Jesus and Calling - Saddleback Weekend Service

everyone welcome to Saddleback Church we're so glad you're here we're so excited that we get to worship with you today and so we want to invite you to join us let's lift up the name of Jesus today I know a name that can silence roaring waves I know a name that can empty out a grave I know a name it's the only name that saves and it's worthy of all praise I call you Jesus I call you I call you healer risen and reigning in power something comes out of the grave every time I call you Jesus I call you I call you worthy of glory forever something comes out of the grave every time I call your name I have the key with dominion over death he holds the keys in his holy nail-scarred hands he is the heal that has crushed the serpent's head I resurrected great I am I call you Jesus I call you I call you healer risen and reigning in power something comes out of the grave every time I call you Jesus I call you I call you Savior worthy of glory forever something comes out of the grave every time I call your name chains break dry bones wake every time I call your name

the gates of hell shake every time I call your name chains break dry bones wake every time I call your name the gates of hell shake every time I call your name are you glad about it today? that there's power in the name that's above every name the name of Jesus dead things come alive in the name of Jesus dead things come alive in the name of Jesus dead things come alive dead things come alive dead things come alive in the name of I call you Jesus I call you I call you breathing breathing something comes out of the grave something comes out of the grave oh every time I call you Jesus I call you I call you worthy

oh something comes out of the grave every time I call you Jesus dead things come alive dead things come alive dead things come alive in the name of Jesus dead things come alive dead things come alive dead things come alive in the name of say dead things come alive dead things come alive dead things come alive in the name of Jesus dead things come alive dead things come alive dead things come alive in the name of I call you Jesus ♪ I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you healer ♪ ♪ Risen and reigning in power, something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Oh, every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you savior ♪ ♪ Worthy of glory forever, something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name, every time I call your name ♪ ♪ There's no other name but Jesus, no higher name, no ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray ♪ ♪ Calling on the power of heaven, I proclaim ♪

♪ Every weapon formed against me, must break ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, come on ♪ ♪ I draw a permanent boundary line, the enemy has no right ♪ ♪ To come near my family, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ No scheme could ever undo God's plans, no matter the circumstance ♪ ♪ The cross has sealed my destiny, in the mighty name of Jesus, I pray ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray ♪ ♪ Calling on the power of heaven, I proclaim ♪ ♪ Every weapon formed against me, must break ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, in the mighty name of Jesus, oh, I know ♪ ♪ That all the power of fear and darkness, must know ♪ ♪ Every key to every victory, I hold ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ Yes, I will not fear, I will not fear when the enemy comes in ♪ ♪ On the door frame of my life, is the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear, there's an army of angels here ♪ ♪ I'm protected on all sides, by the blood of Jesus Christ, I will not fear ♪ ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear, when the enemy comes in ♪ ♪ On the door frame of my life, is the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear, there's an army of angels here ♪ ♪ I'm protected on all sides, by the blood of Jesus Christ, I will not fear ♪ ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear, when the enemy comes in ♪ ♪ On the door frame of my life, is the blood of Jesus Christ, I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear, when the enemy comes in ♪ ♪ I'm protected on all sides, by the blood of Jesus Christ, I will not fear ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, I know, I know, that all the power of fear and darkness in my soul, every key to every victory, oh, I hope ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus To be lifted up today

Let's sing this next song with all of our hearts How great the chasm that lay between us How high the mountain I could not climb In desperation I turned to heaven And spoke your name into the night Then through the darkness your loving kindness Tore through the shadows of my soul The work is finished, the end is written Jesus Christ, my living hope Who could imagine so great a mercy What heart could follow such boundless grace The God of ages stepped down from glory To wear my sin and bear my shame The cross has spoken, I am forgiven The King of kings calls me his own Beautiful Saviour, I'm yours forever Jesus Christ, my living hope Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me You have broken every chain There's salvation in your name Jesus Christ, my living hope Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me You have broken every chain There's salvation in your name Jesus Christ, my living hope Then came the war that sealed the promise You buried my begetting Out of the silence the holy light

Declared the grave has no claim on me Come on, let's lift it together church Then came the war that sealed the promise You buried my begetting Out of the silence the holy light Declared the grave has no claim on me Jesus, yours is the victory Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me You have broken every chain There's salvation in your name Jesus Christ, my living hope Hallelujah ♪ Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me ♪ ♪ You have broken every chain ♪ ♪ There's salvation in Your name ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ God, You are my living hope ♪ Amen. Jesus is our living hope. What a great reminder as we kick off our service together today. Welcome to Saddleback Church. I'm so grateful for you and that you decided to join us for church today. If you're watching with us at one of our extensions, I wanna extend a greeting and a shout out to you guys. We love you so much and we're grateful for you.

