Followers

intro- How many followers do you have? immediately when i ask that what comes to mind? an app? social media? anxiety or pressure? the idea of having followers has become a big deal in our society today but the idea of following has been around for alot longer. we follow people now for a lot of different reasons, and tonight we will look at the scriptures to determine WHO followed WHY they followed How they followed.

What is a follower?

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Disciple > Dd

Disciple. Someone who follows another person or another way of life and who submits himself to the discipline (teaching) of that leader or way. In the Bible the term “disciple” is found almost exclusively in the Gospels and the Book of Acts, the only exceptions being Isaiah 8:16 and less directly Isaiah 50:4 and 54:13, where the same Hebrew word is translated “learned” and “taught,” respectively. Yet clearly wherever there is a teacher and those taught, the idea of discipleship is present.

Addie illustration.

Disciple has several words connected to it in the Hebrew context.

learner/ doer/ imitator/ hearer/worker. Early christians were not MERELY followers i.e i go where you go. they were all of these words that you see included here.

There is much more to being a Christian than you realize.

we cant just merely go to a place where we think Jesus would go i.e church or worship concerts/ camp.

We MUST be LEARNERS and DOERS of the word.

we come to service and we hear great preaching and we experience a good time in the presence of God. we hear the scriptures revealed and the word of God goes forth but let me ask you this....

When is the last time you actually did what God said to do??

1john 2:4-6

New Living Translation Chapter 2

3 And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. 4 If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

see this makes us uncomfortable. Because to say we are something is easy. people do this alll the time. claim to be something they aren’t.

commercial from geico.

we look at this guy and we say “well he clearly isnt a vegan he had bacon for breakfast.” you and i know that but somehow in his mind he has got it that its ok to eat meat every now and then, but he isnt commited to the conviction that it takes to be a true vegan. the problem is...

The world is full of people who say they are christians but dont behave like they are.

according to a quick google search

Christianity is the most prevalent religion in the United States. Estimates suggest that between 65% and 75% of the US population is Christian (about 230 to 250 million).

if this statistic is true. then why are crime rates as high as they are? why is drug use increasing. why is premarital sex and divorce prevalent in our societies today? it is because that statistic is an indicator of how many people “SAID” they were a christian NOT how many people “LIVE” like they are!

So what if i’m a christian in name only and i mostly do the right things?

to be christian in name only is to do three things

1. Deny the power

jesus said that he would give power to his disciples and with that power they would perform miracles and cast out demons in his name.

2. Deny the purpose

God has created each of us with a divine purpose that we can not feel satisfied without. until we are walking in that calling we will alway feel that longing

3. Deny the promise

every promise found in scripture about prosperity, peace, comfort, joy, abundance, favor, blessing is reserved for the Disciple of Christ. this is why we have to DO christianity

We must strive to live our lives like Jesus did.

please dont lose heart. im not asking you to never make a mistake notice the word i put in that title STRIVE.

STRIVE- to make great efforts to obtain or achieve something.

we must purpose in our hearts and minds that we are going to live the way jesus did regardless of our circumstance. to make genuine purposeful effort to do the opposite of what our flesh wants.

we are all on this journey and i believe that with God’s help we will see that we can achieve the christlike life.