Follow Me

Worship Reflection

Church, just take a moment. Take a moment and recognize that we were just singing the names and who God is. And as we did that, we put him in his rightful place. Because when we gather like we are this morning, he’s the reason that we are here. There is no other reason. And it’s because he is holy and magnificent and all of the things we sang. That’s why we are here. And we can’t forget that, because when we step in here, we are entering a holy place. It’s holy. And it’s not because of anything we do. It’s because of what he does.

We need to just take a moment and thank God for who he is. Do that however makes sense for you. But we’re just going to take a couple of seconds, and I encourage you to just say, “Thank you, God, for who you are,” and name it. Name it and put him in that place this morning.

We thank you, God, just for being who you promised to be. You are every one of those words we just sang, and we are grateful for it, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Rejoicing and Giving

Uh, we’re going to receive our tithes and offering. And you know, September is a celebration month for this house, because 46 years ago this week we began this house. This church was founded 46 years ago. And so we don’t just celebrate a little bit - we celebrate all month long.

I love September. I’ve always loved September. We got married in September. There are birthdays in September. There’s all those kinds of things in September. And I love September, and I walk into September mostly excited that maybe it’ll start to feel like fall, because I love fall so much. But also because I know we’re going to celebrate all month long.

This morning - this week - I was kind of processing and thinking through all that and praying through all that, and I just realized that when we celebrate, gratitude rises to the surface. At least that’s what happens for me. When I’m feeling full of joy and feeling excited about whatever it may be happening around me, there’s something in me that starts to feel extremely grateful for what God has placed in my life, because there’s beauty all around, and there are gifts from the Father all around, and people are gifts to us. And gratitude just begins to rise to the surface.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice.” - Philippians 4:4

That scripture was just in me this morning. Rejoice always. And you might be thinking, how do you rejoice always? Life is not always worth rejoicing about. But I’m going to ask you to shift that perspective, because it doesn’t matter what’s happening around you - if you rejoice in the Lord, then you always have something to rejoice about. Always. Because he supplies all we need at every moment.

So it’s not about rejoicing because everything looks great and perfect. It certainly doesn’t in my life, and I wouldn’t expect that it does in yours. But we can find things to rejoice in the Lord, because he is always faithful, and he always comes through in all circumstances, no matter what. So no matter what is happening around us, we can choose to rejoice. We can choose to say, “It’s a great day, and I’m going to walk in that greatness - not because of me or anything that’s happening around me, but because God is who he says he is, and I know he is faithful.”

And when you get to that place of gratitude and rejoicing, your cup, in the spiritual sense, begins to overflow. It’s overflowing. And when your cup is overflowing, you can’t help but want to give out, because it’s pouring out. And so that’s what you want to do.

It reminded me of one year - Pastor Cindy, who’s my mom, so this is a mom story, not a Pastor Cindy story - on her birthday, I remember we were all sitting around and she started handing out gifts to the whole family. But it was her birthday! I remember the outfit I got from her that day. That’s how much that stuck in my mind. And as an adult, I recognize that her cup was full and she wanted to give that to the family. And that’s the place we should give from always - that our cup is overflowing from God the Father. And so instead of saying “what am I going to lose,” we’re saying “what can I give?”

So this morning, as we prepare to give, I want to encourage you - even if you’re not sure your cup is overflowing, it’s overflowing, because God the Father is always pouring in. He’s always pouring in so that you can pour out. So this morning, give from that place. You’re rejoicing because of who God is and what you know he’s going to supply, even if you can’t see it. And you give from a place of saying, “God, you have given me so much, and I can’t wait to give back to you.” That’s the place we give from. It’s not an obligation. It’s not a rule. It’s not anything other than saying, “God, you are who you say you are, and you have given me so much, and I’m going to give right back to you.”

Can you give from that place today, church? That place of rejoicing and gratitude and knowing God is supplying all we need.

Let’s pray.

Father, we come before you and we just thank you. We thank you for who you are. We sang about it all morning long, and we live from that place because you are a faithful God. You are a generous God. You don’t withhold anything from us. So we give back to you out of gratitude, knowing that you will always fill us up and always supply what we need. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Welcome and Testimony

Hey, good morning, church. Stay with me on your feet. Really honored that you would be with us this morning. It’s an exciting month. Happy birthday to all of you - 46 years. Absolutely incredible.

