1. People who press on to follow Jesus - we all know them, but:
- what makes Jesus worth following?
- what Jesus believed shaped his life
- so what did Jesus believe?
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me (Philippians )

2. The Jesus Creed - what is it? Jesus adds loving others to the Shema
- and makes loving God personal - Luke
- “let the dead bury their own dead”
- loving God now means following Jesus - nothing else
- will you be content with religion you’ve known?
- or choose to follow Jesus?
- what is it?
The Shema (Deuteronomy 6.4-9)
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
The second is this: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these. (Mark ) (from Leviticus 19.18)
These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.
Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
Write them on the door-frames of your houses and on your gates.
- harsh?
“Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them...”(Numbers )
- the creed of Judaism: love God by living the Torah

3. The Jesus Creed
The Shema (Deuteronomy 6.4-9)
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
The second is this: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these. (Mark ) (from Leviticus 19.18)
“Life minus love equals zero... The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. The best time to love is now.”
(Rick Warren)