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Teaching Series: Follow Jesus
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Today, we're beginning a new teaching series called Follow Jesus. This is not merely a call to salvation—it is a call to discipleship, to walk with God at deeper and more intimate levels. As you follow Jesus, you're stepping into your inheritances in God. This cannot happen when we keep ourselves outside of the plans and purposes of God, doing our own things, not minding who is inviting us to walk with him.
The relationship between proximity and intimacy is vital. Out of sight is often out of mind. It takes intentionality to grow closer to somebody you don't see regularly. That's why we're revisiting this call at this time.
In the Old Testament, the temple had three compartments: the outer court, the inner court, and the holy of holies. Only the priests could enter the inner sanctum. But in the New Testament, the Bible tells us we have been made kings and priests to our God. Our anchor scripture for this year comes from Exodus 19:4-6:
"You've seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."
God said, "I don't want segregated priesthood like the Levitical order in the Old Testament. I want all of you—if you will walk with me. I want to carry you on eagle's wings, and I want to make you a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to me."
Let me illustrate what I mean by different levels of relationship. In every household, there are different circles of access based on relationship depth. Some friends can enter your home at any time without announcement. Others must press the intercom at your gate. Some people you see on the security camera and say, "Who are you looking for?" They remain at the gate.
But there are friends—close friends—who don't even wait for you to open the gate. They know it well. If they miss the road while coming to your house, you don't know they're coming in jaw, because that's what close friends do. That's relationship.
There are people who come into your house, go straight to the kitchen, open your fridge, and help themselves. Why? Because they've earned that right through relationship. And there are people who will come into your house, go to your bedroom, knock on your door if you're taking too long, and come in—because they've known you for so long.
Where are you with God? That is the big question for this series. Are you still at the outer court? Are you in the place of the seven sons of Sceva, who said, "In the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, come out"? The demon looked at them and said, "Jesus I know. Paul I know. Who are you?"
This thing is about relationship. You cannot be saying, "In the name of Jesus that pastor came and preach, come out." Some people even have the attitude of saying, "The God of my father, is he not your God too?" You have been at that level for too long. You should be able to say, "My Father and my Lord, come through for me now."
It starts with responding to an invitation. That invitation is to come into the life of God that is in Jesus Christ. That invitation is an invitation to discipleship, not just an invitation to salvation.
The gospel of salvation is hindering the move of God in our days where people just want to get saved and not have a walk with God. The call of Jesus is not just a call to salvation—it's a call to discipleship. It's a call to walk with God, and we can't get stuck. Many people are not even saved yet, but people are saved who are stuck in stagnation.
Let's go to Matthew 4:18:
Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee and saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. Then he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." They immediately left their nets and followed him.
Jesus threw out an open invitation to two brothers, Peter and Andrew. "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." The call of Jesus there has so many implications. What did the disciples see that made them leave their pursuit, career, and life to decide to follow Jesus? It's a big question we have to unpack today.
When you say somebody has received a call, it's almost like they're going into full-time ministry. But nothing could be further from the truth. The call of God on your life is to life, to kingdom, to discipleship. Not everybody will be in vocational ministry, but all of us are in ministry. All of us are called to shine the light of Jesus. All of us are called to walk with Jesus. All of us are called to be in union with Christ and to carry him on a daily basis to every space where God will move us to.
Peter and Andrew were fishermen. They could either eat fish (survival) or sell fish (success). Jesus looked at them and essentially said: if you stay here, your life will terminate at the best point, which will be success. You will have the biggest fishing company in Galilee and maybe the entire region. The only thing is that that's going to be the end of it.
But come with me, and you may never taste a life of significance except you come along.
The calling of Jesus is a call to significance. It's a call to living a life of fulfillment. It's a call to living a life that has both earthly and eternal relevance. We can overcelerate earthly success to the detriment of eternal significance.
We cannot live our lives as if it all depends on our dreams and ambitions. An atheist will do that. But if you are in Christ, it has to be different. You are following him, or you are not. The call of Jesus involves becoming his witness on earth. We're following Jesus to become like him because he wants to reproduce himself in us. We're following Jesus to the Father.
Galatians 4:1-2 gives us a sobering picture:
Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up. Even though they actually own everything their father had, they have to obey the guardians until they reach whatever age their father sets.
When a parent with significant resources passes and leaves an inheritance to young children, that inheritance is often placed in trust. The children cannot access it fully until they reach a certain age—perhaps 18 or 21—because the parent doesn't want them to run down everything that was built with a lifetime of labor.
Paul is saying: you stand a danger. If you remain a child, there are certain inheritances you won't be able to walk into because those things are time-sensitive or maturity-sensitive.
Anyone who takes the issue of spiritual growth, discipleship, and spiritual maturity casually is playing with his or her inheritance in Christ Jesus. Sometimes God is waiting for you to come of age in certain areas before certain things will be released to you.
