The Call That Disrupts Everything | Disruptive Discipleship Series (Mark 1:14–20)

Thank you, ladies. Uh, we're going to be

in Mark one. Before we do that, um, just

a couple thoughts on our

move. Who loves moving?

We do. Lies. No one likes moving. But I

just want to remind you guys, we got a

very specific word when we moved out of

Pi Hop, the house of prayer where we

were in for many years, that it was a

season of uh like the Israelites uh in

the tents, space after space in the

wilderness. You know, when when a pastor

hears those prayers multiple times, I

just brushed them off. I didn't need to

hear them. I didn't receive any of them.

So, if you pray those prayers, I just

want you to know I judged you when you

prayed them. And uh and then when things

like that happened, moving in and out of

fires and then summer things and this

and that and we're like 6 months out of

of a new space and it was anyway all the

newness of it. Uh all of a sudden those

hard to receive words become fuel to

sustain you and go, "Oh, God saw before

us and he was trying to give us uh

promises that that this is not to be

caught off guard and that it's going to

be okay." So you guys are resilient

people. I I uh I love this house and I

love the fact that church life and how

we do life in this city doesn't come

easy. And so uh in in many ways our

suffering and our moving is is minuscule

in the scope of eternity and what's

going on in the world. But it is

inconvenient. And so I just want to

thank you for leaning into the

inconvenience. Those that serve every

week getting used to new space when

we've just gotten our new rhythms. Thank

you. And thank you for the grace you've

given our team um and just loving on our

team. I just want to give a shout out to

all of our uh staff that's just done a

phenomenal job. So that's uh happening

next week. Willard Elementary, it is

literally two minutes down the road. If

you're coming from outside Pasadena,

it's actually closer to you no matter

what direction you're coming in because

of the freeway. But uh so no excuses if

you can't make

it. Secondly, before I start the

message, uh the talking Jesus course.

Can you put the slide back up for

talking Jesus? Um, I I Tiffany did a

great job talking about that and we've

we've messaged it and put it up there a

lot. But here's here's what I I want us

to get at. This is not just for those

who just have never been taught how to

share their faith. Although, if you have

never been taught how to share your

faith, uh, we are going to be covering

some really amazing critical things in

that conversation. I would like you to

know what we're doing. We're gathering

in our house for kind of what I think is

a holy moment. We we have we have

basically been training people the last

however many years that we live in a

completely

post-Christian context where the

Christians are kind of the outsiders and

the

disrespected and still many of you still

live in that reality in

LA. But what's happening and what we've

been talking about in recent weeks is

that there is what some have dubbed a

quiet revival happening in our nation.

We have 30 million more Christians in

2025 than we had in 2021. Wow. 12%

increase. That's amazing. That's Barner

research. This the best people of of

research

is millions are coming to Christ right

now.

And what we are going after in our

disciplehip is an entire generation from

young to old that is demonstrating and

providing an environment where new and

fresh disciples can grow and mature.

So, we need the boomers.

None of them are here apparently. Or

they have no desire to say a word when

you say boomers. Okay.

We need the Gen Xers.

Thank you. Yes.

I'm not even going to acknowledge you

millennials. Everything's about you.

That's my tribe.

Uh, Jenzers,

[Applause]

I'm just amazed that like so much of

this move of God that's happening is is

like despite everything that's happened

in

culture, there is a hunger and a

curiosity and a passion to pursue

purpose and meaning.

And Jesus is being

represented in a way that vast numbers

of people are hungry and curious. And I

believe this is our hour to re-engage.

What does this look like for us to

initiate with a hungry world around us?

Many still skeptical, many still

outsiders. We're still going to have

some some of the same battles we had for

the last 10 or 15 years. But we have

fresh realities that we have to reframe

the conversations. And the church is

meant to be a place that equips the

saints for the work of the ministry,

sends you

out. And we can't do this by just

looking at Sunday morning and putting it

on a few people to do things for us. So

I want to invite you. This is in our

home actually. Uh we're we're having the

the Hollywood Print Network. Um mega

couple, Jim and Karen Coell are going to

help lead. This is going to be more of a

discussion than a course. We're we're

going to have some testimonies, a little

bit of training, but also a lot of

conversing. I want us to wrestle with

some of these questions. And what we're

doing as a team and why we need you

there is much of what gets stirred up is

going to help us over the next three

weeks is going to help us as a team

decide how are we going to train, equip,

and prepare us over the coming season.

