Come Follow Me - Dan Weaver

Good morning and greetings in the precious name of Jesus. It's been a privilege

to be here this morning. And I don't know. I think maybe we

ought to find a better mechanism for revealing what's on the board. But I

understand when he probably most have you figured out that's a map, drawings of

a map. But I know that's a little more exciting to some people than

others. It seems like some people that's a little bit of a negative thing.

Other people it's more of a positive thing. But I'm doing some this

morning that I have I may have done it once before, but I gave

a message at Bible's school and I was encouraged to give that at home sometime

and I thought, well I did, and then I went and looked and

I gave I think it's probably changed some over the years, but I gave

it ninety eight months ago today, so it's been a little while. That's

eight years and two months ago, actually on the twenty fourth of January.

So I figured some of it doesn't It doesn't hurt if we repeat some of

this now. I know, in my development of this and some of my

studies, I know there's some things that I'm going to share this morning that

I've shared also in the last eight years. But this is my way of

bringing it together in this message. The title of it has come follow Me

Matthew four nineteen. Jesus said, follow me, and I will make you

fishers the men. We'll go back and look at some of that more.

I think it's him. Might as well note that two weeks ago, brother

Joel gave a message what is that to the follow without me? And I

was kind of planning and going here in a couple of weeks, and I

as I considered his message, I think they compliment each other. Probably would

have been. We probably got him in the reverse order a little bit,

but that's fine. Follow me and I will make you fishers the men.

So I would like to go back a little bit and look at the at

the culture and the setting and the place in which this took place. Another

another title could be made making Disciples and the way of making disciples. Another

could be the Way of the Rabbi. In fact, there's a study by

Ray Vanderlind The Way of the Rabbi, which I've used as a as a

reference for some of these things. I've also pulled quite a bit from the

Bible Comes Alive. It has quite a few publications as well that I've used.

What does it mean to be Disciples? The first thing we need to

remember is that in the Near East or Israel, in that culture, people

think a little different than we do, especially before it was westernized. And

we see that in the scriptures, the way things are prevented presented, and

in Jesus teaching. They described their world their cells in concrete terms. Their

language is one of pictures and metaphors and examples, rather than we in the

Western world talk about ideas and definitions and are a little more abstract. And

so there's a there's a different ideology in the setting that we're looking at.

There's a different location. And now I you probably I didn't label it,

but this is the Sea of Galilee. And if you're not very familiar with

this area, I would encourage you just to open to the to the to

the This is a bit of a blow up of the area of the Sea

of Galilee. But you can turn to the maps in your Bible and sort

of follow along that this is. There's of course a lot more to Israel.

We don't have the met even to the Mediterranean Sea here. But this

Israel was the crossroads of civilization to the knowing work, knowing world in the

from the time of the flood to the time of Christ. From any major

civilization they had to go through Israel. There was the way of the Sea,

and there was the King's Highway that went up through. They met up

north of here, and that from if you went from Egypt, if you

went from from Asia, if you went from Babylon. And as the different

armies came down and conquered other lands, Israel was always in the crosshairs.

They were always in the in the in the crossroads. Sometimes they were able

in these cities to take to take taxes. In fact, it brought a

lot of wealth to Israel over time because they would they had these cities.

In fact, just so here's the Jezreel valley about over here as the city

of Megido, which is Armageddon, which was destroyed over twenty five times because

of its strategic location along the along the highway, and that's why it was

it was Revelations used that as an as an example there and by this,

by it being a crossroads of the world up until the time of Christ,

in a lot of ways God brought the people to the Bible land more than

what he took the message to the world. People kept from all nations came.

But then remember also there were captives that went back. They went.

