Daily Devotional For Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Good day Southside! Though we live in dangerous, perilous, and evil times where we have to use caution, there are signs all over the world and in America that God is working. News outlets focus on biased spins, financial crashes, traumas, natural disasters and political scandals, leaving us with a feeling of depression and hopelessness. All over the world and on college campuses, students are coming together to be in Bible studies and sing Christian songs joyfully. Lights such as these give us hope that the darkness has not totally prevailed and extinguished all of the light of God.
The Gospel is spreading in communist countries, muslim countries, and even in countries in Europe and in America where the West’s predominant faith is the Christian faith. There are revivals happening in places no one thought possible and God is using some of the most unlikely people to make this happen. When we go to Scripture, we see this tends to be the normal pattern of God.
Look at Mark 1:16-18, “One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. (17) Jesus called out to them, ‘Come, follow Me, and I will show you how to fish for people!’ (18) And they left their nets at once and followed Him” (NLT). If you have ever studied the disciples that Jesus called, you may scratch your head wondering why these. All of them were uneducated. Some of them were just red-neck fishermen. You had possibly 2 Jewish zealots and 1 Roman IRS agent. This means these 2 zealots would have hated this Roman IRS agent.
I don’t want to think how many times Matthew had to look over his shoulder or keep one eye open when sleeping. Jewish zealots hated Rome and anyone employed by Rome and any Jewish Roman sympathizers. They were known for killing such and believe it or not, these are the men Jesus called to be His disciples. These are the men Jesus called to spread the Gospel. None of them ever got it until after the Resurrection. Even during what we call today Holy Week, they are continuing to argue about who among them was going to be the greatest in Jesus’ established earthly kingdom. We see this in Matthew 20:20-28 and in Mark 10:35-45.
This band of 12 brothers were already divided, arguing and bickering and it is a miracle by God they ever got past this. But what is true of them is true of many in the Bible. God called Abraham, a worshipper of the gods of Baal to be the father of the Jewish nation. God called Moses, a murderer, to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. God called Jeremiah, a man who battled chronic depression, to be His prophet. God called a young shepherd boy, who would eventually commit adultery and murder to be king over Israel. God called a young Jewish teenage virgin girl to be the mother of the Messiah and her fiance’, to be the father to raise Him in carpentry. God called Saul, a zealot who murdered and imprisoned Jewish Christians, to be the Apostle to the Gentiles and to write 2/3 of the New Testament.
What’s my point? God has called you as well, even with your own failures, sins, shortcomings, excuses and liabilities to be His Gospel spreader. While the world and sometimes even us look at the outward appearances of others by their appearance, education, pedigree, and etc., God does not. He looks at the heart…. where it is and where it can and will go. We see this when God called David to be the next king over Israel (1 Samuel 16:7).
So, as you see the darkness, do not fear it or run from it. God has called you to be His light in it (Matthew 5:14-16). It is amazing how a little light dispels the darkness. Just as these 12 men followed Jesus to be His disciples, and even though they seemed like a hopeless cause and trust, they turned the world around and we are here today because of this. Never judge yourself or anyone else by the externals because you will give up. God’s Holy Spirit is greater than anything. That is the point of 1 John 4:4 and Zechariah 4:6.
As we read through the Gospels, each time Jesus called a man to be His disciples, the Bible affirms they immediately dropped everything and went and followed Jesus. This is amazing to me because we have no record that states they even had any prior knowledge of Jesus. Most of them were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee and John the Baptizer baptized people in the Jordan River. The Jordan River begins north at Mt. Hermon flows into the Sea of Galilee and down the Jordan Valley Rift. Maybe they had heard of or about Jesus prior to His calling them. We know that Andrew had already met Jesus and then introduced his brother Peter to Jesus. So, just as in our day, connections probably played out in their willingness to drop everything and follow Jesus. The main theme in Mark’s Gospel is radical discipleship and obedience to the call of the Lord in our lives.
Assignment: How would you answer these questions? What does the Lord ask you to leave behind to follow Him? What personal achievement, possessions, and positions does the Lord ask you to sacrifice to follow Him? What is keeping you currently from following the Lord immediately and wholeheartedly? Finally, what is going to be required of you to eliminate whatever is hindering you from following the Lord?
Scripture To Meditate On: Isaiah 6:8, “Then I heard the Lord asking, ‘Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?’ I said, ‘Here I am. Send me’” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Lord, please forgive me for all the excuses I give as to why You cannot use me. You have promised me that I already have Your power in me (Acts 1:8) and that with You, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). I commit to follow You wherever You plan to take me. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly