The Church of Eleven22 - Calling of First Disciples - Heaven to Earth - Matthew S1E4

Episode Date: February 1, 2026

What if following Jesus isn’t about learning more—but about leaving what’s comfortable? Jesus begins His public ministry not from a place of striving, but from the Father’s approval—and then He immediately goes to work. In Matthew 4, we see Jesus fulfill ancient prophecy, bring light into darkness, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is here now, and call ordinary, unlikely people to join Him on a rescue mission for the world. This message challenges us to stop delaying the kingdom, to embody it by pushing back darkness with light, and to respond to Jesus’ simple but costly invitation: “Follow Me.” From fishermen dropping their nets to crowds bringing their brokenness to Jesus, we’re reminded that discipleship is not a spectator sport—it’s a life of obedience, community, and mission. What might Jesus be asking you to lay down so you can take your next step of obedience? 📣 Episode Mentions: • Scripture Passage: Matthew 4 • Preacher: Pastor Joby Martin 📌 Supplemental Resources From This Week: • From Existing to Free - Mark’s Story • Calling of First Disciples - Heaven to Earth - Matthew S1E4 (Full Service)  • What Does it Mean to Follow Jesus? - Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin: Matthew S1E3 • Matthew Season 1: Heaven to Earth Sermon Series • Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here.

Amen and amen and amen. How we doing? Doing good? That's what I thought. You're not doing good. I'm going to be honest. The new 9-22 service, bro, they were frozen. I don't know what it is, okay?

It was not good. This thing is a two-way street, all right? I promise I'll do my part. I'll preach the word. I'll bring the energy. But I need you to sit up. I need you to get your Bibles out. We're going to be Matthew Chapter 4.

I need everybody moving. If your neighbor doesn't get their Bible, shame them. Look at them. What are you doing, man? We had a Bible study. Let's go. There you go. I need you to look to your neighbor and put your hand on their shoulder and say, are you ready for this?

See what you did? You didn't do it. You didn't do it. You're not ready. Look at your neighbor. Are you ready for this? Now look at your other neighbor and say, I'm ready for this. All right, let's go.

I know it's cold. We're not used to it. The plants froze, but apparently you're sold in too. So we've got to wake up. We're going to study the Word of God. We've got to be into this, all right? And so there we go. There we go.

Thanks, Dad. Because we're talking about the calling of the first disciples. This is a really big deal. We've been studying the book of Matthew. We split it up into season. So this first season, we're wrapping up today. We're talking about heaven to earth. When the word of God becomes flesh and is born among us.

And then Jesus kind of lives in utter obscurity for about 30 years. And then he shows up to get baptized. And you'll remember God's pronouncement over his son before he ever does anything is, behold my son in whom I am well pleased. So what's going to launch Jesus into his ministry is not, he's not working for approval. He's working from the approval of God. And then immediately after that, that liar, that freaking liar, the devil comes in to try to tempt Jesus and says, if you really are the son of God. And so for 40 days he's out in the desert, alone with the devil being tempted.

So one of the things you need to pay attention to is before Jesus' ministry is ever public, it's personal, it's private, and there's preparation. I mean, everybody in their grandma wants to do a podcast and a social media influencer today. Before you ever think God is going to give you a platform, first, personally, what are you doing with the Lord? Privately, what are you doing with the Lord? And have you been prepared, and nothing will prepare you like pain for ministry? Chapter 4, verse 12, now. So after all of that stuff I just said, now, when Jesus heard that, John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee.

We'll talk about that more in a few weeks. Verse 13, and leaving Nazareth, Jesus went and he lived in Copernum by the sea in the territory of Zebulon and Naftali so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. This is a big deal. If you go to Galat, we're going to Israel again next year,

you should come, we'll take you there. It's beautiful. It's like Napa. But he didn't live there because of the school systems. the reason that he lived there is so that what was spoken by the private Isaiah might be fulfilled. And then Matthew is going to quote Isaiah, chapter 9, the land of Zebulun and the land of Natali,

the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, underline this, Galilee of the Gentiles. This matters so much. The people dwelling in darkness have seen great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadows of death, on them a light has dawn. There's two things here that I want to point out to you, First and foremost is that Jesus is the fulfillment of the things prophesied about him in the Old Testament.

That this whole book is about one thing and it ain't about you. It's all about Jesus. And some of you, if you kind of, you know, you've been on a church, but wait a minute, I thought Jesus showed up at Christmas like in Matthew 1 and Luke 2. No, no, no, no. The whole book is about Jesus. The Old Testament is Jesus concealed. It all points to his coming.

