William H. Willimon - "Immediately, They Followed" (January 24, 1988)
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Transcript
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| (peaceful organ music) | 0:00 | |
| - | Good morning and welcome to this service | 1:12 |
| of worship in Duke Chapel. | 1:14 | |
| We particularly welcome those of you who worship with us | 1:16 | |
| in Duke Hospital on the closed circuit television system. | 1:19 | |
| A couple of announcements: | 1:24 | |
| We remind you that Doctor and Mrs. Travis' course, | 1:25 | |
| Preparing For Marriage, continues each Sunday morning | 1:29 | |
| at 9:45, and many of you would find | 1:33 | |
| that course of great interest. | 1:36 | |
| Also, on Wednesday of this week, | 1:39 | |
| Becky Pippert, nationally known evangelist and writer, | 1:41 | |
| will be on the Duke campus at noon and at 7:30, | 1:46 | |
| speaking on evangelical women's issues. | 1:51 | |
| And we invite your attendance to hear Miss Pippert. | 1:55 | |
| We're glad you're here this morning. | 2:00 | |
| Let us continue our worship. | 2:02 | |
| (peaceful choral music) | 2:19 | |
| (peaceful organ music) | 3:30 | |
| (harmonious organ and choral music) | 4:21 | |
| - | When we gather to praise God, | 7:53 |
| we remember that we are a people who have preferred | 7:55 | |
| our own will's to the Lord's. | 7:58 | |
| Accepting God's power to become new persons in Christ, | 8:01 | |
| let us confess our sins before God and one another. | 8:06 | |
| Congregation | Have mercy upon us, oh God, | 8:23 |
| according to thy loving kindness; | 8:26 | |
| according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, | 8:28 | |
| blot out our transgressions; | 8:32 | |
| wash us thoroughly from our inequities, | 8:34 | |
| and cleanse us from our sins. | 8:37 | |
| For we acknowledge our transgressions | 8:40 | |
| and our sin is ever before us. | 8:42 | |
| Create in us clean hearts, oh God, | 8:45 | |
| and renew a right spirit within us, | 8:48 | |
| through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. | 8:51 | |
| - | Hear the Good News! | 8:56 |
| Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. | 8:58 | |
| That is God's own proof of his love toward us. | 9:01 | |
| In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. | 9:05 | |
| (congregation murmuring) | 9:09 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 9:19 |
| Congregation | Open our hearts and minds, oh God, | 9:22 |
| by the power of your Holy Spirit | 9:25 | |
| so that as the Word is read and proclaimed, | 9:28 | |
| we might hear, our faith might be strengthened, | 9:31 | |
| and our determination renewed to follow you, amen. | 9:34 | |
| The first lesson is taken from the Book of Jonah: | 9:40 | |
| Then the Word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, | 9:45 | |
| saying, "Arise! | 9:48 | |
| "Go to Nineveh, that great city, | 9:51 | |
| "and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." | 9:53 | |
| So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh | 9:57 | |
| according to the Word of the Lord. | 9:59 | |
| Now, Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, | 10:02 | |
| three-days journey in breadth. | 10:05 | |
| Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. | 10:08 | |
| And he cried, "Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" | 10:13 | |
| And the people of Nineveh believed God. | 10:19 | |
| They proclaimed a fast, and put on sack cloth | 10:22 | |
| from the greatest of them to the least of them. | 10:25 | |
| When God saw what they did, how they turned | 10:29 | |
| from their evil way, God repented of the evil | 10:32 | |
| which He said He would do to them, and did not do it. | 10:35 | |
| This ends the reading of the first lesson. | 10:40 | |
| - | Please stand as we read together responsively: | 10:50 |
| For God alone my soul waits in silence. | 11:00 | |
| Congregation | From him comes my salvation. | 11:04 |
| - | He only is my rock, my salvation, my fortress. | 11:07 |
| Congregation | I shall not be greatly moved. | 11:11 |
| - | For God alone my soul waits in silence. | 11:14 |
| Congregation | My hope is from him. | 11:17 |
