Can I Follow Jesus?

Luke 9: 51-62

A Samaritan Village Rejects the Savior

⁵¹ Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, ⁵² and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. ⁵³ But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”

⁵⁵ But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. ^56 [c]For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.

The Cost of Discipleship

⁵⁷ Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”

⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

⁵⁹ Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”

But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”

⁶¹ And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”

⁶² But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Being a disciple of Jesus, as totally fulfilling as it might seem, is not easy.  It's not "Doin' what Comes Naturally" as the song from the musical, Annie Get Your Gun, goes. We find excuses, we actually refuse Without a deepening faith and a community of  faith compassion, it's a very hard road to walk alone.. Hence we gather for Sunday worship, and if possible find other times during the week to gather together.  We take time daily to pray and meditate, to do some spiritual reading and find encouragement from others who are walking the same path/  Can I follow Jesus? Yes!  Others have done it and with their example and support, we can too.  Let's JUST DO IT!

Bro. Rene