The Marks of True Followers of Jesus.

Abandonment to Christ and His Gospel Mission.

1. The Laid Down Life  -  Deny self and Take up the Cross

Mat_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.

Luk_9:23  And He said to all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

They had seen those being lead out to be crucified. All their earthly life ended. Death changed everything. Has Death with Christ and carrying the Cross changed your whole life

Burton and Salter to the Congo

During May 1914 Mr. Burton set sail from England for South Africa. He spent approximately a year in South Africa gathering information, experience and much sound advice concerning what to expect on reaching the Congo. Then in 1915 Mr. Burton joined up with Mr. Salter, who had travelled out to Africa by then, and two other friends ‘Daddy’ Armstrong and Joseph Blakeney. Together they set out for the Congo, arriving there in July 1915. [Photo shows the group of four before they set out. Left to right: Salter, Burton, Armstrong (seated) and Blakeney.]

After reaching the end of the railline at Bukama on the Congo river they wanted for 5 weeks for the River steamer stuck on a sand bank.  Eventually they set sail but Daddy Armstrong contract Malaria which soon turned to Blackwater fever and he died before reaching Malemba Nkulu.

Soon after Joe Blakeney said “if I stay here I will die too so he went back to South Africa”.

Burton and Salter were left to founded the Pentecostal Church of the Congo which today numbers more than 7, 000 assemblies and this year is the Centenary. This was 1915

READ  The calling of Peter, Andrew His Brother James and John

Mat 4:18  And walking along the shore of the Lake of Galilee He saw two brothers--Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew--throwing a drag-net into the Lake; for they were fishers.

Mat 4:19  And He said to them, "Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."

Mat 4:20  So they immediately left their nets and followed Him. As He went further on,

Mat 4:21  He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zabdi and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zabdi mending their nets; and He called them.

Mat 4:22  And they at once, immediately, left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

The Calling of Matthew

Mat 9:9  Passing on thence Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the Tax booth or custom office, and said to him, "Follow me." And he arose, and followed Him.

Mat 9:10  And while He was reclining at table, a large number of tax-gathers and notorious sinners were of the party with Jesus and His disciples.

Mat 9:11  The Pharisees noticed this, and they inquired of His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with the tax-gatherers and notorious sinners?"

Mat 9:12  He heard the question and replied, "It is not men in good health who require a doctor, but the sick.

Mat 9:13  But go and learn what this means, 'IT IS MERCY THAT I DESIRE, NOT SACRIFICE'; for I did not come to call the righteous, but to sinners."

Introduction.

I had an hour with my granddaughter on Skype. She is at Bible College in Sydney because she wants to serve God. It is her first year. She did a Daniel Fast - eating vegetables only. Chickpeas and lentils. YUCK

She said to the Lord, “ Lord I want to know you better.” and He answered her, “Then find out who I am” So she went through the Old Testament studying all the Covenant Names of God : Jehovah, Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Shammah,, Jehovah Raffah etc there are seven main names for God etc God is blessing her so much and we pray constantly that the Lord would help her. She was lead this passage in Luke

Luk 9:57  And, as they proceeded on their way, a man came to Him and said, "I will follow you wherever you go."

Luk 9:58  "The foxes have holes," said Jesus, "and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." WOW no fixed abode.

Luk 9:61  "Master," said yet another, "I will follow you; but allow me first to go and say good-bye to my friends at home."

Luk 9:62  Jesus answered him, "No one who has put his hand to the plough, and then looks behind him, is fit for the Kingdom of God.

19 yr old Britti said to her Grandpa, “I don’t think that I will have a fixed address, house  etc but I will be moving a lot.

She said “Where is home for me?”

Mum and Dad are in New Zealand, that’s not home now, I’m in Sydney but this is not home, I spent some in Queensland and UK.” Mind you her father was born in the Congo to Missionaries who have crossed the Indian Ocean many many times for Jesus.

She has no materialistic ambitions which is so common in our secularistic culture and she just wants to follow Jesus and be abandoned to Him.

Are you abandoned to the Purposes of The Lord in the earth.

1. The Immediate response of the First Followers of Jesus.

Mat 4:19  And He said to them, "Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."

Mat 4:20  So they immediately left their nets and followed Him.

