Most of us eat every day, some of us too much because yesterday's food
is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do some
of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to keep
us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change all
of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need to
live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to Your Daily Portion with your host,
author speaker Elle David Harris. Good morning, good morning, Good morning.
It is Sunday, July seven, twenty twenty four. Hello, my name
is El David Harris. I am your host, and this is your Daily
Portion where we give you God's word every single day, and today is no
exception. We are continuing in our lesson study series through the Book of Mark,
and our caption for today is follow me. I was writing my notes
right up to the point where it was my time to come in here.
Follow me. I can't wait. Before we get into this, I'd like
to say welcome to you and ask you to please go over to your Daily
Portion dot com. Please join our online community, pick up the Your Daily
Portion book and let us know where you are in the world at your daily
portion dot com. This is a way that we continue to build faith and
fellowship. Let's go ahead and pray, and then we will get underway.
Father and Heaven. Thank you for this new day and for the privilege that
we have to open your word. And I'm asking you to please fill us
with your holy spirit. Please teach us how to love and to serve you,
teach us to follow you. As soon as we hear your voice in
Jesus' name, I pray, Amen and amen again. Follow me. Oh,
let's go ahead and begin with this question. Have you left all?
I'm not talking about the people in the Bible. I'm not talking about people
in the whole body of believers as a collective. I'm talking about you.
Like your name here, David, that's my name. Have you followed Jesus?
Have you left all to follow Jesus? Pardon me? That's a question
now. I need to be answering that within me. Am I still following
myself? Am I still following the way that I lived before God called me?
Am I following other people? Am I following some incredible leader that I
found on the internet? My following people that I may have heard or read
a book. For am I following just some little voice in my brain.
That is a question that we need to be asking and answering with the power
of God in our minds. Okay, so we're going to Mark chapter one,
and we're going to see something amazing when Jesus calls these men to follow
him. How it happened and see if we can learn some lessons here.
And so in the Bible Book of Mark chapter one, we will read beginning
at verse sixteen, and the Bible reads, now as he walked by the
sea of Galilee, so we know where he is geographically and physically. He's
on the seaside. He's walking on the seaside, and he saw Simon and
Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea. Well, why would
these men be casting a net into the sea. A great big shout out
to people who live in seaside type areas or if you live on an island
where you understand this kind of scenario, like you can see it in your
mind in living color. Yes, so he's there, he sees these men
they are casting their nets into the sea. Why because they are fishers.
So now we know that these men are professional fishermen Verse seventeen, and Jesus
said unto them, come ye after me, and I will make you to
become fishers of men. Now this is very peculiar to me, Like were
these brothers just standing around trying to figure out, well, what are we
gonna do with our lives? Absolutely not. They were very clear. They
were fishermen. They were doing what they always did, like they were applying
their trade. They were fishing. So when this man comes, and we
know that Jesus was no ordinary man, but still when this man comes and
says come after me, like follow me and I will make you a fisher
of men, what in the world would cause them to listen to him?
What does that even mean? Fisher of men? Were they looking for something
new to do? And who is this man that is calling them? Or
was it that his atmosphere surrounding him, that the power that he exuded was
so incredible that when they heard his voice they knew they needed to follow him.
You see, it is not usual. It's not usual for strong men
to follow anybody. I'm gonna say that to you real quick, like I'm
not looking for anybody to follow honestly, Like we use those terms in social
media like share, follow, share, like follow, hit follow, and
then people say you're a follower of this person or that person, and I'm
like, now, I'm not about that, follow her, follow him life.
It's not my style. And I do. I do work with the
number one motivational speaker in the world, like six days a week, but
I'm not a follower because that's just not my style. Like the idea of
following a man is weird to me. But they recognize that this was not
an ordinary man. This was not some human, mere human, let me
put it that way. Who was looking for people to mindlessly follow Jesus the
god Man. Now he is, with his authority changing their lives. How
is he going to change their lives by allowing them to see how he lived,
to experience how he worked to be in the presence while his power was
most active, transforming people's lives hopeless sinners into hopeful saints. He is calling
these men to follow him, to live the way that he lived. Oh
wait a minute, now this is starting to make sense now Verse eighteen makes
sense to me. And straightway they forsook their nets and followed him. Can
I just say this, like, we're not this is not like, this
is not some super spiritual thing. Like these dudes left their money, they
left their jobs, like this is their livelihood. They're He's not asking them
to come follow him on a sabbath to go and feed the hungry like or
to clothe the naked like he is saying, like, leeve your work and
follow me. And they did it. They forsook their nets right where they
were and followed him immediately. So the lesson that I have for you right
now is that as soon as you know and hear the voice of God he's
calling you, immediately respond and immediately respond in the way that he would have
you to respond. He said, follow me, go follow him. No
delay. Delayed obedience is disobedience, and the Bible continues verse nineteen. And
when they he had gone a little further, thence he saw James, the
son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who also were in a
ship mending their nets. Guess what they did for a living, same thing,
and straightway he called them, and they left their father Zebede in the
ship with the hired servants and went after him. That must have been like,
oh my, what in the world is going on here? Without even
stopping, not pausing, not thinking, just follow him. Yes, absolutely,
absolutely, They left the comfort of their father's care. They left the
authority that Daddy had over them, and in that moment they knew that the
highest authority of the universe was calling them, even if they did not understand
the details, but they knew that they needed to go and to do God's
will, and that was with Christ. So let me see if I can
give a few quick lessons, a few quick lessons before we come to a
swift close. Number one, immediate response. When God calls you, move
immediately. It doesn't get any more complicated than that. When he shows you
the right way out of a relationship, follow him. Some of those relationships
we shouldn't be in. He shows you the right way out of your dishonesty
in business, immediately follow him. And I could go down through a list.
Yes. Number two, willingness to leave everything behind is key everything because
what God gives in replace and to replace the things that we have is eternity
with Him. So the little stuff, the little accomplishments that we have had,
ah the trials and tribulations that some of us bathe and hold on to
and rock like a little baby m He's saying, leave all of those things
behind. And then, of course God is when he's calling you, he's
bidding you, He's also enabling you to do his will. He is in
that moment, transforming your life the lives of others when you respond to the
call. Respond to his call, follow me, he says, So follow
him peace. Thanks for joining us listening. Friends. Always remember we cannot
live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of
God. This has been your daily portion with El David Harris. Make it
a great day. Yeah,