| - | He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. | 11:20 |
| Congregation | I shall not be shaken. | 11:24 |
| - | On God rests my deliverance and my honor. | 11:27 |
| Congregation | My mighty rock, my refuge is God. | 11:30 |
| - | Trust in Him at all times, oh people. | 11:34 |
| Congregation | Pour out your heart before him. | 11:37 |
| God is a refuge for us. | 11:40 | |
| - | Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this. | 11:43 |
| Congregation | That the power belongs to God. | 11:47 |
| - | And that to thee, oh Lord belongs steadfast love. | 11:49 |
| Congregation | For you will render a man | 11:54 |
| according to his work. | 11:56 | |
| (peaceful organ music) | 11:58 | |
| (harmonious organ and choral music) | 12:07 | |
| (gentle organ music) | 13:21 | |
| (peaceful organ and choral music) | 13:27 | |
| - | The Gospel lesson this morning | 15:15 |
| is taken from the Book of Mark: | 15:17 | |
| Now after John was arrested, | 15:21 | |
| Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of God | 15:24 | |
| and saying, "The time is fulfilled | 15:28 | |
| "and the Kingdom of God is at hand! | 15:31 | |
| "Repent, and believe in the Gospel." | 15:34 | |
| And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, | 15:37 | |
| he saw Simon, and Andrew, the brother of Simon, | 15:40 | |
| casting a net in the sea, for they were fishermen. | 15:44 | |
| And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, | 15:48 | |
| "and I will make you become fishers of people." | 15:51 | |
| And immediately they left their nets and followed him. | 15:54 | |
| And going on a little farther, he saw James, | 15:58 | |
| the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, | 16:01 | |
| who were in their boat mending the nets. | 16:04 | |
| And immediately he called to them. | 16:07 | |
| And they left their father Zebedee | 16:10 | |
| in the boat with the hired servants, and followed him. | 16:12 | |
| Here ends the reading of the Gospel. | 16:16 | |
| - | This is the sort of text | 16:29 |
| which preachers love. | 16:31 | |
| This snippet of a story about the calling | 16:34 | |
| of Simon, Andrew, James, and John, | 16:37 | |
| which occurs in the First Chapter of Mark's Gospel. | 16:40 | |
| And passing along by the Sea of Galilee | 16:45 | |
| he saw Simon and Andrew casting their net into the sea, | 16:47 | |
| for they were fisherman, and Jesus said to them, | 16:51 | |
| "Follow me, | 16:55 | |
| "and I will make you become fishers of people." | 16:56 | |
| And immediately they left their nets and they followed him. | 16:59 | |
| Now, you may well wonder why preachers | 17:04 | |
| should love such a story, and love such a text. | 17:06 | |
| It's lean, it's sparse, | 17:10 | |
| it's virtually no detail. | 17:13 | |
| Jesus says, "Follow me." | 17:16 | |
| And immediately they follow. | 17:19 | |
| How typical is this text of Mark's Gospel. | 17:22 | |
| There's almost no detail, no dramatic coloring, | 17:25 | |
| no narrative subtlety. | 17:29 | |
| And you might be surprised, | 17:34 | |
| that is exactly why preachers love it. | 17:35 | |
| Because without detail or coloring or plot, | 17:38 | |
| there is so much empty space left | 17:41 | |
| for the creative preacher to fill in. | 17:43 | |
| Because you know there has to be more here | 17:47 | |
| than the way Mark tells it. | 17:50 | |
| Two fisherman, Jesus, follow me, case closed. | 17:53 | |
| Biblical scholars call this technique, | 17:57 | |
| particularly as it occurs in Mark, telescoping. | 18:01 | |
| Probably, they say, Mark has telescoped events | 18:07 | |
| that took place over days, even weeks, | 18:10 | |
| into just a moment of narrative. | 18:14 | |
| The probable hours which Jesus spent | 18:17 | |
| discussing discipleship with these people, | 18:21 | |
| countering their reservations. | 18:25 | |
| The debate that took place among themselves | 18:29 | |
| as they gradually came to a decision to sign up | 18:32 | |
| with the Jesus Movement and to become disciples, | 18:35 | |
| all of that is omitted, | 18:38 | |
| telescoped into just a few verses. It's just an outline. | 18:41 | |
| It's a sketch at best, | 18:45 | |
