Thursday, January 29, 2009

Mark 1:14-20


Choose

Someone or something has been interrupting my mornings for as long as I can remember. As a child it was my mother, waking me up for school. As a teen my mom bought me a clock radio to save our relationship since I tended to be openly grumpy in the morning. Some person or some device has been waking me up to start a day that did not seem to be of my choosing.

Wake up and get an education. Wake up and go to work. Wake up to wake up your children so they can get an education. Just wake up. Every morning was the same. Every day was basically the same. Christmas was the only break in the year. On Christmas I wanted to spring out of bed with a giggle. I want that Christmas morning spring out of bed joy in the morning.

Bob Dylan's voice runs through my mind, "You've gotta serve somebody". I do not remember being offered a choice about who I would serve. Those born into their slavery may not even realize what they are until they are offered a way out. To choose to leave your slavery is to turn your back on what you were serving and to face the freedom. John the Baptizer let the people know that the Mighty one was coming to set them free. John experienced prison because of his message of freedom. Y'shua/Jesus took hold of the baton of the message of the gospel of freedom and began the course.

Make a decision William Lane wrote, "Either a man submits to the summons of God or he chooses this world and its riches and its honor." Well put. Joshua said, . . .choose this day whom you will serve. . .but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15

Mark 1:14-20 NAS
And after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

And as He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." And they immediately left the nets and followed Him. And going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. And immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.
Decide As forerunner, the Baptizer called the people of Judah and Jerusalem to repent, for the remission of sins. Now the forerunner is locked away in Herod's dungeon. The Mighty one John spoke of, came to the shores of the Sea of Galilee with the same call, "Repent" but to that call he added, "and believe in the gospel" The season of fulfillment had come. The time was at hand ...the presence of the future was now.
Decide Brothers Simon and Andrew were fishing, earning a living, when the Mighty One, the Messiah, confronted them directly. "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men." A righteous call with righteous work. Mornings would feel like Christmas. The same call went to the brothers John and James. Each of them had to decide. They turned their focus from their business inventory, their livelihood, family and probably their inheritance in this world for the kingdom of God. Christmas morning.
Decide The call came to me one morning in a little church by a lake. Make a choice, do it today. I had wanted the perks of religion but wasn't sure just how far I wanted to go, how fanatic I wanted to be. Make a choice today, who will you serve? I chose Jesus, I chose Christmas morning before I knew that it was possible to wake up everyday feeling this way.
Decide In Bible Study Fellowship we used to laugh when we reminded the ladies that the sweaty palms and a racing heart were not to be ignored, God was calling them. But it is for freedom that God calls, not for slavery. The choice to breath free can be frightening, you may talk yourself out of it. Don't. You get this chance to choose. You get to decide if you will serve Jesus. The world never offered that to you. But those of us who chose to follow Jesus know that, "You gotta serve somebody" Decide...

Joshua 24:14-15 "Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

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