The Second Sunday of Advent ~ The Call to Follow Jesus...





The Voice ~
Matthew 4:12-25

¹² It was not long until powerful people put John in prison. When Jesus learned this, He went back to Galilee. ¹³ He moved from Nazareth to Capernaum, a town by the sea in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali. ¹⁴ He did this to fulfill one of the prophecies of Isaiah:

¹⁵ In the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
    the road to the sea along the Jordan in Galilee, the land of the outsiders—
¹⁶ In these places, the people who had been living in darkness
    saw a great light.
The light of life will overtake those who dwelt in the shadowy darkness of death.^[a]

¹⁷ From that time on, preaching was part of Jesus’ work.

Jesus: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

¹⁸ One day Jesus was walking along the Sea of Galilee when He saw Simon (also called Peter) and Andrew throwing their nets into the water. They were, of course, fishermen.

Jesus: ¹⁹ Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.

²⁰ Immediately Peter and Andrew left their fishnets and followed Jesus.

²¹ Going on from there, Jesus saw two more brothers, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John. They, too, were fishermen. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee getting their nets ready to fish. Jesus summoned them, just as He had called to Peter and Andrew, ²² and immediately they left their boat and their father to follow Jesus.

²³ And so Jesus went throughout Galilee. He taught in the synagogues. He preached the good news of the Kingdom, and He healed people, ridding their bodies of sickness and disease. ²⁴ Word spread all over Syria, as more and more sick people came to Him. The innumerable ill who came before Him had all sorts of diseases, they were in crippling pain; they were possessed by demons; they had seizures; they were paralyzed. But Jesus healed them all. ²⁵ Large crowds from Galilee, from Jerusalem, from the ten cities called the Decapolis, from Judea, and from the region across the Jordan followed him.

 

 

Jesus called Peter and Andrew....

 

They left all they knew and followed Jesus....

 

Then he calls James and John....

 

They, too, left all to follow Jesus....

 

Today, Jesus is calling us to follow Him...

  

It's not easy to follow the calling of Jesus...

 

Sometimes, we need to leave our hometown,
our family, our friends...

 

Sometimes, we need to leave our job...

 

Sometimes, we need to leave one church body and move to another...

 

Sometimes, it is working through painful emotions or trauma...

 

But through it all, Jesus is with us...

 

For he said he will never leave us nor forsake us...

 

If you are being called to make a transition in following Jesus,

know that He is with you and will guide you by His Spirit every step of the way...

 

He will give you peace....