This topic should take from 4 to 6 minutes and the full page should take 9 to 14 minutes when played without stopping. New Topic: What Does It Mean to Follow Jesus? Short Answer Version: The phrase to “Follow Jesus” means a few different things put together. It means to learn from Him and to follow the instructions He gave. It also means to keep your heart focused on Him each day, hoping to sense His guidance, wisdom, ideas, or direction for your life. Then, to respond to Him with faith and action. That was His idea of what it meant to follow. During the earthly ministry of Jesus, we see people physically following Jesus around, listening to Him teach, watching how he lived, and doing what He told them. Some of them did what He did, even in working God's miracles. When I was a child, I did not understand what people were saying when they talked about following Jesus. I had a small light blue, children's Bible, with a picture of a child walking closely behind Jesus, and stepping in the foot prints His feet had left. I didn’t understand the symbolism. Long Answer Version: The difference between a believer and a follower is that those who are believers are saved for eternity, with no strings attached, while a follower is a believer who determines to be more like Jesus, by learning about Him, and walking in His ways, knowing heaven awaits him or her. A life of following Jesus is rewarding and beneficial and should not be downplayed. Being a follower of Jesus means you choose to make him the primary person around whom you shape your life. He becomes your role model. Following Jesus is not exactly the same as being His disciple. The difference between being a disciple and not just a follower of Jesus, is that disciples are followers who have moved on to the next level. Jesus told a story indicating that if He asked a follower to do something, He would rather the person said 'No', but do it anyway, than say 'Yes', and not do it. Have you ever heard the phrase 'a Yes Man'? Although that label can mean something fairly negative in the world, being a 'Yes Man' to Jesus is very positive. A disciple is a person who says 'Yes' to Jesus and does what Jesus wants on a regular basis. In His earthly ministry, Jesus understood the human heart and gave people a chance to respond to Him with time. Being a disciple comes with time. It does not come with a title. Nobody can tell if we are disciples rather than just followers, especially ourselves. I am a follower who is contented to consider himself a disciple wannabe. Perhaps when I get to eternity, God will tell me I was a disciple meant to be! A disciple is happy to try and liv like a disciple as the opportunity arises, rather than to be called a disciple. A disciple develops his or her talents, skills, and giftings, to use in serving God. Disciples become more and more effective at being like Jesus. A disciple fulfills God's callings and commissions. A famous passage of scripture is called 'the Great Commission'. It is when Jesus told His eleven remaining disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. You will find that disciples tend to produce other disciples because they model discipleship and train people into it. A disciple both obeys and yields to the presence of the Holy Spirit. A disciple persistently studies and serves God. Discipleship exclusively to Jesus is an honor. Others might be mentors, leaders, or good examples of Christ-likeness. With complete respect to noble people of that kind, a disciple reports directly to Jesus first and foremost. This website is calling people to become rescued, saved, and born again. When we become saved, it is possible that sometime later, God might indicate to a believer or follower to prepare themself for discipleship, starting with counting the cost. All the human bravado, in the world could not accomplish acts of discipleship. It takes God's power and leading. Jesus said, “whoever does not bear their cross and follow after Me cannot be My disciple. For who among you, when intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, to see whether he has enough to finish it; Lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him.“ Jesus wanted people to count the cost of being a disciple so they would not be surprised when it is difficult, dangerous, or even fatal in respect to martyrdom. That is why He spoke of taking up the cross and following Him, because He wanted disciples to know, what they were getting themselves into before, taking that step. It might seem like a fairly small percentage of believers in Jesus are taking the Great Commission seriously. God is patient with those who are believers yet not disciples, and He loves them for who they are at any time in their faith journey. Neither becoming a follower nor a disciple, is required for salvation. However, both are good things to pursue. Jesus had disciples who trained under Him to go out into the world and make more disciples. Jesus would ultimately like us all to do the same. Jesus won’t feel let down or disappointed in you if you fall short of becoming an all-out disciple. On the other hand, believing in Jesus for salvation could be the first step toward a fruitful life of discipleship. If you feel the urge to move in that direction, it would be in line with what Jesus would like for each of us. He doesn’t pressure us into that level of commitment. He equips us when we are ready and willing. Not everybody who becomes saved moves from a believer to a follower and then to a disciple. The most important step is the first one, to believe in Jesus. Do that alone, and it is better than 'winning the lottery'. The rest is up to you. When you are ready, you can move on to taste the abundant life believers are promised. New Topic: How Did Jesus Already Do the Work to Earn My Entry into Heaven? This Topic should take about 6 to 8 minutes when played without stopping. Short Answer Version: Jesus earned your entry into heaven by dying on the cross for you. In so doing, Jesus removed from you the burden of responsibility to do good works as a condition of getting into Heaven. He took that burden on Himself. The only condition is, you guessed it, believing