So, if you've got one or two or all

three Tuesdays, they're all going to be

unique and different, but I know it's

summer, so probably few are going to be

able to make all three. Make as many as

you can. Come and join us Tuesday night.

There's the code. You have no excuse.

Amen. All right. That was a longer than

expected plug. And I g that cost me

several sermon points. I want you to

know how important that was. And that

was painful for me as I was s sharing.

Uh, I'm not even kidding. That's it's

very true. So, here's here's my intro.

We were just in New Mexico for the last

um five, six days. Sue's parents

celebrated their 50th wedding

anniversary. Glory to God. Uh, it also

was the 20th anniversary of their

retirement and moving to New Mexico from

Washington DC. And so I and I'd known

and we've been together, we were not

quite married. We've been married 19

years, but we were seriously dating 20

years ago and helped them move out and

and uh so their place in New Mexico, you

know, it's amazing when you move from a

big city to no

nowhere. Um goes a long way. Uh we still

I still make the mistake of going on

Zillow every time we're there and going,

"What could be, babe? What could be?" I

know you guys do it, too. You're just

like, "My down payment could buy me a

mansion anywhere. Anywhere else." Um, no

one's laughing at that joke anymore.

It's kind of old, isn't it? No, it's

like it's just too painful. Just goes

too deep. Okay, shut up. Yeah, you guys

talking to myself. But anyway, we're

we're in New Mexico. It's kind of been a

holy place for me though. They live up

in the foothills overlooking the city.

Um, beautiful mountains in the

background. And so that desert, they

don't even have paved roads up where

they live. So these walks and hikes and

jog in the desert overlooking the

mountains have been kind of like an

annual sometimes several times a year

time for me to meet with God. And so I

was I was going and meeting with God

again one of the days we were there. And

um it's just I'm I'm expecting like just

to get some clarity and vision for the

coming season and it just wasn't

working. All the things I was hoping the

Lord would talk about just wasn't

clicking.

And I I I wanted I think I I just wanted

more clarity on my something about my

calling or the church's calling or

purpose. And all I got was this prayer

that came out of

me. And the prayer, you know, the kind

of prayers it's like you keep praying

until you find something that's like,

"Oh, this is what I should have been

praying all along." And that was the

moment that I had. I go, you know what

I'm really trying to pray, God? What I

really feel like is getting stirred up

is I pray that I just believe the gospel

for real.

Everything in your life, everything in

this church, everything in your place of

influence will be transformed if you

would actually fully grasp, stand on,

and live towards the gospel of Jesus

Christ.

You don't have to guard it and protect

it. You have to submit to

it. You don't have to tell people how

awesome it is, though that's an

invitation. You have to let

it cut

you

continually sustain you because there's

no other options. You have to let it

completely reframe your preferences,

your priorities, and your purpose.

That's the only way you will ever

benefit from it is when you don't fit it

in to everything else. It's when you

say, "There is no plan B for my life.

This is it. And I will

continually put

myself on this

altar. God, break me for everything that

has control over my heart other than

this message that Jesus died for.

So, I'm getting all messed up with that.

And today's message is the call that

disrupts everything. And Jesus gives

this call in light of the simplicity of

the gospel. There's two things

happening. Just a few verses in Mark 1.

It's the call of the gospel to follow

him. Simple. We don't understand it. I

don't I learned so much this week from

verses I have read thousands upon

thousands of times. And I just pray

today one simple prayer that the call

that we think we're supposed to have

would come under the simple,

powerful, universal call for disciples

to be disrupted for the gospel.

Here's our prayer. Holy Spirit, disrupt

our plans, reorder our

priorities and remake my purpose in

Jesus

name. Mark for Mark 1 verse14. Now after

John was arrested, Jesus came into

Galilee proclaiming the gospel of

God. The gospel means good news. And he

said this, this is a quote of Jesus

himself. Jesus said, "The time is

fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at

hand. Repent and believe in the

gospel. If I have time, we'll go into

some detail on

this. Repentance is not feeling sorry,

guilty, and shameful. Repentance is

turning towards something in a new

direction. Now, guilt, dealing with

shame, dealing with sorrow, those are

all legitimate emotions. It's just that

when religion and when Christians turn

repentance into those kinds of emotional

manipulations and trying to get people

to feel misery rather

than painting the picture of the beauty

of Jesus in the midst of suffering, loss

and the chaos of the world and saying,

"How is serving yourself as God

working?"