| a piece of lousy narrative art at worst. | 18:49 | |
| Tell us what you did at school today, dear? | 18:55 | |
| Well, the bell rang, I went in, | 18:58 | |
| the bell rang, I came out. | 19:02 | |
| Tell us about your expedition in the Gaul, General Caesar. | 19:07 | |
| I came. | 19:12 | |
| I saw. | 19:13 | |
| I conquered. | 19:14 | |
| Flaubert's Madame Bovary, as told in a freshman, | 19:17 | |
| high school freshman book report: | 19:21 | |
| There was this woman, she lived in France. | 19:24 | |
| She wasn't happy; she met a man; she still wasn't happy. | 19:26 | |
| She met another man; she wasn't happy. | 19:29 | |
| She had a baby; she drank poison; she died. | 19:31 | |
| I think this was a very good book. | 19:34 | |
| (congregation laughing) | 19:36 | |
| Well, I was the sort of student who, | 19:38 | |
| when told to draw a picture of a dog, | 19:40 | |
| I drew a picture of a dog with a little boy | 19:44 | |
| on the end of the leash, and a tree, | 19:48 | |
| and a sun over the tree, and four balloons | 19:51 | |
| over the little boy, and a daisy. | 19:53 | |
| In my last church, a couple of parishioners | 19:58 | |
| were discussing my preaching, and one of the parishioners | 20:00 | |
| said, "I think sometimes our preacher tends | 20:04 | |
| "to embellish things just a bit." | 20:07 | |
| "Yeah, and he lies, too!" | 20:11 | |
| Said the other one. | 20:12 | |
| (congregation laughing) | ||
| Well, this is the mark of creative homiletics. | 20:15 | |
| A friend of mine, Stuart Henry, accuses me of this. | 20:20 | |
| He said, "I can hand you a couple of wilted larkspur, | 20:22 | |
| "and in your hands it becomes a riot of delphinium!" | 20:25 | |
| You think I'm going to leave this text alone? | 20:30 | |
| With just a couple of fishermen, Jesus, | 20:35 | |
| follow me, you know it couldn't have happened like that. | 20:38 | |
| It was a bright, cloudless day in Galilee. | 20:43 | |
| The waves were gently lapping upon the shore, | 20:47 | |
| surging in, surging out. | 20:50 | |
| The midday sun was arched in the heavens, | 20:52 | |
| beating down upon the tanned backs | 20:55 | |
| of two brown-skinned fishermen, | 20:58 | |
| casting down hot bright rays on the beach. | 21:01 | |
| The fishermen worked knee deep in the water, | 21:05 | |
| toiling over their nets. | 21:08 | |
| You see, we're on, | 21:12 | |
| we're off and running on a sermon | 21:14 | |
| about the romance of the fishing industry in ancient Israel. | 21:16 | |
| Think about what Mark could've done | 21:20 | |
| with a good course in creative writing, | 21:22 | |
| or even the freshman composition course at Duke. | 21:23 | |
| Suddenly one of them stands upright. | 21:27 | |
| He shades his eyes from the sun, | 21:30 | |
| and he looks toward the bank, | 21:32 | |
| and there on the bank stands a lone, enigmatic figure. | 21:33 | |
| The figure on the bank calls out, "Follow me!" | 21:38 | |
| Well, of course we're not so interested | 21:44 | |
| in filling in geographical or artistic detail. | 21:46 | |
| More than likely, what we would like to fill in, | 21:50 | |
| in this terse account by Mark of the Calling | 21:53 | |
| of Disciples, more than likely what we would like | 21:57 | |
| to fill in is psychological detail. | 22:00 | |
| Where you see, Mark tells us virtually nothing | 22:04 | |
| of Simon and Andrew, James and John. | 22:07 | |
| There is no character development. | 22:09 | |
| No interiority. | 22:13 | |
| And we wonder, what inner psychological dynamics | 22:17 | |
| might have motivated these people to such a decision. | 22:21 | |
| We wonder what hierarchy of psychic need | 22:26 | |
| accounts for their response to Jesus, we wonder. | 22:30 | |
| Perhaps there was sibling rivalry between the two brothers. | 22:35 | |
| Simon: Simon must have been older. | 22:40 | |
| Andrew always resented him. | 22:44 | |
| He was tired of being treated always as little brother. | 22:46 | |
| Always being second, see, Mark introduces him | 22:50 | |
| as Andrew, the brother of Simon. | 22:53 | |
| He was fed up with it. | 22:57 | |
| Here comes little what's his name. | 22:59 | |
| You know, the brother of Simon. | 23:01 | |
