Following Jesus

You may be starting to ask questions about faith….wondering about God and His love for you or even his plans for your life. Or You may be asking questions about Jesus—questions you may struggle to understand or that may not have a simple answer. But that’s okay. This is a starting point for you to begin a life-long conversation about faith.

What does it mean to “follow” Jesus?

That’s a great question! We hear the language “follower of Jesus” all the time, but what does it mean to be a follower (or disciple) of Jesus?

Put simply, it means you re-organize your life around Jesus. During Jesus’ life and ministry, Jesus directly invited others to “follow him.” People would simply stop what they were doing and start following Him; this would be the beginning of their relationship with Jesus. Since Jesus is not here with us physically, we start our relationship with Him through recognizing who He is through His words (Scripture) and admitting we believe He is who He said he was (the Son of God). (Mark 8:27-29)

A follower of Jesus (a Christian) is a person who has submitted their life to God (Father, Son and Spirit) through a personal relationship with Jesus the Son. This is made possible through the Son, Jesus Christ’s, perfect life, death, and resurrection. When you obey Him and live under His grace as Lord and Savior, you will continue to follow Jesus, learning more about Him and his design for your life. He even gives you His Spirit to help you to follow Him faithfully as a FOLLOWER of JESUS or Christian.

How do I start?

You may be ready to follow Jesus with your life and we’re thrilled to hear that’s your decision! To begin this journey, connect with a follower of Christ you know, speak with any Staff member, or learn more at firstchristian.com/baptism.

If you have additional questions about how to begin to follow Jesus, please contact our Next Steps team at nextsteps@firstchristian.com or (330) 456-2600.

What else do I need to know?

When a person becomes a Christian, they are a new person. Their life should be marked by change. A Christian should do things differently than the rest of the world. Some things that Christians are called to do include forgive others, love their enemies, put others first, and serve others. But we also know that becoming a Christian doesn’t make a person perfect— so don’t expect to get it all right at first! The goal is to do the right thing more and more often. The follower of Jesus ought to live a fully surrendered life. The way to surrender everything is to surrender the next thing. What can you give to God today?

You also need to know that being a Christian isn’t guaranteed to be easy. It will help you understand why things happen the way they do but it doesn’t make your life perfect. Also some people will not like that you follow Jesus and might criticize you for this decision. But take comfort...Jesus also experienced criticism and persecution.

Following Jesus Daily

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.” (Romans 12:1-2 MSG)

Our primary goal as followers of Jesus is learning to live in connection to His Spirit. This is how we are able to be with Jesus. We must invite him into every moment and learn to bring his presence into the routine of your daily life. But how do we accomplish that in the chaos of everyday life? It’s pretty straightforward: to experience the life of Jesus, we must adopt the lifestyle of Jesus. “If anyone claims to be in Christ, he must walk as Jesus walked.” (1 John 2:6)

Another way to say that is “we will follow His direction and guidance”. In other words, if He tells us to do something, we will do our best to do it. This begins by learning what He has taught us in his Word, the Bible. For Christians, the Bible is the ultimate authority. As a result, a follower of Jesus should read the Bible daily. Soak it up; it is your guide to life.

In addition to reading the Bible, a Christian should try to follow Jesus’ example in everyday life. While He is our Lord, His life is also a perfect example of how to live.

Another thing a follower of Jesus does is pray. Jesus’ life was filled with prayer and is the primary way we can communicate with Him at all times.

Following these rhythms is meant to help us become more like Jesus. We recommend that you work through them with a community of Jesus followers because community plays a vital role in transformation. Discover how you can follow Jesus together in community at firstchristian.com/nextsteps.

Going Deeper

Read Matthew 16:24-28 and reflect on Jesus’ standard of following Him as compared to what most people think it means. Also, reflect on where Jesus might be asking you to make a change in your life. We are here to help you connect and take YOUR Next Steps to grow as a follower of Jesus together!

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