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Follow Me

Follow Me

Follow Me

Matthew 4:18-22 ESV

“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And 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, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”

  • Sometimes we think of the book of Acts as the “good ol days” of the church. 
  • Back then, we think, the church felt like an unstoppable movement
      • The only problem, church historians say, is that had you been alive during this time it wouldn’t have felt like an unstoppable movement. 
  • Origen, Christian Scholar, “a few scattered communities, geographically broad, but numerically insignificant.”
  • The early church had very little compared to what we have today
    • But what they did have, church historians say, was an ingrained sense that the Great Commission belonged to everybody.
  • They believed that every Christian, and every church, was called to multiply.
  • Matthew 4:19 describes how Jesus saw Peter & Andrew, and James & John, with their boats and nets and relatives, that He said to them, “Follow Me.” 
    • They got up, left everything, and followed Him
  • What would YOU do today? 
Follow Me
  • THE CONSISTENT COMMAND TO FOLLOW
  • Jesus’ repeated call to people was to FOLLOW Him:
  • Matt 4:19 He commands both sets of brothers, Peter & Andrew, and James & John to “Follow Me”
  • Matt 8 when men were asking about being His disciples, He gave them that command: “Follow Me”
  • Matt 9 Jesus finds Matthew the tax collector (probably the author of this book) and He told Him: “Follow Me!”
  • Matt 10 Jesus is speaking about the meaning of being His disciple, and He says, “And whoever does not take his cross and FOLLOW Me is not worthy of Me.”
  • Matt 19 Jesus meets the Rich Young Ruler and after testing him about his money, He tells him: “Come, follow Me.”
  • John 21 after Jesus had been crucified, and buried, and resurrected, and He appeared to His disciples, just before He left earth, He told Peter one last time: “Follow Me.”
  • Over and over and over Jesus told those He met in scripture: “Follow Me.” 
  • And this is what He commands us today, too!
    • This is a consistent and vital part of what it means to be rightly related to the Lord. 
  • We are to follow Him
  1. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO “FOLLOW”?
  • What following Jesus does NOT mean:
  1. Following Jesus doesn’t mean just going to church.
  • Going to church should be a part of following Jesus; but there is much more to it than just that. 
  • You can go to church and not be a follower of Jesus at all. 
  • Mark 1, Jesus went into a synagogue to preach, and v23 says there was a man in the synagogue with a demon who cried out against Jesus. 
  • Watching Top Gun, even on the IMAX screen, makes you neither a Pilot nor a member of the Navy or Air Force
  • “Going to church” is not the same as following Jesus.
  1. Following Jesus does NOT mean just believing in who He is.
    • James 2:19-20 NLT “19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. 20 How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?” 
  • James says the demons “believe” in who Jesus is.
  • John 12:42-43 ESV “Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” 
  • The Bible says these people “believed” who Jesus was; but talk is cheap 
  • They were more concerned with the opinion of man than the worship of God
    • They didn’t FOLLOW Jesus. 
  • Just “believing” Jesus exists is not following.
  1. LIKING Jesus does NOT mean you Follow Him.
  • Twitter accounts I follow because I really like the quotes they post. 
  • Spurgeon, D.L Moody, JC Ryle, Jonathan Edwards
      • Although dead, they have someone who posts their quotes online, so if you “follow” them, you can read little one-line quotes from their respective books or sermons that they put on Twitter. 
  • So yes I “follow” them in the respect I like to read their words.
  • BUT THIS IS NOT WHAT IT MEANS TO “FOLLOW” JESUS! 
  • “Following Jesus” means more than just “liking His words” and enjoying reading what He has to say and do
  1. SO WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ACTUALLY “FOLLOW” JESUS?
  • We see that the standard for “following” Jesus meant literally, physically, leaving where they were and following Him wherever He went. 
  • Peter & Andrew and James & John all did that.
  • Matthew 4:20 ESV says Peter and Andrew “Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” 
  • They literally left where they were and walked with Jesus
  • v.22 says James & John did the same thing “Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”
    • Matt 9:9 ESV “9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.”
  • He got up from his tax collector’s office and walked after Jesus.


  • All of these men literally left what they were doing; left things behind, and started following after Jesus:
  • Left their JOBS, NETS, FAMILIES, PRIORITIES, PLANS, APPOINTMENTS, SECURITY, HOBBIES to follow Jesus.
  1. Following Jesus means that we are going to do some things DIFFERENTLY; that there will be some things we will leave behind.
  • IT IS AN ACTIVE COMMAND, YOU CANNOT FOLLOW JESUS PASSIVELY
  • IT MEANS:
    • you leave behind the life you might have had planned that was centered around you. 
      • When you follow Jesus, your life is about HIM; it is centered around Him. 
  • It’s no longer what you want to do; it’s what HE tells you to do. 
  • It’s no longer what you “feel” like doing; it’s what His word instructs you to do.
  • Your life is not about what you can “achieve” here on earth, but what you store up in heaven. 
  • You are leaving behind your old way of life, to follow Jesus in a brand new kind of life.

