THE CALL TO ALL – FOLLOW ME
BREAD
9 “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. 10 Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a temple as a sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.” 1 Chronicles 28:9-10 (NIV)
33 Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in Israel serve the LORD their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the LORD, the God of their fathers. 2 Chronicles 34:33 (NIV)
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew 16:24-26 (NIV)
24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 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 12:24-26 (NIV)
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” Mark 8:34-37 (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?” Luke 9:23-25 (NIV)
19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19 (NIV)
2 “The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 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 10:2-5 (NIV)
1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV)
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:3-11 (NIV)
6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. 1 John 2:6 (NIV)
28 Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!” 29 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields–and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” Mark 10:28-31 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Our identity as Jesus’ followers should define and dictate our lives.” Joseph Stowell, III
“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
“When the Bible speaks of ‘following Jesus’ it is proclaiming a discipleship which will liberate mankind from all man-made dogma, from every burden and oppression, from every anxiety and torture which afflicts the conscience. If they follow Jesus, men escape from the hard yoke of their own laws, and submit to the kindly yoke of Jesus Christ. But does this mean that we can ignore the seriousness of His command? Far from it! We can only achieve perfect liberty and enjoy fellowship with Jesus when His command, His call to absolute discipleship, is appreciated in its entirety. Only the man who follows the command of Jesus without reserve, and submits unresistingly to His yoke, finds his burden easy, and under its gentle pressure receives the power to persevere in the right way. The command of Jesus is hard—unutterably hard—for those who try to resist it.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“Despair whispers, ‘Lie down and die; give it all up.’… But, however much Satan may urge this course upon you, you cannot follow it if you are a child of God. His divine fiat has bid thee go from strength to strength, and so thou shalt, and neither death nor hell shall turn thee from thy course. What if for a while thou art called to stand still; yet this is but to renew thy strength for some greater advance in due time.” Charles 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
“Christ’s followers cannot expect better treatment in the world than their Master had.” Matthew Henry
“In our presentation of the Gospel we often focus on what Jesus can do for us. Now don’t get me wrong. Jesus does a lot for us. He forgives us, reconciles us with God, gives us meaning and eternal life. But the most important thing about Jesus is He gives us Himself. We have so emphasized the rewards of following Christ that we have forgotten that following Him, being with Him, knowing Him, and calling Him ‘Friend’ and ‘Elder Brother’ are far more wonderful and important than anything else.” Steve Brown
“There is no broadminded approach when it comes to entering into the life that God has for you. God doesn’t present you with a variety of doors to consider. He doesn’t say, ‘Go ahead and pick the door that looks best to you, and after you decide, I will support your decision and bless all that you do.’ It is true that God does have a plan and a purpose for your life, but it can only be entered into through one door. Jesus Christ is that door. There is no other entrance. There is only one Gospel to believe; only one Truth to embrace; only one Shepherd to follow; only one Savior to trust; only one Lord to serve; only one Master to obey.” Roy Lessin
“All God’s ways are loving even if we cannot readily discern that with our eyes of flesh. None of us can see the entire picture yet God makes known from the beginning from ancient times what is yet to come. His purposes will stand and He will do all that He pleases. He is a good and loving and faithful God Who only allows what is best for every heir of mercy. We can trust Him with our lives.” BHY
“I have continually to mourn that I follow at such a distance and learn so slowly to imitate my precious Master.” Hudson Taylor
“As His followers we know that if we are ever truly to reflect His goodness or His power, it will not be by human effort but only by grace.” Mile Mason
“It is by grace that we are saved. It is by this same grace that we are sanctified. It is all Jesus. It is always all Jesus. Nothing to the cross I bring only to the cross I cling.” BHY
“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
HEART SAVOR
• Believers are to be strong – not fearful – and do the work, through the power of the Holy Spirit, following hard after Christ.
• Wherever He leads, we are to follow – sans complaining and arguing I might add. It is trust in Him that knows He allows nothing in our lives that will not ultimately work out for both our good and his glory – nothing. The hard places He allows are our platforms. Gifts He gives us to proclaim His faithfulness and goodness to us even through our seasons of tears.
• It is He Who makes something of our lives, not we.
Beth Yoe's Sharing Bread 