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It's been rather interesting to see the harmony in Washington over the last couple of weeks

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as we have inaugurated the new president.

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And there are all kinds of indications that the two political parties are going to work

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together.

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What a refreshing change that would be.

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Our president is on a honeymoon, but I have a hunch it won't last too long, because leadership

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demands decisions that deal with difficulties.

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And this week he has a message to deliver to Congress that probably is going to change

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the atmosphere of that city.

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And the weeks of placid political enjoyment that we've had are going to be finished

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as the honeymoon is done.

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Initially, Jesus Christ had a honeymoon, we might say, as well, because he enjoyed widespread

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acceptance in his ministry.

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As we open our Bibles, let's turn to Luke chapter 4 and notice what happened in the

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early part of his ministry.

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Jesus returned to Galilee, Luke 4, 14, in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread

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through all the surrounding district, and he began teaching in their synagogues and

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was praised by all.

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Now you know that's a honeymoon when everybody likes you, and that was the initial response

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to the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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But the honeymoon didn't last long.

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Jesus went to Nazareth and preached there in the synagogue, and we find out in verse

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28 of this same chapter that all in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these

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things and they rose up and cast him out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill

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on which their city had been built in order to throw him down the cliff.

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But passing through their midst, he went his way.

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It wasn't too long before the message that he came to proclaim began to irritate especially

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the hypocritical religious leaders of the Jews.

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Actually there were two reactions to Jesus' ministry that grew side by side.

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There was on the one hand growing popularity.

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We see it in verse 37 of this same chapter, and the report about him was getting out into

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every locality in the surrounding district.

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And in verse 42 it says, when day came he departed and went to a lonely place, and the

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multitudes were searching for him and came to him and tried to keep him from going away

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from them.

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The growing popularity in chapter 5 and verse 15, the news about him was spreading even

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farther and great multitudes were gathering to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

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The growing beside the popularity was hostility toward him.

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For example in verse 17 of chapter 5, it came about one day that he was teaching and there

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were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there who had come from every village

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of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem.

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Now why were they there?

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They were there to try to catch him.

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In verse 21 it says, the scribes and Pharisees began to reason saying, who is this man who

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speaks blasphemies?

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Who can forgive sins but God alone?

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Skipping on down to verse 30, on another occasion the same group, the Pharisees, the scribes,

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these religious leaders began grumbling at his disciples saying, why do you eat and drink

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with the tax gatherers and sinners?

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You see the hostility growing in chapter 6 verse 1.

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It came about that on a certain Sabbath he was passing through some grain fields and

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his disciples were picking and eating the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands.

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But some of the Pharisees said, why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?

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And then if you'll move on down to verse 7, about a week later, another occasion when

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Jesus had entered a synagogue and there was a man who was crippled there, the scribes

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and Pharisees were watching him closely to see if he healed on the Sabbath in order that

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they might find reason to accuse him.

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And Jesus did heal the man and verse 11 says, but they themselves, these religious leaders,

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were filled with rage and disgust together what they might do to Jesus.

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So you see the situation, early in his ministry, an immediate honeymoon that was short lived.

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And then hostility began to grow as his popularity grew.

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So there were two reactions to Jesus, both of them growing very quickly.

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That brings us to part of our text for this morning, chapter 6 verse 12, which says, and

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it was at this time.

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Does that help you to understand what those three words mean at this time?

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When Jesus was facing the kind of pressures he was from the multitudes, pressing upon

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him to hear him to be healed, and on the other hand, had this group of religious leaders

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feeling threatened who were trying to find some way to deal with him and make him quiet,

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put him out of business, cause him to cease.

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It was at that time that he went off to a mountain to pray, and he spent the whole night

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in prayer to God.

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And when day came, he called his disciples to him and chose 12 of them, whom he also

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named as apostles.

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And then they are listed in verses 14 through 16.

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It was at this time that Jesus called 12 of his disciples and named them apostles.

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I believe that the second greatest work of Jesus Christ on the earth was that of calling

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his team together.