If you're joining us on YouTube or on a stream, I wanna invite you to go to the chat down below, let us know where you're joining from. We have so many people all around the world who join us weekly and I wanna know where you're joining us from. If you are joining us and you're new here or this is your first time, welcome. I wanna make sure that you have everything that you need for service today. So go ahead, hit the link in the description down below or download our very own Saddleback app. That's gonna give you access to our message notes, the program and everything else that you'll need for our service today as we continue with our March through Mark and our Jesus on the Move series. Well, church family, we got a lot of great things happening in the entire life of our church. And so in order for you to stay in the loop with everything that's going on, I wanna invite you to check out this video message with the rest of our church family. Hey Saddleback, Easter is coming up soon and it's always one of the most meaningful weekends of the year for our church family. It's the moment we pause to celebrate the hope we have because of Jesus. And every year we see God move in powerful ways as people walk through the doors of our campus,

many of them for the very first time, and hear the story of Jesus. That's why we wanna encourage you to think about who you can invite. So before you leave today, be sure to pick up one of these Easter invites. Pray about who God might be putting on your heart, a friend, a neighbor, coworker or family member, and invite them to experience Easter with you. And speaking of impact, we just wanna thank you for being a generous church. Because of your generosity, lives are being changed not just here but all around the world. One recent story I would love to share is from our campus in Buenos Aires, Argentina. One of our Celebrate Recovery leaders, Maggie, recently helped a local church in Caracas, Venezuela launch their very first Celebrate Recovery. And their very first night, 60 people showed up. 60 people beginning a journey toward freedom, healing, and hope in Jesus. That is the kind of impact you're investing in when you give. So if Saddleback is your church home, we invite you to give your tithes and offerings today. You can give through the Saddleback app or by using one of the giving envelopes. And if you're newer to Saddleback and wondering what your next step might look like,

we would love to invite you to Activate, happening this weekend. Activate is a simple one-hour experience where you can learn more about Saddleback, meet some of our team, and discover ways to grow and get connected here. You can check the time and location in the Saddleback app or just swing by the hub after service today. We would love to meet you. Now let's hear from Pastor Andy. Well, church family, it's so good to be together. I do wanna say welcome to those of you who are joining us online and all of our campuses. I was really encouraged by that video. I had not yet heard that we have an extension that just launched in Caracas, Venezuela, which is awesome. We're celebrating. And I just wanna say there's so many great things that God is doing beyond just here in the United States. And this last month in February, I had the privilege of being together with our international campus pastors. We've got a picture of them on the screen here. And when you pray throughout the course of the week, I wanna remind you to pray for these guys. Six campuses all over the world. Each of them have a story. Each of them are on the front lines of what God is doing globally. But one thing I do wanna share,

one of our longest standing campus pastors is Stephen and Rosanna Lee. And they have been pastoring in Hong Kong over 12 years, doing a great job leading that campus. They're growing like crazy. And they were busting at the seams, praying for God to make more space for them. And as they were praying for God to make more space, God opened a door in their existing facility to add over 300 seats there. Now they've been reaching right at 1,600 people. So they're gonna be doing that construction. We wanna be praying for them. God's gonna use that in a powerful way. And I just wanna give a shout out. Can we give some love to our Hong Kong campus? Tell them we love you. Love them. Now we also have, I'm gonna jump in in just a moment, but we also have this weekend, I shared last weekend this was happening, but this weekend we are launching our South Bay location grand opening. Wanna celebrate and tell them we're excited for you. Happy first birthday and your brand new building and just amazing things that God is doing through you, through your prayers, through your giving all over our world. Now today we are in the second week of a message series. We're talking about the message of Jesus

that comes through the gospel of Mark. So this series is titled Jesus on the Move. And many of you last week signed up to do this challenge called March Through Mark. And we're reading throughout the course of this month through the book of Mark. Last week we looked at the story of John the Baptist and then when Jesus is baptized and the father speaks over him saying, this is my son who I love with whom I'm well pleased. And today we're gonna continue through chapter one. And I wanna invite you if you have your notes, you can pull them out. And we're gonna talk about Jesus and calling that he gives to our lives. Now you might have heard that word in a lot of different contexts. Maybe you've heard the word calling in the context of church, or perhaps for you and your business or your passion with work, you've used that word. I just wanna find my calling. And I remember there was a conversation I had earlier in ministry or right before we started ministry when I was in going into high school. And I was a part of an incredible student ministry. And this was like the first moment for me where I started thinking about a call that God would be placing on my life into vocational ministry.

