Called to Follow | 9/28/25
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When have you experienced God interrupting your “normal daily routine” with a sense of calling or direction?
Rev. Jones’ camp story showed how God can use even small moments to teach and guide. Can you think of an ordinary moment that became a turning point in your faith?
The disciples followed Jesus immediately without knowing the details. What holds you back from responding right away to God’s call?
In the story of the bear, the man’s prayer had an unexpected outcome. When have your prayers been answered in surprising ways?
The sermon highlighted courage as essential to following Jesus. Where in your life do you need to ask God for courage today?
Transcript:
Thank you again, Pastor Steve, for the invitation this weekend and the two of you for the Wesley tour. It's been great to get to know you more than just colleagues in the conference. And thank you all for allowing us to be here this morning to worship with you. It's been two great services.
So here we are in the third. We wanted to show the video this morning because that's just a glimpse of what we do at the Warren Willis Camp and Retreat Center. I'd like to remind Florida Methodists of what we offer, but also remind you that this is your camp. If you are United Methodist here in Florida, this is your camp.
And so that was a glimpse of some of the things we do: summer camp, year-round retreats, fall confirmation coming up for youth soon, a family camp in mid-October, and other things on the calendar. We also have RV sites—over 60 RV sites that people come and stay.
Mostly snowbirds getting out of the cold during the cold months and leaving when it gets hot here. And then we have four motel-style buildings that welcome other nonprofits, other faith traditions—anyone really—our own United Methodist congregations to come away for spiritual retreats. So there's people on property 24/7 all year long. So if you haven't been there in a while, come. If you're near Fruitland Park or Leesburg or The Villages, stop off and come see your camp and take some time to just sit by the water.
Spend some time in God's presence, and maybe hike the nature trails and just soak up the beauty of God's creation. If you do, you remind me of a guy that loves to do that pretty often—to be out in creation. The thing about this particular person: he didn't believe that there was a Creator, though.
One day he's out doing what he loved best—taking in all the sights and sounds and smells of nature—and all of a sudden, as he's walking, an eight-foot grizzly bear jumped out of nowhere, just like the movies. The faster he would run, the closer the bear would get to him. Eventually he trips and falls, and the bear catches up to him and is towering, overshadowing him with those big paws.
Right before he's getting ready to strike, the man cries out, "Lord, save me!" The bear freezes, the sounds grow silent, and a bright light shines from beyond the trees. A voice says, "All this time you've loved my creation, but you haven't believed in me, the Creator. You've even tried to convince others that this isn't mine. Now you want me to treat you as if you've always been a Christian?"
The man says, "Well, I know it'd be pretty hypocritical of me to ask you to treat me as if I've always been a Christian. Could you at least make the bear a Christian?"
The voice said, "Very well." The light fades, the sounds resume, the bear unfroze and brings him down. Then the bear brings both paws together, bows his head, and says, "Lord, please bless this food which I am about to receive. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray."
We actually have a bear problem right now. There's a loose bear on camp property that we have seen. He's been lingering; he got into our trash the other day. Typically that's not the case. So that invitation still stands for you to come. And secondly, be careful what you pray for.
You see here, as we often do, he calls out; he cries out to God. But truly that can only happen after God makes God's self known to us. It's only after God has reached out and called to us. And so with everything that Pastor Marisa lifted up, we need a reminder, a reset, to this calling that Jesus puts out to us.
So we go back to a familiar text starting in Matthew chapter 4, verse 18:
"As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will send you out to fish for people.' 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 preparing their nets. Jesus called them and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him."
This is the Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. And with this word, this passage this morning, we are reminded that each and every one of us is called to follow.
Let's pray. Gracious and holy God, we give you thanks and praise for your Holy Spirit in this place and all places. We pray that your Spirit would remain in mighty ways as your Word is given and received. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
It says here that Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, where the gospel writer Matthew takes us with him, walking beside the sea, until Peter and Andrew come upon the horizon. The story unfolds from Jesus's perspective, not theirs, not anyone else's. Matthew is letting us know that all the initiative is from Jesus, that he is the primary actor.
Back then rabbis did not seek out their students; students sought the rabbis. Not so with this teacher. Not so with Jesus. He comes; he sees Simon and Andrew. They're just doing what they do: minding their business in their normal daily routine as fishermen.
First-century Galilean fishing could have meant three things: one, they were tax collectors that sold fishing rights to local businessmen; two, they might have been people who owned and leased boats to hired day laborers; or three, they were the seasonal day laborers themselves. Either way, they were in their normal daily routine.
You've been in your normal daily routine and you receive a visit, a call from Jesus to ministry, to mission, to service. Maybe a calling that causes a lifelong change, or maybe a change in your plans for the near future, or maybe a change in how you are interacting with the person right then in that moment. Maybe one of those God moments, a moving of the Holy Spirit that redefines and redirects our path.
