The ONLY Thing It Means To Follow Jesus!

Truly following Jesus is to follow Him to:

1. Where He is

And by,

2. The same WAY He got there

Jesus is in the throne room of heaven. He arrived there by being in the throne room of heaven while ministering that same government on the earth.

Government is a WAY of authority. That is really all it is.

Without your presence/participation, there is no government over you.

Government is simply a distribution of authority over a "world" or realm. Usually, this means authority over geography, but there can be government over more ethereal realms that span geographic boundaries, like media, professional organizations, etc.

Jesus lived in heaven while visiting the earth. His citizenship was there, not here. His direction came from there, not here. His life was hidden in the place that all of His character was formed from.

Jesus acted differently than the world because His values were formed somewhere not here.

John 18:36 NKJV — Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

This wasn't a "someday" reality for Jesus. This was an everyday reality.

Matthew 14:23 NKJV — And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.

Jesus. Prayed.

The One who has all the answers, all the power, all the ability to save life, free from demons, heal affliction, teach truth

... He went off by himself to pray.

All that^ came from there^.

That is what made Jesus on earth so radically different from the world. If you follow Him, you have to follow His way, not mimic what that way produced. The antichrist is a fake Jesus. The antichrist spirit leads people to mimic what Jesus' WAY of going to heaven everyday produced.

God isn't asking you to be a good person for Him. You can't. On your own... living here in the world... you can only be an imposter.

God is inviting you to know Him, not look like someone that does. The world, and especially the worldly church, cannot discern people that actually know God. They are misled by people that pretend to know God, but have no bold confidence to come before Him and listen and obey. To follow Jesus is to follow Him into boldly accessing God.

If you don't know Him, and come before Him boldly and confidently to get direction for your days, then you aren't really saved, because you aren't really following Jesus. He is somewhere you should be going. He went there a way you should be taking.

Matthew 7:13-16 NKJV — “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?

Fruit = Fruit of the Spirit

Jesus' personality, or His Spirit, was unique. Those who followed Him discerned that, not by their senses... By their spirit. They wanted to carry their heart like Him, not replace Him. Not mimic Him. To be led by the same God that led Him!

John 16:26-28 NKJV — “In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; “for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”

You have to follow Jesus "there"... Not someday, everyday. That is what it means to "follow Jesus."

For real.

Ephesians 3:11-12 NKJV — according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.

That access is access into heaven, by faith, to speak with and listen to God. To do what God says and not what you think is best, or your pastor thinks is best, or your best friend thinks is best... What scientist think is best, or politicians, or pundits... But what God wants. If you don't do that, you cannot be His!

You can mimic people that do that, but God knows the difference! He really does. He is sifting those who look like followers but really aren't OUT of His family right now!

Matthew 7:18-23 NKJV — “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “Therefore by their fruits you will know them. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

People who live in heaven do things differently than people who only "want to someday" live in heaven. You must die to your life here and learn to live there now, if you want to live there someday. You really do!

Matthew 16:24-27 NKJV — 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. “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.

The way you do this is personal prayer that leads to a corporate expression. Jesus went off by Himself, but He came to seek and save the lost. He lived in community with difficult people and made a way for them to see what someone living in heaven looks like on earth. You can't follow Jesus without really following Him into all these realities, both loving God with everything and then loving those God loves. That is what Hebrews 10 is really talking about. The "access and boldness" described by Paul to the Ephesians in Ephesians 3:12 is fleshed out and more fully described in Hebrews 10. This is what the Old Testament calls "David's Tabernacle."

Hebrews 10:19-39 NKJV — Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: “For yet a little while,

And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith;

But if anyone draws back,

My soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

The church that remains through our hour of history will do this day and night because Jesus is returning in this generation. "So much the more as you see the day approaching" means unto continually as He returns! If you don't do this, you will "fall away to perdition." The Bible is actually quite clear about this.

Maranatha!