In fact, I believe it's it's twenty two locations in Acts where it talks

about these Jews that were at Pentecost, And if you look at all those

places listed, they come from basically all the known world at that time,

and they're coming back from from places they were most likely taken as captive and

ended up living there. And we'll get to why, I believe after a

bit why some of the people were still living there. So that's the location

in a nutshell. Obviously there's a lot more to that. In fact,

when I have taught this class and Bible School, I've took about two weeks

to get to righte here, so I gave you about two weeks and two

minutes. The third thing is the time. This was the time here was

the Pax Romana, the Great Roman Peace, it was called, And we

know about the Roman Empire had taken over. And while there was tribute one

thing different about the Grecian Empire and the Roman Empires. They were setting up

city states, and at the time of the Roman Empire, this was the

first time in the history of man that you could you could wake up today

without worrying about being a slave tomorrow. There might have been a tax,

you might have had to carry a load for a mile, but there was

a way. And the Romans didn't want you in Rome worse than they wanted

you where you were, and so there was not a concern about slavery.

Of course, this came at a high price of conscription and taxes and tribute.

And we see Jesus speaking to that. And then the many Jews that

were living in these other areas there were they were waiting for the Jews to

have total control of Jerusalem and the sacrifices to return. That's what they were

waiting for. They were waiting for for the for the sacrifice to be set

up again in Jerusalem. And Herod, we know was there, and the

more and we know there was there was the Sanhedron, the scribes and the

Pharisees, and John just simply refers to him as the Jews, the the

controlling group in Jerusalem were there. Herod was the leader. He was ethnically

an Arab, but a practicing Jew And when that came there were there were

was a group of Messionics over that time that came back and they settled in

this area around Galilee. And specifically the I was planned to bring a laser

pointer I forgot this morning. Specifically, nadav Kina, the Pernium, Corazon,

and Vesaya were specifically Jewish cities. Now, the Pernium was a bit

of a mix because it was a port city. Why did they settle there?

If you go to Isaiah nine, verses one and two, it says,

nevertheless, the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation,

when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebuelen and the land of

Naftali, And afterwards did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea

beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the Nations, and so and then it goes

on, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They

that dwelt in the land of the out of death upon them hath the light

shine. And so they these messy on exalets were not satisfied with the with

the compromise in Jerusalem under Herod and also because of this, because of this

prophecy. Now where was Zebulin and Aftalie these we're going to do. So

Nathalie was to the north Zebulin. This border is disputed, so we'd say

it comes about like that Nathalie would be down here. And then of as

a car was down in this area Assure off to the to this by the

sea, and tribes of Manassa were around and also talked about in the area

of Galilee here, and so that was the reason that they they were in

this area. Probably one thing I should mention, so in the in the

green here is the the Romans had divided this up into provinces, and so

very roughly we have some area Galilee, the Capitalists, and then the tetrarchy

of Philip which cesarea Philippi north beside the clock was the was the main city

of that as opposed to the cesarea by the sea. There were there were

modern cities Roman cities nearby. Sorry the name slip me. There was one

by Nazareth that Sean was here. The capitalists actually means ten cities and Tiberias

those were those were some primarily Roman cities, and Jesus taught in these at

least briefly, and we'll get more to this later. But in lu Kate

one it says, and it came to pass afterward that he went through every

city and village, preaching the and showing the glad tidings of the Kingdom of

God. And the twelve were with him. And Sephoris was the one that

was. It was near Nazareth, and it had a theater of that held

three thousand people, which was then verse three it says in Joanna the wife

of Choosa, Herod Stewart, and Susannah, and many others which ministered unto

him of their substance. So we see, we see Jesus did minister to

the to the Romans, but not first. But then, as I mentioned,

there were these these these towns, villages of the of the Massionic Zalos.

There's Nazra, Cana uh porson that Sayda and Capernaum had a large Jewish

presence in but also had Romans in it. That we'll see we'll come across

a couple of times. But these villages were in stark contrast to these very

modern Roman cities with theaters and large streets and colisseums, gymnasiums and colonnades,

shops and so forth. Their main public structure was a synagogue, and then

they would they would have been they had family units. They're often connected because

so they would have have a main house, which was basically a house was

a place to sleep, not a place to live. We tend to live

in our houses. They slept in their houses, and when someone got married,

they would they would add a room onto the house, and add a

room onto the house, so they'd create family units or apartments. Beseta was

a village of probably about two hundred, probably five or six family units.

Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Philip all came from this village.

Levi came from nearby Capernaum and would likely have known the disciples. Andrew

was also a disciple of John. So with just that in mind, if

we go to the Feeding of the five thousand, it says and he took

them and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city of Bethseta.

And so it was a place outside of a say it it talks about

a desert or a or a grassy place, two different places. But it

was outside the village we know, but it says that Andrew he knew a

lad that had lunch, a lunch. And you think about this, the

lad probably come brought his lunch, came from the village of Bessea, and

probably Andrew knew him. This wasn't just some lad. This will happened to

see a boy with a lunch. It was probably Andrew knew him. Maybe

he was fishing with his father from Basada, which means fishing village. Is

the name what the name means. Capernaium was a was a port center city.

It was the headquarters of Jesus ministry. It was had probably the largest

synagogue of any of these. In fact, it's recorded the Jews told Jesus

they appealed to Jesus to heal the centurion son. He said, he loveth

our nation. He built us a synagogue. We also see Levi there probably

at the port customs in Capernaum, when he was called. I'd like to

talk a little bit more about the synagogue. The word of God, the

word of God was very important to the observant Jew. And we see Jesus

was teaching a Nazareth and and in the synagogue they had it was fairly star

wherever wherever there was in our standards, wherever there were ten Jewish men,

they built a synagogue. In the tradition of the synagogues, its thought to

have started when they when in Ezra and Nehemiah, remember when they returned from

Israel, I mean from captivity. In the return, there were some at

the reading of the law, and it's believed that possibly that was what brought

the beginning of the of the synagogues and the customary reading on the Sabbath day,

and so any any village where there were ten Jewish men they would build

a synagogue. That was the requirement. The synagogues were the men and women

would sit separate, and they would have a place to read, to lay

out the scroll in the front, probably at table. They had what they

called the arc, was a closet in the front of the of the synagogue.

The most important place of the synagogue is where the scrolls were kept.

And a complete set of scrolls was a three year project. So you think

about how lightly we take the word of God and how that's changed. And

if there was an error as the scribes were writing, if there was an

error in a scroll, they would there was no way of correcting it.

And so it was very carefully, meticulously done. And those scrolls were then

kept in jars in that in the synagogue, I mean in the arc,

and then they were brought out by the chief ruler of the synagogue on to

read. And we think of of when it was just one more thing Jesus

talked about and about Moses to how they teach from Moses to but don't and

staid do what they say, but don't do what they do. They just

talking about the Pharisees and so, and they found what they believed to be

Moses to in some of these synagogues, and it's and it's believed. Well,

let's just say there's different. Some would feel that that they actually that's

where they read the word. It's from from Moses to. But I think

if you go to Nazareth where Jesus was, might be just as easy to

turn there. Nazar's four and they delivered onto him the book from the prophet

Isaiahs. So they brought it from the from the arc and put it on

the table. And when he had opened a book and found a place where

it is written, so Jesus a little counter culture here. The chief ruler

of the synagogue would give the passage for the day. But Jesus turns to

what he wanted to read, and he read that prophecy, and he is,

I'll read it. The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because

he hath anointed to me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has

sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,

and the recovering of the sight to the blind, and set up liberty them

that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he

closed his book and gave it unto the minister and sat down. And it

says and eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

So when he sat down, he was sitting down in Moses seat.

He didn't go sit somewhere in the congregation. It says all the eyes of

them were fastened on him. And Jesus talked about later. It's the Pharisees

that they said, there's the rulers that actually sit there. He was he

was taken a right probably that was not for him. The synagogue was not

just a place of worship, It was a community center. It was also

a school, maybe a little like we have here. So the elementary The

elementary education was called Bettsaphir. It mainly focused on the on the learning the

books of Moses. The curriculum was the Torah or the first five books.

