The Adventure of Discipleship - DJ Dickerson

And good evening. Thank you so much for

joining in on this live stream. I know

that there uh were some complications

today with the weather. So due to the

inclement weather that was uh getting

worse, uh we decided to do an online

study. Uh, so I know we haven't done one

of these in quite some time since COVID.

So, I'm still trying to get used to some

of the uh moving around parts of trying

to put the charts on the screen. I even

made uh charts today uh to go with a

lesson as I always do. Uh so, I

encourage you to follow along and again,

thank you for joining in on this uh on

this live stream in a study of God's

word

this evening. I was trying to figure out

what am I going to talk about because

well, for one, uh I had the sermon and

song planned for this evening's worship

service. However, I'm not going to be

doing the songs and and all of that. Uh

just me and a camera for that matter. Uh

but uh I decided to to do the very topic

of the adventure of disciplehip. Now,

this is going to take us to Mark chapter

Mark 1 · chapter mention

1 and verses 14- 20. And that's Mark

Mark 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 14-20. I would encourage you

as we go through these few verses in

this brief time together this evening

that you follow along with me and some

of the thoughts that I want to share

with you. This kind of goes hand inand

with a podcast that uh is on the

disciplehip that I do each week. So,

follow along Mark chapter one. And one

of the first things I want to point out

in this lesson is that Christianity was

never meant to be boring. All right. Um

there is a quiet um lie that has slipped

into modern thinking sometimes even into

the church that disciplehip is it's

dull, it's restrictive, it's

predictable.

uh that following Jesus is merely about

sitting and listening and waiting until

heaven.

But when we open the gospel records,

we really don't find boredom. Um what we

do find in a study of the gospels is

movement. You find risk and you also

find radical change.

Christianity, as we see from the

scriptures, is not what we call it's

it's not a spectator sport. Uh it's an

adventure. And in Mark chapter one,

Jesus is not inviting

uh people, especially these these men

that were chosen here to attend a

seminar, to enroll in a class, or to

observe from a distance. uh he issues a

call that disrupts lives.

And those two words that we'll find in

our our reading this evening,

follow me. And when people truly follow

Christ,

life is never the same again. So follow

along with me here. Go to Mark chapter

one. And I want you to notice that in

our first point that I want to make a

second point maybe I guess here is is

this one and that is the adventure

begins with a proclamation. And in Mark

Mark 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 vers 14 and 15 read with me.

Now after John was put in prison Jesus

came to Galilee preaching the gospel of

the kingdom of God and saying the time

is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is

at hand. to repent and believe in the

gospel.

So really what we find here is yes the

adventure begins with this proclamation

this disciplehip begins with good news

certainly right that's what I see there

um and Jesus begins his ministry not

with condemnation but with proclamation

if you'll notice that in the passage

there he says the time is fulfilled

which means basically God's plan is on

schedule um also So you notice it says

the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Again,

this is verse 15. And what that's saying

is God is stepping into history. But

with all of that in mind, he's saying,

hey, a response is required. And that

means you need to repent and you need to

believe. That has to do with obedience

to the gospel message that is being

proclaimed. Now, the adventure of of

disciplehip

does not begin with self-improvement.

Now bear with me as I say that. What I'm

meaning by that is really at first it

begins with surrender. Um think about

this. Um kind of reminds us of well kind

of the weather that we're dealing with

and bridges that may be closed or shut

down. Now thinking about this from that

standpoint, when a bridge is out, the

sign is not asking for your opinion. Uh

it demands a decision. Now, that means

that you can either turn around or you

can plunge forward. You have a choice in

that. Well, the gospel is the same way.

You don't casually observe it. You

respond to it. And that's the thing

about repentance is being talked about

here. Repentance is not merely feeling

bad. It's about changing direction.

That's the idea of response.

Now, even faith, faith is not mere

agreement. It's actually placing trust

And before Jesus ever says those words I

mentioned earlier, follow me. Before

before he says any of that, what he's

saying is, well, first one needs to

change the direction, one needs to

believe the gospel message. And that

leads me to the next point that I want

to share with you. And that is the

adventure is issued through a personal

call. Now, if you continue on in this

reading, it's very interesting as you go

to verses 16 and 17.

And as he walked by the Sea of Galilee,

he saw Simon and Andrew his brother,

casting a net into the sea, for they

were fishermen. Then Jesus said to them,

"Follow me, and I will make you become

fishers of men."

