Ephesians 4:25-5:2

It was the summer of 1986.

I had just finished my junior year in high school.

Having grown up in a home that went to church, but in which Christian worship was not a daily part of our lives.

Having gone through a confirmation process where I filled out a statement of faith without knowing any of what I really wrote.

And submitted it so that I could be brought in as a member of the church that our family went to.

Having wandered out on a youth group retreat one night and looking up at the stars and wondered if maybe there was a God.

And wondering if maybe there was something to this whole thing.

But never getting an answer until during my sophomore and junior year I met Bill and Becky and other friends who knew Jesus.

And I didn't like their Jesus very much, but I liked them.

And I saw that they had something that was to me irresistibly attractive.

And so I kept hanging out with them and I kept asking questions.

And it brought me to this summer.

This summer where my friend went off across the sea and left me with Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

And in that time as I read through this book, I saw who Jesus was for the first time.

And C.S. Lewis walked through the argument that he puts forth in that book.

I found myself being compelled by it.

And I got to the end.

And I remember thinking, if this is true, what am I going to do with it?

I could no longer think, I wonder if there might be something to this.

Now I knew something.

Now I knew something about who Jesus was.

I had been confronted with him.

And I knew that I needed to respond.

Friends, this morning as we continue in our series in the book of Luke, we will find a similar encounter with the Apostle Peter and some of his friends.

As they encountered Jesus and saw him, perhaps for the first time, with real eyes.

So we're looking at the Gospel of Luke.

If you want to turn there, I think it's page 860 in your pew Bible.

Is that right?

Yes?

Good.

As we turn there, let me just remind us of where we are.

We're doing a series this winter on who is this Jesus.

Looking at Luke chapter 4 through chapter 8.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

If you remember, we started a couple weeks ago hearing about Jesus as he walked into the synagogue.

And he sat down and he read the words from Isaiah.

Isaiah, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind.

To set at liberty those who are oppressed.

And to proclaim the day of the Lord's favor.

And then having read this, he sat down and he said, today it is fulfilled.

What he was basically saying is, now that I am here.

And then as we've seen, after that he went out and he did ministry.

And he did it with a kind of authority.

Authority over spiritual forces of darkness.

Authority over physical sickness that would cause to destroy.

Destroy.

And in all of these things it arouses in our hearts the question, who is this one?

And that brings us to our text this morning.

Luke chapter 5.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

We're going to look at verses 1 through 11.

So please read along with me.

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.

And he saw two boats by the lake.

But the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.

Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land.

And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

And Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night and took nothing.

But at your word, I will let down the nets.

And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish.

And their nets were breaking.

They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them.

And they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink.

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me.

For I am a sinful man, O Lord.

For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken.

And so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

And Jesus said to Simon, Do not be afraid.

From now on, you will be catching men.

And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Let's pray together.

Lord, we thank you for your word.

And we thank you that in it you reveal yourself to us.

Lord, that it is not simply an instruction book for us on how to live.

But it is a book about you that we might see you clearly and know you rightly.

And respond in love and worship and obedience.

God, what a precious gift it is that you have given us your word.

So that we might know what kind of a God you truly are.

And Lord, as we look at this word this morning, I pray for receptive hearts.

Lord, for eyes that are ready to see you anew, afresh, or maybe for the first time.

Lord, I pray that you might use me.

Lord, that my words would be useful in lifting up Jesus in our midst.

That we might see him and respond.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, friends, as we look at this story, one of the fun things about doing the Gospels is that they're stories.

And by that I don't mean they're fictional.

By that I mean they're narrative.

Which means that the way that God is telling truth is telling it through an account of what happened.

And so what we're going to do is we're going to look at this.

And instead of giving you an outline of here are the three theses that Luke wants you to understand.

What I want you to see is there are three movements in this drama.

There are three actions that happen or three places that three three sections of this of this passage that capture us and grip us and teach us a bit about what is going on.

We're going to see first we're going to see Jesus unveiled.

And secondly, we're going to see Peter undone.

And third, we are going to see Jesus calling for us to follow.

So let's look at those three movements and see what they have for us this morning.

First of all, Jesus unveiled in the glory of the catch.

This is in verses 1 through 7.

And as you look at this, I want you to sit by the Sea of Galilee.

This Gennesaret is just a section of shoreline along the Sea of Galilee.

Luke uses a different word to tell you.

It's the same familiar place of Galilee.