| But when Jesus spoke, the tragic differences | 23:04 | |
| between these two brothers were healed. | 23:06 | |
| Or, James was searching for something in his life, | 23:11 | |
| a sense of meaning, of purpose. | 23:17 | |
| Fishing was fine, but was it an appropriate vocation | 23:20 | |
| for someone of his intelligence and abilities? | 23:23 | |
| Mending the nets, always mending the nets. | 23:27 | |
| He was sick of it! | 23:30 | |
| He reached out in life for something more. | 23:31 | |
| For fulfillment, and here came Jesus, and he spoke, | 23:34 | |
| "Follow me," and he was born again, | 23:38 | |
| and he went on to an outstanding evangelistic ministry. | 23:40 | |
| And yet you know that there are limits | 23:47 | |
| to what even a creative preacher can do with this story. | 23:51 | |
| For all of that bit about tensions in the family | 23:57 | |
| and searching for something more, | 23:59 | |
| well, it all coulda been true. | 24:02 | |
| But don't you find it interesting that Mark appears | 24:06 | |
| to care less? | 24:09 | |
| In about just five verses, | 24:13 | |
| Mark disposes of an account of how these four fishermen | 24:16 | |
| drop everything, | 24:22 | |
| and follow after Jesus on the basis | 24:25 | |
| of less than a dozen word invitation. | 24:27 | |
| Years ago, I remember seeing a film | 24:33 | |
| by the Italian Marxist director, Paulo Pasolini, | 24:36 | |
| entitled: The Gospel of Saint Matthew. | 24:41 | |
| It was kind of a landmark in cinema verite. | 24:43 | |
| Now, most biblical films are of the Charlton Heston, | 24:48 | |
| Troy Donahue, Cecil B. DeMille variety, | 24:51 | |
| with everything done in pastels and this blond-headed Jesus, | 24:54 | |
| and dozens of extras. | 24:59 | |
| But Pasolini, instead chose to do a film exclusively | 25:02 | |
| in black and white with ordinary, everyday people | 25:06 | |
| off the streets. | 25:10 | |
| This Marxist movie-maker took the Bible literally. | 25:13 | |
| He said, "I will make a movie and tell | 25:17 | |
| "it just like the way it is written. | 25:19 | |
| "The folk around Jesus were simple, straight-forward folk, | 25:23 | |
| "and I will show them with Jesus." | 25:26 | |
| I think, for me, the most stunning part of the film | 25:31 | |
| was the scene of the Calling of the Disciples. | 25:35 | |
| A dark figure of Jesus moves down a dusty Galilean road, | 25:39 | |
| he sees some fisher folk toiling over their nets. | 25:43 | |
| And he calls out, just the way it's written here, | 25:46 | |
| "Follow me!" | 25:49 | |
| There is silence. | 25:53 | |
| They stare rather dumbly at Jesus, | 25:54 | |
| and then befuddledly at one another. | 25:56 | |
| What was that he said, they seemed to say to one another. | 25:59 | |
| And then they just drop what they're doing | 26:02 | |
| and they follow after Jesus, who has already moved down | 26:04 | |
| beyond them, down the road to another village. | 26:07 | |
| And I remember wondering then, I wondered, | 26:11 | |
| could it have happened just like that? | 26:14 | |
| Just a word from someone they had | 26:18 | |
| hardly gotten a glimpse of? | 26:21 | |
| Could they have left all and followed Jesus | 26:24 | |
| on the basis of a simple: | 26:28 | |
| Follow me. | 26:31 | |
| And a promise: | 26:33 | |
| And I will teach you how to catch people. | 26:36 | |
| Could this sort of thing happen just the way Mark tells it? | 26:41 | |
| You see, we're apt to fill in the blanks, | 26:46 | |
| speculate on motives, possible psychological dynamics. | 26:49 | |
| Not necessarily because we are so creative, | 26:55 | |
| but because we are so inherently evasive. | 27:00 | |
| In our wildest imaginations, most of us cannot imagine | 27:06 | |
| that it is possible to leave everything | 27:12 | |
| and follow on the basis of a simple invitation | 27:14 | |
| and a promise. | 27:17 | |
| We are not simple, taciturn, | 27:20 | |
| uncomplicated fisher folk like Simon, Andrew, | 27:23 | |
| and James and John. | 27:26 | |
| We are complex, educated modern people. | 27:29 | |
| People with responsibilities, | 27:33 | |
| people with complications in life. | 27:34 | |
