Church Of The Harvest | Sermon Podcast | Cleveland, TN
[be]sciple Week 2 - Pastor Chris Goins
Hello church of the harvest. It is so good to see you tonight. I love, I really do love worshiping with you. And in fact last Wednesday Pastor Rhonda shared that she was going to be sharing a word from a dream that she'd had, a spiritual dream. She laid down to take a nap. God gave her a spiritual dream. And to be ready for the lecture series that we started today at ISO, I did not get to go to church Sunday. I was on a deadline due to some visuals that had to be in before that. So I worked all day Sunday and Janet got up. She said, "Hey, I've got to go here Pastor Rhonda and I've got to hear that message." And she came back home just bragging about that message, about how God has created a Bethesda here, a house of mercy. What a beautiful word. And we told people about this church in the live seminar today. We'll tell them again tomorrow. If you get a chance to be with us, we've got one more day of truth versus culture. And I really am passionate about communicating truth in a way that is loving and yet in a way that is straightforward. I don't think that kindness means that we downgrade the truth. I believe that's not kindness at all. So if you get a chance, we kick off at 9.30 and we'll go to somewhere mid-afternoon. It should be another great day. But tonight I'm so excited about the lesson. I'm going to pray and then we'll dive in. We've got a lot of ground to cover and I know God's going to give a strength to do so. Father, thank you for this evening. Thank you for Pastor Rhonda and a beautiful church family called Church of the Harvest. A year at work here. And so much of a heart of this church resonates with me. Whosoever, thank you for the church that you're building. And thank you that you gave us a model of what discipleship looks like in the New Testament. So help us walk this out in a way that honors you and inspires others to pursue you. It's in Jesus' name we pray and everybody said amen. Hey did everybody get notes? Let's jump in. This series is called B-Cyple. B-Cyple is about becoming a disciple of Jesus. This is the big idea. It's not about mastering facts or learning all the right info and lingo. It is about the joy of becoming a certain kind of person. A person who loves like Jesus talks like Jesus lives like Jesus until we ultimately become like Jesus. One of the realities of life is that we grow older. I don't know if you've noticed this about people but sometimes as people grow older they get meaner. Have you noticed this? It's a possibility. In fact one of the things that I do, I did, I should say as a pastor, I don't do nearly as often is I would visit a lot of people and a person struggling with something like dementia or Alzheimer's. Their family would often talk to me. My mother, my father has gotten so mean. Can you help me understand? Can you help me deal with this? There's a relative and I want to keep it vague but there's a relative in our family who lived just a few months shy of 100. Health-wise, incredible health. Health-wise, this woman really didn't suffer with any physical ailments until just months before she passed and that was just months, a few short months before she turned 100. But in terms of character, in terms of her kindness, she grew more and more mean, a more difficult for her loving family to care for, more challenging for those who loved her most. And that's always bothered me because one of the realities of life is I'm getting older. Will I become that kind of person? On the other hand, I have a close friend and his name is Bob Smith and Bob is now nearing 90. And the last time I was with Bob, he had just underwent a major surgical procedure and he had come through with shining colors. It was a pretty, pretty massive procedure and his wife was in the room and as I was in the room with Bob and his wife, as he wake and he woke up smiling and he looked over at his wife. She's one of these old-school church ladies. I mean like her church, her church hair is humongous and she's not losing that style. Nobody's gonna make or lose that style. She loves it. And Bob opened his eyes and looked over at her and just smiled. And then he looked at me and he said, "You see that woman over there?" I said, "Oh yeah." He said, "She is God's greatest gift to me. She's been with me since and he named how long that they had been together. And Chris, God couldn't have given me a better gift than when he gave me that beautiful woman. And she's been by my side through so many events in my life and waking up. She's still by my side. That's a gift from God. And every time I was with Bob, it would be the same kind of conversation. It was always, even though Bob struggled with a variety of health issues, that those health issues never dampened his enthusiasm. They never dampened his spirit. They never caused them to get to get mean and callous and cynical and snide. But there was always this grace that came out of him. And I mean it almost every time when I would leave Bob's presence, I would get on the phone with my wife and I would say, "There's the dude. That's the guy. I've got to become more like him. Because if I can reach that age in life and not have allowed life to make me cynical and cruel and mean and unkind." Here's what I learned about Bob, spending time with Bob. And by the way, he had so many amazing stories. He had pastored for a number of years a large assembly of God. And then one day, and this is just an aside, doesn't have anything to do with the teaching, but hopefully, hopefully it will build your faith. One day, he was on a plane ride coming back from a trip he had taken. And he went to sleep on that plane ride, and God gave him a schematic diagram of a machine that he was to create. It ended up, he owned the patent on it. It was a wood-chipping machine. And God said, "You're supposed to create this and start a business." He did. That business became a multi-million dollar business. His, that thing that he drew a schematic of, right after he woke up, and Bob wasn't an engineer at all. He sold that