This message is one of the Times Square
Church Pulpit series.
It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
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Turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew
chapter 4, verses 18.
And as I mentioned a little earlier, dare
to follow Jesus is the title.
This portion of scripture in Matthew chapter 4,
excuse me, did I say chapter 4?
Yes, chapter 4, verse 18 is the calling
of Simon or Peter.
And verse 18 says, And Jesus, walking by
the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon
called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a
net into the sea, for they were fishers.
And he saith unto them, Follow me, and
I will make you fishers of men.
Look at verse 20.
And they hesitated, took their time, got their
business in order, went to the bank, Bible
says, straightway left their nets and followed him.
Lord Jesus, I ask you that you would
take this word, you have so written this
into the table of my heart and challenged
my life so powerfully.
And Lord, I want to respond just every
single day, not just a one-time response,
but my heart is, I want to respond
every day.
And when you call, I follow.
Lord, that's my heart's desire.
I pray that this will be the heart's
desire of every person.
Lord, hearing this word today, that we would
come to the same conclusion, that when Jesus
calls, we go.
Minister to our hearts, I pray in Jesus'
name.
Amen.
Let me ask you a question, since we
are a lot of people here tonight, we
have to make it rhetorical because I don't
want you to answer me.
You can if you want.
You can put your hand up if you
like.
But let me ask you a couple of
questions.
If Jesus came into this house today, if
he walked in right now and he said,
follow me, would you?
Let me ask you again.
If Jesus came into the house tonight and
he said, follow me, would you?
Let me ask you a second question.
What do you think he would look like
so that you could make the decision to
follow him?
We're in New York City.
If somebody walked in and started with long
hair and a big beard and big old
flowing garb and walked in here, he just
came in here, number one, our security team
would grab him.
Before you can answer the question, you have
to answer the second question, what does he
look like?
Who are you going to respond to?
I said if Jesus came in here, but
how do you know what he looks like?
If he came in with long flowing robes
and stood in the front here, this is
New York City, and said, follow me, I
would be surprised if many of you went.
I would.
How would you know?
What does he look like?
Or we have the movies to give us
some kind of a picture of what Jesus
looks like.
How do we know what he looks like?
The Bible says that he has nothing about
him that he should be desired.
When he says this, in John chapter 1
verse 43, the day following Jesus would go
forth into Galilee and he findeth Philip and
saith unto him, follow me.
So here we have Jesus, there's another person,
he finds Philip, and then later on we
can talk about Matthew and he's sitting at
the receipt of table and he's there getting
all the taxes from people as they come
by boat and they've got to pay taxes
to the Romans.
He's not a light person, he's a Jew
collecting money from Jewish people and he's collecting
money for Rome.
He's not even light.
But Jesus comes to him and says the
same thing to him.
He says, Levi or Matthew, follow me.
Well, what do you think Jesus looked like?
You know, the movies give him this robe
that is bleached white.
Everybody else's robe is dirty, but his is
always sparkling white.
So it must be in those days it
would have been easy to recognize him because
he had the cleanest robe on.
Right?
So if Jesus came into the house tonight
and said, follow me, how would you know
it was Jesus?
Who would you follow?
How would you know it was the Son
of God?
If you go back and you take a
look at Samson, his parents, when the angel
of the Lord came and spoke to Manoah's
wife and said, you're going to have a
child and you're going to call his name
Samson, and she went and told her husband,
and when he meets the angel, he doesn't
even know, are you the man who spoke
to my wife?
Are you really an angel?
Can I get food?
Fire comes down out of heaven, consumes it,
and he still is not convinced that this
is an angel of God.
How do we know?
So let me ask you a question.
If Jesus came into the house tonight and
said to me, said to you, follow me,
would you?
All right.
Well, we'll see who you'd follow.
What about Jesus and Pastor Carter when he
says to you, I'd like you to go
on a short-term missions trip?
Is that Jesus speaking to you through Pastor
Carter?
Why don't you follow?
Or should we take account of what we're
doing?
Should we go to our bank account?
How do we deal with it?
How do we deal when God speaks to
us?
How does he speak to us?
We say, yes, we're going to follow Jesus,
but we don't even know what he looks
like.
And yet when he speaks in the house,
do we follow?
No, you don't.
Let me ask you the question again.
If Jesus comes into the house and says,
maybe through me, maybe through an elder, maybe
through the singing, maybe through, and he says,
follow me, do you follow him?
All right.
It's getting a little bit more quieter.
I'm hoping to quieten you right down so
that there's no answer coming out of you
until you say, yes, because you know by
the power of the Holy Ghost that he's
speaking to you.
