Follow Me: Ordinary People for an Extraordinary Purpose

Today's episode of A New Beginning is brought to you by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Learn more at harvest.org. And while you're there, browse our library of free ebooks designed to help you grow in your faith. Jesus is putting his team together. He was going to choose 12 men in total, and they would be the most ordinary of all men. Pastor Greg Laurie points out that the Lord is looking for ordinary men and women to join him in doing extraordinary things.

They weren't saints, nor were they scholars. They were hopelessly human, but they were available to the master's call. Do you want to be on Jesus' team? Those who began reading Pastor Greg Laurie's new book on the life of Billy Graham, the greatest evangelist in history, know he was a humble young dairy farmer before he accepted God's call in his life. What kinds of things can God do through you when you accept his call on your life?

That's the question we'll explore today here on A New Beginning. Glad you're long as Pastor Greg continues his series in the Gospel of Mark. He's titled this message collection, The Gospel for Busy People. Follow me. Those are the words of Jesus to all people today. So I start with a question.

Are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Do you understand what that means? Now, we know the word follower. It's used in a lot of ways. One way it's used is in social media. For instance, if you're on Twitter, you have followers. If you're on Facebook, you have friends. Someone summed up the different social media platforms this way. If you're on Instagram, you're effectively saying, my life's a party. If you're on Snapchat, you're saying, my life is a quirky TV show. If you're on Facebook, you're saying, my life is great. And if you're on Twitter, you're saying, we're all gonna die.

I mean, really. People are very negative on Twitter. A lot of critical harsh tweets that people shoot at each other. People like to attack one another on Twitter.

And of course, then you have all of the people that follow you and maybe they retweet you. Now, Jesus never did tweet, did he? Though he could have.

Though he could have. The Beatitudes, those would be great tweets, wouldn't they? Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the peacemakers, so they shall be called the children of God. Perfect tweets.

No, Jesus did not tweet, but he did have his followers. And they were pretty eclectic too. He had some fishermen, he had a tax collector, and he had a zealot. Now, we have to understand what these terms mean.

We understand a fisherman. But what is a tax collector and what is a zealot? A zealot is someone who is dedicated to the violent overthrow of Rome.

We might actually call them a terrorist today. A tax collector was someone who was colluding with Rome. Rome was the occupying power there in Israel at that particular time. So here we have a man, a Jewish man in particular, Matthew, that we'll talk about later, who was in collusion with Rome. And how we have another man named Simon who was dedicated to the violent overthrow of Rome. It would be like having different parts of your family voting for different candidates.

That may be true of some of your homes. But listen to this. We are Christians, and we are members of a different kingdom, and it's more important than even politics. And Jesus said this, by this shall all men know you are my disciples, that you love one another.

Listen to this. Christians should be marked by love, not by always being right. And when I say by being right, I mean sometimes in their own mind. If you find yourself shouting at people, and I just was shouting when I said that all over my voice.

If you find yourself always uptight and angry and using your social media accounts to blast this group or blast that person, something's wrong. Remember, you need to be glorifying God with whatever platform he has given to you. We need to be characterized and identified by our love for God and our love for others. Well, let's look at Mark chapter one, verse 16, as we continue in our series, The Gospel for Busy People. One day, as Jesus was walking along the shore of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother, Andrew, throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, follow me, and I'll show you how to fish for people.

By the way, I'm reading from the New Living Translation. The King James translates that verse as follows, follow me, and I'll make you a fisher of men. Mark goes on to say, and they left their nets at once and followed him. A little further up the shore, Jesus saw Zebedee's son, James and John, in a boat, repairing their nets. He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men.

So here's point number one. Jesus is putting his team together. Do you want to be on Jesus' team? He was going to choose 12 men in total, and they would be the most ordinary of all men. They weren't saints in the traditional use of the word. Now, technically, they were saints, because a saint means a true believer.

So anyone who has put their faith in Christ is technically a saint, but in modern usage, a saint is some extraordinary holy person. So they weren't saints in that way, nor were they scholars, nor were they sages. They were hopelessly human. They were remarkably unremarkable, but they were available to the master's call. Now, Simon and Andrew had been disciples of John the Baptist.

