SING – accapella – I Have decided to follow Jesus!
I have
decided to follow Jesus
No turning back, No turning back
No turning back, No turning back
The world behind me, the Cross before me
No turning back, No turning back
Though none go with me still I
will follow
No turning back, No turning back
Will you decide now, to follow
Jesus?
No
turning back, No turning back
The song of my decision – I have not looked back – not for a
moment.
Luke 9:57-62
As they were walking along the road, a man
said to him, "I will follow you wherever you
go." (Matt 7:21-22 "Not
everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but
only he who does the will of my Father who
is in heaven.”) Jesus
replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air
have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own
dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
Still another said, "I will follow
you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." (today
you would say let me text, email, Instagram-a-selfie) Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand
to the plow (http://) and looks back is fit for service in the
kingdom of God."
EXAMPLES: The Rich Ruler
Mark 10:17-31
As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up
to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good
teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal
life?" 18 "Why do you
call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one
is good — except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not
commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud,
honor your father and mother.'" "Teacher,
all these I have kept since I was a boy." 21 Jesus looked at him and
loved him. "One thing you lack, go, sell
everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me." 22 At this the man's face fell. He went away
sad, because he had great wealth.
23
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How
hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples
were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children,
how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?" 27
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is
impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."
28
Peter said to him, "We have left everything to
follow you!" 29 "I tell you
the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who
has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields
for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this
present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields —
and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come,
eternal life.”
Lot’s wife looked back
Genesis 19:15-26 MSG
At
break of day, the angels pushed Lot to get going, "Hurry. Get your wife and two daughters out of here before it's too
late and you're caught in the punishment of the city." Lot was
dragging his feet. The men grabbed Lot's arm, and the arms of his wife and
daughters — God was so merciful to them! — and dragged them to safety outside
the city. When they had them outside, Lot was told, "Now run for your life! Don't look back! Don't stop
anywhere on the plain — run for the hills or you'll be swept away."
18
But Lot protested, "No, masters, you can't
mean it! I know that you've taken a liking to me and have done me an immense
favor in saving my life, but I can't run for the mountains — who knows what
terrible thing might happen to me in the mountains and leave me for dead. Look
over there — that town is close enough to get to. It's a small town, hardly
anything to it. Let me escape there and save my life — it's a mere wide place
in the road." He said to him, "All
right. If you insist. I'll let you have your way. And I won't stamp out the
town you've spotted. 22 But hurry up. Run for it! I can't do anything until you
get there." That's why the town was called Zoar, that is,
Smalltown.
23
The sun was high in the sky when Lot arrived at Zoar. Then God rained brimstone
and fire down on Sodom and Gomorrah — a river of lava from God out of the sky!
— and destroyed these cities and the
entire plain and everyone who lived in the cities and everything that grew from
the ground. 26 But Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. What did Lot’s wife do? She looked back!
She took her hand off the plow!
Lot’s Wife & Others
Luke 17:20-34
Once, having been asked by the Pharisees
when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful
observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the
kingdom of God is within you." 22 Then he said to his
disciples, "The time is coming when you will long
to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Men will
tell you, 'There he is!' or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them. For
the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights
up the sky from one end to the other. But first he must suffer many things and be
rejected by this generation.
26
"Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will
it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and
being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came
and destroyed them all.
28 "It
was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and
selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur
rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. "It will be just like this
on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the roof of
his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one
in the field should go back for anything. 32 Remember Lot's wife! 33 Whoever tries to
keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.
Annanias and Sapphira turned back
Mark turned back
Judas turned back to the Romans
Joshua decided HTTP
Saul of Tarsus decided HTTP
Ethipoian Enuch decided HTTP
Adoniram Judson decided / left
for life – no turning back. HTTP
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