[0:00] Briefly, all you need to know about me is that God saved me October 19, 1987 as a 10-year-old child. I wish that I could tell you that I always stay faithful to the Lord, but I didn't.
[0:15] As a teenager, I went wayward, went worldly. But we've got a gracious God. He called me back into His presence.
[0:27] He forgave me of my mistakes, and He wiped my slate clean, and I entered the ministry March 13, 1995 as a senior in high school.
[0:39] Man, that was a trip. So, you guys are kind of quiet. I like some interaction.
[0:51] Amen? If you don't amen me, I might go sit in a pew and amen myself. Okay? So, I like interaction. But if you've got your Bibles and you would like to read along with us, turn to the book of Matthew, chapter number 19.
[1:10] Matthew, chapter number 19. But let me say this. The sermon today is one word. One word. Come.
[1:23] Come. Anybody would like to know more? Well, I was finished, but if they want to know more, I can share more. I've got enough content for at least two hours.
[1:38] Jeez. Jeez. Man, you guys help me out here. That was halfway joking, but it could happen.
[1:48] I have did that before in a Pentecostal church. I've never done it in a Baptist church. They don't like hearing it that much. So, Matthew, chapter number 19. Let's start reading in verse number 16. I will be reading from a KJV.
[2:01] Feel free to read out of whatever text you prefer. Verse number 16. And behold, one came and said unto him, Good master, what good things shall I do that I may have eternal life?
[2:13] And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God. But if thou will enter into life, keep the commandments.
[2:26] And he saith unto him, Which? He saith, Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
[2:41] The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept for my youth up. What lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou will be perfect, go and sell what thou hast, give it to the poor.
[2:54] And thou shalt have treasure in heaven. Come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful. For he had a great many possessions.
[3:08] Let us pray. Dear gracious and heavenly Father, we bow in your presence. Thanking you for this day, this opportunity to be in your presence with your people.
[3:19] Father, we just ask that you speak to us as your people today. Father, may you just give us a word that your people need to hear. Father, we pray that we'll glean from your presence, glean from your word this morning, your truths.
[3:36] Father, we pray that if there's any soul here this morning that does not know you as their Lord and Savior, we pray that you will draw them through the works of the Holy Spirit and that unto yourself.
[3:48] Father, we pray that you would take in any person that's here that's out of fellowship with you, that has known you as Savior and Lord, but they have left you.
[4:00] We pray that through the works of the Spirit that they will be drawn back unto you this morning, that they may become in good fellowship with you again and in a right relationship with you.
[4:13] Father, we want to say a special request for those that are here, that are struggling in their life right now. They're going through a storm in their life. We recognize as a country we're going through a storm, but Father, we recognize that there is amongst you, amongst your presence, those that are going through other storms.
[4:36] And Father, we pray that you'll give them a word today to strengthen them in the storm. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. There's a key word in there in verse number 21 that says, come.
[4:52] But prior to us getting to that word, the first thing we want to call out is we see recognition. Verse number 16, He behold, and one came and said unto him, Good Master.
[5:05] He recognized Jesus as the Good Master. Jesus certainly is the Good Master. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Jesus is the Great Shepherd. Jesus is the Chief Shepherd.
[5:16] Jesus is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Alpha Omega, the first, the last, the beginning, the end, that which was, which is, and which is to come. But knowing and recognizing who he is is simply not enough.
[5:31] You agree with that? Say amen. I appreciate that. Listen, Jesus, knowing who he is, it's not enough. We've got to know more than just recognizing who he is.
[5:45] Then we see realization take place. He says, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? Well, let me say this.
[5:57] There is no good thing that we can do to inherit eternal life. It's not about our works. It's about his works.
[6:09] It's not about what we can do. It's about what he's already done. Amen. Now, if I talk a little funny, I am from the backwoods of East Tennessee.
[6:20] Y'all, we talk different over there. We don't say y'all. We say y'uns. Amen. So if I talk a little bit different, be patient. I'll try to translate for you.
[6:31] But the reality is this. He realized something was amissing. He realized something was missing.
