In Jesus' revolutionary call of four fishermen (Mark 1:16-20), we see an incredible moment of courage when these fishermen leave everything they know to follow Jesus into an unknown future. Their journey with the Lord over the next three and a half years is a remarkable mixture of miracles, teaching, conflict, stories, compassion, death, confusion, and the dazzling wonder of resurrection. When they follow Jesus, everything for them and the rest of the world changes forever.

But what do they think following Jesus means?

Is there any foundation for them to understand what Jesus is asking them to do when he says, "Come, follow me" (Mark 1:16-17)?

Welcome to this week's ToGather.church. Our focus comes from our Verse of the Day, Deuteronomy 13:4:

It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.

This important verse is often overlooked when Christians discuss what it means to follow Jesus. Thankfully, in the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), God gave Moses his definition of what it means to follow God as LORD. We see the early disciples of Jesus live out these demands in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and the book of Acts. However, our verse serves as the foundation upon which the early disciples would have built their understanding of what it meant to follow Jesus. It helps define for us what Jesus' expectations are for his followers.

Phil's message video on our Verse of the Day takes time to look at this important verse as we look at "What It Means to Follow!"

Our full worship video helps us celebrate, commit, commune, confess, and confer God's blessing on our following Jesus as our Christ, Lord, and God. We pray that you are blessed by our worship.

Phil's Message for This Week

Phil based his video message on Deuteronomy 13:4 and the four principles of what it means to follow God:

  • Revere the LORD our God.
     

  • Obey the LORD and keep his commandments.
     

  • Serve the LORD with our heart, soul, mind, and strength as living sacrifices.
     

  • Hold fast to the LORD through the storms of life and when we find ourselves beginning to doubt and fear.
     

Being a disciple of Jesus is built on these four principles of following!
Remember, our following Jesus is built on the foundation of these four commands in Deuteronomy 13:4 to revere, obey, serve, and hold fast to the LORD as we respond to the LORD's grace with our whole-hearted following!

Full ToGather Worship Video

The full worship video leads us to open our hearts to God and his love as we sing, commune with each other through the Lord's Supper, and conclude with a confession of Jesus as Lord and God, a prayer, and a closing blessing from Jesus for such a faith. We pray the Holy Spirit fills and empowers you as we worship!

Special thanks for the use of images related to Jesus' ministry from The Lumo Project and Free Bible Images for use in both ToGather videos.