And I remember there was a student pastor at the time who said, hey, Andy, I wanna take you out for a walk after a retreat. We had this first night. He said, I wanna just share something God's put on my heart for you. And so we go for this walk and on the walk, he just starts talking about what he sees God doing in my life and how he can see the hand of God. And he said, I think God might be calling you to vocational ministry. I think God has his hand on your life. Now at that moment, I started to believe what he was saying and God put that as a seed in my heart that he would be calling me into vocational ministry. Now, I didn't realize until a couple of decades later that he did that with most of the kids, but you know, I received it. I was one of the ones that believed him. And that question of calling later on, I realized God calls more than just people into vocational ministry. God calls people into business. God calls people into education. He calls some into the political arena to make a difference with policy. All of these are a part of God's calling that he placed on our lives. But we all wrestle through this question, whether you're a follower of Jesus or not,

this question comes up in some form or fashion for all of us, what's my calling? Like, why am I here on planet earth? What is the calling that God has if you're a follower of Jesus? Or even what is the calling for your life that you wanna give your passion and your energy to? And I wanna wrestle through that question for a moment. And some of you, maybe you have great clarity on what God has called you to give your life to. And maybe there are some of you who are listening, you're younger, you're a teenager, you're a young adult and you're wrestling through, what does the call look like on my life as I look into the future? Well, today we're gonna look at when Jesus calls his initial disciples in Mark chapter one. And if you have these verses in front of you, you can pull them out. And I'm gonna share with you a couple of things I want you to highlight or circle as we go through. And I'd like to invite all of us at all of our campuses to read this aloud together. Mark chapter one, beginning in verse 14 says this. "'Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, "'preaching the gospel of the kingdom 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 walked by the Sea of Galilee,

"'he saw Simon and Andrew his brother "'casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. "'And then Jesus said to them, follow me "'and I will make you become fishers of men. "'They immediately left their nets and followed him. "'When they 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 they went after him.'" This is the word of God. And last week we looked at Jesus being anointed or commissioned by the father for his ministry. The father said, this is my son, my hand is upon him and he goes out. And I want you to notice how this passage starts. It says, John was put in prison. If you'll bring it back up. Jesus came to Galilee to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God. And he said, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe. in the gospel, repent and believe in the good news. Now, when you read this, there's a lot in these couple of verses, but for them, they had been waiting for the kingdom of God. They had been waiting for the moment when the Messiah would come.

And Jesus is saying, I'm here. The Messiah is here in this new kingdom. This new order is being ushered in and it's at hand. And to think about what's at hand, it's almost like it's within grasp. It's like it's almost here. And Jesus says, if you wanna receive, if you wanna turn into the kingdom, he says, repent and believe in this good news. Now, that word repent, you can circle it. And in our language, in the English language, it's a pretty strong word. You know, preachers will often say, you need to repent. And sometimes you do, of course. But that word is a significant word because in addition to the sin that we bring into the light, repentance is turning direction. It's changing your mind. So it's not just this sorrow over sin. There are times where we should have grief over sin, but it's a new direction that we go with our lives. So this passage is really an example of Jesus saying, repent, turn into a new way of life, believe in the good news. What does that look like? So we're gonna see a demonstration here. And Jesus shows up, he's at the Sea of Galilee, which is where he did a lot of his ministry. And he finds Peter, James, John, and Andrew. They're there at the end of the night.

They've been fishing all night. And we know that this is not actually the only time that they had connected with him up until that point. In fact, if you go to the Gospel of John, you see that when Jesus first met Andrew, he invited him to follow, Jesus invited him to follow him for a full day. So Andrew had already been with Jesus. He invited his brother Peter to come. So the two of them had already spent time with Jesus. And if you read in Luke chapter five, the account of the same passage, what you also see is there's another part of the story that Mark just kind of goes through. He goes really quickly. Remember last week, talked about how this passage or this book has the word immediately in it 41 times. So he's just going fast. But in the Gospel of Luke, it says that after Jesus had preached out of a boat, the boat of these men, he pushed out into the sea and told them to put their nets down for a catch. And they said, well, we've been fishing all night and we haven't caught anything. And since you say so though, we will put it down. So they put their nets down and they have such a large catch that the boats begin to sink. So these two stories are the same story. These men have witnessed a miracle of Jesus.