I was here for 43 of it. Let’s do something fun - can you raise your hand if you’ve been here for, let’s say, 30 years or more? Wow, look at all these people. Would you give them a round of applause for their faithfulness?

If we haven’t met, my name is David, along with my wife that you just heard from. We have the privilege of being the lead pastors here, and we’re so honored that you’re here. If we haven’t met, we would love to meet you - come down here after service, we’d love to shake your hand and get to know you a little bit.

Can you turn to a neighbor now that you’ve stretched your legs, welcome them to church, and then take your seat.

If you have your Bibles, I’d like to invite you to turn with us to Acts chapter 4. And while you’re turning there, I want to wish a very happy birthday to my wife Jordan today. She said there’s lots of birthdays - she didn’t say it’s also my birthday. That’s not the kind of person she is. But happy birthday to my amazing wife.

Like we’ve said, you’re going to hear it all month - this is our birthday month. It’s a fun month for us. And I’ve told some of you this before, but my whole life happened at this church. My mom started attending the church when she was pregnant with me. I was dedicated as an infant by Pastors Marshall and Cindy. I was baptized at this church. I gave my life to Christ - different order than that, but I gave my life to Christ here. I was called into ministry here. I preached my first sermon here. I met all my best friends here at this church. I met my wife at this church.

And when my wife and I were going through a very challenging adoption process for our daughter, this church stood behind us in prayer. And now we’re privileged to raise our daughter in this house. I’ve been part of this church for so long that even my junk mail is Christian. You know what I mean? It’s been my whole thing.

And I just wanted to say, for the record: if you look around and see what this church has done, what this church has been for 46 years, none of that happened by me. None of that was my doing. And of course, in a real sense, it was God’s doing, too. But I think it’s worth honoring and recognizing that Pastors Marshall and Cindy, 46 years ago, planted this church. We honor you. We love you. We appreciate you. So much of my life has been a result of this thing that you built alongside Jesus, in faith. Really love you and appreciate you.

So after 46 years, it’s an amazing time that we are transitioning - we’re doing a brand refresh to Believer Church. I know it’s probably going to take some of y’all a little bit of time to get used to the new name - get rid of the “s” out of your mouth. It feels wrong. But I believe in you. I think you can do it. And I want to let you know: it’s the same Jesus. It’s the same mission - to make followers of Jesus. But we do have some new language, and we’re going to be showing you that as the month progresses.

Follow Jesus

Follow Jesus, love Albuquerque. You’re going to hear that everywhere. That’s the tagline. It’s the slogan. It’s what we’re presenting to the church - what is this church about? We’re about following Jesus and loving Albuquerque. That is what we’re about. And then we have what we’re calling our six commitments: we follow Jesus, we lead with love, we speak truth with grace, we love Albuquerque, we give freely, and we are family.

So the word “believer” has been part of our heritage for forever, and it’s a word that identifies us. But what we’re hoping is that it would become a word that identifies you and how you see yourself. We live in a world that is cynical and jaded and sarcastic, and it’s cool to not believe anything or anyone. But for you to say, as a follower of Christ, “I’m a believer.” I don’t believe lies, but I do believe - we believe in each other, of course - but even more than that, we believe that God is good, that he loves us, that he pursues us, so much so that Jesus came and died on the cross so that we can have relationship with him.

I’m going through a world where people don’t believe much of anything anymore, but I am a believer. Not just a member, not an attender, not a volunteer, not “I know where the good parking spots are” - all that. More than any of that, I am a believer. And it’s actually a Bible word.

“All the believers were one in heart and mind.” - Acts 4:32

Luke could have used any word to describe these people who gathered together around Jesus. He could have said “all of the Christians.” He could have said “all of the people practicing the Way.” He could have said a lot of different things. But in this particular case, he decided to group everyone under this identity - that we are believers.

And the first thing that Jesus said to this new group of people was two words. He comes upon a fisherman - if you don’t know what a fisherman is, it’s someone who has a net on the dock and he’s just hoping and praying.

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” - Matthew 4

Isn’t that an interesting thing to say? But I just want you to notice what he says - the invitation is: follow me. Not just believe in me, not just care about me, but follow me. And so that’s our title this morning, for the first week of our culture series: Follow Me.

I’ve got three things briefly that I want you to write down.

Everybody Follows Somebody

Number one: everybody follows somebody.