So Jesus will reveal himself, but I just
wanted to begin this message tonight by challenging
you because we got this concept because we
already love Jesus.
We've already said, yes, come into my heart
and life.
And so if Jesus, we got this idea,
if Jesus came in, yeah, we would follow
him.
We wouldn't even tell the family.
We'd up and go.
But you don't even know what he looks
like.
So anybody could come in here.
Would you follow anybody?
And the scripture says, don't do that.
How do you know it's Jesus that you're
going to follow?
And when you hear him speaking to you,
do you follow?
See, I'm challenged.
My life is completely and utterly challenged by
this word.
I have been in this word.
I don't know how far I'm going to
get, but I have been so challenged by
this word because there are times that he
speaks.
I was walking down the street here one
day, and here is this man who's asking
for money.
I don't know if he's been there once
or a hundred times, but he asked me
for money.
And that particular day, I know I didn't
have any money in my bill.
I didn't have a dollar.
I didn't have a nickel.
I didn't have a dime.
I didn't have any money on me.
So I didn't feel like I could stop
and say, yeah, okay, I don't have any
money.
So I'm walking by.
He asked me for some money.
And then he says, if you don't have
any money, would you even just go in
here and buy me some lunch?
I said, I can't.
And I kept walking.
You see, I have a problem with my
heart.
I have a problem with me.
Because when I got inside, the Holy Ghost
said, why didn't you give to that man?
Didn't I say in my word, if any
man asks you of anything, that you'll give
to him.
And you know when God is speaking to
you.
My sheep know my voice.
So we are going to get there, beloved.
We might not know what he looks like,
but we know his voice.
It speaks to us on the inside.
So I know that this is God, but
I don't do it.
So how can I say, if Jesus came
in here, he did come in here.
He did speak.
He did say, feed this man.
He did say, go help him.
But I did not.
So how can I say, straightway, they left
their nets and followed him.
Alright.
Is this making sense?
See, Jesus in the New Testament is the
same Jesus in the Old Testament.
1 Corinthians says this, and did not all
drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank
of that same spiritual rock that followed.
Now we're going to take a look at
this word, followed, in the New Testament.
It's an interesting word.
We just think they followed him.
When Jesus says, follow me, what does that
mean?
What does that say to us?
Just reading the English helps us a little
bit, but not a whole lot.
But he means just to follow him.
And so the Bible says that this is
the rock that followed them, and that rock
was Christ.
So we know that the Christ of the
New Testament is none other than the same
Jesus who followed them in the Old Testament.
He was with them.
Everywhere they were, there he was, and he
was leading them and guiding them.
Now, the word when he says to Peter
here, he says, and Jesus walking by the
Sea of Galilee, he says to Simon and
to his brother Andrew, follow me.
Later on, well, in John, he talks to
Philip and he says, follow me.
Now, these are two different words that we
are dealing with.
In John chapter 1, verse 43, the day
following Jesus would go forth into Galilee.
He said to Philip, follow me.
Now, the word followed there means to accompany
another in the way.
So Jesus says this.
To paraphrase it, it would be like this.
Jesus comes along and he would say, Elder
Jukes, or Philip, join me in the way.
See, that's what the Greek is saying.
So it's not just a case of follow
me.
There's an invitation to join him.
See, the invitation of Jesus is, would you
join me in the way I'm going?
Not your way, but it's an invitation.
Do you want to join me in the
way that I'm going?
And they saw it.
What was going on in their hearts?
The Bible doesn't tell us what is going
on in Levi's heart as he's sitting in
the receipt of custom.
It doesn't say, maybe his marriage is messed
up, maybe he hates what he's doing, and
maybe he sees the poor keep coming in,
and they're having to pay taxes, and he
just hates his job.
Who knows what God is doing in the
heart, but there comes Jesus and says to
him, Levi, or Matthew, do you want to
join me in the way that I'm going?
What a chance, man.
That guy jumps out of the thing and
says, you've got to believe it.
Man, I don't even like the way I'm
going.
I hate what I'm doing.
And so he jumps at the opportunity.
And so it means to accompany.
Join me in the way.
That's what it means.
You see, Isaiah sees it clearly through prophecy.
In Isaiah 53, he says, we all like
sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way.
In Isaiah, again, he says, let the wicked
forsake his way.
Forsake your way.
Don't go your way.
Every man has turned to his own way.
What's good for me?
You know, it doesn't matter.
You can be homeless or you can be
at the top of the echelon in business.