There's good news. There's another kind

of

king. The gospel becomes what is this

king like and what is his kingdom like?

Jesus's entire message is about what is

this king like and what is his kingdom

like? That's it. That's all he's doing.

Every parable, every story he told is

the kingdom is like this. The kingdom is

like this. It's like soil. It's like

investing money. It's like two brothers.

It's like this. It's like that.

Everything is about what this kingdom

looks like and what the king is like.

And he then passes along the Sea of

Galilee. He sees Simon and Andrew. So

this is the calling of his inner

sanctum, the three. And then Andrew gets

thrown in. Lucky Andrew. In fact, can

you imagine how like lesser Andrew was

because he doesn't get included with his

brother Simon who becomes Peter and

James and John. So Andrew apparently

just Jesus didn't like his personality

as much. I'm just reading between the

lines. It's possible cuz they didn't

they weren't like more special saints,

but they became Jesus's closest friends.

Peter, James, and John. Andrew, you're

in the

12. Just we don't know. I love I love

the I don't knows, and we'll never know.

But he calls Simon and Andrew. They were

they were poorer because of how they

were. It says it the context. They were

actually fishing off the side of the Sea

of Galilee. They didn't have boat. And

then here's the here's the here's the

invitation. Follow me and I will make

you become fishers of men. And we've got

children's song about that. The point is

this. He has one invitation to follow

him. We see after his resurrection, he's

simply saying the same thing. Follow me

to the disciples. And the the f I will

make you is is simply saying your

calling is made up not of you achieving

or accomplishing anything. It's all in

what I will make of you if you will just

follow me. Which says what? Identity

isn't something that you accomplish.

Identity is something that God himself

will make out of you. It's who you

become. It's the essence of what can

only be done when you allow the creator

to form his creation. Amen. Amen.

It is

exhausting to make your own value.

Have you tried to make something of

yourself and looked at yourself and go,

is this really worth anything? It's

misery. We do it constantly.

And his invitation is to follow him and

I will make you. I will make an identity

for you. But you have to follow me.

Immediately they left their nets and

followed him. It goes a little further

and then James and John come and it

talks about that they had a father who

had a business with a boat and hired

servants. And then in the context is

he's saying in the midst of this it was

the rich and the poor. Those that had

and those that had almost nothing.

They're both included in the invitation.

Okay. So, we're going to go very quickly

into three things. The disruptive

message, the disruptive call, and the

disruptive gift of disciplehip. Verse 14

and 15 is all about the kingdom is here.

What is the call of disciplehip? Mark

gives us three moments. It's a

disruptive message that challenges how

we see reality. It's a disruptive call

that redefineses who we follow. And it's

a disruptive gift that reshapes what our

lives are ultimately for. Verses 14 to

15. and the time is fulfilled and the

kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and

believe the gospel. This is a whole new

direction of life. And it's repenting

from I think if we're going to look at

one cultural thing we have to repent

from. We have to repent from what serves

us. I've used this phrase before it's a

cultural thing. I don't know. Jenzers,

did you guys invent like the this

doesn't serve me anymore so I'm cutting

it off? Did you guys do that or was that

someone

else? I'm going to give some examples.

You guys are sitting there like you

don't know what I'm talking about.

everywhere. Everywhere I look now, it's

like it doesn't serve me. Ew is my only

reaction to every time I hear that. I'm

going to give some examples if you know

what I'm talking about. I'm not done. I

don't care if you're jing with it. I

have a chip on my shoulder about what

serves

me. It doesn't serve me. Uh okay. So,

first let's let's talk about Jesus and

servantthood. Later in this gospel of

Mark, Jesus says, "I came to serve, not

to be served." So the whole idea of what

he's trying to show us of the king of

this kingdom is that leadership, the

ultimate king is not one who came to be

served, but to serve. Meaning that he

demonstrates that leadership is service.

