While he was in the desert talking with his Father about the rescue plan, thinking about how he would have to die in order to rescue us, an old enemy came up to him, the one who had tempted Adam and Eve to mistrust God. He said, "Are you really God's own Son?" He wanted to do the same thing to Jesus that he did to Adam: lie and deceive, and then accuse.
Satan, the snake, said, "Poor you. God must not really love you. You don't need to die. Do it my way." But unlike Adam, Jesus said, "No! I will do what God says." And from that moment, everything changed.
Jesus would fight against Satan and his lies, and he would win, and defeat sin and darkness and tears. He would suffer, but he would win!
He chose poor fishermen. One day he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, and he called to some brothers and friends who were mending their nets. "Come, follow me, " he said.
Their boats needed to be put away, and the fish were still in them... but they just left everything and followed him. He was not like anyone they had ever met.
And meeting Jesus would change all of them forever.
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Jesus, you are the only perfect man. You did not believe the lie that we all believed, that God doesn't really love us. You trusted God completely, even to death when you were innocent, to give us true life. We recognize that there is something different about you. Help us to hear your voice saying, "Come, follow me." Help us to hear you, to get up, and to follow you. You know the things that we need to leave behind in order to do that. It might be trusting in ourselves and our own understanding, seeking security over everything else, making our family our god... or something else.
Reveal yourself to us, just like you did to the fishermen. If you're real and true, help us to know you.
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