So we've probably all heard stories of missionaries,
people in different countries, where their ability
to talk about Jesus is often hindered and hampered.
I remember a book I read several years ago called
The Man Who Couldn't Be Killed, about someone
in China. Mr. Wang was his name, at least in
the book. And he was placed in the... to prison
because he had happened to come across some pages
of scripture, and he got arrested because he
had these pages of scripture in China where that
was illegal, and they placed him into prison.
And even when he was in prison, everybody he
met, everybody he could talk to, everybody he
had the opportunity, he would tell them about
Jesus. And he might share some verses, he might
share something about what God had done for him.
Even though he was in prison, that very thing.
Another story I remember reading was about Ivan.
Ivan was not in China. He was in the Soviet Union.
He was in the USSR. And he was the same thing.
He was trying to share his faith and tell people
about Jesus in a country where it was illegal
to believe in Jesus and believe in the Bible.
And he was placed into a gulag or a prison and
was mocked and treated poorly because all he
wanted to do was tell other people about Jesus,
even in prison. And the commandant, the leader
of the prison said, why do you keep talking about
this? There is no God. God doesn't exist. And
when he bowed his head to pray for his food,
he would open his eyes and his food would be
gone because the other prisoners would snatch
it while his eyes were closed. The commandant
would say, why do you thank God for your food?
It's not God who gives you this food. It's the
government. It's the state that gives you this
food. Don't thank God for it. You should be thanking
me, the leader of this prison. But Ivan continued
to pray. He continued to thank God. He continued
to talk about God. And eventually, the commandant
was kind of fed up with him. And he said, we're
going to teach you a lesson that you're not going
to... pray to this god anymore and they placed
them in solitary confinement in the prison cell
and they said you are not going to get any food
until you acknowledge that it's not god that
gives you the food but it's it's the government
that gives you food and so one day he's thrown
in the door is clanged shut no one comes to give
him breakfast or lunch or supper but at the end
of the day he hears a rustling up by the window
And he looks up and it's a cat. And the cat has
a piece of bread in his mouth. And he leaves
it there on the windowsill. And Ivan is so grateful
and thankful. There's food here. Thank you, God,
for this food. But then he thought, wait a second.
If I eat this food, there'll be no evidence of
God's blessing for me. So I'm not going to eat
this food. I'm just going to set it in the corner
of my cell. That was day one. Day two, no one
brings him breakfast, lunch, or supper. Towards
the evening time, he hears a rustling up by the
window. He looks up. It's a cat with a piece
of bread. And he's so grateful and thankful.
Thank you, Jesus, for feeding me. But he had
the same thought. If I eat this bread, there'll
be no evidence of the miracle that God is working
for me. So he set a second piece of bread in
the corner of his cell so that he would have
something. To show. The third day, the same thing
happened. No food until rustling. A cat, a piece
of bread. Nope, I'm not going to eat it. Now
there's three pieces of dead bread. Day three,
three pieces of bread. Day four, same thing.
Four, five, six, seven days. Seven appearances
by the cat. Seven pieces of bread. And it's all
he can do. He's starving, he's so hungry he wants
to eat this bread, but he's got to show the evidence
and the wonders of this miracle. Finally, at
the end of the seventh day, there's a clanking,
the lock opens, the door squeaks open. That's
not a good squeak, I apologize. And here's the
commandant. Ha ha, are you ready to acknowledge?
God is not providing you with anything. Are you
ready to curse this God, to denounce him? And
Ivan said, just a second, sir, let me show you
something. And he looks over to the corner and
he shows him. Here is one, two, three, four,
five, six pieces of bread from six prior days.
No, sir, God has provided me with this food.
Which guard gave you this food? And about that
time, there's a rustling up at the windowsill.
And they look up, and it's a cat. And he's got
a piece of bread. And the commandant says, wait
a second. That's my cat. And that's my bread.
So God was using this animal, this little creature,
to provide witness, to provide something to share.
