Follow Me

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• Last week we began to take a look at the the fact that for many of us our soul is waiting for us to make some needed adjustments to our lives.

• We live in a chaotic time, the noise of the world around us makes it easy to allow God’s still small voice within us to be drown out.

• Last week we dealt with some issues our soul may be waiting on, they boil down to shoring up our relationship with Jesus.

• If you missed last weeks’ message, you can listen on our new Church app found in the google app store and the Apple App store, search by FCCSV!

• Today we build on the issue of HOW we can build our relationship with Jesus so that our soul can find the peace we are desperately seeking.

• We cannot have a true relationship with Jesus unless we are willing to follow Him. Today we will see what Jesus says it takes to follow Him.

• Following Him will change your life!

• Today we will look at the words of Jesus. In the context of Mark 8, the beginning of the chapter takes us to the scene of Jesus feeding the 4000 around Decapolis. On an earlier occasion Jesus fed the 5,000 people.

• After the feeding of the 4,000, Jesus and the disciples left for the District of Dalmanutha (DA MAN U THA) which on the western side of the Sea of Galilee near Gennesaret (GEN ES ARE AT).

• Then they got into a confrontation with the Pharisee’s, then they left for Bethsaida where Jesus healed a blind man.

• That takes us to an important verse which give context for our text we will examine today.

• Jesus asked the disciples who do people say I am?

• SLIDE #2

• Mark 8:27–29 (HCSB) — Jesus went out with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the road He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They answered Him, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, one of the prophets.” “But you,” He asked them again, “who do you say that I am?” Peter answered Him, “You are the Messiah!”

• Peter says that Jesus is the Messiah!

• Jesus told them to keep this to themselves for now, and then that takes is to where we are today.

• Let’s turn to Mark 8:31-32

• SLIDE #3

• Mark 8:31–33 (HCSB) — 31 Then He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, be killed, and rise after three days. 32 He was openly talking about this. So Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33 But turning around and looking at His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan, because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns, but man’s!”

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• SLIDE #4

SERMON

If you are going to follow Jesus…

I. God’s concerns should be your concerns.

• Once Peter acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah, Jesus proceeds to share with them His upcoming fate.

• He explains to Peter and the disciples that He was going to be rejected by the religious leader, killed, and would rise on the third day.

• Jesus said He MUST suffer these things.

• The word MUST in Greek suggests a necessity based on the divine will. It is a term that alludes to the conception that God has planned the whole program of redemption, a conception attested in the OT prophetic books and in later Jewish apocalyptic writings.

• Jesus is teaching His disciples what Messiah entailed.

• Jesus called Himself the Son of Man.

• “Son of Man” is by far the favorite expression Jesus uses in the Gospels to refer to himself. It occurs eighty-one times; and, with the possible exceptions of Mark 2:10 and 28—where the title “Son of Man” seems to be part of Mark’s editorial comments—no one else, neither his friends nor his foes, refers to Jesus as the Son of Man.

• “Son of Man” occurs in the OT. In the Psalms it means simply “man” (cf. Psa 8:4; 80:17); and in Ezekiel, where it occurs over ninety times, it is the particular name by which God addresses the prophet.

• Daniel 7:13-14 is one of the most helpful passages in the OT.

• SLIDE #5

• Daniel 7:13–14 (HCSB) — 13 I continued watching in the night visions, and I saw One like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before Him. 14 He was given authority to rule, and glory, and a kingdom; so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.