Follow Me (part 1)

​“Follow me and I’ll make you fishers of men.”  These were the words of Jesus in Matthew 4:19, to Peter and his brother Andrew (who were professional fishermen).  In the text, Jesus is calling them into a greater work - fishing for the souls of men. These same words are spoken to us in Matthew 28, in what is known as the Great Commission.  It is the Great Commission that frames the work of the church.  We are to seek and save the lost.  The challenge in fulfilling Matthew 28 is the ”who” we are to seek and save.  Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not what many would like.  Jesus is not calling us to the easy.  He is calling us to do something very difficult for the average person, and that is to refrain from seeing people as they are, but instead to see beyond that, to whom God created them to be.
 
It is sad to see what life does to humanity, and the desperate shape many find their lives in.  God is looking for a people.  A special people that he can point these desperate people to, who will not judge them, make them feel less than, different, or unwanted.  The challenge is for us is to be those special people, and to see with the eyes of Jesus, which is to see all as being worthy of the sacrifice of Jesus and the cross, regardless what their lives currently look like.  Jesus is calling us to, Love God…and…Love people…with no Limits.  To do this, we must remember who we were BEFORE we met the cross.  This should soften our hearts, so that we long to reach out to lost humanity.  The work of our congregation is moving in a direction which this congregation has never moved before in its history.  We are going to take bold steps to reach out to the lost wherever they are, whatever they are into, with no concern for what is on them. We are going to go into greater detail of this new work next week, so stay tuned.
 
Continued next week…………
 
Blessings.
Lamar