So Jesus is ministering up north in Israel.

He's collected a group of people.

They've heard about what he's doing.

They've heard about his teaching with authority.

And they've gathered along to do it.

I want you to notice too that Luke says on one occasion.

He's not saying this is an account of everything Jesus did.

And he's not even saying, oh, and this is what happened right after what happened at the end of chapter 4.

He's just saying, oh, let me tell you something else about what Jesus was doing during this time.

And he was gathered in this.

And the crowd became so big that they were pressing in on him.

And he saw the crowd growing.

And he thought, how do I love them?

They've come here to hear the words that I have to say to them.

And I want them to do that.

So we love them enough to look for a solution.

And lo and behold, there it was, two fishing boats by the water.

The fishermen, having fished all night, were now out of their boats,

tending to their nets at the end of a long night.

And he said to the fishermen, hey, can I use your boat?

And so they pushed out from shore.

And the boat became his pulpit.

And the water became his microphone amplification as he preached to a large crowd.

But notice that for Luke, this isn't the point today.

It is the context in which Jesus was doing something else.

It's simply the setup.

Because in verse 4 then, we begin to see the story really take shape.

Because having then sat down as teachers would do and taught the people,

when he was done teaching, he then turned to Peter and said,

Peter, put out into the deep and put your nets down.

Now, Peter would have been pretty taken aback by this for a number of reasons.

One, Jesus was a carpenter, not a fisherman.

Or maybe Jesus was an itinerant religious teacher.

But he still didn't know anything about fishing.

And anyone who knows anything about fishing knows that if you've fished all night

and you haven't caught anything,

you don't go out in the middle of the day to try again.

Because the fish aren't out in the middle of the day.

That's why fishermen always fish at dawn and dusk.

They go out in the right times of day.

And this was the wrong time of day.

As one commentator said,

we need not ask what goes through the mind of a professional fisherman

in a foul mood when a non-fisherman orders him to do again in bad conditions

what he has already tried and failed to do in good conditions.

But interestingly, with all of that resistance,

Peter still responds.

He knows something of Jesus.

He's heard the teaching, maybe, as he's been mending the nets.

Maybe, likely, the account of his healing of his mother had happened

as it was reported in chapter 4.

He knew something of him.

He called him master.

It's an honorary term, like, of teacher or one who deserves honor.

He said,

this is the dumbest thing in the world,

but all right, I'll try it.

I'll try it.

Peter allowed Jesus to invade

an inappropriate place in his life.

Peter may have looked at him and said,

he's a great teacher.

He maybe even, he healed my mother.

That seems like a good place for Jesus to stay in my life.

Now Jesus has insinuated himself into the place of Peter's expertise,

the place of his greatest ability.

Peter's doubtful, but he gives him a chance.

I want to stop for a minute.

I want you to think about your own life.

Jesus walks into your lab.

Why don't you try this?

I couldn't even begin to, like, give you technical terms.

Titrate this.

Spin this.

I don't even know.

I was an history major.

You know what I mean.

Jesus walks into your homeschooling.

Maybe you should do this with your kids.

He invites you into your romantic life.

He goes along on the date.

Follows you into your bedroom.

How about this?

He walks with you down the hall in your high school.

Greeting your friends.

Sitting with you in the lunchroom.

How do you respond?

Master, we fished all night.

We didn't catch anything.

But since you ask, we'll do it.

I'll bet we, he wouldn't get master out of us most of the time.

More like the question.

Jesus, what do you have to do with this part of my life?

This isn't where you belong.

In those places of our greatest expertise.

When we think we're in control, and when we think God really doesn't know what he's doing

or what he's up to, we resist him, and we don't see him as he truly is.

But Peter gave him a doubtful chance.

And look with me at verse 6 and 7.

Luke tells us in excruciating detail to make sure we don't miss what happened.

They enclosed a large number of fish.

And their nets were breaking.

That meant that the weight was greater than what those nets were built to catch.

And so they called their friend over in the other boat.

And they put the fish in the boat.

And these boats that were made to fish, made to hold fish, were sinking.

Because the catch was so great.

This is a fisherman's tail beyond belief.

It was this big!

But it really was.

It wasn't a fiction.

And joy turns into panic.

But it's a gleeful panic.

What are we going to do?

And notice this too.

When Jesus invades Peter's area of expertise,

he doesn't do it flippantly.

It's not just a random display of power.

For the fun of it.

