Why Should I follow Jesus?
Easter 2026 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Mic
Prayer
As we began to prepare for Easter,.… last week.… we looked at the issues of our heart. And we saw that Jesus was calling for us do do a heart check.
But why should we care about what Jesus thinks? Why should His call for us to repent, to turn away from our sins and follow Him matter to us?
Oh friend .… it should make all the difference in the world.… because of who He is.
Jesus was no ordinary man!
Jesus was God in the flesh. Jesus is calling us to repent because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and we will all have to answer to Him.
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17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
and later in
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22 “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,
or
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10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
We are all going to bow at the feet of Jesus. and when it says every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord… it is saying that we are all going to admit that Jesus Christ is the ultimate authority. We are all going to bow at His feet and say yes sir… what ever you say Sir… that is what I will do.
Now we can do that willingly… or unwillingly… but nevertheless, we are going to do it.
Now you may say yes… but how do I know this is true? .… I mean anybody can claim that He is God.. that we will have to answer to Him…
true .… but Jesus did not just come with empty words. He came with actions to support His claim.
How can I explain this?
Biden became President in 2021 and how did Russia respond to Biden’s urging for peace and to his warnings. Don’t do that.… They ignored his warnings. Russia viewed Biden as a weak leader and invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Hamas on what is now the infamous Oct 7, 2023 invasion, invaded Israel… they Killed, raped, and took over 200 people captive. All the attempts of Israel during the term of Biden were met with much resistance and with only few released at a ratio of 30 Palestinians per civilian (and many of those were dead).
Then Trump was elected. Trump said …
set the prisoners free or die. and there was a whole different response. Why? What was the difference? They knew Trump meant it and he had the power and the will to do something about it.
He closed the Mexican border in a matter of weeks.
He meant it when He told Venezuela to stop shipping drugs to the United States. When Maduro ignored Trump’s warnings his drug boats were blown out of the water. Trump sent in troops and took him prisoner and he is now sitting in an American jail cell. The country has a new leader.
Iran kept supporting terrorists, and Iran basically is no more.
Trump had the authority, the power, and the willingness to bring an end to the rebellion and he is doing it with extraordinary speed. He only has 4 years maybe 2 and he knows it.
However, that is not the case with Jesus Christ.
When Jesus returns, it will be for eternity. It is all written out for us in this book… the Bible… and it behooves us to study His word and to know His plan.
Furthermore, it would do us well to submit to His authority now while it is the opportune time.
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2 for He says, “At the acceptable time I listened to you, And on the day of salvation I helped you” ; behold, now is “the acceptable time,” behold, now is “the day of salvation” —
But let’s back up a bit… How do I know that Jesus is God? How do I know that He is the promised Messiah?
Jesus gave us more than ample proof. I do not have time to go through it all… but I will touch on some of the evidence.
Last week I spoke of the first Miracle of Jesus in our kid’s story when Jesus turned the water into wine.
At the very beginning of His ministry, Jesus and the disciples were invited to a wedding in Cana of Galilee.
Now weddings in those days could easily last a week and it was the responsibility of the hosts to provide food and drink for the wedding feast. The wine was a diluted wine. They would mix it three to seven parts water to wine. It was more like flavored water… but because of the alcohol in the water it would kill the bacteria. We chlorinate our water today to kill the bacteria, they would add a little wine. At any rate they were running out of wine and so Mary, the mother of Jesus, mentioned the problem to Jesus.
She then told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do. There were six large pots (each holding about 20 to 30 gallons of water) standing by. Jesus told them to take the empty pots and to go to the well (or the river) and fill them with water. You can read about this in John chapter 2.
5 Slides (ending vs 11)
7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.
8 And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the headwaiter.” And they took it to him.
9 And when the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom,
10 and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when men have drunk freely, then that which is poorer; you have kept the good wine until now.”
11 This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
How did Jesus turn ordinary water into wine. We can’t do this. Ordinary men can’t do this.. But Jesus is no ordinary man. The disciples understood this and as the scripture says “His disciples believed in Him.”
Will you believe in Him?
and this is not the only miracle Jesus did.
Now to make things simple I am going to continue in the gospel of John… so let’s go to John chapter 4.
Healing of the nobleman’s son.
Again, Jesus came to Cana and there was certain official whose son was sick in Capernaum. Now Capernaum was about 20 miles away. Capernaum is down by the sea of Galilee.
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I have here a map showing Capernaum and Cana of Galilee.
Let’s read the passage
8 Slides (ending vs 54)
47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him, and was requesting Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death.
48 Jesus therefore said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.”
49 The royal official said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he started off.
51 And as he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living.
52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”
53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives”; and he himself believed, and his whole household.
54 This is again a second sign that Jesus performed, when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.
Now… get the picture.… the official’s son is on his deathbed about 20 miles away in Capernaum. Jesus is up in the mountains in Cana.
and Jesus just says the word.… “Go your way, your son lives” and the boy is healed. No drugs, no surgery.. Jesus just says the word and he is healed.
No one can do that unless He has the power of God within him. and what was the result. Not only was the boy healed…
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53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives”; and he himself believed, and his whole household.
Jesus demonstrated that He not only had authority over laws of nature, but that He had authority over sickness and could heal people. Even if the person was not in front of him… but was in a different county.
Now that is some power!
But this is not all.
Jesus comes to Jerusalem. and he comes to the pool of Bethesda. where there were five covered porches.
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Again I have a picture for you.
7 Slides (ending vs 9)
3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters;
4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.