machine in countries around the world. It's pretty amazing. His faith always challenged me. And he said, "Chris, I resigned the password after that. Not because I didn't love it, but because God called me into a different kind of ministry, and I've continued to pastor people, not just pastor 120 employees that happened to work for me. But what challenged me was here was a man who was like Jesus. I'm going to read the big idea. The disciple is about becoming a disciple of Jesus. It's not about mastering facts or learning all the right info and lingo. Have you ever met someone who knows all the right Christianese? They speak it perfectly, but they're not kind. They're not courteous. They're not loving. They're not attractive. And when I talk about attraction, I'm talking about you don't want to be with them. In fact, you count the seconds to when you can leave. The disciple is about the joy of becoming a certain kind of person, a person. This is what I saw from Bob day in and day out. A person who loves like Jesus, talks like Jesus, lives like Jesus until we ultimately become like Jesus. That's what I want. You know, I make a statement every day. It's a declaration. I just made it this morning. I got up really early and went on an early morning prayer jog. And I've got this, this lighting apparatus that I wear. I'm smiling because my daughter bought it for me. She didn't want me to get run over on these country roads that I run on. So it lights up everything. It actually serves as a great flashlight when it's still dark. And it was still dark out this morning. And I've got all kinds of light. And I say this statement. It's one of my declarations because I know how easy it is to become something I don't want to become. So one of the things I say is I am a good dad and granddad. I love laugh play. Have fun with my children and my grandchildren. I do not exasperate them by coming down hard on them. Instead, I gently take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the master. Then when Jesus calls me home, when Jesus calls me home, my children will say, "Dad, love Jesus well. He love mom well. He loved us well." That's the goal. You want to know what success is? This isn't my definition. Somebody came up with it. Success is when those who know you best respect and love you most, that's success. That's becoming like Jesus. So let's dive in to Mark 3. Jesus, he climbed a mountain and invited those. He wanted with him. They climbed together. He settled on 12 and designated them apostles. If you write in your notes, you might want to circle the word apostles. It means sent one. This was Jesus' process and method. He was always recruiting, developing, nurturing, sending, evaluating, rescinding, empowering, rescinding. He sent 12 in Mark 3. Some time later, he would send 70, Luke 10. What's interesting is none of those he sent were fully developed or mature. They weren't perfect when it came to their theology or methodology. In fact, you could say they didn't really have a theology, but Jesus sent them because he believed that hands-on experience followed up by loving evaluation and opportunities in the field for on-site adjustments would accelerate the process of learning and growth. I gave you this equation in your notes. Experience plus evaluation plus adjustments equals accelerated growth. You want to kick your growth into overdrive. Get experience. I mean, get your hands dirty. Then allow someone to evaluate what you're doing. After you evaluate or are evaluated, make adjustments accordingly and then watch growth occur. Most of us don't have 30 years of experience. We have one year of experience repeated 30 times because we've never taken evaluation. We've never made adjustments. We just keep repeating the same thing again and again and again, expecting somehow miraculously to get different results. It's really interesting. When the 70 returned in Luke 10, they were blown away by their effectiveness. It's almost as if they didn't expect to succeed. Master, we can't believe it, but when we when we spoke in your name and then they give the report of all that occurred. Well, just before he sent them out, he had reminded them of his agenda when he said this, Luke 10, verse 2, "The harvest is great, but the workers are few, so pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest, ask him to send more workers into his harvest field, and then all of a sudden Jesus answers his own prayer by sending them into the harvest field." These guys come back, they're blown away by how people responded. They're blown away by power of God that was available and active in ordinary people. They came back and they said, "This Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name." And Jesus smiled and basically said, "Guys, if you get excited about the fact that demons have to obey you, then you're getting excited about the wrong thing. I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." That's not a really big deal at all. Don't rejoice because the demons are subject to you. Rather rejoice that your names have been recorded in heaven. That's a really big deal. Jesus wanted to make certain his disciples understood what was top priority. And top priority for him was not that demons tremble. That was just reality. That's just what happens when kingdom of God arrives. Top priority for Jesus was when we share the good news and final destinations shift and change. When people's names get registered in heaven, when heaven throws a party. When his father runs to greet the wayward returning son. When those in the house kill the fatted calf and bring out the robe and bring out the ring and bring out the shoes, that was top priority. So let's read again, Mark 3. Jesus climbed a mountain and invited those he wanted with him. They climbed together. He settled on 12 and designated them apostles. The plan, Jesus always has a plan, was that they would be with him and he would send them out to proclaim the word and give them authority to banish demons. Here's how discipleship happens. Let's break it down. Number one, discipleship begins with an awareness that