Becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ is the easy part.  Becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ simply starts with a choice and that choice is whether we will say “yes” or “no” to Him when He says, “Follow me”.  Then comes the hard part.  What kind of disciples will we be?  Will be focused, obedient disciples of Christ or will we wonder around on the outside of the crowd with one foot in the world and the other trying to keep up with Jesus?

In the past two weeks we’ve looked at some qualifications to being a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ.  Last week, looking at Matthew 16:24 we saw that there must be a desire to follow Jesus.  This desire is seen in the above choice.  Then Jesus says that there must be a denial of himself.  First there’s the choice to follow Jesus, then a denial of anything that would hinder one from following Jesus.

But what else does Jesus tell us?  Jesus says that we  must “take up our cross” and die daily.  Taking up our cross daily means living a life of sacrifice.  Jesus provided a sacrifice when He died on the cross for our sins and now commands us as His faithful disciples to live a sacrificial life for His sake (2 Cor. 5;15, Romans 8:36, 12:1).  Dying daily means living in the presence, power and under the promises of God.  Being a disciple of Jesus Christ means giving up all those thoughts, attitudes and deeds that lead us away from Him.  Staying close to Jesus is the only way to insure that we continue to follow Him.

Disciples also must display determination as our enemy will relentlessly try and steer us off course and away from following Jesus.  The life of the disciple of Jesus Christ will be faced with many challenges and obstacles but we are to hold fast to all that Christ has taught us (Heb. 10:23).  We must always remember that when we are close to Jesus, He is close to us and the Good Shepherd never leaves his sheep (John 10).

Simply a disciple is to model his or her teacher which means we are to model Jesus Christ and to do that we must constantly be studying Jesus, listening to His Words and observing His actions.  We then are to become the exact replica of our teacher!  The thing is though, to be like Jesus, we must first be with Jesus! 

Ask yourself today, “Am I with Jesus?”  Get with Jesus, He’s the only Way!

Watch for the full sermon “To Follow Jesus” (Pt 2) in our “Listen to a Sunday Message” section.