They've already heard the teachings of Jesus. They've already spent time with Jesus. But I want you to notice something. They're not yet followers of Jesus. This is significant. They've been around him, but they're not yet followers. And this is important because I think a lot of times we're around the teachings of Jesus. Maybe even there's a part of you that's open to this message. And yet you still haven't made that decision to follow him. I'm gonna give you an opportunity today at the end of the message to make a decision that for your life, you will follow this Jesus that we see here in this passage of scripture. As Jesus says to them, come follow me and I will make you fishers of men. That statement was loaded for them because their whole life, their whole identity was wrapped up in this family business. These guys were fishermen, most likely entrepreneurs, but fishermen have a bit of a reputation, don't they? Like how many of you guys watched Deadliest Catch before out of curiosity? Okay, so when I grew up in church, it was like, don't drink, smoke or chew or date girls that do. But these guys, it's like smoke, drink and chew and date girls that do. So it's like, there's a lot to their lives,

a lot of foul language and a different way of life. So Jesus comes to these guys and says, come follow me and maybe a part of them being behind him is that Jesus didn't wanna smell them in front of him. And so fishermen would stink. That's what they did for a living. And Jesus says, but there's a different call that I have for your life. I want you to notice the call is no longer for you to put your nets out into the water. There's a bigger vision that I have for your life. And he starts with these two words, follow me, follow me. And he calls you, he calls me. God has a call on your life the same way he had a call on these four disciples' lives. And I want us to notice the first part of the call that God has for your life is that he calls you to relationship. That's the beginning of all of this. Like Jesus could have said, come and follow my rules. Come and follow me to this town. Jesus doesn't give a destination, he doesn't give a set of rules, rather he gives direction and relationship. He calls them and he says, come follow me, them not knowing where they're following him to. And he says, when you do, I will form you, I will make you into fishers of men. Now I want you in your notes just to circle that phrase, follow me, follow me.

So often we get this backwards. And in our minds, maybe we entertain the thought of being in relationship with God. And we want a relationship with God, but we often get it out of order. See God, everything that he does starts with relationship. God is a relational God. And in the context of the relationship that he has with us, there's an order to it, that he's the leader and we're the follower. The other day I was out walking in my neighborhood and I always wanna give dog advice to people. I always do, I really do. Like, it's okay to put a pinch collar on your dog. It's okay, they won't die. You are not physically abusing your dog by putting a pinch collar on them. Amen, nobody's amening that, but it's very important because what I notice sometimes is people are not out taking their dog for a walk. They're out with their dog taking them for a walk. And have you ever seen that? Like the dog, is it quiet because it might be your dog, but the dog like is standing on two legs dragging the person who is out for a walk. Have you guys seen this before? Out of curiosity, you know it. And it's almost like the dog has gotten it in reverse. Oh, when you got the leash,

it was so I could take you for a walk, not so that you could take me for a walk. And sometimes in our understanding of God, that's how we actually approach God. But I want you to write this down. I know this is not like overly complex and brilliant, but it's really important. Following Jesus means he is leading and I am following. It means that he's in charge. It means that he's actually the one that is determining where we go. He's the one that's determining what we do. And sometimes I think what happens in a journey spiritually is that we get in this relationship with Jesus or with God and we're like, man, Jesus, I really hope you like this movie because this is the movie we're gonna watch. And Jesus, I really hope you like this music and this party that we're going to because this is where we're going on Friday night. And Jesus, I really hope you like this company and this job because this is where I'm going to work. And if that's how your relationship with God is functioning, you're missing the fullness of life and the call that God has for you. See, your life is no longer determined by what you do. If you're in Jesus, your life is now determined by who you follow. And there's an invitation from Jesus to follow him into a more fulfilling life, a deeper life, a life of greater impact, but so often we have this reverse.

So he's inviting you, will you come follow me? Now, when I think about this invitation to follow Jesus, there's another image that comes to my mind. And I think about how Jesus over the course of time takes greater control of our lives. It's almost like our homes where over time, he takes greater control of a room or a place in our house and it leads to transformation. See, the second thing that Jesus does is he doesn't just call us to relationship, but he calls us to transformation. So he wants over the course of time to change us. He says, come follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And notice that word make, it's a process word. It's not an event, it's a process. So following Jesus is a lifelong journey. It's decades long. And sometimes this transformation journey is so frustrating to me. It's like I should not still struggle with frustration with customer service calls at the level that I do. After following Jesus, I really feel like I should be more patient. And I was on a call with someone recently. I just thought of this, it wasn't in my message. I was on a call with somebody and she goes, she asked for my email address. And I said, my email address at saddleback.com. And she goes, oh, you work at Saddleback?