And then the New Testament is Jesus revealed. And so a few years ago, it was a very famous pastor in Atlanta, Georgia, and he said that if you're a believer in Jesus, then you should be unhitch from the Old Testament. It was a terrible choice of words. That's the worst thing I've ever heard in my life. If you are not greatly hitched to the Old Testament, you have no idea what Matthew is talking about. Because what Matthew over and over and over and over is going to be saying is Jesus didn't just show up on the scene and be like, ta-da, here I am, that all the way back from Genesis chapter 3, when God the Father says, and then I will put a curse between you. and your offspring and this enemy, this Satan, this trickster, and he's going to show up on the scene, and this enemy is going to bruise his heel and he's going to get his head crushed,

the entire Old Testament points to the coming of the serpent crusher. And then John the baptizer is going to be like, heads up, here he is. Behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the world. And so what Matthew is doing is saying, no, no, no, we are completely hitched to the Old Testament. And this Jesus, the reason that he lived where he lived, it's because. this is where Isaiah said that he was going to live. Now, here's what I need you to know. Conservatively speaking,

Jesus fulfills at least 300 direct prophecies from the Old Testament. Now, there's about 500 prophecies in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah. But here's the thing. The reason that he hadn't fulfilled every single one is because he's not done. When he was on the cross, he said, it is finished. He didn't say he was finished. Right now, he's sitting at the right hand of God the Father, interceding for you, by the way, and by God we need it.

And he's just waiting for his dad to tap him on the shoulder and say, go get my kids, boy, and then the heavens are going to crack open, a trumpet's going to blast. He's going to show up on a horse wearing white robes, and you know who wears white to a fight? They know they're going to win and they're going to take long. He's got a sword out of his mouth, tattoos on his quads. He's coming home to fulfill every single prophecy.

But 300 prophecies of the Old Testament have already been fulfilled in Christ. Now, there's this dude name Peter Stoner. He's a mathematician and an astronomy chair at Pasadena City College, and he's also the chair of science division in Westmont College. I just tell you that to know he's a credential nerd. That's who he is, all right? And he looked at the statistical probability of one human being randomly fulfilling just eight specific messianic prophecies.

Michael 5-2, Malachi 3-1, Zachariariah 9-9, Zachariah 136, Zachariah 1112, Zechariah 1113, Isaiah 537 in Psalm 2260. And then he calculated the likelihood that one random person would just happen to fulfill all of these prophecies. And the number he came up with was one in 10 to the 17th power. I know that doesn't mean anything to you, but that's what it is, just to fulfill eight of the prophecies. Then he extrapolated that out and said, what would it look like for one person to fulfill? 48 of the prophecies. Again, Jesus fulfills 300.

And the number is 1 in 10 to the 157th power. Here's what it looks like. Look at this. That's what that number is. That's a lot. And Jesus fulfills it. Why? Because this is God's preordained plan

before everything was to be created that Jesus, the Christ, would do exactly what God the Father had sent him to do. And in order to illustrate the chance of one human being fulfilling eight prophecies that's one in ten to the 17th power so that we can kind of

get our head around it. Maybe you've heard this illustration before. This guy's stoner. I think it's funny his name stoner because this sounds like the most stoner thing to like study. One in ten to the 17th power would be the equivalent if you took the state of Texas. I was there last week. God bless Texas. I love Texas.

I bet you do too. With a good cowboy hat. Good job. I think I follow you on social media. I do. Are you celebrating sobriety? Praise God, bro. Praise God. I was hoping to meet you.

Praise God. You're like three weeks in or something, aren't you? Two weeks in. My dude right here. All right. I've been praying for you every time I see it. All right. So anyway, sorry, while we just have a discussion while everybody's watching.

I don't care. Nice hat. So anyway, if you took the entire state of Texas and took silver dollars and filled up all every, from Houston to San Antonio to Amarillo. I just know the towns that George Strait sings about. All right? And so, two feet high in silver dollars and you painted one red. And then you blindfold somebody and say,

spun them around and let them walk around Texas, the whole state, and just randomly pick up one. Do you know what the chances of them picking up the one red silver dollar is? One in ten to the 17th power. So Jesus is no accident. Jesus is no just moral teacher. Jesus is the son of God, the second person of the Trinity, sent on a rescue mission by God to accomplish everything that God called him to accomplish.

And of all the places to move to, he moves to Zebulon, the land of Nautili. Why does that matter? It's not just a beautiful place to live. It kind of looks like Napa up there. But here's the reason. It's the Galilee of the Gentiles. So where does Jesus' ministry start? It doesn't start in Jerusalem.

It doesn't start at the temple. It doesn't start with the best of the best. And the reason this matters, don't you remember, we're going to talk about this ad nauseum all the time. A part of what Matthew is doing, Matthew is a guy who was born on the inside, chose to be an outsider, and then what he's doing when he's writing the gospel of Matthew,

is that Jesus is the greater Israel, that Jesus came to fulfill all of the things that the chosen people of God were supposed to fulfill. And the problem is that they got wrapped around the axle of themselves. All the way back to the very first promise of Genesis chapter 12, verse 2, God says to Abraham, I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great. So that you will be a blessing.

