Are you following Jesus? #1

Yesterday we talked about failing the test of being a follower of Jesus. If we do so it will be an eternity in hell but we can pass the test and know it! That's what we are going to jump into today. Over the next several days we will look deep into what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Warning: It will make you do some serious thinking and hopefully if changes need to be made you will do that too!



I have recently read a book called "Follow Me" by David Platt and some of the thoughts come from the book which come from the bible. So if you want a good book to dig much deeper on this subject go get yourself a copy.



The first question we need to ask ourselves is can I be deceived as in thinking I am a follower of Jesus but in reality I am not? Well think about these stats:



*4 out of 5 people in America claim to Christians. We know this is not true because of the morals of this country



*50% of Americans claim to be born again, well that don't even jive with the other statistic that I just gave. Plus is their any other kind of Christian than born again? Not according to Jesus:



John 3:1-7



You Must Be Born Again!

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’



* Many of these 50% believe good works will get them to heaven. Not according to the bible:



Ephesians 2:8-10



8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.



Our works do not save us, faith in Jesus Christ saves us and as a result we do good works for His glory!



*Another portion of that 50% believe Jesus sinner while on the earth. If anyone who calls themselves a Christian believes that, they believe a different gospel which automatically disqualifies them from being a follower of Jesus for the bible says:



2 Corinthians 5:21

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.



Hebrews 9:14

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?



Hebrews 4:15

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.



If Jesus sinned then He could not be our lamb of sacrifice for it had to be perfect!



There are many more things that could disqualify one from being a follower of Jesus such as:



*not believing in the virgin birth



Matthew 1:23



“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).



*not believing Jesus died on cross for your sins



1 Peter 2:24



24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.



*not believing in the resurrection



John 11:25



Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,



*believing that there in more than one way to heaven



John 14:6



6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.



*believing that all you have to do is say a prayer and be baptized



Note: I believe faith alone by the grace of God saves you but the bible also teaches once you are saved works prove your faith. Fruit will fall from your trees!



James 2:26



26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.



These are essential to our being followers of Jesus. Non-negotiables!



Now here is where we end for today...a warning from Jesus to those who have been pretending to be followers but did not have a relationship with Jesus:





Matthew 7:22-24



22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.



Jesus says to these folks "I never knew you"!! They did works but did not listen to His words! No relationship to our Savior! Let us all heed this warning. Have you built your house on the rock?



We will dig deeper tomorrow of what following Jesus is! Much to chew on for today!



Tom

Failing the test!

Warning...do not be caught failing the test as the result will be an eternity in hell.



2 Corinthians 13:5



5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!



For some reason we get all bent out of shape when people judge us. For one thing nobody's opinion matters but God. Some may judge to try to hurt us but others may judge us in which they are trying to help us in our walk with God. For that we should happy! Our problem is we tend to think who is anybody to look at my faults when they have faults of their own. While that may be true we need to look at it in a different light, as God using them to help us get closer to Him. Ever thought about that?



One thing is clear as we are told in this verse we are to examine ourselves. The key question is are we in the faith? There is no greater question then that. Get your bible out, see what God says about being of the faith. See if Jesus Christ is in you.



There is more to it then simply saying I believe in Jesus. For even the demons believe in Jesus! Over the next few days we are going to dig into this more deeply. Test yourself and see where you are in your faith, some things may need to change! It could be a matter of where you spend eternity!



Tom

Beware of different Jesus!

 

Paul warned the Corinthians here of false teachers coming in and proclaiming another Jesus, may we also be on the lookout for this:

2 Corinthians 11:2-4

2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

Lets catch a few things here:

1. Paul brought ONE husband to the bride (the church).....Jesus.

2. The serpent(Satan) is still in the business as deceiving just like he did Eve! He will lead you to wrong thoughts! This is another reason we need to be in the bible so we know if someone is teaching false things!

3. If some one proclaims a different Jesus than is in the bible or wants you to receive another spirit then get away from them and point out their evil ways! Don't put up with it or allow others to be deceived. Warn them!

Sadly we have many false teachers out there! Many are on TV and teach things that are not in the bible or alter the bible. Know your bible and be on the lookout. There is no new revelation from God, He has given us His Word so stick to the bible! Many claim new revelation from God like Joseph Smith of the Mormons....wrong! The only revelation he received was a spirit of the devil to teach falsely!

So let us remain faithful to the teachings of Jesus our Lord and Savior! Not man!