in Jesus. Long Answer Version: Jesus did something that stands as the most important event in history. He substituted Himself for you. He died in your place, when He was 33 years of age. It was just outside Jerusalem on a Roman cross. He did it so you wouldn’t have to die. He did it in an act of sacrificial love that was powerful beyond measure. Jesus died on the cross in our place, and rose from the dead on the third day later. His substitutionary death was not for only you, but was powerful enough to cover the whole world of people needing a Savior throughout time. It was powerful enough to do the work of earning the way into Heaven for everyone who believes. That is why He is not only your personal Savior. He is the Savior of the whole world in that His sacrifice was powerful enough for everyone. When Jesus took our place on the cross, it was to fulfill God the Father's desire to reconcile us all to Him. Unfortunately, those who refuse will not have that honor, as far as we can tell. Jesus experienced the agony of all the wrongdoings that ever happened or will happen. He did this “in our stead”. Today we don’t use the phrase “in our stead” very often, but we do use the words “instead of us”. The two phrases mean the same thing. He died instead of you dying, and instead of me having to die. He paid for ALL our penalties, Himself. This means you do not have to work your way into heaven or earn points for doing good things. God is not waiting to count all the bad things and all the good things you did and decide your future based on which number was higher. When you have faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you can rejoice because your name is written in heaven. Jesus said that. You are on the guest list. Not only His sacrificial death, but also His resurrection are part of the deal. He died as a substitute for us and so we are united with Him in death. We are also united with Him in His resurrection. He applies resurrection power into our lives as we are born anew, and that carries over all the way into the next life. It is a “package deal”. You don't have to do good works to live forever. But you certainly can do good works, and try to be as good a person as you are able. God likes that. He is good, and appreciates it when we let Him transform us to be more like Him in those ways. When we get to know Him personally, He puts the desire in our hearts to do good things, and become better people. He gives us the ability to live out the lives of saved and sanctified individuals because we wouldn't otherwise be able, not at the heart level, with our limited abilities. He improves our hearts. One way of explaining this is that He ransomed you. He bought you back for Himself, when you were not a part of His family. He paid a high price for your adoption. He welcomes all who believe, to be in His close loving family. Salvation is a gift, not a burden. God set it up from the beginning. We see in many scriptures of the Old Testament prophecies of how Jesus would die in our place. Even from the beginning in Genesis 3, just after Adam's fall, God gives a prophecy that the serpent (revealed later as the devil) would “bruise the heel” of Jesus, but Jesus would 'crush satan’s head.' Jesus resurrected, and was not permanently crushed. But satan’s head was crushed because the cross brought victory and sealed his fate, his ultimate demise. In Genesis 22, the sacrifice of Isaac was symbolic of the death of Jesus. Genesis says, “God will provide Himself a lamb.” In Exodus 12 we see the next lamb said to be offered in sacrifice. It was unblemished, and its blood protected the children of Israel from death. The Passover lamb represented Jesus who triumphed over death on the cross. In Exodus 22, the sin offering was set up. A bull and two lambs would be sacrificed. The lambs were to be sacrificed, one in the morning and one in the evening. This was to be a continual burnt offering throughout all generations of Israel. The death of Jesus stands as continually efficacious through all generations. In Leviticus 4, a lamb without blemish was a sin offering assigned by God. When Jesus was 30 years old, He was called “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” by John the Baptist. Jesus was unblemished in that He was without sin his entire life. Many other prophecies foretelling the substitutionary death of Jesus were made. The most famous is in Isaiah 53. The entire chapter is remarkable, but one statement stands out. “Surely, he has borne our griefs and has carried our sorrows. Yet, we esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by His wounds, such as through being whipped, we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but despite such failures, the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted. Yet, he didn't even open his mouth; he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter.“ The word “vicarious” in theology means the same as “substitutionary” or “done in the place of”. The word “Atone” means to completely make amends. The noun form is “Atonement.“ The theological phrase “vicarious atonement” is the idea that Jesus Christ took the place of mankind, being punished for our faults in order to pay for the sins we had committed, thereby reconciling us to God. The Lord has laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. When Jesus from the cross said, “It is finished,” it was this act of which He spoke. It was this work that earned your way into heaven. I went for over a year after I received Jesus into my heart as my Lord and Savior, before I grasped any of this. I learned it in Bible College and it deepened my love for Jesus immeasurably just to know the extent of His demonstrated love. I want to lay this out for you in the beginning of your journey, hoping you will start to understand how this good message of Jesus, though simple, is deeper than all other profound statements ever known to humanity. Website Theme: All You Need to Do To Be Saved is Believe in Jesus Christ as Your Savior. He Has Already Done the Work to Earn Your Entry into Heaven. To continue to the next Topic, Why Should I Believe in Jesus, please click the link below.