Not A Fan: Becoming A Completely Committed Follower Of Jesus Quotes
"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."
"Following Jesus will cost you something. Following Jesus always costs something."
"There is no forgiveness without repentance. There is no salvation without surrender. There is no life without death. There is no believing without committing."
"The biggest threat to the church today is fans who call themselves Christians but aren't actually interested in following Christ."
"He knows the reality that Nicodemus is about ready to have impressed on him: There is no way to follow Jesus without him interfering with your life."
"We have taken 'believe' and we have written that in capital letters with bold print: BELIEVE. But everything that has to do with following has been put in small print: follow."
"It's the difference between knowledge and intimacy."
"But the truth is, for a long time I considered myself a follower because of what I knew."
"I was a fan of Jesus, like I was a fan of Mike. I had memorized his records and knew his stats, but I did not know him."
"When there is knowledge without intimacy, you’re really no more than a fan."
"To know completely and to be completely known."
"It describes the most intimate of connections. One Hebrew scholar defines the word this way: 'A mingling of the souls.'"
"Instead of identifying myself as a follower because I know about Jesus, I understand that I am a follower because I know Jesus."
"She wasn’t just a 'sinner' to him; she was a beloved daughter."
"I am not asking if you know about him, I am asking if you know him."
"These days my wife and I constantly pray to be used by God in any way he wants to bring him glory."
"Trying to follow Jesus part-time or halfhearted is impossible."
"Jesus doesn’t expect followers to be perfect, but he does call them to be authentic."
"When the relationship on the inside is right, the outside will follow."
"There's something more important than the letter of the law: the person."
"The church must constantly fight the tendency to make rules and policies more important than people."
"Every time they come to church they find that the preacher has another weight to add to the bar."
"We live with a freedom and an appreciation for what has been done."
"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me."
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!"
"We end up straining a gnat but not really paying any attention to the camel."
"A belief, no matter how sincere, if not reflected in reality isn't a belief; it's a delusion."
"Jesus doesn’t say, ‘Everything in moderation’; he says you can’t be my follower if you don’t give up everything."
"The journey from fan to follower begins by identifying the fan within us."
"Jesus has defined the relationship he wants with you."
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
"Jesus doesn’t begin with a list of pre-qualifications. His invitation to follow is addressed to Anyone."
"Jesus throws out the elitist application process and gives an open invitation."
"Anyone can follow but not without giving up everything."
"The grace of God doesn’t simply invite us to follow … it teaches us to follow."
"I choose Jesus over my family. I choose Jesus over money."
"A follower makes a decision every day to deny himself and choose Jesus … even if it costs everything."
"When we sacrificially deny ourselves for Christ’s sake it is the clearest evidence of our committed love."
"You don’t get to say, 'I follow Jesus—but when it comes to this area of my life, I do things my way.'"
"You don’t have to have your life together to become a Christian or be a part of the church, but you must be willing to repent of your sins."
"I absolutely refuse to eat meat, unless it’s being served."
"Following Jesus requires a complete and total commitment."
"Instead of approaching their faith with a spirit of denial that says, 'What can I do for Jesus?' they have a consumer mentality that says, 'What can Jesus do for me?'"
"A slave has no rights. A slave has no possessions to call their own."
"It’s only by becoming a slave to Jesus that we ever truly find freedom."
"It’s only when we deny ourselves that we truly discover the joy of following Christ."
"When you finally surrender all that you have and all that you are you will discover the strangest thing."
"The message of the church sounds less like 'Deny yourself' and more like Burger King’s slogan, 'Have it your way.'"
"We think that by denying ourselves we will miss out, but just the opposite is true."
"The Bible would teach that the highest calling for you is to be a slave who denies himself and follows Jesus."
"The right to pursue happiness seems to be in direct conflict with the call to deny."
"If you hear a little girl in the mall call me 'Dad,' then she has identified herself as my daughter. When you call Jesus 'Lord,' you aren’t saying, 'He’s the teacher—and I’m the student.' You are saying, 'He’s the master and I am the slave.'"
"You can’t call Jesus Lord without declaring yourself his slave."
"When you became a slave to my master, he makes you his son. He makes you his daughter. He calls you a friend."
"My master will provide for you. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills; he can take care of your needs."
"When you decide to follow him you are signing over your house, your car, your bank accounts, your career, your marriage, your children, your future, and anything else that you once laid claim to."
"It’s not just about giving up money and the things that money can buy; it’s about giving up, period."
"I didn’t know how much my job had meant to me until the night I was fired."
"With nowhere else to turn, I returned to the faith of my youth. I began praying honestly and searching for comfort in the Bible."
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
"Jesus invites you to deny yourself. He invites you to be a slave."
"It’s only by dying to ourselves that we truly find life."
"When you finally let go of your life you find real life in Christ."
"At night his feet were tied up and hoisted up into the air till only his shoulder and head rested on the ground."
"Anne walked two miles every day to plead that Judson be released."
"Mercifully the jailer actually let Judson out of prison each evening so he could take the baby into the village and beg for women to nurse the baby."
"God doesn’t do consulting. Never has. Never will."
"A follower of Jesus says, 'My answer is yes, now where did you want me to go?'"
"The places where saying yes to God means saying no to me."
"He desperately wants you, but he won’t share you."
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."
"The one thing we are most reluctant to give up is the one thing that has the most potential to become a substitute for him."
"Like the smile I give my wife when she asks what happened to the Sour Patch Watermelons that were meant for the kids’ lunch boxes."
"This was not going the way she planned. But hey, that’s how it goes when you get stuck with a preacher for a daddy."
"Idolatry isn’t just one of many sins; rather it’s the one great sin that all others come from."
"God declines to sit atop an organizational flowchart. He is the organization."
"The profound wisdom of that second commandment is that anything in the world can be hammered into an idol, and therefore can be a false god, if misplaced at the top spot of our affections."
"Idolatry is the tree from which our sins and struggles grow."