At twelve or thirteen, they graduated and that was the bar Mitzvah, the

right of adulthood. And those that were wanted to go on then to advanced

education, and it seemed like there was some push for that in this especially

among the Messionic Xzealots. They would go on to bet Midrush. It was

a voluntary further education beyond the elementary education, and by the end of this

portion they learned large portions of the Torah, the poetic books, and the

Prophecy. And I believe that the disciples went on at least through this through

this bat Midrush as a whole, at least the ones that wrote, because

we see them many times quoting not just from the Books of Moses, but

from the Psalms and from the proverbs of prophets excuse me, from the other

books. So that's an indication that they went on further. At the end

of a formal education, very few were able excuse me. The very few

who were able, zealous, and passionate students would ask the Rabbi, can

I follow you? Can I become a teacher? Can I follow you?

And the Rabbi would sometimes take days, weeks, sometimes even years to think

about it whether they could follow him and become a teacher, And if the

Rabbi allowed it, they would spend approximately three years with the rabbi to learn

to be like the rabbi in every aspect. If the Rabbi did not accept

them, they would go back to the trade of their father. Now with

that context, we took a while to get to my text. This morning

I realized, let's go to Matthew four. Look at verse eighteen. Now,

interestingly enough, if you go back here, it talks about that prophecy

we just read in Jesus beginning his ministry in the early in the passage previous

to this, Jesus and repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand verse

eighteen. And Jesus walcome by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren,

Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea,

for they were fishers. And he said, unto them, follow me and

I will make you fishers, amen, And they straightway left their nets and

followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren,

James, the son of Ebedee and John his brother, in the ship with

Zebede his their father, mending their nets, and he called them and they

immediately left the ship and their father and followed him. So as I grew

up reading this passage and trying to visualize this and understand how it would be

if Jesus came along and I was out mowing the hay, and Jesus come

along and say follow me, and I would just if I shut the tractor

off, shut it off and go leave it right there. How my dad

would respond to that, and we see the support later they were. The

mother was even wanting them to be the greatest or to get positioned. So

we see the family support here. Well. As I mentioned, these were

men, they knew the scriptures, gone through the secondary education. They probably

went and asked their rabbi, can I follow you? And the answer came

back no. And these were men that were looking for a rabbi, but

they didn't make the cut. But Jesus knew. Jesus knew them, and

he came and he knew their potential. And he came and said, follow

me, follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men. And they

immediately they rose up and followed him. We need to look at at least

one more. I was going to go through all of the disciples, but

I don't think we're going to get there. Back to Luke five, Levi,

we all ready talked about him, sitting at the at the customs,

at the port, there was a there was trade. It was a connection

to the to the trade routes at Capernaum. So the trade around the Sea

of Galilee came through there. And here's Levi and he is a He is

a man with a Jewish name, working for the Romans, despised of the

Jews and his his publican position here. In fact, the Jews would have

taught that if somebody a publican, not only is bad, but there's no

way of repentance. It was an importable, unpardonable sin to be a publican.

And I often wonder, I don't know where Levi went wrong. But

he's sitting here with a Jewish name, at the at the port, collecting

taxes, and we see his friends are other republicans and sinners. He's an

outcast. And I would almost imagine that he sat there day in and day

out, and the glamour of whatever led him away from his Jewish upbringing was

over. And he may have heard Jesus teaching. He probably did hear Jesus

teaching, and there was probably a longing in his heart as he's there.

But from the teaching he had, there is no hope for him. There's

no hope, no hope of repentance. But then Jesus comes verse twenty seven.

And after these things, he went forth and saw a publican named Levi

sitting at the receipt of custom, and he said, unto him, follow

me. And he left all and rose up and followed him. There's a

lot more packed in than those two short little verses, isn't there. Jesus

said, follow me, and we did write the next verse. Levi went

and made a great feast in his own house, and there was a great

company of publicans and others that sat down, and the scribes and the pharisees

murmured against these disciples. That's just a beautiful picture of Levi realizing that if

it's good for me, it's good for them and sending that message the disciple,

the route, the name of the recip disciples that tell meade, tell

med, and it literally meant a daily burnt offering, a constant, daily

practice. And that's what a tell mead was. It was three years of

learning to be a daily offering, to learn to be a disciple. Tell

me, and I'm going to read a few past a little section here from

the dust of the rabbi. Tell me it is a Hebrew word for disciple.