1. They stepped out at once as soon as they heard the call to follow Jesus. No excuses. They knew the implications of what the call meant.
2. There will be difficulties but this is how we grow.
3. Illustration: I remember a young  couple of teachers came to me on my first furlough from Africa and said they wanted to come and teach in Africa. I asked them have they been called by Jesus. They said “no”. I said that if you did not have the call then you would not last it because the complications and hassles would overwhelm you if you were not called. A couple of years later they divorced.
4. Like four months after arriving in the Congo all the Missionary Mums and Dads were evacuated to Zambia as there was a mercenary uprising in the country and the singles who stayed at Kipushya were put under house arrest with a platoon of Congolese National Army Soldiers as our minders. I was there with John Rhodes an older godly experienced Missionary Nurse running a big medical work in the Middle of the Congo, and I was running the Secondary Teacher Training School.
5. These soldiers were just a pain. They commandeered our vehicle every day to go to the villages and loot the people sheep, goats and food. I had to drive them around in our truck with weapons sticking out everywhere. The Sergeant Major gave me my Congolese name Ya Tshiite meaning go-between or facilitator

2. The Calling of Matthew, a Tax Collector for the Romans

Mat 9:9  Passing on thence Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the Tax booth or custom office, and said to him, "Follow me." And he arose, and followed Him.

Mat 9:10  And while He was reclining at table, a large number of tax-gathers and notorious sinners were of the party with Jesus and His disciples.

Jesus calls the Tax-collectors and sinners Jesus is not just interested in just the religious and the righteous. He is calling sinners. People with Broken down Mixed-up lives. These tax  collectors were the outcasts, collaborators with the Roman military government. They were thieves  pocketing more than their share of the custom fees they collected from the merchants. They were hated.The sinners were the local prostitutes. They were unclean.

Prostitutes in Gympie. Twice I have seen Prostiutes in College Road near my house and a Transgender. Who will go to them. The youth of our society are lost, wandering into all sorts of evil traps of the devil.

Mat 9:11  The Pharisees noticed this, and they inquired of His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with the tax-gatherers and notorious sinners?"

Mat 9:12  He heard the question and replied, "It is not men in good health who require a doctor, but the sick.

Mat 9:13  But go and learn what this means, 'IT IS MERCY THAT I DESIRE, NOT SACRIFICE'; for I did not come to call the righteous, but to sinners."

Application

Don’t think that you have to be perfect for Jesus to call you. Jesus is calling you today to follow Him into His Grand purpose for your life. Jes

Prostitutes in my suburb. Our society is filling up with outcasts and sinners who will reach them for Christ. Who will shoW THEM THE lOVE AND KINDNESS OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

The Laid Down Life  -  Deny self and Take up the Cross

Mat_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.

Luk_9:23  And He said to all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

Labourers are few.

Mat 9:35  And Jesus continued His circuits through all the towns and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom, and curing every kind of disease and infirmity.

Mat 9:36  And when He saw the crowds He was touched with pity, compassion, for them, because they were distressed and were fainting on the ground like sheep which have no shepherd.

Mat 9:37  Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is abundant, but the reapers are few;

Mat 9:38  therefore entreat the Owner of the Harvest to send out reapers into His fields."

1. What did Jesus Do? The Practical steps in the Mission to the Lost Sheep of the Nation of Israel
2. He continued moving around doing circuits. We are so stuck within the four walls of this building. This is the devil’s trick to contain the church. I met old Brother Vince Johnston,, Rachael Leask’s dad, in the shop three weeks ago, and he said he’d been four times to Mitchell this year ministering for Jesus to suffering farmers.
3. The Old Methodists had circuit preachers who ministered in the rural areas. Why is the Gospel so shackled into a building. Move out for God,, change your location under the Mighty Hand of God. Wesley travelled 20,000 miles on horseback proclaiming the Gospel in Open fields and squares. This caused a Revival that changed the Moral fibre of Britain
4. Mat 9:35  And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

Notes

5. Jesus went about or around: This is a continuous process as the verb is in the imperfect tense. Moffat says, “He made a tour”to ‘all the cities and villages’ He did not pick this nice village and leave another out. He was all inclusive.
6. Illustration When living in the Kasai Orientale of the Congo we attempted to spend one week each year in each of the 17 Stations of the Pentecostal Church of Congo in our area. There were some 1,000 local assemblies grouped in 50 - 60 churches in each ‘station’ What stories come out of this continual moving for God.

7. preaching the gospel of the kingdom: Proclaiming the Glad Tidings of the Kingdom of God.The Rule and Authority of the king was heralded and demonstrated.
8. It denotes Gospel means  Good news
9. (3.) The term is often used to express collectively the gospel doctrines; and 'preaching the gospel' is often used to include not only the proclaiming of the good tidings, but the teaching men how to avail themselves of the offer of salvation, the declaring of all the truths, precepts, promises, and threatenings of Christianity.” It is termed “the gospel of the grace of God” (Act_20:24), “the gospel of the kingdom” (Mat_4:23), “the gospel of Christ” (Rom_1:16), “the gospel of peace (Eph_6:15), “the glorious gospel,” “the everlasting gospel,” “the gospel of salvation” (Eph_1:13).

