That is a commonly held fallacy. First, Christ makes demands upon those who of us who trust Him and have claimed His payment on the cross as payment for our sins to the satisfaction of God the Father. For example, He said, "Unless you deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me, you are not my disciple." He taught His dis-ciples how He expected them to live. He has made demands upon all who trust Him, which He commands us to obey. The Scriptures provide for us a multitude of them that describe the pattern of life of Christ's followers.

Following Christ brings delights, too. Christians have barely scratched the surface to fully understand and grasp the effect that faith in Christ can have upon our lives. Faith in Christ brings fullness of joy, freedom, peace, and security to our minds and hearts because of Jesus and what He accomplished and fulfilled on the cross. To real-ize its fullness requires that believers present themselves daily to Jesus, asking Him to bring into our lives that which He provided for us in His life, death, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father.

John wrote in his first epistle, which he wrote to his friends to tell them how they could have fullness of joy in Christ. What Christ accomplished on the cross has a bearing upon every aspect of our lives. It makes no differ-ence whether we are married or single, whether rich or poor. It has an influence upon our family life. It has a bearing upon how we work. It affects our friendships, as well as our choices in life regarding our time, our tal-ents, and our treasures.

The false prophets, teachers, and leaders of today reject all of these aspects of Christ-centered ministry. They reject the depravity of man, deliverance through faith in Christ alone, and fail to present the demands and de-lights of Christ upon our lives.

Whom do you follow? Whose preaching do you admire? What books do you read? What television programs do you watch? What radio programs capture your time? Do they provide Christ-centered teaching and preach-ing? If they do not, then you follow false prophets and false teachings. They will not lead you to fullness in Christ. Their teachings will not encourage you to walk with Christ. They will lead you astray.

For some of you what we have just examined from the Scriptures has no meaning to you. It sounds strange be-cause you do not follow Christ. You have never trusted Him. Therefore, it has no meaning to you. It has no af-fect upon your life. To you I would call upon you to trust Christ. Call upon Him now.

Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Jesus said, "Everyone who comes to me I will in no wise cast out."

I pray that the Spirit of God will open up your eyes to see your need of trusting Jesus and that he will bring about in you that faith and trust in Jesus, the only provision for sinners like you and like me.

To those of us who have trusted in Christ, we need to realize what it means to have a Christ-centered ministry. The false messengers and their false messages bombard us. It looks and sounds good. It appeals to us. Neverthe-less, it is false. It is not true. It will lead us astray. We need to have truth upon which we can rely and rest so that we can discern between the true and the false. Then, we can to the truth and reject the false. Yes, we must reject it. We cannot toy with it. We cannot play with it. We cannot somehow make it part of us and say, "Well, that's just kind of an interesting thing and I'll just follow it for a little bit and see what it is."

No. We must reject it. We must turn from it and pursue after the truth. We need to have some foundation upon which we can build and stand to help us discern between the true and the false. Christ-centered preaching will provide it.

I pray that the Spirit of God will help you to have that foundation upon which you can rest. It will help you dis-cern the true from the false, so that you might experience fullness of joy in Christ.

Thank you, heavenly Father, for your provision for us in Jesus Christ. Thank you for what He accomplished in His life, His death on the cross, His resurrection, and in His ascension to sit at Your right hand in the glory of heaven. Thank you for your grace and for your mercy.