I listen to Saddleback sermons. And I was like, oh man, I am so glad I didn't just get angry with you. So there are things in our life that we're still in process with. And over time, God is changing us. And I want you to notice the decision that these disciples make. Because I believe that this decision is really what's a part of transformation. So if you go to Luke chapter five, the other version of this, it says. After they had put their nets down, they caught a great number of fish and their net was breaking. And so they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats so that they began to sink. And when Simon Peter saw it, he fell face down at Jesus' knees and said, "'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.'" And in this moment, Peter sees the disparity. Like this is the Lord. This is a miracle worker. This is the one that we've been waiting for. And he falls on his face recognizing that he's a sinner. And really it's not until we recognize the disparity between us and Jesus that we're actually ready to follow him.

Peter sees in this moment his great need for Jesus. And these disciples right in front of them is the largest catch certainly of their entire life. I mean, this would have represented months on end of income. And those fish represented wealth and prosperity. And there in front of them is this guy saying, "'Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.'" And they have no idea what that means. And they have no idea about this whole movement that's gonna be preached about in North America and Hong Kong and Buenos Aires 2,000 years ago, later. They just know that this invitation is some teacher who's come to them and says, "'Come, follow me,' and is saying, "'Leave your nets and come on a journey with me.'" And I gotta just imagine in their minds all of the scenarios that they're playing out because their income is gone. Their job is gone. Like what they had relied upon, their identity is gone. And Jesus says, "'Come, follow me,' and they literally walk away from their nets. Now, I guarantee that if you ask Peter later in life, "'Did you regret that decision?' No regret, greatest choice of my life to drop my nets and follow Jesus. And this is important for you and for me." Following Jesus means I drop my nets. It means that there's something that I could hold on to that could prevent me from turning in the direction

that God's call is for my life and for your life. I shared earlier about this conversation I had with a student pastor in eighth grade. And I remembered that seed that kind of got in my heart. And I kept thinking about it. I would read books on ministry and I talked to pastors and I knew God was starting to call me to ministry. And I had a moment that was such a clear conviction moment. I was in this career and life planning class in high school. And I remember the professor or the teacher said, "'Hey, I want everybody to like choose a career that you'll focus and learn. And you'll like go find somebody and you'll learn about it and you'll read books on it." And so I looked at the list and there was one that said, other, so pastor wasn't on the list. So I just, I'm looking at it, it's a public school by the way. And I look and it says other. And I'm like, okay, well, I could probably write pastor in there, but I was embarrassed. And so I wrote sales and entrepreneurship. And I remember walking up with my form and handing it to my teacher and walking back and feeling like this trick in my heart from the Holy Spirit like it still touches me to this day. Like, you know, you know, I've called you. That's not something that I gave for you. It's not, if you're a salesperson, God bless you. That's, but I knew in my heart

that was not God's vocational call on my life. And it was one of those moments. Are you going to drop the nets? And I remember, I'm so sorry, God. I will, any chance you give me from this point forward, I will say, you've called me, I say yes. And I think about that from the standpoint of so many times that we hold on to these measly nets that can't do anything for us when there is this great savior inviting us on the adventure of a life. Like there's nothing greater in this world. There's no boat, there's no house, there's no career, there's no amount of fame that could compare to relationship with most high God, to following Jesus with all of your heart and the transformation journey that he takes you on. God accepts you where you are. Like he says, come follow me right where you are with all your shame, all your baggage, all that stuff. Come follow me. But as you follow me, I will make you, I will form you, I will change you over the course of time. So our prayer as a church, really from the very beginning, has been that God would form people into the image of Jesus. That out of our lives would come the fruit of the spirit. And the longer that we walk with God, the longer we're followers of Jesus. It's not that we get more angry and more religious

and more mean to people. It's that over the course of time, that the fruit of our lives is this aroma of Christ. It's this joy and peace that when people bump into us, they experience the very presence of God because God's power and his presence is coming out of our lives, but it takes time for that to happen. And sometimes it is frustrating and you feel like you're not growing until you're around somebody and they say, oh, you're a different person. There's more joy in you than there was a decade ago. You're more at peace in the midst of conflict. You're more at ease at work when things are going wrong. There's something that's changing and that's the work of Jesus in your heart that's transforming you. Now, that's why for us as a church, we do groups, small groups. This is why we have teams that we invite people into. And this is why we do Activate. Activate is happening this weekend at all of our campuses. And Activate really is that starting point where you step in to the life of our church and you say, I wanna be formed over the course of time. I wanna know what the church has to help me. Well, you're campus pastor, I'm setting them up. They're gonna tell you about Activate this weekend and how you can be a part.