And it didn't matter if Ivan... or Mr. Wong was
in prison, they had a desire to tell someone
else about Jesus. And we know that even today
there are places in our world where it is illegal
to talk about Jesus. Whether it's the Middle
East, Muslim countries, even in Russia or other
places, it is still oftentimes against the law
to share your faith. Maybe you can believe something
yourself, but if you want to tell somebody else,
suddenly... it becomes illegal. And we could
ask ourselves, what would happen if it suddenly,
next week, a law was passed and it became illegal
against the law to tell someone else about Jesus,
to share your faith with someone else? Suddenly,
next week, the law is declared. We'd have to
consider. We'd have to wonder. Would your daily
routine Would your weekly activities, would it
have to change at all if suddenly you weren't
able to tell somebody about Jesus? In other words,
are you telling people about Jesus now? Are you
telling people about what God has done in your
life now when it is totally legal? Would your
life have to change if suddenly... That became
an illegal activity. In other words, are you
living your life as a fully devoted disciple
of Jesus? So just what is a disciple? We talk
about that often. We read about it in Scripture.
What is a disciple? If you were to look it up
in a dictionary such as dictionary .com, it's
not the very first reference, but the third or
fourth reference. If you looked up disciple,
it says any follower of Jesus. A disciple is
any follower of Jesus. And sometimes we think
of, well, there's 12 disciples that Jesus chose,
but truly a disciple is any follower of Jesus.
Someone who follows Jesus, who wants to live
their life according to the teachings of Jesus,
who learned from Jesus, who wanted to imitate
Jesus. And from the beginning of his ministry,
Jesus looked beyond what others could see, what
could be seen, and he wanted to make a difference
in people's life. And so we're going to start
off today looking at two great statements. Jesus
made many, but two great statements that bookended
his ministry, one at the beginning and one at
the end, and they talk about discipleship. The
first is our scripture reading, which Riley did
such a great job for us today. Matthew 4, verse
19. Now this is Jesus, and it says he's walking
by the sea. And he's going to where people are
engaged in their normal act of business. They're
going about their day. They're fishermen. They're
fishing. They're throwing the nets into the sea.
They're doing their normal activity. They're
doing what they get paid for. And it says in
verse 19, then Jesus said to them, follow me
and I will make you fishers of men. We could
sing that song, you know, I will make you fishers
of men if you follow me. And then in verse 20,
it says immediately they left their nets and
what'd they do? They followed him. They did.
What Jesus said, what Jesus asked them, follow
me and I will make you fishers of men. That was
it towards the beginning of Jesus's ministry.
But if we go all the way to the other end of
Jesus's ministry on earth, to Matthew chapter
28. So the crucifixion has taken place. Jesus
slept in the grave over Sabbath. The resurrection
has taken place. Jesus is shortly to ascend back
to heaven. and go to return to his father. And
in Matthew 28, we see what is known as the Great
Commission. Maybe what your little subtitle says,
the Great Commission. And we're going to back
up just a verse or two to verse 17. It says,
or verse 16, the 11 disciples went to Galilee.
Verse 17, they saw him, they worshiped, but some,
what's that word? Some doubted. They're there
with the resurrected Savior. Jesus has come back
from the dead, and still there's some that aren't
entirely sure about his ministry, about their
ministry. Some doubt it. And Jesus says, all
authority is given to me. And then in verse 19,
Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
teaching them to observe all things that I have
commanded you, and lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the age. So Jesus, at the
beginning of his ministry, he says, follow me,
I'm going to make fishers of men. At the end
of his ministry, he says, go, even those that
are doubting, even if you're not sure, even if
you don't have it all put together, go and make
disciples. The King James Version says, go and
teach. All nations. The message version says
train everyone you meet. We're supposed to help
other people to see what Jesus was all about
so that they can have an opportunity to want
to follow him as well. And between these two
statements, follow me, go and make disciples,
Jesus took a ragtag group. We remember their
names. We remember those disciples didn't always
have it together. They sometimes asked silly
questions of Jesus. They sometimes didn't get
it when Jesus was telling them things plainly,
and they still seemed to miss it so often. But
Jesus took that ragtag group and developed them
into a force that would change the entire world.