I am wanted and have been chosen by Jesus. He climbed a mountain and invited those he wanted. That's the message. NLT, afterward Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the ones he wanted to go with him. That's the NLT, ESV. He went up on the mountain and called to him those he desired. If you're marking your Bibles, you might want to underline that word called. It's a Greek word, Pascaleo. Here's what it means. It means to call or to invite, to call by name, to name, to call or invite to oneself, to call to a specific task or assignment. It's really interesting to me that the Greek word for church is ecclesia, which is made up of two Greek words, ek, which means out of, incaleo, which means to call, to invite, to call by name, to give a name too. This is Pascaleo. Jesus is calling people by name and the names are listed. Simon. Jesus later named him Peter. James, John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, Stadia, Simon, and Judas. I want to ask you to do something right now. Imagine what it must have been like to hear Jesus call you by name. Chris, follow me. You're mine. I want you to just check out a few of the names on that list. I don't have time to work through the whole list, but it's worth working through, and I've done that before, and I love that teaching but let me just give you a few of the highlights. Simon. Jesus later called him Peter, meaning rock. I love this. Before there was Dwayne the Rock Johnson, there was Simon the Rock Peter. And then Andrew, his brothers, these guys were brothers, partners in a fishing business. Let me just walk through them. First of all, Andrew. I'm going to call him the connector. Andrew or Andy may have been the first disciple to follow Jesus. Before he was a disciple of Jesus, he was probably a disciple of John the Baptist. He ultimately introduced his brother and partner in the fishing business, Peter, to Jesus, and then spent most of his time in the shadow of his better-known brother. But the dude had this knack for spotting giftedness. I mean, Andy saw something in his brother, Peter, and he called it out. And then in John chapter 6, it was also Andy, when Jesus wanted his disciples to feed a crowd of at least 5,000 men, 15,000 when you include the women and the children. It was Andy who found a kid in the crowd with a lunch sack filled with five biscuits and two sardines. And Andy said, "Well, this dude." And Jesus said, "You bet my hands, it will do." Here's what historians say about Andy. Andrew took the gospel north to Skithia. That's Russia. He also took the gospel to Scotland and Greece. One account says that Andrew ended up leading the wife of a Roman governor to Jesus and this ticked the governor off. He demanded that his wife deny her devotion to Jesus, wings she refused, the governor had Andrew crucified. But the governor's orders, those who crucified him, tied Andy to the cross instead of nailing him to it because they wanted to prolong his suffering. Tradition says that he was crucified on an X-shaped cross and he died a slow death that took three days. By most accounts, oh get this. By most accounts, as he hung on the cross, he drifted in and out of consciousness. But every time he regained consciousness, this guy had been so transformed by the reality of Jesus calling him the reality of Jesus' resurrection that every time he regained consciousness, while on the on the cross, he preached the gospel to those who were passing by. Jesus said, "Andy, follow." And Andy followed. Let me just ask you this. Do you ever feel overlooked or neglected? Do you ever feel like you're always the one behind the scenes but never the one in the spotlight? Do you ever feel like you're the one who points to, you point to the one with the gifts, but maybe you didn't get that many gifts? Well, maybe you're an Andy. An Andy that God is going to use in incredible ways to transform the world. How about Peter? I'm going to nickname him failure to faithful. The New Testament describes Peter as a pretty impetuous guy. He had a habit of putting his mouth in motion before his mind was actually engaged during gear. Amazingly, Peter became part of Jesus' inner circle. And after the resurrection became one of the primary leaders of the first century church and one of the greatest leaders in the history of Christianity, this guy wasn't always a picture of faithfulness. In fact, his failures remind me a lot of me, his failures. I mean, this guy slept when Jesus asked him to pray. Anybody been guilty. He opened his mouth when he should have kept it shut. He went out and denied three times that he even knew Jesus when he was questioned by a teenage girl. But despite every failure, every setback, every idiosyncrasy, Peter was still wanted and chosen by Jesus. His name wasn't Peter when Jesus wanted, called and chosen. It was Simon. Get this. In the Greek mindset, naming something, naming someone was simply assigning phonetic sounds to an object or person, not in the Hebrew mindset. In the Hebrew or Jewish mindset, naming someone meant giving it existence, purpose, function. Jesus changed Peter's name from Simon, which means it's not a bad name. God has heard. To Peter, which means rock, a boulder, something steady, sure, certain. Even though what gets me is even before passed around it, any of those things were true about Peter. Jesus called Peter rock. I want you to know even before many things are true about you. Jesus calls you faithful. Jesus calls you fruitful. Jesus calls you child. I'm going to clap my hands and amen myself if I have to. According to tradition, Peter preached the gospel for the rest of his life. Late in life, he went to Rome to supervise. Man, these stories get me. The missionary efforts of the early church. He was martyred in Rome by the emperor Nero. Secular historians say that before being crucified, he was forced to watch the crucifixion of his own wife. And as he watched her being led away to her death, historians say that Peter called out. Remember the Lord. And when it was Peter's turn to die, he pleaded with his executioners to be crucified upside down