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Of course, his greatest work was the work at the cross when he atoned for man's sin.

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But his second greatest work was that of calling his team together.

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It was nothing less than the beginning of a movement that would carry out the task of

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proclaiming his gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth.

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This act of our Lord was the foundation of the church, the new people of God being formed

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in this age.

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As he called out these 12, it was the embryo of the spiritual organism which would later

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be called the body of Christ.

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The names of the 12, as they are finally constituted in the book of Acts, are engraved forever

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in the foundation of the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem, the eternal home of the church.

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You and I today, some 1950 years later, are in a line of direct succession to these men

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that are named.

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We who trust the Savior are part of that movement that began in Christ's ministry and was given

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full birth on the day of Pentecost when the church was officially formed.

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Jesus called his team of men together in three phases.

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It was a process that took better than a year before the 12 were actually commissioned as

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apostles.

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It was vital that they be eyewitnesses of him so that their later reports about his

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ministry as they preached would bear credence.

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These were humble men who had much to learn and had much need of personal transformation.

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They were not polished and refined, natural public speakers and people.

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They were rugged, rustic, and in many ways crude.

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Yet our Lord knew the potential within them despite the rough exterior.

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They were to be the work of his grace.

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The first phase of Jesus calling his team together is found in the fact that he chose

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them.

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He chose them.

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Then he trained them, phase number two, and finally he commissioned them.

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When we think of Jesus choosing his disciples, we need to understand that as we compare the

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Gospels, and by the way, one of the best ways to do that is to purchase or to use what is

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called a harmony of the Gospels.

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That is an arrangement of the Gospel writings, verse by verse and paragraph by paragraph,

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so that what happens is sequential.

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You can see what Mark and Luke say about the same occasion, or Matthew and John perhaps,

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a harmony of the Gospels.

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As you look at a harmony of Jesus choosing his disciples, you find that there were actually

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several callings extended to them.

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The first calling was a call to salvation.

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We read briefly about that in our scripture earlier in the service in John chapter 1.

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When John the Baptist was with two of his disciples and Jesus came by, and John told

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them, follow him, and they did.

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One of them's name was Andrew.

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Andrew went to find his brother, who was Simon.

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Then the next day, Jesus dealt with two more men, one of them Nathaniel, the other Philip.

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John records for us, and only John, that particular incident, the first calling of the disciples.

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We don't have that with all of them, but the first calling in each case, nonetheless,

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was the call to salvation.

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It says on that occasion that his disciples believed on him.

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They came to faith.

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They came to understand who he was.

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Now their faith was very simple, but they nonetheless believed that he was the Christ,

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the Son of the living God, the call to salvation.

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Then later, there was another phase or aspect of his calling them.

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It was the call to be his witnesses, but it was not a permanent calling.

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This is found in Matthew chapter 4, and we read that as well earlier in our service this

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morning.

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Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, and he saw Andrew and Peter fishing.

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He said, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

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Jesus called them, called James and John, the sons of Zebedee on the same occasion.

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He extended to them a call, not to salvation.

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They had already believed in him.

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They had gone back to their work at the sea, and now he calls them to follow him, but not

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on a permanent basis.

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He says, come and be witness to me of what I am going to do, and listen to my teachings.

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He is calling them simply to follow him as disciples, and they did for a period of time,

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and then went back to their fishing.

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Jesus then comes once more and gives them another calling.

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This time it is a call to be his witnesses, but it is a permanent calling.

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We find this in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 5.

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Jesus uses similar language, but the occasion obviously is different.

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Again, it is around the Sea of Galilee, and there he enters into the boat of Simon to

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do some teaching.

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When he is finished, he performs a miracle, telling Peter to let down his nets and catch

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some fish.

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Peter says, No, Lord, we fished all night.

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We caught nothing.

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But he says, I will let down the nets at your word.

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When they had done that, the fish were great in their quantity, and the response of Peter

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was amazing.

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In verse 8 he says, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

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He recognized the worthiness of this one who had performed this miracle.