And all they heard is, we don't be great. And they didn't get to the so that part. He keeps going. I will bless those who bless you. And to him who dishonors you, I will curse, and in you, all the families of their earth shall be blessed. And they're like, we're chosen to be chosen. And guys are like, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, no, no.

You were blessed to be a blessing so that the whole world would know this blessing, and that blessing is the person and work of Jesus. So the very first ministry Jesus starts is not in Jerusalem at the temple. He goes out to the outer edges. Why? Because from the beginning, he himself was a movement for all people to discover and deep and and a relationship with him. Verse 17, and from that time, Jesus began to preach.

And here's a sermon. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent. That means you've got to change the way you think. Don't be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And how do you renew your mind? You've got to take off the old and put on the new.

Repent means to change direction, because every single one of us are on a path that leads somewhere, and the path that this world leads us to is death and destruction, because if we have an enemy, he's a thief, he only wants to steal, kill and destroy. And yet we've got a good shepherd, and he's going, no, turn around, turn around. If you follow me, it leads to abundant life every single time. We have to repent. Why?

Because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. You see, the problem is, when you think heaven is the place you go when you die in the sweet by and by, The problem is, is then we delay heaven, and what Jesus calls us to do is embody heaven. It's a kingdom. It's not just a geographical location for your soul. It's a kingdom. And the kingdom of heaven is wherever Jesus rules and reigns here. And what we have been, what Jesus teaches us to do is to pray on earth as it is in heaven.

In a few weeks, we're going to talk about prayer. And at no point does Jesus say, when you pray, make sure you thank me for the day. and make sure you pray for traveling mercies. And make sure you ask that the food will nourish our body. You know how dumb that is? Do you ever stand outside the shower belly? Lord, let this water make me wet. We pray some dumb stuff, man.

And what we're begging God is, God, you have a kingdom ethic. There's a way things work and you're a kingdom. And I want you to use me not to just wait until I get to heaven one day so I don't have to go to hell. I want you to use me to take heaven and make this earth look more like that. So what does that look like? That means you pucks pack darkness and you shine light. That means you offer hope where there is hopelessness.

That means you offer good news where there is despair. That means you offer life where there is death. That means in a world full of junk, we offer Jesus. And it's at hand. We've got to grab on to this thing, man. It is within reach. This is what he's saying. And that was his teaching ministry.

And so in the next verse, Jesus is going to start his work. And we know what his work is because he's already told us. His name Jesus means Savior to save. So he's come to save, to redeem, to ransom the world. So what is the first thing that he does? He builds a team. The first thing that he does is Jesus, he don't need anything. And he's like, I don't think I'm going to do this alone.

I think I'm going to call some brothers. to do this with me. Which, by the way, so if you think you can do this along, who the heck do you think you are? If Jesus to Christ is like, I think I'm a former posse here, all right? And you think, I got this.

Guess what, Scooter? You ain't got this. So here's what he does. Verse 18, while walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers. I want you to hear me. He sees you like he sees you. And for some of you, that should be great comfort.

He sees you. He knows where you've been. He hears your prayers. He loves you. He knows what it's like for somebody to try to hurt his son. He sees you. And, bro, he sees you. I mean, if you think I'm seeing your Instagram paying for you,

every time I see you celebrate another day of sobriety, the God of the universe celebrates you. The fact that you would be here, man. Right, I'm telling you, he sees you. And he's like, I got you, man. I got you. He's cheering you on, right? And for some of you, that ought to be freaking terrifying.

He sees you. Yeah, you think you just get credit for showing up here, but like he didn't see what you was doing last night? Oh, he sees you. But here's what's incredible. When God sees you, he is not limited to see you where you are right now. He sees the future you that he had in store for you when he created you and called you,

and if you'll submit and surrender your life to him. I mean, he sees Peter, and he's just a fisherman. One day he's going to lead the church in Jerusalem, and God can see exactly who he's going to be one day. And that's who he sees sitting in the boat. And the Bible says, and he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea,

for they were fishermen. And he said to them, follow me. Very famous words. Here's the reality. We all follow something. The question is, what are you following? The more important question is, what are you becoming? And some people would be like, well, I don't follow them nothing.

All right, you follow you. And that is dangerous. We all follow self or society. Have you seen society lately? Wouldn't follow it. or Satan. And some of you're like, well, what do you mean Satan? I don't follow it Satan.

I'm not like sacrificing chickens in my kitchen, man. What are you talking about? Yeah, here's the thing. He's the prince of this air. And he's baiting us down a row with lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes and pride of life. And he's trying to take us down a path that leads to destruction. And so the options are, man, you can follow yourself or society or Satan or you can follow the Savior. Jesus says, follow me.

