12 Dec Mark 02: Kingdom invasion

Mark 1:14-34

¹⁴ Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, ¹⁵ and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

¹⁶ Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” ¹⁸ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹ And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. ²⁰ And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

²¹ And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. ²² And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. ²³ And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, ²⁴ “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” ²⁵ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” ²⁶ And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. ²⁷ And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” ²⁸ And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

²⁹ And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ³⁰ Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. ³¹ And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them. ³² That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. ³³ And the whole city was gathered together at the door. ³⁴ And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

Tonight, we are in the second sermon of our series on the book of Mark. And through this book, we want to know the real Jesus. Because Jesus that we created according to our own liking is useless. It cannot change us, and it cannot do anything for us. We want to get the real Jesus. We want to know who Jesus truly is and what does it mean to have a personal relationship with him. And last week we talk about who he is and what he came to do through the words of Mark. But today, we get to see Jesus in action. And it is stunning. In this passage, we get to hear Jesus speak for the first time in the book of Mark. This passage tells us the commencement of Jesus’ public ministry. It’s like Jesus has a press conference and introduce himself and his ministry. And unlike many pastors, Jesus’ message is perfect from the very beginning.

I still remember one of the earliest sermons I preached when I was 19. I was in Surabaya, and I was invited to preach at a youth service. Let me tell you, it was beyond terrible. I preached on David and Goliath. I do not have the copy of the sermon manuscript, praise God, but I remember it was something along the line of, “To defeat Goliath, we need to have Godly ambitions like David. David was determined to beat Goliath because he was offered riches, tax-free life, and a beautiful daughter of the king to marry. He saw Saul’s daughter and said to himself, “she is mine.” He had a big dream. Without Godly ambitions, we won’t have the courage to fight Goliath.” If I can go back in time, I have two things I want to tell the younger me. First, I’ll say to him, “Riches, fame and women are not Godly ambitions, you dummy.” And two, “You shall not preach until you turn 25.” I feel sorry for the people who listened to me preach back then. I wish I could take back everything I preached in those early days. But Jesus is different. Jesus is the perfect preacher with the perfect message from the very beginning. He does not need to take back anything he said. In fact, Jesus’ first press conference to introduce himself and his ministry is phenomenal. Let’s look at it.

I have four points for my sermon. The king’s message; The king’s call; The king’s authority; The king’s heart.

The king’s message

Mark 1:14-15 – ¹⁴ Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, ¹⁵ and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

These two verses are massive. In one sentence, Mark sums up Jesus’ life ministry. If we want to know what Jesus is all about, this is it. This is what Jesus comes to do. This is his message to us. Mark repeats this word twice in one sentence. Get this. Jesus comes to proclaim the gospel of God. It means that God is the one who initiated the gospel. The gospel is not a human’s invention. It is originated from God. So, what is the gospel? I mentioned last week that the gospel means good news. But it is not ordinary daily good news. Gospel is a word that means some history-making, life-shaping news. It is not a religious word. For example, we have an ancient Roman inscription that starts like this, “The beginning of the gospel of Caesar Augustus.” It is the story of Caesar Augustus’ birth and coronation and how his life alters the history of the Roman empire. The word gospel is also used when an invading army was defeated in a battle, and they sent messengers to proclaim the good news. They said, “The battle has been won. The enemy is defeated. We have nothing to fear. We are free.” That’s the gospel. Gospel is something that has happened in history and has been done for us that changes our life. And this is what separates Christianity from all other religions. All other religions can only give us advice on how to be saved. Christianity is the only one who dares to say that our salvation has been done. It is finished. The battle has been won. There is nothing we can do to undo what has been done. And this is the message that Jesus proclaimed. Jesus does not come to give us another ten rules to be saved. Jesus comes to fulfil the condition of salvation for us that we may receive salvation. This is the gospel.

But look at the content of the gospel. Mark 1:15 – “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” I love it. The first sentence that comes out of Jesus’ mouth to describe his ministry is packed with gold. He says, “The time is fulfilled.” It means that Jesus’ entrance to the world is not an accident. God has planned it from the very beginning. Let me put it this way. How many of you love Avenger’s Endgame? I am a big fan. Here is what’s cool about it. Marvel made 21 movies that lasted for 11 years, from 2008 to 2019, that tells one big story. And all these 21 small stories culminate in Endgame. It is extremely brilliant. But we have something even better than Marvel’s universe. Jesus is saying, “This is it. This is the time that everyone had been waiting for. Everything that happened in the Old Testament is pointing to this time. Every prophet, every hero, centuries of preparation and prophecy are reaching their fulfilment. Every story in the Old Testament finds its fulfilment in me. I have come and the time is fulfilled.” The Bible is written by 40 authors over 1500 years, and they all tell one big story. And that story is not about us living our best life now. The one big story of the Bible is not about us but the good news of God made known in Jesus. Jesus not only proclaimed the gospel; he is the gospel. Look at what he says next.