because he said, I'm not worthy to die like Christ. So let me ask you, are you impetuous? Are you prone to failure? Peter reminds us that even impetuous, prone to failure people like me, like you, are still wanted and chosen by God. He's still calling our name. Let's talk for a second about James, son of Zebedee and John, the brother of James. Jesus nicknamed, I skipped over this when I first read the list, but I like it. Jesus nicknamed the Zebedee brothers' brandries, which means sons of thunder. They were a WWE tag team before Ed McMahon ever came up with the idea of WWE. Welcome, the sons of thunder. I'm going to call these two guys hot heads to wholehearted. James, son of Zebedee, his brother, John, they were fishermen. They were also part of Jesus' inner circle. They got their nickname, sons of thunder because of their temper. From the fact that evidently these two guys were rowdy hot heads, they were thunderous, passionate, prone to emotional explosions. For instance, on one occasion, some of the people in Samaria didn't respond the way James thought they should respond to their message. So he looked at Jesus and in all sincerity asked Jesus, do you want us to torch the place? Do you just want us to call down fire from heaven? What amazes me is that they thought they could do that. Jesus just sort of shook his head and said, "You guys don't get it. You don't know what spirit you're of." On another occasion, one of them saw someone casting out demons and told them to stop. John said to Jesus, "They're not really part of our group." Jesus was like, "Really? If they're not against us, that probably means they're for us. Get with the program." They even got their mom to go to Jesus and ask Jesus personally if one could sit at Jesus' right hand and the other on Jesus' left hand at his throne in heaven. But Jesus called them. I'm trying to give you an example of the fact that the inner chord that followed Jesus were the leftovers. I feel at home in that group. I've never been part of the 18, the first chosen. But I can be part of his team. Listen to how Jesus transformed the lives of these men, James. He became so passionate about preaching the gospel that he was the first apostle to be martyred. Here it had him executed. Amazingly, he continued to preach the gospel right up until his death. There's a God by the name of Yisubius, an early church historian. He writes to the guard who led James to the place of his execution was so moved by James' courage and faith in the faith and the face of persecution that as he led James away, he confessed to James that he himself was a Christian. He asked James to forgive him of his cowardice and ended up being beheaded right alongside James for his faith. This is the power of this guy's faith in testimony. Jesus called his name. How about John? This former hothead. I love the story of John. He's one of my favorite characters. He became patient, kind, loving, tender. His ministry reached throughout Asia Minor as he pastored several churches. Virtually all reliable sources say that John became the pastor of the church Paul founded in Ephesus. It was while John was pastoring the church in Ephesus that the emperor Demetian launched an all-out wave of persecution against the church. Some believe that John was actually boiled alive in oil, but somehow miraculously was not harmed. What we know for sure is that John was ultimately banished to a prison island known as Patmos. We wrote the book of Revelation, got another up close and personal glimpse of the resurrected Christ. He was eventually released from Patmos, and by most accounts, John died in around 80-98. He was the only apostle to die of natural causes. He likely reached his 90s before his death. Imagine, imagine outliving all of your friends, all of your acquaintances. Imagine surviving imprisonment, isolation on Patmos. Several attempts on your life for loving Jesus, sharing the gospel. It's a boatload of laws. It can turn anybody. Remember, mean, cynical. But according to Jerome, one of the early church fathers, in his commentary on Galatians, he writes about this, "John was so frail in his final days as the pastor of the church at Ephesus that he had to be carried into the church." But as he was carried into the gathering of the church, one phrase was constantly on his lips, "My little children, love one another, love one another, love one another." Someone asked John, "John, why do you always say that?" He replied, "Because it is the Lord's command, and if this be done, it is enough." I want to ask you, do you struggle with anger? Does your temper ever get the best of you? Have you been called rowdy or wild? Do you struggle with ambition? Does it sometimes get out of control? You need to remember that Jesus called John and James. He is calling you. Follow me. You got time for two more? How about Matthew? Let's call him the outcast and money chaser who became a best-selling author and gospel communicator. Matthew was an infamous tax collector. He was considered to be a social outcast, a political traitor to his own people. He was thought to be a guy who was beyond redemption. In the first century, tax collectors were in the same league as prostitutes in terms of go-to examples for worst center of the year awards. That was Matthew. Somehow, Jesus saw the potential in this guy, and he not only became a follower of Christ, but he became a powerful author, authoring the first book in your New Testament. He went on, spent his life evangelizing in Ethiopia and in Persia until he was martyred for his faith by being burned alive at the stake. I just want to ask you, have you ever felt like an outcast? Have you got a past that you aren't actually proud of? Has somebody labeled you beyond redemption? You're the kind of person he's calling by name. I'll give you one more. And it's a funny one to me. Simon the Zealot. I'll call him political revolutionary, the spirit-filled peacemaker. Simon the Zealot was apparently, at one time, a member of a political party known as the Zealots. Think of it this way. This is why I smile when I read this list. He was on the