You know what he doesn't say? He doesn't say follow your heart. That's the worst. advice you could ever get in your life. If somebody tells you to follow your heart, don't listen to that human being ever again. Why? Because the Bible says that the heart is the most deceitful thing in you. Or some people are like, well, I'm going to follow my dreams.

Please don't. Here's the problem. When you follow your dreams and you follow your heart and you follow your feelings, please quit believing all your feelings. Anybody ever get betrayed by a feeling? Here's the problem. You're at the center. And if you follow you your whole life at the end of your life, you've just got you.

And I've got terrible news for you. Nobody's done you more dirty than you. You know who my worst enemy is? Me. Nobody's lied to me like me. You know how many promises I've made to me that I've let me down on? I can't believe me. Me ain't good, man.

No, no, no, no, no, no. My flesh, my thoughts, my, I mean, all the things. It ain't good. Get real self-protective. That inner lawyer comes up. You ever negotiate with yourself? You do good, don't you? But it ain't good, is it?

Right. That's why I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live. Somebody sent me this Reddit thing, whatever that is. That joke said, I hate Jobie Martin, and I loved it. I put a heart on it. Me too. That guy's the worst.

He's a pain in my butt. I cannot wait until he's fully. And finally crucified and all the flesh is gone of me so that I could be the glorified version that God had and soared for me when I put my faith in Christ. Don't follow your heart, man. Follow Jesus. Jesus says, follow me.

And I will make you fishers of men. And this is crazy. I mean, and they do it. Nobody even ask. They just out there fishing, Jesus is going, follow me. And I will make you fishers of men. Nobody's like, where? Part of what I think Matthew is,

doing here is he wants us to see the invitation of the disciples to follow Jesus was very similar to God's invitation to Abraham. So Abraham is living in the Earl of Caldez is what's it's called. God places his favor on him, comes to him, and he says, leave your mom and dad. He was 80 years old living with his mom and dad, and God still used him. Okay. So there's still hope for your 22-year-old that's still at home, all right? Give him a break. He'll be all right. And so Abraham, by faith, just goes and he doesn't even know where he's going. Let me tell you what a big deal this is. I can't get the three human beings that share my last name and live in the house that I pay for.

If I just today get home and be like, hey, everybody getting the truck, they're like, where are we going? How long are we going to be gone? Is there an exit strategy? Does it contain chicken nuggets? I have a lot of information. Abraham and the disciples by faith follow. They don't ask where we going or how long or is it going to be hard. they don't ask any of these things.

They just go. Verse 20, and immediately they left their nets, and they followed him. And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets, and he called them, and their response, immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. So I'm repeating this, but Jesus, to start his ministry,

if he needed a squad, don't you think you might need a squad? Now, the crazy thing is the who Jesus assembled as his team. He's out in Galilee with blue-collar fishermen. He's not in Jerusalem picking among the finest. He's not in Tarsus at grad school, at law school, trying to get the top of the class. No, no, no, no. And in fact, if you knew anything about first century Hebrew school, you would know that these guys were the rejects, these guys were the leftovers.

You see, there were three, like, gradations of Hebrew school. The first one is called Bet Shafar. And Bet Shafar was for everybody, boys and girls. It was like kindergarten age. And they would go to the synagogue, they would go to the school, and they would learn the Bible. They would learn the first five books of the Bible called the Torah. And the way that it would work, they'd be like six, seven, eight years old, and they would show up. And on the very first day, these little kids, they would be given a tablet.

not like to watch YouTube on but like a chalk tablet and the verse would be written on it it was probably the Shemah out of Deuteronomy chapter 6 here oh Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart so mind and strength

and then what the rabbi would do what the teacher would do is they would take honey and they would dribble honey all over this tablet and honey was a really really big deal and honey was very expensive and honey represented the blessing of God remember the promised land is called

the land floor flowing with milk and honey. This is a big deal. A lot of these kids have never even had had honey before. And it's their first day of school and they sit down

and they're nervous and they receive their tablet with the word of God on it, drizzled in honey and then the rabbi would say now eat your fill. And imagine a bunch of little kindergarten kids.

Just begin to lick the honey. And you ever try to eat honey it gets everywhere. It's just sticky everywhere. And they're licking their elbow and you can't do that and then they're licking their neighbor they're just licking.

And they're just thinking, I love school so much, right? And then when they enjoyed the honey, the rabbi would come along and say something like, just like your tongue craves the sweetness of honey. May your soul crave the very word of God. And then they would start memorizing the Bible. And so that was Bet Shafar. And then if you were the best of the best of the best, like if you excelled in memorizing the Torah,

and you were like in the gifted class. Anybody in the gifted class growing up? Anybody you want to admit that right now? Come on, anybody? Somebody's got to be in the gift. Are we that dumb? Are you the dumbest church in the world? We didn't have enough kids in Dillon for a whole class.

