"Learning From Jesus"

And as He walked by the sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then Jesus said to them, "Come after Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." And immediately they left their nets and followed Him. When He had gone a little further from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were in the boat mending their nets. And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with hired servants, and went after Him. Mark 1:16-20

After these things He went and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to Him, "Follow Me." And he left all, rose up and followed Him. Luke 5:27-28

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As you can tell by the picture and the scriptures above we are going to talk about that moment when we choose to "Follow Him." In the cases listed above you will see that their decision meant they left something behind in order to 'follow' Jesus.They left their nets, their Father and it says that Levi even left all to go follow Jesus. They all left their former lifestyle to go on the road and follow Jesus and to be His disciple. That means that they left behind their preconceived notions about the what their day to day life was about and took on the task of learning from Jesus. The footnote in my Bible says says that a disciple is one who is taught by another; he is a learner. So these men knew and understood that to leave it all behind meant that they were making a choice to leave what they had always known behind them in order to learn what Jesus had to teach them. Why? Because Jesus was different. In Luke 4:32 it says, "And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.  It says that 'the common people heard Him gladly,' They were willing to leave behind what they thought they knew about God to be a disciple of Jesus because they wanted the God He represented!

You and I as believers need to make that same choice every day. We need to make choices that leave our plan behind and pursue the direction He would have us take instead. Following Him means doing what He did. Talking like He talks. Going into all the world sharing, "The kingdom of God is at hand."  In Matthew 10:1 it says that He called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease." He called them, He trained them and He equipped and sent the out in verses 7-8 of that same chapter ... "And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.' His disciples followed Him to learn from Him not just so they could know it but so they could do like Him! "Come follow me," doesn't just mean come watch and listen. It means, "Come do what I do, I'll show you how!"