What Did Jesus Really Mean When He Said Follow Me?: The Sociology of Cities, Suburbs, and Towns

We have enough knowledge on HOW to become a Christian but NOT how to live like one, and the book addresses just that.I recommend it to all followers of Jesus.

We thought the book would be a bit bigger than it is. That being said, it is still a good book. :-)

Insightful, concise and direct biblical points for disciple makers. Very useful material both for bible study and preaching. God richly bless you.

A great eye opener into truly understanding what it means to live in undivided devotion of the Lord as a follower of Christ. It is an ongoing journey and each day we are being transformed more and more into his image. Brother David did a great job on this with words that truly came from the Lord.

O livro é curto e preciso. O autor convida os cristão a questionarem seu compromisso com Cristo e a seguí-lo verdadeiramente. No entanto, mesmo para um livro curto, a abordagem é rasa e árida. O autor aponta tecnicamente, quais pontos considera estar errados com o cristianismo atual, estabelece algumas distinções conceituais, mas faz pouco para ajudar o leitor a buscar e encontrar um arrependimento verdadeiro que sanaria os problemas que ele mesmo encontra. Um livro de Baxter ou Ryle é mais indicado para esse caso.

"Churches are filled with people who seem content to have casual association with Christ and give nominal adherence to Christianity. Scores of men, women, and children have been told that becoming a follower of Jesus simply involves acknowledging certain facts or saying certain words. But this is not true. Disciples like Peter, Andrew, James, and John show us that the call to follow Jesus is not simply an invitation to pray a prayer; it is a summons to lose our lives" (p. 23)It is possible to have a prayed a prayer to receive Christ with as much sincerity as you could muster and still not be a Christian. Following Jesus entails far more than repeating a short prayer. As David Platt makes clear in his booklet What Did Jesus Really Mean When He Said Follow Me?, there is a cost in following Jesus that is born out in one's life. When we come to Jesus in saving repentance and faith, our thoughts, feelings, and actions are decisively changed by Him."As we trust in Christ, he transforms our tastes in such a way that we begin to love the things of God that we once hated, and we begin to hate the things of this world that we once loved" (p. 30).Platt is concerned by the stories of so many folks who have prayed a prayer and then went on to live as if nothing had changed. The reality is, maybe nothing did change! The evidence that one has truly come to Christ is found in how one lives, thinks, and feels.Platt is careful not to say that salvation is based on the changes in our lives. We are saved by faith alone in Christ's finished work alone--in fact, no amount of works on our behalf can earn salvation in any sense. Faith trusts in what Christ has accomplished for us. We cannot save ourselves, and Christians know this.Salvation happens apart from our works, but it always leads to works. Being a disciple of Jesus means that we will bear fruit. Not perfectly, but really bearing fruit. And ultimately, we want to bear fruit! In coming to Jesus, we taste and see that He is good and we begin to desire Him above all else! Our affections are decisively changed."We discover that Jesus is the supreme source of satisfaction, and we want nothing apart from him. We realize that he is better than all the pleasures, pursuits, plaudits, and possessions of this world combined" (p. 29).All who profess to be Christians need to know these truths. Some may learn them, realize they were never saved, and truly turn to Christ for the first time. To God be the glory!Platt's booklet is a great reminder and summary of all of these truths. Therefore, I recommend this resource as very helpful for evangelism and discipleship to aid folks in understanding that following Jesus involves one's whole being. In fact, this is one of the best, shorter resources I know of for such a purpose!

Aurhor David Platt takes the cookies and puts them on the bottom shelf for everyone to reach! No big words or fancy conundrums. He makes it easy to understand whether you are a seasoned theologian or an average Joe trying to dive deeper into your relationship with God. He takes the basic biblical principles and lays them out very easily for us to understand. I highly recommend this book for every person on the face of the planet!