It would change the Roman Empire, and those changes
trickled down all the way, to now. He took those
brothers, James and John. What was their nickname?
The sons of thunder. They didn't always do the
right thing. Somebody crossed them. They wanted
to call fire down from heaven and burn up a whole
town because they wouldn't feed them lunch. They
said, with their mama's help, what can we do?
We want to have these top two positions on either
side of Jesus. What can we do to make sure that
we have That place. Jesus took a tax collector.
Which disciple was the tax collector? Matthew.
Man, he's working with the enemy. He's working
with the Romans. He's almost cheating us of our
money so that he can get a little extra and give
some to the Romans. He's one of them. And then
he took a zealot. Who was the zealot? Simon.
Who their whole idea was they wanted to maybe
put a knife in the back of one of those Romans
or those tax collectors. Because some of them
at least were assassins and they wanted to fight
against this oppressive government. And here's
one who is siding with them. He took people from
opposite extremes and he made a difference. And
he took this group of people and he turned them
into those that would preach in India, in Africa.
even in the capital city of Rome itself. He started
a movement that goes way back then, all the way
down to today in 2025, all the way to this place
in Ringgold, Georgia, and beyond to the ends
of the age. He took those, like Peter. Peter,
he's probably the most famous, one of the most
famous. He was one who heard that initial call.
Follow me and I'll make you a fisher of men.
Because that's what he did. He was a fisherman.
He was a bit of a loud mouth, perhaps. He was
one who maybe acted first before he thought about
what he should do. He was one who heard that
instruction and yet God was able to change him.
This uneducated man, this guy who was probably
a hard worker because he was out there. throwing
those nets and cleaning those nets, and yet God
could use him to confess Jesus as the Savior.
And it was Peter, along with those others, who
way down in Acts chapter 2, several years later,
on what we refer to as the day of Pentecost,
where they were speaking in different languages,
different tongues, and all of them were speaking,
but Peter's the one that's named. And it's Peter
that pointed people to Jesus, even though this
group had just crucified Jesus seven weeks before.
And it was Peter who made that appeal, made that
call, when they said, sirs, what can we do? And
he said, repent and be baptized. And remind me,
how many were baptized on that day? 3 ,000 people
were baptized because of the words of these disciples,
The words of Peter because of what Peter did
and what Peter said. But these 12, they weren't
the only ones to be used powerfully by God. There's
other disciples because a disciple is simply
a follower of Jesus. Another couple examples.
There was a time in Luke chapter 8 when Jesus
and the disciples, they... They made their way
in their boat across the Sea of Galilee. They
made it through a stormy time. And when they
come onto the other shore, they're greeted not
by a welcoming party, but by someone who lives
in the graveyard, who lives in the tombs. And
he's naked, and he's chained up, and he's cutting
himself with rocks. And he's crying out, and
he's possessed with a demon. And by the power
of God, this guy is able to... approach jesus
and a conversation takes place and jesus talks
to this this demon inside of him and its name
is legion for we are we are many and before that
conversation is done jesus passed that demon
out where does the demon go into the herd of
pigs and you can almost see these this you know
how many 100 i don't know how many pigs there
were 50 100 squealing running down the side of
the ground, jumping off into the sea, and they
all die. And those pig herders, not shepherds,
piggards, I don't know what those would be called,
but those pig herders, when their job is done,
they run back into town and say, we got some
bad news. All of our pigs. We're sorry we were
supposed to be watching them, but this guy, Jesus,
the pigs ran down the bank into the water. squealing,
and here comes the town people. And it says when
the town people get there, they find the man,
it says, clothed and in his right mind. Totally
different than he was that morning when he was
naked and screaming out. Now he is clothed and
in his right mind. But the townspeople don't
notice that change. All they're worried about
is they're missing pigs. And they say, Jesus,
we don't want you here. need you here. You need
to go. And Jesus, like he still does, if he's
not wanted somewhere, he's not going to force
the issue. So Jesus got into the boat and was
ready to go. And I can almost picture it as Jesus
is getting in the boat that this guy who's clothed
and in his right mind, he's only known Jesus
for a couple of hours. And I can almost see him
wanting to go with Jesus. You know, he's got
his hand up on the side of the boat. He's throwing
his leg up over to climb in, and Jesus says,
whoa, whoa, not you. This is one of the few times,
maybe the only time, where someone wants to go
with Jesus, and Jesus won't let them. Why not?