And so one day a week, the high school teacher when I was in middle school, she would come in, she'd be like, would all the gifted students please come with me? Remember that? And all these nerds would get up. And they go walking out the door, and the rest of us would be like, hey, where are y'all going? Like, hey, we're going to do hard things. What about us? and they give us some crayons and a color of a book, whatever.

So, well, if you were the best of the best of the best, if you were the gifted class, top of the class, then you got invited to go to Bettman Rash and you would memorize the whole rest of the Bible, beginning to end, end to beginning. And then, if you were the best of the best of the best, it wasn't just being able to memorize the Bible, but the rabbi might give you a verse,

and you would have to give them the verse before it and the verse after it. Or they might ask you a question in one verse, and you might have to answer it from another prophet, in another verse. It was like biblical jiu-jitsu. It's called a remez. This is the thing they would do.

And then if you excel, like if you were Ivy League material, like if you were top of the class, like Princeton, Harvard, Georgia, I mean, just like the elite. Then, then and only then, they would tell you, congratulations. You have what it takes to become a Talmuddin. Put your resume together and go find a rabbi and ask if you can follow the rabbi. And the rabbi is going to ask you a bunch of questions. and if you have what it takes, maybe they'll accept you.

But if they didn't have what it takes, the rabbi would sit with them and say, listen, you love Yahweh and you know his word, but you don't have what it takes to be a rabbi. So go and learn the trade of your father. And so where were these fishermen? They were in their hometown working with their dad. And Jesus does not take applications.

Jesus recruits. And Jesus walks along. the sea and he sees these two boys and he sees these other two brothers and he says to them follow me which means this is that God can use anybody he wants he used the ordinary to turn the world upside down he used crooked sticks to draw straight lines he takes the B team the JV the cast out the leftover that got cut and didn't make it that's what he does why so that he can get all the glory and I'm just telling you that's my testimony that I'm a nobody willing to tell anybody about the somebody that wants to save everybody. And when God looked all over and he went to

Dillon, South Carolina, and he thought, well, if I can use that knucklehead, then for sure everybody will know it's the hand of God. And ain't nothing special about me that God has that same kind of purpose and plan for anybody that when he says follow me, that you'll just do what he says and follow him. That's what he does. And so when you would begin to follow the rabbi, the phrase that that they would use is this, may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi. That you didn't just learn what they learned, but you would become who they are. That was it. This is why, by the way, in a few weeks, when we get to Jesus and Peter walking on water,

remember Jesus is going to be out on the water, and Peter says this. Peter says, if it really is you, Lord, then call me to walk out on the water with you. Why? Because you said follow you. Does that mean out on the water? And Jesus is like, all right, big boy, hop on out. It's not exactly what he says, but that's what he means, that we become a follower of Jesus, we don't just learn the information.

We're to be conformed to the image and likeness of him. And so he says, follow me and I will make you features of men. That's what he says. So here's something I need you to pay attention to. The marching orders that Jesus gives to the very first disciples are outward focused or not inward focused. He doesn't say, follow me. We're going to have a sweet book club. I'm going to teach you all the things.

It's not what he says. He doesn't say, follow me, and we're going to sit in circles and share our feelings. He doesn't say, follow me. I'm going to teach you some really good contemporary Christian music. It's not what he says. He says, I'm going to take the thing that you have learned how to do really well. Catch some stuff. Work really hard all night.

Sling a net, and none of that is at waste. I'm going to leverage all that you were chasing for success, and we're going to shift gears into significance now for the kingdom of. God and we are going to go fishing for men. That's what we're going to do. So listen, you know this, man. The church, we are a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus.

And nothing will help you deepen your walk with Christ like helping other people discover theirs. And if it ever turns inward, then we have lost the story of what Jesus has come to do. That the moment you get rescued, you become a part of. the rescue team. Here's something I've been thinking about. It's got me all angsty. You ready?

If you ask a whole bunch of people from Orlando to Jessup, just your average Jacksonville kind of person, are you a Christian? They'll go, yeah. I go, all, what does that mean? And they'll say this. Will I go to church? Are you a Christian?

Yeah. I come and listen to you talk about it every week. occasionally I even opened the book on my own listen to several podcasts and sometimes pray well neat imagine this if you ask me are you an NFL football player and I go of course I go to every Jags game and if I can't make it live I watch it online

I follow up all week and I listen to what everybody else says about it I've studied the draft board and I am certain on who we should draft next I have the jerseys, all right? So I'm a fan. Have you ever played in the game? Never been on the field. That means I'm not a football player. Are you a Christian?