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Amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had

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taken.

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There were also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

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Jesus said to Simon, Do not fear.

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From now on you will be catching men.

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When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

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This now is the third calling to the disciples.

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In this time he is saying to them, I want you to permanently follow me and leave behind

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your secular occupation.

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I want you to be with me all the time.

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They were.

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Jesus then deals with them in these next verses.

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Then we come to the text we read earlier in chapter 6, the fourth time that he called

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them.

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This time after a night of prayer.

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Jesus called all of his disciples.

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There were many of them.

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He selects out of the multitudes twelve, among them those that we have already named.

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Simon, who is also called Peter, and Andrew, and James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew

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and Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, and

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Judas, the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

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Out of the multitude of disciples, these twelve were chosen to be his apostles.

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So he chose his team that way.

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We need to remember that salvation precedes service.

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There are some who get that confused and reversed.

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They think that somehow by serving God in their own way, they will eventually get to

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the point of salvation.

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That's not the way it works with God.

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First, we are called to salvation, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Following that comes an increasing call from him to serve him, and for some to serve him

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full-time or vocationally, not for all, but for some.

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It begins with a call to salvation, and it proceeds then with a call to sanctification,

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being set apart for God's purpose, and finally to a call of service, full-time service for

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some, but lifetime service for all.

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Have you responded to the call of Jesus Christ?

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Have you responded to the call of salvation, to believe on him?

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And if you have, have you responded to his call for sanctification, to holiness of life,

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to a transformed life where his lordship begins to challenge areas in your life not yet yielded

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to him?

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Have you responded to his call to service, for all of us are called to be his witnesses,

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his ambassadors in this world?

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Jesus Christ is still today choosing a team, not precisely in the same sense as Luke chapter

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6, but you and I are a part of the broader team.

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We are not called to apostleship, there are no apostles today, but we are called to be

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a part of the team, the movement, the church of Jesus Christ that is purposed to declare

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his gospel to the world.

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Now I notice on this occasion that Jesus was a man of much prayer.

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Luke in particular emphasizes those times when Jesus got alone to pray, and this is

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one of them.

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He went off to a mountain to pray, and he spent the whole night in prayer to God all

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by himself.

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He sought a silent place.

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He set aside time where there would be no limitation, and that was during the night,

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and he prayed to God.

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Is that at all instructive to you?

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If the blessed Son of God needed large, set-apart times for prayer, how much more so do we,

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his disciples, need that same thing?

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Jesus was about to make the most important appointments of his earthly ministry.

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This was a momentous decision to call out from the multitudes of sincere disciples those

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who would be his apostles, the foundation of the church.

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Jesus spent the night in prayer before making that decision.

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Do you bathe your decisions in prayer?

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Every decision needs God's direction.

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We need to pray.

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But especially in those decisions that are life-changing, that affect the direction of

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our lives and our ministries, we need to bathe those decisions in prayer.

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Some of you today are facing those kinds of decisions regarding employment, regarding

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going on with relationships, the possibility of marriage, regarding a move at a critical

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point for your family.

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These decisions must be preceded by prayer.

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Jesus set the example for us.

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What was the nature of Jesus' prayer?

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We can only guess about that.

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Undoubtedly, he spent much time in worship, but he also sought by petition the Lord's

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discernment, his Father's discernment, as he made the selections the next day.

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The result was, interestingly, that he included a betrayer in his selection of those men.

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When Jesus knew that he did, he knew it.

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He knew who was to betray him.

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And in the Gospel of John, he says that one of you is a devil.

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What does he mean by that?

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G. Campbell Morgan says that Judas was actually the devil incarnate.

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I think that may be a little extreme, but he was a man who was under the control of

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the devil, increasingly so, until that night of the betrayal when it says in the Gospel

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of John again that Satan entered into Judas and he became a devil-possessed personality

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and did his work.

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Jesus purposely chose this man because he was to have a part in his earthly work.

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It's not that he was predestined to do what he did, but Jesus knew in advance the heart

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of this man, his motives, and what he eventually would do, and chose to make him a part of

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that inner core, the Twelve.