To tell me, willingly left home, family, and occupation to be

with a rabbi because he wanted, more than anything else in the world to

be like the rabbi or the teacher in his walk with God. As the

rabbi lived and taught his understanding of the scripture, his tell me, listened

to him, watched him, followed him, memorized his words, imitated his

walk with God. Eventually, to tell me, became a teacher who had

his own disciples who wanted to learn how to walk with God. And there's

three primary aspects of being a disciple. One is belief or faith obedience,

and the word faith in any Testament has obedience with it. We've lowered the

meaning, in my opinion in our modern English, that obedience is not is

almost a separate thing in faith, and we can, but they must be

together. A tell mead of Jesus or a Christian disciple not only believes Jesus

as the Messiah, but also passionately is devoted to doing what the rabbi teaches,

but Jesus commands. The second is community. Jesus said, if a

man will not leave father and mother, he is not worthy of me.

They lived together, they did things together, they went to feast together,

and most important was the importance of the scripture. The scripture was number one,

and that scripture they memorized in order to qualify to be a tell mede

was important. And it was important not to just understand the scripture, but

the interpretation of the scripture. And that's the more a rabbi could, the

better a rabbi could could interpret the scripture, the better he was thought of,

the better, the better reputation he had. And remember Jesus, it

was they marvel because he taught as one having authority and not as one of

the scribes. He taught as a as a with a better interpretation. They

taught the scripture as it was said of the Rabbi, that they learned the

scripture, lived the scripture, teach the scripture, pray the scripture, and

die the scripture. Tell me, was more than being taught by the Rabbi.

Tell me to someone who wants to be what the Rabbi is. The

very heart and the soul was to become like Jesus, or become like the

Rabbi. But you know all these, all these messionic zalots moved to these

cities looking for the Messiah. But Jesus said, and Luke ten verse thirteen,

want to you, corazine, want you unto the Besseta. For if

the mighty works had been done, and Tyron Sidon which have been done in

you, they had a great while ago repented sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

And but it shall be more tolerable for tyron Sidon at that judgment than for

you. And Thou Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shall it be

thrust down to hell. He that heareth you here with me, and he

despiseth you. He that despiseth you, despiseth me. And he that despiseth

me despiseth him that sent me. You know, we can be living in

the right spot. We can go to the right schools, learn the right

scripture, and still not be a disciple. But Jesus called these men and

he went on to make a paradigm shift in their lives. And I believe

that's the way it is, as Jesus calls us to be as disciples,

that there should be a a paradigm shift. He took them way out of

their comfort zone. And I like to just look at a few examples where

Jesus took them out of their comfort zone. Luke five, and this is

actually another version of Peter being called. They were on the lake of Ganessaurette.

This lake was called the Lake of Tiberius, the Lake of Shinnaret,

the Lake of Ganessaret, and the Sea of Galilee. This different referred to

as different. There may be other names, but I'm forgetting right now.

But they were. He entered into the ship in verse three of Luke five,

which was Simon's, and prayed him that he should thrust him out a

little from the land. And he sat down taught the people of the ship.

And when we had left speaking, he said on him, Simon,

launch out into the deep and let down your net for a draft. And

Simon answered and said, on him, Master, we toiled all night and

they've taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the

net. And so here's Peter, and he's willing to be of service to

the Lord, to his boat. You can be of service, you know.

We can like to use our things for the Lord sometimes too, and

make excuses for some of our things. But he went out, and then

Jesus said he came to them. They were they were washing their nets,

it said, and their nets were made out of fabric, knotted together fabric,

and any good fishermen would get they had fish in the night, so

the fish couldn't see the nets. They'd come in. They would wash their

nets and let them dry so they would rot. And but Peter's there washing

his nets. Sure, he'll let the Lord use his boat. And then

he was probably expecting to go back to washing his neck that Jesus said,

yeah, just go out and put your nets down. And Peter's heart is

like the Lord, you might not have to teach me. You don't know

fishing. You don't fish in the daytime. And look at you think about

Peter all these other people were gonna see him. This is something it is

not going to be easy to do. But he launches out and he puts

down his neck as Christ commanded, and he had to beckon others to come.