He actually graciously provides for Peter the thing that he most needed and didn't have on his own.

He blessed Peter and the other fishermen with the catch that they could not catch on their own.

So Jesus' display of power was not simply asserting himself to say,

I'm better than you.

Or I'm bigger than you.

Or I'm greater than you.

Although all of those things, as we will see, are true.

But he's saying, don't you see how much I love you?

That I will use all of my greatness for your good.

And so, with Peter, we must look at this Jesus again with new eyes.

Who is this man?

Suddenly the compartments come down.

It's running through Peter's head.

Who is he?

What has he just done?

He's the creator who knows the fish.

Whether he commanded them to jump into the nets or whether he just knew where they were at the wrong time of day,

he's the one who rules over creation.

He's the almighty provider who's able at the snap of his finger with what humanly seems like an irrational request,

provide the thing that we most need.

He is the sovereign over all.

He is the Holy One of God.

Who is he?

This must be God.

Not just a teacher.

Not just a helpful man who might tell me something useful about my spiritual life.

But someone who is greater than all.

This must be God.

The analogy is, if Jesus can rule in the area of my greatest expertise,

then doesn't he have a claim to rule over all?

If Jesus can do this in the place where I'm the professional,

then doesn't Jesus make me accountable to him in everything?

That I do.

And if that request is so surprising and the response so unbelievable,

then the second thing that happens in this story is additionally so surprising.

Because, as we see moving on to verses 8 through 10,

we see our second movement.

Because we see Peter, Simon Peter, responding.

And his response is surprising.

What we see is him undone.

Look with me again at verse 8.

When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees,

saying,

Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

With echoes of the Isaiah passage that we read further,

when Isaiah encountered the glory of God

and fell down before him and says,

Woe is me.

Peter falls down before Jesus.

And he says three things.

First thing he says is,

Depart from me.

This is not a Mike Myers,

I'm not worthy.

There's no tongue in cheek.

It's not even just awe and wonder.

You are bigger than me.

But what it is,

is in this common pattern

that we see over and over in the scriptures,

when people encounter God himself,

when people encounter messengers of the God Most High,

they fall down on their faces.

And their beginning start is,

Oh Lord, I can't handle this.

It's too much.

Depart from me,

for I am afraid that I might die in your presence.

Depart from me,

for I am fearful that I am not worthy to be before you.

I cannot stand in your presence.

It would be like the present

who, hearing a surprising knock at the door,

finds the king standing at the doorstep saying,

May I come in and eat?

No, I'm not worthy.

My table is not clean.

My food is not good enough.

I have nothing to offer what you really deserve.

You must be mistaken, Lord.

It must be another house you're looking for.

I think that's what Peter is saying

when he says,

Depart from me, Lord.

He's expressing this fear.

Then the second thing,

For I am a sinful man.

Jesus hasn't said anything about sin.

We haven't heard anything about righteousness,

about the law,

about doing right and wrong.

None of that has happened.

How did Peter get here?

This doesn't make any sense, does it?

Spurgeon helpfully says this about it.

I do not doubt that in the sermon which Christ delivered,

there was such a clear declaration of the holiness of God

that Peter felt himself unveiled,

discovered, his heart laid bare.

And now came the finishing stroke.

The one who had done this could also rule the fishes of the sea.

He must therefore be God.

And if it was to God that all the defects and evils of Peter's heart

had been revealed and thoroughly known,

and almost fearing,

with a kind of inarticulate cry of alarm

because the criminal was in the presence of the judge,

the polluted in the presence of the immaculate,

Peter says,

Depart from me,

for I am a sinful man,

O Lord.

When we find ourselves in the presence of God,

we find ourselves in the presence of all of Him.

And in His perfect power,

in His perfect createrness that rules over all things,

He is also the perfect moral one.

And in His greatness,

we see our smallness.

In His perfection,

we see our sinfulness.

In His power,

we see our weakness.

And Peter confesses it.

For I am a sinful man.

I cannot stand before your holiness.

I think it's possible

that part of what Peter recognized

in that moment was,

I didn't really think,

Jesus,

that you knew anything about fishing.

And so I had you over here

in this nice little compartment

in my life.

And you've now blown that up.

And I've recognized

how sinful that is.

Because if you are God over all,

then you are God over me.

And I am a sinful man

for not seeing your glory

and responding rightly.

Depart from me

for I am a sinful man,

O Lord.

This is the final recognition.

He called him earlier,

Master,

you're one who deserves honor.

