 Let's all stand. We're going to pray. Our Father, we thank You, Lord, for this place that You have been using as a beacon of Your light for so long. We thank You for Raul and for Sharon for their ministry, Lord. We thank You for anointing both of them and using both of them. Not just to reach the areas and cities that they've been used, but Lord of the world. Lord, thank You for the Holy Spirit. Thank You for Your Word. And thank You for bringing us here today for this next few days, Lord. I ask that You would speak to our hearts. And Lord, even as Mike just shared, I ask that we might have a global vision also, a vision for the world. And may we, Lord, by using Your Word and walking in Your Spirit, do those things that are pleasing to You. Lord, we ask that You would just inhabit this place right now in a special way. And Lord, we give You all praise for these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Turn to your brother and sister and say, God bless you. I'm glad you're here. Let's open our Bibles together to the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Mark chapter 1. I want to share with you out of verses 16 through 20, Mark chapter 1 verses 16 through 20. It's a blessing, privilege, it's a joy to be with you today and to be able to share a few things out of this passage. I especially will, in my conclusion, attempt to give some thoughts related to one of these verses. No, to verse 19. So beginning at verse 16, reading to verse 20, Mark chapter 1. And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, His brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately they immediately left their nets and followed Him. When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, His brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and went after Him. My conclusion is going to relate to verse 19. I'll just let you know in advance. But I'd like to build up something as we move into that direction. And let me begin by reading to you a few things. A few years ago, Ed Vitaleano wrote an article, Christianity Vanquished in Britain. In his composition he quoted noted sociologist Christine Davies as saying, at the end of the 19th century there were comparable levels of religiosity in Britain and the United States. The British lived in a culture in which the assumptions of Protestant Christianity were taken for granted. But this is no longer true. The Christian population has declined dramatically in England. One report stated that the proportion of the population identifying as Christian is 43%. The proportion claiming no religion is approximately 48%. So in light of this, the survey was taken with more than 14,000 people participating. And one of the questions they asked was this, how did this spiritual catastrophe occur since the end of World War II? Now this is what they stated had led to their present spiritual catastrophe and it's something that we can learn from in light of our own spiritual decline. First they said that there is a decline of believing and caring shepherds. They said that many ministers fail to defend the faith and care for the church. Second, they said there was a lack of solid Bible teaching. There was a spiritual hunger among congregations for a greater understanding of a wide range of relevant topics. But they said services that bordered on entertainment were the most disappointing. Third, they said there is an absence of a prophetic church. 75% saw the lack of a call for holiness as the explanation for the decline of Christianity in the UK. Fourth, there existed an absence of those willing to present a defense of the faith. Many said they wanted churches to emphasize the many reasons why believing in God and Christianity makes sense and would challenge a doubting society. And so the church in the United States needs to learn from what is happening in the UK. We obviously need believing in caring shepherds. We need those who teach God's Word with a prophetic sense and those who diligently equip believers for a defense of the faith. That will all be found when we are centered on systematic teaching as well as the application of God's Word in our life. You see, we're living in a day that the gospel is considered for many, as we know, irrelevant for real life. And many think that the gospel of Jesus Christ is just one message amongst many messages that are very similar. And some don't believe that the faith of Christ, the Christian faith, is all that important. There is a lack of biblical literacy, not simply in the church, but also in pulpits today. And there is a lack of literacy in the church that has caused those who even attend church to begin to think that we're all preaching a similar message. You see that today in the bumper sticker evangelism that takes place where you have those stickers that say coexist with those symbols of various religions and all. And that's not just out there. Sometimes those bumper stickers are representative of people who may even attend our own churches. There are professing believers today, professing Christians who think that Muslims and Christians worship the same God. We hear that all the time, don't we? It's on the news, it's in newspapers, there are Christians we have conversations with and they'll say, no, the Christian God and the God of Islam is the same. Well, the fact is, only those who don't read their Bibles would say that. When you read out of the Koran, for example, the Koran 112 verses 1-4, it reads, say he is God, the one and only God, the eternal, absolute. He begets not nor is he begotten and there is none like unto him. Now wait a minute, we worship a God who sent his son, Jesus Christ. The fact that we worship a God who says, I have a son and Islam says there is no son begotten by God, right away we see that we don't worship the same God. And yet there are Christians who will argue that we do. Because of that there are people who come to church but they don't necessarily come in order to be taught. They don't always come to the church to receive from the Lord. There's something