*It also means you leave behind your sin.*

  • Following Jesus DOESN’T MEAN that you can KEEP ON DOING whatever you WERE DOING BEFORE, only now YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN because you have Jesus to “clean up after you.” 
  • One of the best displays of the grace of Jesus was when He dealt with the adulterous woman in John 8 ESV. 
    • “v.7 Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”
    • “v.10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
  • Truly following Jesus does NOT mean you just go on and do whatever you want to, and Jesus will forgive you.
    • Following Jesus means imitating Him 
      • Hebrews 4:15 ESV “who was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”
  • Following Jesus means living a holy life, like He did. 
    • You leave your sins behind.


  • SO Following Jesus means leaving some things behind. 
    • A good practical question you should ask yourself is: What have I left behind for Jesus?


  • Are there some things YOU no longer do because you are following Jesus?
  • Are there desires you no longer desire?
  • Are there people you can no longer revere?
  1. Following Jesus means SPENDING TIME with Him.
  • That’s one of THE most important elements of following Jesus. 
  • That’s what the first followers of Jesus did. 
    • Walked with Him, 
    • Asked Him questions, 
    • Listened to His answers. 
  • Mark 3:14 ESV says that when Jesus called the 12 to follow Him, He did it: 
  • “…SO THAT (the purpose) they would BE WITH HIM, and that He could send them out to preach.” 
  • Jesus CALLED His followers to MINISTER but FIRST He just called them to BE WITH HIM.
  • God CREATED us to “be with Him” forever
    • BUT EVER since the time of Adam & Eve, we have all sinned, and our sins separated us from God. 
      • Isaiah 59:2 ESV “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God…”
  • But Jesus came to die on the cross and pay for our sins, to bring us back to God
    • Not so we could be just called “saved”, but I Peter 3:18 ESV “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God…” 
  • The purpose for which we are “saved” is that we might come back to God, to be WITH HIM.
  • That is what we are saved FOR.
  • We will “be with God” forever in heaven, but we get to START being with Him right NOW, by faith, as we spend time with Him in His word, prayer, worship every day.
  • BY spending time with Jesus, we will begin to transform into Jesus
  • We will WANT to DO what Jesus DID!
  1. Confessing Him

Matt 10:32 ESV “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,”

  • So part of what it means to follow Jesus is to publicly align with Him as your Lord & Savior. 
  • (Remember, this is just what those Jewish leaders in John 12 were not willing to do.) 
  • Today we do that first of all in baptism, which is like a “public notice” of our commitment to follow Jesus. 
  • And then God gives us opportunities all through the course of our daily lives, to stand for Him publicly. 
  • Do not back away in those times; claiming Jesus publicly is part of what it means to follow Him.
  1. Becoming Like Him
    Matthew 10:25 ESV “It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher…” 
  • So part of following Jesus is that we are to become like Him:
  • In our CHARACTER, which we see outlined in the Beatitudes of Matthew 5:3-12.
  • Also become like Him in our ministry. 
  • We are to follow Jesus by DOING the things that He would be doing in this world. 
  • “Following Jesus” means doing what He did when He was in the world LOVING PEOPLE.”
  1. Loving Him
    Matthew 10:37 ESV “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”
  • Jesus says we are not to love anyone or anything in this life more than Him — so part of following Jesus is LOVING Him.
  • Just like Mary, whom Luke 10 says just sat at the feet of Jesus, loving Him, and listening to His word.
    • Prioritizing Him over all the other things in her life deemed “important”
  • All these things are part of what it means to “FOLLOW” Jesus: 
  • We leave some things behind
  • It means we confess Him publicly
  • It means we spend time with Him, becoming like Him
  • It means we do the things that He did when He was here on earth
  • That we LOVE Him!
Follow Me

