Have you ever asked a really stupid question, and you knew it, but it was too late? You knew it the moment you asked it, and if you only could have grabbed that question back out of thin air.

After my neck surgery last winter, I went in to see the surgeon for my first follow-up visit. They took an x-ray, brought the film in, put it up on the wall panel thing, and plane as the nose on my face was my cervical spine with screws and a plate and bone graphs taken from my hip – the whole deal!

I looked at it and gasped, and I asked, "How did you get all that hardware in there?" The doctor sort of looked at me wryly and said, "Very carefully!" I mean, what a silly question, like he was going to explain the step-by-step details of the surgery to me.

Sometime later I took a cue from him. I was talking to a man about our church and the man asked, "How long do you preach?" I looked at him wryly and I said, "Until I’m done!"

My question to the doctor was somewhat silly, but yet his answer was a good answer for he made the pertinent point – that he did it right, and I certainly can testify to that.

My answer to the man about how long I preach got to the pertinent point: it’s not the number minutes I stand up here, but it’s what I say and how I say it, and one more thing that I will get to.

Mark begins his gospel by getting right to the point. It only takes Mark 14 verses and he has Jesus marching out of the wilderness, straight into Galilee preaching his very first sermon. And it was a sermon that was only a few seconds at most. "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news." I call it the "Seven-Second-Sermon."

There very well might have been more exchange between he and the disciples, but as far a Mark is concerned this was the most important part – the part he wants us to remember.

"Pastor, how long do you preach?" "Until I’m done," I answered.

You might ask, "How do I know when I’m done?" (maybe you think I don’t know when to quit)

I’ll answer it this way. I’ve never finished a sermon in my life! You heard me right. I’ve never finished a sermon in my life. I did some quick math, and I figure, since I was ordained in 1976, I have probably preached in the neighborhood of 1500 sermons, and I’ve never finished one of them. I’ve stopped talking and sat down 1500 times, but I have never, even one time, finished a sermon. For you see, it is not me who finishes the sermon, it is you! You finish the sermon with your life. That’s the one more thing I said I was going to get to. You finish the sermon - with your life.

In the few minutes I stand up here, if I have preached anything at all of the Word of God, imperfect though it might be, as I am an imperfect vessel; if I have preached even a glimmer of the Word of God, and then I sit down, the sermon is not over – it has only just begun! You finish it with your life!

How do I know? - because that is exactly what happens in this story this morning. Look at the story! Jesus preaches his "Seven-Second-Sermon," and he appears to be finished, but he’s not.

First of all, in the Bible, the Greek word that is commonly used for "finished" or "end," literally means "to bring to fulfillment." Jesus may have been done speaking the words, and it may have taken only a few seconds, but the sermon wasn’t over because it had not yet been come to fulfillment.

The Word of God, the Kingdom of God finds its fulfillment, its completion - in your life and my life. We are not meant to be casual and passive bystanders, but active participants!

How do I know? That’s what happens in the story. After Jesus’ "Seven-Second-Sermon," he immediately encounters Simon and Andrew casting their nets into the sea. And what happens? Jesus issues them an invitation. And what do they do? They leave their nets, and they follow! Now again, there may have been more to it, I don’t know, but the point is this is what’s really important; this is the pertinent point; this is what the Christian faith finally gets down to, for each and every one of us.

There is a really cool correlation between Jesus’ sermon (vs. 15) and his encounter with the disciples (vs. 17-18) I love this! The three elements of Jesus "Seven-Second-Sermon": 1) the kingdom of God draws near; 2) repent; 3) believe – are all present in his encounter with the disciples. Do you see it?

First, "The kingdom of God draws near." Look at verse 17. The kingdom of God is Jesus. Mark wants us to know that Jesus brings the kingdom of God. Mark wants us to know that before we ever turn to God, God has already taken the initiative, out of astounding love, and drawn near to us. You don’t have to go looking for God; or searching for God; or wondering what God is like. Jesus brings the kingdom of God to you! He approaches you. And when he brings it, he’s always invitational! "Follow me!" he invited them. And what it finally gets down to is that either you will, or you won’t!

Second, "Repent." "Repent?" you might say. The disciples did not repent! Oh yes they did! "And immediately they left their nets." (vs18) That’s repentance. Repentance means to turn around and go a new direction; to turn away from something, and to turn towards the approaching Jesus. Repentance means to change your focus. When you turn your life towards Jesus, nothing in your life remains the same. Repentance is turning a new direction. And when you turn, everything changes. Everything is suddenly different. The way you relate to every aspect of your life is different now because you are now grounded in and guided by another relationship – your relationship with Jesus Christ. Repentance is to turn away from whatever other thing or things it is that you have moved ahead of God, and turn toward the approaching Jesus.

Finally "Believe." "and they followed him." (vs 18) That’s the best illustration of belief in the Bible.

There comes a point when the Christian Faith is more than intellectual deliberation and emotional sentiment. There comes a crossroad moment, for sure, daily crossroad moments, when you move your feet and follow Jesus whether you feel like it or not; whether you’re absolutely convinced he is the Truth or your filled with doubt; whether you’re overflowing with warm fuzzy feelings of joy or terrified out of your skin, the Christian Faith gets down to moving your feet and following the One who has approached you, issued the invitation, called you to turn away from whatever preoccupation your are caught up in and follow.

When I was 21 years old and in my senior year of college, I drove buses part-time – school buses and coach tour buses. I’ll never forget the first job driving a coach tour bus I ever had. I drove from Rockford, Illinois into downtown Chicago – right up to the front door of the John Hancock Building on Michigan Avenue. And, I had to follow another bus driven by a 20-year veteran driver.

It was nightmare – a baptism of fire! In those days, in downtown Chicago, they used to have areas in the middle of some of the streets lined off and marked as "pedestrian safety islands." There were also these little signs, mounted on flat little stands that read "Pedestrian Safety Island."

They don’t have those signs any more I’m sure for many reasons, the first being that I ran over a substantial number of them on my inaugural bus driving excursion.

But the thing I’ll never forget was my focus. My focus was totally on the bus ahead of me that I was told to follow. If I lost him, I would not have known how to get there. It was critical to keep my focus.

I believe that’s the kind of focused intensity we are called to bring to our following Jesus.

It was just a "Seven-Second-Sermon," but it’s not over. It’s a sermon that longs to root itself in your life and mine; a sermon that yearns to find its fulfillment and completion there.

It’s a sermon that will be preached again and again through the witness and testimony of your life.

Will you allow Jesus’ sermon to find fulfillment in your life? Will you follow him today and again tomorrow and the next day when he issues the invitation all over again?