And everybody, from the top to the bottom,
you only care for number one.
Oh, I know we care for some, but
no, you don't.
You care for number one.
And we're all like that.
Our hearts are so selfish.
We only care for me.
How is this going to benefit my life?
How am I going to be better off
by doing what I do?
Oh, I'll serve other people.
But is it going to be a blessing
and a benefit to me?
You see, we've all gone our own way.
But Isaiah says, let the wicked forsake his
way.
And the unrighteous man his thoughts.
And let him return unto the Lord.
And he will have mercy on him and
to our God.
And he will abundantly pardon.
So if you turn and go God's way.
He says, listen, I will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts.
You've got no way of escape out of
these things that captivate your mind.
You've got no way from escaping the burden
of sin.
But if you come to me, I can
abundantly pardon.
My thoughts aren't your thoughts.
Neither your ways, my ways.
So even Isaiah, he begins to see that
God has a way that is different to
our way.
So are my ways higher than your ways?
You think you've got a good...
That you will ever understand in your life.
He says, my ways and my thoughts are
way higher, way better than anything that you
could ever imagine.
Eye hasn't seen, we sang that tonight.
Ear hasn't heard the things that God has
stored up for them that love him.
But the Bible goes on to say, but
he has revealed these things unto us by
the Spirit.
So he says, so Isaiah sees this.
And so again he's saying to Philip, do
you want to join me?
So when he says to Philip, Philip, follow
me.
He's saying, do you want to join me
where I'm going?
Do you want to join me?
I'm giving you an invitation to join me
where I'm headed.
Do you want to come with me?
Now, if Jesus came in here tonight and
we all recognized him.
And he said, I'd like you to join
me where I'm going.
What would your answer be?
You want to join him on that trip?
All right.
Okay.
We'll have a look.
Let's see where Jesus is going.
Now, the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10
verse 20, by a brand new living way.
So we know that this way, Hebrews tells
us, it's life.
So Hebrews comes along and he says, this
is a new and living way.
If you join with Jesus, you're coming into
life, folks.
He says, you're going to come into life,
what life is really all about.
It's a new and it's a living way.
Everything else is death.
Everything else you put your hand to is
just going to collapse.
It's going to come to nothing.
But if you go my way, Hebrew writer
says, you're coming into a living way.
You're coming into a way that's going to
be life for you.
John chapter 14 says this.
Thomas said to him, Lord, you know, you're
telling us that you're going somewhere, but we
don't know where you're going.
And you know, it's an amazing thing.
He never tells us.
In fact, if you go back to Matthew,
I mean, back to Numbers chapter 33, don't
turn there.
But let me just tell you about Numbers
chapter 33.
Numbers 33 is about 47 or 41 times.
It talks about where God led the children
of Israel from one place to another place
to another place to another place.
In fact, if you go to Deuteronomy and
some of the other Old Testament books, you
find out that in 40 years, all these
people with God had to move house like
something like 63 times in 40 years.
Let me ask you a question.
Are you prepared to move house 63 times
in the next 40 years?
And some places are not that nice to
camp at.
You see, the thing with Jesus, with God,
when he says, follow me, he didn't want
their ideas.
He didn't want their plans.
Moses doesn't go up to the mountain and
say, now listen, God, we went to Marah
last time.
Pretty bad place.
Now, the elders and I have got together
and we've mapped out the land.
And we suggest that you go straight over
there to this place over here.
God says, no, I don't need your plans.
You see, God already knows where he was
taking them.
And you read that chapter.
He knows the next lesson that they need
to learn.
He knows the next place that they need
to trust God in.
So for 63 times in 40 years, God
was actually leading.
They were following God.
There goes the cloud.
There goes the fire.
And God, they're following God at every place
that he takes them.
They don't know where they're going.
Well, they know they're in the wilderness, but
they don't know where is the next place
God is going to take them.
So let me ask you a question.
We don't know exactly where the next place
is that God is going to take us.
It could be here.
It could be there.
You could be sitting in a service.
The next thing the Holy Ghost says, I
want you to go to China.
Are you prepared to leave your house and
go to China?
Let me ask you the question.
If Jesus came in here tonight and said
to you, follow me, what is your answer
going to be to him?
All right.
So you're prepared to move 63 times in
the next 40 years.
It doesn't matter where you live.
God, whatever you do, I'll pack up my
house and I'll go.
So we have the pattern that God knows
where he is going and he knows where
the next place is.
He knows where the next attack is going
to come from.
He knows what is going to be needed
ahead of us.
He knows exactly what we have need of.