He then says, “the kingdom of God is at hand.” With the coming of Jesus, the kingdom of God has come near. Why is this good news? If we go back to the beginning of creation, we see that we were created to live in the perfect kingdom of God. There was no pain, no tear, no crime, no suffering. Everything in that kingdom was perfect because God was the King. But then what happened was, rather than submitting to God’s kingship, Adam and Eve rebelled against God. They chose to be their own kings. They chose to be the main characters of the story, and everything went into chaos. Imagine you bought a brand-new Ferrari. You spent your lifesaving on the car. You absolutely loved it. Then one day, a 5-years-old decided to take your Ferrari for a drive. What will happen? Chaos will happen. Everything will fall apart. By the end of it, your Ferrari will be worth nothing. Why? Because there is something wrong with the car? No. The car is fine. But the car was not built to be driven by a 5-years-old. The same with our lives. We were created, the world was created for God, not for us to be in control but for God to be the King. We were created to be under the kingship of God. And when we rebelled against him and took control of our lives, it is like a 5-years-old driving a Ferrari. Everything fell apart. Relationship fell apart. Creation fell apart. Our lives fell apart. But when Jesus says that the kingdom of God is at hand, it is good news because it means that the rightful king has returned. And this king will make everything right. He will restore everything that was broken. But it does not happen instantaneously. Note that Jesus says that the kingdom of God is at hand. It means that the kingdom of God is already here. And yet it is not fully here. It’s still at hand. So, when Jesus comes into the world, the era of the kingdom of God in this world begins. But the consummation of the kingdom of God is still yet to happen. It will happen when Jesus returns in the future. We are right now living in the tension between the already-not yet of the kingdom of God.

Jesus continues and says, “Repent and believe in the gospel.” This is the heartbeat of Jesus’ ministry. Because the kingdom of God has come near, our response is to repent and believe in the gospel. And in Greek, both repent and believe is in a present imperative form. It means that it is not a momentary act but a continuous condition. We need to continuously repent and believe in the gospel. And the word repent is active. It means a change of mind. It is to make a U-turn in life. It is to acknowledge that what we do is wrong and what God says is right. So, if we are walking to the right and God says left, to repent is to stop, turn to the left, and walk to the left. This is repentance. It is not simply an acknowledgement that we are wrong but to turn the other way. It means to let go of the throne. It is to surrender control. It is to reject the idea of self-sovereignty.

But repentance alone is not enough. We not only need to turn from something, but we also need to turn to something. What do we turn to? The gospel. We are to repent and believe in the gospel. It means to embrace the good news that the rightful king has returned. The kingdom of God has come. And the way to enter the kingdom is not by trying harder but by believing the good news. The king has come, and he does not proclaim good advice but good news. Jesus comes to do what we cannot do. He comes to save us from our sins. And God accepts us not because of our performance but because of Jesus’ perfect performance. And when we come into a relationship with King Jesus, we begin to heal. We start to relearn who we are and what we are called to do. The gospel is good news that radically changes our life. The is the king’s message.

The king’s call

Mark 1:16-20 – ¹⁶ Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” ¹⁸ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹ And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. ²⁰ And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

This is interesting. The first thing that Jesus does after his press conference, the first recorded act of ministry in the book of Mark, is not a spectacular sermon or miracle but a call to discipleship. And Jesus’ call is radically different from the teacher of his days. At that time, it is not a teacher who seeks students but students who seek a respected teacher. What people would do is they would find the most respectable teacher of the law, and they would compete for positions to be his disciples. So, the potential students would flesh out their credentials and why they should be accepted as disciples. But Jesus’ call is radically different.

Mark 1:17 – ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” First, Jesus is the one who takes the initiative. It is not the disciples who seek Jesus, but it is Jesus who seeks them and calls them to follow him. They did not search for Jesus but Jesus searches for them. It tells us that we cannot have a relationship with Jesus unless he is the one who seeks and calls us. Becoming disciples of Jesus is not an achievement; it is a gift of God.

Second, Jesus does not choose based on credentials but grace. Think about it. If you were Jesus, would you choose these four fishermen to be your first disciples? I don’t think so. We would choose those with the most credentials and potentials. We would choose Harvard graduates, not fishermen. But the wonder of the gospel is that Jesus calls unqualified people. These fishermen are not required to do anything nor have any qualifications. What they need to do is simply say yes to the call of Jesus. They will learn their trade as they follow Jesus. There is no pre-condition to following Jesus. The gospel is not a story of good people who made the right choice to follow Jesus. The gospel is a story of unqualified people called and transformed by grace.