[6:41] But he also realized who had the answer. He realized who had the answer. Next, let's see the reply.
[6:53] And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one that is God. But if thou will enter into eternal life, keep the commandments.
[7:08] He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and mother.
[7:20] And thou shalt have love thy neighbor as thyself. The reply, first thing, Know the commandments. Know the commandments.
[7:31] Mark 10, 13. A parallel text says, Thou knowest the commandments. Thou knowest the commandments. Second thing we see in verse number 18, In verse 17 really, Keep the commandments.
[7:48] Now over the years, I've had people tell me, In regards to eternal life, That they keep the commandments. Well, me being me, Can you name them?
[8:06] Can you name all ten of them to me right now? I usually make a lot of people mad with that question. Because I can't even name all ten of them on the spur.
[8:20] I have to have a little time to read them in advance. To refresh my memory. There's a great many people today saying they're keeping commandments.
[8:31] Well, that's a good thing. But the reality is, None of us are good enough to keep them all. Jesus was the only one Throughout all of history That has never sinned.
[8:49] So by translation, Jesus is the only one That has ever kept all the commandments. Amen? Then in verse number 18, He saith unto him, Which?
[9:02] Like it's a choice. Like it's a choice. One can read that and say, I can choose which ones I can. No, it don't work that way. If we offend in one point, We offend in all.
[9:18] So, it's not about choosing. But here's what Jesus said. Number six of the commandments, He says, Thou shalt do no murder.
[9:31] Number seven, Thou shalt not commit adultery. Number eight, Thou shalt not steal. Number nine, Thou shalt not bear false witness. Number ten, Honor thy father and thy mother.
[9:42] Then He throws in this one, Thou shalt love your neighbor as yourself. America needs to hear that one today. Some may question, Well, why didn't Jesus name all ten from the Old Testament?
[9:58] Well, I got me a theory. If people can come up with their theories, I'm going to come up with one too. I believe personally that Jesus was in the process of naming them all.
[10:12] I believe that He was going through the list and then is interrupted by this rich young ruler as we refer to Him.
[10:23] I believe that He was trying to stop the Lord before He got to three particular ones that I believe that this young man would have been struggling with.
[10:36] You say, how do you know that? It's mere speculation, but I'm letting my God-given imagination create a biblical illustration. I believe the first one He struggled with is Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
[10:54] Number one on the list. We know this because of what happens in the end of the story. We know from the text He goes away sorrowful because of His riches.
[11:09] But I believe He struggled with that one. I believe that He also struggled with thou shalt not make any graven image. I believe His possessions was His graven image that He struggled with.
[11:23] Now a graven image doesn't mean that you have your little Buddha statue and you bow down to it necessarily. That's not the only one.
[11:34] A graven image... I love fishing, but I can tell you right now, my bass boat, which I ain't got one yet, I'm waiting to get my RV paid for, then I'm going to get me a bass boat, is not going to stop me from coming to God's house.
[11:51] Amen? I don't see it so much here, but when I lived in East Tennessee, I was only just a couple of miles from the lake. Sunday morning going to church, if I didn't see fishing rods hanging out going up the river to go fishing for trout, I seen boats behind trucks going to the lake to fish for bass.
[12:16] Anybody here like fishing? Really? This close to the Duck River, I thought that would be better than that. Must be hunting season around here.
[12:30] Amen? Amen? I believe there's another one that we struggle with. I believe it is, thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not covet.
[12:42] But anyway, nonetheless, we encourage you, always be aware of these commandments and know these commandments, but the harsh reality is, we are not good enough to keep them.
[12:57] But even if we were, it's not good enough for salvation. Next thing, let's move forward, the response. And he saith unto him, all these things have I kept for my youth up.
[13:09] What lack I yet? Even though he says he was keeping the commandments, he realized something was still missing. He realized something was still missing.
[13:20] Then we see the request from the Savior. Jesus saith unto him, if thou will be perfect, go and sell that thou hast. Give it to the poor. Thou shalt have treasure in heaven. Come and follow me.