All he wants to know is, are you
going to join him in the trip?
Jesus says to Philip, will you join me?
Now, it gets a little interesting as we
go along.
By the way, there's several scriptures on the
way, but let me move on here.
In Matthew 4, verse 18, this is where
we started our scripture reading tonight.
The word changes in the Greek.
There's an absolute Greek change here when Jesus
comes to Peter, or to Simon, called Peter,
and Andrew, his brother, cast the nets, for
they were fishers, and he said unto them,
follow me.
Now, the Greek makes a sudden change.
It doesn't mean, join me in the way
where I'm going.
Suddenly, there is an imperative that is placed
upon Peter at this point.
Jesus isn't saying, oh Peter, hello, hello, you're
casting your net into the ocean.
He says, hello out there, fishers.
Would you like to join me in the
way?
He said that to Philip.
He said that to Matthew.
Would you like to join me where I'm
going?
But he doesn't give that to Peter.
The Greek changes.
That word, follow, there, come and follow me.
Actually, there's an imperative.
And he's saying to Simon, you come, and
you come now, otherwise I'm not coming back
again.
That's the imperative.
Now, why?
Why did Matthew join me, Philip join me,
and Peter, you come, and you come now?
You see, Andrew and John were already disciples
of John the Baptist.
These two kids were already coming back.
And this is just my summation of what
is taking place here, but it makes sense
to me.
So you've got Andrew and John, the son
of Zebedee, who have already become disciples of
John.
They've seen Jesus already.
And you read the Gospel of John, the
beginning, and you understand that John the disciple,
who doesn't mention his name, but Andrew, they're
already by John the Baptist, seen the baptism
taking place in the wilderness.
And when Jesus comes, these are the two
disciples that go with him.
And so we understand that they're going home,
and I can just see that these two
kids are going home and saying, Simon, well,
Andrew's coming back and saying, Simon, I'm telling
you, this is the answer.
And he's probably thinking, yeah, but I've got
a business to run.
I've got this fishing industry.
We're working with Zebedee here, and we've got
a family affair here.
You just don't walk away.
You just don't leave your nets.
But you see, I think that God was
already speaking, speaking, speaking, speaking, speaking through these
kids.
I think God was already speaking to Simon
Peter in his heart.
I believe that with all of my heart.
Because the change in the Greek says, hey,
you come and you come now.
No more dillydallying.
You've been meditating on, should I go with
Jesus or not?
You've been sitting on the fence.
I'm giving you a chance.
Do you want to go?
If you want to go, you go now.
You see the difference?
So he speaks.
And so there comes times where God speaks
to your heart.
When he says to you, let go of
that sin.
There are times that he says, come follow
me.
I'll lead you away from this.
There's times that his mercy and his grace
and his love, he walks with you through
issues and problems.
And he says, come join me.
And he woos you.
He draws you to himself.
And he leads you away from those things
that are destructive.
But there comes times when a word is
preached from the pulpit and God says, that's
it.
That's enough.
Today you step out of your seats and
you come and you make a commitment to
me.
Tonight is the night.
No more sitting on the fence.
You see, he knows what tomorrow is.
And tomorrow can be changed by his power.
Your life can be changed.
Tomorrow can be absolutely changed by saying yes
to Jesus.
And see, this is what I think is
taking place in Peter's heart.
He knows that unless Peter responds now, he's
going to be stuck in that old fishing
boat for the rest of his life.
But God gives him a challenge.
And the Bible says, and straightway, I love
it.
Straightway, left their nets and the Bible says,
joined him in the way.
Come, come now.
Peter says, you got it.
Jesus throws the nets down, joins him in
the way.
If Jesus came into the house tonight and
asked you a question, will you follow me?
Would you go to China?
To Africa?
To India?
Can we get all those people saying yes,
get their names.
Get all the yeses down.
Everybody is saying yes.
We want your names to the missions department.
We have an all night prayer meeting tonight.
And Jesus is saying, would you come spend
the night with me?
How many would say yes tonight to go
be with Jesus in the prayer meeting?
Where's the yeses?
Why are you so quiet?
I thought you're going to listen to Jesus,
anything that he says.
If the word is preached, aren't you going
to respond?
Oh, that's going into my comfort zone now.
You don't know, pastor, I need to get
seven hours of sleep a night.
Otherwise, I don't function in the morning.
Tomorrow is Saturday.
Okay, so we see there's an imperative.
Now, let's follow Peter.
Go with me to Matthew chapter 16.
Let's take another look at what's going on
with Peter's life.
There's a second confrontation.
You see, God will give us the calling.