Third, Jesus is the subject of the call. This is unheard of. No teacher of the law ever says, “Follow me.” What they say is, “I am going to teach you the law of God. I am going to help you grow in your knowledge of the Scripture.” So, their allegiance is not to the teacher but the Scripture. But Jesus calls the disciples to himself. He shows up and says, “I want you to follow me. I want your allegiance. I want you to give up the throne of your life to me. I want to be in control of your life. You must listen to me. You must be faithful to me.” In other words, this is not an invitation to theological classes. This is an invitation to live with him, walk with him, and have an intimate personal relationship with him.

And fourth, Jesus is the one responsible to fulfil the call. He says, “I will make you become fishers of men.” Fishers of men are people who fish people out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God. This is the call of every Christian. We are called to be disciples of Jesus who make other disciples of Jesus. But what makes this call radical is the person responsible for making it happen. Whose responsibility is it for us to become fishers of men? It is not us; it is Jesus. Jesus says that he is the one who will make us become fishers of men. And the word “become” means that it is not immediate. It is a process. It is a journey. As we stay close to him, as we follow him faithfully, Jesus is the one who will change us. He is the one who will transform us into disciples of Christ who make disciples of Christ. Jesus is committed to making us fishers of men.

And look at how these four fishermen respond to Jesus’ call. Simon and Andrew immediately leave their nets and follow Jesus. John and James immediately leave their father and follow Jesus. They don’t say, “Hey bro, Jesus is calling us to follow him. I wonder what dad thinks about it.” No. They say, “Oh, Jesus is calling us. See you dad. Ciao-ciao.” And they leave their dad in the boat with the hired servants. This is radical. It means that we cannot respond to Jesus’ call halfway. The option is either all in or nothing at all. Jesus is telling us, “I want to be king of your life. I must the supreme desire of your heart. I want priority over your career and family. Everything else must look like hatred in comparison to me.” Here is why this is important. There is no Christianity without discipleship. None. Jesus does not have double standards, one for followers of Jesus and another for disciples of Jesus. That distinction does not exist in Jesus’s view. The call for discipleship is the call for every follower of Jesus. We cannot be a believer and not a disciple. We are either a disciple of Christ or we are not a believer in Christ.

Here is the danger for many of us. If we are not careful, we can trade familiarity with Jesus for discipleship. We like to flirt with Jesus. Flirting is fun. We come to church once a week. We come to MC every Wednesday. We sing a song about how lovely Jesus is. And that’s it. It does not change us. We are simply flirting with Jesus. But Jesus is not interested in flirting with us. He wants a committed relationship with us. And a committed relationship changes us. We cannot be in a committed relationship and remain the same. If we try to live our dating or marriage life like when we were single, the relationship is not going to work. Guys, if you are in a relationship and you think you can play games as much as you did when you were single, you are being delusional. Am I right ladies? Jesus’ call of discipleship is costly.

Then the question is, “What does it cost?” The answer is everything. Simon, Andrew, John and James have no idea where Jesus is taking them. They simply leave everything behind and follow Jesus. To follow Jesus is like signing an employment contract with nothing written on top of it. Jesus can write whatever he wants on the contract. Let me put it in another way. To follow Jesus is like we are under arrest. Does anyone ever get arrested? Don’t raise your hand. What happens when we are under arrest? We lose control of our life. We follow the officer no matter what. It means that our life is no longer about us. Our life is about Christ. There is no such thing as, “Jesus, I’ll follow you if…” There is no if. It is either all in or nothing. We are either free or we are under arrest. There is no middle ground. Jesus does not have two standards. We are either a disciple of Christ or we are not a believer in Christ.

So, the question we need to ask ourselves is not, “Am I in church or not?” That’s shallow. The question we must ask ourselves is, “Am I willing to follow Jesus without knowing where he is taking me?” These fishermen have no clue where Jesus is taking them. They thought they are going to be the king’s right hand. They have no idea that Jesus is on the road toward the cross. They have no idea that in a few months, they will fail Jesus, betray Jesus, abandon Jesus, and be restored by Jesus. But that is precisely how Jesus is turning them into fishers of men. Unless we are willing to follow Jesus with no condition, we are not his disciple. Because the call of Jesus is an invitation to die to self and live for the king. The heart of following Jesus is not knowing where we are going but knowing the person whom we follow. And the person we follow is no ordinary king. He is the king with all authority.