Why won't Jesus let this man come to him? Notice
Luke chapter 8 and verse 38. It says, now the
man from whom the demons had departed begged
him that he might be with him. Jesus, I just
met you. I need to spend more time with you.
He begged him, but Jesus sent him away. Whoa.
Why? Notice the next verse. Return to your own
house and tell what great things God has done
for you. That was more important for that man
in that moment. than getting in the boat and
going with Jesus. Go to your home. Go to your
friends and your family and tell them what great
things God has done for you. And it says he went
his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city
what great things Jesus had done. And if you
scan down through the pages of the Gospels, the
next time Jesus shows up in this part of the
country, they're ready. And they're glad that
he's there. And they accept him and they welcome
him. Did this guy have all the answers? Not at
all. Did he still have some doubts? Probably
so. But did he have a story to tell of what God
had done? Yes, he did. And guess what? Each one
of us have some story to tell of what Jesus has
done for us. Let's look at one more example here.
A woman named Mary. Yes, a woman can be a disciple
as well. She was a sinner, mocked. We're all
sinners. Mocked, scorned. And she's the one that,
as Jesus is nearing the days of the cross, she
washes his feet. She anoints his feet. We're
going to look at Matthew 26 for this story. She's
the one that breaks open the expensive perfume.
And as that fragrance fills the room, She pours
that oil onto his feet. And the people that see
that, they're not very thrilled with this situation.
One, why is this particular person touching Jesus?
No, I don't like that. Why is this particular
person pouring out this expensive perfume? We
could have sold that and used that money to help
the poor. How dare she waste that? And at least
one of them was saying, and I could have skimmed
a little bit off and put it in my own pocket,
as the Bible clearly says Judas was thinking.
But notice how Jesus responded to this in Matthew
26, verse 13. We'll go back to verse 10. Jesus
says, why do you trouble the woman? She has done
a good work for me. She has done something good
for me. And then notice verse 13. Assuredly,
I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached
in the whole world, what this woman has done
will also be told as a memorial to her. Wherever
this gospel is preached, this story is going
to be told. And did you know that this particular
story of a woman washing Jesus' feet is one of
the few stories that shows up in all four of
the gospels? Not very many stories show up in
all four of the gospels. The story of Jesus'
birth, no. Shepherds are in one gospel. The wise
men are in another gospel. But this story is
told in all four gospels. Wherever this gospel
is preached, what this woman has done for me
will be told. But that's not the end of her story.
Because when Jesus went just a few days later
to the cross, when Jesus died upon that cross
for you and for me, As Jesus rested on Sabbath,
on Sunday morning, there's several people that
make their way to the tomb. Two of the disciples
race down there. Some of the women make their
way down there. But one of them lingers. Mary's
lingering there. And she sees someone, and through
her tears or through a miracle, she can't quite
recognize him, and she thinks it's the gardener.
And she says, just tell me, where'd you take
his body? I want to finish the anointing. She
started it. She wanted to finish it. Where did
you take the body? And finally, he said her name,
Mary. And she knew that it was Jesus. And Jesus,
or she ran to Jesus and tried to clutch his feet,
tried to fall down at his feet and grab hold
of him. But notice how Jesus responds to that.
