Becoming Fishers of Men
Notes
Transcript
What the world needs most – The Gospel.Key – Mark 1:17 Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
What the world needs most – The Gospel.Key – Mark 1:17 Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
1. August 13th – Who we follow (Jesus)
2. August 20th – What following consists of (Abiding)
3. August 27th – What following results in (Becoming Fishers of Men)
Becoming Fishers of Men – Choices and Implications
Becoming Fishers of Men – Choices and Implications
1. What the World Needs – The Message. Mark 1:14-15
2. How the World Will Hear – The Messengers. Mark 1:16-17
3. Implications for Grace Community Church
The Message – What the World Needs. Mark 1:14-15
The Message – What the World Needs. Mark 1:14-15
· Bad News: Kingdom of Man – everyone does as is right in their own eyes. If they do believe in God, they see God as either a judge to be avoided or a vending machine to be worked. They see themselves as sovereign rulers of their own private kingdoms. They see other people as means to an end to either advance their kingdom or threats to their kingdom.
· Good News: Kingdom of God – the recognize Christ as God and king and seek to align their will to his purpose. They see themselves as his image bearers, forgiven, adopted, reconciled, loved, cherished, and commissioned to advance their kings kingdom agenda. They see others not as a means to an end to their happiness or misery but as fellow image bearers with dignity and value in their own right whom God loves and desires to be a part of his kingdom as citizens and sons.
· V. 15 we enter by grace through faith. We repent and believe and are born again.
The Messengers – How the World Will Hear. Mark 1:16-17
The Messengers – How the World Will Hear. Mark 1:16-17
· What Jesus Does
o V. 14-15 Saves (Justifies)
o V. 17a Jesus invites us to believe/follow (abide). Sanctifies
o V. 17b He makes us fishers of men (apart from me you can do nothing).
§ Example – the life of Paul 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
· What we do. Abide. A series of choices.
o Repent and believe V. 15 That is your choice.
§ Repent – turn from being your own king (self-will/sin)
§ Believe – trust Jesus.
o Follow (abide) V. 16-18 Create margin to experience Jesus. IN this case they left their nets and boats. DO not think Jesus requires people to quit their jobs, but neither should we assume that is not sometimes exactly what following looks like. He did not ask Zebedee the father of James and John to leave his small business, just the sons. I mentioned this last week but there are many of you who simply have no time to do anything that would resemble abiding. I had coffee with a father who loves Jesus, loves his wife, and loves his kids who up until recently had absolutely no margin to abide. He told me in an attempt to be “missional” he ended up coaching six different youth sports teams over one calendar year. He told me the last time I did not have a traveling tournament on Sunday was Easter of 2023. When not running practice or coaching games he was thinking about how to map out the next practice for the team, deal with parents. Oh, yeah, and he has a full-time job as well. That may sound extreme but evaluate your life. Do you have margin or do you lack time to be in the word, pray, be in community, attend Sunday morning worship, serve in the church or the community, or share your faith?
Implications for Grace Community Church
Implications for Grace Community Church
1. Focus on training one another to be and make disciples.
a. Get used to being asked to follow as opposed to just watching.
b. The measure of success is not how many satisfied observes attend on a Sunday. The benchmark is how many of us multiply. Example – The benchmark of whether Brooks is a success or failure is not how many of you like to listen to be. It is whether I find, train, and others to do what I do and eventually replace myself.
c. Thrive Class – Making Disciples.
2. Multiply Churches.
a. 2017 ABS/Barna Group. ranked 100 cities from most to least biblically minded. Cedar Rapids (which included corridor cities from Waterloo to Iowa City) rated among the five least biblically literate cities in the United States! 47.2% of corridor residents rate themselves as having no religious affiliation whatsoever.
b. 2019 3500 churches were planted. 4000 closed. That is a trend.
i. 1820 1 church for every 820 people.
ii. 1900 1 church for every 450 people.
iii. Locally 2023 – 11 churches in NL for 20,875 people. 1 for 1897 people.
c. 2013-2023 Grace – Down Town, Belle Plaine, Jordon Creek, and River City
d. 2023-2033 Amana, Kansas Ave., Dubuque Street, Other
Do Something – Make a Choice
Do Something – Make a Choice
• Repent and believe
• Become a follower instead of a fan
• Learn to abide
• Pray for your church
• Pray for The Church
• Pray for the world
• Go fish for men