Remember, we talked about him last time. He came before Christ, preparing the way, and he said to them as Jesus walked by, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. So they transferred their allegiance from John over to Jesus, but they still didn't fully understand who Jesus was or what he had come to do. James and John are also mentioned, and they're given this special title, The Sons of Thunder. I sort of see James and John as two outlaw bikers, you know, coming up and being called by Jesus to be a part of the team. Again, what an eclectic group of people.

But here's a point I want to bring to your attention. Note that all of these men were doing something when Jesus called them. Andrew was throwing a net into the water, along with Simon.

James and John were in a boat, repairing their nets. And we see the same elsewhere in Scripture. People were busy when God called them. As an example, David, who would become the king of Israel, was watching over his flock when he was summoned by the prophet. Moses was watching over a flock when the Lord spoke to him through a burning bush.

Elisha was plowing in a field when he was called by Elijah to carry on the prophetic ministry. Bringing me to point number two. If you want to be used by God, get busy doing something for the Lord. Just get busy with what is in front of you. Mend those nets. Cast those nets. Tend those sheep.

Plow those fields. Teach that Sunday school class. Go on that mission trip.

Share one-on-one. Give that tithe. Just get out and do something. Do what you can, where you can. One way to find out what you're called to do is maybe by discovering what you're not called to do. So when someone comes to me and says, oh Greg, I want to be used by the Lord, I always suggest to them that they go volunteer at their church. Go to your pastor. Say, Pastor, I want to be used by God and I'll do whatever needs to be done.

Now hold on, you may not get the job you wanted. You might end up doing some janitorial work or setting some chairs up or doing something menial like that, but that's probably because the pastor is wanting to see if you'll be faithful in the little things. I remember when I was a brand new Christian and I went to Pastor Chuck Smith at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. I was 17 years old and I said, Chuck, I want to serve the Lord.

I'll do whatever you guys want me to do. And they gave me different tasks starting with janitorial, sweeping leaves, cleaning toilets, and I did it all and I remember one day they gave me a special mission to go on for God. They said, we need a new doorknob for the church office door. So I went down to the local hardware store. I've never been a mechanical guy. If you want anything fixed, never call me. If you want it broken, call me.

I'll help you with that. And I looked at all these doorknobs in different sizes. I literally prayed, God help me find the right doorknob.

And I chose one and took it back and it was the wrong size. So I failed in my mission, but it was little things. But I thought, well, maybe God wants me to be in a worship team. So I joined this worship group and I was doing percussion. I was playing a conga drum or something like that.

And I remember standing up there in front of the people and of course I couldn't really keep the rhythm very well. And I discovered this is not what I'm called to do. Sometimes you find out what you are called to do by first finding out what you're not called to do. But here's the key. Whatever you do it, the Bible says, do it with all of your heart is unto the Lord and be faithful in the little things.

Bringing me to my next point. If you want to be used by God, be faithful in what is before you now. Jesus says in Luke 16, 10, unless you are faithful in small matters, you won't be faithful in large ones.

If you cheat even a little, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities. So be faithful in those little things. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. So many listeners have commented on the help they receive from Pastor Greg's daily messages. God's word ministers to them and it often gets them through some of their darkest hours.

We've been listening to your messages ever since. Your hard work in giving us the gospel has been such a blessing. If I'm not reading one of your books, I'm reading the New Beginners Bible, which I have read front to back a few times now.

Learning as much as I possibly can about Jesus, where my son is, and where we're all going to go is comforting. Thank you, Pastor Greg, for all you do. If you've had your life changed because of Harvest Ministries, would you let Pastor Greg know? Just drop him an email, gregatharvest.org.

Again, that's gregatharvest.org. Well, we're joining Pastor Greg today in the gospel of Mark, for a look at how we can follow the Lord's call and be used by God. As we make our way through Mark chapter one, after this, Mark chapter one, after this, Jesus goes into a synagogue and he encounters a demon-possessed man. Jesus casts the demon out of the man and the people are astonished. It's interesting, the phrase that Jesus used to the demon was be quiet or literally be muzzled. By the way, that's the same phrase he used when he rebuked the storm.

Remember that story? He went up and said to the storm, be still. It's that same phrase, be muzzled, because he was saying to the devil, stop. The devil's sort of like a crazy dog ready to bite.

Be muzzled, stop, be still. So the disciples are beginning to discover the power that Jesus has. He has power over demons. And in time, they're going to see that he had power over sickness and even power over death itself. But the most important thing that Jesus had power over was sin. He and he alone could forgive sin because he would soon discover.