When I was a kid, I was super into this band, Green Day. I’m not recommending them - I’m just telling you my story. I think they still play music; they’re like 80 now, so it’s a little more sad punk rock, you know, dyeing their hair. But I was super into Green Day, and everything I thought was cool was summed up in these three dudes from Oakland. Everything they did, I would buy the magazines - we didn’t have the internet yet - and I would see exactly what Green Day wore. These are the kinds of jeans they wore, these are the kinds of shirts. So I would go to my mom and say, “Mom, I want to buy shirts like this, I want to buy jeans like this.” My mom thought I was just expressing myself. But I wasn’t expressing myself - I was expressing Billy Joe Armstrong, the lead singer of Green Day. I even got a guitar. What kind? The kind of guitar that Green Day plays. And I wore the strap real low, you know, the early worship stuff - because that’s how Green Day did it.

Here’s my point: nobody came to me and said, “David, you need to pick someone to follow.” I was 14 years old, and I had already picked. Everybody follows somebody, and that includes you. You might be thinking, “No, I don’t follow anyone, I’m my own man.” Well, it might be true that I was a dumb kid, but I’m actually right about this: everybody follows somebody.

You trying to tell me your parents don’t live on in you? You trying to tell me your political ideology is solely formed around yourself, with no connection to the people you listen to day in and day out? If there’s someone who listens to people they totally disagree with on everything, all day, I would love to meet that person. But I never have. Because we all follow somebody. And I’ll say this - that’s not a defect, that’s actually a design. You’re designed for that. God made you to attach yourself, to take your cues, to get your life from a source outside of yourself.

I’ve seen a four-year-old point their finger and say something, and it’s like, “You just did that exactly like your mom.” That’s crazy - but it’s because she’s following her mom in that season of life. I have friends who listen to Joe Rogan three hours a day, and all of a sudden they’ve got all these opinions about elk meat and ice baths, and I don’t think any of those ideas were originally theirs, brother. Or like Dave Ramsey, who I adore - financial guy, Financial Peace University, you should sign up, we do it - but there are people who are so “Dave Ramsey” that they’ll pay for gum with an envelope.

I think this is nowhere more true than in preaching. Preachers around the world, young youth pastors right now, are deciding who they want to be on YouTube, and they just watch that video day in and day out, and they end up with all the same mannerisms as the guy. Why are you preaching with an accent when you’re not from Australia?

But it’s not just that they followed somebody - because of that, they became something. They followed somebody, and as a result of who they followed, they became somebody. That’s not a unique idea to us. The Bible has been showing this happening for thousands of years.

“This is what the Lord says: What fault did your ancestors find in me that you have strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.” - Jeremiah 2:5

They followed, and then they became. You don’t just go where they go - you become what they are.

In 2026, it’s really easy to understand this, because who you follow is literally a button on your phone. It’s a big button that says “follow.” And whenever you click that, you have decided to give that person two minutes of your day, every single day. And they’re influencing not just what you follow, but who you become.

Most of us would say, “Well, I follow Jesus,” and of course you would say that, because you’re in church. I don’t think there’s anyone in the room who doesn’t think that of themselves. You know all the moves - you know when to raise your hand, you know when to shout between songs, all the stuff. But that doesn’t mean you’re truly following Jesus, becoming more like him. And to be clear, that’s my battle too. I have found myself sounding like people I don’t even respect, because if I subject myself to something enough, I start to become like it. That’s just the way it is. Everybody follows somebody. You included.

Who You Follow Determines Where Your Life Goes

Number two: who you follow determines where your life goes.

I like to say it like this: in 10 years, you will arrive. Some of us, in 10 years, will have arrived in heaven. But for the rest of us, in 10 years, you will arrive - the question is where. You are heading somewhere right now, and in 10 years you will be there. And it’s being decided right now by who you are listening to.

You can see this in Deuteronomy.

“Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies of the Lord… he will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.” - Deuteronomy 28:47–48

I find it interesting that he says, “because you haven’t served God, therefore you will serve your enemies.” Notice he doesn’t say, “because you don’t follow God, you’ll be free,” or “if you don’t follow God, it means you serve nobody.” No - it means you serve someone else. The lie is that if you don’t serve God, you don’t serve anyone. The truth is that you serve the enemies of God. You get to choose who you follow.