Yeah. The more we study healthy leaders,

we understand that they are actually the

ones that are willing to go first and to

lay their lives down. There's a thousand

different examples of that from Simon

Synynic and TED talks and military

examples and all these different things.

But the point is is that Jesus has

demonstrated a kind of servantthood that

our cultural narratives are completely

failing on. And here's the thing what

we've said with it doesn't serve me.

It's become a cultural mantra especially

in our of course western individual

secular context. And it sounds

empowering. In fact, many people mean it

in the right heart. And I'm not bashing

on that because many of us have probably

said it with the right heart. But

underneath it is a is a trend of hyper

hyper self hyper individualism, self-p

protection and avoidance of sacrificial

love.

You cannot experience ultimate love if

you haven't experienced sacrificial

love. Yeah. Yeah.

If if people are going to say, "Oh, you

know, the gospel is all about love."

It's not all about love. It's all about

sacrificial love. And until you are

willing to

submit to the kind of sacrificial love

that's willing to take the self and lay

it down for another, you don't

understand the gospel of love. I don't

understand it. I'm still wrestling with

it constantly because everything in my

heart says no to that. I want it for

myself that I don't know how to live

that fully if I'm being honest. So, we

were just watching a uh a Netflix

series. I don't do this often, but

probably too often still. Um, Sirens.

Anyone seen it? Oh my gosh. I'm going to

talk about it. No one's seen it. And I'm

going to spoil it and I don't even care.

So, here's here's the here's Sirens,

Julian Moore, Kevin Bacon. Um, and then

there's two sisters basically. Uh,

here's the premise. These two sisters,

horrible upbringing, alcoholic father,

mother left. Uh, the the father then

basically like abandons the the younger

daughter, especially while the older

daughter's at college. The older

daughter comes back to basically raise

the younger daughter, gets her like all

the advantages, lays her life down, but

becomes like an alcoholic and a sex

addict and a bunch of other things. And

the older the older daughter is a mess

and she's given her life to her dad and

her sister and put her life on pause,

but she is a mess. The younger daughter

is killing it in many ways, but she's

got a lot of woundedness and has cut her

father off because he's toxic, which he

is. he and now he has dementia and and

he was a horrible father and she has

every right to separate herself from

them and that's the tension of the

entire

story and at the

end the younger daughter is actually

serving this family. Julianne Moore is

the the wife, Kevin Bacon's the father.

They're like billionaires somewhere in

like rich places that New Yorkers

live.

And

eventually Kevin Bacon, who I don't know

his name, but he's Kevin Bacon and

everything to

me, he basically cuts the wife off for

good reason because she's cut his family

off because he had a previous, you know,

marriage and kids and all of these

things. And he cuts her off and goes for

the younger daughter. And the younger

daughter after just getting fired, she

gets brought in and now she's going to

be the girlfriend of the billionaire.

And all of a sudden, the older daughter

in the midst of all this has all these

options because she's coming hanging out

with the rich and wealthy. And she's got

all these options to leave her dad. She

deserves to leave her dad. She's served

her dad all her life. She's served her

sister all her life. And you you then

enter into this character where she's

starting to get her life together and

have all these options. And then she

realizes she can't leave her broken

father.

Why? She's all he

has. And she starts without saying it to

realize that sacrificial love is just

not worth cutting off life, even from

those that don't deserve

it. And the the crazy psycho older

sister at the beginning becomes the most

sane person in the room. And the younger

daughter who had it all together and the

career going in all the right places,

she just looks at her and goes, "If it

doesn't serve you, cut it off."

Essentially something like

that. And I sat there. I think I told

Sue, I go, "Is

Netflix starting to understand the

secular lie?"

The whole series, this is like, I don't

know, it's four or five parts. The whole

series ended with them exposing the lie

that to sever what doesn't serve you

will eat you alive.

I don't know what's happening, guys.

I wouldn't recommend the show. I I don't

care. I'd recommend the show for all of

you over 25.

All of you that are already married and

happily

married. Those of you questioning

relationships, it's a train wreck. I

mean, it's a like so many train wreck

moments. But I go, the entire show is

basically saying the secular lie of what

cut off what serves you doesn't

work. Everything was about the

sacrificial

love was the most sane love that there

was. And I'm saying culture is starting

to look at the rest of the world and

they are begging us for the gospel. They

are. It's true.