opposite end of the spectrum from Matthew. Matthew was a sellout, so it his own people, the Jewish people out, to make a buck, and Simon over here wanted to take Rome down. Let's get the man. Stick it to the man. Putting these two in the same room together, it would be like putting J.D. Vance and AOC in the same room together and saying get along. Be kind. The Zealots were a political party, been on revolution, looking for a leader who would lead a violent revolution over throwing Rome. It's a miracle. Oh, it's a miracle that Jesus got Matthew and Simon to play on the same team. So before you go labeling someone of a different party affiliation as irredeemable, you need to remember Matthew and Simon and how Jesus doesn't call one stripe. He calls all stripes. And when Jesus comes, he doesn't come to take sides. He comes to take over. Simon did everything he could to oppose the Roman government. Historians say this guy was so passionate for Jesus, so gripped by the reality of the resurrection that he ended up preaching the gospel in places like Asia Minor, northern Africa, the Black Sea area, and get this Babylon until he was murdered by a mob in Persia. Have you been an advocate for some kind of political ideology? Maybe you wonder, maybe I've been so public about my advocacy for this particular cause that I've lost the ability to speak to the gospel. No, he's calling you. And he's saying, follow me. I said those two, but I've got to give you one more. Thomas, let's talk skeptic and doubter to devoted faithful follower. You know, what is Thomas remembered for? He's remembered for being the ultimate doubter, the chief skeptic. When people think of him, they actually have a name for him. They call him what? Doubting Thomas. Thomas, the guy who said, "I won't believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers in them, place my hand into the wound in his side." But he also needs to be remembered as the guy who came up with an incredible confession after he came face to face with the resurrected Christ. When Jesus appeared to Thomas after the resurrection, Thomas was so blown away that the power of Jesus presents that he crumbled at his feet and cried out, "My Lord and my God." Talk about a guy who wrought the world for Jesus. This so-called doubter became a champion of the faith. He carried the gospel as far as India. Some time ago, I read that there are churches in India to this day, 2024. South India, whose roots can be traced back to the beginning of the church age and tradition says those churches were founded by Thomas. Church history says that this guy kept boldly proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus until he was run through with a spear for his faith in Christ. So let me just ask, do you struggle with doubt? Are you the guy or girl who needs to see the nail marks, put your fingers in the stars? You've got to have the evidence. If you're that guy or gal, you need to know that Jesus wants and chooses you and he's calling you by name. Get this. Jesus is for people. I don't have time to walk through all those backgrounds. That would be all we did tonight. What I wanted to demonstrate is this. Jesus is calling you. He's calling you to be one of his. Let me give you just a few scriptures. Ephesians 1, Romans 8. Ephesians 1, I'll read from the message, long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind. In other words, he chose us. He settled on us as the focus of his love. He loved us. To be made. I love this. I love this. I love this. He chose us and he loved us to be made holy and whole. Maybe you feel broken. He didn't come just to give you eternal life in the by and by. He came to make you holy and whole, complete right now. Long, long ago, he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. What pleasure he took in planning this. He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift giving by the hand of his beloved son. Then Romans 8, for God knew his people in advance. He chose them to become like his son so that his son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters and having chosen them, he called them to come to him and having called them. He gave them right standing with himself and having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. Let me give you one more. First Corinthians 1, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. He chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world. Things counted as nothing at all and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. It's not about us. It's about the fact that our God is a God who chooses and he chose you. Here's the second thought about how discipleship happens. The discipleship continues when I respond to Jesus' invitation. They climbed. They came. They went up the mountainside. At some point, you've got to respond to the invitation. At some point, you've got to say, "I want to follow." Three discipleship grows in the context of a relationship with Jesus. He settled on 12 and designated them apostles. The plan was that they might be with him. I love the passion. He wanted them to be continually at his side as his friends. That's what Jesus calls us to. Before he calls us to ministry, he calls us to relationship. Hear the bare basics for building relationships, any relationship, including your relationship with God. First of all, spend time together. Relationships take time. It's not an argument about quality time versus quantity time. Quality time always flows out of quality time. I've talked about my grandson so much. I'm not a fan at all. His first day of school was yesterday as far as second grade. We got the pictures throughout the day. I love that kid. It's so hard to explain how you love a grand kid. I love the grand girls too. I love them. There really isn't a preference. I love them all. Jack is old enough that he gets to come up to our home more by himself these days because he's seven. Jack makes it known, "I don't want the sisters around." The sisters want to come. Jack doesn't want them to come. This is Jack, Papa, and Gigi time. Every time he comes up, here's what we do. The