Matthew 9:9 (ESV) – As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

Judges 17:6 (ESV) – In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Authority is A Beautiful Word! 

The Roman Centurion’s servant (Matthew 8:5-13)

Peter’s mother-in-law (Matthew 8:14-17)

Jesus calms the sea (Matthew 8:23-27)

Healing the demon-possessed men (Matthew 8:28-34)

The paralyzed man (Matthew 8:1-8)

Matthew 9:3-8 (ESV) – some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.”
4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 7 And he rose and went home. 8 When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

Matthew 9:9 (ESV) – As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

Jesus’ Authority is Good News!

1 John 5:3 (ESV) – For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

Centerboard Issue: How you feel about Jesus’ authority Sailing Downwind

Matthew 28:18 (ESV) – And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Is Jesus’ Authority a “Got to” or a “Get to”?

Inner Circle: Will

Next circle: Intellect

Outer circle: Fantasy

From “Got to” to “Get to” (overcoming our resistance to Jesus’ authority)

Psalm 51:17 (ESV) – The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Romans 13:1-2 (ESV) – Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed

1 Peter 2:13-15, 17 (ESV) Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

When has resisting God’s authority worked well?

Judges 17:6; Judges 21:25 (ESV) – In those days, everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

James 4:6-7, 10 (ESV) – Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you

Your Matthew Moments

When Jesus says, “Follow Me” Through the Bible

2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV) – All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

John 17:17 (ESV) – Jesus prayed , Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

A man may be haunted with doubts and only grow thereby in faith. Doubts are the messengers of the Living One to the honest. They are the first knock at our door of things that are not yet, but have to be, understood.” —George Macdonald

…those who are theologically liberal tend to be too soft on doubt, lionizing such notions as ambiguity and uncertainty, and verging on a spiritual permissiveness that becomes a slipway to unbelief.
On the other hand, those who are theologically conservative tend to be too hard on doubt, demonizing the dire consequences of unresolved doubt, and verging on a spiritual perfectionism that leaves doubters in such a state of guilt or despair that they dare not acknowledge their doubts to others or even to themselves. –Os Guinness in I believe in doubt.

I am not smart enough to have this opinion , but that this is the position the inspired and inerrant Word of God upholds . …changing my message would involve denying the plain meaning of Scripture , the testimony of the church, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and the gospel. – Rosaria Butterfield

When Jesus says, “Follow Me” with Your Body

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 (ESV) – Flee from sexual immorality….1 9 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own , 2 0 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters,
The sense of ownership in general is always to be encouraged. The humans are always putting up claims to ownership which sound equally funny in Heaven and in Hell and we must keep them doing so.
Much of the modern resistance to chastity comes from men’s belief that they “own” their bodies – …in which they find themselves without their consent and from which they are ejected at
the pleasure of Another!

It is as if a royal child whom his father has placed, for love’s sake, in titular command of some great province…, should come to fancy he really owns the cities, the forests, and the corn, in the same way as he owns the bricks on the nursery floor.

We produce this sense of ownership not only by pride but by confusion .
We teach them not to notice the different senses of the possessive pronoun – the finely graded differences that run from “my boots” through “my dog”, “my servant”, “my wife”, “my father”, “my master” and “my country”, to “my God”.
…Even in the nursery a child can be taught to mean by “my Teddy-bear” not the old imagined recipient of affection… but “the bear I can pull to pieces if I like”.

And at the other end of the scale, we have taught men to say “My God” in a sense not really very different from “My boots”, meaning “The God on whom I have a claim for
my distinguished services and whom I exploit…

And all the time the joke is that the word “Mine” …in its fully possessive sense.. cannot be uttered by a human being about anything.
In the long run either Our Father [Satan] or the Enemy [God] will say “Mine” of each thing that exists, and specially of each man.
[Humans] will find out in the end, never fear, to whom their time, their souls, and their bodies really belong – certainly not to them, whatever happens.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 (ESV) – Flee from sexual immorality….19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own , 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

When Jesus says, “Follow Me” in All Things

Hebrews 13:4 (ESV) – Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous

Matthew 28:18-19 (ESV) – Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 1 9 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…