[13:34] Now, another text, Mark 10, 21, parallel verses, says, Then Jesus beholding him, loved him. Jesus looked upon him, and Jesus loved him.
[13:48] The word for love in this context, in the Greek, is agapal. That literally is saying to be welcome, to be fond of, to love dearly.
[13:58] Listen, friends, Jesus loved him dearly, even though he knew that he was missing out of his life. There may be some of you this morning that is either present here or watching online, that you have no relationship with Jesus.
[14:18] But I can assure you, Jesus still loves you. Jesus still loves you. Parallel text in Luke 18, 22, says, Yet lackest thou one thing.
[14:36] Yet lackest thou one thing. Parallel text in Mark 21 says, Take up the cross. Adding to that. Jesus asked him to do three things.
[14:47] Give up, give out, and give in. Give up, give out, give in. Give up his worldly possessions. Sell what thou hast. Give out.
[14:58] Give out. Give it to the poor. Give out his worldly possessions and give in. Come and follow me. Giving in to the Lord's possession.
[15:11] Then we see the reaction. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possession. We see selfishness and sorrow in his reaction.
[15:24] He came to the right person with the right question at the right time, but he did the wrong thing. How many times have you heard that? Billy Graham was one of the first ones that I ever heard make a statement very similar to that.
[15:37] Listen, friends, it's the truth. I've seen many in church that came to the right person at the right time with the right question, seeking eternal life, but they do the wrong thing. Let me encourage you.
[15:49] Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. The first point under come, what I've covered, is come and be delivered. Come and be delivered.
[16:02] Next thing. Come to be disciples.
[16:14] Come to be disciples. Over the past several weeks, I have been speaking much about discipleship.
[16:26] I believe in our churches today, and I trust that it's probably not like that here, but in our churches today, the harsh reality is we have been working out and reaching out to evangelize the lost, but we fail many times to disciple them.
[16:50] I think that's an emphasis that our churches today need to have is really discipling the converts. Reproducing your faith in Christ, your relationship with Christ, through them.
[17:07] It doesn't necessarily matter what stage your relationship is with Christ. Reproduce spiritually.
[17:19] It doesn't matter if you've been saved for five minutes or five years. Spiritually reproduce. Then, disciple someone else.
[17:33] Do you know which method I think works the best for discipleship? And we know as pastors, we see all these different literatures out there, all these different books, all these different models, all these different methods of discipleship.
[17:51] Do you know which one, in my opinion, works the best? The one you do. The one you do. They're all good. And many of them work effectively.
[18:05] But we as a church have got to disciple others. Mark 1, 16-18. Now as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon, Andrew, his brother, casting an ad into the Sea for they were fishers.
[18:21] And Jesus said unto them, Come, ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets and followed him.
[18:33] First thing in being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is forsake the world. Forsake the world. Verse 18 says, they forsook their nets.
[18:44] They left the life they knew to come and follow Jesus. Some Christians today are still trying to be a disciple but never giving up the past.
[18:57] Trying to follow Jesus but never letting go of the past life. Listen friends, if God calls you to mission and ministry in that life, that's one thing.
[19:09] But as a Christian to be a disciple we got to understand we need to let go of the nets and come and follow Jesus. He'll give you new nets.
[19:21] He'll give you new nets. When we get saved we repent of our sins. It means to turn from them. To be a born again child of God.
[19:36] We can't be born again and still hold on to those sins and that old lifestyle in any way form or fashion. We are to be a new creation in Christ.
[19:50] Next thing, to be a disciple you need to follow the Lord. Verse 18 says, and they followed him. Luke 9 23 says, and he said unto them, and if any man will come after me let him deny himself take up his cross daily and come and follow me.
[20:07] There is some today that are trying to be disciples but they're not willing to follow Jesus. They're not living in obedience to his commands.
[20:22] Friends, how many times in our lives have we sang I surrender all? how many times have we sang those words in that precious hymn I surrender all?
[20:37] But yet when we walk out the doors of the church into that mission field that is out there we don't live a life of surrender. I have made it an intention now when I lead someone in the sinner's prayer that I add emphasis on submit and surrender.