The king’s authority

Mark 1:21-28 – ²¹ And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. ²² And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. ²³ And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, ²⁴ “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” ²⁵ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” ²⁶ And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. ²⁷ And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” ²⁸ And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

Does anyone realize what is Mark’s favourite word? Immediately. This is his style. Mark’s gospel is very fast-paced. So, right after calling the four fishermen to follow him, Jesus goes into Capernaum and immediately teaches at the synagogue on the Sabbath. We do not know what Jesus teaches. Mark does not record it for us. But we know it is one heck of a sermon. Because at the end of his sermon, people are blown away by his teaching. They say, “Who is this guy? He does not preach like other teachers of the law. He does not teach like the scribes. He preaches as the one who has authority.” So even though we do not know what Jesus teaches, we know why people are astonished at his teaching. Because Jesus teaches with authority. Jesus does not preach about God’s word; Jesus preaches God’s word. And this is something that only Jesus can do. Think about it. When the teachers of the law teach, they say, “This is what Moses said in Genesis. This is what Samuel said in the book of Samuel. This is what David wrote in Psalm.” And this is how I preach as well. But Jesus is different. Jesus does not say this is what so and so said. Jesus says, “It is written… Amen, Amen. But I say to you…” Do you see what happened? If I ever say to you, “This is what the Bible says… But I say to you….” It is time for you to move to a different church. Because I do not have that authority. My authority as a preacher is derived from the Bible. But Jesus is different. Jesus does not teach from derived authority; Jesus has the original authority. He not only speaks the word of God; He is the word of God. No one can teach like Jesus. Jesus teaches with ultimate authority.

And immediately after he preaches his sermon, there is a man with an unclean spirit. In other words, this is a demon-possessed person. And the demon cries out, “What are you doing here Jesus of Nazareth? Are you here to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the Holy One of God.” This is astonishing. First, the demon knows exactly who Jesus is. The demon is not in doubt as to the identity of Jesus. The people in the synagogue only see Jesus as a teacher who teaches with authority. But the demon knows better. Jesus is not only a teacher of the law. Jesus is the Holy One of God. And second, the demon recognizes his powerlessness before Jesus. He says, “Are you here to destroy us?” There is no doubt in the demon’s mind that there is nothing he can do before Jesus. It’s not a question if Jesus is strong enough to destroy demons. It’s a question of when Jesus will destroy demons. And we can see it from what happens next. Jesus rebukes the demon and says, “Shut up and get out of this person.” And just like that, the demon flees in terror. It’s not even a contest. Jesus’s authority far supersedes what any of us can imagine.

Let me put it this way. One of my favourite manga is One-punch man. The main character of the story is a man called Saitama. And Saitama is ridiculously strong that he can beat anyone with one punch. One time, he faced a giant centipede. And this centipede was the size of a skyscraper, and it ran havoc in the city. No one could stop it. Many heroes tried but they were powerless before the giant centipede. And this giant centipede attacked Saitama. People around Saitama thought that it was the end of Saitama. But do you know what happened? Saitama punched the giant centipede. That’s it. Just one punch. And the giant centipede exploded. That’s how powerful Saitama is. It does not matter how powerful the enemy is, all it takes for Saitama to win the fight is one punch. But Jesus does one better. Jesus does not even need to punch the demon. At the word of Jesus, the demon flees in terror. And when the people see what happened, they are even more blown away. “Who is this man? Not only he teaches with authority. He even has authority over demons. He commands and the demons obey.” And at once, Jesus’ fame spread all over the surrounding areas.

What does this teach us? Listen. Whether we believe it or not, there is a spiritual battle that is happening all around us. There is a battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. I love the way C.S. Lewis puts it. “There is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God, and counterclaimed by Satan.” This is important. Lewis goes on to say that there are two equal and opposite errors into which we can fall about demons. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. Both are fatal mistakes. Some people seem to see demons under every rock. They blame the devil for everything. Their spiritual hobby is exorcism. So, when they meet someone who is 35 and single, they say, “Brother, I think the reason you are still single is because you have a demon of singleness. I cast out the demon of singleness. Out. Out. Out” And if nothing happens, they yell louder. Whatever the problem, the solution is to cast out demons. This is the first mistake. I don’t think many of us are in this category.

But the second mistake is equally fatal. And this is where many of us are. One of the greatest achievements of Satan is to convince us that demons do not exist. We try to explain everything through the logic of cause and effect. We think that we are too smart to believe in supernatural forces. But this is extremely foolish. It is very foolish for us to think that everything is simply driven by human’s actions. Look at child trafficking for example. What kind of people would kidnap a 12-years-old girl from her family and turn her into a prostitute? And what kind of people would pay to have sex with a 13-years-old? It is very sickening. And yet child trafficking and child prostitution are major issues all over the world. If we think that child trafficking is simply a consequence of human actions, we are not thinking clearly. Our enemy has blinded us from seeing the truth. The only explainable reason is that there is a wicked supernatural force at work.