Christians do what Christ called us to do. And the whole thing he's going to be aiming at, the reason we're studying Matthew is because when we get to the last chapter, Matthew 28, he's going to say, here's the playbook, here's the marching orders. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything I have command. you in baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

So let me ask you, are you in the game? Are you just watching from the sidelines? This last week I was in Texas, hunting for the glory of God. And I ran in this guy that I met about a year ago also at a hunting trip. This guy donated some money to Project Savior outdoors to go on a hunt that I was leading. And we ended up going pig hunting at the retreat center. and I was kind of doing a little bit study. He attends 1122 a little bit, and a great guy, honestly great guy.

Kind of the picture of the American dream. You know, good-looking dude, successful, beautiful wife, beautiful kids, got a great job, making money. He does drive a cyber truck, so that was, you know, you're kind of like. And so he signs up on this thing, this hog hunt with me and a couple of guys. And he comes from a great family, and I know his dad. And by the way, this kid's initials are Matt Terry. That's his name.

All right, so, and so Mr. Terry, his dad calls me and says, my son's going on a trip with you, get him. You know how little encouragement I need to get him? I was planning on getting him. And honestly, that's just the dad that loves this kid. So we killed a bunch of pigs. It's like we're going to read about in a few weeks in the New Testament. And then we're sitting around eating dinner. And I just go, hey, dude, so talk to me about your walk with Christ.

And he was like, I mean, you know, we try to get there when we can. We try to say a prayer with the kids every once in a while. It was just, and here's the thing about this guy, very talented guy. He played fullback from Bowls back in the day when they were winning state championships every year. It was an all-state fullback and played at SMU, okay? And I'm like, listen, man, you're just kind of on the periphery of what Christ is called. You're like those kids that would show up to just be a part of the team so you could wear the sweatshirt around school. But you ain't ever gotten on the field, man.

You got to get off the sidelines and you've got to get in the game. You know better. Well, I didn't realize this. That conversation ruined his week. He just said it haunted. He couldn't sleep at night. He was just haunted by that. Get in the game.

So he prayed and he prayed. He's like, what do I do? He starts kind of scrolling through our website and sees the partner that we have with Project Savior outdoors. It's led by Mike Draggett and a bunch of guys because when Mike got home from Afghanistan for fighting in the war, all of his brothers started killing themselves. And so he's like, I'm going to fight in the name of Jesus to bring light to a dark place. And so he starts Project Savior outdoors, take a bunch of vets hunting and just preach the gospel

to him out in the woods. And so Matt begins to volunteer a little bit, and then a little bit more, and a little bit more. And in essence, he got into the game. Today, he sits on the board, and he gives one day a week to push back darkness through PSO instead of just being on the sideline. He got into the game. And this last week, he was saying, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you for kicking me in the butt to get me in the game because it's the greatest year I've ever had.

Follow me is what he said. And immediately they dropped their nets. Do you know what their nets represented? Comfort and safety and security and the role that they were told that they had to play. You see, I mean, I think probably the greatest idol in America is comfort. and boy we have done a marvelous job of conforming the gospel of Jesus right around our American dream

so it fits neatly in our pocket and we don't have to do anything about it the only problem when we do that he ain't our king he's not our Lord he's our lobbyist and we're trying to get him to do what we want if you want to be comfortable following Jesus might not be for you

he says drop your nets and they take the thing that brought them all their safety and all their security, and they immediately dropped it. Well, what's that for you? What's that for you? I mean, there's a bunch of you, and you were holding on to your finances, and what you don't realize is they got a hold of you, and you've never trusted him with your first and best. You should lay it down.

Some of you've never been on a mission trip. You don't want to be uncomfortable for six days. How in the heck you're going to follow after Jesus with every day of your life? Or some of you got real comfortable in your disciple. group. And you should probably start eight disciple groups. And you're like, well, we love each other. Sweet. Love each other on another day. Start some more groups. Or join that ministry. Or how about this? We're opening a new campus in Orlando. Some of you can work from anywhere. And what you need to do, pray like crazy. And what you need to do is just move to Orlando and help

us get this campus going because we need some leaders that already got 1122 in them in the spirit of God to get this thing going. And we've opened new services. We kind of screwed it up at first. We started 7.30, but then it jacked all the parking up. That's on me, mostly on Brit, but, you know, I'll take responsibility. So now we have 722 a.m., 9.22 a.m., 11.2 a.m., 422 p.m. Now, if you're one more, you should go to the service with your own one more, whichever that one is. Or if you're trying to raise some kids and in the admonition of the Lord and their service is 922's best, okay, no problem.

but we need some people to not worry first and foremost about our own comfort and preferences. We've got to do whatever it takes to tear off the roof to make room for one more. They followed him. They followed him. He said, follow me. Think about this. The question you've got to continuously ask yourself, whether you've been a Christian for a minute or you were in Sunday school with Moses. Either way, what's my next step of obedience?