that the Lord spoke to my heart I want to share with you out of the book of Ezekiel that illustrates this. It's found in Ezekiel 33 verses 30 through 32. And we're all familiar with that portion of Scripture. The Lord God is speaking here and he says, as for you son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses. And they speak to one another. Everyone saying to his brother, please come and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord. So they come to you as people do. They sit before you as my people. They hear your words but they do not do them. For with their mouth they show much love but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument. For they hear your words but they do not do them. Notice with me what the Lord was saying. He said they talk about you. Invite people to hear you. They are seated before you like believers. They say come hear the word of the Lord and they will hear your words. They talk about love but their hearts are unchanged. And that is because the fact is you are considered entertaining. You see great crowds came and they heard God's word from someone who faithfully declared it. They took pleasure in the voice, the eloquence and beauty of the words that were spoken. They enjoyed the delivery, the words that were chosen, the manner in which he spoke. Yet for them according to verse 32 his words were like a very lovely song. Now when you look up the word lovely in the original language it's interesting to me because I never really had noticed it was pointed out to me. And that word lovely is a Hebrew word that doesn't speak just of what we may think in terms of it being pleasant. The word lovely speaks of that which is sensual. Literally he was saying that it appeals to them like it's a lover's song. In other words it appeals to them. Your message appeals to them on a physical level but it is not reaching them on the spiritual level. Someone said Ezekiel's voice and the music of it were appreciated but not the substance of the message. They appreciated how the song, how the message was presented but they did not pay as much attention to its content as they did to how the message was given. They enjoyed the harmony of his voice, the eloquence of his speech, the clearness of his words, the dynamic power of his presentation. What they did not do is obey what was said. They were not open to his teaching and the preaching of the message and were no more moved by his speech to repent from their sins any more than had they simply spent an evening in a concert. Someone said the gospel is a lovely song indeed. It reveals the love of God, the love of Jesus. Often the voice of a gospel minister is a pleasant voice to those who understand it but to others it is a voice and nothing else. They may be delighted with his performance but not with his subject matter. They hear the words but they do not obey them. You see what has happened today and we all know this is that we have begun to equate numbers with success and we have stated that that makes it a fruitful ministry. We can't see hearts so naturally we only evaluate by attendance. We hunger to reach younger people and we may even modify our message in order to appeal to them but slowly we dilute the message. It becomes appealing but it isn't edifying. We end up with full pews and empty people because we're not giving to them the substance of the gospel and there are many people who understand what's taking place and thus there's a variety of styles that have arisen because of that awareness. Some have become in their pulpit they have become entertainers and what they do is they polish their presentation and they're very careful not to be discouraging to those who are attending. Some have become great storytellers but they've created dull-minded sheep who are hungry for stories only. Some have become magicians. They pull things out of the Bible that aren't even there and some ride a hobby horse. They're always inserting their pet opinion in doctrine in every single message. We need to remember something that Jesus did. Remember with me that Jesus did not command the apostle Peter to entertain the goats. He commanded him to feed and to tend his lambs and his sheep and the feeding and the tending was one of the ways that Peter revealed that he loved Jesus because isn't that what Jesus said, Peter, do you love me? Feed, tend. How do you want to demonstrate your love for me? Be faithful in your service to the word of God. You see when you love the Lord you're going to love others and when you love the Lord you're going to care for them. Mark 1237 tells us that the common people heard Jesus Christ very gladly and I'm convinced that the clear and simple teaching of God's word still is attractive to people. And what I want to do is I want to spend some time with you in this passage looking at that, how Jesus Christ is still attractive and how he still has called us to go out and take this message to a dying world. As we look at it again here in verses 16 and 17 it speaks of how Jesus is walking by the sea of Galilee and how he sees Simon and Andrew's brother. So what we see in Mark 1, 16 through 20 is Jesus calling four men into full-time service. We also see that he intends this service, this work to continue into the future because he's creating a continuing work. God wants us to impact and the impact that we have is something that is to continue into the future and the church is intended to shine his lights in a sin-darkened world. Remember what Peter said in 1 Peter 2 verse 9 when he said, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. He called you out of darkness into his light. I was reading an article recently, perhaps some of you read the same article and I decided to just take an excerpt from it and just read it to you. This individual said this. He said, one of my closest ministry colleagues posted this on his Facebook page last year. There was a knot in the pit of my stomach this afternoon after I hung up the phone with a friend of mine who passers a growing church in our