And sometimes the calling that he puts on
our heart is a calling that says, you
come and you come now.
I remember Pastor Carter getting up one time,
and he just felt the unction of the
Holy Ghost to speak to young people.
And the YPC choir had about eight or
so young people with it.
And I remember the night we were sitting
here.
I believe it was a Tuesday night.
And Pastor Carter lent over, and he was
speaking to Pastor David.
And I didn't know what was going on,
but there was an unction of the Holy
Ghost in Pastor Carter's heart.
And he got up, and he said, I
just feel like I got a word from
heaven tonight.
And he spoke to young people and said,
young people, this is your last chance.
God is speaking.
You come and you come now.
You come and be committed to what God
has for your life.
And from that, we got 120-plus people
in the choir because these kids responded.
Now, were they responding to Pastor Carter, or
were they responding to Jesus?
They were responding to Jesus, who was speaking
through Pastor Carter.
See, that's how the Holy Ghost works.
When the word of God is spoken, and
it resonates in our heart, it's Jesus speaking.
We don't proclaim to be any closer to
Jesus than you, because Jesus can't get any
closer to me than he is to you.
He lives in me, and he lives in
you.
Amen?
How much closer can Jesus get?
He's as close to you as he's ever
going to get.
So you hear his voice, and when he
calls, we answer it.
All right, we take a look here, and
we see in chapter 16, Jesus is going
along, and he says, who, verse 15, he
says to them, who do, or verse 14,
actually verse 13 says, whom do men say
that I am?
And so they say, well, John the Baptist,
and Jeremiah, Elijah, one of the prophets.
And he says, but who do you say?
You see, he's leading them to this point,
the same point of the question I'm asking
you, are you going to respond to the
voice of Jesus?
If he comes in here and he says,
will you join me in the way, what
is your answer going to be to him?
All right, we're going to make it rhetorical.
No more answers, because we've already spoken about
a prayer meeting tonight, and we didn't get
any yeses on that.
So we know we're not going to exactly
follow him, but hopefully by the end of
the meeting we will respond, amen?
All right, so he says, who do you
say that I am?
You see, he's leading them, he's taking them
to this place where if you know who
I am, you see, you can't follow the
guy who walks in here with a beard
and a big old flowing robe, and he's
got this stick and he's got eyes that
sparkle, and he comes and he stands in
here, you've got to believe I'm calling security.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, this is New
York City, out you go.
You see, so we've got this, you won't
follow a person like that, I hope.
Right?
This is not rhetorical, this is a real
question I'm asking you.
Would you follow a guy who walked in
here tonight with a big old robe and
a big beard and a stick and dazzled
you with his eyes and said, come follow
me?
You're going to go with him?
Thank you.
See, we cannot follow Jesus unless we know
who he is.
And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art
the Christ, so he's got a revelation here.
He says, oh, no, no, no, no, wait
a minute, you're the Christ, you're the Son
of God.
And so Jesus says, blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-Jonah.
He says, you'll be blessed if you lay
hold of what I'm saying to you.
For flesh and blood hath not revealed the
Son to thee, but my Father which is
in heaven.
And so he goes on and he says,
well, you're going to be Peter, and upon
this rock of revelation, actually that's what it's
meaning, I will build my church.
So he says, number one, on the revelation
of who I am, I'm going to build
my church.
Number two, the gates of hell will never,
never prevail against my body.
So when you understand who I am, you
know that the church will get built by
Christ himself.
And number two, there's no attack that can
overcome the church of Jesus Christ.
Those who stand in the power of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, they resist the devil
at every single turn.
Jesus says, those who know me, I want
to know two things.
The church is going to be built and
the devil will not overpower my church.
The gates of hell will not overcome the
body of Christ.
Hallelujah.
And he says, I'm going to give you
the keys to the kingdom.
In other words, when you pray, you will
see answers to your prayers.
Three things that's going to happen on the
revelation of who I am.
So when he says, will you follow me,
will you join me in the way?
He's saying to you, there's three things that
are going to happen if you join me
in the way.
Three things are going to happen.
One, I'm going to build my church.
You're going to be a part of a
body of believers called the church of Jesus
Christ.
He says, I'm going to build you.
I'm going to build into your life.
I'm going to give you vision.
I'm going to give you a purpose to
living.
He says, I'm going to build my church.
Number two, no attack can overcome you.
Not in my name.
The blood of Jesus comes against every attack
of the devil.
And then number three, when you pray, I
will open up heaven and let the blessings
of God fall down.
Hallelujah.
So, do you want to join him in
the way?
