When Jesus Calls Mark 1:14-31

You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone

podcast ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone Church

in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan Merrick,

and it's our prayer that this message strengthens

your faith and draws you closer to Christ. Let's

dive in. All right. If you would turn with me

to Mark chapter one, we're going to be unpacking

verses 14 through 31. You don't have a Bible.

There's one in the back that is free for you

to take. as our gift to you, or you can follow

along right up here. So we're gonna be unpacking,

the title of my sermon today is When Jesus Calls.

We're gonna look at the ways in which Jesus calls,

and so the big idea is Jesus' call invites us

into a transformative journey of faith that requires

our response, commitment, and reverence. untimely

reshaping of our lives and community. I have

to, it's kind of ironic that my opening was in

regards to imagining being freed, having someone

fight on your behalf. And the irony of this is

that I have that the Greeks So let me let me

back up. Let me have me to read to you what I

have. Imagine waking up every morning knowing

that your future was not your own. Your crops

were not yours. Your sons could be called at

any time to fight on behalf of a nation that

is not yours. Your daughters could be taken and

used as property of the king and your wealth

was taxed into poverty. Your land belonged to

a foreign empire. And this was the life for many

Greek cities under the shadow of Persia. The

irony of me starting that way is before I actually,

I started putting the sermon together on Monday,

I finished it on Wednesday, and what happened

Wednesday night into early Thursday morning.

Yeah, we started our attack with Israel on Iran.

Who is ancient Iran? The Persians. And so I've

seen so many videos and pictures of Iranians,

whether here in the States or in Iran or anywhere

else celebrating. having a dictator, an evil

one at that, taken down. And you can be upset

about being at war and all those things, you

know, fine. The point I'm trying to make is,

though, when you see cities like Chicago, Washington,

DC, San Francisco, California, you know, the

strongholds of conservatism, When you see those

cities filled with Iranians celebrating Donald

Trump, something serious has happened. I read

a story of a young woman whose grandfather was

taken by the Ayatollah. He and five other men

were abducted. They were tied up for being against

the regime. Their courtroom session lasted 30

minutes and then they were executed. That woman

is celebrating the execution of an evil man.

50 ,000 people just right in the last couple

of years have all been murdered under this regime.

So whenever they see the United States and Israel

flying over and dropping bombs and they feel

their freedom, it kind of sits a little bit different.

Does that make sense? And I found it just so

ironic that I was going to be preaching this

sermon and talking about this. And I'm like,

man, what a what a beautiful. Analogy, an illustration

of what I'm trying to drive home of the celebration

of being of an enslavement being broken. And

so. The life of Greeks under the shadow of Persia.

The greatest superpower the world had ever known

up until that point, to resist Persia was to

invite annihilation, and they were vast, they

were ruthless, and they were unstoppable, or

so it seemed. And then against all odds, the

Greeks fought back. You've heard of a marathon.

Do you know why it's called a marathon? Because

the very marathon that we run was run first by

the Greeks. for the Battle of Marathon. And so

here's what's interesting. Small city states

and places like Marathon and Solanus, you had

farmers, fishermen, craftsmen, all stood toe

to toe with the might of Persia and miraculously

they won. But in a world without social media,

in a world without phones, in a world without

news, how does this story spread? How does the

victory of overcoming an enslavement, how does

it spread? What's that? Messengers, it's exactly

right. They would run from the battlefields up

to 25 miles. They also, back then they were called

evangelists. That's pretty cool, right? But they

always had a single announcement and this is

the announcement We have fought for you. We have

won and you are no longer slaves. You are free

Again a beautiful illustration of what has Come

to pass this past week And so could you imagine

hearing those words for the first time the shock

the disbelief the joy the tears? Generations

born into fear, suddenly discovering that they

were free. Chains were being shattered not only

by their strength, but by the victory won somewhere

else on their behalf. That message in the name

and had a name in Greek. You and Gellion. Which

means good news, which is where we get our term

gospel. And that is exactly the word that Mark

uses when he introduces the public words of Jesus.

