Follow Jesus

The Church carries the command from Jesus to share the Gospel with the rest of the world.

Matthew 28:18–20 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

How do we make other disciples?

Well, first, we have to start by being disciples!

Last week I taught you guys about some of the qualities of a disciple:

#1 Prioritize Jesus

#2 Be obedient to God’s Word

#3 Bear fruit!!

#4 Loves other disciples

#5 Makes more disciples

But really, the first step to being a disciple is to follow Jesus.

Jesus invited people to follow him, and those who said yes became his disciples

They were his disciples before they were reflecting those great characteristics

So, those things are good things to strive for, and to accomplish.

You should want to do those things, but it doesn’t disqualify you from being a disciple.

And it definitely doesn’t disqualify you from making more disciples.

So the first step for you to being a disciple is to follow Jesus.

Tonight, I really want to focus our attention to following Jesus in our own lives.

My ultimate desire is that you guys know and love Jesus.

AND TONIGHT I’M GOING TO SHARE WITH YOU THE GOSPEL “THE GOOD NEWS” AND GIVE YOU THE OPPORTUNITY AT THE END OF MY MESSAGE TO FOLLOW JESUS FOR THE FIRST TIME.

I ALSO WILL GIVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY AT SOME POINT DECIDED TO FOLLOW JESUS TO MAKE A RECOMMITMENT OF THEIR FAITH. THIS MEANS YOU HAVE DECIDED TO FOLLOW JESUS IN THE PAST, BUT MAYBE YOU FELL AWAY AND YOU WANT TO RECOMMIT TO FOLLOWING HIM.

I want to take us to a very basic scripture that I’m sure many of us have heard before.

John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Let’s divide this passage into for sections for the sake of our understanding.

Section 1: “For God so loved the world,

God is perfect and the world is not perfect

In order for us to truly love God, he had to give us the option to truly reject Him

Sin is what happens when we reject God and his commands.

We cause the world to be imperfect because we reject God

But God SO loved the world.

Despite how broken the world is (because it rejected him) God loves it anyway with PASSION!!

Section 2: that he gave his only Son,

If God is a perfect judge

A perfect judge will always deliver justice

In his Word, God says the the wages of sin is death. He says this repeatedly in the Bible.

In the beginning of the Bible, God tells the man he created that if he is disobedient he will die.

Ezekiel 18:4 “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.”

Exodus 34:6–7 “The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.””

God promises that the guilty will be punished.

The punishment for the guilty is the wrath of God which is eternal separation from God.

But it says in this passage, that God gave us Jesus.

He gave us Jesus to pay the punishment for our sin.

Someone had to be punished, so God provided us with Jesus.

The punishment of God’s wrath, which I deserved, was fully paid by Jesus on the cross.

He had to die because the punishment for sin is death.

Section 3: that whoever believes in him

To believe in Jesus is more than just a claim

It involves trust and commitment to Christ as Lord and Savior

This trust and commitment produces a change in our heart and obedience

Section 4: should not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus didn’t just die for you, he also conquered death and lives

And his resurrection demonstrates that he is God, he has defeated death, and that we can attain a new life through him.

Everything in this world passes away, it all dies.

Our childhood dies

Our athletic abilities

Our friendships

Our families

All the things we enjoy about this world

All of it eventually dies

But the love of God showed up for us in the form of Jesus to give us a life that is immeasurable–– eternal life.

To be a part of the Church is to be a disciple of Jesus, and to be a disciple of Jesus is to follow him wholeheartedly.

Do you know with certainty that you are a follower of Jesus?

Do you want to receive that certainty tonight?

John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

It’s done. The price for sin is paid.

All you have to do is stop putting your trust in a world that is passing away. A world that will die.

And instead put your faith in Jesus who conquered death.

Let me pray for us.

God, you love us so much,

that in all of our brokenness,

in all of our sin,

you rescued us,

and offered us eternal life.

Thank you for loving us God.

Earlier I said I’d give you guys an opportunity to follow Jesus or recommit to following Jesus,

So if you are someone who has never put their faith in Jesus, or maybe has strayed away from their faith but you want to make a recommitment, God loves you, and he is waiting for you. This right here tonight is evidence that he is chasing after your heart. Put your faith in Jesus tonight. Don’t wait. That feeling in your gut that this is for you, is God pressing in your heart to follow him.

If you want to follow Jesus or recommit your faith to him I want to lead you in a prayer, with all of your heads bowed, I want you to raise your hand so I know who I’m praying for.

Put your faith in Jesus tonight, just raise your hand.

Pray this prayer after me:

Jesus, I know that I have sinned.

In some way or another,

I have rejected you.

But you died on the cross,

To pay the punishment of my sin,

and offer me new life.

Jesus,

I want to turn away from my old life,

a life that is perishing,

and from this moment on,

I want to follow you.

Thank you for giving me new life.

I pray all this in Jesus name,

amen.