BASIC Follow Jesus

The second film in our BASIC Series is Follow Jesus.  It's probably simplest yet most powerful film we have made to date.  It starts out as a film about how to follow Jesus.  As Francis unpacks the story we get the point pretty quickly.  Figuring out how to follow Jesus is pretty easy.  Jesus was pretty clear on what to do - love your neighbor, turn the other cheek, give to the poor.....we know what he said.  The problem is, most of us don't actually do it.  We identify ourselves as "Christians" but we don't actually follow through.

Now that may sound a bit harsh, but I ought to know because I am one of those people.  I grew up a Christian. Went to some great churches all of my life. Attended every week and for most of my life more than once a week.  That did not mean however that I actually tried to live my life as Jesus instructed.  Why do I that?  Why do we do that?  Why do we think that we are following  Jesus  when we don't do what he said?

Francis goes on to point out the words of Jesus.  What did He mean when he told the disciples that follow Him would not be easy?  That they might be hated for doing so? What did it mean when He said there is a narrow road that leads to life?

Ultimately the question is not HOW to follow Jesus, the question is WHY.  What did Jesus mean when He said "not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven."  Jesus said that in order to find your life you have to lose it.  That's not always an easy message to learn in our American culture.  We have everything we need (compared to everyone else on the planet). Why would we want to lose our lives to follow Jesus? Because He is the way, the truth and the life and because He is worth it.

Making this film helped us remember that our goal here at Flannel is not to try to market Christianity as something cool, easy and fun.  It's simply to tell people the way of Jesus in a beautiful powerful way.

Frankie is a new friend of mine.  He is much like me.  He thought he was following Jesus, attending church, even helping others understand the teachings of Jesus.  After watching Follow Jesus however, he had to stop and ask himself if he was truly following or if he was going through the motions.  He had to confront a habit that plagues "Christians" as much as it does others; pornography.

Do yourself a favor and watch Frankie tell us his story.