They're showing us that the lie to cut

off toxic people has limits and context

that don't always work. They're showing

us that to prioritize your own happiness

may serve you in a moment, but if that

becomes the mantra of your life, it will

disappoint you and not bring happiness.

It says to protect your peace might be

important, but if you are obsessed with

protecting your own peace, without

sacrificial love, you won't have peace.

and only do what serves you

essentially. Needs to be repented from

needs to be turned to another

way. The kingdom disrupts our lie of

self-ruule. That's the t that is the

point. In Mark 1:15, Jesus announces

Mark 1:15

this disruptive message. The time is

fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at

hand. Repent and believe the gospel.

It's not just a feeling bad. This

repentance, it's reorienting your entire

life. Turning from a false story to a

true

story. The false gospel says only do

what serves you. Jesus says surrender to

what serves the king. The king that

already showed you that he came to serve

and lay his life down for

you. And I don't even know what this is

going to look like for us. This series

has been a frustrating one cuz it's not

about for me. It's not like telling you

this is exactly what you do. We're going

to get into some of that stuff in over

the summer. Here's exactly how we

practice the way of Jesus in certain

areas. This is about disrupting your

heart, disrupting your convictions,

disrupting your priorities, disrupting

your idea of what it means to follow

Jesus and

saying, "Flip, I don't I don't know what

I'm going to do if I say yes to this.

What am I saying yes to?"

That's what scares me to death is when

you say yes to a king like this and you

see what he did for

you. What does that actually mean for

me? He's inviting us to turn trade

self-ruule for submission to this

kingdom. Here's four secular ways that

culture lies to us about serving

ourselves in relationships. If this

relationship doesn't serve me, I'm

out. You hear things like, "I just had

to cut them off. They weren't serving my

peace anymore." Or, "If your energy

isn't aligned with mine, I don't have

space for

you." It sounds like boundary setting,

but it's often a mask for avoiding

forgiveness, growth, or discomfort.

Jesus didn't walk away from the messy,

broken

people. Jesus moved towards them. His

relationships weren't based on personal

gain, but redemptive love. Now, if you

don't have the

infrastructure to be with messy, broken

people, you might need boundaries and a

safe place and therapy and a cocoon.

That is for a season. Yeah. Not a way of

life. That is so that you can go back

out on your mission to the messy and

broken and chaotic world.

Number two, in work or calling. If this

job doesn't serve my dreams, I'm done.

So, if the season just isn't fulfilling

you anymore, you need to find something

that's going to what? Elevate us. Give

me inspiration. Don't waste your energy

on things that don't directly benefit

your personal brand. These are the

things that culture is telling us,

right? So, culture training us to see

vocation as a form of self-expression,

not

service. That also sounds good. But

Jesus emptied himself, took the towel,

embraced suffering, and because his

calling is about redemption, how can you

possibly be about

self-promotion? Just doesn't

work. Then there's self-care

culture. If it doesn't bring me peace, I

it has to go. Which means I have to

prioritize me right now. It's not

serving my healing energy. So, I release

it. And it sounds therapeutic, but it's

a refusal to do hard things. It avoids

conflicts. and it can't confront

personal sin.

Jesus went towards the cross, not away

from it. His peace came through

surrender, not self-p protection. On

social media, where it's all about

curating a

life again, cutting out that narrative

that doesn't serve you. So, we block, we

mute, we unfollow, we don't explain

anything, we just protect our own

vibes. And ultimately the digital world

reinforces this and it we we just delete

anything that's

uncomfortable. We delete the people. We

delete truth. We delete viewpoints. We

build entire ways of life. These bubbles

and chambers around things like

self-service. And they don't align with

the gospel of Jesus. He didn't curate an

audience. He spoke truth and love even

when it cost him his popularity, his his

popularity, his

followers, and his

life. I don't even know if I'm willing

to sacrifice really

popularity, followers in life. I don't

even mean social media. I just mean the

things that I've invested in my Am I

willing to sacrifice? Are

you Are you holding everything you've

built with your life open-handed to him?

No, we're not. We don't. I don't. I want

to. And this is what we're doing. We're

disrupting the things that we're

gripping and holding tightly and saying,

"Could I actually say yes to this other

story?"

