Following Jesus

The book of Colossians talks about following Jesus. This book was written to the believers in Collosae as a personal letter. Jesus was gone; He had ascended to Heaven, so the church was now left wondering what to do next. Paul answers that.

The letter is also for us. We got saved. Now what? The answer is follow.

We are to follow Jesus!

How do we do that in practical terms?

1. The first is an understanding of grace. There’s a lot of cults out there that attach conditions – faith plus works or faith plus keeping the law. We have to be able to spot these and explain what grace is. It’s the unmerited (unearned) favor of God without conditions.

13He has delivered us from the power of darkness and [c]conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14in whom we have redemption [d]through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:13-14 nkj

Also…

8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9 nkj

Memorize those so that when the cults come to your door after Covid is over, you can have an answer for them when they say you have to do a lot of stuff to earn salvation.

2. Be filled with the Holy Spirit! All of the disciples were believers but they didn’t receive the Holy Spirit until the day of Pentecost. Being filled with the Holy Spirit gave them power to preach boldly. How are we filled with the Holy Spirit?

3But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

Psalm 22:3 kjv

Praise Him! He inhabits praise. Fill your house and your mouth with praise for God!

3. Draw near to Jesus. Spend quantity and quality time with Him. Each day feed your spirit before you feed your body.

Getting to know Jesus is getting to know God. How can we do that? We have to study His word. This is not an option. His word is the belt of truth that is part of our spiritual armor.

15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or [e]principalities or [f]powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Reconciled in Christ

19For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Colossians 1:15-20

There’s a lot of doctrinal error in the churches. Discernment helps us know what is right and what is wrong. We can and should pray for the gift of discernment. This gift is very helpful to the believer wanting to know which church is right. New Age, occultism, and witchcraft is trying to penetrate all of them and has been successful in quite a few of them.

• “Prophet” Tracey Cooke on Sid Roth’s It’s Supernatural gives readings on people and he’s not 100% accurate, so that means what? One thing wrong disqualifies you. I heard Sid Roth apologize for his own wrong prophecy. Right now I am thinking basically anybody he has on the show is suspect of being either a false prophet, a witch, or a New Ager.
• Life church pastor Craig Groeschel’s theology is cultural Marxism and he has no problem with critical race theory. The church is silent on abortion and discourages pro life activism in small group settings.
• Bill Johnson teaches Jesus was born again. How? He was sinless. He teaches dominionism. I’m sorry but the Bible says that the world is going to get worse not better before Jesus returns. He teaches kenosis, which means Jesus emptied himself of divinity and lived as a man. Then there is the belief that Jesus lived as only a man up until the time He was baptized. There’s more not right at Bethel; there’s grave soaking. I don’t care how great the Jesus culture song is, I won’t support Bethel anymore.
• Andy Stanley didn’t inherit his dad’s gift of properly handling the Word of God. He said that Christianity doesn’t hinge on the “truth or stories” in the Bible concerning Jesus’ birth. He teaches that unity is more important than theology and opens his pulpit to famous false teachers.
• Hillsong pastor Brian Houston hid his father’s pedophile behavior and affirms the prosperity gospel. He wrote a book entitled You Need More Money. Okay, so you can’t serve God and money. He’s not even hiding his prosperity gospel, so I personally don’t let him profit from the Hillsong music ministry.
• Steven Furtick of Elevation church puts on a mask as a true teacher of Biblical truth while patting Joel Osteen and TD Jakes on the back. He mishandles the word of God and makes crude jokes from the pulpit. Avoid Elevation Church like the plague. Some folks say they like the music. My response would be if Planned Parenthood had a bake sale, would you grab a bag of cookies? Of course not!

So why point out all these errors in very famous megachurches? Do I have a critical spirit? Do I enjoy it? It actually breaks my heart. The three biggest churches in America are all led by false teachers: Joel Osteen, Andy Stanley, and Craig Groeschel. Tens of thousands attended each of their churches on Sunday pre Covid-19. People are being led astray and we need discernment to help save them from falling for bad theology because their eternity is at stake.

Discernment is a gift from God and you can pray for it. We need this more than any other gift at this time in history.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:21

4. Reach others. The last thing Jesus said before He ascended to heaven was go and make disciples. The last thing somebody says to you before they leave you is the most important.

If we are not making disciples, we are not dead to ourselves. We are not surrendering everything to Him. When we are dead to ourselves, Christ can and will use us. God wants people who are totally sold out to Him.

God is an all consuming fire.

Hebrews 12:29

One last scripture:

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

1 Peter 5:8