This evening I’m sitting in a great little espresso bar in Black Mountain, North Carolina called Perks. The next time you’re in town, stop by, give a shoutout to Peter (the owner), and have a coffee or smoothie in a really cool environment surrounded by the Black Mountain Range.
While ordering up a delicious hazlenut coffee, Peter told me his shop is “all about Christ.” My heart was stirred as he shared how he served on the foreign mission field and how God led him and his wife to Black Mountain. God told them to “follow Him” there and they did so.
One of my heroes in the faith, Dr. Henry Blackaby, shared the same message yesterday at Ridgecrest. He said that a true disciple is defined simply as “a follower of Jesus.” Jesus told the first disciples to follow him and He tells us the same thing today.
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Mark 1:17-18
Dr. Blackaby added new insight when he tied Jesus’ message of repentance to His message about following Him. Here are a few of the points that he made during his the sermon:
- In addition to asking people to turn from their sin, Jesus asked them to turn away from following their own ways and follow Him.
- A true disciple should utilize the power of the cross, the power of the resurrection, and the power of Pentecost in his life.
- A disciple’s life should be a life of intimate fellowship with God.
Dr. Blackaby also shared an interesting (biblical) definition of eternal life. He read and explained the following passage:
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3
He explained that eternal life is not defined as living eternally in a place called Heaven; eternal life is simply knowing God. Of course, one of the fringe benefits of knowing God is Heaven, but far better than all of that is simply knowing God. The Apostle Paul seemed to agree when he wrote:
I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Phippians 3:8
Prayer: Lord, help us to know you intimately, love you passionately, and follow you unquestionably.
We elect leadership based on the name rinogcetion that comes from long-past efforts or mere longevity rather than current knowledge of where and how God is at work and vision for the future.We tolerate leaders who find more value in the church’s real estate or the ability to bring back the church of their youth than in the church’s current and future ability to reach people for Christ.We have no one aware of how the church is being perceived by its neighbors and others in the community.Everything we do starts actually looking desperate .because it is.