But now he says,

you are Lord.

And fascinatingly,

if you have the time,

go back and read Luke 1-3

and see the almost 30 times

when the writer Luke

uses the word Lord.

And in all of those contexts,

it is the Lord God Almighty,

the Lord who rules over,

the Lord of Israel,

the Lord of the promises

of the Old Testament,

the Lord who brings life

to a virgin womb,

the Lord who appears

and opens barren Elizabeth,

the Lord who has shown favor

to those who don't deserve favor.

It is the sovereign good Lord.

And Peter now uses this term

on his lips,

no longer master,

but Lord.

Peter's experienced

both his awesome power

and greatness

and his gracious goodness.

And in this,

he is undone.

He's forgotten about the fish.

He fell down in the boat

at Jesus' knees.

Suddenly,

as he sees what Jesus has done,

Jesus now fills

the whole screen of his life.

Everything that he's concerned about

now fades.

Only Jesus is there.

Friends,

I wonder if Jesus has undone you.

this morning.

I wonder if you've seen him

as he really is.

If he's opened your eyes

to see him as the creator

to whom you're accountable,

as the holy one

whose moral perfection exposes

our sin

and the ugliness of our hearts,

his gracious love for us,

that shows us how ungrateful

and selfish we really are,

his sovereign goodness

that shows us how often we grasp

for control,

for power,

and our own lives.

And our own lives.

Have you seen him

as he really is?

Has he undone you?

When he undoes you,

there's no more pretense.

There's no more excuses.

There's no more expertise

to fall back on

in parts of our lives.

We are laid bare before him

when he undoes us.

We realize we have no basis

to claim rightness before him.

We have no merit

that we might be commended to him.

We have no goodness to cling to

and no self to exalt before him.

We see him and we are undone

because he is greater.

Because he is God.

Maybe you have been a Christian

for a long time.

Maybe you grew up

reading these stories

and thinking,

oh yeah, I know that one.

That's all about,

we will get to the end

about following Jesus.

And I know the song,

I have decided to follow Jesus.

You know,

or I am sure there are other songs

about the fishermen and stuff.

But I did not grow up in that as much

so I do not know the songs.

But maybe you have grown up

in that kind of a background.

And you know those stories from heart.

And you are sort of like,

yeah, yeah, yeah,

we have done this a lot.

I know that.

But I wonder if Jesus

has become too familiar to you.

I wonder if the Jesus of this story

has been lost to you

under the guise of a nice, pleasant Jesus

who wants good for you in your life.

And yeah, he died on the cross for your sins.

And that is good.

And you know,

he can sort of take care of that part of your life

and let you go on your merry way.

I wonder if this morning

you would see him afresh.

If you would see him with new eyes

and see him in his glory

as he says,

I am Lord of all.

I am the giver of life.

I am the one who calls you.

Maybe some of you are like me

and you've grown up in church

and you've known about Jesus,

but you've never really encountered him

and you've never really seen him this way ever.

Or maybe you're here

because through God's gracious work in your life,

you're wondering

whether there might be something to this Christianity.

Maybe like me,

you have a friend

who believes this stuff

and you're like,

what is that all about?

I gotta figure that out.

Maybe you're here this morning wondering,

who is this Jesus?

Jesus.

Whatever it is,

whatever your situation is,

I pray this morning

that as you see him

that you would be undone.

I pray this morning

that you would encounter him.

Friends, when I encountered him,

it was not because God intervened in some,

he didn't suddenly make me win

the lacrosse championship

or make me the star of the school play

or give me a straight egg average

or whatever.

He didn't come in

and invade my areas of expertise.

But through the words of my friends

and through the words of C.S. Lewis

and through my own time

actually reading parts of the Bible,

I encountered him

and saw who he was

and God opened my eyes

to see him

for the first time.

So friends,

wherever you are this morning,

I pray,

I pray that you would see him.

And if you're sitting there

and you know

I haven't been undone by Jesus,

I don't even know this Jesus,

friends,

this is where we look.

This is where you will find him.

Keep reading,

keep looking,

come talk to me,

talk to your friend

who brought you,

talk to your friend

who you've known

for 30 years

as you've gone to church together

and marvel again

at who Jesus is.

Be undone by him.

So Jesus unveils himself

in his glory.

Peter and his friends

and we are undone

as we see him,

as he really is.

And then Jesus responds

to us again

as he does to Peter

and he gives this call.

