Post by Miami on Jul 21, 2013 17:34:50 GMT -5
Are we in (Followship) with Jesus, when he wants us in (Fellowship)? They are very different.
I had a very eye opening teaching from Pastor Powell 2 Sundays ago. I spoke to a couple of you about it. It was at a tough point in my life. There were many lessons tied into one.
It was all so true. #Truth Most of us (not all), find ourselves in (Followship) with Jesus. He did tell us to follow him, but there was so much more to come. We follow a lot of things in our daily life. We follow sports stars, celebrities, authors, new gadgets that are coming out on the market and so on. Jesus did want us to follow him, but he meant it as a whole relationship. Not just the latest thing, and then when things get serious or tough jump out of the relationship. A lot of Jesus early followers were with him because he was the latest thing, working miracles etc.. When the rest of the message came out, they left.
I hadn't thought of John 6:66-70 in a while:
66 As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.
67 So Jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?"
68 Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go ? You have words of eternal life.
69 "We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God."
70 Jesus answered them, "Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil ?
Jesus wants us to be in fellowship with him. He want's to be in all the details of our lives. Most important, he wants us to Stand. The toughest time we face in our culture right now is the pressure to say and do what's right while people are watching and listening. It's interesting that when some of us were concerned about TT not speaking up in public about tough issues, the truth is some of us do not as well. More often that not we fear those's words. Your "judging", "hating", "not tolerant".
Another truth is we will not be popular in this world if we follow and enter into fellowship with Jesus. We're talking about the son of God who walked in this world as flesh and blood and was beaten, humiliated, and nailed to a cross, and this is a mild interpretation.
There is great sacrifice and self control that comes with being a Christian. Also the ability to trust in The Lord and make that jump sometimes.
When we think of the sacrifice, we have to go back to Jesus's words again:
Luke 14:26-27:
26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.
27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
This is a tough teaching, we can't gloss over it. Some of us already live this. I have a close family, but we have divisions that actually affect how we interact with each other. Use to we could agree to disagree about certain lifestyle differences and still be friends and get a long with family members. It doesn't mean we don't love them. But now the new word in the vernacular of the day is "accept". With all the Supreme Court decisions over the years and most recent, there seems to be expectation that we throw our beliefs per the Holy Scriptures aside and join the crowd.
We were not intended to preach to the choir or stay within our own groups. I love it when Jesus said I came here to reach the sinners, not the ones who see.
The teaching Pastor gave us was incredible, I hope it ends up in On Demand.
It really caused a lot of us to really stop and think, and spend a lot of quiet time thinking about where we really are with our walk with Him, and where we need to be. It is tough.
Shalom