What's always been striking to me is

that Jesus calls ordinary people. Now,

these men were not scholars. They were

not priests or leaders. They were

working men with callous hands. And we

might also say, well, they had

predictable routines, right?

Jesus does not wait for perfection.

He calls availability.

Now think about this. God does not call

the equipped. He equips the called. Now

we've heard that right throughout life.

That the adventure of disciplehip does

not require greatness.

That's exactly what produces it.

Follow me is a relationship. It's not a

route. And Jesus does not give them a

fiveyear plan or 10-year plan. What he

gives them first and foremost, he gives

them himself. And to follow Christ is

not merely to obey commands. It is to

actually walk with Jesus. Is to walk

with the Lord. Now, you'll notice in

that passage again says, "I will make

you." Do y'all notice that? I will make

you. And what that does is it shows

transformation in God's work. That's his

work. Jesus does not say make yourselves

fishes of men. That's not what he says.

He says I will make you.

Disciplehip then is not a

behavior modification. In that sense, it

is a divine formation. It's what God

calls us to through his holy and divine

will. It's not in ourselves in of

ourselves to do. We have to rely upon

his word to change us. That's why Romans

12 speaks this very truth. When when

when Paul says in verse one of Romans

12, I beseech you therefore, brethren,

by the mercies of God to present

yourselves, your bodies a living

sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,

which is your reasonable service. Now

verse two, he says, "And be not

conformed to this world, but be

transformed by the renewing of your

mind, that you may prove that which is

good and so the perfect will of God." It

goes back to that faith. It goes back to

that trust, knowing his way is better

than our way.

Well, with that being said, I would also

submit to you that

from that very passage,

think about the adventure, how it

requires immediate obedience. If you go

on down to verse 18 of our of our text,

it's they immediately left their nets

and followed him. One of the words that

stands out obviously is the word

immediately.

So there's no delays, no negotiations,

no conditions

because delayed obedience is

disobedience. We sometimes tell that to

our kids, right? They did not ask, hey,

what's in this for me? What's the

salary? What where are we going? You

know, what if this doesn't work? It says

they left their nets. And really when

you think about what it means to leave

their nets, it means they left their

livelihood. They left their security and

even their

identity.

Now consider

this that you cannot cling to the dock

and expect to sail.

At some point the ropes must be untied.

And that's the point I believe we see

from these scriptures even is that

disciplehip always cost something.

But what we find from each and every

scripture that we read about disciplehip

is that all although it certainly cost

us something it always leads to

something greater.

Now, here's something else I think we

need to take into account here, and that

is that the adventure of disciplehip

disrupts comfort and familiarity.

You go on down in our text to verses 19

and 20, and I believe that we will

certainly see this as we go on. Verses

19 and 20, read with me.

When he had gone a little farther from

there, he saw James, the son of Zebedee,

and John his brother, who also were in

the boat mending their nets. And

immediately he called them, and they

left their father, Zebedee, in the boat

with the hired servants, and went after

him.

What I was thinking about in this

passage is following Jesus may separate

you from what feels safe.

When you look at this passage, James and

John left not only nets, but they left

family expectations.

Jesus never teaches us to dishonor

family, but he does demand supreme

loyalty. We certainly see that as Jesus

will continue to teach about him about

the kingdom being first and foremost.

And here's a thought. Anything you must

abandon to follow Christ was never meant

to define you.

Faith often begins where comfort ends.

Think about this. The boat represented

stability. The shore represented safety,

but Jesus represented uncertainty, but

also purpose.

Disciplehip is not reckless.

It is courageous.

Now, let's make this point too

that the adventure is not just about

where you go, but who you become. Again,

look back to the text. what Jesus said,

I will make you become fishers of men.

Now, as I again dwelling on this and and

considering this passage, many times in

in my life and studies and even this

evening as we reflect upon this, when

Jesus says, "I will make you fishers of

men," well, they went from catching fish

to seeking souls.

They went from earning a living to

saving lives. They went from working for

themselves

to working for eternity. They were

putting in the miles and the effort into

that which truly translates into

eternity.

That's what disciplehip does. The chapel

ship changes our priorities, our

purpose, and also our perspective.

Now,

I thought about this as a fisherman. Not

that I am one for certain. I'm not a

fisherman. You can ask my brother about

that. But a fisherman measures success

by what's in the net.

