Follow Ye the Lord!

Deuteronomy 13:1–4 NLT

“Suppose there are prophets among you or those who dream dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles occur. If they then say, ‘Come, let us worship other gods’—gods you have not known before—do not listen to them. The Lord your God is testing you to see if you truly love him with all your heart and soul. Serve only the Lord your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him.

Introduction:

I was recently reminded of a time back when I was in the Marine Corps and we were on a training exercise in the jungle of Okinawa. It was so dark that we had to put a hand on the shoulder of the man in front of us. In order to get where we needed to go, we had to follow the man in front of us. (Maybe you can relate.)

Or you might remember the Alex Murdaugh trial that was all over the news. First it was the mystery and then the trial, but all of the nation was glued to the television. Many of you probably remember the OJ Simpson trial was like that too. Everyone was following the case. The news channels would say something like, “tune in at 6:00 and we will continue to follow the case closely.”

Or maybe you are one of the 368 million followers on Twitter or X as its now called.

As human beings, we have the tendency to follow. Even strong leaders know that to be a good leader, you must be a good follower. It is in our nature.

Today, I want to talk to you about following.

We Follow Influencers

Deuteronomy 13:1–3 ““Suppose there are prophets among you or those who dream dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles occur. If they then say, ‘Come, let us worship other gods’—gods you have not known before—do not listen to them. The Lord your God is testing you to see if you truly love him with all your heart and soul.”

The people of Israel were a fickle group of people.

They were hard headed in some ways and yet easily influenced in other ways.

Do you remember the golden calf?

Now God is speaking to the next generation of wilderness travelers and warning them not to make the same mistakes that their parents made.

Paul warned the Roman Christians not to copy the customs of this world (Romans 12:2)

Jesus said:

Matthew 24:11 “And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people.”

Matthew 24:24 “For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones.”

Today we have many people trying to influence us.

There are YouTubers, Twitter or X posters, and Tik-Tok influencers who are making what they say seem so real

There are politicians who are often very charismatic, in the secular sense of the word, dramatically scoring points for their cause.

There are also many people filling pulpits across the world attempting to lead people toward a better society. I don’t mean to scare you here. There are many choice servants of God who preach because that is what God called them to do. However there are others who are nothing more that physco babblists trying to make you feel better about yourself.

Don’t be fooled by Influencers!

We Follow The Crowds

Deuteronomy 13:12–13 ““When you begin living in the towns the Lord your God is giving you, you may hear that scoundrels among you are leading their fellow citizens astray by saying, ‘Let us go worship other gods’—gods you have not known before.”

The wilderness travelers were about to receive their promised land and God knew how fickle they were.

He warned them that people would start coming up with ideas that they should not fall for.

The apple did not fall too far from the tree.

Their parents would have been the ones who lived in Egypt and crossed through the Red Sea on dry ground.

They would have been the ones who cried out for food and God gave them manna.

They got tired of heavenly food and began to complain about the onions and leeks that they got for free in Egypt (Numbers 11).

Much of the New Testament is devoted to teaching us not to follow society.

Jesus said: John 15:19 “The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.”

1 John 2:15 “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.”

Colossians 3:2 “Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.”

Ephesians 2:2 “You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.”

Let’s face it people are fickle and will fall for anything.

PT Barnum is known for saying “There is a fool born every minute and two to take him.”

Have you ever been taken advantage of by a smooth talking sales man or a TV ad that just sounded too good to be true?

I saw a sociology study where someone got on the elevator and turned around to face the opposite direction. As others entered the elevator they eventually all one by one turned toward the opposite direction. Of course it is funny but also very sad at the same time because it exposes our desire to fit in.

People so desperately want to fit in that they will do just about anything to fit in.

When I was in High School it was smoking or getting an ear ring. My parents were not Christians but knew not to let me follow the crowds. Today I am thankful for that but wanted to rebel so badly so I could be like all the other kids in school.

Of course it wasn’t all the other kids, it was just a few who seemed to make an impression.

Today, fads are so much worse than getting an earring. People are having unnatural things done like surgically altering their bodies to fit into a mold that “SOMEONE” says is okay or good.

Be careful not to follow the crowds.

We Follow Ourselves

There has long been a movement in society for you “To Just Be Yourself!”

Or maybe you have heard this one: “Follow your heart.”

I don’t want to attempt to insult anyone as there are many fine leaders and innovators.

There are brilliant people who contribute to society in many wonderful ways.

But human beings left to their own accord will devise ways to self destruct.

Hollywood has made billions off this notion. Too many movies have been made showing how morality goes out the window when a man is put into certain situations.

Listen to what the prophet Jeremiah says about following our heart:

Jeremiah 17:9 ““The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?”

Solomon the wisest person to ever live said this:

Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.”

Paul really does a great job of spelling out what happens when we follow ourselves:

Galatians 5:19–21 “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”

Based on this little bit of information it would make sense that following myself will lead to destruction.

I must have help!

Since we have such a need to follow, we must choose wisely who we follow. May I be so bold as to offer Jesus as the one to follow.

He (Jesus) said it the best:

Luke 9:23 “Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.”

Joshua gave those wilderness travelers an option when they were going to settle in their new homes. We quote it all the time and we have decorations made for our homes.

Joshua 24:15 “But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.””

Today, you get to make the same choice

Who will you follow?

If it is God that you choose, then you must stop following influencers, the crowd and even yourself.

Choose today. As for me and my house we choose to serve the Lord. Amen

Altar