Look with me again.

Verse 10.

Second half.

And Jesus said to Simon,

don't be afraid.

That is,

I haven't come to destroy you.

I'm not going to simply

wipe you out

though your sin is real

and though your unworthiness

is right.

No,

I've come to do something else.

You see,

it's never been about the fish.

The beginning

and the end of the story

tell us that

the fish has just been a sign

and a symbol

and an unveiling

of the person.

Jesus says,

no,

I'm not going to run

from you,

Peter.

Instead,

I'm going to call you.

I'm going to call you

to follow me.

He doesn't say,

okay,

now you've understood me better.

Go back and do your thing

and we'll go on

and do our thing.

I'll go teach

and you go fish

and we'll be fine.

Isn't that nice?

Jesus doesn't say that.

He says,

no,

I've come to radically

reorient your life.

There's a place

for you to fish.

But what I want you to do

is I want you to begin

to see what I'm about

and to reorient your life

around me

and what my purposes

are in the world

and what my glory

is all about.

He says,

no longer will you fish

for those things

in the lake

but you will fish

for the souls

of men and women.

He'll say,

come follow me

because this is what I'm about.

Don't you see?

This is my teaching ministry

that you've seen.

The net that I throw out

is the net

of the good news

of the kingdom of God

and the gospel.

And the catch that I get

is not

flapping little fish

but it's the souls

of men and women

cast over the crowds.

This is the call

that Jesus gives to them.

He says,

Peter,

you are not undone.

I am now capturing you

and calling you

in fact

into a greater thing

than what you've ever done.

And as you are undone

from all these little things

that consumed your lives

and dominated your attention,

now I want you

to reorient those things

around me

and the things

that I am about.

He wants to say,

no longer is fishing

the purpose of your life.

No longer is fishing

your security.

No longer is fishing

your capital.

No longer is being a fisherman

your identity.

Jesus is Lord of all,

the fish and the fishermen.

And he has come to say,

I now,

as I call you

to follow me,

I will be for you

your security,

your capital,

your identity,

your purpose

in life.

Jesus is saying,

I am not the moon

that simply reflects light

on you at the night,

but I am the sun

around which you

and the planets

of your life

are meant to orbit.

I am meant to be

and call you

to make me

the gravitational center

of what you are

and who you are.

Because don't you see

how easy it is for us

to not do that?

How easy it is for us

to say,

yeah, Jesus,

we'll give you some of it,

but not this stuff.

You can't touch this.

This is mine.

This is where I'm in charge.

This is where I exalt myself.

This is where I'm,

I'm the one

who knows what's going on.

Jesus says,

no,

I'm the Lord of everything.

Even your fishing.

And now look,

let's make sure

we get this right.

Jesus doesn't call

all Christians

to forsake

every other vocation

to become a minister.

In case you're confused

by that,

that's not what

he's saying here.

Right?

Not everyone is called

to literally leave

their boats

and their nets.

God called these men

in a very special way

to play a special role.

They were his disciples

who went with him

and through them

he then shared

and spread

the ministry

that he was called to

of proclaiming the word

and bringing

the kingdom of God

to this world.

They were the beginning

of the church

which was the thing

that he was birthing

through his ministry.

And yes,

he called them

to leave their nets

and their fish

and everything

to follow him.

But practically

for us,

some of you

are going to be called

to leave

all the security,

all the identity,

all the capital,

and all the expertise

that you have

in your career

and to abandon

all of those things

to Jesus' hand

and then to go back

and to do

the very same thing.

And I know some of you,

that's a really hard road

to walk.

I don't know

if you ever think about it

but I sit up here sometimes

and I think,

I have the easy life.

I get to do this

all day,

every day.

This is my joy

that this is my vocation.

Some of you

have a hard road

to walk

in what you do.

Having to live out

making Jesus

the center of your life

as a carpenter

or a fisherman,

as a postdoc

or a mom,

as a teacher,

as an executive,

as a student,

as simply a citizen

in this world.

Whatever you do,

the call here

is to reorient

your life around Jesus

and to live

for Him

and to follow Him

in His work.

And yes,

that does mean

that in your workplace

you are called

to carry out

His mission

which is to love

people in His name

and to proclaim

the good news

that Jesus has come.

You are called

to do that

wherever you are

and whatever you do.

but He doesn't mean

that you have to

leave your vocation

and your work

but He does mean

reorient your life.

Make me the center.

See who I am.