But that decision is a part of that lifelong journey to drop your nets and to follow Jesus. So I wonder for you, what are those nets? What's the thing that you're holding onto? Maybe it is your career. Maybe it's a relationship. Maybe it is what I said earlier, like it's the music you listen to or the movies that you watch, or there's something that you just say, God, you can have it all, but I don't wanna give you this thing. And the way that the journey with Jesus has worked for me is kind of like this gentle working throughout all the spaces in my life, that he would get greater control, that there would be more surrender. How many of you have in your house a room where you just throw everything out of curiosity? Or a drawer where you just throw everything. And if you put your, you know, we have a drawer in our house, keys, mail, screwdrivers, knives. I mean, it's weird stuff goes in there and we'll clean it up. And then about a week or two later, it just piles up again with more stuff. And I liken that drawer to the way that we often live our lives. It's like, Jesus is coming over the house.

Let's get everything straight and let's throw it into a closet. Let's throw it into a drawer and welcome Jesus. Jesus, I made you some cookies. I'm so glad you're here. And then we have all this stuff. It's like, don't go there. Well, the way Jesus works is not like some dude that just shows up at your house for cookies. He comes in and he says, I wanna work with you. Let me help you with this drawer. Let me jump into it with you. I know you don't wanna give me your finances. And I know there's a lot of fear in your heart. And I know this whole idea of tithing for you is confusing, but let me help you with that. Let me show you the blessing of when you put me first and tithe, or let me show you what happens when you stop living with bitterness and you start forgiving other people in your life. Or let me show you what happens when you go to work and it's not all about you, but you're thinking, how do you serve the people around you? And let me show you what happens when you lay down your life and these things that come from the inside, like jealousy and greed and unforgiveness and all of these things on the inside that you let me change them over the course of time. He works with what we give to him. But if there's areas that we're like, no,

these are my nets, this is my stuff, it will never be transformed. So again, what's that space? Is it a relationship? Is it your finances? Is it your career that Jesus is saying, come follow me and I wanna form you. And as I form you, that area that I transform, that area is gonna be an area that I use. And ultimately what I'm after is not just relationship and not just transformation, it's your life making a difference. It's your life counting. And that's the final point I want us to see. Come follow me and I will do what? What does he say? I will make you fishers of men. So it means Jesus calls you, he calls me to make a difference with my life. And a lot of Christians are miserable miserable because their lives are still all about them. And the truth is, if you're a follower of Jesus and you have the Holy Spirit on the inside of you, and your life is always all about you, you're gonna live with misery. You will probably live with more misery than a person who's not a follower of Jesus. Because you're gonna have that constant conviction from God saying there's a better way to live. There's a way to live where it's not all about you.

And the invitation is to joy and to fulfillment and to peace that as I lay down my agenda, and I say, Jesus, I will follow you, that as I do, he transforms me and then he uses my life beyond my capacity. So notice these fishermen, they're so different. We didn't even get into this and I don't have time for it, but I just want us to notice this is so different than the way that the rabbis worked in their day. Jesus was a rabbi and most of the rabbis said, well, if you wanna follow a rabbi, what you have to do is go through an application process and clean yourself up and get yourself ready to go through all intensive, rigorous study. And if you pass all these exams, then you can come and be my student, be my pupil. I'll be the teacher, you be the student. But Jesus actually flips this whole thing on its head. And when he comes, he goes outside of the synagogue and outside of the religious institution and he goes to ordinary people like you and me. He comes and he knocks on the door of our heart. He initiates relationship, but he initiates so that we as ordinary people can be used by God. And so when you look at the life of Peter, this fisherman, this guy that smelled, this guy that put his foot in his mouth, after the resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit, there was a moment where the Spirit of God descends like a mighty rushing wind

and the church is born. And Peter, who had denied Jesus at the moment of the crucifixion, now is emboldened. And as he's emboldened and filled up with the Holy Spirit, now having eyewitnessed the resurrection three years later after this moment, it says Peter speaks and wants you to notice his words. He calls people, he says, each of you must do what? Repent of your sin and turn to God. He says there's a new way of life God's inviting you into and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sin. And then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And this promise is to you and your children and those far off and all who have been called on by the Lord our God, all who have been called by the Lord our God. And then Peter continued preaching for a long time. That means it was a really long sermon. He kept going and going and going for a long time, not as long as the apostle Paul who preached into the middle of the night and a guy fell asleep and died because he fell out of the second story window. Thank God, though, he had the power to go back and bring him from death to life. I get distracted, but this is a long sermon. It's a long sermon. And he strongly urged all his listeners, save yourself from this crooked generation. And then those who believed what Peter said

