Follow, Believe And Obey, Real Evangelism
Matt. 8 -16
Intro: In December Had Some Time With A Good Friend Of Mine And He Shared With Me A Revelation He Had Encountered In The Scriptures. No One Verse Or Passage But A Steady Theme From The Entire Bible. He Said He Had Never Seen This, Heard It, Or Been Taught It And He Wanted To Know If I Thought He Was Crazy! He Shared This Revelation And From The Moment I Understood What He Was Saying God Was Squeezing My Heart Over Its Truth. I Cannot Explain Why This Is Not Taught It Is Not Spoken About But I Have Become Convinced That It Is True And It Clears Up So Many Mysteries’ About People Accepting Christ And If They Truly Do Or Not That I Cannot Hold It Any Longer. The Theme For 2009 At Real Life Church Is “Reach The Community…Build The Crowd” And This Truth Fits Right In The Middle Of That Theme. I Want To Teach You The First Part Today And I Ask For Your Attention As Best You Can Give It. I Believe This Is An Important Truth That God Is Giving To Us And I Want You To Understand It And Process And Apply It To Your Life. Have You Ever Wondered About People Who Get Saved And Then After A Few Weeks They Fade Away And You Don’t See Them Again? Do You Ever Wonder What Really Happened? I Want You To Consider This Morning That We, The Church, Are Responsible. We Did Not Expose Them To Christ In The Biblical Way That God Intends. Lets Study…First Understand That
All Kinds Of People Followed Jesus.
I. Some Followed For Awhile And Leave,
They Never Truly Believed.
A. Emotional Followers 8:18-19
B. Needy Followers (Consumers – What Is
In It For Me?) 9:27-31
C. Religious Followers - All Pharisee’s
1. 8:19 Challenged Followers
2. 9:3 Accusing Followers
3. 9:11 Prideful Followers
4. 9:34 Slanderous Followers
5. 12:2 Legalistic Followers
6. 12:14 Plotting Followers
7. 12:24 Scoffer Followers
8. 15: 1-2 Fault Finding Followers
9. 15:12 Offended Followers
10. 16:1 Testing Followers
They Followed Jesus Everywhere He Went. Heard His Teaching, Saw His Power, Sensed His Love But Never Truly Believed.
They Would Come To Church On Sunday But Live Their Life On Monday Just Like Everyone Else Did. No Difference.
II. Some Followed For Awhile And Came To
Truly Believe
A. 4:18-22 “Follow Me”
B. 8:23-27 “What Kind Of Man Is This?”
C. 14:32-33 “Worship Him And Said Surely This Is
The Son Of God!”
D. 16:13-18 “You Are The Christ, The Son Of The
Living God!”
E. 16:21 @ 24 Belief Allowed Teaching Which Led
To Obey.
III. Obedience Can Only Come After Belief, Never
Before. And True Belief Can Only Come After
Following. Luke 14:25-27
A. V27 “Anyone Who Does Not Carry His Cross
And Follow Me Cannot Be My Disciple.”
B. V28-31 First Thing Is To Count The Cost –
To Count The Cost You Must Understand,
What Is Required. You Must Follow And
Learn!
Then, As You Begin To Understand What Jesus Requires Of You Then Decide Whether Or Not You Believe.
Follow – Believe – Obey
Now Why Is This Such A Big Deal?
What We Have Done In The American Church For ???
Is Try To Get People To Believe First Then Follow And Obey. ILL: Person Saved, Come To Church 3 Weeks Then Gone And Never See Them Again? Why? They Believed But They Never Were Given A Chance To Follow. When Things Didn’t Go As They Thought It Should They Said This Is Not For Me And The Quit. They Don’t Truly Believe Because They Don’t Know What It Cost Or What It Means To Be A Christian.
Follow- Believe –Obey This Is The Order It Cannot Change Because This Is The Way God Did It. OT Or NT!
Our Theme In 2009 Is To Reach The Community And Build The Crowd - Explain. To Accomplish This Goal We Need Must Allow People To Follow Jesus. How?
Jesus Is God And Walked On Earth. When He Ascended He Left His Holy Spirit Within His Bride, His Body. Jesus Left Us Here To Represent The Father And Himself And His Love To The World. We Are His Ambassadors. When Someone Comes Into Our Life And They Don’t Know Christ Jesus We Must Invite Them To
Come And Watch My Life And See What Jesus
Looks Like
Come To Real Life Church And See What God
Has To Say About Life.
Follow Me In The Hard Times And Observe How
God Strengthens Me In My Weakness.
I Am The Representative Of Christ For You Watch Me And Then Decide If You Will
Believe!
Invitation
First Service
Real Life Church
Who Needs To Follow You?
What Will They See?
Are You Willing To Let Them In?
Yes! Better Pray, Starting Right Now.
Lord, Help Us To Reflect Jesus To Our Friends Family And Those We Encounter. Change Us To Be People Who Reveal The Glory And Love Of Jesus To Those We Come In Contact With. Help Them To Have A Desire To Follow You And Help Us To Have The Life That Shows Them Who You Are And How Much You Love Them. Bless Us By Helping Others To Follow You.
Second Service
Have You Ever Followed Jesus? Do You Really Understand And Believe Who He Is And What He Has Done? I Invite You This Morning To Follow Him, See Jesus And Know His Heart Is For You.
Gospel?