And this is what

I want you to see,

friends,

is that this isn't

a command

try harder,

try harder

to be a better Christian.

Be more committed

to being more committed.

no,

that's not it.

Because you see,

friends,

this story helps us see

the very dynamics

of the gospel itself.

Jesus reveals Himself

in His glory.

And friends,

you know that

in the gospel of Luke,

this section,

chapter 4 through 9,

is a setup.

It started with

this quotation

from Isaiah

about Jesus has come

and the kingdom has come

and then there's

this display of it

in chapters 4 through 9.

This is what it looks like.

Jesus is Lord over this.

Jesus is Lord over that.

Jesus showing the character

of God's kingdom

where He's setting

the captives free

and bringing freedom

to those who are oppressed

and bringing sight

to the blind.

And He does all these things.

And then in chapter 9

in Luke,

Jesus turns

and He sets His face

towards Jerusalem.

And as He goes

to Jerusalem,

He encounters

increasing resistance.

People hate Him

for His message.

And He has resisted

more and more.

And Luke structures

the whole gospel

to lead us

to the end chapters

where we see Jesus

in the fullness

of His glory.

In the greatest,

greatest expression

of His sovereign power

and His love for us.

as He lays down

His life for us.

As He offers Himself

up in our place

because we are sinful men

and ought to be destroyed

by a holy God.

Yet Jesus says,

no, I will take that place

and I will suffer

the destruction

that your sins deserve.

And I will hang

on that cross

in your place

because I love you

and because I have come

to redeem you,

to make you my own.

And He died

and He rose again

to show His power

even over sin

and death

to show that

His redemption

is real

and one day

will be complete

as He lives it out.

As He comes one day

to return

to make it all right.

friends,

when we see

this Jesus,

when this Jesus

is unveiled

before our eyes,

we are able both

like Peter

to fall at His knees

and say,

woe is me,

I am undone

before you

and yet we are able

then to rise

at His gracious call

and say,

I will follow you

and I will leave

everything

because I have seen

how great you are.

Why would I want

to follow anything else?

Why would I want

to spend my life

glorifying anything else

other than the thing

that you are

because you are

the best

and the greatest thing

I have ever encountered?

Lord,

so friends,

it's not about us

working harder

to work harder

or being more committed

to being more committed

but it's about us

seeing Jesus

as He really is

because when we see

Him like that,

He will do this work

in us.

He will undo us

and convict us

of sin.

He will show us

the areas

where we have not

given Him

the Lordship

of our lives.

He will bring us

faith

when we don't

have faith.

He will do

these things

when we see

Him rightly.

So friends,

the call

to Peter

is a call

to us.

Will you

follow me?

With all that

that means

from this passage,

we talked

about it before,

some of you,

this may be

a call

for the first time

that you need

to respond to.

I've never

followed Him.

I've never

seen Him

like that.

I've never

understood

what He did

for me.

I've never

understood

who He

really is.

Friends,

today He

calls you.

Follow me.

Some of you

have lived

your life

about Him

or knowing

Him

for a long

time.

But maybe

today He's

put a finger

on a part

of your life

that He's

invaded.

with His

Lordship

and His

call to

leave everything

and to

follow Him.

Maybe you

need to

surrender

those areas

to Him

and reaffirm

that you

will follow

Him.

No turning

back.

No turning

back.

We don't

usually do

this in this

church,

but I'm

actually going

to ask the

worship team

to come in.

I want to

give you

just a

brief moment

to reflect

on what

we've heard

this morning,

to think

about this,

to pray,

God,

will you

help me?

To pray,

God,

will you

show me

yourself?

Will you

make my

eyes see

who you

are?

Maybe you

already hear

the Holy

Spirit

whispering to

you

how you

need to

respond to

Him this

morning.

So as the

musicians begin

to play,

I'm just

going to

give you

just a

moment here

to reflect,

to pray,

and then

we'll respond

by singing,

singing a

song of

recognition

that Jesus

is worthy

to follow

Him.

So why

don't we

bow our

heads and

just take a

moment together.

song of

Their

history

as

fought

our

んで

glad

go

and

go

and

go

and

can

produ maximal

止

Thank you.

As we continue, maybe the Lord wants you to sit and just to continue to reflect, but if not, maybe you can stand.

We're going to sing crown him with many crowns, which lifts up who Jesus is and declares that he is worthy of our response of following him and worshiping him.

So stand as you will and let's sing together.