So, we must understand that we have supernatural enemies that seek to destroy us. And the world that we lived in right now is under the influence of the kingdom of Satan. That’s the bad news. But here is the good news. When Jesus came into this world, the kingdom of God invades the kingdom of Satan. And Satan and all his minions are powerless before the authority of Jesus. They know that it is only a matter of time before they are destroyed. Jesus has come to set the captive free and nothing can stop the kingdom of God from advancing. This is the gospel. And Satan hates the gospel. He does everything he can to stop God’s kingdom from advancing but he is powerless before the gospel. Because the message of the gospel is not that Jesus will do but “It is finished.” The battle has been won. Jesus has won. In the first coming of Jesus, the kingdom invasion has begun. And when Jesus returns in the future, the kingdom invasion will be completed.

The king’s heart

Mark 1:29-34 – ²⁹ And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ³⁰ Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. ³¹ And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them. ³² That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. ³³ And the whole city was gathered together at the door. ³⁴ And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

I love this part. Just right after Jesus demonstrates his authority over demons, Jesus goes to Peter’s house, and he sees Peter’s mother-in-law is sick with fever. Jesus gently holds her hand, lifts her up and heals her. And she is immediately healed of her fever. And she begins to serve them. One minute she is too sick to do anything, the next minute she is serving Jesus. Her healing is complete. It shows us that Jesus not only has authority over demons, but Jesus also has authority over diseases. Jesus has absolute authority over all things. And what I love about this healing is that it shows Jesus’ compassion. It shows Jesus’ heart for the people. Jesus is not too big for our mundane moments. Nothing is too small for Jesus.

And later that evening, many people who are sick and oppressed by demons come to Jesus. Mark says that the whole city is gathered at the door of Peter’s house. And here is something that we know about these people. Most of them do not come to Jesus to follow Jesus. Most of the people come simply because they want something from Jesus. They want healings. They want freedom. They do not want Jesus. They want what Jesus can give to them. And how does Jesus respond? Jesus does not drive them away. Jesus heals them. Jesus set them free from demonic bondage. Can you see Jesus’ heart? Jesus knows that he is being used. He knows that these people only want what he can give. But Jesus genuinely cares for the people despite their wrong motivations. We can see Jesus’ tenderness and compassion shines bright. Jesus is willing to meet people where they are. He treats those who used him with compassion. What a king he is. But he does not stop there. Jesus meets people where they are, but he does not leave them where they are. Jesus wants to be the one they desire the most. He wants to be what they want. And he won’t stop until he has their hearts.

Let me close with this. How can we follow Jesus and trust him unconditionally? How can we remain on the road that he has set for us when we do not know where we are going? Especially when everything seems to fall apart? Here is how. When Jesus calls the fishermen to leave their home and father’s boat to follow him, Jesus has already left his home and father’s throne for them. In order to seek and call us, Jesus left his home. Jesus left the glory of his kingdom. Jesus entered this broken world and invaded the kingdom of darkness. And he knew exactly where this road would lead him. The road of kingdom invasion would lead him to the cross. He knew that for us have the good news of the kingdom of God, he had to pay the price. And the price was his life. So yes, to follow Jesus is dangerous but Jesus entered the danger for us already. Jesus followed his road faithfully into hell on earth so that when we follow the road, it will take us to God. Jesus followed his road to destruction so that we can follow the road into greatness. Jesus is a king with all authority, but he does not use his authority to crush us but to save us. Jesus was crushed for us so that we could be with him forever in the kingdom of God. Jesus is a king like no other king. He is the king that we do not deserve but desperately need. This is how we can follow and trust Jesus. And if you have not followed Jesus, hear Jesus speaks to you tonight. “Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.” How are you going to respond to his call? Let’s pray.

Discussion questions:

1. What does it mean when Jesus says, “The kingdom of God is at hand”? List out some implications of this truth.
2. Look at the four characteristics of Jesus’ call to discipleship. Which one do you find most striking and why?
3. In your own words, describe what it means to follow Jesus.
4. C.S. Lewis writes that there are two equal and opposite errors into which we can fall about demons: Disbelieve in their existence and unhealthy excessive interest in them. Which one do you lean towards and why is it wrong?
5. How does the gospel empower us to follow Jesus unconditionally?
6. List out one thing you can do this month to be a better follower of Jesus and share it with others.