“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19

The essence of Jesus' leadership is in the opening words of Matthew 4:19: "Follow me..." When Jesus began to teach His disciples, He had no formal school, no seminary, no membership class, no highly organized procedures. Jesus was His own school and curriculum. His instruction to His students was simple: be like Me. Watch Me and do as I do. All Jesus asked of His disciples was that they would be with Him (Mark 3:14).

Step One. Jesus commands us to do the very same thing. Do you want to be more like Christ? Then step one is: Be with Jesus, observe what He did, and follow His example. It really is that simple. In fact, there is no step two or three. The Apostle Paul understood this when he said in 1 Corinthians 11:1, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ."

Follow the Leader. As we imitate Christ, we say to those around us, "Follow me." Our goal is to be like Christ, and lead others to do the same. The secret to Jesus' incredible influence in the lives of those around Him was that He did not ask anyone to do or be anything that He had not first demonstrated in his own life. When Jesus discipled His followers, He did not give them a list of destinations or tasks to go or do. Instead, in all areas of His life, He modeled Himself, built relationships with His followers, and told them to observe His life and be like Him.

Observing and following. How do we observe and follow Christ today? We have God's Word, the Bible. It is a complete and accurate picture of God and His Son, Jesus. As we study the Bible, we observe who God is, who we are in relationship to Him, and who Jesus is and how He lived during his time on earth. All that is required of us is to study, observe, learn His ways, and do likewise in our own lives, so others will follow Christ as they see Him in us.

New! The Nations Intercessory Prayer Resource
How do you pray for a whole world? Use "The Nations" as a resource to get information about countries across the globe, link to other sites with additional data and begin praying for them daily. Check back regularly as we add more nations to our listings. More...