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You and I, by the example that Jesus sets before us here, must be men and women of prayer,

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not only about our personal lives, but about our church as well.

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We need to bathe the ministry of our church in prayer.

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Our small churches, our missionaries, our outreaches, all of that must be undergirded

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by and supported by generous prayer.

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Dr. Howard Hendricks was speaking this last week in a conference where I heard him.

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He told the story of a person who came up to him after a service and was admitting to

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him that he didn't have much of a prayer life.

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Dr. Hendricks' immediate response was, how long have you been so proud?

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The man was puzzled by the response, and Hendricks went on to explain to him that when you and

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I pray little, it exposes great pride in our lives, that we think ourselves to be very

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self-sufficient and independent of God.

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When we pray little, it says a great deal about our attitude, about ourselves, and our

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need for God.

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Our Savior spent a whole night in prayer on this occasion, as well as many others, praying

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to the Father for the discernment that he would need as he chose his team.

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Jesus then went on to train them.

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We see this, for example, in Luke 10, verses 23 and 24, where it says,

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In turning to the disciples, Jesus said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things

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you see.

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For I say to you that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and

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did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.

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Jesus not only chose his apostles, but then he spent many, many days and hours training

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them.

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How did he train them?

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Basically what he says here.

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In the first place, they saw what he did.

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They observed Jesus.

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They watched the miracles that he performed.

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They listened intently to the teaching that he gave.

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In fact, the very first teaching that Jesus gave after calling them apostles was the Sermon

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on the Mount, which Matthew records for us in some detail in chapters 5, 6, and 7.

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Jesus saw what Jesus, the disciples rather, saw what Jesus did.

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And what we have recorded in the New Testament of his miracles is only a sample of them.

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John says that if they recorded, the Gospel writers recorded, everything that Jesus did,

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the world itself could not contain the books that would be necessary.

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There were multiplied thousands of miracles that Jesus performed which are not recorded

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for us specifically in the Gospels.

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But the disciples, the apostles saw them all.

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And as they watched, they were trained.

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And then they listened to what he taught.

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They listened to the public instruction and sometimes got private explanations, particularly

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regarding the parables.

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They would say to him, Lord, what does this mean?

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And Jesus privately then would explain to them what he was saying.

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In addition to those public meetings, can you imagine how many private conversations

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they had with him?

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As they would be sitting around the fire at night with just a group of them together,

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or crossing the sea in the boat, or as they walked along the pathway through Samaria or

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Pariah or Galilee, as they were on their way up to Jerusalem, can you imagine how many

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times they just gathered around him and Jesus conversed with them.

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And they listened to what he taught.

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Their minds were dull, their hearts were slow, and yet they were trained by listening to

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what he taught.

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Then I would suggest to you also that in their training they experienced failure as well

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as success.

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And Luke records for us one example of that in chapter 9.

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It begins in verse 37 just after the experience of the transfiguration.

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It says, It came about on the next day that when they had come down from the mountain,

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a great multitude met him.

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And behold, a man from the multitude shouted out, saying, Teacher, I beg you to look at

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my son, for he is my only boy.

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And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams, and it throws him into a convulsion

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with foaming at the mouth.

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And as it mauls him, it scarcely leaves him.

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And I begged your disciples to cast it out, and they could not.

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And so we see here a failure on the part of the disciples who had not been with Jesus

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on the mount of transfiguration.

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A failure.

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Now they had had successes too, many of them.

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They had delivered many from demon possession.

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They had healed many.

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Jesus gave them the power to do that.

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But along with their successes, Jesus trained them by their failures.

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Do you ever see your failure that way?

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It is Mark who records this incident more fully.

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And on that occasion, Jesus went on to abrade them for their lack of prayer.

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He said this kind comes out only by prayer, suggesting to us that there are different

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kinds of demons who have different powers, and if we may say so, staying ability.

