GREAT MULTITUDES FOLLOWED

"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan." – Matthew 4:23-25

Jesus simply spoke to the first Disciples, saying, "Follow me." Eventually, there were 500 disciples, who were specifically called after this manner, and closely followed Him. These were on the mountain when Jesus fasted and prayed before choosing the Twelve from among them; and again after the Resurrection, even seeing Christ ascend into Heaven. However, the great multitude followed Jesus when they heard by word of mouth from others about His teachings and works in demonstrating the Gospel of the Kingdom. No matter how you were called by the Master, the reall question and challenge is whether or not you are still following Him? Are you now following Jesus personally, or still only by word of mouth? Are you a Disciple, or merely one of the crowd, caught up and carried along by the uncertain urges and surges of the great multitude?

REPENT AND FOLLOW JESUS

Matthew 4:17 - ¹⁷From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. ¹⁸And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. ¹⁹And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. ²⁰And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. ²¹And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. ²²And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

Happy New Year! The Journey Begins...

Looking forward to the New Year we need to establish some direction and focus, so I'm going to post this one more meditation from my Utmost For His Highest before I begin my journey, which you are welcome to follow...

Let Us Keep to the Point

“… my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death” (Philippians 1:20).

My Utmost for His Highest. “… my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed … .” We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It’s as if Paul were saying, “My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest—my best for His glory.” To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn’t know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point—He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only—my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone. 

My Unstoppable Determination for His Holiness. “Whether it means life or death—it makes no difference!” (see 1:21). Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted. But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide—for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably.