Follow Me
Speaker: Steve Little
Date: January 4, 2026
Our scripture readings for today’s message.
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
Romans 8:29 “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
Good morning and Happy New Year
I heard this story the other day.
A young man applied for a job as a farmhand. When the farmer asked for his qualifications, he said, "I can sleep through a storm." This puzzled the farmer... but he liked the young man, so he hired him.
A few weeks later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm ripping through the valley. The farmer leapt out of bed and called for his new hired hand, but the young man was sleeping soundly.
So, the farmer and his wife quickly began to check things to see if all was secure. They found that the shutters of the farmhouse had been securely fastened. A good supply of logs had been set next to the fireplace.
They found that the farm tools had been placed in the storage shed, safe from the elements. The bales of wheat had been bound and wrapped in tarps.
The tractor had been moved into its garage. The barn was properly locked tight.
Even the animals were calm and had plenty of feed. All was well.
The farmer then understood the meaning of the young man's words, "I can sleep through a storm."
The reason. Because the farmhand did his work loyally and faithfully when the skies were clear, he was prepared for any storm. That’s why he could sleep in peace.
Last week I mentioned an interview with Usain Bolt who has been given the nickname, ‘The fastest man on earth’ He received it after he ran the 100m in 9.58 seconds. Fasted recorded time ever.
In the interview he was asked what he thought about his performance, his answer, ‘I do not focus on the performance but on the preparation.’
As we go in to 2026 let us not focus on our past performance ,good or bad, but let’s prepare our lives spiritually for what Jesus has for us this year.
Last week in the message, Pressing Through to the New, the question was asked, ‘When is the new?’ the answer, ‘The new is all the time!!!’
Philippians 3:13b-14 …but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Today we are going to start a new series called:
God’s Call, His Ways
And our first message in the series
Follow Me
Matthew 4:19 "'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will send you out to fish for people.'"
Matthew 9:9 “As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me’, and Matthew got up and followed him.”
John 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me."
Bringing us to our scripture today:
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
From our scripture we will use these four words as our focus points
· Disciple
· Deny
· Cross
· Follow Me
Disciple
What was a disciple during Jesus’ time?
The main Greek word for "disciple" in the Bible is mathetes, meaning a learner, student, or pupil who follows a teacher to learn their ways.
Key Aspects of mathetes:
Apprenticeship: It describes someone apprenticed to a rabbi or philosopher, living with them and learning their teachings and lifestyle.
Follower/Imitator: In the biblical context, it signifies someone who intentionally follows Christ, submits to His teachings, and aims to become like Him, becoming His student and imitator.
The term fades in Acts after chapter 21, giving way to “brothers,” “saints,” and “believers,” yet mathetes in Acts 6:1,6, 7, 9:1, 11:26, etc., shows that the early church understood every convert as a disciple. Antioch, where “the disciples were first called Christians” (Acts 11:26), illustrates the progression: discipleship becomes the defining identity of the redeemed community irrespective of ethnicity.
Deny
Simply said but not simply done: Jesus is saying: renounce the self as the final authority over your life.
Cross
In the Roman world, the cross was an instrument of execution, shame, and total surrender.
First what “taking up your cross” does not mean:
Enduring minor annoyances
Bearing everyday hardships
Practicing self-improvement
It meant walking toward death—the loss of one’s old life and claims to self-rule.
Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me..."
Once the disciples were showing Jesus the Temple, as if He did not know what it looked like, and He said during His dialogue with them “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you…
Peter was later told by Jesus he would die on a cross…
When we get to the foundation: Taking up the cross is choosing Christ over self, every day—even when it costs.
Follow Me
Jesus’ call today is no different than His call back then. He calls people to follow Him, come be with Me, and have a close personal relationship with Him.
Throughout the Bible we see people interact personally with God’s Spirit or His presence. That call today for all of His disciples is to have that personal spiritual experience as they follow Him.
Talking about religion in general Canon Holmes of India came up with a theory that stated, ‘the average man's faith in God is based off a deduction from evidence which they consider adequate, "He must be," they say, "therefore we believe He is." Others do not go even so far as this; they know of Him only by hearsay. They have never bothered to think the matter out for themselves, but have heard about Him from others, and have put belief in Him into the back of their minds along with the various odds and ends that make up their total belief system. To many others God is but an ideal, another name for goodness, or beauty, or truth; or He is law, or life, or the creative impulse in back of the phenomena of existence.
These notions about God have one thing in common: they do not suggest that you can know God in personal experience.
Holmes goes on to say: ‘Over against all this cloudy vagueness stands the clear Biblical doctrine that God can be known in personal experience. Right from the beginning man experienced God, “And they (Adam and Eve) heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,,,’
A question for all of us: Are we, as His disciples today, to have a personal spiritual experience with Him as we follow Him?
The answer is a resounding, YES!!!!!!
John 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me."
