Trust the Call

This a transcript of the message.

Pastor Caroline: So today’s service is all about trust and being called to follow Jesus, as well as some things in the 62nd Psalm that I want to share with you, trust it’s a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. That’s what trust is defined as. A firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.

And it’s a confidence, it’s a belief of faith. It’s a sureness of certainty and assurance. And so we are grateful for that  word trust, and it’s an important one for us,  for listening to what Jesus is doing. And also what the Psalmist wrote in the Psalm 62, about his trust in God. So, first of all, I’d like to share a litany with you from ministry matters, and Thaddues is this going to help me out with that.

Jesus is calling you to follow him.

Thaddeus: We’d really, really like to. But we have too much to do right now. Check back later. Okay?

Pastor Caroline: Jesus sees your labors and knows your gifts.

Thaddeus: Hmm. Flattery will not work on us. We have bills to pay and besides we have work to do.

Pastor Caroline:  Jesus is ready for you to come.

Thaddeus: Hmm. Look, those stories are nice and all, but they really just don’t work for us.

Pastor Caroline: Well, have faith placed your trust in Jesus.

Thaddeus:  Well, everyone else seems to let us down. How can we be sure that he won’t do the same?

Pastor Caroline: He will prove his love to you with his life.

Thaddeus:  But we didn’t ask for that.

Pastor Caroline: So what will it take for you to trust him?

Thaddeus: Hmm, we don’t know. Trust is risky.

Pastor Caroline: Then take the risk, place your lives in his hands.

He can handle all your problems.

Thaddeus: Will he really guide us?

Pastor Caroline: Absolutely. Through bright days and dark nights everywhere all the time.

Thaddeus: Can we really, really rely on him?

Pastor Caroline: Yes, he will not abandon you.

Thaddeus: Perhaps we can try.

Pastor Caroline: Don’t just try. Go ahead. Follow Jesus. I know you won’t regret it.

Thaddeus: Jesus, help our unbelief where we are weak.

Give us strength where we falter and hold back. Gently. Bring us forward when we fail, please forgive us. Amen.

Pastor Caroline: Amen.

So we hear a story today from Jesus. Again, it’s the beginning of his ministry. And he saying the word of God is at hand. And,  he’s trying to tell people the good news. And then he sees some fishermen and he reaches out to them and he calls them and he invites them to follow him. And they were willing to leave their nets behind.

They’re willing to leave everything behind, essentially, because they’re going to travel with Jesus for the next three years. Can you imagine if Jesus called you and said, I want you to let go of everything that you have and just come and follow me, be one of my disciples. How willing would we be to answer that call and leave our nets behind.

It certainly sounds like a daunting task, a daunting invitation, but you know, Jesus understands where we are. Jesus knows that we have other things going on and we do have family. We do have friends. And so even if Jesus is calling us to do something. Jesus is saying, I need your help. He once said the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

There are so many people that don’t know about Jesus. There’s so many people that don’t know who God is and what God’s all about. And they don’t know about God’s love and strength and encouragement and power. And,  he sees them like lost sheep without a shepherd. So he’s calling us and  he’s telling them, if you follow me, I’ll teach you how to fish for people, but he’s telling them, I will teach you how to be fishers, how to make fishers for people.

He’s teaching us how to be disciples and then how to make other disciples. All we have to do is follow him. And  we can do that by sharing some of our gifts. But when you hear that phrase fishing for people, I wonder what comes to mind? What images come to mind? Can we move beyond  the phrase of just rounding people for Jesus?

Can we talk more about how we make connections about the interwoven net of relationships, of interrelationships,  of interacting with other people and building those relationships with one another? It’s not just about. Reaching out. It’s about extending that hospitality and staying connected with others and accepting them for who they are and realizing that they too are children of God.

And that God loves them as God loves us. And if we can do this, if we extend these interactions in these relationships and build them, this is when we have fellowship with one another and we continue to build a community. We continue to build the body of Christ. We become Jesus’ disciples of today and tomorrow.

And then next year, et cetera, keeps going and going and going. So if you think about it, think about all the different, small groups, the different things that we’ve done in the past and continue to do. How could we can continue to grow as disciples? How can we answer Jesus call when Jesus comes knocking at our door or sends us a text or like the one TV show that this was God friended me and sends you a message.

We need to think about that. We need to pray about that. And how do we convince people that following Jesus is not simply just a state of being, but a call to doing a call, to do things. And yes, we need to learn more about Jesus. We need to learn more about what is said in the scriptures. We need to learn more about what it means to be a follower of Christ.

And that’s why we offer different Bible studies. That’s why we offer worship. That’s why we’re here today. We do this so that we can continue to grow as we journey together. When I first came here three and a half years ago, maybe a little bit more than three and a half. Now I invited you to take a journey with me and I continue to extend this invitation to you because we are journey together.

We’re growing together in our faith and we’re stepping out in our faith and we are doing God’s work in this world. And so as we think about that, we think about the different ways that we reach out to the hungry and the hurting, those that are in pain, those that are broken. And we do that through our prayers.

There’s so many things that we do, but we do it through our prayers, our presence, our service, and our witness to others, and doing that to serve God in this world. So it is Jesus’ house has given us another call story. It is a call to say, you know, will you please. Didn’t he say, will you please? He just says, follow me, follow me.