After the wilderness and after temptation, after

spiritual warfare and after unseen victory, we

see Jesus speak for the first time in Mark's

gospel. So let's go there now, starting in verse

14. I will read through verse 31 and then pick

back up. So here we go. Now, after John was arrested,

John the Baptist, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming

the gospel of God and saying the time is fulfilled.

and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and

believe in the what? The gospel. Passing alongside

the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew,

the brother of Simon, casting a net into the

sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said

to them, follow me and I will make you fishers

of men. And immediately they left their nets

and followed him. And going on a little farther,

He saw James, the son of Zebedee and and John,

his brother, who were in their boat, mending

their nets. And immediately he called them and

they left their father Zebedee in the boat with

the hired servants and followed him. And they

went into Capernaum and immediately on the Sabbath,

he entered a synagogue and was teaching and they

were astonished at his teaching, for he taught

them as one who had what does it say? authority

and not as the scribes, the teachers. And immediately

there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean

spirit and he cried out, what have you to do

with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to

destroy us? I know who you are, the holy one

of God. But Jesus rebuked him saying, be silent

and come out of him. And the unclean spirit convulsing

him and crying out with a loud voice came out

of him. and they were all amazed. So that they

questioned among themselves saying, what is this?

A new teaching with authority? He commands even

the unclean spirits and they obey him. And at

once his fame spread everywhere throughout all

the surrounding regions of Galilee. And immediately

he left the synagogue and entered the house of

Simon and Andrew with James and John, now Simon's

mother -in -law lay ill with a fever and immediately

they told him about her. And he came and took

her hand and lifted her up. And the fever left

her and she began to serve them. So thus says

the word of the Lord. What are some things that

you pick up right here? Just reading this text,

what are some things that kind of stand out to

you? Maybe something that hasn't stood out to

you before or always stands out to you. What

did we say, while you guys are looking at that,

what did we say was the reason why Mark is always

saying the word immediately? You guys remember?

That the kingdom of God is always moving forward,

it cannot be stopped. It takes no prisoners,

it just continues to keep going. And so you see

that in this text with immediately, immediately,

immediately, it's like thing after thing after

thing after thing, he's hitting us. So does anything

stand out to you guys? That's good, Wesley, good

job. You didn't hear him? He said, what did I

say? Did I say Wesley? My bad, Weston. I know

your name. I've said it a thousand times. But

he said they don't even ask who he is. They just

follow when he calls them. That's good. Anybody

else? And last week, We talked about how he went

from baptism into temptation. The enemy, every

time God does something, the enemy immediately

counterattacks, right? And we see that continuing

to flow through. That's good, Scott. Anybody

else? So before Jesus heals a disease, before

he cast out a demon, before he calms a storm,

the first time we hear his voice in Mark's gospel,

it is not gentle. It is actually triumphant.

It is the voice of a herald, of an evangelist.

So this morning we're going to start unpacking

what it is to be called of Jesus and the call

of Jesus and the steps we see the call takes

on us too. So the first point that I have this

morning is the call. to respond. So the gospel

is an announcement. It's not advice. This is

crucial for you to understand this, that the

gospel isn't just this is to make you feel good

or to have a healthy, stronger life or how to

make money. That's not the gospel. Any idea on

why that's not the gospel? Why is it not the

gospel? Okay, to make us feel good, it's temporary.

Yeah, that's good. Anybody else? How about it

just doesn't bring hope? Advice doesn't bring

hope. It may bring temporary relief. It may challenge

you, but it's not hope. And so it is news of

something that has happened in history, something

that has been done for you that changes your

status forever. And so right here, we see the

difference between Christianity and every other

religion, including having no religion at all.

And so you can write this down, bless you. The

essence of other religions is advice. This is

what it says. This is what you must do to connect

with God or a God or whatever. This is how you

must live to earn your way to Him. That's not

the gospel. By the way, something that would

would claim to be Christianity and the gospel

would would say this. What am I talking about?

Mormonism. This is why Mormons are not Christians.

But Christianity is news. This is what we declare

as believers. This is what has been done in history.

