08/11/2021
FOLLOW ME
TEXT: Mark 8:34-37 "And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?..."
There are certain things that are essential when we follow the Lord. We must know Him. We cannot follow who we do not know. It is only those who know the Lord Jesus that can follow Him. Knowing God is much more than what we read from books or magazines, it is knowing that He exists and have connection with Him; it is also knowing God not only when something happens in your life but seeking Him and having intimate relationship with Him all the times. When this intimate relationship with God is established, your love for Him increases and your hunger and thirst for Him in order to know and serve Him better begins to flow naturally without you knowing it. When God asks you to follow Him, He is asking you to renounce the world, the hidden works of darkness and every other thing that is against the knowledge of God without looking back. Today many people are treating their salvation race and their relationship with God with levity. They think they have arrived and they need not press further to know Him. Beloved, it is only those who know God and truly love Him and have surrendered their lives completely to Him that will be able to follow Him, even in the most difficult times. Do you?
To follow Jesus means putting Him above every thing else. It includes denying yourself, seeking to do God's will rather than your will and ready at all times to suffer for the sake of righteousness and the propagation of the gospel.