The Call to Step On

``And I remember thinking to myself, I bet I can swim across that. Now I I'm gonna applaud every one of you right now. You didn't gasp and you didn't laugh at me, but that is one of the dumbest thoughts I have ever had, swim across the Mississippi. Well, I went in and I swam out about a 100 yards. And I had a moment where I felt strong and I felt confident in my swimming, but I thought, maybe I should just turn around and see if there's a current pushing against me. [00:02:40] (42 seconds)  #StupidBraveMoment

Because this whole time as I was swimming, I didn't notice something really important, that the current was in fact incredibly strong. I didn't notice it pushing me down the river, and I didn't see myself drifting. But when I turned around and I tried to get back to shore, I had to swim as hard as I've ever swam in my life. And when I did finally reach land, I was exhausted. I was about two miles downriver. [00:03:22] (39 seconds)  #PulledByTheCurrent

I didn't choose to go downriver. I wasn't trying to go downriver, but I drifted. See, because in a river, remaining in place is an illusion. In a river, if you're not intentionally anchored or if you're not intentionally swimming, you're drifting. You're moving somewhere. That's how most men lose direction. Not rebellion, not dramatic collapse, just current. The current of a career, the current of comfort, the current of culture, the current of distraction, the current of I will deal with that later. [00:04:01] (55 seconds)  #DriftNotRebellion

You see, you don't have to reject god to drift from him. You just have to float. You can float in life. And one day, you're gonna look up and realize, I didn't mean to end up here. See, drift is still a direction. It's one of the most dangerous things in our society today, and in particular, it's one of the most dangerous things in the American church is drift. [00:04:55] (32 seconds)  #DriftIsADirection

What I want you to begin to understand on this text, we'll take it slowly this morning because it's amazing. These few verses that I'm gonna read from are full and full of instruction. You see, the first one is that Jesus sees before he speaks. The text says that Jesus saw two brothers. He sees them. He's looking at them. And what are they doing? Well, they're not praying. These aren't holy men. They're they're not searching for Jesus. [00:06:42] (37 seconds)  #JesusSeesYou

Their life isn't a mess. It's not in crisis. They're working. These are ordinary men on an ordinary day with ordinary responsibilities. And Jesus steps into their routine. He doesn't wait for them to get spiritually curious. He doesn't wait for them to clean up their lives. He initiates. You see, Jesus interrupts our lives before he ever fixes our behaviors, and that matters because most men don't drift out of rebellion for god. They drift out of their routine. And Jesus, we see in this gospel, walked straight into it. [00:07:18] (52 seconds)  #JesusInterruptsRoutine

And he says something really important. He says, follow me. Notice what Jesus doesn't say. Consider me. Study me. Pray about this. When you're ready, he simply says, follow me. And that culture to follow a rabbi meant to reorder your entire life around him. And this is really important to understand. This isn't admiration. This is alignment. Notice what Jesus doesn't give them. He doesn't give them a destination. He doesn't give them a timeline. [00:08:10] (50 seconds)  #FollowNotAdmire

He doesn't give them a five year plan. He gives them direction. If I'm gonna be honest, for many men, that's uncomfortable. We want clarity before commitment. We want details before obedience, and we want guarantees before surrender. But Jesus gives direction before explanation, and that exposes something in us. If we only obey when we understand, then we're not following. We're evaluating Jesus. See, we're looking like, oh, wait. I I need to see something before I actually commit to you. [00:09:00] (49 seconds)  #DirectionOverDetails