This is how Jesus lived and died to earn your

way to God for you. It has been done for you

and that's what changes everything. And so think

about it. When you hear an inspiring story or

you receive advice about how to live better,

maybe have higher morals, stronger discipline,

deeper integrity, Does it inspire you? Does it?

Oh, yeah, I can. It can inspire you, right? Like

what I mean by that is is is. Yeah, it's temporary,

right? So so Jaco Willink is a former Navy SEAL,

and he has a whole podcast and books on disciplining

your body, right? And I listen to Jaco Willink

and I'm like inspired to want to like get in

shape to be a man. to like get up early at four

o 'clock in the morning and start my day with

working out and sweating hard and doing the hard

things. And then 4 a .m. comes around and I'm

like, oh, not today. But I will listen to the

podcast later and be inspired once again to start

again, you know. So does it inspire? Do do do

things like this type of advice and these stories?

Yeah, of course, it inspires. That's good. But

does it feel like chains falling off? Does it

feel like slavery ending? Does it feel like victory

announced on your behalf? No to all of that.

More often, it actually weighs us down. Why?

Because it shows us how we aren't measuring up

and it tells us to try harder, to do better and

work more. And that may be motivating before

a moment, but it is not the gospel. It is not

good news. When we take the gospel message and

we begin to put it on people to be better, That's

not the gospel. That's the law Now does the law

have a purpose yes to show us that I'm missing

the mark To show me how much I need a savior,

but if I I know that I can't add up So the gospel

is it's been done for me So we have to be careful

as brothers and sisters in Christ when we are

telling people you got to do better You got to

have more faith You gotta pray more. Should we

do this? Sure. Is that the gospel? No. So, is

encouragement bad? Of course not. Is challenge

bad? Certainly not, but it doesn't lift burdens.

It doesn't free captives and it doesn't raise

the dead. It does none of those things. That's

what the gospel does. It makes dead men and women

alive. And that's the declaration of war that

Jesus is putting out before us. He is telling

everyone in this moment, the words that he speaks

now that he has been baptized and now that he

has been tempted in the wilderness, he's now

coming out and he's declaring war and he's saying,

repent. What does the word repent mean? Turn

around. Change direction. Change your allegiance.

Change who sits on the throne of your life. Jesus

is declaring a war on sin, on Satan, and on a

self -centered worldview. He is saying, you are

not the sinner of your world. I am. And that

is not oppression. That is freedom. Because only

Jesus can bear the weight of the world. Only

Jesus can heal broken relationships. Only Jesus

can restore shattered hearts. Our self -centeredness

destroys, but his kingship heals. So I want you

to think about it this way. Why do we have wars?

Why do we see class struggles and racial hatred

and family brokenness and division and despair?

Why do we have those things? At the core of all

of this, at the root of all of those, We can

find in itself centeredness, everyone demanding

to be king. You can write this down, it'll be

right up here. And the true king has come saying,

repent, turn around, lay down your crown and

come find wholeness under my rule. Every story

we love tells the same truth. So this week, I

got the chance to go speak at Omaha Christian

Academy. And because I've noticed that when I'm

like going and reading to kids and things, these

books that I'm writing, the common question always

gets asked, how do you come up with these stories?

And so I went to speak and teach them how I write

stories and things like that. But the biggest

overall thing that I shared with them was all

of us, all stories steal from the greatest story.

And so it starts with a character. then we have

brokenness, then we have to have someone make

it right, and then we have the conclusion, right?

So that sounds like we have Adam and Eve, we

have brokenness, we have the rest of the Bible

screaming out for a savior, Jesus comes, he saves

the day as the hero, and then it continues on

that we're waiting for the future redemption

of the world. All other stories steal from this.

It looks like this. A true king will come. He

will slay the dragon. He will wake us up from

the sleep of death. He will rescue us from the

tower. And he will lead us back into the dance.

