It's interesting how some of the best and biggest opportunities in
your life will come at a time and in a way you didn't expect. You ever notice
that?
1. Simple
steps, very simple steps.
a. When
David killed Goliath, the only reason he was even there that day was because
his dad sent him to run an errand, and it was just by obeying his father that
he ended up there to kill Goliath.
i. He
went on to become the greatest king Israel would ever know.
ii. He
was the hero of the nation when he went to bed that night, but he didn't know
that when he woke up that morning.
b. Moses,
who delivered Israel from Egyptian slavery.
i. The
whole thing started when he was working in his father-in-law's sheep shop.
ii. A bush
caught on fire, he turned aside to look, God spoke to him, called him, and he
obeyed.
iii.
He took a step.
iv.
He went on to become a deliverer and a leader of
millions.
c.One
of my favorites is in the New Testament, how Peter and his boys were fishing
and caught nothing all night.
i. Jesus
showed up, told them to do it a different way, and when they did, they had such
a large catch they couldn't even haul in the nets.
ii. Then
Jesus said, "I want you to leave your nets and follow Me."
iii.
When they got up to go fishing that day, they
had no idea they were about to be drafted into the service of Jesus and would
end up writing parts of the Bible.
iv.
Unexpected and very simple.
d. Some
of the greatest moments, experiences, and seasons of your life will come when
you least expect it, through a simple step.
i. Take
TK for instance she can tell you this about the day I asked her to marry me.
1. The
greatest thing that ever happened to her in her life, and she had no idea it
was coming.
2. I
asked her father’s permission…and
boom she’s stuck(blessed) with me forever!
2. Jesus
has been doing some great things in His ministry, and a lot of people are
following Him.
a. He's
feeding thousands, He's healing blind and sick people, teaching great stuff,
and He has a lot of followers.
b. Then
in Mark 8:31, He shifts the focus of His teaching and starts talking about what
He really came to do and what it really means to follow Him.
i. He
lays down the challenge, Follow Me.
Mark 8:31 “Then Jesus”…(after
all these great things He had done) began to tell them that the Son of Man must
suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests,
and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later He
would rise from the dead.”
c.That's
not what they wanted to hear.
i. They
wanted to hear that He was going to kick out the Romans who had been oppressing
them, and lead in a great military conquest.
ii. But
Jesus, for the first time, is letting them know that it's not going to be all
about free food for the multitudes, it's not all going to be just about needs
getting met physically; it's going to be about Him giving His life in order
that the world might be saved through Him.
Mark 8:32 As “He
talked about this openly” (plainly) with His
disciples, Peter took Him aside and began to reprimand Him for saying such
things.”
d. To
rebuke someone means to correct strongly.
e. Peter
starts giving Jesus his opinion and his advice.
i. Any
of you ever argued with God about something in your life before?
ii. You
know, just mentally or through your actions?
iii.
Go ahead raise your hand.
iv.
Now, if you have ever won that argument? Keep
your hand up. That's what I thought.
Verse 33 “Jesus
turned around and looked at His disciples, then reprimanded Peter. "Get
away from me, Satan!" He said. "You are seeing things merely from a
human point of view, not from God's."
f. God's
way; man’s way.
g. You
have to do it God's way, not man's way.
Verse 34-38, key verse: 34 Then, calling the
crowd to join His disciples, He said, "If any of you wants to be My
Follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow
Me. 35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up
your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.” 36
And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? 37
Is anything worth more than your soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of Me and My
message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of
that person when He returns in the glory of His Father with the holy
angels."
3. Over
and over again in Scripture Jesus calls people to follow Him.
a. He
calls prostitutes and tax collectors, wicked, unclean, irreligious people to
follow Him.
b. He
calls religious people who thought they had their act together to drop their
pose and follow Him.
c.He
calls us all to follow Him over and over and over.
d. It's
one of the most frequent commands in Scripture. "Follow Me."
i. This
is probably the most famous incident of that command.
e. It's
a powerful image to think about following Jesus.
i. It's
profound and it's simple.
ii. That's
really what it's all about: following Christ.
iii.
But I'm concerned that for so many of us who
know a lot about the Bible, "follow Me" no longer means to us what it
meant when Jesus said it.
f. They
might read what He says; they might not.
g. I'm
fearful that a lot of people when they say, "I'm a follower of
Jesus," they're following Jesus the same way their following Justin
Bieber, Kim Kardashain, or their favorite sports team.
i. Which
is to say, Okay, I've clicked the button.
1. Jesus,
I'll listen to what You have to say, but I'm going to pick and choose what
parts I want to pay attention to.
a. So
if it works for me, I'll do it.
b. Or
if I feel like it, I'll do it.
4. Jesus
is not to be clicked on and followed.
a. He's
to be worshipped, He's to be obeyed, He's to be revered, He's to be respected,
He's to be honored, and He is not one among many; He's the one and only God!
b. To
follow Him means no other options, no other gods.
i. I'm
doing what You say, I'm going where You lead, I'm denying myself, taking up my
cross, and I'm following You and only You!
ii. What
in the world do we mean by "I'm a Christian, I follow Jesus"?