were baptized and added to the church that day. And about 3,000 in all came to faith in Jesus. How is that for fishing for people right there? It's a transition. You left your nets, you came, he formed you, and then he used you. And I wanna encourage you, following Jesus means that he leads us into a life of reaching others with him. When I follow Jesus, it means that his mission, his call on my life is to relationship where I follow him. His call on my life is to be transformed. And his call on my life is that I would be used by him to go on mission, to fish, to love, to care for people, to bring them into the fold of God's love, to reach others with Jesus. And he's inviting you today. See, the reality is God's only given you one life. He's only given you one life to live. And sometimes there are moments where we come face to face with the beauty of God's invitation to relationship with ourself, and the desire that he has for relationship with us. And there are those moments where we decide, do I let go of the things in my life that I hold on to? And do I turn and follow Jesus? And will I let him use my life to make a difference in the lives of others? And as we walk through this passage of scripture, there were three very clear invitations from Jesus. One is that you would follow him.

Two is that you would let him transform you. And three is that you would go on mission with him to reach people the same way that he's reached you if you're a follower of his. He wants to use your one life to impact another one life. And could you imagine, again, what could happen if our one life was fully lived to be on mission with Jesus to make a difference the way that he intends for us to do? In front of you, there's a little card, and I wanna invite you to pull that out for just a moment, and I wanna lead us in a moment of response. And as you grab that card, I'm gonna walk through three responses, three invitations, and I'm gonna ask you to let me know you're responding today. So as you have that card, some of you today, as we're talking through reaching people with the love of Jesus, there's one life that God is dropping into your mind. There is a friend, a family member, a coworker, a neighbor, somebody that God is putting on your heart today. And I wanna ask you right now, if that's you, as you're saying, Jesus, I wanna be used by you to make a difference with my life, I wanna ask you on that card to write down the name of somebody that God drops into your mind. You might even ask him, God, who do you? Do you wanna use me to love, to care for, to serve, to pray for, and write their name right now on that card.

And I'm gonna ask you as you write their name on that card to pray for them, to say, God, I wanna be used by you to make a difference in this person's life. And four weeks from this weekend, we have one of the greatest opportunities of the year to make a difference in that one life. And that's bringing that person to Easter services with us. So who is that one life? This is the first invitation that I wanna give to you, to write down a name of somebody in your life that God wants to use you to impact. Now, as you have that card, I wanna just invite you to hold it in front of you. And this is not the end of my sermon. This is maybe a very long sermon like Peter preached. But I wanna ask you to hold that card in front of you. And if that's you, just lift it up. And I wanna pray over every name, every person, and just as our way of saying, God, use. Maybe you don't have the name written down yet. You can just lift that card up and just say, I wanna join in with the rest of my church. Lord, we ask that you would help us today to love, to care for, to invest, to invite, to be people who are used by you, Lord, in a powerful way. And I pray, Lord, for every name on these cards, every name that will be written, Lord, that you would reach them. And we imagine, Lord, each of these people that we hold are holding up, Lord, their salvation.

They're turning to you and receiving the gift of eternal life that comes through you. God bless our effort to serve and to love those around us. In the name of Jesus, amen, amen. I wanna go to a second invitation. And I wanna ask, there are some of you that are listening to my voice right now that you know that there's an area of your life that you need to drop the net. Like there's something you're holding on to. Now listen, I'm not gonna ask you to say it out loud and just scream it. This is what God's asking me to let go of. But I am gonna ask you to stand if there's something in your life at all of our campuses, if there's something you're just saying, I know I need to drop the net on this. Just stand up and I wanna pray over you, all of our campuses. If there's something God is saying, you need to drop the net here as we walk through. There's something in your life that I know that you need to give back to God. He's just saying, release it to me. So I wanna just pray over you. And Father, I thank you today for every person who is today saying, I know there's something in my life I need to let go of. And Lord, I pray that you would give them the grace today as they're responding to your voice.

And Lord, I pray that you would help them follow through immediately. Maybe it's going to activate. Maybe it's calling somebody that they need to forgive. Maybe it's something they need to do today that relates to a relationship or finances or work. Lord, I pray that you would help them obey today to do the thing that you're asking them to do. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray, amen, amen. I'm so proud of you. Those of you who stood at all of our campuses. All right, I have one last invitation, and that's the invitation to follow Jesus. And there are some of you today, today's your day. You've been waiting. You've been like listening to his teaching. You've been seeing him move, but you haven't said, I'm going all in. I'm gonna follow Jesus with my life. And I'm gonna ask you to make that decision today. I want you to notice in Romans 10, nine, and I'll be done after this. It says this, 10, nine, and 10. If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, that's the surrender of your will to him. That's you saying, I'm gonna follow Jesus. If you confess or declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. What that means is Jesus died on a cross for our sin.