But a disciple measures success

by who has encountered Christ.

Let that kind of resonate there. A

disciple measures success by who has

encountered Christ. And you think about

all the words that Jesus gives about the

work that is before us as disciples. And

it's exciting work and it's it's tough

work. But again, what has that done for

us? It has redirected us to understand

our priorities are different, our

purpose and our perspective. It has made

those changes in our minds and our

hearts because we see something greater

and it leads to something far greater in

Christ. And that leaves us with this

that is the adventure continues today.

Friends, the call has not changed.

Jesus is still saying and echoing from

the pages of Mark chapter 1 in this

Mark 1 · chapter mention

passage that we have considered briefly.

He still says follow me,

repent, believe. My friends, it has to

do with obeying his will, obeying the

gospel.

He is still saying leave what holds you

back.

The only question is not really is is he

calling.

The question is well will we follow.

Consider that heaven

will not be filled with people who

admire Jesus.

Heaven will be filled with those who

follow.

That's what the scriptures teach. And we

have to ask ourselves,

are we true disciples?

Are we actually following him each and

every day? The work that has been set

before us. And again, it certainly is a

an adventure. It really is because I'm

asking the question in this brief lesson

this evening.

Are you ready for the adventure?

Disciplehip is not safe.

It's not predictable

and it's certainly not comfortable.

But I will say this as the scriptures

make abundantly clear,

disciplehip,

the adventure that it brings is

absolutely

worth it. The greatest adventure you

will ever take is not across oceans or

mountains. And those are probably some

wonderful things. And I've been in the

oceans and I've been in the mountains

and those are quite fun and and

certainly adventurous.

But that's not the greatest adventures

that one will ever take. It's not again

across oceans and mountains. It is

walking

son of God one step at a time. It's

following him in the path that he has

given us. That narrow path that leads

unto life. Jesus still walks by the sea

of ordinary lives. Jesus still looks

into

working routines. Jesus still says

follow me. Those two same words, follow

me. And the adventure of disciplehip

is not someday.

What you saw in that call of Jesus there

in Mark chapter one was it's now.

It's now.

And my friends, that is the adventure of

disciplehip. Now, there's certainly more

that I could speak on in this topic

because it certainly is a wide ranging

topic. And if you've been following

along in the disciplehip journey with DJ

podcast on Mondays, Monday mornings at

8:00 usually is when I have those uh

out. uh you've been kind of following

along there, you'll you'll hear things

topics like excuse on uh topics of

excuses and tomorrow mornings will be on

distractions and all those things that

will certainly try to veer us off the

path of our disciplehip journey. And I

hope that we look at our lives this

evening and do some some reflection,

some self-examination and say really am

I on this journey? Am I experiencing the

adventure of disciplehip according to

the gospel, according to Jesus? And and

I always like to bring this up in in

anytime that I'm talking to anyone

regarding the gospel is what Jesus said.

How does one become a disciple? Well, he

made it very clear in Mark 16:15-16 or

Mark 16:15–16

Matthew 28:18-20

Matthew 28:18–20

that speaks about the great commission

when he said, "Go into all the world,

preach it for he that believeth and is

baptized shall be saved." And we know

throughout the scriptures that one is to

believe. Faith comes by hearing and

hearing by the word of God. Romans 10

and verse 17 that that faith that moves

us to do something. That means as Jesus

says, repent and believe. Do something

with it. And that means believe has to

do with action. And that means obeying

his word to repent, a change of

direction, a change of mind, a change of

heart, which to leads to a change of

life. And to be able to confess him that

he is a son of living God and be

baptized, buried with him in baptism to

rise and walk in newness of life as

Romans 6 3 and 4 says, and we are added

to the Lord's church as we see in Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2. and the great example that we

see there in the pattern that was set

before us in the book of Acts. Friends,

so much that we should be putting forth

to doing what the Lord says. Our creator

has given us his word, his will. And he

says, "Follow me. Follow my words.

Follow my will." And I hope that we

certainly search ourselves and say, "Am

I doing what he has commanded of me? Am

I truly ready for the adventure? Am I

ready to, you know, roll up the sleeves

and get to work? And that is being

fishissurers of men going out and

seeking souls to save. And again, your

soul may be the one that's in say that's

in need of saving right now. I want you

to think on that. And if you have

questions or comments or or or what have

you, you can certainly send those to me.