You can't be treating people the way you're treating people now and expect God to expand you and give you influence over thousands of employees. God will say, "I really want to expand your business. But if I do that right now, you're going to misrepresent me. So I will walk in you rather than work for you. When I finish walking in you, then I will walk more for you."
Many people prefer that God should work for them, not walk with them. They have a form of godliness but deny the power that can transform them.
The Apostle Paul described three categories of people in his writings. Let me outline them for you.
The natural man is described in 1 Corinthians 2:14 (Amplified Translation):
The natural man does not understand. The unbelieving does not accept the things, the teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness, absurd and illogical to him, and he is incapable of understanding them because they are spiritually discerned.
The natural man does not acknowledge God. He has no relationship with God. He is either agnostic or atheist. When unbelievers argue about spiritual truth on social media, they are wasting their time—and so are you if you engage them. You cannot discuss spiritual matters with someone who has not experienced redemption and whose human spirit has not been regenerated. Their mind cannot comprehend spiritual truth. Some spiritual truths are not for the mind; they are for your spirit.
When you go to work this week, don't argue about spiritual things with people who have not experienced redemption. The best you can do is help them appreciate Christ. They don't have the capacity to understand.
The danger of staying as a natural man is eternal damnation. It is a dangerous place. The person becomes a cheap prey for the devil.
The carnal Christian is filled with the church. This kind of person believes but is not totally submitted. He panders to the flesh more than the spirit. He is not committed to maturity habits. There is no sign of sustained growth as a disciple. No movement in the destiny fulfillment continuum. He is just enjoying survival or success, trapped in the rat race of success, oblivious of eternal realities and the benefits available in God.
He has a casual relationship with his church community. Some people think because of the pandemic lockdown they don't need church anymore. But the church remains the hope of the world. The church of Jesus Christ is the hope of the world.
Galatians 5:19-21 describes the works of the flesh:
Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.
Galatians is not written to unbelievers. It's written to believers—believers who are fornicating and in adultery. They are still believers; they're just carnal Christians who only obey the feelings of their flesh.
Your frustration with your boss, your envy, someone you know who is a pastor at a particular church but whom you know is corrupt—this person is still a believer. They are just living in the flesh.
The danger of remaining a carnal Christian is lukewarmness and tendency to backslide. A carnal person bound by old habits and mindset cannot be entrusted with serious responsibilities by God.
The spiritual person is fully committed to God. When this person works in an organization, people feel the love of God through him. He forgives easily. He shows the maturity that is in Christ. He doesn't misrepresent the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 13 reminds us:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
Some people join every prayer, every morning they do three rounds of prayers, but if you cross their path, they will curse you. They will speak so rashly. The same person praying all over the place has no love of God in their heart.
A truly spiritual person bears the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22 says:
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
The next step for a spiritual person is to discover purpose and make a difference with their life. They step into their inheritance in God. They deploy spiritual gifts and ability to impact others. They subscribe to kingdom agendas and contribute to the growth of their local church.
But even spiritual people cannot afford to stay in one place. Philippians 3:12-13 tells us:
I press on to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus laid hold of me. Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal.
We have to keep pressing. We don't stay in one place. It is possible for a believer to have been spiritually mature in the past and become lukewarm some years after.
There are people you used to know who were on fire for God in their university days or in the early years of their faith. But they're not pressing on. The devil carried the fire away. The danger is distraction, the deceitfulness of riches where you get stuck in success rather than moving to significance. There is a tendency to backslide, falling short of the divine expectation of God.
As a church, we want to move people on a journey:
The day you gave your life to Christ is not the day that old patterns will drop off you. If you were a terrible liar before you gave your life to Christ, God will convict you. The Holy Spirit will convince you the day you give your life to Christ. But as you leave the altar, you may go home and tell a terrible lie. The only thing is that you will be aware that you are lying. Before, it was just your life. Now you know it's out of character. You start to entreat God, walking with the Holy Spirit, getting deeper in the word of God for those things to drop off. That's how you gain freedom—even from the harassments of the devil.
After you've gained freedom, your next bus stop is to discover purpose in Christ. A person who has not discovered purpose cannot make a difference. Making a difference must be based on the purpose of God for your life. I could use this microphone to knock somebody's head. Has it made a difference? In some way, it has inflicted pain. But the original intention is for amplification of voice. Until that is happening, the microphone is not making the originally intended difference.
Ephesians 4:7-14 (Message Translation) tells us:
He handed out gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to train Christ followers in skilled servant work, walking within Christ's body, the church, until we all are moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's son. Fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ. No prolonged infancy amongst us.
How many people here would be glad to see a child that is not growing? No. It's a concern to the entire family—not just the nuclear family, but the extended family.
Some of you are concerns for us. In this family and the body of Christ, some people are disgracing the body of Christ globally because of prolonged infancy. You see some who say, "That one is a pastor, he's a minister," and he's the one leading people in corruption, eating money. Prolonged infancy.