You can see that. Cinderella. You want some The

Matrix? I'm sure all of you guys are big Matrix

fans. I say that tongue in cheek, because all

of my Lord of the Rings stuff and Chronicles

and I, it goes right over everybody. But here's

the good news. Jesus is that King. And speaking

of Lord of the Rings, I have to have a quote

from it. So Tolkien captured this beautifully

in the return of the King, which is the last

book of the Lord of the Rings. And it says this.

The hands of the king are healing hands, and

thus shall be the rightful king be known. Everyone

flourishes under good leadership. Children flourish

under loving parents. Players play better under

servant -hearted coaches. People under leaders

who seek their good, and Jesus is the perfect

king. He's healing, restoring, and renewing.

But to experience his kingship, you first must

answer the call to repent. And that means stepping

off the throne of your life. It means surrendering

control. And it means placing Jesus back where

he belongs, at the center. And only then do we

discover that his rule is not heavy, but it is

healing. Now we get to point number two, the

call to follow. So next in our text, so we see

Jesus comes out. He declares the gospel is good

news. Repent, turn around, follow me. And then

we see him go directly to start calling disciples.

And so Jesus doesn't proclaim the kingdom. He

immediately begins, or doesn't just proclaim

the kingdom. He immediately begins calling followers.

And so in our text, he calls Andrew, Peter, James,

and John. And he calls them out not only from

their work, but he calls them away from their

families. Did you notice that that's what it

said? Let's go back to the text just so you see

it. Verse 20, and immediately he called them

and they left their father Zebedee in the boat

with the hired servants and followed him. You

may not think that that's a big deal because

we live in a very individualistic society. but

it actually is pretty crucial. It's actually

really shocking. Because in their world, this

was radical. It was actually even offensive.

And let me give you two reasons why. First, notice

that Jesus is the one who calls. Where back then,

rabbis didn't call disciples. Disciples sought

out rabbis. Students chose their teachers. They

pursued the ones they admired. but Jesus reverses

the entire system he initiates, he calls, he

chooses. And so instead of the pupil seeking

out the one that they want to be discipled by,

Jesus flips the scripts and he immediately starts

calling his followers. And so what does that

tell us about Jesus right off the bat? If we

look at that this way, what does that tell us?

What does it tell us about us? Was Peter, James,

John, Andrew, were they looking for Jesus? No,

they weren't looking for Jesus. You aren't either.

You are naturally always searching for what makes

your heart feel good and happy and joyous. You

live a self -centered life. It's Jesus who finds

you first. There's the message finds you first

So we're not seeking him He calls us and we are

sitting on the thrones of our lives ruling tiny

chaotic little kingdoms that are falling apart

but then he calls and suddenly something happens

our ears perk up our spirits awaken and our hearts

stir and Now we have a choice respond to the

call or remain bad kings of a very small kingdom.

So notice For any of my Calvinist friends in

the congregation, yes, Jesus does the calling,

but you see that Peter, James, and John have

a choice to follow. So it's not one or the other.

It's a beautiful dovetail together. So here's

the second thing. I told you there were two reasons

why this is important. He calls them away from

their families. And in this culture, your identity

came from your family. Your name your honor your

future your meaning all of it flowed from your

household and Jesus says I want priority over

that now Here's something that's that's really

interesting that I'm learning about O 'Neill

and a lot of this the smaller rural towns of

Nebraska This is actually pretty You guys are

pretty kind of close to this. I noticed that

there's so many family connections I mean for

crying out loud the majority of our congregation

are Krieger's are somehow related to the Kriegers.

And you can't go out to eat with Lowell and Vicki

without them knowing somebody. But so much of

the culture here is tied to family, land, right?

The job you do, all of these things are very

family oriented and intertwined. And so you guys

kind of understand that a little bit better than

someone like me, who I don't even live 2 ,500,

miles from my family. Like I live much farther.

So. It's not the same thing, but you understand

it a little bit better than me. And so for us

in this individualistic culture, the call sounds

different. Maybe it's not leave your family.

Maybe it's I want priority over your career.

I want priority over your success, or I want

priority over your reputation. Honestly, he just

wants priority over your dreams. Write this down.

Knowing me and loving me must be the supreme

thing in your life, the deepest allegiance, the

central passion and the very air that you breathe.