When he says, follow me, join me in
the journey I'm going.
Do you want to join me?
Does this sound good, Peter?
Does this sound wonderful that I'm going to
build you and I'm going to build the
church and no hell can prevail against you?
And when you pray, answers come out of
heaven.
It's all in the revelation of who he
is.
And then he goes on and he says,
and then from that verse 21, now it
gets a little more difficult.
From that time forth began Jesus to show
unto his disciples how that he must go
unto Jerusalem and suffer.
Now, hold on.
You said, build the church.
The gates of hell will not prevail against
us and when we pray, we get answers.
You didn't say anything about suffering.
Do you want to join me?
For the first three, not the fourth part.
Suffer many things of the elders and chief
priests and scribes and be killed and raised
again the third day.
You see, then Peter, listen, Peter took him
and began to rebuke him saying, be far
from thee, Lord.
This shall not be unto thee.
You see, Peter has a problem.
It's the problem that you and I face.
It's the same problem.
We are no different to Peter.
We rebuke the Lord when we go into
a place of difficulty.
And we rebuke the Lord.
We say, this shouldn't be so.
He doesn't want to go.
You see, it's okay as long as if
I'm going with Jesus and he's building his
church and the gates of hell are not
prevailing and when we pray, we see answers.
Anybody serves in that church, that's awesome.
But what happens when trials come and difficulties
come?
No, no, no, no.
We don't want to go on that part
of the journey.
And so he rebukes.
But Jesus turns around and says, see, you're
thinking of your own way still.
You're not thinking of my way.
Because if I don't go this way, then
you don't get the church built.
You don't have power over the devil.
And you definitely don't have prayers answered.
I've got to go the way of the
cross.
Otherwise, the first three don't work.
And so that's why he rebukes Peter and
says, get behind me, Satan.
And so then he says, now look what
he says in verse 23.
He said, Peter, get thee behind me, Satan.
Thou art an offense unto me, for thou
savest not the things that are of God.
You see, you want to follow, but you
don't want to follow God.
You still want to follow those ideals that
are in your own heart and not the
heart of God.
So when he says, join me in my
way, he means my way.
He doesn't mean my way and your way.
He says, no, you join me in my
way.
Philip says, we don't know the way.
He says, have I been such a long
time with you that you don't know the
way?
I am the way.
I'm the truth and the life that he
says, which says to Thomas.
And so we take a look at this
and we see that he says to them,
you say those things that are not of
God, but those that be of men.
Now, look at verse 24.
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any
man will come after me.
Now, after and follow seem to be the
same thing, but it's not so.
To come after means this.
If any man will come after me, if
any man chooses in his heart to want
the things in the direction that I'm going
in.
Is this what your desire is?
So to come after him means, do you
want to take and embrace everything that I
am embracing?
Is this what's in your heart?
Do you want what God has for you
more than anything else in the world?
Yes.
Then take up your cross.
Take up your cross.
And then he says, join me in the
way.
Join me in the way.
So if you're willing, if it's in your
heart to walk with me, I'm going to
a certain direction and I will not be
dissuaded.
I got to go to the cross.
Now, Peter is speaking to Simon.
I'm telling you, he's dealing with Simon.
He said, I called you, but you're still
keeping your way of living as the foremost
in your heart and love.
You haven't embraced everything that God has for
you yet.
You still want my way and your way.
I still want to be comfortable in middle
class America.
Nice place to worship God.
Friends of the Lord, no bombs.
Don't send me anywhere bad.
Comfortable dinner after service tonight.
Fellowship with one another.
Go home, sleep well.
See you Sunday.
Praise the Lord.
Oh, Gloria, I love church.
Don't you love church?
You see, if Jesus comes and says, follow
me, join me in the way.
He's saying, join me where I'm going.
So he has to deal with Peter and
he says, take up your cross and then
join me in the way.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose
it and whosoever will lose his life for
my sake shall find it.
Okay, turn with me to John chapter 21.
Peter again.
You see, when Jesus deals with Peter, he
gives him a calling, but he must give
him the consideration.
If you're ever going to follow Jesus Christ
the whole way, with all of your heart,
it needs to be with consideration.
You need to consider the cost.
You need to consider, what is it that
God is asking of me?
He might ask China for one person, India
for another person, for some of you single
moms.
It may be just be faithful in the
house and raise your kids up in a
godly environment.
His call for every single individual is so
different.
But he gives you the call and then
he says, join me.
And it's a victorious call, but it must
come with consideration.
You've got to consider where I'm headed.
That's why he took the money.
