Jesus, The One Who Meets Your Needs- Part 1

Christian song you been searching for life's meaning but haven't found what you're looking for is your problem is you looking for a no wonder Jeremiah explains why Jesus is the only one who can bring real meaning to your life, especially the part that encourage Jesus, the one who made. Thank you for joining us today. We are at the end of the series, and a few days away from beginning.

The major series of the year. We have just finished talking about some questions of the title of that series was God. I need some answers.

And before I forget it. Let me remind you again that the resources for that series are available from Turning Point you can go to David Jeremiah.org. There you will see the study guide and the CD package for that series. You can get the study guide and the CD package you will be ready to study this again on your own. Share it with others. Facilitate a small group and that will be available to you from the website. David Jeremiah.org during these next five days were going to visit some individual messages that we have chosen because of the value of their encouragement to you think some people today need encouragement and I believe these messages will encourage your heart, and it is our prayer that that will happen on the last day of the month were going to begin our new series called the forward based on a brand-new book that releases in October that series will began with an interview that I had about the material in that book with Sheila Walsh. That's always kind of a high note in the new material that we produce each year for that particular series for today were going to talk about Jesus, the one who can meet your need and were going to study a passage of Scripture in the book of Mark versus 14 to 34 will get to that in a moment, but I do need to remind you that work closing in on the end of this month and this is our calendar month.

Every year we produce this beautiful calendar for 2021. We present to you in September so that we can get it to you because it's a 14 month calendar that actually begins in November of this year. So when you order it in September you will get it sometime in October you'll be able to begin using it in November and have it all oiled up and ready to go out for the new year when 2021 comes I will tell you some more about this calendar later on today but it's a beautiful presentation centered on the word of God and the colors of creation right now it's time for us to learn about this one who meets our needs. Jesus, the one who meets your need wide world of poetry. The name of John Berryman sword among the elite of his century.

He seemed to have made every conquest that a poet could make was a beloved university professor. He had a surprise sitting on the shelf in his office. He was famous yet frenzied lots of followers he had seemingly found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. When one frozen day in 1972 he came to the final stanza he walked across the bridge in Minnesota waved to a stranger and leapt to his death in the icy Minnesota River. No one could figure out why such a prominent and successful man would do such a thing at 50 5/2 famous and effective. He said I still feel rotten about myself and in one of his poems.

Berryman wrote these words after all has been said, and all has been said man is just a huddle of needs. Every one of us understands that we have a vacuum in our lives and we have an intense desire to understand why we're here. I suppose that's why Rick Warren's book the purpose driven life was so successful, you know that that book has sold more than 30 million copies.

More than any other single volume in history. I was with Rick Warren recently told me that when this book 1st came out and it got traction it was selling 1 million copies a month and that's only because it zeroed in on this need.

Everyone has to know why am I here what is my purpose in the introduction to the purpose driven life Rick Warren describes a survey that was conducted by Dr. Hugh Moorehead philosophy professor in the University. Moorehead wrote the 250 famous philosophers and scientists of writers, intellectuals, and he simply asked the question what is the meaning of life.

Some offered their best guesses. Some even admitted later that they made something up. Still others honestly admitted they were clueless and there were a few of the intellectuals who wrote back to Moorehead and said if you ever find out what it is.

Would you please let us know what is the meaning of life. Why am I here what is my purpose here in these early verses of Mark's gospel. The meaning of life has arrived.

He's on the scene. He does not waste any time introducing himself. He is the son of God and the Savior of the world. We begin our study today in verse 14. As we talk about Jesus and his message and here's what the word of God says now after John was put in prison. Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel between verses 13 and 14. If you mark in your Bible, you should put one of those little sideways arrows because between verse 13 and 14 in Mark chapter 1 almost an entire year passes. As you know the Gospels are four different accounts of the Lord's life on this earth and they don't all carry all of the information and Mark omits in his gospel all the things that are recorded for us in John chapters 1 through four and John chapters 1 through four, we learned some things that we don't know from Mark. We learn about Jesus going to a wedding at Cana of Galilee and changing the water into wine. We learn about Jesus cleansing the temple. We learned about his encounter with Nicodemus and the woman of Samaria that will be found in the book of Mark because Mark is not going to talk about the things that happened in Judea and Samaria. He's going to talk about what the Lord is going to do in Galilee, so the Scripture tells us in verse 14 that when John the Baptist was put in prison. Jesus went to Galilee and remember John was put in prison because of all the things he had said concerning the leadership of his day. He got put in prison because he spoke the truth about immorality.

Ultimately John, as you know, was beheaded at the end of the first few verses of the book of Mark, John the Baptist sort of fades away in the Lord Jesus, take center stage. John the Baptist is in prison, Jesus goes to Galilee and when Jesus is in Galilee. He begins his ministry by preaching a short sermon.

The first point of his sermon is the good news has, the good news is, verse 15, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. These are some of the first words of Jesus in his ministry and he announces to everyone something that people have been waiting here for 4000 years.