entire trip, we fish. We fish. This kid loves to fish. I'd never been a fisherman until God gave me a grandson. One day I just accidentally mentioned, he said, "Papa, what are we going to do?" He was like, too. We had a lake at the church I passed. I said, "Let's just go fishing." We stocked it with brim and bass. After that one day, we caught so many little brim. They weren't big enough to do anything with. He was hooked after that. Every time I go to Papa's house, we fish. It's one of the funnest things in the world. I'm blown away by some of the things he comes up with. We're out fishing one day, and we don't catch anything. We aren't getting a bite. Nothing exciting is happening. We're just fishing. He's obviously bored, but we're fishing because he wants to. I said, "Jack, buddy, I'm so sorry. We're not catching anything." He was probably six at the time. The six-year-old kid looks at me and said, "I know Papa, but sometimes it feels good just to fill out a line." This kid can't be six years. Oh, Kenny. Do you know what has happened is we've spent quality time together or quality moments have occurred. Spend time with the Lord. You're not going to always hear angel choirs. You're not going to always be overwhelmed by his presence. But as you spend quantity time, there will be those moments when it's like, "Oh my goodness, he's here. He's been here. I just had to get my heart positioned right to hear from him." Second bullet, persevere through trials. When a trial hits, don't run from Jesus. Run to Jesus. Three, grow and trust. I was telling Pastor Rhonda this year my wife does real estate, and it's been a really challenging year. She's so diligent in what she does. She works so hard, but it's been just a challenging year. She made it through several months with not many closings. I mean, that's your livelihood. It's a closing. We really felt like God had her here and wanted her to stay right here in this vein. And in fact, there came a point that became so difficult. She said, "I'm just considering," and she named what she was considering. And I said, "That's noble. It's good. It's obviously honorable." But God gave you this dream. Let's just stay until God says, "Quit, quit." I told Pastor Rhonda, "My wife was praying some time ago about this predicament of not a lot of closings and some really challenging experiences." And God said to her one day, "What I do, I'll do quickly." She's like, "What?" She wrote it down. She called me on the phone and said, "Hey, God just gave me. I know it was God." And I was telling Pastor Rhonda, "I just got off the phone before I stepped in here." This is how awesome God is. Right now, she has more homes under contract than she's ever had in her life. And then she's also got more listings than she's ever had. And she said, "Chris, Chris, I was out doing photos for one of the homes that I'm listing. I got a phone call from a couple I just met from New York that wants to move to Tennessee. I just met them Monday, but after we met and spent time together, they called me Tuesday morning and said to me on Tuesday, "You know what? We're feeling a little overwhelmed, so we're just going to wait for a while before we purchase." She said, "Chris, I was taking photos at somebody's house when all of a sudden my phone rings. It's that couple from New York." They said, "Can you meet us at this particular office? We found a home we love and we want you to close the deal for us." She said, "Chris, I just signed a contract." And furthermore, that building company is giving away a bonus for contract signed to live in that neighborhood. So I'm making the commission plus a bonus for that home sale. I want to tell you, that's growing in trust. Then just like we did celebrate every chance you get for, I'm out of time, so let me wrap up. Discipleship thrives when I joined Jesus in his mission. This is what I titled the whole teaching tonight, so I've got to give you the load here. Jesus not only invited these men into relationship, he gave the mission purpose calling. Look at verse 14, "He settled on 12, designated them apostles. The plan was that they would be with him and he would send them out to proclaim the word and to give them authority to banish demons." That's Mark. Mark chapter 3, 14, 15. Matthew 4, a parallel passage says, "Jesus said, 'Come follow me and I will sing you out." Anybody see it? I think it's on the screen. I will sing you out to what fish for people. It's interesting that Jesus blows away every preconceived notion about what following him really means. When he looked at this group of four young guys and said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. I will show you how to fish for people." He didn't say, "Follow me and I'll make you more disciplined." He didn't say, "Follow me. I'll make you more spiritual. Follow me. I'll make you more intelligent." He didn't say, "Follow me. I'll make you a better person. I'll make you a better dad. I'll make you a better mom." He didn't say, "Follow me. I'll make you wealthy, healthy, wise, whole." Jesus looked at these guys and said, "If you really follow me, I'm going to make you into something else. I'm going to make you into a fisher of men." I want you to think about the significance. He looked at four fishermen. They had spent all of their life building a significant fishing business. And he basically said this, "Hey guys, I know your whole life up into this moment has revolved around fishing. You've been preoccupied by fishing." I mean, what else is there? There's family. There's a little outside recreation. There's a little rest. And then there's fishing. Every morning, you woke up thinking about how can I catch more fish? How can I clean the fish I catch more efficiently? How can we get fish more quickly to market? How can we expand our fishing empire? How can we be better fishermen? Jesus said, "All of that's been good, but I'm about to make a new kind of fisherman out of you." You'll fish for men. Look at Mark 6, verse 7. I love this. Jesus called the 12 to him. He sent them out in pairs. He gave them authority and power to deal with