That's what Jesus is saying here. So when he

calls them and they respond, this is ultimately

what he is saying. And when you hear that, I'm

gonna like read it up here and then I want you

to think about it. Knowing me and loving me must

be the supreme thing in your life the deepest

allegiance the central passion the very air that

you breathe Does that thought hit a little different

than just I'm gonna make a decision to follow

Jesus and I'm gonna go to church on a Sunday

and Live my life Just hearing that sound a little

bit different than what we typically think of

as Christianity and following Jesus Absolutely,

it does because in our world What we do defines

who we are. And so now I can already hear some

pushback in some minds. Pastor Logan, I hear

you. I hear you that you want us to, to follow

Jesus. Jesus wants us to follow him and, and

all this stuff and, you know, family and yada,

yada, yada and careers and being defined like

that. Yeah, I hear that, but we're not meant

to be fanatics, right? And we're not meant to

paint our faces and, and show up and be crazy,

right? Or we have this this saying that's pretty

you guys can probably finish it moderation in

all Things Because like that's that's healthy

boundaries, but I'm gonna ask you something We

read this morning our verse of the week Jesus

said you cannot be my disciples unless you hate

your father and your mother Does that sound like

moderation? It's not But I want to be clear about

something Jesus is not commanding emotional hatred

He's speaking comparatively He's saying if allegiance

to your family and allegiance to me ever collide

guess who wins or should win me This isn't the

godfather this isn't Don Corleone You don't protect

the family at all costs. You obey Jesus at all

costs. Has anybody seen the Godfather? Please

tell me there's people in here that have seen

the guy. I got one, I got two, I got three. All

right, so that one didn't go over people's head,

cool. But here's the uncomfortable truth. Many

of us love these passages in theory, but when

it comes to the practice of it, not so much.

We say things like, Jesus, I'll follow you passionately

as long as my career is thriving, or as long

as my health is good, or as long as my family

is doing well, or as long as my plans are intact,

I'll follow you. But that's not following Jesus,

that's using Jesus. Jesus isn't a talisman. That's

not discipleship. That's American Christianity

with a Jesus sticker slapped on it. It's believing

God exists to serve you, not we exist to serve

him. And so let's be honest about what the gospel

actually is. The gospel is not choosing to follow

advice. This will be right up here. The gospel

is being called to follow a king. Not just someone

with authority to tell you what needs to be done

But someone with authority and power to do what

needs to be done. There's a difference I'm gonna

say it again Not just someone with authority

to tell you what needs to be done But someone

with the authority and power to do what has already

been done He's already won the battle he's already

secured the victory and Then he offers it to

you as good news To walk in this will be right

up here for you So when the king says follow

me he's not inviting you into self -improvement

He's calling you into surrendered allegiance

This isn't Joel Olsteen smiling politely with

beautiful white teeth Telling you to just give

your seed You'll be a millionaire Live your best

life now I saw a clip, I'm going off script here,

Gennaro, I apologize. I saw a clip of Paula White.

Do you guys know who Paula White is? Yikes, yikes.

And it crawls my skin that she's the spiritual

advisor to Donald Trump, which lets me know that

Donald Trump is not saved, by the way. And let

me just say this, not that you guys are gonna

disagree, but I just have to say this so you

guys know. I've seen some posts by some people,

not in our church, but people I know that legitimately

are putting Donald Trump even with Jesus, like

he's Joseph Smith of the Mormon Church. Donald

Trump is not our savior, people. He is a fallen,

broken man. And if anything, if we're going to

place him in an alliance with somebody, he's

more like the ruler of Babylon than he is Jesus.

OK, so let's just make sure that we put those

two things into perspective. back to my regularly

scheduled program. But I saw a video for Paula

White this week where she was holding a revival.

And she is saying that they took an offering

and the offering only equaled $40 ,000, which

was the lowest it had been in weeks. And she

says, we're gonna continue to pass these buckets

around until it gets to a specific place or I'm

not laying hands on anybody. No one's getting

healed by sickness today unless we get to a specific

number. Because God wants you to give a seed,

give a seed, give a seed. I'm not healing anyone.