[21:04] We must ensure they get this life that they live that's no longer their own. This life I live it's no longer my own it's his.
[21:16] We are to live in complete obedience to his commands. Who knows he might move you 250 miles away. Next thing fulfill the word.
[21:30] I will make you to become fishers of men. Fishers of men. Some are trying to be disciples today but they're not fishers of men.
[21:45] Listen friend you don't have to be a scholar to lead somebody in the sinner's prayer. You don't have to be a scholar to lead somebody else to Jesus.
[21:58] You don't have to have a PhD a master's degree a bachelor's degree an associate's degree or even a high school diploma or a GED to lead somebody to Jesus.
[22:11] All you got to know is what you did when you got saved and do the same thing with them. That's all it takes. October 19th of 1987 the night I got saved.
[22:27] Ten years old sitting in my living room floor wasn't even in a church house. I'd been to church that night but I wasn't in church then. I got saved and you know what the first thing I wanted to do was I wanted to tell somebody what had happened to me.
[22:46] So I pick up the phone I called grandma grandpa called aunts uncles called cousins called anybody I could get a hold of that night to tell them what happened to me.
[23:00] Went into the school house the next morning fifth grade ten years old going to my friends I got saved last night there was a couple mocked me and said oh here comes that little saved boy it didn't let it faze me I kept and everybody about the someone that had saved me and his name was Jesus listen friends you don't have to be educated you don't have to know all of the Bible to lead somebody to Christ all you got to know is how to bring them to him it isn't us that does the saving it's the Lord Jesus Christ that does the saving it isn't our works it isn't their works it's his work that's already been done do you agree with that say amen there we go missing your pastor already aren't you now listen don't go to sleep on me I'm not going to come to your job tomorrow and take a nap okay
[24:04] I might take a nap at my job but I'm not going to come take a nap at your job next thing I want to spend a little bit of time on is not only come and be delivered not only come and be disciple but come to the deep come to the deep we got a lot of Christians today and I want to spend a little bit of time talking about this they get saved they begin the journey of following the Lord but they stay in the shallow water stay in the shallow water I understand that to a point but listen I believe the Lord is calling us to something deeper I believe the Lord is calling us to a deeper faith than staying in the shallow waters and that's coming from somebody that can't swim amen listen the Lord is calling us to something deeper
[25:05] I'll be honest with you I would have really struggled to do what Peter did that night getting out walking straight to the bottom and had to be rescued listen friends I'm saying that jokingly but we have Christians that's still staying on the edge listen let your light so shine before men and come into the deep water of your faith and your relationship with Jesus Christ Matthew 14 verse number 22 says straight way Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him on to the other side now for those of us that know the story know that they went out know there was a storm arose know that while they were there on the storm arose Jesus came walking to them on the water and we know that Peter gets out of the boat and goes walking to Jesus and we know he took his eyes off
[26:06] Jesus and he began to sink and then he cried out Lord save me the same three words that I said when I got saved Lord save me and the Lord reached down pulled him back up and they walked together back to the boat we know that story right for those of you that grew up in church you've heard that story your entire life great story but I want to hit something at the very beginning verse number 22 that God revealed to me the Lord sent them into this storm do you believe that Jesus has the knowledge of God do you believe that Jesus knows everything do you believe that Jesus knows the past the present and the future do believe that do you believe that Jesus knew there was going to be a storm on the sea that day and I believe he sent them into the storm sometime as a
[27:07] Christian the Lord Jesus Christ will send you into the storm he may have a dozen! different reasons you may never know the reason but there's times in your life that he sends you to the storm he sends you into the struggles the mess of whatever it is sometimes Jesus sends you into the storm sometimes Jesus allows you to be sent into the storm Jesus allows it to happen to us we none of us like it when we're going through the storm as a young believer I thought man I can't wait to get to spiritual maturity I can't wait to have been serving the Lord for 25 years and these mountains and valleys that I'm going through these storms these trials these tribulations they all smooth out what I thought that's not what happened because you see those mountains they got higher they got steeper they got longer those valleys they got muddier those valleys got messier those trials got tougher those tribulations they got worse
