Transcript 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you

"Come, follow me," Jesus said,
“and . . . ." Matthew 4:19-20
“You should become a Christian . . .
"Come, follow me," Jesus said,
"and I will make you fishers of
men." Matthew 4:19-20
Transformed lives
Love and serve one another
Healings and miracles
Lots of new believers
3) Once a month, with my discipleship partner(s)
I will do something for someone in the community
for Christ’s sake.
2) I will get together weekly with at least one
other person for life discipleship process.
1) I will feed my soul daily in
God’s Word and prayer.
Base Camp: I’m a Christian who is now, or is working
toward being involved with C@C on Sundays, financially
supporting the church and involved in a ministry.
Some misconceptions about what it meant
to follow Jesus in His day.
• Then a teacher of the law came to him and said,
"Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
• Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the
air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to
lay his head."
• Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go
and bury my father."
• But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead
bury their own dead." Matthew 8:19-22
Some misconceptions about what it meant
to follow Jesus in His day.
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As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before
him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
• 18 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good — except God
alone. 19 You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit
adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your
father and mother.'"
• 20 "Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
• 21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you
lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give
to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then
come, follow me."
• 22 At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because
he had great wealth. Mark 10:17-22
Jesus on what it meant to follow Him.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would
come after me, he must
1. deny himself and
2. take up his cross and
3. follow me.
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for me will find it.
Matthew 16:24-26
Misconceptions about following Jesus
Back then
• It’s on my terms, when I get
around to it.
• It should be easy and
accessible to the
uncommitted.
• It’s primarily for my personal
benefit.
• To throw off Roman rule and
reestablish Israel as the
power on the planet.
Now
• It’s on my terms, when I get
around to it.
• It should be easy and
accessible to the
uncommitted.
• It’s primarily for my
personal benefit.
• My personal salvation so I’ll
go to heaven when I die.
Being a Christian
A follower of Jesus
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Believe the right things
Go to church
Going to heaven
Try to live a moral life
• Comfortable
• Smug
• Judgmental
Believes the right things
Goes to church
Going to heaven
Transformation by the Spirit
Mission
Uncomfortable
Compassionate
Gracious
Following Jesus meant/means:
• Laying aside your agenda for the best personal life
possible for yourself and taking up God’s agenda for
the best life possible for those around you.
• Forsaking the kind of person you would have been if
you hadn’t decided to follow the Messiah.
• Becoming like Jesus, one who ushers in the breath of
another world (heaven) wherever you are.
• Confident, compassionate, courageous -- on a
mission to bring heaven to earth for earth weary
people. A mission to restore the people and the
planet to what God intended them to be.
Ready to Follow Jesus?
• Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If
anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife
and children, his brothers and sisters — yes, even his own life — he
cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and
follow me cannot be my disciple.
• "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and
estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he
lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will
ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to
finish.'
• "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not
first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to
oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not
able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and
will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not
give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:25-33
Ready to Follow Jesus?
• So, would it be worth it to you to become the kind
of person Jesus was/is?
• If so, what hindrances do you face as you become
a full devoted follower of Jesus?
Internal Hindrances to Following Jesus
• My sin, tendencies to sin.
• My inability.
• Motivation?
External Hindrances to Following Jesus
• Busy-ness, life’s fast pace, routine, pressures.
• Subtle pressures to live a life acceptable in my
culture. (individualistic, materialistic,
consumerist, appearance/performance based
approval)
• Church and Christianity as we know it.
Hindrances to Following Jesus
My sin, tendencies to sin.
My inability.
Motivation?
Busy-ness, life’s fast pace, routine, pressures.
Subtle pressures to live a life acceptable in my
culture. (individualistic, materialistic,
consumerist, appearance/performance based
approval)
Church and Christianity as we know it.
"Come, follow me," Jesus said,
"and I will make you fishers of
men." Matthew 4:19-20
What would your life be like if you were
truly following Jesus as He intended?
• You would be the kind of person Jesus was!
• So, what kind of person was Jesus?
How would your week be different?
In our day we don’t think so much
about ‘following Jesus,’ or ‘being like
Jesus’ we think in terms of being a
really good Christian.
• So, what does it mean to be a really good
Christian? The best Christian in the church?
• How’s that compare with what Jesus meant
when He called, “Follow Me and I’ll make you
fishers of people”?