I remember talking to a guy years ago, in his early 20s - a super cool guy, I loved him. He came to church and actually worked for a ministry that reached out to schools, doing Bible studies with teenagers. That was his full-time job. Well, some time passed, and he left that job. He stopped volunteering at this church, and he left the church. We had coffee one time, and I said, “So walk me through it - what’s the journey been like for you?”

He said, “Pastor David, it all started when a friend of mine sent me a podcast.” I said, “Okay.” He said, “It’s about deconstruction.” I said, “Okay, here we go.” He said, “I listened to it, and at first I thought, man, this is total nonsense, I don’t like any of this. But then I listened again. And then I listened again. And then I realized that organized religion is actually one of the main points of suffering in the world today, and that I don’t need organized religion or a church to follow God.”

I said, “Oh. Well - would you say you were closer to God then, or now?” And he thought about it and said, “Probably then.” He said, “But I just got to be true to myself. I got to do me.”

But here’s the point: his friend sent him a link. He pressed play. He thought it was ridiculous, and he pressed play again. And now there’s some guy out there he’s never met, who has a podcast and doesn’t know his name, and that guy is going to determine where this man ends up in 10 years. The guy didn’t change his mind about Jesus - he just picked a new voice, and the voice did the rest. The voice you listen to chooses where you go. The choice you have is what you listen to, what you choose to follow.

“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” - Romans 6:16

You become a slave to one of those two things, and it leads to something. You can follow this thing and it goes there, or you can follow this thing and it takes you somewhere else. But what you choose to follow takes you somewhere.

Here’s my next point: who you follow dictates what you hear. What you hear becomes what you think. What you think becomes what you believe. What you believe becomes what you do. And what you do determines your destiny. You don’t drift into a destination - you follow your way there.

That’s why BC Recovery, which is going on right now - which I highly recommend, you should sign up today and go this coming Wednesday, I was able to be there for the first one, it’s phenomenal - one of the things we talk about in a group like that, where people are trying to get free from addiction, free from the pain of loss and trauma and anxiety and fear and depression, is that if you want to be a better person, you have to follow something better. “Man, I just wish I was better.” Yeah - you got to follow someone there. “Man, I just don’t like who I’ve become.” Well, who have you followed there?

We follow someone into our dissonance. Some people follow their addiction, and they do whatever their addiction tells them to do. And you might be thinking, “those people are so weak.” But a lot of us follow money, success. And that thing makes decisions for you. You’ve heard the phrase “follow the money” - if you want to see the motives of people in power, follow the money. I agree with that. But I also think it describes a lot of people today. What do they do? They follow the money. And the money decides their schedule. The money decides what kind of father they are. The money decides how active they can be in a Christian community. Their money decides their peace. You didn’t pick that - but you picked what you follow, and what you follow takes you somewhere.

Nobody writes in January, “My goal is to be exhausted and miss everything that’s important.” Nobody writes that down. And yet, because they don’t realize that what they follow always takes them somewhere - that’s exactly where they end up.

So in 10 years, you will arrive. The question is where. And the answer is: wherever who you follow is going.

So Follow Jesus

Number one, everybody follows somebody. Number two, who you follow determines where your life goes. Number three: so follow Jesus. That’s the solution.

So what does that look like? Let me tell you what it doesn’t look like. My wife and I have three dogs now - we’ve got Poet, who’s a Chihuahua, Charlie, who’s a beagle, and a new one named Oliver. Oliver is a mutt that’s mostly husky.

I don’t know if any of y’all have ever tried to teach a husky how to walk on a leash. As soon as you strap a harness on him, he’s like, “I was born for this - this is Alaska, let’s do it!” The problem is, if you’ve just got a collar on him, he’s choking himself to death at the edge of the leash. So I’m trying to walk this dog, and he’s pulling, and he’s hacking, and all the neighbors are looking like, “Nice dog ownership, David.”

I’ll tell Oliver, “Look, I love you, bro, but you’re just making this hard on yourself. You’re torturing yourself for no reason, because I set the pace. And if you want this walk to go well, you need to stay close to me.”

That’s all of us in the Christian faith. I’m not calling you a dog, but I see a lot of Christians who are on the very edge of the leash, saying, “Oh man, do I have to get baptized? Do I have to join a group? Do I have to give? Do I have to serve? Do I have to forgive her?” And when I hear that, I just see a dog choking itself. But no, bro - you don’t have to do any of that. I’m just saying this Christian life could be a lot easier for you if, instead of trying to be as far away from Jesus as possible and still qualify, you’re thinking, “Man, I’m just trying to be as close to Jesus as I can, and where he goes, I go.”