Who do you say that I am?
Gates of hell, all those things.
And then he's got to bring into consideration
that if you're going on this way with
me, then you've got to take up your
cross and you've got to follow me.
In other words, you've got to say, God,
unequivocally, I lay down everything.
I won't even think about it.
I lay it down and say, call me.
I consider the cost.
I'm yours.
See, now it's a little bit different.
If Jesus came in tonight and said, follow
me, what would you say?
After the consideration, are you willing to pay
the price?
Are you willing to go to the cross?
Are you willing to go the whole way
with him?
So he says that.
So now he brings Simon Peter to this.
And this is where it gets glorious.
You see, Simon Peter rejected the cross.
He didn't want the suffering.
He doesn't want Jesus to go that way.
He wants the blessing but not the cross.
Don't give me tough times.
Folks, unless we are willing to walk with
Jesus, if we walk with Jesus, just think
of it like this.
He said, follow me.
Join me in the way.
They didn't know where he was going.
They didn't know what was next.
They didn't know there was a storm on
the horizon.
They didn't know that there was going to
be 5,000 fed and 3,000 fed.
They didn't know that a blind man was
going to get healed.
They didn't know these things.
They're just walking and trusting.
See, some of the benefit of saying yes
to Jesus and trusting in him is that
he becomes your provider and your protector.
It's an awesome walk with him.
He says, if you join me in the
way.
Listen to this.
Paul, he picks it up in other places.
He says, who goes to war?
Who goes into the military and has to
pay his own way?
Who goes to the general and says, I
want to sign up.
And by the way, he has $10,000.
I want to pay my way to go
through a year of training.
Who pays to go to the military?
Nobody.
They pay you.
Does it make sense?
So, if they conscript you into the military,
they pay you.
They give you a uniform.
They feed you.
They train you.
They give you a weapon to protect yourself.
So, this is what he's saying.
So, when you come to Christ and you
say, yes, I want to join you in
the way.
Then what he's saying is this.
Then I will be your provider.
I will look after you.
I may not always tell you and you
may not always understand where you're going.
You may not always understand why you're going
through some tough time.
You may not understand it.
But trust me, I'll protect you.
That's the consideration.
So, now he gets to this last part
and I want to close real quickly on
this last part.
So, look at this in verse 18.
John chapter 21, verse 18.
Verily, so here he's talking to Peter and
we heard a marvelous message by Pastor Carter
on 15 down through 17.
Feed my sheep last Sunday.
But let me pick up from verse 18.
Verily, verily, I say.
Now, he's talking to Simon Peter and he
says, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when
thou wast young and girdest thyself, thou what?
You walked wherever you wanted to go.
You, see, beloved, we choose where we want
to go.
You chose who you wanted to marry.
You chose what you want to do in
your life.
You chose to do drugs.
You chose to do this.
You chose to do that.
You chose, you chose, you chose.
See, what Jesus is saying to Simon, he
says, Now, remember, you've got to understand that
he is now on the other side of
the grave.
So, he said, do you want to join
me where I'm going?
You might not always understand this, guys, but
I've got to go to the cross.
No, no, no, no, don't go to the
cross.
No, I've got to go to the cross.
And so, we see him die on the
cross.
But now he's in John chapter 21.
He's on the other side.
He's gone through the valley of the shadow
of death.
He's been in the grave.
The one who's talking to Simon Peter is
the resurrected Christ.
And now he's saying, do you want to
join me?
Do you want to come with me?
See, this is the call of Jesus.
He says, if you come with me, you
may not always understand the suffering and the
difficulties in this lifetime.
But I want to tell you what's at
the end of the road.
A resurrected life.
Glorified body.
And so, he says, when you were young,
you walked where you wanted.
You did what you wanted.
You went here.
You went there.
Life was everything revolving around me, mine, my
own.
But if you join me, then you're not
going to be able to do that, because
others are going to take you where you
don't want to go.
What he's saying is, there's going to be
tough times, and you're not going to have
control over it.
And it's signifying when death is going to
die, but it's also telling us that there
are times that you have no control over
the difficulties that come.
You have no control over the force, the
attack, or what's coming against you.
You have no control.
And he's saying to Simon, he said, by
the way, this is going to happen to
you.
You're going to be in a situation that
you have no control over.
But look at me.
Look at me.
I'm through the other side, and I'm coming
for you.
If you join me, I'm taking you through
there, and I'm taking you through the other
side.
You'll never die.
Join me in this pursuit, beloved, and you'll
never die.
Follow thou me.
He said he makes it personal.
He says, don't just follow me.
