Follow Me

Follow Me

LaSonja C. Richardson / General

Follow Christ; Church Leadership

Follow the leader

For today’s message, if you’re a note taker, if you are someone who likes to review the Scripture that was preached later, or if you like to follow along, I suggest you grab something to write with and some paper because today’s message is going to be what’s called a topical message and I’m going to give you many Scriptures.

Amen? Let us pray.

As children, we played many games. The games they play are much different now, but one of the games we played even as we got older, was, Follow the Leader.

In the game, follow the leader, you had to do exactly what the leader did or you were eliminated from the game.

In order to follow the leader, you had to pay close attention to what the leader did and hope that what they did was not too difficult for you to do.

If the leader was very athletic and you weren’t, you probably were not going to last long in the game.

To follow the leader, you had to have at least a little trust in the leader.

• You had to trust they weren’t going to lead you into something that was dangerous.

• You had to trust they weren’t going to do something too difficult. And…

• You had to trust they weren’t going to lead you into something that was going to get you into trouble.

The basic rules to follow the leader are pretty simple, in fact, so simple it’s what toddlers do.

• One child is chosen to be the leader.

• The rest of the children line up behind the leader.

• They must copy all the actions and movements of the leader (run when the leader runs, do jumping jacks, turn around and take 3 steps forward, etc.)

• Anyone who does not successfully copy a movement is out.

• The last child still following at the end is the leader in the next round.

There are benefits for children playing this game. Some of them are…

• First and foremost, it teaches children to follow directions – in this case, visual directions.

• Children have to pay attention to what is happening in front of them, or risk being “out”.

• This builds their concentration span.

• Copying the various movements develops gross motor skills as kids are using the large muscles of their bodies.

• They develop speed, balance, agility, directionality and other skills.

• It’s an active game that gets the blood pumping. Exercise or movement is healthy for children’s bodies and minds.

• By playing the “leader” kids learn to think creatively as they have to perform a series of actions for their followers.

These are just a few of the benefits of playing follow the leader.

Today I’m going to talk about following the leader in a message entitled, “Follow Me”.

Did you get you something to write with and on? Because here we go.

There are many circumstances, situations and reasons we would voluntarily and sometimes involuntarily follow someone.

In the Scriptures, there are numerous times Jesus utters the words “follow me”.

Before we decide to follow someone, it would make sense to at least know a little something about them. Amen?

When you apply for a job, hopefully you have done some research. At a minimum, you have looked at the requirements of the position and if you’re really sharp you have looked at the company and its history.

In our first set of Scriptures Jesus sees some men busy at their jobs and calls them out with simple words.

We begin with Matt 4:18-19 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Simon Peter and his brother Andrew were not just standing on the shore fishing for dinner that day. They were commercial fishermen, it was their business, it’s how they made their living.

Jesus was calling them to a new profession, one they knew nothing about. At this point Jesus had been doing some preaching and these brothers may have heard him before, but now this was a special call, it was personal, and it was targeted.

Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. He used words they could identify with. Words that were familiar to them and words they could easily understand.

They may not have known the bait they would be using, but they knew how to fish.

Mk 2:14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.

Jesus is once again, teaching by the lakeshore. You’re going to do what you’re called to do. Jesus was a teacher and that’s what he did.

But he was also God in the flesh, and he was preparing disciples to continue his work after he was gone.

When you ask someone to follow you, you have to not only know where you’re leading them, but you have to know why.

When you go to school, when you go to church, when you go to Sunday school, when you go to Bible study, you are being asked to follow someone. You are trusting that they are giving you the correct information, information that is going to help you

• get your degree

• information that is useful to you

• information that is going to benefit you

• and in the case of the church, information that is going to help you live a life that is pleasing to God

Do you know where you’re going to…

Jn 1:43 The day following [This was the day after he called Simon Peter and Andrew] Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.

Jesus continues to call out his disciples, the 12 men who would walk with him for the next 3 years.

• Learning of and from him.

• Watching him.

• Emulating him.

• Making mistakes, missteps and misspeaking.

• Asking questions and not understanding the answers.

The men Jesus called out were not chosen because they were perfect. They weren’t chosen because of their knowledge. The weren’t chosen because they were popular, well-liked, or well-connected.

• In fact, Matthew was a tax collector and by trade a dishonest person who took advantage of people.

• Judas was a thief who was the treasurer for the group and stole money.

• The group competed and bickered with each other.

• A couple of them wanted a special seat in heaven.

• And much of the time, they just didn’t get the lesson Jesus was trying to teach them.

So Jesus didn’t choose them because they had it all together. He chose them because he saw the potential in who they could be, he saw who they would be; all of them—even Judas

God sees the potential in you too. He sees who and what he called you to be.

In this next set of Scriptures we see Jesus calling out others. We see him inviting you into the circle.

What will your answer be?

In Jn 10:27 Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:”

Who are you following? Dare I say we all follow someone, whether it’s our parents, a brother or sister, a mentor, a counselor, a coach, a pastor, or just someone we admire. Who are you following?

• Are you one of Jesus’ sheep? Or do you belong to Satan. There’s only two sides.