evil opposition. He sent them off with these instructions. This is the message again. And I love it here. Don't think you need a lot of extra equipment for this. You are the equipment. Then they were on the road. They preached with joyful urgency that life can be radically different. Right and left, they sent the demons packing. Oh, they brought wellness to the sick, anointing their bodies, healing their spirits. Here's what happens. Jesus basically commissioned them and said, "Hey guys, what you've seen me do? Now you do." And by the end of the Gospels, the beginning of the book of Acts, these men had been transformed and they became fishers of men. Their lives no longer revolved around catching fish, cleaning fish, bringing fish to the market. Their lives revolved around capturing the hearts of men and women and bringing them to Jesus. Jesus didn't call these guys away from their career because there was something wrong with the fishing business. There was something wrong with their career. It was an honorable business. It was an honorable career. In the same vein, there's nothing wrong with the automobile business, the construction business, investment business, insurance business, sales business, health care business, clerical business. But Jesus made it clear from day one, in the ultimate sense, all of my followers have to know and understand what it means to be in the people business because that's the business I mean. Truett Cathy, who founded Chick-fil-A, he was famous for saying, "We're not in the chicken business, we're in the people business." And let me just say, regardless of what industry you're in, you're in the people business. If you follow Jesus, you're in the people business. We got incredibly high water bill and I called Birmingham Water Works and they said, "Well, sir, that's what your meter read, so there's got to be a problem. There's evidently a leak somewhere in the line leading from the meter to your house and if you can locate that leak, find it, document it with a plumber. We'll forgive this deal or this debt and you'll just pay what you usually owe. So I found miraculously, I found the leak myself. I mean, it was a miracle of God that I did that. I am not incredibly handy." And then I called my father-in-law, who is the best handyman in all the world. My father-in-law can fix anything, anything. And I said, "How do I fix it? I found the leak. I can see it. It's in a copper line." And he led me through a house to get these appropriate materials. I was to clean the copper. I was to get a certain kind of solder, a certain kind of stuff that you put on the solder. And all this stuff, let me just tell you, he made it sound a lot easier than it was. I did nothing to fix that line, except by all that soldering stuff and wasted in that hole that I dug. So I called a plumber and I get the plumber out of there. And he and I are out there in this hole where I dug up the line and we can see it. It takes him like two seconds to fix that. It was so irritating to me. I mean, it's bambam and he's done and it's perfect. And I'm about to celebrate when he looks up at me and he says, "You know, my wife just left me. He doesn't even know I'm a pastor." He just starts pouring out his heart. His wife had just left. And I really feel like I've been right at the edge. So it's good to get out here and work because staying busy is the only thing that sort of gives me any clarity. And all of a sudden, I knew what every follower needs to know at some point to follow means to fish. And fishing isn't reserved for Sunday mornings. Fishing is meant when you're in the hole with the plumber who just fixed your awful leak, but his heart is breaking because his wife just left. And he wants to know that there's some kind of hope in this world for a guy like him. So I looked at this dude and I listened to him because most of the time our fishing simply involves listening. I don't know if you know that. It involves listening. And I just asked him question after question and I never interjected with I'm a pastor. This is what I do because I found personally, I found at the moment sometimes I say I'm a pastor, people stop talking or they talk in a different way. They feel like they have to change their language. I said, you know, I'm a person of faith and I really believe God brought you to this hole at my house so you could tell me that story. And so I could tell you that there's a God who cares about you because he sent you here. I tried to fix this leak myself and I couldn't, but you did it and you did it excellently. And you need to know you matter to God. And I can't promise you what's going to happen with your marriage, but I can promise you this. God cares about where you are right now. And I said, now, this might make you feel uncomfortable and we don't have to press it any further than you're comfortable with, but I'd love to be able to pray with you right now. What we weren't in the hole, but now we've made it back to his service van. And right there on the edge of his service van, I got to pray with this man, the power of God met with us. He walked away knowing that he was loved because I remember this simple principle that I just want to end with tonight to follow means to fish. And fishing isn't reserved for Sunday morning at 10.30 at church of the harvest. Wherever God is commissioning you, that is the place that you're to fish. And God says, anytime there is a hungry heart, you give them the hope of the gospel that I've given with you, share it with them and watch me show up. Now, let me give you a simple little strategy that church of the harvest may or may not adopt. I don't in any way believe I speak for Pastor Rhonda. She speaks very well for herself in this church. But let me give you a simple strategy. How's that? If you want to see God blow this thing up in Cleveland, and I believe God wants to blow it up. I don't know what you see when you look at this room. I see this room field. I see people out in those areas just trying to get in. Wondering how do we hear the message of God's ability to heal my mess? So here's the simple