You can comment on this thread on the

YouTube or or Facebook, whichever one

that you might whichever platform you're

on, or you can send them to an email at

uh at djaportchurchof christrist.com. Uh

and I would love to hear from you. And

if you'd like to study more about God's

word, please let me know. I would I

would certainly get you hooked up with a

cor Bible correspondence course that we

have on our website as well. Um just uh

understand how important the being a

child of God is uh from the scriptures

and God's plan of salvation or as a

disciple of Christ. Again, let's do some

evaluation. How well are we doing in our

disciplehip?

That's very important to ask that we are

actually progressing and we are growing

spiritually maturing each and every day

and that we still see the challenges

before us.

There's challenges we need to face.

Again, it's not comfort. It's not going

to be comfortable. It's about

conviction.

So, I I want to thank you for for being

in being here and joining me in this

this time of of

study for this evening. Uh I would of

course be aissed if I didn't of course

share that on on our our times of

worship at Leaport. You're in the area

around the course. So, we have our 9:30

a.m. Bible class for all ages, 10:30

worship service and 5:00 pm worship

service. And on Wednesdays, we have

seven o'clock Bible class for all ages

as well. Adult Bible class, we're

studying the book of Acts. Uh so we

certainly would enjoy for you to be with

us if you're around the area or if

you're not able to get out, uh you're

shut in and such and uh then certainly

join us online. We always like to try to

put this out out there for folks uh to

be able to to be encouraged as well if

they're not able to be in person. But

I'll say this real quickly as well as we

know this so true. It's not the same as

actually being in person. It's not me

looking at a camper cam camera is not

the same uh than being with my brothers

and sisters in Christ and the

encouragement that we get being

together. Um so I certainly miss miss

each one this evening, but I'm glad that

we have this opportunity to spend some

time in God's word together. And I thank

you for joining in in this study. Um,

but before we close out, of course, I

want us to go to our heavenly father in

prayer

um as we as we close out our live stream

this evening. So, let's let's pray.

Our righteous and loving father in

heaven, we come before you with grateful

hearts, thankful for your mercy. We're

thankful for your patience. We're

thankful for the gift of your son.

Thank you for the good news of the

kingdom. Thank you for calling us out of

darkness and into the light of your

truth. And Father, as we have considered

the call of of thy son and our savior

Jesus to follow him, Father, we we

confess that at times we have held

tightly to our needs. Uh we recognize

that we hold to our comforts and our

routines and even our fears.

Forgive us when we hesitate, when we

delay, and or when we allow the familiar

to stand in the way of faithful

disciplehip that you've called us.

Help us, Lord, to hear the voice of your

son clearly. Give us hearts that are

willing to repent, minds that believe

fully in the gospel, and lives that

respond immediately when you call. that

you shape us, you mold us just as you

promised into fishers of men and that is

people who

reflect your son and our savior Jesus

Christ in our words, our actions and our

priorities.

Grant us courage to step out of the

boat, to have the faith to trust where

you lead, humility to rely on your

strength rather than our own, and that

our lives will bring honor to your name,

and that others will be drawn to you as

they see

Christ living in us. Father, we ask that

you go with us as we continue throughout

this day and not as hearers only, but as

followers seeking out the adventure of

true disciplehip that we've been called

to be, walking daily in obedience,

service, and love. Keep us faithful,

Father, until the day we stand before

you,

praying, Father, that having been found

faithful, we'll hear the words, "Well

done, thou good and faithful servant,

the joys of thy Lord." Father, be with

those that that are infirmed, those that

are in our hearts and minds that are

dealing with various ailments,

struggling, Father, and that you will

that you will give them strength and

that they will receive encouragement and

that those that minister care to them

will do the things that are necessary

and proper to bring them to a good

measure of health. Be back with us in

the near future. Father, we pray,

Father, we'll always look to your son

Jesus as the author and finish of our

faith. how thankful we are above all for

the great sacrifice that he made for us

on Calvar's cross. And it's through his

precious name that we pray. Amen.

Again, I want to thank you for joining

me in this evening Bible study. And I

hope that you have been encouraged from

the word that we have considered. And I

hope that you will continue to read

further in Mark chapter 1 throughout the

Mark 1 · chapter mention

scriptures that you have. uh thinking

back to this disciplehip lesson and

again do that self-examination that

reflection. I certainly do appreciate it

and uh the time that we've been able to

spend together. I hope you have a

wonderful