III. WHAT WILL HAPPEN AS YOU FOLLOW
“And I will make you fishers of men.”

  • As you follow Jesus, HE will be the center of your life. 
    • And as you follow Him, and transform into Him, He is going to give you opportunities to minister to PEOPLE. 
  • He said “I will make you fishers of MEN.” 
  • As you follow Jesus, PEOPLE will become the focus of your ministry.
      • This was true of Jesus when He walked here on earth and this is true for His followers today
  • He was all about reaching and teaching and caring for people:
    • Jesus said “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10 ESV)
  • Jesus said He came for the purpose “…not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45 ESV)
  • Jesus came to glorify God, He was all about His relationship with His Father. 
  • But His ministry here on earth was all about serving and reaching PEOPLE, in all kinds of ways.
  • But like most difficult things, we tend to TALK a lot about being fishers of men instead of DOING
  • Most of the time we act as if Jesus said, “Follow me and we’ll TALK about fishing for men.” 
    • So we read books and go to seminars and watch videos and take training sessions and listen to sermons (just like this one!).
  • We end up experts at talking about fishing for men. 
    • We know how to bait the hook and what kind of lure to use. 
  • But we’re not so good at actually fishing for men
    • In fact, most Christians feel vaguely guilty about the whole subject of evangelism. 
  • We know we should do it but we don’t know where to begin or how.
  • AND YET, there is a command to evangelize
    • Jesus said, “…Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15 ESV)
  • That’s the command and it is God’s will for your life, period. 
  • No Christian can wriggle off the hook. 
        • We are to do the work of evangelism— spreading the good news about Jesus Christ wherever we go.
  • So how do we get better at following the command of Jesus to be “FISHERS of MEN” 
  • Build Relationships With Non-Christians
  • This is where all evangelism begins, building relationships
  • Evangelism begins simply by making friends with non-Christians.
  • Making friends with people who don’t know Jesus. 
  • Specifically, this means starting with the people you already know


  • Sometimes Christians feel like they don’t know anybody who needs the Lord. 
  • The reality is we all know lots of people who need Jesus. 
  • We rub shoulders with them every day. 
  • In others words, we focus on those people God has already placed in our lives. 
  • And then we do whatever it takes to build QUALITY relationships with people.
  • ARE WE DOING WHAT IT TAKES TO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH THOSE AROUND US?
  1. Ask your neighbor for advice or help on something you need help with.
  2. Invite your neighbor or co-worker over for dinner. Hospitality breaks down barriers and builds new friendships.
  3. Buy an extra M’s ticket and invite a neighbor to go with you to the game.
  4. Do some yard work and make a point to talk with neighbors that walk by. 
  5. Be sensitive to their needs. If you know an elderly person, offer to mow their lawn or shovel their driveway.
  6. Take an interest in their interests. If they like to fish, talk about fishing. If they like to cook, talk about cooking.
  7. Be available when people are going through times of sickness, death, marital problems or financial troubles.
  8. Give gifts, baked goods are a way into any mans heart
  • Notice how practical it is. 
    • Everything on here is doable. 
    • There is nothing religious or churchy on the list.
  • Look For Opportunities to Talk To Your Friends About Jesus.
  • This involves actually opening your mouth and saying something about Jesus.
  • Most of us get all tied up in knots because we’re worried about having to say something right off the bat. 
  • We’re afraid people will think we’re crazy and turn us off. 
  • But that’s not how evangelism works. 
  • You don’t start by saying anything.
  •  You start by building relationships. 
  • And then—in the context of a friendship—you look for natural opportunities to share your faith.
  1. Begin each day by praying that God will send you at least one person 
  2. Start looking for opportunities to say a good word for about Jesus
  • Just look for chances to slip Jesus into your conversations with people in a natural, unforced way.
  • Bring your friends to events where they can hear the gospel.
  • This is the last part of simple evangelism
  • Im sure that FVC has many different events, outreaches, and groups that meet and happen all throughout the year
  • Mens groups
  • Womens groups
  • Holiday events
  • BBQ’s
  • Family Days
  • BRING THEM TO CHURCH AND SIT WITH THEM, MAKE THEM COMFORTABLE, EXPLAIN CHURCH TO THEM
  • Allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in them
      • A young salesman was disappointed about losing a big sale, and as he talked with his sales manager he lamented, “I guess it just proves you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.” The manager replied, “Son, take my advice: your job is not to make him drink. Your job is to make him thirsty.” 
  • Are our lives such that we create a thirst in others for the gospel of Jesus?


  • And I have no doubt that this is what Jesus is telling us today too. 
  • You don’t have to sit there today and wonder, “If Jesus were standing right here, what would He say to me, today?” 
  • You don’t have to wonder that; we KNOW from this scripture what He would say to you — Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever — His message would be the same to you today, as it was over and over and over again in His word: it’s “Follow Me!”

Scripture in Sermon:

Matthew 4:18-22 ESV

James 2:19-20 NLT

John 12:42-43 ESV

Matthew 9:9 ESV

John 8:7,10-11 ESV

Hebrews 4:15 ESV

Mark 3:14 ESV

Isaiah 59:2 ESV

1 Peter 3:18 ESV

Matthew 10:32 ESV

Matthew 10:25 ESV

Matthew 10:37 ESV

Luke 19:10 ESV

Mark 10:45 ESV

Mark 16:15 ESV

Follow Me

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Faith and Victory Church
1302 A Street SE
Auburn WA 98002
Non Denominational
Christian Church
Faith in God Victory in Life
253-856-7077
welcome@faithandvictory.com

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