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And this particular kind that caused this boy not only to be characterized as it is

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in verse 39 to be deaf and dumb as well, was a very tough one to deal with.

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By their failure, they learned that lesson regarding the nature of demons and regarding

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the importance of prayer in ministry.

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There were other failures too, and in fact they capped their final exam with a failure

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in the night that Jesus was betrayed when they all fled and left Him.

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In every failure is the seed lesson that will lead to success.

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It may be that you are right now in the experience of failure.

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I want to encourage you not to be discouraged, but to examine that failure for some seed

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of a lesson that God is trying to teach you as He trains you to do His work.

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Jesus trains us today the same way He trained those disciples.

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In the first place, we need to watch Him and listen to Him as we come to the Word.

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You and I are equipped in our service through this book, 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17.

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This book is the means by which we are equipped to every good work.

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Because in here we see Jesus and we listen to Jesus, and by that we are instructed.

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And then in the daily course of our lives, God gives us success and God gives us failure.

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And all of that is so that you and I might be trained.

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We are in the first place chosen, and then we are trained by our Lord.

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And I'm thankful that our training doesn't have to be perfected before we can be fruitful,

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don't you?

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Training is life-long.

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It's a process that we go through.

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God doesn't wait until we've learned all of our lessons perfectly before He can use

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us and make us fruitful to witness the disciples.

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But there's a third phase of Jesus calling His team.

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The third phase is that He commissioned them.

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He called them to be apostles, and for this we come back to the text where we started.

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A disciple is a learner.

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A disciple is one who follows after.

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A disciple is one who comes along with.

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But an apostle is something more than that.

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An apostle is one who is set apart as a delegated representative or messenger.

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You say, well am I an apostle?

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No.

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There are no apostles today as we've already said.

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However, you and I are sent forth on a mission.

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We don't have that specific office of apostle, but we are sent forth as the delegates, the

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representatives of Jesus Christ to our generation.

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Jesus Christ has not only called you and chosen you, He's not only training you, but He has

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delegated you to do a work for Him today where you're living and maybe beyond that at some

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point in your life.

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It's interesting isn't it that as we look at the names of the apostles, some of them

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are not known beyond their names being listed here.

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What does that tell us?

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Well, perhaps a number of things.

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One of the things is this.

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These men who are not known beyond their names on this list were simply not within the focus

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of the Holy Spirit as He wrote the accounts of the Gospels and the book of Acts.

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But they too served the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Judas, the son of James.

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Simon, who was a zealot.

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James, the son of Alphaeus, we know a little bit about Thomas, but what of Bartholomew?

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Probably the same as Nathaniel in John chapter 1.

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The point that I'm making is this.

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God does not count fame as the important thing.

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God counts faithfulness as the important thing.

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Very few of us, if any of us, will ever be famous.

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Not many of us, if any of us, will ever have our names on the lists that are published

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and known.

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That is not important.

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Those who served in insignificant places, quote and unquote.

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Those who are unknowns, quote and unquote, are just as important to Jesus Christ as those

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whose names are known by everyone.

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The work that they do is just as significant to our Lord as the work of the one that is

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far famed.

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Another thing that impresses me about the disciples is this, with all of the faults

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that they had, whether it be the impetuosity of Peter or the doubt of Thomas or the overzeal

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of the sons of Zebedee, with all of their faults there is one cardinal virtue that stands

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out with them.

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These men were capable of such complete devotion to Jesus Christ that they were willing to

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sacrifice all for His sake.

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Everything.

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They put it on the line.

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And I want you to know that that is the kind of people that Jesus Christ wants on his team.

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The kind that are willing to lay it all down, to put it on the line and sacrifice it all

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for His sake.

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What a great and challenging example Jesus' team gives to all of us who are on the later

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part of the same team.

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We are Jesus Christ's team in this generation.

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We serve a different function than these men did, and yet we are a part of the total purpose

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and design of God for this age.

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We have been chosen.

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We are being equipped by God.

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And we've already been commissioned as His witnesses.

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How our hearts need to grasp that.

