Who Are You Following? (Be Careful Who You Follow...)

Sermon delivered by: Pastor Harold W. Finch, Sr. on August 21, 2011 (Homecoming Sunday)


Scripture - Matthew 16:24 (NIV)

 ²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

•  All of us are following somebody, whether we know it or not. Who you are following determines where you will be going. Remember, the wages of sin = death. We should seek to become the followers of Jesus Christ; some of us know that we are not doing the right thing.
• Disciple - A learner who accepts the views of the teacher and puts them to practice. We need become not only learners, but disciples. Who is Jesus to you? He does not need "part-time" lovers, but committed people.
• "It's time-out for playing; it's time to get serious..." If you're going through Hell, KEEP GOING because if you stop, you just may end up there.

In order to become a disciple of Jesus...

1. You must deny yourself. Meaning, you must let "self" die. "Self" always tells you what it wants, despite what you need. 
2. Take up your cross. What is your cross? -- It's that circumstance or challenge that keeps you separated from God and Jesus Christ, and keeps you on the road to hell. Be real, be sincere, be genuine with yourself; everyone is going through an obstacle but it is up to you if you want to leave differently than how you came.
3. Follow him. When you follow Jesus, you cannot get ahead of Him. We must learn how to truly follow; we are used to being the leader and doing things our way, but when you are a follower of Jesus, you must learn that He come first, and you are to follow His teachings, whether you understand or not. For instance, going to church one Sunday and skipping the next few weeks. Following Jesus is not something you can do when you feel it is necessary. You must follow Him on a consistent basis because He has standards that needs to be fulfilled.

When you continue to make all the choices in your life, you are in charge not Him. God deserves first place in your life. If you want eternal life with God, He needs to be the leader in your life so He can lead you to the places He wants you. There are so many opportunities to accept Him in your life because the next day, minute, or second is not promised. And when you accept Him, you have to work for Him; if you died today, and you truly followed and worked for Him, your soul should be eased because you worked inside of His will. You have the opportunity to accept Him now and allow Him to work and fix problems in your life, so why not surrender your life to Him now?