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Week Ending Sunday, January 26, 2020
COME FOLLOW ME
“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 Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” From Matthew 4:18-22 “Come follow me.” Simple, direct, clear phrase, some might say a command. But coming from Jesus, it is an invitation. Last week from the gospel of John, the invitation was “Come, and see.” In that invitation I said that Jesus had just invited his first followers to “follow me and see what the world really has to offer when God is in his House.” Here it is again but from the gospel of Matthew with a slightly different twist: “Follow me and see” versus “Come, and see”. Same invitation by a different author but still with the same call, ‘come, follow and see’. In Matthew’s version, both sets of brothers, when called, left their nets and followed Jesus. They even left dad in the boat!! What the call must have been to them to abruptly pull up stakes and walk with Jesus! What did he really say? How did he really say it? What kind of net did he cast on these men to have them drop everything, living, family, belongings, simply to follow a man none of them ‘knew from Adam’. But then that’s the point isn’t it. Adam. “God created Adam and Eve.” “Jesus was the begotten Son of God”, both created by God in his own image, and One was God incarnate in this world. I would imagine in my own mind that the invitation from Jesus was not as simple, mere words; I imagine the Spirit had a lot to do with this whole action sequence as it did with the entire life and ministry of the Christ. With the Spirit involved, you may be thinking they didn’t have a chance or a choice to do anything other than what they did. You might be right, but remember, Jesus chose them as God chose him, and whomever Jesus chose was to be with him always, as was the promise to him from the Father. So chance or choice, they were blessed beyond all imagination of we who are from this earth. We should be so blessed! Guess what! We are! Remember: You have The Invitation, the permission, the beckoning, the calling; Jesus knocks, and if you answer, your Invitation to follow is there for the taking. It’s as simple as dropping your nets, leaving the boats and saying “Yes, I want to follow the Way”. Once you are there, Stay the Way. 
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welcomeGaddis Church is a United Methodist Congregation.
Please explore our website to learn more about us! 141 Hwy 87 | P.O. Box 566
Comfort, Texas 78013 830.995.3813 gaddischurch@gmail.com Sunday Service: 10:00 am Worship Service With Sunday school at 8:30 am Office Hours: Monday - Thursday | 8:00 am - 4:00 pm Friday | 8:00 am - Noon www.gaddischurch.org 
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