• Can you hear his voice? Have you spent enough time to be able to know it’s him?

• Does he know you? Or are you strange child coming up asking him for something?

• Are you following him? Or do you just look over every once in a while to see if you see him?

Well, to hear his voice you must first spend time with him, in prayer, in meditation, in study; reading the Bible, reading books that give you a fuller picture of the Bible. There are books that give you the rest of the story about what was happening, where they were, who they were talking to, and why they were saying what they were saying.

When you read the Bible, it’s important to know the who, what, when, where, and why of the words written on the pages.

It’s important to know what is history, what is poetry, and what is prophecy. You need to know what was an account of an actual event vs. what was a parable, a story told to give the listener better understanding of a situation.

It’s important to know who was talking and who they were talking to. Who was their audience? Were they Jew or Gentile?

It’s important to know where they were when they said what they said. Were they in a metropolis, bustling with all types of activities, including prostitution, pagan worship and sacrifices? Or were they at someone’s house for dinner.

There are so many things that can get in the way of you hearing his voice. Everyone has someone or something that is trying to block their ability to hear when Jesus is speaking to them. You must learn to fight.

• Fight through the noise.

• Fight through turmoil.

• Fight through the confusion.

• Fight through the pain.

Sometimes you’ve got to fight through the things that threaten to kill you, that threaten to take your soul.

This Christian walk is not always going to be easy, in fact, Paul tells us in Romans 5we will have trials and tribulations, but there’s a reason for them, they come to make us strong.

For those who think the preacher said the journey will be easy, in the words of the country singer, Lynn Anderson…

“I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden Along with the sunshine There's gotta be a little rain sometime”

The Scripture says it this way, God causes his sun to shine on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

When you are challenged, don’t fold, don’t cower or run away. Study so you can stand, study so you can give an answer for the faith you have, study to show yourself approved unto God.

Matt 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Deny themselves. To deny oneself goes against human nature. From birth it is all about us. You don’t believe me? Bring home a newborn and see who runs the house, especially late in the midnight hour, you’ll be praying for God to turn it around and make that baby go to sleep.

They get a little older and learn the word mine and they believe their little piece of the world and everything in it belongs to them.

And unless there is something done to disrupt the pattern, like being taught to share, that behavior continues.

Jesus calls for us to deny ourselves, it’s not about us.

Then he says to take up your cross. Your cross is anything that would hinder you from following Christ.

And finally, Jesus says, “Follow me”. To follow Jesus

• you’re going to have to put some things down

• you’re going to have to let some things go

• you’re going to have to separate yourself from some people

• you’re going to have to change the way you think

• you’re going to have to learn a new way to speak

• you’re going to have to put others before yourself

• you’re going to have to love everybody

• you’re going to have to practice forgiveness

• you’re going to have to develop patience

To follow Jesus

• takes work

• it takes change

• it takes commitment

• it takes stamina

• it takes determination

• it takes a made up mind

• it takes putting one foot in front of the other

• it takes living this day and every day as if it’s your last, because we don’t know when our last day will be and we don’t know when Jesus is coming back for his church.

And so, while we wait, we follow the blueprint Jesus walked out before us. The Bible is our guide, it’s written to help us learn and understand the character of God.

It’s written so that, even though God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours, we have something to strive for, something to aspire to.

Mk 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

This sounds like it’s a repeat of Matt, but it’s not. In Matthew he was alone with his disciples and in this passage in Mark, Jesus has called the people to him and his disciples also, so they’re hearing this again. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.

This is our invitation. We are the people and the instructions are still the same.

Jn 12:26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.

There are those who say they are serving Jesus, yet they’re not following him. So how does that work?

Two words, it doesn’t.

If you are calling yourself a servant of Christ, you must follow his lead, you must follow the leader. You must go where he goes, say what he says, do what he does, and think like he thinks. Because if you don’t—you’re out.

If you are serving Christ; if you call yourself a disciple of Christ, then you must follow Christ. Then and only then will the Father honor you.

And when the Father honors you, it’s more than you could imagine.

Then, there’s always those who think, I got this, I’m a good person, I do what’s right, I am holy. Well, let’s look at a conversation Jesus had with a rich man. I’m going to give you just a couple of versus in the conversation, you read the whole thing in your study time this week.

This is an account of a rich man who came to Jesus with a question.

Matt 19:16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. Wait, what?

That was pretty direct. The young man thought he had it all together because he followed the law, but wait there’s more.

It’s no longer just about the Law of Moses, God expects more from us. We are under the dispensation of grace.

God has given and does give us grace, yet we want to crucify, cut off, cut out, and discard people who don’t dress like, think like, and act like us.

Where would we be if Christ treated us that way? Where’s the grace God gave us? Where’s the opportunity to get it right?

Where’s the love and patience?

I’m not saying to accept sin, but you’ve got to learn to separate the sin from the sinner and recognize that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Yes, including you.

At the same time, the “nobody’s perfect” defense goes in the category of, shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid!

It’s not that we turn a blind eye to sin, it’s that we don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.