[28:47] I almost said worse I had to have been an East Tennessee word for you there they got worse and worse and worse I thought man I can't wait to get the spiritual maturity life is going to be smooth serving the Lord that was a lie from Satan himself it don't work that way this is what I've observed serving the Lord as a Christian you're either going into a storm you're going through a storm or you're going out of a storm our life 2020 especially can I get an amen for that one yeah there we go finally said something you agree with listen I'm joking I have a sarcasm sense of humor when I'm preaching at times but seriously 2020 it's been a mess right one story after another one trial after another one loss of another it has been terrible on pastors listen the coronavirus has hit a lot of pastors that I know in East Tennessee that I've lost their lives because of this pastors here listen friends your pastor has struggled because of this he didn't pay me to say that I'm throwing that in for free listen friends it's a struggle 2020 is a struggle but you know what
[30:09] I believe the closer we get to the return of our blessed savior the more and more of a struggle it's going to be until that blessed day that that blessed hope appears in that sky and here he comes and here we go amen it's going to be a struggle but just hold on just hold on a couple years back I got to preach to the churches of the New Duck River Association and one of the messages that I preached was never give up never quit never give up never quit as a born again child of God we got to have that mindset we can't give up and we can't quit when I coached my daughter when she was playing travel softball that was the mindset that I tried to coach and instill in her team a group of young ladies never give up never quit never give up never quit I don't care if we're behind to the game
[31:11] I don't care if the clock is expired let's never give up and let's never quit and as a born again child of God we got to have the same mindset we can't give up we can't quit we've got to keep going for the glory of God until that eastern sky bust open and here he comes and here we go amen next thing he sent them to a ship also in verse 22 it says he constrained his disciples to get into a ship also in verse 22 we see they were separated from the savior jesus wasn't with him he was apart in the mountains praying separate from the savior then i want to say this sometimes in your life in your spiritual journey you might get stuck in a storm the wind may be contrary the ship may be tossed to and fro and you can't see jesus just because you can't see jesus does not mean that he don't know what you're going through just because you can't feel him at times christianity is not completely about feelings christianity may give you some feelings serving the lord may give you some feelings but it's not about our feelings there's times that i don't feel jesus but my faith has to step in and know that he is there and know that he realizes what's taking place jesus wasn't with them but he knew what was going on verse number 18 of john 6 says parallel text and the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew they were stuck in a storm now this storm would have occurred between 3 and 6 a.m their time listen friends in the middle of the night you might get stuck in a storm in the middle of the day you might get stuck in a storm sometimes storms happen sometimes storms happen because we make bad decisions on our own sometimes storms happen because the lord allows them to happen to us and sometimes storms happen because the lord sends us through them mark 6 48 parallel text and he saw them toiling and rowing for the wind was contrary unto them and the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them walking upon the sea and would have passed by them they were scared by the storm for those of you that might be from
[34:24] Nashville proper that's scared country folk may know it as scared that's worse than being scared amen it's a whole nother level i gotta say this this is a poor illustration but i want to tell you anyway so i didn't get to go in and spend thanksgiving with my in-laws this year first time in 43 years that my wife hadn't got to spend thanksgiving with her family because of the pandemic and while they were they met at my brother-in-law sister-in-law church and while they were there they got to talking about some activities that had been seen on the cameras somebody seen a white flash go in front of one of the cameras and they were speculating that maybe it was a ghost i looked at them i said i hope there's a ghost there i hope the holy ghost is there amen listen friends some people might get scared by the thought of there might be the presence of something else being in the church listen friends i want something else to be present in the church amen some people might get scared by this i've got a great fear of water because of some things that happened in my childhood some people are terrified of snakes some people are terrified of spiders listen friends some people are terrified by storms my wife is scared of storms listen friends they were out there they were stuck in a storm and i noted they were scared in the storms but not only that they were scared by the sight that they saw and the disciples saw him walking on the sea and they were troubled saying it is a spirit and they cried out were fear in a parallel text in mark 6 50 