Our church is kicking off a new Bible study. It is written by Kyle Idleman. The acutal title is, "not a fan." In the movie we saw on Sunday night Kyle brought up a really good point about us and our "relationship" with Jesus. This is the story he told in my words as I didn't memorize Kyle's words.
Pretend you are going on a trip. You need someone to house sit for you. You ask a couple to do so and you write a book about the trash, cleaning the house, yard maitnace, everything you can think of even down to the pets in the back yard. The couple comes and they are so excited to read the book and look after your house! They talk about how they will do everything the book says and will do an excellent job!
You leave reassured the house and animals will be well tended. This couple sounds great! Now, while you are gone this couple reads the book, re-reads it. They bring in families to do studies on this book. They bring it with them where ever they go to look at it and study it. They can't get enough of the book! The even make copies of the book and hand them out telling others about it. But...... when you get home the trash is piled up in the garage, the yard is not mowed, the pool is black, the animals are all dead. The house is a wreck. They tell you they loved the book, studied it, told people about it and passed it out. What happened? They didn't follow what it said, but they knew it inside and out.
Fan or Follower? Are we fans of Jesus Christ? Do we know all about him, teach others what we know about him, pass out his words, bring people in to look at the words written by Him? And what do we do with this in the rest of our time? Do we know His words and forget to live them out?
Fan or Follower? In his book he talks about what a fan is and uses an example of a person who says they are a follower of a sports team. They know every player, they know every statistic, they go to every game, they have every program, but they are a fan. A follower gets in the game, they sweat, they work hard, they follow the rules of the coach every time they are on the field. The fan only watches... Fan or follower? I am excited to dive deeper into this bible study. I consider myself a follower, but do I do it down to the last thing in my life. Have I given up myself for Him? Completely?
Luke 9:23
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross DAILY and follow me.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Do I do this??? Fan or Follower? What is God asking of me? Of you?