After a while, he wasn't so ashamed about it anymore. He was

willing to get some help from some others. And this is one of the

times that Simon fell down at jesus knees, saying, depart from me,

for I am a sinful man. Let's go on to Mark five. This

is a story. I'm not going to go through this story. It's a

message in itself. When the devils were cast into swine, well, let's

just go back to verse thirty five of Mark four. So Jesus said,

let's pass over to the other side. And most likely when they were going

to the other side, they're stationed here. He taught found the coast the

other side was best say it. It's like, let's go to your community

for the night. They're going back and forth between communities, and typically they

would not go across the Sea of Galilee, especially in the evening, because

these storms would come up. That that was not their intention to go anywhere,

probably, but but say it our close spot. When Jesus said,

let's go to the other side. But this storm came up, and Jesus

was asleep, and they cried unto him and said, Master cares, though

not that we perish. He said, peace be still, and there was

a great calm. He chastised them for their lack of faith, and they

were amazing to see. O bade him. And where did they end up?

They came to the other side, down in this area. I don't

know if it's that straight or not, but they were. They went to

this gentile area that the disciples typically never would have gone, and especially depending

where they were in relation to the feast. And one thing when I was

at the Sea of Galilee, but I noticed we stayed near Tagma. You

could hear the traffic on the other side. It's this lake is seven by

thirteen miles. It's a small lake. And and you know, no doubt

they'd heard this screaming and yelling of the demoniacs on the other side before they

were out in the lake. They're familiar with that. And I just think

this is the way God does it. Sometimes he brings a storm. He

brings a storm to get us exactly where he wants us when we choose to

follow him, and he'll take that storm and he'll take it to where he

wants us. And it's going to be somewhere that it might be uncomfortable,

and for the disciples here in fact, if you read this past this story

in Matthew, if you read it in Mark, and if you read it

in Luke, and all three of them, he Jesus got out of the

boat, healed a demoniac, and he came back into the boat. Those

disciples wouldn't even get out of the boat. But he took him the storm

took him to where they needed to be. That's part of following him.

And then Jesus took the disciples. And we know that Jesus told the disciples

when he sent out the twelve, he said, you don't do not go

to Samaria, do not go into the gentile cities. That's not the term

he used. But later we see him taking the disciples. They went to

all about the capitalists, They went to a tire in Sidon, They went

to Cesarea, Philippi and other places. And we read and I believe it's

Luke eate one already this morning it says, and that came to pass afterwards

that he went throughout every city and village preaching and teaching the glad Tidans of

the kingdom, and the twelve were with him. They came to the place,

they went with him. And not only that, you know Jesus.

Jesus says, come follow me, and sometimes he says, go and teach.

And remember back in Mark, when the demoniac was healed, it says

he wanted to go with Jesus. He said, no, go home to

your friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee,

and hath had compassion on thee. And he departed and began to publish into

capitalists how great things the Lord had done for him. And I believe in

other place that says, all throughout the capitalists he went. He went and

told his world about Jesus. And it says in Luke that when Jesus came

back. When Jesus came back, he was a successful missionary. I hope

I felt like I was going about sixty eight miles an hour this morning.

And I hope that you realize I'm not just talking about Jesus making twelve disciples,

but Jesus also says to each one of us, come follow me,

and it say desire to make disciples of each one of us, to shift

our paradigm, that we might have the heart and soul of Jesus and present

it to those around us. And he went from just as he did with

the disciples. He went from come to go. Go you there for and

teach all nations, teaching them to observe all things. What's over, I've

I've commanded you, Lord, bless in your church in San Escohimo's number forty

four, number forty four, Nor like the well saved