In John 20, verse 17. John chapter 20, verse
17. said to her do not cling to me for I have
not yet ascended to my father I haven't gone
to heaven yet but go to my brethren and say to
them go to my brethren and say to them tell them
I am ascending to my father and your father to
my God and to your God and Mary Magdalene came
and told the disciples that she had seen the
Lord and that he had spoken these things to her
she went as a disciple to tell that message that
Jesus was risen from the tomb, that Jesus was
alive. Jesus saw more than just the person. He
could see the potential. And he spent time teaching
and training, and then he sends them out with
something to share. He sends them out with some
sort of ministry. I want you to grab your bulletin
for a second and turn to the back, not where
the picture is, but the total opposite side of
that. Because guess what? We are disciples. And
we talk about this every so often, but we've
got a mission statement. And it says, the mission
of the Ringgold Seventh -day Adventist Church,
that's us, is to reflect the love of Jesus through
a Spirit -filled life, which, and here's the
part that we're focusing on today, which seeks
to serve and seeks to lead others. closer to
God. And then there's the vision statement. The
Ringgold Seventh-day Adventist Church will be
a biblical, spirit -led, faith -filled, family
-focused, and growing fellowship. Those things
aren't going to happen unless God is making a
difference in us, unless God is helping us to
make a difference in somebody else. You can sum
up perhaps the Christian journey. In many different
ways, but today I just want to look at three
different words. The first is know and grow and
then go. We need to know who Jesus is. We need
to know Jesus is our Lord and Savior. And then
as we accept Jesus as our Savior, we'll be growing
in Him as we continue to study His Word, as we
see His mission and His ideals for us. And then
that third one is to go. To go and tell somebody
else. But sometimes in developing disciples,
maybe sometimes we get bogged down in one of
those. And it's not a circle because all of these
things can be happening at the same time. We
can be knowing God better each day. No matter
if you've been a follower of Jesus for 40 years,
you can still know God better. We can grow. to
be more like him. And oftentimes in our Christian
walk, those first two are easy, are easier, I
should say. Because we can do that right here.
We can know Jesus as we listen to sermons, as
we study our Sabbath lesson together, as we teach
our young people. We can grow because we're learning
more and more. We're growing in our walk. And
we can do that right here with people that were...
comfortable with and people that we're friendly
with. And so sometimes I think that third one,
to go, is the challenging one because that means
something different. That means a change. That
means maybe talking to somebody that I don't
know. That means maybe somebody's going to sit
in my seat. Anybody have a particular seat you
always sit in? You don't have to raise your hand,
but I know that you do, and that's okay. But
as we're knowing, as we're growing together,
we also need to be willing to go and to tell
somebody else. I want to look at two more verses
here. 1 Peter 2. We're thinking about what Jesus
calls us to do. 1 Peter 2 and verse 9. Way back,
Hebrews. james first peter way back in the back
of the new testament i'm just going to read from
verse five it says you are living stones you're
built up as a spiritual house but then in verse
nine it says you are a chosen generation and
this is a plural you doesn't just mean one person
it means a lot of people I would say that we
could use the word y 'all because that's what
it's referring to here. It's more than just one
person. Y 'all are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood. Wow, that's pretty awesome. You've
been chosen. You're royal. You're a holy nation.
You're his own special people. All y 'all are.
But what does that mean? Notice what it goes
on. It says that, sorry, that you may proclaim
the praises of him who called you out of darkness
into marvelous light. You're chosen. You're special.
You're chosen by God, but for a reason, for a
purpose that you may proclaim. The praises that
you may tell people what God has done for you,
that you may tell your story of how God has interacted
in your life and the difference that he has made.
That is what you are called to do. That is why
you are special. That is why God has chosen you
to tell somebody else what God has done. One
more, 2 Timothy. This is an easy one to remember
because it's all twos. 2 Timothy 2 verse 2. Paul
here is writing to a young preacher, a young
mentee, and he's giving him wisdom and advice.
And I want you to see a chain that takes place
here. 2 Timothy 2 verse 2, it says, The things
that you have heard from me. So Timothy, you
have heard it from me. You've heard it from Paul.
Among many witnesses, commit these things to
faithful men. who will be able to teach others
as well. You see some levels there? There's Paul
telling Timothy, and that Timothy is supposed
to teach others who are going to teach others.
And it doesn't say it, but I think it implies
that that is supposed to continue. Not supposed
to stop, but it's supposed to continue as we
teach other people that can teach someone else.
