Thursday, January 11, 2007

FOLLOW ME, AND I WILL .......

18 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." 20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him. 23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. 24 Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. 25 Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. Matthew 4:18-25 (NKJV)

This passage from Matthew is an important text for this Season of Epiphany. If we are going to respond to the Call to be the people through whom the Light of Jesus Christ shines on others, we need to follow Him so He will......

.........teach us. In verse 19, Jesus calls to Peter and Andrew, "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men." You have heard it and read it over and over again, yet it bears repeating - Jesus did not ask Peter and Andrew if they knew how to fish for men, He said I will make you fishers of men, I will teach you.

.........show us. Then Jesus called James and John to follow with them. As they followed they heard Jesus teach and preach, they saw Him ministering to those with all kinds of sickness and disease.

In verses 24 and 25, we are told how the news of what Jesus had done had spread far and wide. We are told that because they heard the news, people with all kinds of needs from distant places came to Jesus. This is what Epiphany is all about, making Him known to those who do not know Jesus Christ, the Light of the World

If we choose to follow our Lord, He will teach us and show us what we need to do in response to "feed My sheep" "go ye therefore and teach all nations...." and "inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto Me."

Follow Him through the Gospels and He will teach you and show you with His Life.

Follow Him through the lives of His disciples in the Book of The Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles of His followers and they will teach you through their lives what Jesus taught and revealed to them.

Follow Him and He will................... OH, will you ever be surprised at what HE WILL TEACH YOU AND SHOW YOU. Then you also can shine the LIGHT that is Jesus, so others will want to come to Him.

WE PRAY: Lord, I want to follow you, but I don’t know what to do. Please teach me. Lord, I want to follow you, but I am so weak in my faith. Please strengthen me. Lord, I want to follow you, but my friends won’t understand. Please help me to bring them with me. Lord, I want to follow you. AMEN

A SUGGESTION FOR LIVING THE DEVOTION

Again there are no special steps here. If you do not have certain books to assist you in your Study of the Bible, I would suggest you go to a local Christian Book Store. If you go to a Christian Store opposed to a general bookstore or on-line book shopping, you have the advantage of being able to talk with someone who knows something about Bible Study. I would suggest a CONCORDANCE, A TOPICAL BIBLE, A BIBLE Atlas, as well as some other smaller books. I do not sell these books, but if you would like to ask some questions about what they are and how you would use them, please send me a response.

NOW, if you have a Bible Atlas, look up the places in verse 25 and see how far the people had to travel just to see Jesus. Remember, they probably had to walk along those dusty paths.