Going on a little farther, He saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat, mending their nets.Going on a little further from there, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets.And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets.And going on a little further, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending the nets.
5 sermons cite this verse
… immediately, they left their nets and followed him. It's amazing. And when he'd gone a little further, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother was in a boat, and they were preparing their nets, folding them, fixing them, getting them ready for another voyage. And without delay, he called them. And they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, so it was obviously a pretty good business. They had enough to employ others, and they followed him. Now, the call that Jesus issues is a clear call. Fall in behind me, he says. Become what I intend for you to be, fishers of men. Be totally committed to my cause. Do you see what he's asking them to do? He's asking them to make their commitment to him take precedence over their livelihood and over their family relationships. Take precedence over their livelihood and over their family relationships. The average approach to Christianity at the end of the 20th century and into the 21st is, why don't you come to Jesus? He'll help you with your livelihood and your family relationships. …
… Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will make you fishers of men. At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little further, he saw James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay, he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. Amen. The most successful manager of an English soccer team ever is a Scot by the name of Sir Alec Ferguson. He's the manager of Manchester United, which will be of interest to about 1% of those listening to me. But he has actually written himself into the record books as the most successful manager of all time. Therefore, it is no surprise when in reading his autobiography, you come on these two sentences. He writes, I have devoted my life to football. Everything has been thrown overboard for it. I have devoted my life to football. Everything has been thrown overboard for it. Well, that is absolutely unequivocal. It's clear. It's his focus. …
… 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. It's a very short account. This account is in Mark's gospel, and Mark likes to shorten the stories, but we have basically three movements here. We have a list of who these men were that are involved. Four of their names are given. We then have a description of the encounter that they have with Jesus, and then a decision that they make based on that encounter. So I have in your bulletin, your worship folder, an outline with plenty of space for you to take notes. Those three movements are their character, their calling, and their commitment. We begin with their character. What I'd like to do is give you a little character sketch of each of these men that are called Simon, Andrew, James, and John. …
… He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him. He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every illness among the people. The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. Wait, you have a seat. So back in 1973, my grandma Helen was a nurse. Actually, she was the head nurse at a place called Sinai Hospital down in the Twin Cities. And she was a really hard worker. She loved her job. She loved being a nurse. She loved caring for her people. In fact, as a head nurse, she took care of other nurses. And she loved that. She loved just helping all of these, particularly they were younger nurses, and she helped them just like get their job done, be able to take care of patients. …
At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father, Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Now, Jesus comes on the scene here. Now, this is probably not the first time these guys have met Jesus. A lot of people think that John 1 gives us the initial picture of these guys being introduced to Jesus. This may have been a second or third occurrence where they interacted with him. But Jesus comes to them and he says two words, follow me. Literally, come after me. And in those two words, we begin to unpack what it means to be a disciple of Christ. What does it mean to follow Jesus? First of all, it means radical abandonment for the glory of Christ. radical abandonment for the glory of Christ now in order to see that we need to look at the context that Matthew chapter 4 18 and following comes in so back up with me to verse 12 and I want you to read with me there what leads up to this picture of Jesus initiating this this fellowship with these guys Matthew chapter 4 verse 12 says when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison he returned to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which is by the lake in the …