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How we need to be thrilled by the privilege that is extended to us by the grace of God

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to be called by Jesus Christ to walk with Him in salvation, in sanctification, and in

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service.

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And to be trained by Him and His Spirit working within us and equipped to serve Him.

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And then to be commissioned with assignments that He would give us.

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What a privilege of grace.

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As we bring to a close this message about Jesus calling His team together, I think there

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are several valuable lessons that we need to sum up before we go.

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The first is that the heart of our service is that of fishing for men.

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That was the heart of what the disciples and the apostles were about, and that's the heart

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of what we're about.

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That's the focus.

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That's the core.

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We're going to bring others to Jesus Christ by our persuasive witnessing to them.

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Not our coercion, but our persuasive sharing of the gospel of Christ.

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The picture of a fisherman is suggestive.

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Fishermen must be patient, so must Christ's witness.

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Fishermen must be persistent and not give up easily, so must the witness of Christ.

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Fishermen must be wise, knowing a sense of timing, what bait to use, and so on.

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So must the witnesses of Christ.

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Fishermen must be quiet in their work, and so must the fisherman of Christ keep himself

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hidden and out of the way so that attention is drawn to the Lord and not to himself.

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I say it again, that the heart of our service is that of fishing for men.

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Are you involved in that kind of fishing?

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Throwing out the net in the office, in the neighborhood, the place where God's assigned

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you, throwing it out, seeking to bring people to faith in Christ?

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That's the heart of why we're here.

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A second lesson that I see is that not everyone is called to be a leader, but everyone's

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part is nonetheless important to Christ.

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These twelve were called out from the multitude of the disciples.

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That multitude of disciples was as important as the twelve in their relationship to Christ,

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but they were the leaders.

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But then there was even an inner core of leaders, Peter, James, and John, that Jesus spent more

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time with.

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Not everyone is called to serve in the same capacity, but the part of every person is

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equally important.

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And finally, one does not have to be great to be used of God.

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One does not have to be great to be used of God.

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What counts is availability and devotion to Jesus Christ.

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Maybe we should add to that as well a passion for people.

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Those are the things that matter.

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Availability to the purpose of God.

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Devotion, intense fervent to the person of Jesus Christ.

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And then a passion and compassion for people.

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Those are the things that matter.

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One does not have to be great to have all of those as a part of his life.

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Are you available to God for his purpose?

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Or are you busy doing your own thing?

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Isn't it interesting how at some points in our lives we can just give ourselves fully

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to the Lord and be available to him, and then slowly, bit by bit, almost imperceptibly,

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that commitment begins to erode away.

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And we don't even notice that it's disappearing unless the Spirit of God opens our eyes and

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causes us to look back to what point we were once at.

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May I encourage you to ask the Lord to open your eyes, are you at that point of availability

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00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:03,340
to the Lord?

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Then are you devoted to Jesus Christ?

468
00:41:06,020 --> 00:41:10,980
Oh, the intensity of that devotion at one point in your life.

469
00:41:10,980 --> 00:41:15,460
And yet is that devotion now waning?

470
00:41:15,460 --> 00:41:21,140
Are there other loves and concerns?

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We cannot serve him effectively unless there is that devotion.

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00:41:24,580 --> 00:41:30,860
And I say again, that's the thing that with all of these apostles strikes you.

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They were men capable of great devotion to Christ.

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Then they cared about people.

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00:41:40,060 --> 00:41:41,700
There was a passion for people.

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I know how greatly we need that.

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00:41:44,020 --> 00:41:46,820
Do you sense that in your heart today?

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One does not have to be great to be used of God, but one does have to be available, devoted,

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and passionate.

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00:42:00,260 --> 00:42:05,740
Robert Murray McShane died before he was 30 years of age.

481
00:42:05,740 --> 00:42:12,980
Of him, one biographer wrote, everywhere he stepped, Scotland shook.

482
00:42:12,980 --> 00:42:17,540
Whenever he opened his mouth, a spiritual force swept in every direction.