Because we learned in the 10-10 life. he's a good shepherd, he speaks to his sheep. And if you quit taking steps, then you are not following. And we don't have standards of Jesus. We have followers of Jesus. What is your next step of obedience? And if you haven't taken a step in a while, then go to the website, do the discipleship journey, ask the questions, figure out what your next step is.

If you're new to this, go to a Discover group. Discover group is hosted by our campus pastors, and it'll help you get in the game around here. If you would like to be an owner of the mission, vision, and values of 1122, and not just a consumer, then go to growth track. That's how you become a member. But everybody on this staff exists for the glory of God to help shepherd you to take your next step of obedience. That's what we do. You're not here for us. We are here for you because there's going to be two voices screaming at you to take a step.

And one is a thief. And he only wants to steal, kill, and destroy. and he wants you to conform to the pattern of this world in all the areas of her life. But the other is a good shepherd. And every single time you hear and heed the voice of the good shepherd, especially when it doesn't make sense to you. And you take steps of obedience to him.

I'm telling you, that's the abundant life because you get him. So this is Jesus' call. He puts together to this team, and then he's going to start his ministry. And here's what he does. Verse 23. And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching us. in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease. Those are the three things that he did, and notice the priority.

You see, oftentimes we want to come to Jesus for the healing, for what we can get. And the priority was, Jesus says, I'm going to teach you. I'm going to teach you who God is, who I am, and how you can be reconciled to him. And then he's going to proclaim, that's more like preaching. And he's proclaiming the king, the gospel of the king. kingdom. A lot of us have a truncated view of the gospel. A lot of times when we hear the word gospel, we think the gospel of salvation, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for our own salvation, which is true, but that is just a part of the gospel of the kingdom. Why? Because when

Jesus saved you, the moment you get rescued, you become a part of the rescue team. When you claim Jesus as your Lord, now we work for him and his kingdom. So in the kingdom of God, what do you do? What do you do about injustice? You fight for every image bearer. What do you do about the poor? You serve them. What do you do about evil? You call it out and you fight against it. What do you do

about the lost? You do whatever it takes to get the good news of the gospel to them. And this is what Jesus preaches. And he prioritizes it. That he taught in the synagogues. He proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom.

And healing every disease and every affliction among the people. And so his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures and paralytics, and he healed them in great crowds,

followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. Now here's the thing. One of the things you'll see, we learned this when we studied the Gospel of John about four years ago, is that when Jesus does miracles, he's never just flexing his raw power. It's always pointing to his redemptive purpose.

Like, think about it. Jesus is never like, you want to see something cool, watch this, and go br, and writes his name in the stars. Why did you do that? I do what I want. I'm Jesus. That's not what he does. It's always, in fact, the gospel of John never calls a miracle or miracle. It calls it a sign because it points to something greater.

And here's what he's pointing to. in heaven nobody's sick in heaven there's no oppression in heaven nobody has a seizure nobody's paralyzed I'm trying to give you a glimpse of what I am bringing to you and that's what he's doing but I want you to notice

what people did they brought people to Jesus and I've read the whole Bible many many many many times and I can tell you this I can't find the expiration date on the healing powers of Jesus That means he's still heiggling. He's still calling people unto himself.

He's still doing miracles. I hope you know this. If any church knows that we better know it. If the tomb is empty, anything is possible. And so if you need help, you come to Jesus. And if you need healing, you come to Jesus. And if you struggle with depression, you come to Jesus. And if you're lonely, you come to Jesus.

And if your marriage is busted up. You come to Jesus. By the way, that's how that phrase started, man. I was talking to a couple and they said, our marriage is impossible. I was like, what? You're a Christian, right? Yeah.

You believe that Jesus was resurrected from the grave? Of course we do. Well, if God can breed new life into his dead son, then surely he can breathe new life into your dead marriage. If the tomb is empty, anything is possible. You come to Jesus. if you struggle with worry, you come to Jesus. If you've got a sick body, you come to Jesus.

You've got a sick heart because somebody broke it. You come to Jesus. He said, people were in pain and they were brought to him. Hopelessness and confusion, you come to Jesus. This is those who were oppressed by the demonic. Let me be clear. If you are a believer in Jesus, you cannot be possessed by the demonic. Because according to 1st Corinthians 6, you are a possession of Jesus.

You are not your own. You are bought with a price. But there is oppression of darkness all around us. Any of you that have ever loved someone or talk to someone struggling with an addiction, how would you describe that? I mean, there's this thing in you and you realize I don't want to go down this road anymore. If I go down this road, it's going to destroy me. it's going to destroy everything good and godly in my life.

And you have victory for a little while, but in that the darkest part of your soul, you'll hear this little whisper. Come on, come on, come on. And it begins to bait you down a row that you don't even want to go down before. What do you call that? You need to come to Jesus.