city. He relayed to me an anguishing story of how some members from his worship team were hanging out with other worship leaders in a key local church. He reported to me that his team came back from that hangout experience quite perplexed as the F-bombs were flying from the openly and unashamedly drunk worship leaders. Another pastor told me that he sent a number of young people from his congregation to train in a ministry school known for its worship. All of them came back to his church with a drinking problem, the result of hanging out with other worshipers in the ministry school, and on and on it goes. He went on to say, I'm not getting into the debate of whether it's okay for believers to drink in moderation, and I'm not suggesting that we will be struck down and die if we do something wrong during a worship service. But I am saying that God's presence is holy and sacred, and we dare not trivialize it with worldly worship leaders and mercenary musicians. Amen, amen. Like many of you, I was saved in a movement of the spirit, and I was delivered from alcohol abuse. Why would I encourage people to a behavior that kept me in bondage? There are some today whom I refer to as alcohol evangelists, and they are more passionate about their drink than they are about Jesus Christ. They want to debate to you grace, but in fact they're speaking of license. And you want to argue about it? I don't want to. Raul will later on. He's going to be out there saying, come on. But I got saved out of the mud. Why would I return to it? I got saved out of the vomit. Literally, why would I return to it? When you drink of the new wine, why would you want the old? And who has gotten saved through Manichevitz? We get saved through Messiah, Jesus Christ. And that's who we preach, Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. And that's what Christianity is made up of, isn't it? Jesus one time said, you do therefore greatly err, neither knowing Scripture nor the power of God. What is it that has made our ministries what they are? The power of the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. Why would I go back to that which I was washed from when I can walk in the newness of life because I have been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ? And why would I encourage others to a lifestyle that destroyed mine? We need to walk in power and the Word of God in these last days and be lights that are shining in the darkness. That's what God has called us to do. Our lives are to be recognizably different from the lives of non-believers. In Titus chapter 2, this is what the Lord says through Paul in verses 11 through 14. He said, We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people zealous for good works. And that's what the Lord would have for us to be zealous for the good works. Now notice again here in verse 16 that he saw Simon and Andrew. They were casting a net. And that tells me that the Lord is looking for men. He's looking for people that he can use for his glory. Now at that time, their chosen profession was not what God intended for them. We've discovered, haven't we, that God's calling and timing may interrupt the plans for our lives. I expected that I would be used by the Lord. I asked God to use me. But I asked him to use me after I finished college. I expected to finish my bachelors, move into a masters, right to serve him. But the Lord had other plans for me. God has a way of interrupting our plans because he has plans that are better than ours. And his calling and his timing may interrupt our life. Proverbs 16.9 says a man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. These people were simply fishermen, simple people. I've discovered something. I've discovered that that is the nucleus of what we called the Jesus people movement. God reaching into ordinary lives and transforming them to be usable utensils in his hands. And we didn't know anything other than I was blind and now I see. I was lost and now I'm found. I was a sinner, but I have a savior. And we would point people to Jesus Christ. I didn't even really know how to lead Jesus Christ. I would say, do you go to church? And they would say, no. And I'd say, go to Calvary Chapel, Pastor Chuck Smith, you know, these guys over there. I didn't even know how to close the sale. I just knew how to open the door. And she got to go over there. They'll tell you about it. I really don't know. But the Lord has a way, doesn't He, of using simple people? You know, sometimes we actually are not educated. We're not well-spoken. So we think we cannot be used. Well, at least until we met Raul and then we knew he won't beat me up. He loves me. But God delights in using ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. Think of David. Think of Amos. They were shepherds. Think of Jeremiah. He was simply a man. Matthew, a tax collector, Luke a physician. You look into recent history, not so recent, but recent history, like Dwight L. Moody, a shoe salesman. We don't forget that Mike McIntosh used to deliver records for Maranatha Music. Raul was a bully and I was a drunk. God has a way of taking the off scouring. And he has a way of polishing and using as a testimony for his glory, so that no man should glory in his sight. God uses us. He changes us. And the testimony that we are sometimes so sad that we have is oftentimes used by God to say if I could reach him, I can reach you. And that's how it works, isn't it? God delights to use people. And he does so because he has built on the foundation of human impossibility. He wants people to give him all the glory. And he doesn't want people to give us the glory. In 2 Corinthians 4 verse 7, we have this treasure in earth and vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We don't invite people to come to know us, do we? We don't invite them to come to our church per se. What we invite them to do is come to our Savior. And we want people to love Jesus because he's the only one in this universe that really deserves every beat of our heart's love. And God does that