David Platt - Follow Him: A 35-Day Call to Live for Christ No Matter the Cost

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Follow Him: A 35-Day Call to Live for Christ No Matter the Cost

Copyright 2020 by David Platt. All rights reserved.

Cover illustration drawn by Jennifer Ghionzoli. Copyright Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

The devotions in Follow Him are adapted from Follow Me: A Call to Die. A Call to Live, published in 2013 by Tyndale House Publishers under ISBN 978-1-4143-7328-7.

Designed by Mark Anthony Lane II

Published in association with Yates & Yates (www.yates2.com).

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Scripture quotation marked NIV is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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ONE OF THE MOST influential things I have ever read is a little booklet called Born to Reproduce by Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators. In a matter of only a few pages, Trotman builds the case that every person who is born into Gods family is to multiply. Yet, he maintains, most Christians are not multiplying. He laments, In every Christian audience, I am sure there are men and women who have been Christians for five, ten, or twenty years but who do not know of one person who is living for Jesus Christ today because of them. This is a problem, Trotman says, and its the reason the gospel has not yet spread to the nations.

By Gods design, he has wired his children for spiritual reproduction. He has woven into the fabric of every single Christians DNA a desire and ability to reproduce. God has formed, fashioned, and even filled Christians with his own Spirit for this very purpose.

To be a disciple of Jesus is to make disciples of Jesus. This has been true ever since the first century, when Jesus invited four men to follow him. His words echo throughout this book: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

More important than searching for fish all over the Sea of Galilee, these men would spread the gospel all over the world. They would give their lives by not simply being disciples of Jesus, but by sacrificially making disciples of Jesus. And Gods design for twenty-first-century disciples is exactly the same. Jesus calls every one of his disciples to make disciples who make disciples until the gospel penetrates every group of people in the world.

But somewhere along the way, we lost sight of what it means to be a disciple, and we have laid aside Jesus command to make disciples. Tragically, we have minimized what it means to be a follower of Jesus, and we have virtually ignored the biblical expectation that we fish for men. The result has been a rampant spectator mentality that skews discipleship across the church, stifles the spread of the gospel around the world, and ultimately sears the heart of what it means for each of us to be a Christian.

Becoming a Christian involves responding to the gracious invitation of God in Christ. Being a Christian involves leaving behind superficial religion for supernatural regeneration. As we follow Christ, he transforms our minds, desires, wills, relationships, and ultimate reason for living. Every disciple of Jesus exists to make disciples of Jesus, here and among every people group on the planet. There are no spectators. We are all born to reproduce.

So, let me ask you: Do you desire to reproduce your faith? Do you long to see people come to know Jesus Christ through your life? If the answer to these questions is yes, then I invite you, over the next thirty-five days, to take a closer look at what it means to be a true disciple; to become a fisher of men; to give up your life, take up your cross, and Follow Him.

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Matthew 4:19

Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

JOHN 8:12

FOUR FISHERMEN WERE STANDING by the sea one day when Jesus approached them. Follow me, he said, and I will make you fishers of men. In a world where everything revolves around selfprotect yourself, promote yourself, preserve yourself, entertain yourself, comfort yourself, take care of yourselfJesus says, Slay yourself.

And thats exactly what happened with these four fishermen. According to Scripture and tradition, they paid a steep price for following Jesus. Peter was crucified upside down, Andrew was crucified in Greece, James was beheaded, and John was exiled.

Yet they believed it was worth the cost. In Jesus, these men found someone worth losing everything for. In Christ, they encountered a love that surpassed comprehension, a satisfaction that superseded circumstances, and a purpose that transcended every other possible pursuit in this world. They eagerly, willingly, and gladly lost their lives to know, follow, and proclaim him. In the footsteps of Jesus, these first disciples discovered a path worth giving their lives to tread.

Two thousand years later, we seem to have wandered from the path. Somewhere along the way, amid varying cultural tides and popular church trends, we have minimized Jesus summons to total abandonment. Scores of men, women, and children have been told that becoming a follower of Jesus simply involves acknowledging certain facts or saying certain words. But this is not true. Disciples like Peter, Andrew, James, and John show us that the call to follow Jesus is not simply an invitation to pray a prayer; its a summons to lose our lives.

There is indescribable joy to be found, deep satisfaction to be felt, and an eternal purpose to be fulfilled in dying to ourselves and living for him.

Ask the Lord to give you the grace to follow him in faith and in glad obedience.

Matthew 4:19.

See Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23.

What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

MATTHEW 16:26

IS IT POSSIBLE to profess to be a Christian and yet not know Christ? Absolutely. In fact, according to Jesus, its probable.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says to his disciples:

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

MATTHEW 7:21-23

Were all prone to spiritual deceptionevery single one of us. Jesus isnt talking about irreligious atheists, pagans, and heretics here. Hes talking about good, religious peoplemen and women associated with him who assume their eternity is safe but who will be shocked one day to find out its not. Though they professed belief in Jesus and even did all kinds of work in his name, they never truly knew him.