That's what Jesus is doing here. While these soon-to-be disciples are living and working on this particular path, he begins to introduce a new road to walk upon. If they are to follow Jesus, that indicates movement: a new road. Have you ever been headed down a particular path in life, and God places you on another on?
Back when Carolyn and I were first dating in 2008 we went to a Kirk Franklin concert. You're still listening to the Kirk Franklin, y'all still stomping out there? Anyway, we took her to a concert out in Tampa, Florida. Imagine the audience and the two center aisles. There was a chain-link fence that went all around us.
Great concert. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord. At the end we all had to funnel to our left and then up the side fence because that's where the exit was. My wife, she's clever and beautiful, said, "You know what? Let's not wait. We can just jump the fence." I said, "Great idea." She jumps over, great form, great skills. Ten points from the judges. Perfect dismount.
I was holding an empty to-go box from the concession stand and thought I'd give her that when she was on the other side. She jumps over; I decide I'll just jump the fence with one hand. There's my hand on top of the fence, I'm holding the box, and as soon as I left the ground I knew I was in trouble. My feet hit the top of the fence; I landed flat on my back in a pool of dirt. All you heard from the people were, "What happened? Is he okay? He tried to jump the fence."
As I'm getting up now, I'm that guy that was too cool and too impatient to wait in line. Friends, what if there was another eight- or nine-foot fence, the same height as that bear that forced us out, forcing us out the same path, the same way as everyone else. There is a particular way out, a particular path that we are supposed to be on if we are to follow Jesus, if we are to hear his call. He is calling us to a particular way, a particular way of life, a road of service. Amen.
We are called to pay attention to the details of everyday, how God's Spirit is moving and how Jesus may show up in the midst of our daily interactions. The disciples were in their normal daily routine; he shows up, he sees them, they don't see him, and he speaks to them saying, "Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people."
Here we have the beginning of the church. Jesus is calling out to these first disciples. The calling of disciples is not God's first calling, God calls people for service throughout Hebrew scripture: Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses and Aaron, Rahab, Ruth, David, Esther, the prophets. Amos in Chapter 7 says, "I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd. The Lord took him from tending the flock and said, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’" God's calls are often intrusive and disruptive.
Here we have God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, intruding into the world, bringing with him divine initiative and a divine calling upon our lives for service and work in God's kingdom. Know that Jesus's call is both a command and a promise. The command: "Come, follow me." The promise: "I will send you out to fish for people."
I love how Jesus comes and calls us according to our own experience, culture, context, and giftedness. Because they were fishermen he said, "I'll send you out to fish for people." If they had been farmers maybe he would have said, "I'll send you out to sow the seeds of the gospel." If they had been carpenters, maybe he'd say, "I'll send you out to build a community of faith." Christ calls us according to our context, experience, and giftedness.
Carol and I have two boys who are in middle school, Gavin and Isaiah. Gavin's 14 and I barely have a millimeter on him. I'm holding on. Years ago when they were four and six and we were still serving in Orlando, we lived closer to Ocoee Oaks United Methodist than to Saint Luke's. One morning I was taking Isaiah to preschool at Ocoee Oaks. As he got out of the car, the child-lock bar was stuck. I couldn't close the door. I went inside and came back to the car; it was the morning I had a meeting in 20–30 minutes at Saint Luke's.
Five minutes turned to ten, ten to fifteen, fifteen to twenty. I thought, "What in the world am I going to do?" So I drove to Pep Boys for routine maintenance, about a mile down the road. I walked in and said, "Hey, sir. I can't get the child lock." He came out to the car, brought the longest screwdriver I'd ever seen, and within 2–5 seconds he had it unlocked. I'm sitting there rejoicing but also dismayed. How did he do something in five seconds that I couldn't do in 20 minutes?
He was using his gifts to help a man, mechanical gifts. If it were the gospel, maybe Jesus would say to him, "Help put people back on the path of love and grace." I was on a particular path until I was serving at Warren Willis as a counselor. I went there upon graduation in 2000 and did that for four summers. My second summer I thought I was going to do something in business, but God had other plans.
This was right before everyone had a cell phone, and camp counselors had mailboxes to exchange letters. There was a girl I had a huge crush on, and one morning I had a note from her. I assumed it finally declared her undying love for me. I went out to Lake Griffin, one of the most highly populated lakes when it comes to alligators in Florida, sat down right in front of the iconic cross on the lake, unfolded the letter, and the wind caught it. It fell into the water. I immediately jumped off, grabbed the letter, raced back to the ladder, throwing alligators off me, and as I started to climb the ladder, God said, "I'm going to have you jumping in places you never even imagined."
