Who Are You Going To Follow?

Matthew 4:19 “And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.””

I personally like how the NIV translates it …. “Come Follow Me!”

Have you ever been getting ready to go on a trip?

Maybe this trip was with a group.

Maybe it was in a “CONVOY” or “CARAVAN”

Everybody is packed and ready to go.

All questions have been answered.

Except that last and most important one …. WHO IS GOIN TO LEAD?

How do you determine who is going to lead the pack?

By Age?

By Gender?

By Experience?

Do you realize that everyone on the face of this earth is going to follow some sort of leadership?

You are going to follow someone!

Someone is saying to themselves right now, ……

“I am not going to follow anyone!”

“I follow my own path!”

“I am going to do it my way!”

I have some news for you!

You are going to follow someone

A teacher, professor, boss, etc.

You are not going down your own path.

And there is no such thing as “MY WAY.”

No matter what Frank Sinatra or Limp Bizkit says!

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bible says, you are either following Jesus or you are not.

That means if you are not following Jesus then you are following someone else.

Who could that be?

That someone else is Satan and his demonic force.

As followers of Christ we understand and believe there is a spiritual battle going as we speak.

We believe this because this is what the Bible tells us.

Our souls are being fought for.

If I may use a visual that we all are familiar with, the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other.

The angel saying, “Come follow me.”

The Devil saying, “No! Come follow me.”

But I have good news for us today ……

You will all be asked this question.

If you haven’t already, you will be asked.

Jesus will ask each and every one of us to “Come follow Him!”

You might be saying, “He has never asked me!”

I have some more good news for you today, HE IS GOING TO TODAY!

It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do.

Jesus Loves you are he wants you to “Come follow Him.”

BODY

There are three types of people Jesus will call to FOLLOW HIM!

1. The Faithful Attenders

It doesn’t matter if you have been in Church all your life.

As Jesus walked on the shore of the Sea of Galilee he called out to 2 men who were fishing and said to them, “Come follow Me.”

“Come Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”

The Bible tells us that they left everything and followed Him.

These were good men

These were men who were religious.

It’s not about being good or religious.

It’s about following Jesus!

Not this philosophy of, “I put my time in on Sunday mornings so I don’t have to do anything else until next Sunday.”

Wrong

Jesus will call Good (Faithful) people to follow him!

Jesus will not only call on the faithful ….. but …..

2. The Sinner (Matthew 9:9 “As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.”)

Jesus called on Matthew the tax collector.

In those days that was an evil occupation.

Today we call this group the IRS

Some things don’t change!

In Jesus day these tax collectors stole money.

They used their authority over others to get what they wanted.

You might be thinking, “I have to many sin’s or they are to vile or evil, Jesus could never call me to come and follow him.”

This is a lie straight from Satan himself.

You are “SO LOVED” by Jesus and he wants to spend eternity with you in Heaven.

Not only will Jesus call the faithful and the sinners to follow him …. But

3. The Fence Riders! (Matthew 19:16–21 “And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”)

Jesus is asked by the rich young man, “What must I do to get into heaven?”

This Rich young man have given to God.

He abided by the Law of Moses all his life.

But he knew there was something missing.

Jesus pointed out what was missing ……

The Young man refused to listen.

Every one of these groups of people had a choice to make, Follow Jesus or not!

I believe we live in a society today that wants Jesus to forgive them of their sins.

There is nothing like that feeling when someone forgives you of a wrong doing you did.

People want Jesus to be their savior!

But they don’t want him to lead them.

Be their LORD!

Many are being faced with the question today, “Who is going to lead your life?”

Many of those who will be entering a new chapter in your life (Graduating from High School)….

Who is going to lead you?

For all of us ….. we will be faced with this question each and every day.

WHO ARE WE GOING TO FOLLOW?

I believe all of us want to make the right decisions.

Making one good decision tends to lead to another good decision.

But making one bad decision tends to lead to another bad decision.

Each and every one of us faces this decision each and every day.

The class of 2024, you are faced with this decision, now, tomorrow, your fist day at college or work, your new friends at school.

Who are you going to follow?

There is really only two choices …….. Satan? Or Christ?