I see this saying is that if we are to develop
disciples, then we have to be a disciple. We
have to be a disciple if we want to teach someone
else. There's a book called The Big Four. I'm
not going to spend much time with this, but there's
a quote in there. It studied churches, Adventist
churches that are growing, and it says the vast
majority of our members are not engaged in any
form of witnessing. And when it says our members,
I'm sure that doesn't mean the members of the
Ringgold Seventh -day Adventist Church. That
must be talking about other members, other people
in other places. But what if each one of us decided
that we were going to, in the next four weeks,
eight weeks, twelve weeks, that we were going
to find just one person that we could witness
to? We're so glad our SALT participants are here.
We know you guys are being trained in that. But
guess what? In 12 weeks, they're not going to
be here anymore. So how can we partner with them?
How can we come arm in arm with them to find
one person, one family that we can invite to
church, that we can invite to some upcoming evangelistic
meetings, that we can invite to study the Bible,
Next Sunday to Let's Move Day, a fitness day
down at the Ringgold Creekside Park. There's
some posters out on the table there. Grab some
of those. If you know anybody with young people,
invite them to come out. It's going to be a fun
day. There's going to be free prizes and different
things. So that's an opportunity to invite someone.
Or we've got our SALT group here. And in October,
the end of October, we're going to be having
an evangelistic meeting. Start praying now. Who
can you invite? What neighbor can you speak to?
What grocery store clerk can you give a track
to? What person on your street can you bake a
loaf of bread for? And if you want a little more
inspiration, tonight at 6 o 'clock down at the
Calhoun Church, come on down for our North Georgia
Evangelism Rally because we're gathered here.
We're wanting to find people that want to learn.
more about jesus you guys may have heard the
story from uh let's see maybe two weeks ago maybe
three weeks ago now but there was you remember
when the flood came through just last this month
i think it was a couple weeks ago and i -24 probably
saw the pictures was shut down and the the water
was rising and had to close down a whole interstate
because it rained so hard in one day in just
a few hours And on I -24, there was a gentleman
named Troy Plemons. Troy Plemons is a 22 -year
-old. He works for EPB, the power company. And
he was driving his company van between jobs,
and he was kind of stuck in that water, and he
saw that water rising. And he saw one particular
car that was, the water was rising higher and
higher. And inside, there was someone who was
stuck. Couldn't get the window to roll down.
Couldn't get the door open. The water was coming
higher and higher. So Troy finally decided, well,
I've got to do something. And he stepped out
of his car. Oh, that car that he was in, it must
have been so dry. It must have been so comfortable.
It must have been safe in that dry car that he
was in. But he stepped out into the rain, into
the rising water, and he went to that other car.
And it was deep. He had to swim. to get there,
and he took a piece of metal with him, and he
was able to break the window, and he was able
to help pull the lady out of the car, and he
put her on his back, and they made their way
back towards dry land, and within one or two
minutes after that, that water rose so high that
that car swept away, and it's very likely that
perhaps he saved her life, because he was willing
to get out of his place of comfort, and he was
willing. to make a difference in somebody's life?
Is there somebody that you know? Is there somebody
that you can be praying for? Maybe it's yourself.
As you've been struggling in your walk with God
and you're sensing, you know what? God, I need
to come back to you. I need to make a difference.
I need to know you better. I need to grow in
my walk with you. And I need to be willing to
go wherever you would have me to go. Let's be
willing to step out of our place of comfort.
Why? To find someone that Jesus is sending your
way. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Dear God,
we thank you so much that we can be reminded
of what you have done for us. You have called
us to be a disciple. You have invited us to participate
with you in letting someone else know about the
incredible grace that you have poured out. And
Lord, we're thankful for this. this season of
ministry that's happening. And Lord, we want
to pray for our SALT participants. We want to
pray for our church members. We want to pray
for our evangelists that's coming in a few months.
And Lord, we want to pray for our community.
Help us to cross paths with those who want to
know you more. Guide us and bless us in all that
we do. In your name we pray.