Tom

Spiritual Thirst? Only One way to quench it!

This passage tells us the way to quench our spiritual thirst which everyone has but may not want to admit it!



Isaiah 55:1-7





55 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.3 Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live;and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.4 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.

6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.



Pretty simple huh? Come, everyone who thirsts. It will cost us nothing but it cost Jesus everything! Isaiah received this message of from God 100's of years before Christ but yet it reveals so much about our Savior!



I am thankful for verse 5 for it talks about us gentiles! The Jews were God's chosen people but He loves all His people and called us to Himself.



Se the Lord and He will be found says verse 6. Call on Him. Isn't it awesome that God wants us to call upon Him? We are so fortunate to have a God like that.



Verse 7 says forsake our wicked ways and thoughts. A picture of repentance, turn and walk away for sin. If we do then God will pardon us from our sin! Wow. Thank you Jesus.



Now back to the thirst again, have you heard that somewhere else in the bible? How about here:



John 7:37-39



37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.



Or here:



John 4:1-15





4 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”



This woman is a picture of us....strangers to Jesus but He wants to fill our thirst so we will never thirst again spiritually. Have you took a drink of this water? Promised to satisfy! Praise the Lord!



Tom

Celebrate victories!

I have a brother in Christ, Dave, who lives in Minnesota. He has been lead by the Lord to lead a bible study but the devil has been putting barriers up to keep this from happening in hopes that Dave would just give up. Dave didn't and kept pushing forward to serve God in the way that God laid on his heart to teach men to be Men of God and lead their families as God intended them to. God gave Dave the victory and will be teaching these classes...Praise the Lord!



1 Corinthians 12:26



If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.



So many times we let the victories slip by and do not praise God enough for them. We are quick to ask for thing but slow to praise. This should not be so church. Praise for God should flow from our mouth like a rushing river. I am rejoicing this morning and giving God the glory for Dave and his dedication to serve God.So that brings me to this question, where are you serving God. God has a place for all of us in His church to serve both inside and outside the building. Are you seeking to serve Him? For a follower of Jesus it is not an option. We are servants of Jesus.



Maybe you are seeking to serve but the devil keeps putting blocks in your way, don't give up! Keep fighting. If you know it is something God wants you to do, don't stop til you get it done!



Folks as the Lord says, the fields are ripe for harvest but the workers are few, lets get busy. Be a harvester not a bench warmer!



God is good! Thank you Jesus for Dave!



Tom

Only ONE to boast about.

Many like to boast about themselves or a sports team or their children or job or money or whatever but when we get right down to it their is only ONE who deserves to be bragged about....Jesus our Lord.



2 Corinthians 10:17-18



17 “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.



Basically in the context of the above verse Paul had been accused of boasting about his ministry but here we see Paul making it clear to all their is only ONE who deserves the boasting and that is Jesus. For when we get right down to the nitty-gritty it don't matter what we think about ourselves it will matter what the Lord thinks of us and what we have done in service and obedience to Him. God is the ONE who approves and disapproves and His opinion is the only one that counts in the end!



So what are you boasting about today???? Jesus or something else?



Tom

Best Gift of all time!

What is the greatest gift anyone has given you? Money, a car, or maybe some sort of jewelery? All that stuff is nice but one gift that was given is greater than all by an overwhelming amount. Here it is:



Romans 6:23



23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.





Romans 8:32



32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?





2 Corinthians 9:15



15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!



Can you tell me a gift greater than Jesus Christ and an eternity in heaven for those who follow Him? Yeah neither can I!



The 2 Corinthians verse tells us to thank God for this gift, I hope you do daily if you are a follower of Jesus. The background for that verse is Paul had just shared in a great number of verses about giving to help brothers and sisters in Christ and he wrapped it all up with this verse. Why? Be cause this is the greatest gift of all time. Jesus left His heavenly place to come to earth to take on the form of a man and die for you and I so we can dwell with Him in eternity. We could not get their on our own so Jesus provided a way, the only way for us to get to heaven. Wow what a gift! We need to thank God constantly for this free gift!



If you have Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life awesome!!! If not what is stopping you from this free gift? God forgives all things if you will just ask. He loves you more than you love yourself, and wants you to spend eternity with Him, make that decision today! If you need help, I would be glad to talk to you, just ask!



Thank you Jesus for giving me the greatest gift of all time.....YOU!



Tom