Follow Me and I Will Make You
The sermon
of today is to teach us how God wants us to be and do when it comes to doing
His will. Now today we’ll answer this with one word; “Follow”
Before we
embark on this journey, let’s define the word “Follow”
Follow-go or come after (a person or thing proceeding ahead); move or travel
behind.
Book(s)
Matthew 4:17-22 New King James
Version (NKJV)
17 From
that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven [a]is at hand.”
Four Fishermen Called
as Disciples
18 And
Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called
Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were
fishermen. 19 Then He said to them, “Follow
Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 They
immediately left their nets
and followed Him.
21 Going
on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with
Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, 22 and
immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.
When Jesus
Christ came on earth as Man, He was baptized, tempted and overcame and started
His ministry through assembling disciples for Himself to be the firstborns of
the ministry.
According
to Matthew 4, Jesus Christ began His ministry through calling the disciples to follow Him and He transformed their
lives to have a purpose and destiny in line to the will of God.
Brethren,
Jesus Christ, on a daily basis calls us to follow Him and imitate Him for He is
the Way to doing the will of God.
What is it
that is holding you back from following Jesus Christ? Is it sin, or
distractions of the world?
According
to
John 14:6 New King James
Version (NKJV)
6 Jesus
said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through Me.
This is
the assurance that if we follow Jesus Christ, we are on the right path, the
true path of salvation. The following are the benefits of following Jesus
Christ, feel free to add more benefits as they are vast.
Benefits of following Jesus Christ
1.
You
feel the weight of sin is lifted.
2.
You
sense the power of sin is broken.
3.
You
have the assurance that God is always with you.
4.
Jesus
Christ restores your family and relationships and puts them in order.
5.
You
start seeing the move of God in your life.
Let’s look
in the Old Testament to understand how to follow Jesus Christ (GOD)
1 Kings 19:19-21 New King
James Version (NKJV)
Elisha Follows Elijah
19 So
he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was
with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on
him. 20 And
he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my
father and my mother, and then I
will follow you.”
And he said to him, “Go back again,
for what have I done to you?”
21 So Elisha turned back from him, and
took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the
oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and
followed Elijah, and became his servant.
Let’s
breakdown this verse so as to understand the deeper meaning.
Verse 19: Elijah threw his mantle on Elisha
and this signifies that “follow me”. God placed the mantle of righteousness in
us through His Son Jesus Christ. Our mandate is to choose to follow Him.
Verse 20: Elisha went back to first clear all
he had and bid everyone goodbye for he had purposed to follow Jesus Christ. Brethren,
if you decide to follow Jesus Christ, bid farewell to the former since it’s gone
and a new and meaningful/fulfilling purpose has come.
Verse 21: Elisha lay down all that burdened
him and took up the yoke of Jesus Christ which is lighter and of the true
purpose. Brethren, following Jesus Christ means to reject the world and follow
the way of the cross.
Let’s look
at illustrations in the Bible of people who followed Jesus Christ
People who followed Jesus
Christ(GOD)
1. Joshua-
Joshua 1:7, 4:14,
10:13-14,24:23-24
2. Enoch- Genesis 5:21-24
3. Elijah
– 1 Kings 17
4. Deborah-
Judges 4:6-7
5. Mannoah’s
wife – Judges 13:22-23
6. Ruth-
Ruth 3:9
7. Hannah-
1 Samuel 1:12-19
8. Abigael-
1 Samuel 25:30-33
2
Chronicles 15:2(b) talks about the consequences of not following Jesus Christ
2 Chronicles 15:2 New King
James Version (NKJV)
2 And
he went out [a]to meet Asa, and said to him: “Hear me, Asa,
and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him,
He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.
Be blessed
This sermon
was brought to you by Sister Felister Njoki. A minister of the Gospel in
Teaching Transformation Ministry.
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Blessings.