5. The
first step Jesus calls us to take if we are really following Him, is to be
baptized, and baptism is so much more than clicking on a button or doing a
ceremony.
a. When
the early church would be baptized, a lot of them would be killed because of
their faith in Christ.
i. Their
belief transformed their actions and their actions transformed others.
b. Just
like we've emptied a lot of the meaning out of following Jesus, for so many of
us (and this was certainly true of my own life for a long time), we've emptied
the meaning of baptism and made it a whole lot less important to us than it is
to Jesus.
i. I
guess you could say, we've watered it down.
ii. There
are a lot of people who have decided to follow Jesus, but here's the question…How
can you claim to be a follower of Christ if you're not willing to take the
first step He has called you to take through baptism?
a. Baptism
is simple, yet it's so deep.
c.So
Jesus says, "After you place your faith in Christ, I want you to let the
world know you belong to Me by being baptized."
i. We
take a very literal view of baptism.
ii. We
take them down into the water because the original word for baptize means to
dunk, dip, or submerge.
1. It
was used to talk about a battleship that completely went under.
d. Why?
Romans 6:1 "Well
then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his
wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we
continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with
Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were
buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by
the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. 5 Since we
have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he
was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that
sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For
when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin."
i. Baptism
represents that Jesus Christ was in the grave for three days.
ii. He
died for our sins so we're buried with Him.
iii.
Then we bring them up out of the water, as the
water drips from their head, they celebrate, we cheer, we celebrate that we are
raised to new life in Christ and our sins are washed away.
e. In
Romania they ask the question “How long are you going to
follow Christ?” their answer, “To
the death.”
f. In
China they break through ice to baptize new converts in the night to keep from
being killed and we're nervous about a heated baptistry in front of our peers
and family in complete freedom?
i. What's
important to God must be important to us.
1. We
have to get past the ways of the religions of men, embrace God's ways, because
if I think one thing about a certain subject, and God says another thing, I'm
wrong and He's right, because He's the leader; I'm the follower.
6. So
we water down the idea of baptism.
a. A
lot of times we make it about a denomination or church tradition rather than a
biblical command.
i. It's
not about joining a church.
ii. Some
people are like, I don't know if I want to be baptized here at CWC.
iii.
I don't know if I want to be a member yet.
1. Well
you know what?
2. We're
not sure if we want you yet either.
3. You're
not being joined with or baptized into a church but being joined with Him.
b. Another
thing we do, we make it about our parents' decision rather than our own
initiative.
i. I
was baptized as a child in a Pentecostal church.
ii. My
peers were doing it, my parents said something about my peers being baptized
and they had such a love for God so I decided to do it.
iii.
Baptized, but when I gave my life to Christ at
age 19, I started studying the Bible and realized I needed to be baptized as an
adult because this has to be my decision.
1. My
faith can't be a family heirloom or a peer-pressured event.
7. In
baptism you're saying, "This is my faith. I'm owning this." We call
it "believer's baptism," because 27 times in the book of Acts someone
was baptized, and every single time first they believed, then they were
baptized.
Ephesians 2:8 “God
saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this;
it is a gift from God.”
a. There
was a thief on the cross who worshipped and put his faith in Jesus in his dying
moment.
b. He
didn't have time to get down, change clothes, and be baptized, but Jesus said
to him, "Today, you'll be with me in paradise."
c.Why?
We're saved by grace through faith.
d. No
work can save you, not giving, not serving, not being baptized.
i. Baptism
isn't about salvation; it's about identification, saying, "I belong to
You, Jesus.
ii. My
sins are washed away and I'm going to take this next step You told me to take,
whether I've been a Christian for two days, or whether I've been a Christian
for 22 years.
e. We
have to do it God's way, not man's way.
i. Man
makes it optional.
ii. "It's
a good thing to do. It's a good spiritual experience."
f. But
to be a follower of Jesus (hear me) is to fully obey His clear instructions
empowered by His grace.
i. A
lot of us make the mistake of waiting until we're worthy to be baptized.
ii. Well
I'd like to be baptized but I want to get my life together first because I have
this thing, I have this issue.
iii.
If you could forgive sin, you wouldn't need
Jesus, and that's what the waters of baptism are all about, saying, "I
trust in You, Lord. I want You to change my life. Here's my declaration."
1. I’m so
fired up that our 707Kidz are learning about baptism this morning!
8. I
hope that those of you who have already been baptized and you know this
already, aren't sitting there bored.
a. I
hope you're praying for somebody who is here who needs to get baptized, that
they could have the courage to do it.
b. Or
at least be agreeing with me for this city that needs Christ.
i. Well
don't I need to like go through training or something?
Acts 2:41 “Those
who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that
day-about 3,000 in all.”
ii. That
day!
iii.
All right, you want to accept the message?
1. Be
baptized!
9. Sunday
morning September 28th morning worship there will be water, there
will be a celebration waiting for you, your family, and there's a church that
wants to support you, so what's to stop you?
a. Well
I want to pray about it.
i. You
don't pray about things God has clearly told you; you obey them.
b. I
just want to take some time.
c.Or I
think I know a better way.
i. Okay
Peter, with your arguing spirit, the right time to do the right thing is right
now.
ii. Baptism
is for people who say, "I'm not perfect and I can never be perfect, but I
want to follow Christ.”
1. No
excuses.
2. Are
you in or not?
3. Decide
today.
4. Some
of you are sitting on the fence.
a. Are
you with Jesus or not?
b. Are
you ashamed of Him?
c.Do
you want to just follow Him when He's giving out free food and neat stuff?
d. Or
are you going to say, "I'm with You, Jesus.”
i. From
this day forward I'm with You.
ii. I'm
going to stand with You.
iii.
I belong to You.
d. Lord,
may the decision be made, may the die be cast, may the line be drawn right now,
that people are putting their full faith in You.
i. This
is it, your opportunity.
ii. You
know God is calling you, and if you feel that in your heart, let me assure you,
that is the Holy Spirit of God calling you.
iii.
It's not emotional manipulation, it's the
presence of God drawing you, calling you, and requesting you follow Him.