He paid the price that we don't have to pay. He died the death that we should have died. And in paying that penalty, Jesus made a way so that our sins can be forgiven. And as he died on a cross and rose again from the dead, when you put your trust and faith in him, you receive the gift of salvation, the gift of forgiveness. It says, for it's with your heart that you believe and are justified. And it's with your mouth that you profess your faith and you are saved. So today, as the spirit of God is stirring in your heart, I wanna encourage you to say yes and choose today to follow him. He's not asking you to have it all together. He's not asking you to clean yourself up. He's asking you to come just as you are to say today, Jesus, I wanna choose to follow you. So if that's you right now, I wanna invite you to pray a very simple prayer of response that today I'm choosing to follow you. If everybody will close their eyes and bow their head in this moment. And as you are searching your heart, if that's you today, I wanna encourage you just very simply say, dear Jesus, I choose to follow you. I give you my life today. I wanna ask you to. Give me of my sin. I believe that you died on a cross for my sin.

I believe that you rose again from the dead. And I give you my life the best I know how. Now with nobody looking around at all of our campuses on a count of three, if you just prayed that prayer to say yes to follow Jesus, I just want to ask you to lift your hand up just to say today I'm receiving the gift of salvation on a count of three. One, two, don't be shy. Lift them up today just saying today I'm receiving the gift of salvation. Keep them up for just a moment. Anybody else at all of our campuses today saying I'm receiving the gift of salvation following Jesus. Lord, we thank you for your goodness that you have saved us through the cross and the empty tomb. Bless every person today that made that decision to follow you in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Now before we go back into a song, I want to ask you if you just prayed one of those three prayers with me to respond to text follow to 83,000, and there's going to be a very simple form that comes to your phone. That very simple form is going to give you an opportunity to respond, and we'll send you some resources for each of those responses. If it was for you today to say I want to follow Jesus, we want to help you in that new journey. If it was for you to say I want to be transformed and grow, we'll send you resources. And if it's you saying I want to go on mission with Jesus and love and care for people and be used by him, we'll send you resources. And then some of you, maybe you're like, no, I'm not ready. I just want to explore faith.

We want to help you with that as well. So if you'll take 30 seconds to do that, either right now or during this next song, then we'll send you those resources after we sing this last song, we'll be dismissed. So I want to invite you, will you stand with me as we respond and just say, Jesus, have more of me. Have more of me. I want to invite you to worship as the band leads us. And again, I will make room for you. To do whatever you want to. To do whatever you want to, Jesus. So shake up the ground of all my tradition. Break down the walls of all my religion. Your way is pleasant. Your way is blessed. Shake up the ground. Shake up the ground of all my tradition. Break down the walls of all my religion. Your way is good. Your way is penitent. Your way is blessed. Shake up the ground of all my tradition. Break down the walls of all my religion. Your way is good. Your thoughts are higher than mine. Your way is better. We want more of you, Lord. Shake up the ground of all my tradition. Break down the walls of all my religion. Your way is better. Your way is better.

Let's sing this again. I will make room for you. Let this be our prayer. To do whatever you want to. To do whatever you want to. And I will make room for you, Lord. To do whatever you want to. To do whatever you want to, Jesus. Amen. And we're going to pray for them in the weeks leading up to Easter during our Wednesday prayer sessions. So please go ahead, go to the Saddleback app, write down your One Life's name so that we can be praying for them with you. While you're there, if you have a next step that you want to take in your faith, I would encourage you to go to the Saddleback app as well and let us know there so that we can help you to take that step. Pastor Andy was also talking about Activate, and so I would love to invite you to one of our online Zoom Activates happening this week. We got two options for you. We have one on Sunday, March 8th from 1-2.15pm Pacific Time, and one on Friday, March 13th from 5-6.15pm Pacific Time as well. So you can go ahead and register for those on the Saddleback app. I would love to see you there. Well friends, like we've been talking about, Easter is coming up real soon. So we want to equip you with ways to invite your friends and your family. So go ahead, go to the Saddleback app. There is a digital invite there that you can send to your One Life neighbors, coworkers, friends, family, so that they can have the service times, links, and they can watch with you. Friends, we love you so much, and we're grateful for you. We are praying for you, and we can't wait to see you back here again for church next week.