Don't just join me in the way.
He says, follow thou.
You.
Singular.
You as an individual.
So don't bump the person next to you
and say, are you going to go to
the altar call tonight?
Are you going to answer the call of
Jesus in your heart tonight?
Boom, boom, boom.
No.
You follow him.
You make the choice.
You make a decision.
Knowing that the end result, beloved, I know
that I am in the hand of God.
When he says, it's up, it's up.
I'm so confident in that, it doesn't matter.
Because I know that when life closes in
on me, and it is no more, I
am still held in the hand of God.
Through death, to the other side, brand new
life.
Let me ask you a question.
Jesus came in here tonight, which he has
in his word, and said, would you follow
me?
Would you join me in the way?
Let your answer be the altar call tonight.
In Jesus' name, let's stand.
Father, we thank you tonight for your word.
I love the word.
Because you never ask us to blindly follow
you.
But you give us the consideration of a
revelation of who you are.
But you graciously, even though we are such
miserable failures, our hearts are so desperately wicked,
and yet you come alongside of these people
who stumble, who fall, who are so weak.
We capitulate at the first attack.
Our thoughts are not always pure.
That's why Isaiah says, let the wicked man
forsake his thoughts.
God, but yet you still come alongside of
us.
It amazes me that you would come to
us, who are so weak, and say to
us, would you join me?
Would you join me in my way?
Do you want to walk with me?
Oh, Jesus, I don't understand it.
I don't comprehend why you wanted me to
walk with you.
I don't understand it.
I can't hardly comprehend it.
But you came to me, and you've invited
me.
And now, Lord, I know that I'm just
like Peter, who says no to suffering, no
to hard times.
Where are you, God?
But I ask you, bear with me, Jesus.
I say yes to your call tonight.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
They're going to play.
If you make your answer between...
You can stay in your seats and make
your answer, but if you want to say
yes to Jesus, and you want to show
it by coming out tonight, step out and
you come at this altar tonight, and remember,
follow thou me, not somebody else, just you
and Jesus.
You come tonight.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
No turning back.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
No turning back.
Though not though with me, still I will
follow.
Though not though with me, still I will
follow.
Though not still I will follow.
No turning back.
The cross before me, the world behind me.
No turning back.
A fun scripture tonight, just to give you
a closure on this.
In Mark chapter 16, verse 15, Jesus said
unto his disciples, Go ye into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved, but he that believeth not shall be
damned.
And these signs shall what?
Shall follow.
Now, listen to this.
The word follow here in the Greek, it
means this.
It doesn't mean join me in the way.
It doesn't mean now you come and be
a part of this now.
That's not what it's saying.
What this particular word in the original language
says is that those who believe that right
by their side as a present attendant who
will never leave them will be the power
of God against every attack.
That's what it means.
Those who believe, these signs shall follow, shall
be a present attendant all the time, right
there with you 24-7.
These signs shall follow them that believe.
So, the following says it will always be
with you.
So, beloved, when you walk down the street
and all hell is breaking loose round about
you, the Bible says you can tread on
serpents and nothing is going to hurt you.
Because your present attendant is there right now
as you believe God.
So, as you reach out and you say,
I put my trust in you, then the
present attendant says, that's all I need to
know.
Boom!
And there's the power of God.
They that believe.
Do you believe that?
When you join Him in the way, He
doesn't send you powerless.
He sends an attendant with you.
And by the way, that's the blessed Holy
Spirit.
Holy Ghost will never leave you nor forsake
you.
Amen?
Pray this with me.
Lord Jesus, I make a commitment as much
as I know how to say yes.
That's my position.
To say yes to you.
I may not understand all the details of
saying yes tonight.
But I know one thing.
When I say yes to you, my sins
are forgiven.
I am washed and I am cleansed from
all sin and declared righteous in the Beloved.
And I thank you for that.
I've joined you in your way and in
your righteousness.
And now tonight, I may not understand all
the things that may come my way.
But I know one thing.
As I am with you, no hell can
prevail against me.
And in the name of Jesus, every knee
shall bow.
And I thank you for that.
Lord, yes to you.
Now let me pray.
Now Father, I thank you that as much
as we know how, we say yes.
We don't make promises because we can't keep
them.
We just say yes.
Knowing as you walked with Peter and you
taught him and you brought revelation to him
and you showed him the resurrected life, so
you too will do the same for us.
So we say yes, but we don't make
promises.
We trust that as we say yes to
you, you will lead us and you will
teach us.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
I give him thanks.
Hallelujah.
This is the conclusion of the message.