of men, which is what Jesus calls us to be, it is no longer what we want, or who we want to associate with or where we would rather not go. God’s wish, given through Jesus Christ, must be our command.

Obedience brings results.

To be fishers of men requires casting the nets in as Jesus directs. the results can beyond what we can imagine.

Luke 5:4ff Jesus was speaking the word of God to a crowd. He then got into one of two boats that were nearby, from which he continued teaching. Then he instructed Simon to go out into deeper waters and put down his net. This was despite Simon’s protest that they were toiling all night but in vain. Having cast the nets as Jesus directed, there was such a large catch of fish that their nets were breaking...

You see my Brothers and Sisters; God makes the unthinkable, thinkable; God makes the undoable, doable; and He makes the impossible, possible. What he wants is our obedience.

It is not for us to deem any beyond the reach of God, beyond redemption because when we do that, not only are we denying the power of God to work in difficult situations, but we are also judging and condemning at the same, time contrary to the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 7: 1-3 Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

So, whenever there is the urge to judge and condemn others because of who they are, their lifestyle, their actions or whatever reasons we may find, let us, first consider our own lives which are by no means faultless. Too many Christians fail God in this regard.

But God being God, when we reject, He accepts.

Following Jesus He teaches us to see the great possibilities in others.

The Old Testament reading from Jonah tells that when Jonah eventually went to Nineveh as God had instructed, he proclaimed the message from God that the city would be destroyed in forty days. The people believed in God and repented.

This was the same city that this man did not want to go to. In fact, he tried to run away from God. When we read on to chapter four, we see that his real issue was that he knew that God

would forgive them for their wicked ways, but Jonah had already determined that they did not deserve God’s forgiveness.

The road may be rough, it may be dangerous, but Whenever God calls us, and then sends us, we are assured that he prepares the way for his work to bear fruit.

So, let us commit and recommit our selves to follow our Lord using these words: of a song by Mary Brown:

I’ll go where You want me to go, dear Lord, O’er mountain, or plain, or sea;
I’ll say what You want me to say, dear Lord, I’ll be what You want me to be.

The message cannot be silenced.

Amen.