Fan or Follower of Jesus?

 

Are you a fan or a follower of Jesus Christ.

 

“One of the symptoms [of a fan] is that you think you are a follower,”   “Jesus doesn’t want fans, He wants completely committed followers.”

 

A fan knows about Jesus. A follower knows Him.

 

some of the differences between a fan and a follower:

• A fan is a enthusiastic, jumping on the bandwagon and cheering when things are great. A follower doesn’t waver. She sticks close, even when the outcome doesn’t look favorable.
• A fan knows about someone. A follower knows someone.
• A fan loves the fun, but a follower is willing to work.

For a lot of people, it’s easy to jump on the “Jesus bandwagon” — to go to church and participate in events, to say the right things around the right people and act the part when others are looking, but when the rubber meets the road and life gets hard or popular opinion turns against us, do we stick with Him?

 

a fan is close enough to be associated with Jesus, but not close enough that it requires something of me.

“Fans don’t mind Jesus making some minor change in their lives but Jesus wants to turn our lives upside down,”

“Fans don’t mind him doing a little touch up work, but Jesus wants a complete renovation.”

Diagnosing Fandom -

1. Have you made a decision for Jesus or have you committed to Jesus? Many have made a decision to believe in Jesus without making a commitment to follow Jesus. The gospel allows for no such distinction.
2. Do you just know about Jesus, or do you really know Him? Fans have a tendency to confuse their knowledge for intimacy. They don’t recognize the difference between knowing about Jesus and truly knowing Jesus.
3. Is Jesus one of many or is He your one and only? Jesus makes it clear that he will not share your affection. Following Him requires your whole heart.
4. Are you more focused on the outside than the inside? Instead of following Jesus they (fans) are following religious rules and rituals. They have confused the targets. (To paraphrase another quote in the book, fans tend to be raised up in Church instead of being raised up in Christ.)
5. Are you a self-empowered fan or a Spirit-filled follower? Fans try to play the role of the Holy Spirit, but trying to be God has a tendency to wear you out.

Children’s Ministry Day

Our children spent a Saturday showing their love and appreciation to our church widows.  They delivered a goodie bag filled with sweets and some hugs and kind words!  Thanks children for sharing so sweetly the love of Jesus!

 

Valentine’s Day Banquet

What a great time we had at the Valentine’s Banquet!  The food was delicious, the decorations beautiful and the fellowship was sweet! 

Children’s Ministry Day

Children’s Ministry Day is Saturday!  Our children will be passing out goodie bags, a short visit and a lot of love to our widows.  Plans are to meet at the church at 9:30 AM and we will travel to each widows home.  Following the visits, we will meet back at the church for lunch.  All children are welcome to come and share God’s love with others!

Men's Meeting

On Tuesday night there will be an association wide men's meeting at Bright Pond Baptist Church. Our men will meet up at our church and leave at 6:00 PM, riding the church van together.

 

All men are encouraged to enjoy a meal and meeting together with men seeking to be all that God has called them to be. 

Thought for the Day

Ladies Bible Study

Our Ladies Bible Study has began and there are two groups you can choose from!  One group meets Tuesday nights at 6:30 PM.  The other group meets Monday afternoons at 1:00 PM at the home of Shirley W.  This is an 8 week study by Anne Graham Lotz - I Saw the Lord.  You will be stirred and challenge in your walk with the Lord.  If you have any questions, please see Kathy B. or Caroline Mc.

Family Meeting

 

On Wednesday, we will have our monthly Family Meal. Following the meal, we would like to have a meeting with our young families. This meeting will be a time to listen and learn about the challenges they are facing and work toward solutions the church can offer. There are many ideas to share and new activities to take part in. Young families, please be encouraged to come to this meetingWe're going to have a family meeting! In our world today, young families are stressed and stretched as they balance homes, work, marriage, parenting, church, family, community service etc. They have a lot on their plate and have a hard time balancing it all. Although most young families know they need to be and have their family in church, they are stretched in so many different directions, something usually has to be let go.