So yes, he was God, but he was God walking in a human body of flesh and blood and he grew tired and he was hungry and experienced all of those things that we experience physically. So the next movement in the story is Jesus needed some food and some rest. So they take him home to the house of Simon Peter, bringing us to this next point, which is we need to bring Jesus home because that's what they did. Bring him home. Don't leave Jesus at the church on Sunday morning. Take Jesus home with you. Hey, take Jesus to work with you. Take Jesus wherever you go.

And by that, I mean, invite him to be a part of every aspect of your life. What a privilege for Peter to come home and say to his wife, I have a special guest, dear Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Well, as it turns out, Peter's mother-in-law was very ill. Apparently she lived with Peter and his wife and yes, Peter was married, which is an important note, isn't it? She was very sick and they told Jesus she needed to be touched. And so Jesus heals her in Mark 1 31 saying he took her by the hand and lifted her up and immediately the fever left her. Well, news travels fast. All of the disciples shot out a quick tweet and there were even some posts on Instagram.

Not really, but it sounds like it because in moments, literally the whole city is there at the door. Mark 1 32, that evening after sunset, the people brought to Jesus, all the sick and demon possessed, the whole town gathered at the door. That brings us now to Mark chapter two. And Jesus is going to show the primary reason he came, not just to cast out demons, not just to heal the sick, not even to raise the dead. He was coming to forgive sins. And there's nothing more important than having your sin forgiven. As I say this, am I speaking to somebody right now who is not sure if their sin is forgiven? You're haunted by things you've done in your past.

It keeps you up at night. You've tried to self-medicate, as they say, with alcohol or drugs and numb yourself to the pain of what you've done and the harm and the pain you've brought into other people's lives. I want you to know God can forgive your sin.

And I'm going to tell you how in a few moments. Now let's go over to Mark chapter two, verse one. When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home.

Soon the house where he was staying was packed with visitors, and there was no more room even outside the door. While he was preaching the word, four men arrived, carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn't bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof right above his head, and they lowered the man on this mat right in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, my child, your sins are forgiven. Bringing me to my next point, we need to work together if we want to bring our friends to Jesus. Four guys. They want to get their friend to Jesus.

He needs a physical touch. They can't get in the house. It's packed wall to wall people, so they lower him to the roof. Now this is kind of hard for us to understand in the 21st century, but in the first century the roofs were flat. There would be an outside staircase leading to the roof.

Sometimes people would sit up on the roof like a little patio garden of sorts. So they get up on the roof and they start digging through it, digging through the straw, and meanwhile here's Jesus inside the house speaking to his audience, listening to his every word. All of a sudden a little dirt clod falls to the ground. A couple more fall.

Some straw comes down. A shaft of light breaks through. Another shaft of light comes through, and suddenly this man is on this mat with four guys with robes letting him down. He may be swinging back and forth a little bit and he's put right in front of Jesus.

Maybe the guy laying there went, hey, and Jesus said, my child your sins are forgiven you. But I love the fact that these guys work together. They cooperated. And if we want to see people come to Jesus we need to work with fellow believers because we need to join our efforts together and we'll get a lot more done.

We are much stronger together than we are alone. You remember that story in Acts chapter 12 when Peter was arrested for preaching the gospel. And we read in Acts 12 one, constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. They prayed. There's power when we pray together. Jesus says if any two of you will agree together, touching anything in prayer, it will be done of your father in heaven. The Bible also says if two or more of you will gather together Christ will be there in the midst.

So we need to pray together. My next point is one prays another shares but God does the work. You know when a person comes to Christ it's a chain of events that connect together resulting in a conversion. Maybe it's a seed sown in a heart during childhood. Maybe that seed is watered a little bit later. Maybe they encounter a Christian they don't even know who says or does something that makes an impression on them.

Then finally someone takes the time to share the gospel. We're all part of a chain that God orchestrated to bring someone to the Lord. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3 verse 6, I planted. Apollos watered. Apollos was another preacher. But God gave the increase.

So neither he who plants is anything nor he that waters. It's God that gives the increase. And notice that Jesus immediately got to the heart of this man's problem because the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. This man needed his sin forgiven. It was even more important than being healed of his paralysis. A Cayman, a famous psychologist, said if he could convince patients in the psychiatric hospitals that their sins were forgiven 75 percent would walk out the next day.