| We are not apt to throw away everything | 27:38 | |
| and run off after some itinerate preacher | 27:41 | |
| who announces, "That the time is fulfilled! | 27:43 | |
| "And the Kingdom of God is now!" | 27:46 | |
| No, we're apt to have discussions. | 27:50 | |
| We will weigh all the possible options. | 27:53 | |
| We will do research, clarify our values, | 27:55 | |
| call for an objective professional opinion. | 28:00 | |
| We will have therapy to be sure. | 28:04 | |
| If we are responding out of a careful weighing of the facts | 28:07 | |
| or only out of our own inner psychological turmoil. | 28:10 | |
| Out of our poor relationship with our parents, | 28:15 | |
| or sibling rivalry. | 28:17 | |
| We have spent too many years educating you | 28:20 | |
| to be rational, balanced, well-adjusted people | 28:24 | |
| to have you change direction of your life | 28:29 | |
| on the basis of a mere impulse! | 28:31 | |
| And of course, the trouble is that once you do that, | 28:36 | |
| Jesus has already moved on to another town; you missed it. | 28:40 | |
| He may not come this way again. | 28:47 | |
| But at least we have not behaved impulsively, | 28:50 | |
| made decisions out of our passion | 28:54 | |
| rather than out of our reason. | 28:57 | |
| Back to the nets. | 29:00 | |
| Education, sophistication, tends to do that | 29:03 | |
| to people, I suppose. | 29:06 | |
| But what if, as we said before, | 29:09 | |
| what if the Calling of the Disciples | 29:11 | |
| took place exactly the way Mark tells it? | 29:15 | |
| What if it takes place exactly that way today? | 29:18 | |
| What if following Jesus was an act of impulse? | 29:23 | |
| A decision of the moment, | 29:28 | |
| based upon some mysterious act of passion, | 29:30 | |
| rather than a careful weighing of the facts. | 29:33 | |
| And immediately they left their nets; they followed. | 29:38 | |
| And immediately he called them, | 29:42 | |
| and they left their father and they followed, immediately. | 29:43 | |
| Perhaps Mark is saying in this terse, | 29:50 | |
| staccato account | 29:54 | |
| that this is the only way Jesus | 29:57 | |
| ever gets followed by anybody: | 29:59 | |
| As an act of impulse, without all the facts. | 30:02 | |
| Stumbling after an enigmatic figure | 30:07 | |
| whom you hardly even know, much less where he's going. | 30:09 | |
| For I call to your attention that our text begins today | 30:17 | |
| with the statement: | 30:21 | |
| Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee | 30:23 | |
| preaching the Gospel of God. | 30:28 | |
| You see what Mark has done? | 30:32 | |
| The story begins with just a subtle little side comment. | 30:35 | |
| A mere mention of the arrest of John the Baptist. | 30:40 | |
| The mission that Jesus calls people to is full of peril. | 30:45 | |
| John, the forerunner of Jesus, has been arrested. | 30:50 | |
| In a short time his head will be on the platter | 30:55 | |
| at one of the King's parties. | 30:57 | |
| And if they can do that to John, | 31:00 | |
| and if they can do that to Jesus, | 31:02 | |
| who knows what they may do to his disciples. | 31:04 | |
| You'd better think this thing over again. | 31:12 | |
| "If you want to follow Jesus," | 31:17 | |
| remarked the Catholic activist priest Berrigan, | 31:19 | |
| who preached, by the way, from this pulpit, | 31:23 | |
| "If you want to follow Jesus, you better look good on wood." | 31:26 | |
| That's what he was calling them to. | 31:32 | |
| It was the cost of discipleship. | 31:35 | |
| They're getting ready to murder John, | 31:38 | |
| and they will do the same to this one | 31:41 | |
| who bids us to follow. | 31:43 | |
| And reason always provides plenty of reasons | 31:46 | |
| to avoid this cost. | 31:51 | |
| What reasonable, careful, | 31:54 | |
| intelligent person would follow? | 31:57 | |
| Except, | 32:00 | |
| as impulse. | 32:02 | |
| I remember John Vannorsdall, who will preach | 32:07 | |
| at the Baccalaureate this year, | 32:08 | |
| preaching from this pulpit on this text. | 32:10 | |
| And meditating upon these fishermen leaving their nets, | 32:14 | |
| and their father, Zebedee, and following. | 32:17 | |