5 And a certain man was there, who had been thirty-eight years in his sickness.
6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you wish to get well?”
7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
8 Jesus said to him, “Arise, take up your pallet, and walk.”
9 And immediately the man became well, and took up his pallet and began to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day.
This man was a paraplegic. He couldn’t walk. He had been that way for most of his life. He had been there for 38 years.
His muscles had atrophied. He would not have had any strength in them at all.
and Jesus comes along and says get up and walk.
No physical therapy. No surgery .
He just says the word and the man gets up and walk.
Who can do that except the creator who created the world and everything within it in just six days?
God can do that… but no ordinary man can do it.
but then again.… Jesus was no ordinary man.
Why should we follow Jesus? Why should we listen to Him? Because Jesus is no ordinary man. He is the God- Man who has the power to heal us.
He is also the God who can provide for all of our needs.
We worry about so much… How will I feed my family?
How can I provide for their clothing or shelter.
Jesus demonstrated his power to provide for our needs not only at the Wedding in Cana when he turned the water into wine, but when he fed the 5,000 and then the 4,000.
Let’s turn to the next story in John chapter 6 - the feeding of the 5,000.
Jesus had been teaching and in verse 2 we are told that there was a great multitude following Him because they were seeing the signs that he was performing on those who were sick.
Jesus healed far more than just the paralytic. He had healed all sorts of people.
and Jesus asks Philip “Where can we buy bread so we can feed all these people. Philip answers Jesus 200 denarii would not even be sufficient to give each of them a little.
Now I have a note in my Bible that says a denarius was a days wage. So let’s think about this.
If a person earns let’s say just a little over minimum wage $18.00 an hour. For an 8 hour day.… and in that time it probably would have been more like a 12 hour work day. That would come to $216 a day… but just to make the math simple… let’s make it $200. or if you want to shorten the work day… call it $150.
but Philip said not even 200 denarii would be enough to give everyone just a little piece of bread.… so let’ multiply that by 200. That gives us somewhere in neighborhood of $30,000 to $40,000
Supposedly I can get a loaf of French bread for $1.65 so we are talking about 18,000 to 24,0000 loaves of French bread. and that would not even start to feed them.
Now our text tells us that the estimate of 5,000 men in verse 10… did not count the women and children, which is why I suggest we are talking about over 30,000 people. Families were much larger then.
With this in mind, let us move into our text.
7 Slides (ending vs 14)
8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him,
9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
11 Jesus therefore took the loaves; and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted.
12 And when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost.”
13 And so they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten.
14 When therefore the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “This is of a truth the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
The word for child or lad is παιδιον which generally refers to child below the age of puberty … so let’s say a 10 year old boy. He had 2 small fish and five dinner rolls for his lunch to snack on through out the day. so with this sack lunch Jesus feeds this large crowd of some 30,000 plus people including 5,000 full grown adult men and they filled up 12 baskets with left overs. Now the word for basket is κοφινος which is a large basket.
So if Jesus can feed a stadium filled with people from a boys sack lunch, don’t you think he can provide for all of our needs?
He gave sight to a man born blind. but more than that....
Jesus promises to give those who place their faith in Him and follow Him eternal life. He has has the power to give life and death! Jesus was no ordinary man. And Jesus did not just say this he proved it with His actions.
He raised a little girl from the dead. He raised a boy from the dead… but since I am sticking to the gospel of John, I am going to go to the example of Lazarus.
We read about it in John chapter 11.
Now Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus sent word to Jesus that their brother was sick because they were worried about him. We read about that in verse 2.
Jesus waits and does nothing. He waits for Lazarus to die, because He knew what he was going to do.
He waits and finally arrives in Bethany four days after Lazarus had died. We read about that in
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17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.
This is an important detail, because the Jews believed that the soul would hang around the tomb for three days. Jesus waited until Lazarus was good and dead. You could say Jesus wanted to give Lazarus time to be stinking dead. In fact that is how Martha described it in verse 39.
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39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
Jesus had waited this long because He wanted to make a point.
He had already told Martha
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23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother shall rise again.”
and
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25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies,
and so now Jesus answers Martha
6 Slides (ending vs 45)
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you, if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 And so they removed the stone. And Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou heardest Me.
42 “And I knew that Thou hearest Me always; but because of the people standing around I said it, that they may believe that Thou didst send Me.”
43 And when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.”
44 He who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings; and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
45 Many therefore of the Jews, who had come to Mary and beheld what He had done, believed in Him.
Can you picture Lazarus hopping out of the tomb, because he is wrapped up like a mummy?
Can you picture the amazement on the peoples faces as they see Lazarus, having been raised from the dead come hopping out of the tomb?
Can you picture yourself raising from the dead when Jesus returns and we shall all be caught up together with him to join Him in the air.
6 Slides (ending vs 26)
21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.
23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming,
24 then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.
25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.
26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
and
8 Slides (ending vs 58)
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;
57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
Why should I give my life to Jesus, make Him the Lord of my life, and follow Him?
Jesus is the one who has the power over nature.
Jesus is the one who has power over sickness and disease.
Jesus is the one who can supply all of our needs.
Jesus is the one who forgives our sins and gives us the gift of eternal life.
Do you want face death alone? or do you want to place your faith in someone who has the power over death and will give you the gift of eternal life?
As for me and my household, we are going to choose Jesus.
If you want to choose Jesus also, I invite you to come to the front of the sanctuary and take a stand for Jesus.
Let’s pray