Brothers and sisters, that's demonic. That's

not the gospel. I just need to say that because

you should not follow anyone that says, But you

know what? That sounds less like Jesus or the

apostles and more like, I don't know, maybe say

Simon, who thought he could buy the Holy Spirit.

That's not the gospel. Don't follow people. Don't

read their books. Don't listen to their podcasts.

All of that is demonic garbage. OK, I got that

off. So when the king says, follow me, he's not

inviting us to self -improvement. He's calling

you into surrendered allegiance. Point number

three. The call to Marvel. So in our text, Mark

uses the word authority. Here's what's cool about

that word authority. That word literally means

out of the original stuff. Out of the original

stuff. What word is in the word authority? Author.

That's where we derive our word author. It comes

from the same root word as author. So Mark is

telling us something really incredible. Jesus

taught not from secondhand authority. Pastor

Logan has secondhand authority, but Jesus has

firsthand authority. He is the root of all of

it. And so not by repeating a bunch of rules

from scribes, Jesus is the original authority.

He spoke as the author of life itself because

he is the author of life itself. He didn't just

clarify something they already knew. He interpreted

scripture like the teachers of the law. His listeners

sensed that he was explaining the story of their

own lives, not as a commentator, but as the one

who wrote it. And this left them dumbfounded.

So think about that for a moment. the very one

who the text is about, steps into a church service,

gets out the scroll, begins to read it, and then

he's like, yep, this has now been fulfilled.

And everybody's like, what? Right? And then what

happens? Scott already pointed it out. Jesus

comes in teaching with authority. blowing their

wigs off with interpretation. They're dumbfounded.

They're like, he's reading my mail. And then

what happens? Satan shows up. Satan is the little

brother that can't stand when anybody else gets

any sort of like acknowledgement, right? No,

no, no, God, you're not, no. And so he enters

the scene. Like some crazy. He is a crazy man,

literally filled with demons. And he's like,

hold up. So. Can you imagine the one who wrote

the text, the creator himself standing in front

of you, explaining it, showing you what it means

for your life? That is true authority. That is

the authority that Mark is pointing to. But Mark

doesn't stop with teaching. Jesus demonstrates

his authority in our passage. We see it wielded

in real time. That's what's really cool is he

doesn't just preach about it. We then see this

authority put in an action immediately. The demon

possessed man shows up as he said in the synagogue.

So you're already blown away by his teaching

and now you get to watch him command evil spirits

and they obey. So notice carefully the demons

know who Jesus is they call him the holy one

of God But do they surrender? Do they bow the

knee no So why do I need to point this out that

this is a crucial part of the story Notice that

the evil man enters into a church, you know how

many times I've heard people say or you see it

in movies, go into a church. The devil can't

go in there. Yeah, he can. There's devils all

in the church. So James says it plainly, even

the demons know God and they tremble, but they

do not follow him. And so there are people in

churches all across America, even right here,

who will say Jesus is God, but they are not surrendered

to him. They are still operating under the illusion

of their own small kingship. They know him, but

they do not submit to him. And then Mark shows

us Jesus's authority over the physical world

as well. So we see his authority in the text,

and then we see his authority in the spiritual

realm, and now we're going to see it in the physical

realm by doing what? He heals Peter's mother

-in -law. He just grabs her by the hand and lifts

her up, and the fever leaves her. She's immediately

made whole. But what is her immediate response?

Service. She rises and begins to minister to

them. And brothers and sisters, this is the proper

response to encountering the authority of Jesus.

When Christ restores you, he heals you. He makes

you whole. Your only right response in that moment

is service to his kingdom. to stand amazed, to

marvel, then to obey. The call to marvel is the

call to recognize who Jesus is, not just in our

minds, but in our hearts, in our lives, and in

the way that we live. The one who created, redeems,

and commands, he is worthy of wonder, worship,

and wholehearted surrender. So I'm gonna close

with this. Have any of you guys ever read the

story, The Princess and the Goblin? One person.

