What a joy it is to follow Him as He leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Notice something else about following Jesus … B. Every Christian has bowed before the One who overcame in life and death, and is already in the victory march toward eternity with the Winner. Either sin or the Savior will be the victor. Many reject the idea of judgment these days, and some preach without ever mentioning it. He loves you and today he offers you the chance to follow Him. Be assured that Christ reserves the blessings of Heaven for His own and the sting of judgment for all others. Someone has said that a honeybee reserves the honey for the owner and the sting for all others. He will be the Captain of Salvation or He will be your judge at the Great White Throne Judgment. In fact, you must follow Him if you expect to smell the sweet incense of victory instead of the horrible odor of death. You have never repented of your sins and received Him into your life to be your Savior. Perhaps someone here today has never done that. We put our hands to the plow and determined not to look back. He then became our Savior, Commander, Companion, and Friend. Like Paul, we decided to follow Jesus when God called us to Him. We were all enemies of God at one time, and we were all aliens and foreigners at some point in the past. But by the grace of God I am what I am.”. 1 Corinthians 15:9-10 states, “For I am least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. Paul had not always followed Jesus, but in fact had fought on the other side for a while. Think of what it means to be led by the One who overcame sin and death. Paul would have every Christian reaffirm this truth - Christ is leading us. Paul looked at the Christian life as a victory because Jesus is the great conqueror of all enemies. Let me share with you three reasons why Paul said and believed this to be true. Yet, Paul called the Christian life a triumphant procession. He was often beaten, shipwrecked, stoned, imprisoned, berated, snake bit, and ridiculed. Of all people Paul knew the sorrows, trials and hardships of the Christian life. So how could Paul write this or describe the Christian life in this manner? The Christian life can seem like one problem after another, and a full-throated rejection by the world. What? Did he really mean this? Does the Christian life seem to you to be a triumphant procession? I doubt it, for most Christians experience toil and trial and do not for a moment view their life as some triumphant celebration. Paul said that the Christian life was something like a triumphant march.
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