So instead of cutting it off, listen to

the words of Jesus. If anyone would come

after me, let him deny himself, take up

his cross, and follow me.

We surrender to a kingdom that doesn't

serve our preferences. It transforms our

purpose. So here's here's the next

point. The disruptive

call, follow me. He sees Simon and

Andrew and he just says, follow

me. In the first century, the rabbis

uh actually didn't choose the students.

That's a misconception that we often

hear. Students chose

rabbis. So Jesus is flipping the script

on what's normal. He's he's calling them

out. It's not optional. He doesn't just

invite them to believe his ideas, but to

follow him as a person. He's not giving

them a

theology. He's not giving them a

rabbitical

way. He's just saying, "Follow me." It's

an imperative. And these men, what they

want you to see as fishermen, we're un

anything but

extraordinary. Which means it speaks to

every single one of us who don't feel

qualified. And it speaks to every single

one of us that think that we have

qualified ourselves. Because he's

essentially saying nothing of what

you've done is what qualifies you. And

if you haven't done anything, maybe

you're

qualified. And they leave immediately.

There's there's vocation, family,

identity, and priorities all wrapped up

into this. And he's essentially saying

these few things about follow me. It's a

radical call to personal allegiance.

He's not taking them into a belief

system, a moral code, a religious

movement. He's calling them simply to

himself. He starts a movement, but

that's not where it

started. It's not a partnership of

equals. It's a summon to submit to a

king.

He's not our

buddy. He's not driving beside me. I

hate those little things we put. I'm

just driving beside Jesus on the

journey. No, you're not. He's the king.

You are his

servant. I've I've far too often treated

him like my

buddy. He's the king.

Follow me as an act of surrender and

reordering. Every other relationship has

to come under the

king. When he calls himself a king, it

just means if you want what I have on

offer, everything else has to come under

that. Every element of your beautiful

family, your beautiful jobs, your

amazing calling, all of your ambition,

all of your gifts, everything you can

offer the world has to come under it.

Otherwise, it's

nothing. It thirdly defines the essence

of what Christian disciplehip even is.

Disciplehip isn't defined by some

theological accuracy or some ethical

consistency. It's defined by a living

obedient attachment to the person of

Jesus. It means making his presence, his

voice, and his direction the guiding

authority of my

life. It's ongoing. It's not a one-time

choice. It's over and over. I wake up. I

get up. I pick up the cross that he

showed

me. I anchor my life on it. The bottom

line is this. To follow him means to

abandon the leadership of

myself and to walk in step of full

dependence on him. It's disruptive and

it's relational, but it will reshape

every area of my life. And if it hasn't,

you haven't said yes to what he's

offering. And here's the ultimate

tension that we're really trying to get

at

today. We want Jesus to support our

plans. We're not comfortable with him

redirecting all of

them. The modern west celebrates

self-invention, but he wants to

interrupt us with self-

surrender. If I could get the keyboard

player up, it'll help me turn my

remaining 10 points into one or

two. Here's here's what I want to do

with the disruptive

gift. And then I want to share one

applicational story.

and then we'll be

done. The gift of Jesus is essentially

telling them this this word that he says

the time is

fulfilled. There's a lot to it. It takes

all of Israel's history and it's kind of

putting it before them in a moment. Uh

the Greek word is chyros. Many of you

that have been

in spiritual circles love the term like

chyros moment. When Christians say, "Oh,

it's a chyros moment." you know that

they're going like, I put a Greek word

on something, it's going to be

good. Uh, but we we throw we throw that

term around uh a lot. This is where it

comes from,

though. It's a Jesus moment that is

summoning you to a

call. It's saying, "Your time is now."

in the room. We've got people that just

honestly are across a spectrum of I've

lived my life well and I think this

Christianity thing might align with my

values and I'm checking it out and

considering it and and I think Jesus can

get me where I ultimately want to go but

can't quite get there myself. And then

there's some in the room that are just

like why would Jesus really choose me?