That’s the edge of the Christian faith where you can live - close to Jesus. That’s what the Christian faith is about: how close can I get to Jesus? You can live your life pulling against God, but the best way is to let him lead and you follow. Not because God’s a control freak - it’s because he knows the safest place for you is by his side. But here’s what’s amazing about God: he doesn’t force himself on anybody. God’s a gentleman. You have to decide to let him decide. So when it comes to what you do and where you go, you get to decide that he gets to decide. And the closer you are to the Master, the easier the walk becomes.

I talk to people who say the Christian life is so hard for them. I’ve been a Christian my whole life - it’s not hard. Just do the things that he does, and you will find that his way is better than your way. But so long as you’re pulling against it, you just make it hard on yourself.

“Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant also will be.” - John 12:26

I love that Jesus doesn’t say, “You go on ahead and I’ll meet you up on the flip.” He doesn’t say, “I’ll catch up with you later.” He says the reward for following him is him. When you’re staying close to Jesus, he’ll be there. He’s not a slave driver - when we need water, we’ll stop and get water, we’ll take breaks - but you’ve got to follow him on this walk.

Jesus says it like this:

“Take my yoke and learn from me.”

A yoke is a wooden thing that attaches two oxen together, so you’re walking together in step. Notice he doesn’t say, “I’ll take your yoke.” He says, “You take mine.” There’s still work to be done. So here’s the bad news for some of y’all - it doesn’t mean you’re just in the recliner. There are a lot of Christians who think, “If God, if it - then it’s going to happen. God will make it happen.” Sometimes that’s the right stance, but other times you’re in the yoke with Jesus, pulling something together. It doesn’t mean you’re always in the recliner, but it always means you’re not pulling alone. The battles and challenges and setbacks and frustrations that life brings - if you’re in the yoke together with Jesus, you still have work to do, but you never have work to do on your own.

Some of y’all are tired because you’re trying to pull things by yourself. And as weird as it sounds, that’s how a lot of Christians prefer it, because they think, “I got this.” They just want to make Jesus the secretary of afterlife affairs - he’s in charge of all the stuff post-death, but up until that point, “I got it.” But to receive Jesus is to receive him as Savior and as Lord. So of course he saves you, but he also leads you.

And it’s not just about doing it for a month. Any bozo can follow Jesus for six months. In sobriety, it’s cool - “oh my gosh, you got your 60-day chip.” That’s cool. But following Jesus is about the long haul. It’s about doing it for a long time. Let’s see you walk in wisdom and integrity for six decades, following Jesus for a long time. That’s what we see in the Bible in this man named Caleb. This is near the end of his life. Listen to this:

“Because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly…” - Joshua 14:9

I love that word, wholeheartedly. Not perfectly, but wholeheartedly. For 45 years he was following God in the wilderness, where it wasn’t even his fault, but he was following God.

I’ve never met a person who’s followed Jesus for decades and said, “It was all right, two stars, would not recommend.” I’ve never met that person. If you talk to someone who’s followed God for a long time, they’ll say, “Man, it was everything. It was my whole life. I can’t even understand my life outside of that.” It takes time to appreciate a life of following Jesus. If there’s anyone with a couple gray hairs in here, you could say amen. But following God for a long time - there’s a richness to that. I celebrate all the new believers, but there is something about following God, letting him lead you.

It says in the book of Revelation, “I follow the Lamb wherever he goes.” And Jesus comes and says, “I’d like to trade - my yoke for your yoke, my life for your life, my freedom for your bondage, my grace for your shame, my righteousness for your sin.” The good news is this: the closer you walk to the Master, the easier the walk becomes.

Everybody follows somebody. Who you follow determines where your life goes. So follow Jesus.

Here’s my closing statement. The first thing Jesus ever said to a believer was two words: follow me.

One, everybody follows somebody - you included. You don’t just go where they go; you become what they are.

Two, who you follow determines where your life goes. You don’t drift into a destination - you follow your way there.

Three, so follow Jesus. He saves you, and he also leads you. The closer you get to the Master, the easier the walk becomes.