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Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Out for a “Talk”

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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.”   —Matthew 16:24

I think sometimes that Jesus has a lot of so-called followers today who are more like Twitter followers. Twitter followers know what someone says, and that is the extent of it.

It is how a lot of us are with Christ: “I am a follower of Jesus. . . . Did He Tweet today?”

But following Christ is more than that. Jesus said to Matthew, “Follow Me” (Matthew 9:9). Matthew wasn’t a believer at the time. He was a tax collector working for Rome. But Jesus walked up to him, looked at him (or right through him), and said, “Follow Me.” Matthew bolted up from that table and began to follow Christ.

The phrase “Follow Me” also could be translated “Follow with Me”—not follow behind Me, but follow with Me. In other words, “Let’s take a walk together.”

The other day I took a walk with my wife, Cathe. I bolted out the door, and she asked me to slow down and wait for her. That is not the way for a husband to walk with his wife, and that is not the way to walk with the Lord. We are not to walk ahead of Him.

To be a follower of Jesus means that He walks with us. We are never alone.

Sometimes Cathe will take a walk with her girlfriends. When she tells me she is going on a walk with certain friends, I will say, “You are going on a talk, not a walk.” It has nothing to do with walking, and she admits that is true.

The Lord wants to go on a “talk” with you, not just a walk. It is not about how fast you can move. It is about fellowship and companionship.

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In the School of Faith – Charles Stanley

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Matthew 16:6-12

Jesus spent much time developing His disciples’ faith because He knew it would be essential for the tasks ahead of them. For over three years, they attended a school of faith with Jesus as their instructor and the Scriptures as the textbook. Sometimes Christ used verbal instruction, but many of the lessons were taught through demonstrations. He healed the sick, cast out demons, fed thousands, and calmed the sea. Their training even included tests that revealed if they truly believed Jesus was the Messiah.

At times the disciples’ understanding was slow or faltering, but Christ never gave up on them. He reproved them when they exhibited a lack of trust (Mark 4:40) but also commended signs of progress (Matt. 16:15-17). His objective was to firmly establish their faith so He could accomplish His work in and through them. After His ascension, He commanded His men to spread the gospel of salvation to the remotest parts of the earth. Without faith, they would have failed.

The Lord has the same goal for us—to increase our faith so we can do the work He’s planned for us. If our faith is great, He will entrust us with challenges and achieve amazing things through us. But small faith limits God’s activity in a believer’s life. He uses us only to the degree that we trust Him.

Faith building is essential in a believer’s life, and God has two primary means of doing this. Scripture tells us what to believe about Him, and tests place us in difficult situations that stretch us to believe and rely on God instead of our own understanding. Each time we believe Him, our faith grows.