Jesus says the time is fulfilled, he's creating a sense of urgency. Jesus message concerning the kingdom of God is simply this, the kingdom of God is here, because the king is here Lord Jesus Christ himself was the King of glory come to this are one of the Virgin Mary wasn't ready to set up his kingdom yet, but he was still the king and his he comes to the people in Galilee and begins to preach. He says to them, the kingdom has drawn near because the king has drawn near the kingdom is at hand because the king is at hand and one writer said it this way, the kingdom of God is within your reach stop and think about it for a moment. Had you been there when Jesus preached you could've reached out and touched the king. The king of glory. The one who one day will set up his kingdom upon this earth, and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is the Lord of glory. So the first words out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus is it's time it's here it's urgent. King is arrived. This is serious uses a word about time. It's a word that means it's sort of crucial point the climactic point in history. The king is here kingdom is here. Get ready something important happened, so he begins his message by telling us that the good news is, but then he reminds us that very same phrase that the good news has some condition he says repent and believe in the gospel.

The first time Jesus appears in the first gospel in the first instruction that he gives. The word is written from then on his most consistent message.

Jesus continually calls upon people to repent. He doesn't just speak to the leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees and the philosophers even says that the poor and the oppressed. He says that repentance is the beginning of eternal life. Much about repentance these days, it's almost falling out of the messages. Even evangelical churches, but let me just be sure we all understand what repentance is. Repentance means to do a 180.

How many of you know what a 180 years you turn completely around and go the other direction. Repentance is coming to a place in your life when you realize I going the wrong way and you don't subtly turn around you immediately turn around. You repent, you do a 188 of your toes or once wrote that God will take nine steps toward us, but he will not take 10th. He will incline us to repent. But God cannot do our repenting for us because upon us to repent. Oftentimes, when you use the word repent everybody conflict out of their chairs they all know here we go we go was sent again I don't like to come to church and hereabouts and what I want to tell you something that you probably never heard of before sin is good news not mean that you should go sin.

I don't really need to encourage you along that line.

Anyway, I'm sure, but sin is good news. Let me tell you why you come to me you say Dr. Jeremiah, I have serious problems in the related to my heredity, you're stuck, you can go get new parents and leisure, heredity, and if that's your problem that's your problem, so we make on me so we know the way I am of the reason I am the way, I am is because of my environment. I might be able to tweak your environment a little bit but I can't change your environment. Your environment is where you are unless you move somewhere else or go somewhere else. That's you are. If it's your DNA or your environment, you're stuck.

Well, if I sent. If you ever come to grips with the fact that your sin almighty God's got an answer for it, and it can be cured for good news about sin. Sin something you can do something about. If you keep saying about all the things that are wrong in your life will it's what I was given by my parents or I have a chemical addiction or whatever it is something really freaking about just say no is wrong with me. I'm just the center is involved in sin when you come to Almighty God with your sin and you repent of it. He can forgive you and he can make it go away and he can give the guilt to Jesus on the cross and something don't be so hard on sin since good news is, if you know what sin that's always the hardest thing for us to imagine we want to give everything you know, I've been rather ineffective lately, you know, give me a break to study the effectiveness sin right in the good news about sin is that Almighty God loves you so much, he created an incredible universal plan to deal with it and you can get help if you just what you have to do repent and turn from it and the Bible says when you turn from your sin by repenting. There's one other step that you need to take. It's not just enough to repent on fact. If you just go around repenting all the time.

Are you going to do is filled with despair and remorse right so repentance is just the first step. It says repent and the second step is to believe. To repent means I'm going to renounce the direction I'm going and stop right here going that way anymore. But to believe is to do the 180 and look toward Almighty God in Jesus Christ and goading him to believe is to put all your trust in Christ to understand that what he did on the cross is for you as it was for me as it is for us all to say I'm through with this life.

I'm through with this sin through excuses and always proper myself up with psychological jargon to follow that I am a sinner. I need to repent of my sin and I need to look to Jesus Christ who paid the price on the cross for me and accept his forgiveness. When you put your trust in Jesus Christ as one writer said you that eternity on him. You say I believe with all my heart that he is the one who can forgive me and you decide to accept his forgiveness to believe in the good news means you take Jesus at his word about who God is and you believe in him, so the Lord Jesus came with this message and his message was the kingdom of heaven is here the kingdom of God is here potatoes here. Why did what's going on with the cane repent and believe in the gospel that was his first message. Basically that's the only message that really matters is that's the message we all need to hear. We need to be reminded of it often, God doesn't have really a lot of messages. He has one message repent and believe in you can know everything that God has for you. The Bible says that when Jesus got done with this message he was in Galilee and he's returning to a place where he probably spent many summer vacations. How many of you have ever spent a summer vacation near a body of water and then we do that only well when I was growing up did that with some lakes. We went to when our family was young and we were still on the East Coast. We used to go to the other ocean on the other side of the continent were someone had given us permission to use their condo for two weeks every summer in August and for 12 straight years.

We took our little family to that place and I was on vacation last year. We went back see if we could find the place and is not there anymore. They tore it down and build some high-rise there was really disappointing, but reminded us of all the joy we had when we went to our vacation spot.