 

Above all the voices and chaos in our world today, the Voice of Truth is calling out. He is calling the church to Him. To put Him first and trust Him to set the rest in order. He alone can bring peace to our hearts, give energy for our tasks and give us the wisdom and guidance to raise our families in truth.

 

At Antioch, we want to help our families! We not only want to encourage them to be active in church attendance, but to make it a part (an important part) of their weekly schedules. We want to walk alongside them as they navigate through the challenges of life. We want to help meet their needs, give training to better equip them and provide a loving and encouraging presence they can depend on.

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Children's Ministry Day

Each February, thousands of children across North America participate in ministry projects on the same day: Children’s Ministry Day. From feeding hungry people to visiting shut-ins, girls and boys follow God’s command to “put your love into action” (1 John 3:18). Church groups create projects that meet needs in their own communities.

 

WMU created Children’s Ministry Day to move children out of their churches and into their communities to do missions. The first Children’s Ministry Day was in 2008.

Since 2008, more than 150,000 people have taken part in Children’s Ministry Day! WMU invites all children in grades 1 through 6 to participate.

 

The children of Antioch will be participating in Children's Ministry Day on February 16.  Details of our project will be shared soon, but please mark the date.

The Power of Encouragement

One of the most needed ministries in the church today is the ministry of encouragement. To encourage is to give courage, to give hope, to give confidence, to give comfort. People who encourage are known as energy-giving people.

 

You know, everyone needs to be encouraged. Even such a great servant of the Lord as the apostle Paul needed encouragement. It's amazing as you read through the book of Acts and the letters of Paul in the New Testament how many references he makes to the value of having other people around him to help him in the ministry, whose friendship he treasured, whose companionship he needed. Paul felt it keenly when he was in prison or in a difficult ministry situation . . . how much he relied on the encouragement of others of God's servants around him.

 

Everyone needs to be encouraged, but also, everyone needs to be an encourager. It's easier for us to focus on how we need to be encouraged. But it's more important to remember that all of us need to be encouragers.

Being an encourager is not an option. Thirty-two different times in the New Testament we read that there are things that as believers we are to do for "one another." Be kind to one another. Love one another.

 

When God brings His encouragement into your life and you let it overflow into another's life, you're really sending encouragement from God. When we let God encourage our heart in our stressful or discouraging circumstances, then we can become a means of giving God's encouragement out. We minister His grace to others.

It's easy to wait for others to come and encourage us. Especially when we're in a discouraging circumstance. Our tendency is to think "I need someone to encourage me,".

 

If we wait for others to come and encourage us, we're probably going to stay pretty much discouraged, because any time my focus is on self, that's a dead-end street. . But rather than looking for someone to encourage us, if we want to look out and ask the Lord, ‘Who could You encourage through me, even as I'm walking through these circumstances?’"

 

What goes 'round comes 'round. We reap what we sow. I really believe that we will be encouraged as we set out to encourage others.  The time I most feel the need to be encouraged is the time I most need to focus on how I can be an encourager to others.

 

. It's really interesting  that people who you would think need the most encouragement, whose lives have the most discouraging circumstances, often those people turn out to be the best encouragers.

 

Encouragement really is a matter of the heart. It's a matter of that inner person that's failing, that's fainting, that's weak or weary. Someone comes alongside and they minister the grace and the Spirit of God and our hearts are encouraged and strengthened because someone has come alongside of us.

 

When we encourage others, the goal is that we would point one another to the ultimate source of life for our internal batteries—that we would bring each other to the place where we could strengthen ourselves in the Lord.

 

So as we think about the people in our life right now, who needs us to come alongside of them and say, "Let me give you a jump start”? Then ask God to show you how. Say, "Lord, I'm available. I make myself available to be an encourager in the life of this person who is weak and needs a fresh start."

 

From Revive Our Hearts.