The First Followers

That’s what we’re going to talk about today; we see Jesus strolling through the shoreline and getting a few people to drop what they were doing and follow him. Let’s dive into it! Join me in Mark 1, and we will talk about verses 14 thru 20. I know we just heard the scripture but let me give you the Marc Living Translation of this scripture set. 

Verses 14 and 15 talk about Jesus’ message. John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, has just been arrested. Jesus came to Galilee spreading this message in verse 15: “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and live and trust this good news!” This verse has my attention; how about you? Think about if someone came into your house or the church here and shouted this message: “Hey guys! Get ready because God’s kingdom is coming! Get rid of the bad stuff in your hearts and bring in the good things for your hearts. Trust this news that I am bringing you today.” I mean, I don’t know about you. There may be a bit of doubt in my mind for this guy telling us this, but the remainder of the scripture shows us that he wasn’t lying. We see the start of God’s kingdom coming about. 

Verse 16 thru 20 talks about Jesus calling the first of his disciples. As I mentioned, Jesus was walking along the shoreline at the Galilee Sea when he saw two brothers. He saw Simon and Andrew fishing. Why? Because they were fishermen, duh. Jesus tells them this in verse 17: “Come, follow me,” he said. “and I’ll show you how to fish for people. Simon and Andrew listened to Jesus and dropped what they were doing immediately. They immediately choose to follow Jesus. This story happened again. A little further down the shore, Jesus saw James and John in their boat fixing their nets. Jesus called them to do the same thing that He asked Simon and Andrew. To come to follow Jesus, He will teach them how to fish for men. They dropped what they were doing and followed them. They left their dad high and dry in the boat and followed Jesus. I could only imagine how Zebedee, their dad, felt watching this unfold, but I want to keep the focus on today’s lesson. 

Think of the craziness in this story. These four guys left their jobs to go and follow Jesus. Them leaving means that they weren’t making any money anymore. Leaving means that their lives would be a new adventure every day because who would know what to expect other than Jesus. I’m not saying that you will go through the same journey, but you may find that moment of: “I’m dropping everything right now to do what Jesus wants.” Dropping everything right now may mean ending friendships, sacrificing money you’ve saved for the PS5 to help a mission, learning not to talk about people behind their back. Things from our life will change when we make the same decision these guys made. Jesus can come into the most challenging part of our life and ask us to do something for him. 

Sometimes we’ll listen immediately, sometimes we’ll do it annoyed, or sometimes we won’t do it at all. So, how do we do it? How do we drop what we’re doing to follow Jesus? Please don’t take away from today’s story that you should drop out of school, quit your job, leave home, or something like that. Spend time in prayer about what you should do, but often, it starts with a bit of nudge. 

Maybe you should talk to the kid who’s sitting by themselves at lunch. Maybe you should hold a door open for the older adult coming in and remaining patient about it. Maybe you saw someone having a rough day in class or at recess, and you stopped what you were doing to pray about them or with them even. There are many easy things that God nudges us to do that change our hearts (like what we read about earlier.) My challenge to you this week is to spend some time with God to see where he’s nudging you. You’ll never know where you’ll go until God nudges you on His path. Thank you for joining me today, and enjoy the rest of the service.