| He made a comment: | 32:21 | |
| Jesus must've broken the hearts | 32:24 | |
| of many a Jewish and Roman family. | 32:26 | |
| As a pastor, it almost never fails, | 32:35 | |
| when someone, say some student, | 32:38 | |
| comes by to tell me that he or she | 32:40 | |
| has decided to do something for God; | 32:44 | |
| to follow, to give his life to something or someone, | 32:47 | |
| some great undertaking which is felt | 32:52 | |
| to be divinely ordained, | 32:53 | |
| it just never fails, among the first words | 32:56 | |
| the person says are: | 32:59 | |
| I know you're gonna think I'm crazy, but... | 33:02 | |
| They know. | 33:08 | |
| This past week I received a letter from a Duke graduate. | 33:11 | |
| I know him only because he spent an hour or so with me | 33:16 | |
| trying to decide whether or not he ought | 33:19 | |
| to go into seminary or law school or into business. | 33:21 | |
| Now he spent a year since graduation thinking it all over, | 33:28 | |
| and he sent me this letter. | 33:31 | |
| And the letter consisted of about 21 questions | 33:33 | |
| that he wants me to think about and then answer, | 33:37 | |
| before he makes a decision. | 33:40 | |
| Questions, like: How much free time do pastors have? | 33:42 | |
| What is the average salary of the American pastor? | 33:48 | |
| Do you think you can still stay a human being | 33:52 | |
| and be a pastor? | 33:54 | |
| Questions, more questions than on the GRE. | 33:55 | |
| It'll take me longer to complete this letter! | 33:58 | |
| But only half-crazed people go out and stake their lives | 34:02 | |
| on impulse, we've spent years teaching you that. | 34:06 | |
| She was a graduate of two | 34:13 | |
| of this country's finest medical schools. | 34:14 | |
| She could've had a lucrative practice, | 34:20 | |
| but she went as medical missionary to Africa. | 34:22 | |
| And I was dying to know | 34:28 | |
| what act of reason had led her to this decision, | 34:30 | |
| and I asked her, and she responded: | 34:35 | |
| I just had this feeling that | 34:39 | |
| it was what God wanted me to do with my life. | 34:40 | |
| That's it? | 34:45 | |
| Just a feeling, an impulse? | 34:47 | |
| Jesus preached, the time is fulfilled. | 34:52 | |
| The time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand. | 34:55 | |
| Repent, believe, follow! | 34:59 | |
| The time is fulfilled. | 35:02 | |
| In the New Testament there are at least two Greek words | 35:04 | |
| used for what we call, time. | 35:08 | |
| First of all there is: chronos, | 35:11 | |
| from which we get chronology, time, | 35:16 | |
| as years, months, calendars, clocks, | 35:20 | |
| the steady tick-tock of predictable time. | 35:23 | |
| And that's where most of us spend our lives, | 35:27 | |
| mired down in chronos. | 35:30 | |
| Hitting the books, mending the nets, | 35:33 | |
| tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. | 35:35 | |
| And yet there is another word used for time: | 35:41 | |
| It is kairos, | 35:45 | |
| which means special time. | 35:47 | |
| The right time. | 35:52 | |
| When time is fulfilled, | 35:54 | |
| and you see your whole life before you, | 35:56 | |
| caught up in one single moment, | 36:00 | |
| and everything hinges on whether you say yes | 36:02 | |
| or whether you say, no! | 36:05 | |
| The preacher says, | 36:11 | |
| the time | 36:14 | |
| is fulfilled. | 36:16 | |
| The Kingdom of God is now. | 36:18 | |
| Repent! | 36:21 | |
| Believe! | 36:23 | |
| Follow me! | 36:25 | |
| (peaceful organ music) | 36:36 | |
| (harmonious organ and choral music) | 37:15 | |
| - | The Lord be with you. | 40:10 |
| Congregation | And also with you. | 40:12 |
| - | Let us pray. | 40:14 |
| Jesus said, "Whoever among you wants to be great | 40:25 | |
| "must become a servant of all." | 40:30 | |
| For the son of man himself has not come to be served, | 40:34 | |
| but to served, and to give his life | 40:38 | |
| to set many others free. | 40:42 | |
| Master, we hear your call. | 40:45 | |
| (congregation murmuring) | 40:47 | |
| Jesus said, "Unless you turn and become like little children | 40:53 | |
| "you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven." | 40:58 | |
