Matthew 4:18-20 ESV

While walking 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 fishers of men.”
Immediately they left left their nets and followed him.

God’s People:
Part Two

In the history of this world
God has always
been calling
and gathering His people.

Among the maidens
of Israel
God chose one
and Mary obeyed.

Even though he
failed his Lord
God called and
Peter obeyed.

On his way
to do his worst
God struck Saul,
then he obeyed.

Almost unkown
Priscilla and
Aquila answered
true to God’s Call.

All alone, his
brothers all gone,
God called John
and he obeyed.

His eternal Call,
”Come, follow me.”
So, blessed are 
all who obey.

 

Luke 1:35-38 ESV

And the angel answered her,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
therefore the child to be born
will be called holy—the Son of God.
And behold, your relative Elizabeth
in her old age has conceived a son,
and this is the sixth month
with her who was called barren.
For nothing will be impossible with God.”
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord;
let it be to me according to your word.”

 

When Jesus calls, we will most often be amazed. We will be startled. We never seem to expect His call. When Jesus calls, we will hear what seems impossible. We know our limits, but so does He, and as it turns out, He knows our potential in His hands much better than do we. He knows His plan, and how He chooses to fit us into His plan. He has plans which far exceed our imagination. He has plans far more wonderful than we can comprehend. All of this points us to absolute faith in Him and to complete trust in Him. After all, “ . . . nothing is impossible with God.” And our response? May it ever be as believing, as simple, as faithful as dear young Mary; “ . . . I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” How can we fail to be challenged by such full faith? How can we fail to follow this example in responding faithfully to the call of God in our lives? How could we ever imagine refusing such a powerful and such a splendid call?

 

John 21:15-17 ESV

When they had finished breakfast,
Jesus said to Simon Peter,
’Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”
He said to him,
“Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”
He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
He said to him a second time,
”Simon, do you love me?”
”Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
He said to him the third time,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was grieved because
he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?”
and he said to him,
“Lord, you know everything;
you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

Peter had come a long way. He had answered the Lord Jesus’ initial call to follow Him and to fish for men. He had daily experienced the power of His Master’s Presence in his own life. He had recognized himself being transformed into a better, a more godly man. He had in a moment of divine inspiration exclaimed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Yet he had failed His Lord when he, Peter, was most needed. He had denied His Lord Jesus three times. He believed he did not deserve to follow His perfect Lord, He, Peter, was just like any other fisherman, He was just a sinful man. And now, Jesus had found him once again. And now, Jesus had given him and his friends a miraculous catch of fish again. And now, Jesus was asking, “Simon, do you love me?” Not once but three times. And each time Peter, broken-hearted confessed, “I love you.” Jesus followed each painful confession with His command: “Feed my sheep.”  Jesus was asking Peter to do the impossible, not that he could, on his own, do so. Jesus was asking Peter to answer again this call in faith and obedience. Jesus was asking Peter to turn away from himself, and to turn in faith to Jesus. Jesus called. Peter answered. And the rest is a rich part of the glory of the glorious beginnings of the Church of God accomplished by Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and by the called who answered with Peter,  “Lord, I love you.” Today the call is for you and for me.  Jesus asks you, “Do you love me?” Will you respond, “Yes, I love you.” Jesus responds, “Feed my sheep.”

 

 

Acts 9:3-5 ESV

As he journeyed he came near Damascus,
and suddenly a light shone around him from Heaven.
Then he fell to the ground,
and heard a voice saying to him,
”Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
And he said, “Who are you, Lord?”
Then the Lord said,
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

 

Jesus often calls the least likely people to use in His most amazing work as He builds His Church. Certainly, no one in the early Church was looking to Saul for anything but opposition and persecution. Here was a man who had declared absolute war upon the new believers. He was on his way to Damascus to do battle against the believers there. Then he met Jesus. That changed everything forever. That turned his life upside-down. Then Jesus used him to turn the world upside down. Indeed, Jesus used him to turn the Church upside down as Christianity exploded beyond the Jews and began to grow among the Gentiles all around the world. How blind Saul had been before he met Jesus. How ignorantly he had opposed those who loved the One, the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Jewish Scriptures had foretold. How sadly Saul had missed the central message of redemption through God’s Love in the Scriptures he so revered. Jesus stopped the mistaken Saul in his tracks. He blinded him. He humbled him. Then He redeemed him to live a long, difficult, yet triumphant life in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus he had so forcefully opposed. Meeting with Jesus made all the difference in Saul who became Paul through his faith and powerful witness. Truly for Paul, it was ALL ABOUT JESUS.