work. Jesus was saying this to them. He said, come after me. I will make you become fishers of men. When he uses the word come there in verse 17, that's a word that speaks of an immediate action with no delay. This isn't something to put off for a later date. Move on this immediately. The Holy Spirit wants to prompt us to do things in order that we might be able to bring pleasure to him and glory to him and he has a way of leading us and he expects us not to delay in our pursuit. He says, I will make you become fishers of men. I am the one who creates you in this image. And what is their response verse 18? They immediately left their nets and they followed him. Without hesitation, they left everything to pursue him completely. They left their jobs expecting that in following the Lord he would take care of them. And as we look at this and go into verse 19, when he had gone a little farther from there, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother who also were in the boat mending their nets and immediately he called them. They left their fathers' ebony in the boat with the hired servants and went after him. I want to develop this with you for a moment. A couple of things that I want to point out. He is looking for many to work alongside of him because the work is great. One of the things that I learned and all of us in this room have learned about Calvary Ministry is we're not a denomination. We're something deeper than a denomination. What we are is a group of like-minded believers who love the Lord Jesus Christ and we love one another without boring you with my testimony but one element of it. I was 20 years old. It was 1970. I had a friend who began attending this church called Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. He invited me to go to church. I was raised a Catholic. I said, I'm already part of the true church. You're part of some Protestant Johnicum lately. Why would I go to your church when we have the pope? Why would I go to your church when we have all of the truth? Why would I go to your church? I don't want to go to your church. You can go to your church. It's made you a better person. I'm good with that. I didn't have a real faith in Christ. I didn't have a relationship with God. My only hope for salvation was ultimately marry a good Catholic gal who would pray my soul out of purgatory and that was pretty much my hope for eternity. I went to church but only for you know weddings and baptisms because he usually had a lot of beer. And that was it. The first beer I ever tasted was at a Catholic church. We broke into a refrigerator that they had storing the beer for their fiesta and friends of mine and I, going to Catechism opened up that refrigerator found some beer and that's the first time I ever drank beer at a Catholic church. And so why would I go to your Protestant church when I've got the true church? Why would I do that? And so he kept inviting me. Ultimately I decided to go to get them off my back. I drank some pot. I drank some beer. I was a hippie, barefooted. It was summer of 1970 and I knew I would get kicked out of that church because if I had gone to St. Pius the 10th church which is my church in Santa Fe Springs they would have kicked me out walking in with bloodshot eyes and beer on my breath and now their pastor is doing that but if I if I'd have gone in that condition I'd have been kicked out. So they take me to this church and it's that small chapel there they used to have and I remember walking in barefoot sitting on a carpet it was a small chapel packed. There were kids sitting in the platform they were filling up the aisles some of you remember that and I was amazed because they were all young and as I was looking around I thought this is strange this is really weird because I thought I'd get kicked out for being a hippie but when Lonnie Frisbee came up to speak I thought he's freakier than me and I blew my mind I really did but there was something I was experiencing this is an important thing I want you to hear I hope it makes sense I sat there and I can tell you when I was there I was on the right I was on the right side almost all the way in the back I still remember the kids were sitting down in the aisles with our knees up so you could lean on each other like they were your chair I remember that and I remember looking around saying something to myself I feel something but I don't know what it is there's something different about this place but I don't know what it is what is this that I'm feeling you know what I found out later on when I got saved it was love it was love it wasn't it wasn't all the trappings of a cool church with a hippie preacher and cool music guys watch out because we're trying to create an atmosphere without the spirit we're trying to make it a group of cool people with cool preachers but no Jesus but when you point people to Jesus Christ and you say this is the one who we worship because he is love and I love you for his sake you will see transformed lives we are so caught up trying to be cool and see I'm going to make you cool he said I'm going to conform you to my son's image we need to understand that by this shell all men know that you are my disciples if you know how to talk cool and have the right kind of lighting and the smoke during worship no by this they will know you are my disciple if you love one another love is what this world needs the love of God is demonstrated in the giving of his son Jesus Christ listen carefully because I really want to make the point that I said I wanted to make here in verse 19 notice verse 19 when he had gone farther from there he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother who also were in the boat notice the word mending mending their nets the word mending means to repair and restore they were mending their nets that gives me insight into what ministry is it's the restoring and repairing of human lives that's what ministry is many have come to our church services in terrible need and they need to see the Lord some of those who are in our