You look around the room and don't feel

qualified and you just can't believe the

gospel is even

true. And then there's some of you that

just have had the gospel for so many

years. It's transformed your life, but

you still feel like you're carrying a

weight of disappointment where your life

should be freer, happier, more content,

more at peace than it currently is. and

you feel

guilty that the standard of the gospel

doesn't feel like your

norm. Wherever you're at with this

invitation of the gospel, your time is

now. This is the Chyros moment every

single time that your soul is touched

with the

invitation to

follow. And this is what he promises.

He says, "I'm going to make you

something. I'm going to take and for the

disciples as fishermen, he's going to

take what they have as a gift and he's

going to use it." So, what he's saying

is, "I'm going to transform your

identity. But I'm going to do it if

you'll just follow me, if you'll submit

to me, if you'll be a part of me. And

let me do it with you. Let me lead you.

I will make you something. You don't

have to make your own identity."

the the two Greek words for time,

Kronos, which is just ordinary

sequential time, days, hours, calendars,

and then chyros is God's divinely

appointed moment. This is what Jesus is

saying. This is your divinely appointed

moment to follow me. This is the tipping

point where eternity intersects with

history. And he's not saying, "Time is

ticking. You're going to

hell." That's not good news, by the way.

And this isn't one of those things where

I just kind of retell what hell is. I'm

not doing that

either. Hell is

hell. This is the time is fulfilled and

this is God's breakthrough

moment and he wants

[Music]

you. These moments are disruptive and

they're decisive.

[Music]

We have to respond in some way, shape,

or

form. It's not just for the disciples.

It's for every single one of

us. He doesn't call the qualified. He

qualifies the

called. And he's inviting common people

to an uncommon

mission to follow him and become agents

of his redemptive work in the world.

There's a book that I quote often, but

I'm going to give a example that I

haven't given out of it before. The

power of moments by Chip and Dan Heath.

It argues that not all time is equal.

Some moments stand above the rest and

reshape the narrative of our lives.

These what they call defining moments

tend to share four traits. Here are the

four traits. Elevation, insight, pride,

and connection. Elevation is when you

rise above routine. Insight you rewire

how you see yourselves or the world.

Pride is when you capture an achievement

or courage. And connection is how it

bonds us deeply with others. These

defining moments or experiences cause

meaningful shifts in identity, behavior,

and direction. This is secular research

that attunes to the gospel and the

gospel's way of life. And they give this

example and how a moment of insight can

change everything. And there's this

story called The Clinic on the Roof. And

in the 1990s, Jerry Sternon of Save the

Children was tasked with solving child

malnutrition in a rural uh Vietnam

village. He had 6 months limited

resources and a skeptical local

government. The outsiders all would have

assumed that solving this malnutrition

problem required huge systemic

change. The change involved better

infrastructure, more food, more

education. But all of a sudden, Sternan

took a different radical approach. He

looked for bright spots, places where

children were thriving despite the same

poverty and

conditions. Here's what he found.

In a few families, parents were doing

things like this, adding small pieces of

shrimp and crab and rice patties to

their kids' meals. They were feeding

four smaller meals a day instead of two

large ones. And they were using sweet

potato greens, a food considered low

class to them to add nutrients. So all

that to say, I'm going to bring it back

in a second off the side here. In rural

Vietnam, there's this project with not a

big innovation, but they were doable and

they were seeing things that were

already working. And instead of

lecturing about nutrition, Stern created

what he would call demonstration clinics

where moms learned by doing, preparing

and feeding their kids bright spot meals

together. These clinics often took place

on rooftops or porches in full view of

the village so that everybody could see

the demonstrated testimony of the work

of their lives. Over time, this method

transformed entire communities and

within 6 months 65% of the children in

the pilot villages were better uh

nourished.

65%. Why was this a defining moment?

Well, there was insight, there was

elevation, and there was empowerment.

The problem wasn't hopeless. The

solution wasn't out of reach. The

rooftop setting made it public and

memorable, and it gave ordinary people

the tools to be part of the

solution. This is how the human

condition and this is how the gospel

reaches and works. Take hold of what is

happening. You need to know the gospel

is well and alive and it has worked for

millions upon millions and it will work

for you. But it only works when it's the

only option in your life and you're not

trying to squeeze it

in. The fishermen in Mark 1 may have

assumed that their lives were set.

Peter, James, and John would have looked

at things going like, "I'm just a

fisherman. This is what I do. This is

who I are. This is who we are. I just

fish. It's fish, family, and survival.