Since those words came to fruition I ended up transferring from Florida State University to Florida Southern. I finished there, changed majors to sociology, and the rest is history with the ordination process. But what about you? Your skills, talents, gifts. God took the things I loved and the affinities I had and made them spiritual gifts. What about you? How is the Spirit transforming and empowering you for service in your context and with your gifts?
God calls us according to the need. We need disciples right now who faithfully follow Jesus, not just in word. God's call comes, and then our response follows. The text says, "At once they left their nets and followed him." What's interesting is in the Gospels of Luke and John they had already heard of Jesus before the calling. Not so here in Matthew; there is no preparation. They haven't seen miracles or heard teachings. There's no explanation, no expectations, no explicit directions or details. They aren't told what following will mean or where he's going. In a sense this is Jesus's first miracles: his powerful word creates a following that makes disciples. They respond immediately and follow because his words produce faith.
Because of their response they cast a large net. They live out the parable of the net in Matthew 13: "The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into a lake and caught all kinds of fish. When the fishermen pulled it up onto the shore they sat down and collected the good fish in the baskets." We are called to spread the gospel net broadly to catch as many kinds of fish as we can, including those the world would discard, exclude, or catch-and-release. Not so in the kingdom of God. On the boat of God we are called to catch all kinds of fish because Jesus tells us all are loved, all are worthy, and all are redeemable. Amen?
The calling continues; it's not just about the first four disciples but about each of us and how we came to the faith. We are called to the faith and to extend it. That powerful word of Christ is extended through family and friends, missionaries, Sunday school teachers, church staff, camp counselors. Every believer is called to extend the call.
Quickly, the first call is to discipleship: to know, love, and follow Jesus; to grow in our love for God and for others; to pursue personal and social holiness. The call to ministry is typically lifelong, whether as clergy—thank God for scholarships—or as laity. Ordained clergy often serve within the walls of the church, but lay ministry is crucial because you interact with people in the community constantly. Your lifelong calling, vocation, or career often places you in the context for ministry. This may be seasonal, as circumstances impact where we are, yet it's important we share our faith. How will people know how good God has been unless we tell them?
I think we're called to care for ourselves. Sometimes that's all you need to do; you don't need a checklist. From caring for yourself it extends to caring for neighbors and others around you. We are called to live abundantly and faithfully with courage, as the choir sang. Life takes courage. Loving others takes courage, fulfilling commitments takes courage, raising children takes courage, surviving abuse and tragedy and neglect takes courage, fighting disease takes courage, growing older takes courage, facing an unseen future takes courage, resisting evil and injustice takes courage, seeking equality, reconciliation, and harmony takes courage, proclaiming Jesus Christ in everyday life takes courage, impacting the lives of others takes courage. Strapping on your shoes or sandals and following Jesus down the road of life calls for courage.
So what's God calling you to do right now? I encourage you to have the courage to pray about that, especially as you start this new message series next week about living into your Methodist vows and living them out with your prayers, your time, your service, and the rest.
There's a wide range of ages here, from young to retired. God has a plan for each season of life. If we're going to follow on the road and answer the call, there's only one way we can do that: the way that gives us the Spirit of courage.
I close with the story of my friend Erwin. We're in a covenant group with eight Methodist pastors. Irwin Lopez is the Methodist pastor at the University of Central Florida Wesley Foundation. Depending on where we all live, we decide where to spend our time together. Back when I was in Orlando we sometimes rode together. One day we had to go separate ways that night; about 9:00 he calls me, "Hey, where are you?"
I said, "I'm at the house getting ready to leave soon. I'll head to the North Turnpike soon." About 15–20 minutes into my drive I saw Irwin. I'm a huge prankster, so I called him, "Hey, where are you at?" He said, "On the turnpike." I said, "You should be around mile marker 29." As soon as I said that he literally passed the sign. If you left at such-and-such time and travel at an average speed of 60 miles per hour, that's just easy math. I kept him on the phone for 45 minutes without him knowing, and we were approaching our destination, which happened to be Gainesville that day.
I got in front of him to get ready for the big reveal, slowed down just a little bit to get him to move to the right lane. As he came up next to me he said, "Wait a second, where are you?" I looked over and said, "Dude, I've been with you this whole time."
Friends, I don't know where your faith and life journey has taken you or what you've been through or what God may be calling you to right now. But the only reason we can face each day and take each step is the Spirit of courage that comes from the presence and power of God. That statement is true: God is with us. Long before we know it, long before we can recognize it, God has been with you this whole time, speaking with you, encouraging you, being side by side. Maybe the person sitting next to you now is whom God has been with you through. That's why we can say yes to the calling; that's why we can live life with courage. God is with you. Thanks be to God. Amen.