Jesus moved with Compassion towards the crowds

Mat 9:36  But seeing the crowds, He was moved with compassion on them, because they were tired and scattered like sheep having no shepherd.

Notes

But seeing the crowds, He was moved with compassion on them,

What is compassion. ? Bowels of Compassion

Being moved deeply at the plight of Harrassed and wandering people

Illustration

Kananga City Market in 1978

It is taking pity of people who are harassed and wandering.

10. Mat_9:36-38. Jesus compassionating the multitudes, asks prayer for help.

and were scattered abroad — rather, “lying about,” “abandoned,” or “neglected.”

as sheep, having no shepherd — their pitiable condition as wearied under bodily fatigue, a vast disorganized mass, being but a faint picture of their wretchedness as the victims of pharisaic guidance; their souls uncared for, yet drawn after and hanging upon Him. This moved the Redeemer’s compassion.JFB

The Abundance of the Harvest

Mat 9:37  Then He said to His disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.

Mat 9:37  Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is abundant, but the reapers are few; WNT

11. The harvest truly is plenteous ... - Another beautiful image. A waving field of golden grain invites many reapers and demands haste. By the reference to the harvest here, he meant that the multitude of people that flocked to his ministry was great. The people expected the Messiah. They were prepared to receive the gospel; but the laborers were few. He directed them, therefore, to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth reapers. God is the proprietor of the great harvest of the world, and he only can send people to gather it in.Barnes

Prayer for Labourers

Mat 9:38  Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest that He will send out laborers into His harvest.

Because of the Scarcity of Labourers in God’s harvest Jesus says PRAY. Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out labourers.

12. God’s call on My Life Reduce These

The Assemblies had a vigorous missions outreach into the Sepik River district of New Guinea, and Ipswich Assembly was a vital part of all they were doing there. Four brothers in our assembly supported Pastors Tommy and Stella Evans. Pastor Andrew’s Father and Mother.They were missionaries from India, who were asked to go to head up the Sepik Outreach.

This particular year we had the visit from the Congo Evangelistic Mission of the New Zealand Missionary, Elton Knauf. I was in my mid teens and remember clearly the slide-show in our

house, of pictures of rolling savannah grasslands and village churches of Central Congo.  This short, sandy-headed Kiwi, was someone who was tough of nature and persistent. He walked with a definite limp as he’d contracted polio as a boy. This did not stop him from being a pioneer missionary in the isolated centre of the Congo.

13. The Chief, YaNjibou and his Ya Tshiite and the Ya Lemo with the Broom on the left .

Just one year later we were spending our Christmas Holidays at the Burleigh Heads Convention Centre. On New Year’s Eve they showed a film about a black missionary to Africa. At the end they appealed for people to come forward who were willing to serve the Lord in Missions. I went forward and there at the altar the Lord revealed to me the Cross and His cleansing power in my life. Then I saw an amazing vision of some Africans lined up in their regal paraphernalia, leopard skin skirts, wild pig and hippo tusks around their necks.

14. Instantly I knew that God was calling me to Africa into missions where Pastor Elton Knauf was. Ten years later, soon after arriving in the Congo, there were these same men standing in front of me and I knew I had come home.                            

The only job I was offered after leaving school was to do teacher training for primary schools. I knew that this would be used by God in ways that as yet I did not realise. When eventually I did apply to the Congo Evangelistic Mission, they were especially looking for teachers for their teacher training program.

In mid 1960 we read in the Brisbane Courier Mail that two missionaries, Teddy Hodson from England and Elton Knauf from New Zealand had been missing and they were now confirmed dead murdered by rebels in the North Katanga Province of the Congo.

Genealogy

Elton George Behrent Knauf by his descendant David Timothy Graham Knauf
Birthdate:	January 3, 1910
Birthplace:	Taranaki, New Zealand
Death:	Died November 23, 1960 in Lulungu, Belgian Congo, Africa
Cause of death:	Murder
Place of Burial:	Democratic Republic of the Congo

Actually my parents received a letter from Brother Knauf in the mail, one month after we’d heard that he was killed. This whole event made a lasting impression on my life. The letter had taken six weeks to arrive from the Congo. Now I knew at 18 that the Lord was sending me to Congo to replace a martyred saint.

The Apostle Paul said, “I, Paul am called to be a Missionary of Christ Jesus by the express will of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:1

Mat_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.

Maybe the Lord, Himself, is calling you to move into His work under His Mighty Hand and Lay down your life for the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you willing for this sacrifice.