This is my lot in life." And then Jesus

interrupts the routine and says, "Follow

me.

I'll make you fishers of men. And it

opens up a new possibility. Here's what

some of us need to know today. Where you

feel stuck, maybe you're not stuck.

Maybe there is a way to break free of

what has held you, held you captive,

maybe for months, maybe for years.

You're not

invisible. You need to know that God

sees you and that you're part of his

plan. You're part of God's plan.

He's

chosen to renew and restore all of

creation through broken

people that just say

yes to follow me and you can be part of

the solution, the kingdom breaking in.

He's inviting you to help build

it. So I want to invite every single one

of us to stand to this

[Music]

today. Put these questions before your

mind. When Jesus called, there was an

immediate response. They dropped

everything. They dropped their nets.

What net is Jesus inviting you to drop

today? I'm not saying you don't go back

to your job tomorrow. There may be one

or two of you that need to not go back

to your job

tomorrow. But I'm not saying that. I'm

not saying drop your jobs and all start

raising support tomorrow as

[Music]

missionaries. And as soon as I say that,

maybe one or two of you

do. What is dropping your net

mean? That thing you're putting your

trust in. That thing that you most

fear. What is it that you're fully

surrendering or need to fully surrender

to him? Letting him interrupt and

disrupt your disciplehip.

Where have you substituted belief for

Jesus instead of actual real lifegiving

obedience? And what if this week your

Chyros moment was to follow him in a new

way? Holy Spirit, we invite you to come

right

now. Disrupt our disciplehip. Yes,

Jesus.

renew our encounter with your gospel.

Plant this call. Yes. That is over every

call. Yes, Father.

Every calling, every gifting I have, I

say that is secondary to the ultimate

call of being a servant and follower of

Christ.

I repent for how I've tried to squeeze

you in my dreams, my longings, and my

passions. I repent for how I've tried to

squeeze you into the things that can

serve me. And I repent for not fully

being a servant of the king. And I just

pray that we would demonstrate finding

small, intentional, doable ways to

demonstrate and testify to the way of

Jesus in our lives. So that the world

that is hungry and wanting a solution

for the secular lies of what serves me

that are failing me would have an image

of Jesus deceived through broken people

restored.

Make this our life cry. No other option.

This is what we live for.

Full

surrender. May we be marked by this. May

this Chyros moment continually haunt us

until we say yes in

full. Those of you where this is new or

too intense, I'm

sorry. We're just We just aren't

casually trying to gather a fun club to

do friendship.

[Music]

We're here for ultimate purpose,

[Music]

ultimate

priority that deals that deals with

every kind of pain that the world

offers.

[Music]

Those of you that are

just dealing with

[Music]

pain, yes, if it's in your body, if it's

physical pain, bring that before the

Lord right

now. But I I feel especially those

dealing with like soul

[Music]

pain. And how many of you know that's

far worse than physical

[Music]

pain? I feel this spirit of God here

this morning to touch you and be with

you in the midst of that pain.

[Music]

I know we're going a few minutes long. I

just feel like we're we're supposed to

not leave that for a second. Bring that

pain before and now I invite

you church. I just feel pray into that

for a moment.

Pray into the pain of the

[Music]

saints. We invite the spirit of God to

meet you in your

[Music]

pain. This is a moment where I feel like

there are so many in the room that are

inviting him for the first time to

really meet them in that pain.

[Music]

And I want you to know that you're

[Music]

seen, that he has sacrificially loved

you from before you had

breath, and that he's inviting

[Music]

you to

experience his sacrificial love

continually. If that's the cry of your

heart, I just want to invite you to pray

the most simple ancient prayer.

[Music]

King Jesus, if you're

realist, show yourself to me.

[Music]

I feel like there's some that just don't

don't even know if he's there fully. And

you may want to follow him, but it's

like if your prayer is just if you're

real, I want to follow you. Pray what

you've

got. He will respond.

[Music]

Holy Spirit, I just pray that you would

pour rain out on those seeds, those

prayers offered to you right

now. Every single one of us in the room,

whether we're wrestling with our faith

or we've been walking with you for 50

years, we give a fresh surrender and a

fresh yes.

And we respond in unity in Jesus name.

Yes. Amen.