Followers Of The Way

Mark 1:14-20 Way Followers

1. God wants us to find our way

• Beginning in this Gospel John the forerunner of Christ is arrested

• Jesus begin his ministry to the people it’s in Galilee He begins to preach the good News(Gospel)

• Prophecy is before you The text says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;” Jesus wants us to find our way to the Kingdom

2. Why would I want to follow this way? Christians were known as Followers of the Way

• Thomas à Kempis wrote, “We must imitate Christ’s life and his ways if we are to be truly enlightened and set free from the darkness of our own hearts. Let it be the most important thing we do, then, to reflect on the life of Jesus Christ.” —

• Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

• I want to follow this way because I have read, I have heard, and I have seen

• Recall John wasn’t sure if Jesus was Messiah so he sent disciples to find out and this is what they found: “Then Jesus said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.”

3. We follow this way because Jesus directs our steps our life’s

• He points us to or towards the kingdom of God He gives us direction towards the kingdom of God

• Jesus says this kingdom of God “has come near,” or “is at hand.”

• One scholar said, “Jesus does give them a Clear message about himself. He does not say, “Give me your attention! I have arrived. I am the Messiah, the Son of God.” Instead, he says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near” (v. 15).

• According to New Testament scholar Suzanne Watts Henderson, Jesus “proclaims a message not about himself but about the ‘good news’ that God’s kingdom has dawned.”

• When we follow Jesus, we don’t just get directions. We get a new life. We sacrifice, serve, heal, hope

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4. We will certainly find our way by doing what Jesus tells us

• Right after Jesus announces the kingdom, he says, “repent, and believe in the good news” (v. 15). To repent is to turn around, reverse direction or change your mind.

• In order for us to find our way Jesus shares we need to believe in the good news of the kingdom of God.

• In order to find our way we need to stop. Turn our self around. Point our gaze toward the kingdom.

5. Jesus helps us find our way by giving us New Direction

• Mark tells us that as “Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers.

• And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people’” (1:16-17).

• Jesus redirected them from being fishers of fish to being fishers of people.

• He pointed them toward a whole new horizon, toward something they had never seen before.

• And how did they respond? They repented. They changed their minds and reversed direction. Mark tells us that “immediately they left their nets and followed him” (v. 18).

• Then, going just a little farther, Jesus “saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him” (vv. 19-20).

6. Jesus helps us find our way by grasping the Kingdom of God is about sacrifice and service, healing and hope.

• Jesus Helped by pronouncing forgiveness, casting out demons and feed hungry crowds.

• He restores “things that are out of order by putting order in people’s life.

7. If we recall Jesus followers were called Followers of the Way

• WE might call ourselves The Way Followers Jesus has come to show us the way.

• Followers of the way Go out of their way to help,

• They go out of their way to sacrifice Discipleship is sacrifice Bonehooffer “when God bids a man he bids him come and die.”

• They go out of their way for service they are Compassionate, Eager to serve, Gentile, Humble, and sincere.

• They go out of their way to heal they see a need and quick to respond.

• They go out of their way to offer hope. I want to be a part of this don’t you?

• Jesus says to us today as He said, to Simon and Andrew “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of Men.”