Some of those people are saved. They are just infants who lack self-control. Money and the love of money have held them bound to the point that you start to second-guess their faith in Christ Jesus.
All of us need to take responsibility to reduce the infancy quotient in the body of Christ. And it starts from your home. Pay attention to your spouse. If you have a spouse who is not praying, use the love of God to entreat them. Show concern. The problem with the body of Christ is that we are not even concerned with lukewarmness. All we want is a testimony of somebody prospering. But somebody who has prospered may already be in the cage of the devil. What benefit is it if somebody makes billions but is under the entrancement of the devil? He has to use those billions to do the bidding of the devil.
When a man begins to prosper and takes on side relationships while married, the wife doesn't become happy. Sometimes the wife is forced to pray, "God, take the money away so I can gain sense back." This is not the woman being a witch. She's an agent of God trying to help her husband make heaven rather than go to hell. Why can't we watch over each other and carefully curate our journey together rather than just playing games?
This is February. On social media, you'll see all kinds of shows. People putting ribbons on cars as a palliative for their conscience. Friends who know them see it and say, "We know this one is just playing games." You see women screaming with joy about the gifts they receive, the cars, the money. But gifts are not bad. The issue is that some of these things are just shows. They're not coming from the heart.
There's no real love. We're not developing. Anyone who has not developed the capacity to love God intently will only love superficially. If you are a Christian, the love you demonstrate this season, let it be an overflow of your love for God.
My love for God compels me to love my wife as Christ loved the church, that he gave himself for her. When I forgive my wife, I forgive because I've been forgiven by Jesus. Let it be an overflow of the love of God that is in your heart. Let it not be a show.
There will be so many shows in the next couple of weeks. For all those without real spiritual depth and spiritual maturity, marriages will end. I've seen marriages end in this Lagos over the past 25 years of pastoring. The love of God needs to come into your heart so you can forgive, forbear, and walk with people. Glory be to Jesus.
Before we pray, I want to speak to someone. If by the influence of my voice, you're saying, "Pastor, I can see that I need Jesus in my life. I still live and talk like a natural man. I need entrance into the things of the spirit so I can appreciate the mysteries of the kingdom of God and walk with God. I want to yield to the call of Jesus on my life. I want to follow him."
Or you're saying, "I don't know Jesus as my Lord and personal Savior. I want to give my life to Jesus. Or I used to know Jesus, but I backslid into sin, and I want to rededicate my life to Jesus."
Whether you are in the house or online, I want to pray for you right now. If you are right in this room, on the gallery, on the main floor, can you lift your right hand above your head? I want to give my life to Jesus. Jesus is here, and we're not here for any man. We're here for Jesus.
Somebody online, go to the chat, go to the comment. Let us know: "I'm giving my life to Jesus. I want to rededicate my life to him."
While you remain where you are, if your hand is up, can you just stand? Let's pray together. Stand where you are. Just back your decision as you stand for Jesus. Nothing should keep you on your seat if you feel a pull in your heart. Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart, and your appropriate response right now is to stand for him.
For everyone online, if you can stand, stand. If you can't, just put it on the chat or comment: "I'm giving my life to Jesus. I'm rededicating my life to Jesus."
If you're standing, I want you to say this prayer after me:
Lord Jesus, I come to you today and I ask that you forgive me my sins and that you cleanse me from every unrighteousness. Today, I open up my heart to you. I receive you as my Lord and my personal Savior. I reckon that your death on the cross has been the payment for my sin. And when you rose on the third day, it was for my justification. From this moment forward, I fully, completely surrender my life to you. Lead me, guide me, be my shepherd for the remaining days of my life. Thank you for accepting me.
Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray for your sons and daughters. Everyone saying this prayer, we ask for a new beginning for them. Bring them out of death into life, and let your hand continually rest upon them. We thank you, our Father.
If you just said a prayer with me, can you just move to a house that is closest to you? We would love to spend a couple of minutes with you. We'll share some materials with you, take your details, and our ministers and counselors want to spend just five minutes with you, and you'll be back with us in the service. It takes boldness to walk with Jesus. Celebrate all the bold people making a decision for Jesus today.
Can we all rise just for two minutes? Rise on your feet, everybody. Lift your two hands to Jesus and say after me:
Lord Jesus, I want to walk with you. I want to get deeper with you. I want to step into higher levels of grace with you in my life. Let old things be passed away. Let all things become new. In the name of Jesus, I forget the things that are behind. I'm pressing into a higher calling in Christ Jesus. Bring me into the inner court. Bring me closer to you. Bring me closer in this season. I embrace my next level of spiritual maturity. I declare that I'm a devoted follower of Jesus Christ. I'm a disciple of Christ. I will live out the life of a disciple. I will be available to you. My heart will be available. My mind will be available. My resources will be available. I choose the life of significance. I will not be trapped in success. I will not be trapped in survival.