Well, yeah, my outside of my family. OK, you

guys don't count. Sorry. I would recommend the

book is not an easy read. I already told my wife,

I was like, because I read it and I'm like, I

didn't like the reading, but the story itself

is a cool story. It's by George McDonald, who

was a Scottish Christian. He wrote many books.

He talks a lot about imagination and fantasy

and why they come from God and all that stuff.

But He's famous for The Princess and the Goblin.

And so I'm going to kind of lay out to you The

Princess and the Goblin really quickly. So in

the story, you have a little girl, her name is

Irene. And Irene is given a ring and a thread

by her fairy godmother. Irene is told whenever

she feels lost, she should place the ring under

her head and feel for the thread. But Irene says,

but I can't see the thread. Her godmother replies,

no, you can't see it, but you can feel it. And

as long as you feel it, you will always find

your way back to me. No matter where the thread

takes you, it may feel like you are going the

wrong direction, but trust it because you trust

me and never go backwards. Did you catch that?

I'll read it one more time. Though you can't

see it, you can feel it. And as long as you feel

it, you will always find your way back to me.

No matter where the thread takes you, it may

feel like you're going the wrong direction, but

trust it because you trust me and never go backwards.

Later, goblins invade Irene's home. She escapes

using the thread, but she finds herself taking

a long way around. The thread takes her all around

the house and all around the yard and all over

the place. And then she goes to where the goblins

live, which they live in a cave. And as she's

going into this cave, she becomes to get afraid

because she knows the goblins live in the cave.

So she continues to follow the thread, but the

thread leaves to a dead end. There's nothing

but rock stacked up high. So she tries to go

backwards. But what was the thing that the Fairy

Godmother said? Never go backwards. but the thread

will not allow her to go backwards, so she begins

to cry. Have you ever been there, by the way?

Have you ever been to a place where you feel

like God has taken you to a dead end, you're

exhausted, and then you're like, well, I can't

go backwards, I can't go back, and then you just,

you don't know what you're supposed to do, and

maybe you just sit down and have a good cry.

You ever been there? Oh, I have, many times.

She begins to cry, but then she pulls herself

together. She starts taking the rocks down one

by one. Her hands begin to hurt and bleed, but

she doesn't stop. And then she hears the voice

of her friend, Curdie, who has been captured

by the goblins. And Curdie says, why, however,

did you come here and know that I was here? She

asked him. Irene responds, my grandmother sent

me. And then she says, and I think I found out

why. And so when she releases Kurti, Kurti begins

to, she knows the way out. So she starts going

in that direction, but Irene is going the opposite

direction. And so Kurti says, you're going the

wrong way. The way out is this way. And Kurti

and Irene says, yeah, no, but my thread for my

fairy godmother is leading me the opposite direction.

And Kurti says, but that's not the obvious path.

And Irene says, it's the path of the thread.

It's unpredictable, it's difficult, it's painful,

but it's leading me to safety. And it does. It

ultimately leads her to her fairy godmother.

And how could Irene know that she could trust

the thread? Because her fairy godmother was trustworthy.

So brothers and sisters, I'm begging you today

to follow the thread. Jesus is calling you to

follow him. The thread may take you on a path

that seems crazy, that doesn't make sense, that

feels like it's a dead end or it's up, it's down,

you're high, you're low. But I'm asking you,

I'm pleading with you to trust the thread because

the threads leader and owner and maker is trustworthy.

Yes, following the thread is hard, and yes, it

will hurt. You will bleed at times, but somehow,

or how can we possibly say no? We can't. So when

Jesus called James and John to leave their father

in the boat, he had already left his father's

throne. I want you to see that. Jesus is not

asking you to do anything he has not already

done. He left his father's throne. He later would

be ripped from his father's presence on the cross.

Your thread may seem to lead into dead ends,

places that will cause pain and trials that will

make you bleed, but do not go backwards. Christ's

kingship will not crush you because he was crushed

for you. So follow the thread, follow it to the

cross, and then you can continue to follow it

into his arms. Let's pray.