CALL
TO ALL – FOLLOW ME
BREAD
18 As
Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called
Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they
were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 At once they left their nets
and followed him. Matthew 4:18-20 (NIV)
23 Then
he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he
must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For
whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me
will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet
lose or forfeit his very self? 26 If anyone is ashamed of me and
my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and
in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Luke 9:23-26 (NIV)
28 Peter
said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!” 29 “I
tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no one
who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of
the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many
times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.” Luke 18:28-30 (NIV)
27 Peter
answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be
for us?” 28 Jesus
said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of
all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have
followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or
father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times
as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But
many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” Matthew 19:27-30 (NIV)
3 “The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to
his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When
he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow
him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a
stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a
stranger's voice.” John 10:3-5
(NIV)
26 “Whoever
serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father
will honor the one who serves me.” John 12:26
(NIV)
1 Follow
my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV)
21 To
this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example,
that you should follow in his steps. 22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his
mouth.” 23 When
they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he
made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 1 Peter 2:21-23 (NIV)
5 But if
anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we
know we are in him: 6 Whoever
claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
1 John 2:5-6 (NIV)
27 Whatever
happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then,
whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know
that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the
gospel 28 without
being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them
that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved--and that by God. 29 For it has been granted to you
on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are going through
the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have. Philippians 1:27-30 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Most
of us get up in the morning saying, ‘I am going to make something of my life,
and I’ll follow Jesus too.’ But I just
want you to know that we can’t have it both ways. We have to have the formula right. ‘Follow Me,’ Jesus said, ‘and as you follow
Me, I will make something of your life.’”
Joseph Stowell, III
“Throw your heart
over the fence and the rest will follow.”
Norman Vincent Peale
“To be rebuffed by a loved one causes pain not
to be compared with the cruelties inflicted by an enemy. So your
indifference and unresponsiveness to My call brings anguish to My soul, indeed,
deeper grief than the crimes of the reprobate sinner. I have laid My rod
upon the sinner, but I have laid My hand upon you. And I have put My arm
around you to draw you closer, but you have been impatient and irritable as
though I sought to interfere with your liberty. I am able to give you greater liberty than you will ever find by seeking
to be independent of Me. I
seek not to interfere with your happiness, but I do require that you relinquish
your will; for I cannot bless you as I desire until your will is yielded up and
you accept Mine in exchange. As you love Me, you accept My will as
your own, and the caliber and extent of your love for Me may be accurately
measured to the degree that you accept My will with a peaceful heart.
You can best sing ‘My Jesus, I Love You’
when you can truly sing ‘Where He Leads Me, I Will Follow.’ For whoever does not take up his
cross daily to follow Me cannot be My disciple.” Frances
J. Roberts
“We
shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our
feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the
soul. If we would at once overcome Satan
and have peace with God, it must be by ‘looking unto Jesus’. Keep thine eye simply on Him; let His death,
His sufferings, His merits, His glories, His intercession, be fresh upon thy
mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to Him; when thou liest down at
night look to Him. Oh! Let not thy hopes or fears come between thee
and Jesus; follow
hard after Him, and He will never fail thee.”
C. H. Spurgeon
“My chains fell
off, my heart was free. I rose, went
forth, and followed Thee.” Charles Wesley
“Costly grace is the Gospel which must be
sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a
man must knock. Such grace is costly
because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow
Jesus Christ. It is costly because it
costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true
life. It is costly because it condemns
sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner.
Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son. ‘Ye were bought at a price,’ and what has
cost God much cannot be cheap for us.
Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a
price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the incarnation of God.” Dietrich
Bonhoeffer
“See God in everything, and God will calm and color all that thou
doest see! It may be that the
circumstances of our sorrows will not be removed, their condition will remain
unchanged; but if Christ, as Lord and Master of our life, is brought into our
grief and gloom, ‘He will compass us about with songs of deliverance.’ To see HIM, and to be sure that His wisdom
cannot err, His power cannot fail, His love can never change; to know that even
His direst dealings with us are for our deepest spiritual gain, is to be able
to say, in the midst of bereavement, sorrow, pain, and loss, ‘The Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ Nothing else but seeing God in everything
will make us loving and patient with those who annoy and trouble us. They will be to us then only instruments for
accomplishing His tender and wise purposes toward us, and we shall even find
ourselves at last inwardly thanking them for the blessing they bring us. Nothing else will completely put an end to
all murmuring or rebelling thoughts.” Hannah
W. Smith
HEART SAVOR
- · I am to follow Christ and He makes much of my life. My life is not my own it is His. Furthermore, it is His way that is good, perfect and pleasing not what I perhaps strum up.
- · If I claim to live in Him, I am to walk as He did. Not easy. It requires the denial of self and the filling of the Spirit. Yet no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
- · God honors those who serve Jesus.