strategy. Invest in people relationally. Love them unconditionally. I mean, every person you meet, invest in them relationally. No strings attached ever. No strings attached ever. They may never show up. They may never believe what we believe. They may never buy into our faith, but we love unconditionally. That there's a person I'm not going to point out the business, but I've sort of made them a project because I work in this building when I'm in Cleveland. And there's a business where I go buy some products. I need to leave it at that. But one of the meanest people in the world work in that business, and I have to go in there. This person is just mean. She was evidently raised on deal pickles. She's mean. And every time I'm in there, I try to break the ice with this person. I try to break the ice. And the time before last I was in there, I tried to break the ice, and she was so smart, I like to meet. I could just feel anger rise up in my throat, and I wanted to say something smart, I like to say something smart back. I literally felt it get right there in my throat. And I felt the Lord say, "Who are you?" Do you know her story? Do you know what she's been through? How about you minister with some grace? And somehow I felt the Holy Spirit. So three days later, I'm serious. I prayed before I went in there because I have to go into this place. I said, "Please Lord, let there be somebody different. Let there be…please let there just be somebody different." Because I feel like God's given me this person as an assignment, but I don't like them. They're mean. I walked back in. There she was again. God, what do I say this time? I'm serious. I'm having this prayer as I'm looking for the items and I'm thinking, "What do I say to try to change the discourse? Evidently, I've offended this lady because any time I try to talk with her, she gets mad and mean her. So I didn't make any progress that time. You know what I'll do? I'll probably be back there tomorrow. I have that same prayer while I sit in my truck. Let there be somebody else in there. But if there's not, you know what? I'm going to trust God to bring a breakthrough because God has given me that person as an assignment. There's a good idea. Who said that? Very good thing. I love that. Thank you for that idea. I love that. I love it. And I do believe in those acts, random acts of kindness. So invest in people relationally. You know, I really do. I'm being facetious in some of this story, but I go in that story intentionally because something I felt like the Spirit spoke to me that day that that person was so smart to me and I could have gotten offended and said, I felt it. I felt it come up my throat. It wanted to come out. It got right there and the Holy Spirit arrested me. And it's like, this girl is your assignment. Are you going to miss it? Invest in people relationally. To invite them to experience Jesus at, I'm going to personalize this, church of the harvest. I mean, as you're building these relationships, just one day, say something like this, hey, I go to this awesome church. They love people like crazy. They just love people. They have good worship, like the music's actually good. It's not painful to listen to. You know, I travel a lot and I notice the pastor is dynamic. Amen. Why don't you go to church with me one sudden, hey, here's something crazy. I know you may think this is crazy, but go to church with me and then do you like hamburgers? I love hamburgers. I'll take you to buy a hamburger five guys after. Is that cool, Bill? You don't know me nothing. You never have to come back. I'd just love to go out with you after spending some time. Or maybe you don't like hamburgers. Maybe you like Mexican food. What will do Mexican? If you live with that kind of intentionality, watch what God will do. We did this in South Florida. We started going to a college campus and because South Florida gets so miserably hot, we would give away free popsicles. We would just stand between classes. We had this cooler kind of mechanism and we'd just say, hey, more popsicle and students on the way to class would good grief. Yeah, it's hot out here. Can I take it? Yeah, you don't notice anything. We just want you to know there's a church right down the street. We love this college campus. We pray for this place every day. And we'd love for you to come and check us out, but you don't know us that. It's just a popsicle. African girl. Say African. She wasn't African-American. She was straight up African. I mean, she and her family had moved here from Africa. Oh, man. Her skin was so black. Beautiful. Yeah. And she just decided somebody gave me a free popsicle. I got to check them out. Ivy Metzakiski, her last name, hard to say. I became and heard the gospel of Jesus for the first time. Surrendered her life to Jesus. Here's how it happens to follow means to fish. See, we just went fishing at that college campus. Well, I became, heard the gospel of Jesus for the first time. Surrendered her life to Jesus. She went back. All of her family lived together in the same apartment. Her mother, her sister. She said, listen, listen, listen. I know we've not been church people, but I went to this church. I heard the gospel. I surrendered my life to Jesus. You all have got to go. So her sister Paula came. Paula heard the gospel of Jesus. Surrendered her life to Jesus. They finally got mama to come. Mama came. Mama heard the gospel. Surrendered her life to Jesus. Little did we know that two years later when one of our staff members was having a wedding going back home to have a wedding in North Carolina, Ivy so wanted to make the wedding that she attempted to drive there by herself and tragically died in an automobile accident. We performed her memorial service to a packed room filled with people that Ivy had told about the good news of Jesus. They had heard that and the destiny her family still reaches out to me today. The destiny of an entire family changed because she heard the gospel of Jesus to follow means to fish. Join Jesus in his mission. Amen? Well, that's all I've got to share and I think I've shared plenty