 

Acts 18:18, 26 ESV

After this, Paul stayed many days longer
and then took leave of the brothers
and set sail for Syria,
and with him Priscilla and Aquila.

He (Apollos) began to speak boldly
in the synagogue,
but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him,
they took him aside
and explained to him
the way of God more accurately.

 

Priscilla and Aquila loyally supported Paul’s ministry for their Lord Jesus as they worked alongside him at his tent-making occupation, and as he taught them the Jesus Way, which they-in-turn taught to others. As he invested his faith and life in them, they invested their lives and their faith in others. Imagine the hours of laboring on a tent the three spent discussing the Gospel and power of Jesus to save all who turned to Him. Imagine how Paul tried out his best Spirit-inspired arguments for the faith to the open and eager hearts of Priscilla and Aquila. And imagine how they stopped often in the midst of their busy days of labor to pray over a present challenge or a saint in need or for a seeker being drawn near to God. It seems clear that God brought Paul into Aquila and Priscilla’s lives to encourage and strengthen them in their faith, and to equip them for  the work of accurately teaching and sharing the Good News with others.  And just as importantly, he brought them to Paul as co-laborers who could listen supportively, and so, learn and share with others the powerful truths he taught them. What a beautiful thing God accomplishes as He brings fellowship and unity among believers so that they become Holy Spirit partners in extending and strengthening the Kingdom. Every Pastor, every Christian leader, needs a Holy-Spirit called and driven team, who provide the loving care and support required  for the encouragement and accountability they need. Priscilla and Aquila serve as clear role models for such  supportive saints.

 

Revelation 1:1-3

The revelation from Jesus Christ,
which God gave him to show to his servants
what soon must take place.
He made it known by sending
his angel to his servant John,
who testifies to everything he saw—
that is, the word of God
and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

In God’s perfect Will He preserved the life of the Apostle John for one climactic, monumental task as he neared the end of his amazing life here on this earth. He had endured while his fellow disciples had died  since those wonderful three years when they had accompanied and had learned to love and serve their Lord Jesus—only to see him crucified, to be buried and to be gloriously resurrected—changing all their lives forever. We remember it was John who stood by the Cross with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and received and honored His beloved Lord’s  dying call to care for her. Over the interceding years, John had served—as did his fellow disciples and other faithful followers of their Lord Jesus—proclaiming the Gospel, winning people to Jesus, and experiencing the birth of Christ’s Church. Now, as an old, old man, John found himself uncomfortably alone on Patmos, an island prison. It was here that Jesus appeared to him, and gave him a unique opportunity to both see and hear glories in Heaven—and to witness amazing things to come—as God moved history toward His conclusion, and the beginnings of New Heaven and New Earth. God needed a witness to the Church and to the World for His final Plan. John’s heart and mind had been prepared, and he obediently penned the powerful and beautiful, the inspiring and troubling book of Revelation. In the course of the Apostle John’s life, God called him to many tasks, and each one prepared him for the next, as John obeyed. Here is the challenge to us, no matter our age: God continually calls us throughout our lives  for tasks to undertake for His Kingdom. Each time we obey, He builds our faith, and prepares us for further service until we are Home with Him.

God is never done with us because our lives are truly and fully ALL ABOUT JESUS and His Call for us to become His disciples. He calls us to repentance. He calls us into redemption. He calls us as He remakes us more-and-more in His image. He calls us to declare His glory. He calls us to tell us His story. He calls us to speak His glorious gospel truth to those who have never heard. He calls us to speak again and again of His glorious gospel truth until they fully hear, receive His call to salvation and obey. How privileged we are to stand upon the shoulders of those who have faithfully heard and obeyed His call throughout the magnificent story of Christ’s Church now growing ever more triumphant upon the earth in anticipation of His glorious return.