| Master, we hear your call. | 41:02 | |
| (congregation murmuring) | 41:05 | |
| Jesus said, | 41:09 | |
| "You must love your enemies and do good | 41:11 | |
| "without expecting any return. | 41:14 | |
| "So will you be children of the most high. | 41:17 | |
| "Because God indeed is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. | 41:20 | |
| "Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate." | 41:26 | |
| Master, we hear your call. | 41:30 | |
| (congregation murmuring) | 41:33 | |
| Jesus said, "This is my Father's glory, | 41:37 | |
| "that you may bear fruit in plenty, | 41:40 | |
| "and so be my Disciples. | 41:42 | |
| "If you dwell in me as I dwell in you, | 41:45 | |
| "you will bear much fruit. | 41:49 | |
| "For apart from me you can do nothing." | 41:52 | |
| Master, we hear your call. | 41:56 | |
| (congregation murmuring) | 41:58 | |
| Jesus said, | 42:02 | |
| "There is no greater love than this, | 42:04 | |
| "that you should lay down your life for your friends. | 42:07 | |
| "This is my Commandment: | 42:11 | |
| "Love one another as I have loved you." | 42:13 | |
| Master, we hear your call. | 42:18 | |
| (congregation murmuring) | 42:20 | |
| Jesus said, | 42:24 | |
| "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. | 42:26 | |
| "You then are to go and make Disciples of all the nations, | 42:31 | |
| "and baptize them in the name | 42:35 | |
| "of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. | 42:37 | |
| "Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. | 42:41 | |
| "And remember, I am with you always, | 42:45 | |
| "even to the end of the world." | 42:49 | |
| Master, we hear your call. | 42:52 | |
| (congregation murmuring) | 42:54 | |
| Amen. | 42:58 | |
| And now, in response to Jesus' call | 43:02 | |
| to be disciples of Christ, | 43:04 | |
| let us offer with grateful hearts | 43:06 | |
| our gifts and ourselves unto God. | 43:08 | |
| (peaceful organ music) | 43:13 | |
| (uplifting organ music) | 45:19 | |
| ♪ Praising the Lord ♪ | 45:31 | |
| ♪ Praising the Lord ♪ | 45:35 | |
| ♪ Praising the Lord ♪ | 45:38 | |
| ♪ Praise God in His sanctuary ♪ | 45:41 | |
| ♪ Praise Him in the places ♪ | 45:48 | |
| ♪ Praise Him praise him ♪ | 45:52 | |
| ♪ Praise Him according to His level of greatness ♪ | 45:58 | |
| ♪ Praise Him the sound of the trumpets ♪ | 46:05 | |
| ♪ With the sound of the trumpets ♪ | 46:09 | |
| (vibrant organ music) | 46:14 | |
| (harmonious orchestral and choral music) | 46:27 | |
| (peaceful organ music) | 49:45 | |
| (harmonious organ and choral music) | 50:08 | |
| - | Almighty God, giver of all life, | 51:13 |
| in hearing your call to be followers of Christ, | 51:15 | |
| we your unworthy servants do give thee most humble | 51:19 | |
| and hearty thanks for all thy goodness | 51:22 | |
| and loving kindness to us, | 51:24 | |
| and to all men and women. | 51:26 | |
| We bless thee for our creation, preservation, | 51:29 | |
| and for all the blessings of this life, | 51:31 | |
| but above all for thy most gracious love | 51:34 | |
| in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, | 51:37 | |
| who taught us to pray: | 51:41 | |
| Congregation | Our Father, who art in heaven, | 51:43 |
| hallowed be thy name. | 51:45 | |
| Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, | 51:47 | |
| on earth as it is in heaven. | 51:50 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread | 51:52 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses | 51:54 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 51:57 | |
| And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. | 52:00 | |
| For thine is the kingdom, the power, | 52:04 | |
| and the glory forever, amen. | 52:07 | |
| (peaceful organ music) | 52:12 | |
| (harmonious organ and choral music) | 52:54 | |
| - | And now may the grace of our Lord | 55:57 |
| and savior, Jesus Christ, the love of God, | 55:59 | |
| and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit | 56:02 | |
| be with you all now, and always. | 56:04 | |
| (peaceful choral music) | 56:14 | |
| (vibrant organ music) | 57:32 |
Item Info
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