1. Discipleship & Leadership

2. Get “The Purple Book” and go through it with someone.

3. While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. (Matthew 4:18-20 ESV)

4. “Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” Matthew 4:20  Following Jesus is a choice  that will take you in a different direction  which will be an example for many others.

5. Jesus’ original disciples became great leaders. Their lives and message impacted the world. But they didn’t start out as leaders. They started as disciples. Anyone who wants to lead first has to learn how to follow. - “The Purple Book” (p. 64)

6. Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

7. The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter). (John 1:35-42 ESV))

8. Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

9. Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:25-33 ESV)

10. Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

11. "The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me." The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" … In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." Then turning to the disciples he said privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." (Luke 10:16-24 ESV)

12.  Are you going against the flow? How have you been tested? What have you left behind to follow Jesus?  Is your decision to follow Christ primarily for your own personal benefit or do you see yourself as part of God’s larger plan? What happens if you decide not to make disciples?  Who is following you as you follow Christ?