Matthew 4:12-23

 Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.  [NRSA]

The call to follow is an invitation to 

• Listen
• Learn
• Follow
• Transform 
• Call others

We talking about the need to listen last week

We hear the week before what it means to follow

The most important part of this challenge is the call to impact the lives of others

Q: What am I doing that others see, hear and know that Jesus is healing, calling, working through me?

Step back to the do no harm rule:

What am I doing that is harming my witness and getting in the way of others experiencing Jesus in me?

What can I do? To disciple others. 

1. Discern one person before the end of the month that God is calling you to reach out to disciple. 
   1. Pray for them every day
   2. Find multiple ways to reach out to them and show the love and power of Jesus Christ 
   3. Persistence and variety. Many gifts and avenues
   4. Call theirs friends and co-workers
   5. She scriptures that invite learning and following
   6. Take them to follow with you in your faith journey
   7. Make it easy, no pressures salesmen.
   8. Some will follow others will be reached by someone else. 
2. Repeat each month. 

The goal of your own 12 disciples.. 

A year of reaching our own dozen for Christ. 

Now go and make Disciples of Jesus Christ 

( next week food for the journey) 

John 1:29-42

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter ). [NRSA]

The beginning of becoming disciples 

From the Text: we see the prophetic promises 

• fulfilled from Isaiah through a John the Baptist
• Jesus is baptized and calls us join him in that adoption
• Jesus calls followers to follow 
• He invites followers to listen to him

Followers follow

Followers listen to Jesus

Even as leaders we follow Jesus

… Last week we all heard a good example of what it means to radically  listen and radically follow Jesus invitation. Todd reminded us that to follow Jesus might take us away from our family, away from our comforts, away from our plans. We appreciate and admire someone’s journey when they follow so radically. But as passionate was their story.. I ask you today to where and to what is God invite you to go and to do today?

We don’t all have a  calling to the Bush of Africa 

A. But one thing that Todd shared is that he and his wife we listening to God

B. And they heard go, and then go back, and then stay and keep listening.

The question for us today is 

1. Are we listening? Are we asking for God’s leading and direction or are we relying on what God told us two years or two decades ago and have not genuinely stopped to listen, in light of where we current are. 
2. Do we not listen because we don’t want to hear something that might lead away from our comforts of what is familiar or easy… 
3. John heats and tell Andrew, Andrew listens and follows, Andrew reaches out to his brother with what he had heard.
4. He bring Simon, Simon listens and is transformed. Simon now becomes Peter, the Rock Man, we people of the Rock, Rock Spring….

There are two profound part to give our attention tot his morning:

1. Jesus continue to call us now, through others 
2. Jesus continues to call other, through you.

What are we hearing Jesus needs us to be, do or go?

What are others hearing and seeing from Jesus through us?

Both demand our attention if we are follow Jesus

I said two weeks ago and will say again, 

Now more than any time in our lifetime, Jesus Long’s for us to 

• listen, 
• follow, and 
• share.

Discipleship

The shift from living in anticipation of faith

theological we shift from anticipation of Jesus to a season of living with Christ, listening, following and sharing with others.

All of us don’t need to go to the Bush, but all of us need to be following Christ’s call.

Where RE you in this journey?

I think everyone here has heard of Jesus 

We come together to sing, study and hear the words of Jesus’s teaching 

Where do we see Jesus day? Or do we?

What is Jesus saying to you this week or today?

Are willing to take the day for Jesus or simple a few minutes now and then 

How am I responding to Jesus’s call to follow

How am I bringing others

How am I being transformed 

How is Jesus using me, you, RS in this day?

This is where we benefit from fellowship… small group, prayer partners, faith friends 

Someone or group that is small enough to listen to one another 

Strong enough to to provide accountability 

Loving enough to challenge us to allow Christ to continue transforming us together?

• If I know what Jesus asks me to do and I’m doing it, you have good news we all need to hear
• If you know but are not doing anything about it then get to it now
• If you don’t know it’s time to pray study ask, seek Jesus from those who have heard
• If you have tried and failed, learn why and try again
• If you are scare to start because you know things will be different in your life hear the stories and witness of those who have heard
• If you don’t know where to begin, here John’S question of Jesus: where are you, that I can come listen and get to know you and learn your call for my life.

Isaiah 60:1-9 Arise the Light is Shining

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; they shall be acceptable on my altar, and I will glorify my glorious house. Who are these that fly like a cloud, and like doves to their windows? For the coastlands shall wait for me, the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your children from far away, their silver and gold with them, for the name of the Lord your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you. [NRSV]

A prophetic word from Isaiah reminding and foretelling of God’s Light and Hope is coming.

• The image of nursing mothers
• A radiant light in the darkness
• Camels, Doves, and Flocks
• some come bringing God and Frankincense
• they will come from far away lands, from the ends of the earth
• all because of the Glory of God’s works, the Holy One of Israel.

This is a prophecy calling that we see fulfilled

• in the night sky as shepherds watch their flocks by night,
• The Glory of the Lord is shone in the darkness to the least, the last and the lost.
• The Nations shall bring gifts of Gold and incense, Frankincense to Glorify my Host, My House

700 Years priory to the Birth of Jesus, Isaiah is preparing the people in darkness to look for a great and glorious light.

• You and I are those who know the whole story.
• We know what the Light of the World is all about
• We look at the darkness of sin, lies, deceptions, divisions, and corruption and we see the power of REVERSAL

Matthew 2: 6-16

“And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’ ” Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.  On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.  Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”  Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt,  and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”  When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. [NRSA]

• Where we see DARKNESS, DEATH, SIN, and BROKENESS
  • We have the Glory of the Heavenly HOST singing and working with us.
• Where we see 1 Night/day, 1 child/person, 1 church, our witness is intended for a world of folks struggling in darkness.
  • We have the GIFTS of the WORLD’s wealth to be used for GOOD
• Where the are those working against us, God has another plan, another way
  • Our paths may differ from our expectations, but God has GOOD, HOPE, Light, LIfe for us

Arise, God’s Light is Shining through US!

• We were not in the fields
• We didn’t travel from far countries
• We didn’t look into the manger that night
  • BUT
• We can see the power the darkness in our world
• We can see the ends of the earth on our screens
• We can see the fulfilling of God’s continuing Story, shining and giving light in a world filled with politics, corruption, and division.
• We have all the pieces and see how God fits them together throughout time for times like the days and nights we living through now.

This the day of Hope!

• What the world intends for evil, God brings new life.
• This is our mission, this is our calling, this is our charge, this is our responsibility
• Where there is darkness, we shine the light of christ
• Where there is not enough, we bring the wealth to the feet of Jesus
• Where there are reasons to fight among ourselves God way will not be stopped, the question is will we be looking for worship with sheep,
• Will we be those who following the political voice, or follow the songs of angels and the prayers of wisemen.