says for they all saw him and were troubled they seen the lord and was troubled friends when you see jesus that's not a time to be troubled that's a time to put forth your faith and triumph in the lord jesus christ fix your eyes on jesus when you see his presence even if you don't know for certain it's him still trust in him at all times they were scared in the storm then they seen by the savior not they saw the savior not only that but they were seen of the savior mark 6 48 and he saw them toiling and rolling listen friends i've been just itching to get to this point when your savior sees you in a storm and he sees you out there a rowing he sees you toiling he sees you suffering he sees you struggling he sees you having a hard time he sees you about ready to give up he sees you about ready to quit he sees you trust that he is there trust that his strength will carry you on rest assured jesus watches over his the word of god says that we are his sheep he is our shepherd the word of god also says that no man can pluck us out of his hand all glory be to god for that one our thanks be unto god that we can't be plucked out of his hand he is ours and we are his amen somebody this morning needs to hear the savior sees your struggles somebody needs to hear that the savior sees you when you're in the storm when you're in the eye of the storm know that his eye is on you listen friend he is watching you and when the time is right he will say peace be still verse number 27 of chapter 14 but straightway jesus spake and them saying be of good cheer in his eye they were soothed by the
[38:26] savior jesus is saying that to somebody this morning be of good comfort it is i be not afraid jesus is saying to somebody here this morning i'm here i'm here rest in me have peace in me i'm here then we see peter seeking the savior verse 28 and peter answered him so lord if it be thou bid me to come on the water with thee listen friends peter said if if sometimes in our walk with christ even when we see him we still have doubts we still have questions looking for a word of assurance put your faith in christ listen friends at this point peter says lord if it's you bid me to come out there with you let me let me come out there with you peter forgot the storm peter forgot the struggles peter forgot the suffering peter forgot the ship peter forgot the sailors peter forgot everything but jesus when you are in a storm learn this lesson when you are in a storm put your eyes on jesus and fix them there and you'll forget the storm you'll forget the struggles you'll forget the suffering put your eyes on jesus next thing that word come verse number 29 and he said come he said come peter stepped out of the safety of the ship to have a deeper relationship with jesus christ now we like to take shots at peter because peter took his eyes off jesus and he began to sink we do the same thing let's be honest about it we do the same thing in our lives but let's be real about this peter was the only one that got out of the boat he was the only one the other stayed in the safety of the ship listen friends i believe the lord is looking for followers today that'll come to the deep that'll be willing to get out of the boat to have a deeper relationship with him maybe the lord's calling you to be a missionary maybe the lord's calling you to be a minister maybe the lord's calling you to preach maybe the lord's calling you to serve as a deacon or leader in the church the lord has a work for all of us but we begin that work when he says to us come and we get out of the boat real quick two missionary friends of mine as i was jumping on as i got up this morning they are in the philippines one in manila one in the seaboo one in manila had church in somebody's backyard their morning in the rain they had a little patio tent that there was about 20 of them gathered under in the rain hearing the preached word and nine people got saved another pastor friend of mine over there in seaboo had church and after he had church he had a spiritual and moral transformation study that he done that's one of his ways of reaching the lost is to try to teach them how to have a spiritual and moral life that's
[42:26] pleasing to god and he presents the gospel 47 people got saved this afternoon their time when god calls you into a work he will prepare you for that work he will equip you for that work and he'll fulfill that work through you next we want to call out that peter was shaken by the storm verse 30 but when he saw the wind boisterous he was afraid then we see him sinking into the sea then we see his statement of faith lord save me and then we see he was saved in the storm and immediately jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him parallel text john 6 21 says then they willingly receive him into their ship jesus wants us to willingly receive him into our lives not only be to be delivered not only be the disciple but to also have a deeper relationship then we see security in the storm when they were come into the ship the wind see as soon as they come in to the ship the wind ceased you can be secure in a storm when your faith is in the savior i encourage you this morning that if you don't have a personal relationship with jesus christ that you begin one today thank you and may god bless you for the billy joe i'll let you do the invitation turn it back to you so
[45:06] Thank you.