churches have gone through pain that many cannot imagine enduring as a pastor I'll go down and I'll speak to people after church services and because they trust me they speak to me and they tell me of their deepest hurts they tell me of their fears and they'll share with me their struggles recently I've heard these statements my daughter is pregnant and unmarried my son has HIV my father died I lost my job my wife is pregnant and I'm not the father this one young man approached me and he said to me pastor I don't know what to do my wife and I have been married for nine years we have attempted to become pregnant and she just recently told me that she is but the baby isn't mine I had a lady approach me someone beat my daughter to death others have said I've been diagnosed with cancer I'm going to jail I don't know who will care for my family and the list continues these sheep aren't coming to church to be impressed with my building projects they're not coming to church to hear our band they're not coming to church because they love our children's ministry they're not coming to church because they want to be part of our coffee shop or enjoy our bookstore they don't come to church to hear our constant testimony they don't want to be impressed by our events they don't want to hear my political opinions they don't want to be thrilled with the numbers of sinners that we can pack into the chairs they don't want to come to hear my stories of my travel adventures they're not coming to be impressed with my Bible knowledge or passionate teaching or prophetic insight they're not coming to be impressed by my vocabulary when I first started teaching Bible study I was going to Bible college I was learning words and for me it was impressive because I didn't like to read very much and now I'm learning these concepts and things from Bible college I'm learning a Bible study and my dad who had an eighth grade education was one of the members of my Bible study and I still remember my dad as I was teaching and I'd use one of my ten dollar words and my dad would look at me with his pride and I see my dad was my dad was born during the depression he had to quit school in the eighth grade he had to go as a migrant to work in fields and produce an income and he and his brothers and even his sisters did that so dad didn't have a chance to finish school and he went into the Navy at seventeen and so he used to read but he wasn't someone who was scholarly by any means and when he saw his son going to college when he saw his son using these huge words he would smile at me and one day the spirit of the Lord spoke and said to the, I'll never forget it he said, your father's very proud of you but he doesn't understand a word you're saying that's a truth that's a truth he doesn't understand a word you're saying teach him in a way he can learn don't impress him with your knowledge don't impress him with your vocabulary teach him in a way that he can practically apply and that's a lesson all of us need to remember I would say you see hurting people come into our services and they don't know what to expect from us some of them have been rejected all of their lives and they're expecting to be rejected in the church and they come to be healed they want to be loved and we need to remember something if we don't love them a cult will a cult will we need to get out of the way we need to help them to see Jesus these men are to become fishes of men they're to throw out the net of the gospel and they're to bring people to the Lord they're to follow immediately leaving everything behind and to pursue him with everything within them as ministers as teachers servants may we may get our aim that the services that people come to in our churches and our fellowships will be centered on Jesus Christ that the love of the Spirit will be present that the power of the Holy Spirit will be evident in the transformed lives may they know that we're not just a group of people trying to build our reputations on their backs may we remember that the message we have of the gospel is the most powerful message that God ever gave to man and the most necessary message for anyone to be saved back in the early 80s I had the opportunity to go and minister to a man who had contracted AIDS we didn't know anything about AIDS at that time it was and so Randy Wall's pastor of Calvary Upland and I went together to a hospital in Upland I think it was and we stood outside the glass and we saw the wife and we saw the man who was hooked up to a machine and the wife was ministering and the nurse came out of this room and said to us you need to put on some gowns and masks to go in and I looked and I saw that the wife didn't have gown or a mask on and I turned to Randy and I said to Randy I'm gonna go in but you stay out because we don't know how you get it it was unknown at that time how does this happen we don't know and Randy said if you go he said I'm gonna go in you wanna go in yes I said then I'll wait out here you go on in I'll pray for you because I love you bro I love you no he said I'm gonna go in too and I went in with him and we stood at the bedside and there's this guy his name was Gary and he sees me as I walked in and his wife says Pastor David is here and Gary looked at me and he had all of this gear on and he motioned to his wife and asked for piece of paper and a pencil and he wrote these words these are words I have never forgotten these are words that motivate my ministry to this day and what he wrote and she handed it to me was just this I am eternally grateful to you you know why he was eternally grateful because I brought him to faith in Jesus Christ and he knew that closing his eyes here simply mean seeing him there that is ministry that is what God has called us to do never forget it isn't your name on somebody else's lips it is God saying well done my good my faithful servant enter into the joy of your Lord that I have prepared for you from the foundation of the earth that is what I want to hear and that is the heart of ministry God bless you