Minister: Rev. Olon M. Lindemood

August 11 and 12, 2012

Luke 9:57-58

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ ⁵⁸And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’

“I will follow you wherever you go!”

You are prepared to say the same thing… Hey Jesus… you can count on me … wherever you are headed … me too!

Friends we are in the midst of a few weeks of discovery.  Discovery of what it means to follow Jesus!?!  For many, you are thinking … come on Pastor… don’t insult us with such an introduction to the Christian faith… as a matter of fact … we are offended!

You see I am aware of many of us having declared our faith and we know what following Jesus is all about…     (regardless… we are starting in places that remind us of our motivation … remind us of where we have come from.) 

If we are going to Follow Jesus … then let’s find out who this Jesus is first…

Several weeks ago.  My fiancée Dena and I decided we wanted to be more focused in identifying birds… Do you know any bird watchers?  Dedicated folks… So … I picked up the Sibley Bird Identification book… started to read the introduction … If you are wanting to identify a bird… STEP ONE:  “Look at the bird.”

(Pause)  Step one:  “Look at the bird”

STEP ONE: “Look at Jesus”

LUKE 9: 1-6

 Then Jesus^* called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, ²and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. ³He said to them, ‘Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money—not even an extra tunic. ⁴Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there. ⁵Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.’ ⁶They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

We want to Follow Jesus …  Most of us know that if we could  find the right leader or if we could provide appropriate leadership … we will be doing great work to bring in the kingdom of God!

There are some serious lessons of Leadership that we can learn in just a few moments… would you please grant some space to this training video on leadership…

FIRST FOLLOWER: Leadership lessons from a dancing guy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ

(On Youtube.com you will find this video when you search for “First follower”

FRIENDS:  Let’s be courageous followers of  Jesus!  Courageous enough to follow Jesus…

You do know that following Jesus means :

• walking though Samaria… A place where there are people we are conditioned to love to hate!”
• standing in the middle of a crowd that is angry about an injustice… and Jesus says… if you are free from sin … cast the first stone
• running to a tomb when Jesus has died and learning that following Jesus is a life commitment
• walking near a person who is needy … and Jesus stops to offer healing / comfort / a conversation of salvation
• standing near the cross where Jesus is killed because he tells the culture “No.”
• running away from an empty tomb only to discover resurrected Jesus saying … why are you afraid, why do you doubt, why do you need more and more to simply believe?

STEP ONE:  Look at Jesus

STEP TWO: Be the first Follower!

This Step two:  trust that this ”lone nut” has you as a first follower and that the world can change, the people you encounter everyday can be transformed, know that LOVE works when we love the unlovable… when we let go of our resentments / fears / and righteousness!  Love the unlovable…. (BE a first follower and be ready to invite others … come follow Jesus with me!)

To often we find ourselves in a place where we want to just be fans of Jesus… We Go to Church / We Tag our Cars with Christian looks/ We adorn ourselves with the loyalty of our leader Jesus …   We are ready to cheer with pon pons and megaphones:

 “JESUS! Jesus!  He’s our man.  If he can’t save us nobody can!”

The gospel writer Luke wanted us to know that he is a first follower of Jesus:  (Luke 1: 1-4, Acts 1: 1-4)  You can hear him speaking to Theophilus,  (Most excellent Theophilus!)

Wherever Jesus … I will follow you…

Luke 5: 27-32

After this he went out and saw a tax-collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ ²⁸And he got up, left everything, and followed him.

29 Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax-collectors and others sitting at the table^* with them. ³⁰The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors and sinners?’ ³¹Jesus answered, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; ³²I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.’

Wherever you go Jesus…  I will follow…

And Jesus says to me:

‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’

I WANT TO FOLLOW JESUS:

STEP ONE:  Look at Jesus

STEP TWO: Be the first Follower!

Step three … no turning back … no turning back…

Let us pray:

Follow you dear Lord, Follow you… you want me to follow you?  You really want me to follow you…? 

• Take my hand.  I don’t feel worthy. 
• Take my hand.  I am afraid.
• Take my hand.  I am yours.

AMEN