Think of that. And Jesus can forgive sins. Now they react properly. They say wait what do you mean your sins are forgiven you? And they ask the question who can forgive sins but God alone?

And the answer is no one. Some people would say you know Jesus never claimed to be God. His followers came up with that later.

Uh that is not true. Jesus did claim to be God on multiple occasions and this is one of them. If Jesus were not God he would have said something along the lines of that's a good point and I'm not God. But no he forgave that man's sins. In fact in Mark 2 10 he says I'll prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. And Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said stand up pick up your man and go home. That was a clear claim to deity.

Jesus was God. We don't want to miss that very important point. Pastor Greg Laurie is presenting insights from the first chapter of Mark today here on A New Beginning part of a series called The Gospel for Busy People. There's so much insight coming our way in these practical lessons and if you miss a point or two along the way you can catch up by listening online at harvest.org. Look for today's message called Follow Me.

And then it's a privilege to have Shannon Breen with us today. You may recognize that name. She's an anchor at Fox News and also their chief legal correspondent. She's just released a brand new book called The Women of the Bible Speak.

The subtitle is The Wisdom of 16 Women and Their Lessons for Today. And Shannon you mentioned in the book that one of your favorite stories is that of Deborah who appears in Judges 4 and 5. Why is she your favorite?

I love her because she then bucks the message that so many people who are intimidated by the Bible or by religion or by the Christian faith will say, well, women aren't respected. But the truth is Deborah defies every wrong thought about the Bible and about women's role in the Bible because she was the leader of Israel. She was a judge. She was leading at that time.

The people had gotten away from the Lord as all of us do in our lives and they really need to help. Well, they had Deborah as a judge. So she's settling disputes. She's giving them guidance. And God comes to her and says, I want you to lead Israel. I want Israel to go in battle against the Canaanites who have been oppressing them. And she goes and gathers their military commander Barak and says, Hey, God has said, we're supposed to go take on these people, get the men together and let's go.

And he's sort of like, whoa, whoa, whoa, because the odds were not in their favor by any stretch. But he said, I'll only go if you go with me. And she says, okay, I will go, but you will not get the glory of getting the opposing general, Sisera.

He will be delivered into the hands of a woman because you're making me go with you. And so then that's where we meet Yael later on in the story. So there are two powerful women there who were leaders. Here, Deborah is leading the entire nation of Israel and is called into battle and doesn't question God.

Against all odds, she says, okay, let's go. And I hope I would be more like Deborah. And I just think she's a great example of leadership. Yeah, she really is a bold catalyst for change and such an example for women today. And the book is filled with one example after another, True Heroes Worth Following Today. They're all captured in the new book, The Women of the Bible Speak by author and news anchor Shannon Bream. We'll send you this new book to thank you for your investment that helps us continue to bring these daily studies and to help touch lives. Listen to this comment. I've been listening to your podcasts since I was quarantined at home having contracted COVID-19.

It was a depressing time for me because I felt fine but was confined to my home over Christmas. Your studies brought me joy and precious time filling my heart and mind with His truth. I love your sense of humor and that you preach the truth. Well, you know, as you're listening today, countless others are as well, many who are facing challenging times. And your investment in these studies helps us continue to reach out.

And with your donation right now and the amount of your choosing, we'll thank you with this new book, The Women of the Bible Speak. Ask for it as you write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300.

Or just go online to harvest.org. Well, Pastor Greg, you've been teaching the Bible here on radio for many years now. In fact, almost 40 years. But you have some exciting news about television. Yeah, Dave, I'm very excited to share this news with our listeners and supporters. Listen, everybody, we're launching a new television program called Harvest with Greg Laurie to major TV networks across the United States. This show will air on Sunday mornings on some networks you might be familiar with, like the Lifetime Network, Fox Business Network, Newsmax, Daystar, TBN, and KCAL here in Los Angeles. Combined, these air times will reach, listen to this, drum roll please, over 60 million viewers annually.

That is exciting. And some of these are secular TV networks, so we're reaching more people who need to hear the gospel. So I'm really excited about this, and I'm also grateful for our Harvest partners and donors who have helped us launch this new TV program. Join us Sunday mornings.

You can find airtimes at harvest.org. Well, next time, more insight on the calling of Jesus to come follow me. More from Pastor Greg's series, The Gospel for Busy People, here on The New Beginning.

Hey, everybody. Thanks for listening to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it. Just go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God.