Or you have these intrusive thoughts of suicide ideation. Where do you think that comes from? It is not from your heavenly father. Because his word over you is love. His approval in Christ, is on you. It is the demons of hell. Listen, man, this same demons just new days. And you come to Jesus. If you're ready to quit, you come to Jesus. Whispers of condemnation, you come to Jesus. If you continuously had that same besetting habitual sin, you don't even struggle with it anymore

because you just give yourself over to it. You come to Jesus. It's a stronghold in your life, and Jesus is stronger than any stronghold, and he will kick the strong man out, and he himself will replace it. And notice they didn't just come for themselves. They came for loved ones. They brought their loved ones. They brought their children. They brought the people that were sick. And so that's what we're going to do.

And we're going to pray the blood of Jesus that he would heal and he would break chains and he would restore marriages and he would offer forgiveness and he would shut the mouth of the liar so the condemnation would quit and you would know that therefore now there is

no condemnation for those who are in Christ to Jesus. And the Bible says that healing comes through the blood of Jesus. By his stripes, we are healed. Now, he doesn't promise cures every single time, but he also says that we have not because we ask not. So we don't need to pray those little weak-sauce prayers. I just, well, there you know, no, man, you can keep that junk. That you knock and you knock and you keep on knocking and you ask and you ask and you ask and you keep on asking and you seek and you keep on seeking because he's a good dad and he loves to give good gifts to his kids and so a great gospel-centered way to pray is like the boy shatterak mishak and abendigo prayed just in case you're new to

bible study they were they were israelite so they got captured by babylon and they built this big old statue in babylon and whoever would not bow down to the statue was going to be thrown into the fiery furnace and shanderec mishak and abethehrush and abethehrush and abey to go so we ain't bowing down to your thing. And so they were like, we're about to throw you in the furnace. And so here was their prayer. God, we know that you can save. And we are believing that you will.

And even if you don't, we're not going to bow down. That's how you pray to an almighty God who loves to give good gifts to his kids. God, I know that you can because if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. And I just got to tell you, man, I believe it first and foremost because the word says it. I also believe it. I've just seen it with my eyes. The number of people around here who have been healed of cancer, who have been healed of debilitating depression,

the number of marriages that have been restored. Prodigals have come home that they threw down their nets and followed after Jesus. I know that he can, and we are going to, by faith, believe that this time he will. And then regardless of the circumstances, we refuse to bow down to that idol of fear. And so we're going to turn this thing into a prayer meeting.

That's how Jesus's ministry started. He taught the word, it's what we do. He proclaimed the kingdom, it's what we do. And he began healing. Healing hearts and souls and minds and bodies. And that's what we're going to do. And here's the thing. Some of you're feeling beat up right now.

Some of you're like, well, that's probably true for all these good church folk, but not me. In Mark 313, the Bible says, and Jesus called all unto himself that he wanted. Do you know what that means? If you've got that little stir, like you should probably come down and just pray, you should just come to Jesus,

that is evidence, that is empirical evidence that God wants you. And anything telling you not to come, your ego, your insecurity, what will they think, whatever, that is not the voice of the good shepherd. That is not the voice of the Heavenly Father. And so we're going to do what the beginning of Jesus' ministry did.

If you're in pain, if you're struggling, or somebody that you love, because honestly it's usually harder when your loved one is struggling. We are going to come to Jesus and watch him break chains and watch him restore relationships and watch him clear minds and watch him heal bodies. We're going to do all of those things because he is a prime. promise keeping God. I'm going to invite you to stand. If you want to come pray, you don't even have to wait until we get to the end of this part.

You can just come on down right now. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because Jesus, you first loved us. And God, we just want to be about that kingdom business. God, we want our life to be rooted in the Word. God, we want to be about the kingdom. And God, we need healing. Heart, soul, mind, and strength.

God, we need for you to do for us. what we can never do for ourselves, to break addictions, to give us strength, to dampen the voice of condemnation, to take away the depression and give us joy unspeakable. God, we need you to do these things. And more than anything else, God, we need you to pay for our sin because we can't pay for it on our own. So God, you said that you hear the prayers of your children and you were a good dad that loves good gifts. So God, as we pour our hearts out to you, Lord, would you pour your spirit out on us that we would know you and walk in that freedom?

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So, church, we're going to respond. We're going to sing. We're going to sing. Listen, worship is war. So if you're going to pray from your seat, would you join us in singing over every single person that needs Jesus right now?

and we just sing like saved people. We just sing like we got the spirit of God in us and we're proclaiming the truth of the Word of God over some people who are at war right now for marriages and prodigals and all of these things. They're fighting for sobriety. We're going to pray for these things. And we're going to bring our ties and our offerings

because we're going to say, God, I treasure you before all things. And where my treasure is there, my heart will be also. And I want you to have my heart. And we're going to pray. No matter who you are, what you're struggling with, you come to Jesus. Let's respond.