• Everyone has value,

• everyone has a soul,

• God created everyone (whether they act like it or not)

• everyone was fearfully and wonderfully made (whether they act like it or not),

• And—every knee shall bow and every tongue must confess that Jesus is Lord, the question is will the confession be made on this side when it benefits you and those around you? Or will it be made as you bow before the judgment seat?

• Because saints, there will be a judgment, so would you rather I give you a gently nod on this side or hear depart from me you worker of iniquity on the other side when it will be too late?

Now this may sound like a contradiction, because earlier I said you may have to leave some people behind and now I’m saying we should show grace.

If you are not strong enough to walk out the journey God has laid before you amongst the people you have in your life and they refuse to come with you, then you must leave them behind and follow Jesus.

You must be willing to leave everything to follow Jesus. You pray diligently for them, you continue to witness to them, but at some point you have to leave them in God’s care, knowing and accepting you can’t save anybody. That is something only God can do.

And saints of God, when we witness, it’s not a I’m going to work on this one until they accept Christ then I’ll go to the next one, or I’m trying to get the people in my house first.

Go ye therefore into all the world. That means wherever you go, you should be telling somebody about Christ and inviting them to your church.

You should be sharing the message on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

Telling somebody about what’s going on at your church.

Is this a place you’re proud and happy to be? Then tell somebody. The best advertisement there is, is word of mouth. Do you have any words coming out of your mouth about our services? Not just the Food Pantry, but our church services.

Are you encouraging anyone to join us in our mission?

Do you know what our mission is? It’s, “Lifting up Jesus, winning souls for the Kingdom of God.”

Do you know that our vision is to, “Be a place where people come for enlightenment, encouragement and empowerment to advance and enhance the Kingdom of God.”

We can’t enlighten, encourage or empower people if they don’t come into the service.

We can’t advance and enhance the Kingdom of God, if people don’t show up for the training. “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” You gotta show up, you gotta commit, you gotta learn.

Follow me.

At the end of the day this is what it all comes down the reason you follow Christ is this…

Jn 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

You ever have those people who just don’t listen? It doesn’t matter what you say, it doesn’t matter how much proof you give them, they will still argue, they will go to as many people as they need to, to get someone to say they were right and you were wrong?

This scripture is coming after Jesus deals with the men who had brought the woman caught in the act of adultery, although adultery takes two people, they had only brought the woman and were prepare to stone her.

Jesus ultimately handles the situation telling them, he who has no sin throw the first stone. And one by one they all walked away, no one throwing a stone.

Yet, there were more Pharisees debating with him, trying to trap him into saying something they could dispute. They just didn’t want Jesus to be right and so they argued.

Jesus had spent the day trying to help people, educate them, save them, yet there was opposition at every turn, but he didn’t stop. He never gave up, even to the giving of his life on the cross.

Here he kept talking, telling them who he was, even though they weren’t listening, he didn’t give up.

Despite the fact they weren’t trying to hear what Jesus said, he still shared that he was and is the light of the world, the whole world, not just the Jews.

So what does light do? Well…

• It illuminates the darkness

• It guides the way

• It is one of the names of the Messiah according to Daniel 2:22 “He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with him.”

• It enlightens those it touches.

When you follow him, the light of Jesus makes it so you don’t have to walk in darkness, because when you walk in darkness

• you can stub or break your toe

• when you walk in darkness you can stumble

• when you walk in darkness you can fall

• when you walk in darkness you can go the wrong direction

• when you walk in darkness you can do the wrong thing

• when you walk in darkness you can say the wrong thing

But when you follow Jesus you can walk in the light, beautiful light.

• When you follow Jesus, you’ll have the light of life

• To follow Jesus, you must submit to his guidance

• To follow Jesus, you must take directions from him in every thing

Be careful not to follow the false lights that will lead to destruction. How will you know? You try the spirit by the Spirit.

To follow Jesus’ light you must believe in him and it, because how can you follow someone you don’t believe in.

You must believe that Jesus is real, that he is the Son of God, that he was born of a virgin, died on a cross for your sins, was buried, rose again, and ascended back to the right hand of the Father where he now sits interceding on your behalf.

Romans 10:9 says this, “9 because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

It’s a simple prayer that sounds something like this. “God, I confess I’m a sinner, please forgive me. Jesus I believe you are the Son of God, please come into my heart. I give you my life, in your name I pray. Amen”

If you prayed that prayer for the first time, welcome to the family, now find yourself a Bible believing, Bible teaching church where you can truly learn what it means to follow Jesus.

For our online viewers, if you live in the Douglasville, GA vicinity, please join us Sundays at 8:45 for Sunday School and 10 a.m. for worship service at 3500 Hwy 5. But first…share this message on whatever platform you may be viewing.

You may find it challenging to follow someone you haven’t seen and have only read about in a book or heard preached about; if that’s you, I invite you to follow me as I follow Christ and let’s turn this world upside down for Jesus.

Who am I you might ask? Check out our website at www.lovechristianctr.org on the leadership tab or just give me a call and let’s talk.

If you’re here in the sanctuary…