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00:42:17,540 --> 00:42:21,900
Thousands followed him to the feet of Christ.

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00:42:21,900 --> 00:42:27,500
Visitors who came to see the church where McShane had preached were shown a table, a

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00:42:27,500 --> 00:42:30,540
chair, and an open Bible.

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00:42:30,540 --> 00:42:36,180
They were then told how that man of God spent hours with his head buried in the Bible, weeping

487
00:42:36,180 --> 00:42:43,340
for those to whom he would preach, with such a passion for souls.

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00:42:43,340 --> 00:42:48,940
Is it any wonder that the Holy Spirit gave McShane a magnetic personality which drew

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so many to the Savior?

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Gone from the earth at 29 years of age, but part of the team.

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Are you on the team?

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00:43:02,460 --> 00:43:06,380
Are you functioning as part of the team?

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00:43:06,380 --> 00:43:10,340
Let's pray.

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00:43:10,340 --> 00:43:22,420
You examine our hearts today, and the Spirit of God speaks to us.

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00:43:22,420 --> 00:43:28,260
Where are you in relation to this word from the Lord?

496
00:43:28,260 --> 00:43:29,660
Have you believed on Christ?

497
00:43:29,660 --> 00:43:35,660
Have you answered that calling?

498
00:43:35,660 --> 00:43:47,380
And if so, are you being trained and equipped by seeing Jesus and listening to him in the

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00:43:47,380 --> 00:43:50,620
Word?

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00:43:50,620 --> 00:43:57,340
Are you spending time with him in prayer?

501
00:43:57,340 --> 00:44:07,140
Are you able to see your failures as part of God's training process?

502
00:44:07,140 --> 00:44:18,060
Are you available to him as he says, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men?

503
00:44:18,060 --> 00:44:23,420
Are you reluctant to leave your nets, forsake all, and follow him?

504
00:44:23,420 --> 00:44:27,900
Is your devotion to Christ intense and pure?

505
00:44:27,900 --> 00:44:43,300
Do you care for people, for their lostness, their hurting, their hell-boundness?

506
00:44:43,300 --> 00:44:57,420
Lord Jesus, I pray that as you call out your team in 1989, that there will be some who

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00:44:57,420 --> 00:45:06,100
will follow in the footsteps of those early team members.

508
00:45:06,100 --> 00:45:14,620
I pray that that sum would include all of us.

509
00:45:14,620 --> 00:45:23,100
As we serve you, because you have saved us, may we serve you with a kind of single-hearted

510
00:45:23,100 --> 00:45:32,420
devotion and concern for people that will cause us to be usable and fruitful in your

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00:45:32,420 --> 00:45:36,300
hands.

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00:45:36,300 --> 00:45:45,380
Convict us, I pray, convict us of areas of life that need to be yielded to your Lordship

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00:45:45,380 --> 00:45:53,380
where our priorities are messed up.

514
00:45:53,380 --> 00:45:56,780
How would you respond, my friend, as you're seated there with your head bowed, what do

515
00:45:56,780 --> 00:46:04,940
you need to say to the Lord?

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00:46:04,940 --> 00:46:07,940
Let's sing together.

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00:46:07,940 --> 00:46:21,180
Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me.

518
00:46:21,180 --> 00:46:49,340
Melt me, mold me, fill me with your love.

519
00:46:49,340 --> 00:46:55,380
Excuse me.

520
00:46:55,380 --> 00:47:13,660
Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me.

521
00:47:13,660 --> 00:47:19,140
Let's stand together with our heads bowed.

522
00:47:19,140 --> 00:47:25,020
Lord we feel that we have walked today beside the Sea of Galilee with you.

523
00:47:25,020 --> 00:47:33,540
As you extended the call to those early men, follow me so we have heard your call.

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00:47:33,540 --> 00:47:46,020
As we leave this place of worship this morning, we go to follow you and to be fishers of men

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00:47:46,020 --> 00:47:52,180
and to fulfill our part in the team that you're calling together.

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00:47:52,180 --> 00:48:16,740
Amen.