Why believe the Galilee was Jesus vacation spot. He lived in Nazareth. If you've ever been to Galilee.

There's no more beautiful place you can never go for vacation. It's the most beautiful place you will see when you go to Israel. The Bible says he went to Galilee. He was walking along the shore pick up the reading here were 16 and is marked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, follow me and I will make you become fishers of men. And they immediately left their nets and followed him. And when he had gone a little further from there, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets and immediately call them and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and they went after him in the first part of this message will we see Jesus thinking about the gospel we learn to understand that the greatest need. We have every one of us is that we need to know first of all, before we began to understand the meaning of life that were forgiven and that we have a relationship with God but God created us with this vacuum in us that only he can fill in when we repent and believe. Jesus comes to live in would begin to fill the sense of joy that comes with salvation, but after were saved, how many of you know that you're saying there still some longings in your heart and those longings usually are longings to be involved in some way with the kingdom initiative.

So here we have not only Jesus and his message, but here we have Jesus and his men. But isn't it interesting that the Lord Jesus Christ from the very beginning lays out his plan of succession. He knows that one day he's going back to glory, and so he's developing disciples who will carry on the mission of the gospel long after he is left this earth.

And here in Mark chapter 1.

He's beginning to select those crucial people who will go with them in the first two selects are Simon Peter and Andrew not want to remind you again that Simon peters behind the book of Mark, so he's going to make sure his story gets told first before anything else happens. I just want to throw that in here, the Bible says is Jesus was walking along the shore. He sees Simon and his brother Andrew and their casting their necks into the sea and Jesus calls them to follow him, just take a moment for all of us, especially as men ask this question. What kind of men does Jesus call to serve him. What kind of name is he interested in employment what kind of people does he recruit and I like to suggest you first of all the Jesus recruits, diligent men were these guys doing when Jesus found them sitting around praying that something would happen.

The Bible says they were doing what they did. They were fishermen.

In fact, in the book of Mark in the study about seeing Galilee fishing was the main thing. There may have been as many as 131 boats in the sea of Galilee. According to Josephus when this happened Simon Peter and Andrew were just couple of they were casting their net into the sea. And when Jesus walked by.

He just looked at him.

He said you you follow me. He didn't choose them from a life of proximity and I think sometimes when people think well I don't know if God wants me to serve them about so I think years and pray about it doesn't usually happen now.

God collects his people find somebody to serving the best I know how and what they're doing and he grabs hold of them and promote them to a different place you want to know how to get engaged with the things of God did engage with whatever you know you can do now, not sure on the Sunday school teacher. I drive a shuttlebus or whatever it is, did engage in what God wants you to do now.

Just find out what it is, it should be simple.

If you don't know what is. Pick something and watch what happens.

God selects and recruits from people who are already diligently doing what they know to do that these men were in the class on discipleship they were permeating asking God what they should do all that. Sometimes very important to do.

They were fishing because fishing is what they knew. Now let me just remind you that Jesus had already met these men already met all Florida's guys he had met Peter, Andrew, James and John.

If you go to John chapter 1. The other gospel you will see that he's already met them. They already become as we would say today, Christians are called to salvation for those moments already happened. This is the call to salvation. This is a call to service this is a call to discipleship and so he comes to were these men are diligently serving any calls them God's given you intelligent mind is give you a great engine as they say in sports. God wants to take what you have been employed for his purposes, and if you listen Almighty God is calling your life because diligent men that he calls decisive men. He comes to these men.

And he says follow me and lay. They left their nets and followed him.

And this is down in the next verse about the other two guys they left their fathers, that would be in the boat and went after him. By the way I want to go through the first chapter and underlined immediately.

It's in the first chapter, 11 times in this book is an immediate book it says Jesus came to were these men were two of them were casting their nets.

Two of them were mending their nets and Jesus just looked at him and said hey you follow me will have the final part of the message tomorrow here on Thursday.

Additional Turning Point. I hope you'll join us and let me remind you again that the resource for the month of September is this beautiful color of creation calendar. Throughout history, authors and artist have endeavored to describe and duplicate the beauty is found in creation of the vibrant colors, unique and meticulous features in a design that only God himself could ever create and they try to replicate it. They never get to the final replication but they approach it, and in the approaching of it.

There is beauty, the new colors of creation calendar is a reminder of the majesty of God's creation. It's a beautiful calendar that we want to send to you as a way of saying thank you for your investment in this ministry during the month of September. We have just a few days left for us to make this available to you when you send your gift and you ask for the calendar, it will be packaged up and shipped to your door and you will have it very soon, friends. It's a beautiful calendar you will enjoy having in your home, and I'm sure you see again next time right here in this station.

For more information on this special message from Dr. Jeremiah. Please be sure to visit our website will be offered to freeways to help me stay connected Monthly magazine Turning Points out that he email devotion sign-up today Jeremiah/Jeremiah.old/ask you about 14 calendar as of creation, taking my studies off of the English standard and new international missions as well as in standard. A large, you can join with the study. Jeremiah visit Jeremiah.the Gary join us tomorrow as choose a message of encouragement Turning Point here is taking time to listen to from