And I will teach you how to fish for people. Follow me. And I will make you fishers for people. Follow me. And your life will never be the same. So this is what is all about us trusting in Jesus. Call trusting that. Yes, we do have a call and yes, it is something important. And when I think about the Psalm that we read this morning, there’s a few key verses and things that are happening.

There’s three key things that, are said in the Psalm more than that. But three, I want to focus on one is that my soul waits in silence, my soul waits in silence. And also it says, God alone is my rock. And my salvation God is my fortress. And then in verse eight, it says trust in God. At all times, you people pour out your heart before God, because God is a refuge for us.

So think about that in the midst of a difficult personal situation, this is what the Psalmist is facing. He’s focused his attention on God, rather than on his own problems. And so has discovered this inner stillness, a calmness of soul because of placing his trust in God. And I know some of us when we get so overwhelmed and things are just seem out of control and we’re so concerned, and we’re so worried.

And especially because we have people that are sick with this COVID and there’s all these other strains, and there’s so many things happening in our world. God is our rock. And our refuge it is to God we turn to, to still the storm he seas inside of us to calm the seas around us. So when we do that, the anxiety and the distress that is caused by all the things surrounding us, when we put our trust in God, it’s lost that power to overwhelm us.

Why? Because unlike everything else that we are facing the other people, whether it’s other issues, our environment, whatever we are facing in this world, God is like a rock. God is solid and dependable. God is a sure foundation, a sure foundation on which to build our lives. So God is also like a fortress because God is protecting us where one is safe and secure from everything that’s barraging us at the time.

And God is both our deliver and our refuge from anyone and anything that threatens our wellbeing. God is our rock. God is our refuge. God is our fortress. God is the one that we can place our trust in the one that we can, understand and put our confidence in to believe in, to put our faith in, to be assured with certainty that God is there for us.

And when we think about that, with God being our refuge, The Psalmist is now saying the people now put their trust in God.

So we were invited to pour our hearts to God in prayer, seeking God’s help in whatever situation of distress we may find ourselves. God is the one who is worthy of our trust. And at the end of the Paslm, God is revealing to the Psalmist there’s. A couple of different parts of God’s character to help the Psalmist understand that it’s okay to place his trust in God.

First one is the power. God is omnipotent. God power belongs to God. God is the one that we can depend on. And even when we’re just trying to, you know, do things ourselves and, and sometimes we are successful. Sometimes we can make it through different things, but wouldn’t it be nice if we put our trust in God?

To have that power, that strength behind us, that strength inside of us, that God gives us to weather all the storms and God isn’t just powerful. God is also so full of love for all of us. We know that because of what Jesus did, Jesus was willing to give his life for all of us because of his love. And so when we trust about trust, put our trust in God, it’s not just about.

God’s power. It’s about combining that with God’s steadfast, love a love that is constant and eternal. It’s it’s a love that goes beyond all measures. It says, why does the ocean as deep as the ocean, it says, wide as the universe God’s love is there for all of us. So we need to put our trust in God. We need to, no matter what, understand that God is there for us.

God loves us. And God cries with us when we’re going through difficult times. And yet God also wraps arms around us, holding us tightly to show that we are not alone. So when we think about that, when we think about how we can put our trust in God, I want to share a poem with you. Uh, it’s an anonymous poem and.

It was, uh, called MGM. And I want you to remember that maybe you want to put that on your refrigerator, MGM. And what does MGM mean? Yeah, I guess it’s a movie theater. I think a movie company, MGM, you know, I think that was a big, big movie company way back when, but no, it’s not the one with the lion roaring MGM here now stands for meet God in the morning.

Meet God in the morning. And I think that’s a good thing for us to remember, because we should meet God in the morning and not wait until the end of the day to say, okay, God, I made it through the day. Now let’s talk. Why don’t we start off with God in the morning because wouldn’t that make the rest of our day.

Great. Because we’re meeting God in the morning. So I want to share this, this poem with you. And it has a little bit of a, a sailors reference to it. You know, somebody who I think like sailing, but hear this poem. I met God in the morning when my day was at its best. And God’s presence came like sunrise, like a glory in my chest all day long, the presence lingered all day long, God stayed with me and we sailed in perfect calmness or a very troubled sea.

Other ships were blown and battered. Other ships were sore distressed, but the winds that seem to drive them, brought to us a peace and rest. Then I thought of other mornings. With a keen remorse of mind when I too had loose the moorings with a presence left behind. So I think I know the secret learn from many, a troubled way.

You must seek God in the morning if you want God through the day. And I think that’s something we need to remember. We want God to be with us. We know that God is with us, but lot of times we just put God on the back burner and ignore God for most of the day. But let’s start off with God in the morning, open ourselves to God, you know, be in prayer and say, God, I’m here.

I’m here to serve you. I’m here to open my heart to you this day, whatever you will let us join this together today. Let us open our hearts to that and let God be your GPS, your, your global positioning system to be your guide because wouldn’t it be nice if God did that for you each and every day. So let’s not ignore God.

Let’s not forget that Jesus is calling us. Let’s remember to put our trust in God, no matter what we are facing. Let us trust God because  trusting God, just like Jesus, calm the stormy seas for the disciples so long ago, God can calm the stormy seas from the outside and also from our inside may be so amen.