Follow to Become: Recognizing the Pattern God Places Before You
This Wednesday, April 22, 2026, during the 7 to 9 service at ICC Montreal, Pastor Kevin ANGO asked a simple question: what does it mean to "follow Jesus"? His answer moves through Matthew 4:19, Paul's call on the road to Damascus, and the invitation of 1 Corinthians 11:1. Following is not inventing a new path. It is recognizing the pattern God has already placed before you, aligning yourself with it, and becoming what he intended.
Outline of the Teaching
1. The God You Follow Is Intentional
The pastor opens with Romans 8:29-30: God foreknew, predestined, called, justified, glorified. "Foreknew" translates the Hebrew verb yada, the same word used for "Adam knew Eve." An intimacy. We were in him before being drawn out of him.
This God has established a divine order. The earth never breaks down. You never hear on the news, "breaking news, technical failure in heaven, the earth will not turn today." God put laws in place so that what he created would function according to what he intended.
Kevin ANGO points to the sheer scale of it: scientists have counted between 100 and 200 billion galaxies, and recent studies speak of at least 2,000 billion. There are more galaxies than there are humans. The God who holds the universe in the palm of his hand is the same one who, in Christ, emptied himself to come all the way to you.
2. "The Lord Has Made Everything for a Purpose"
Nothing is random. You do not exist by chance. God is intentional, and that intentionality applies to your life too. You were made to manifest something specific.
3. "Follow Me, and I Will Make You Become" (Matthew 4:19)
When Jesus calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John, they are not idle. They already have an occupation: they are following the family fishing business. Jesus does not ask them to stop following something, he changes who they follow.
That is true for you too. You are already following something: a career, a way of thinking, a culture, an institution. Christ's call is not "stop following anything." It is "follow me, and I will make you what I already intended you to be."
4. "Go, and You Will Be Told What to Do" (Acts 9)
On the road to Damascus, Paul asks two questions: "Who are you, Lord?" and "What must I do?" Jesus does not answer the second one directly. He says: go into Damascus, and you will be told.
That "you will be told" points to Ananias. A model already existed. A person already visited, already trained, already following someone. Paul, a former student of Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, had to come down a notch, submit, listen. The pastor puts it plainly: refusing to follow is pride.
5. Following Means Reproducing a Pattern
Kevin ANGO uses the example of Kylian Mbappe. At twelve or thirteen years old, the player already had Cristiano Ronaldo as his model. When he is introduced at Real Madrid, the way he walks, the way he steps onto the pitch, his first words, reproduce Ronaldo's, trait for trait. The world calls that an idol. The Bible calls it a pattern.
Because we cannot see God, he reproduces himself in people. He embodies his values (love, diligence, hospitality, excellence) in spiritual fathers and mothers so that we can see them at work and imitate them.
6. "Be Imitators of Me, as I Am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1)
Paul can write this because he himself followed. He planted more than twenty churches, wrote a large part of the New Testament, but all of it began with submission to a pattern. We function by reproduction.
Following is not only about acknowledging something verbally. It is about applying it. It is about catching the vision, the way of operating, the way of doing things that belongs to the person you follow. That is how you become.
7. The Battle of Convictions
Going to Damascus is one thing. Accepting what you will be told once you get there is harder. What you will be told will contradict your personal convictions, will confront what you have built.
Paul had been trained in the law. That knowledge did not stop him from going to learn, from coming down a notch, from submitting. Jesus said in Matthew 15:6, "your traditions nullify the word of God." Our personal cultures and habits will keep winning out as long as we do not let the Holy Spirit do his work.
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near" (Matthew 4:17): biblical repentance is a change in your whole way of thinking. Without that change, you will struggle to live out the promises of the kingdom.
8. A Testimony: Arriving in a New System
The pastor tells of his arrival in France from Brazzaville. He already spoke French, but at university, the classes moved too fast. His way of working, his culture, his habits did not fit the place. He failed his first year. He had to adjust.
That is exactly what God asks of you. Your old way of operating does not fit the kingdom. You have to learn the system of the house.
9. We Are in the Season of Discipleship
The fathers of the house have declared a five-year season of discipleship. It is a season. When it is grape season, you find grapes everywhere, at an affordable price, and you do not have to force it. There is a wave to surf.
That does not mean zero effort. It means the anointing is here, the word is being released, people are being prepared. Your role: synchronize your personal plans with God's plan, do not stay home, go out and make disciples.
10. Recognize the Graces Along Your Path
Kevin ANGO closes with a testimony about discovering ICC: a persistent brother, a welcome that marked him, a vigorous and profound sermon, a church that trains couples for marriage and walks alongside people. "I told myself: this church, this will be my church."
The people God places in front of you are graces. Failing to recognize them means missing a calling. It means driving off the road.
Key Takeaways
- God is intentional. Nothing you experience is random. He made you for a specific purpose.
- Following means changing the object of your following. You are already following something; Christ's call is to follow him.
- A pattern already exists. God does not ask you to invent one, but to recognize and imitate those who follow Christ.
- Refusing to follow is pride. The disciple's humility is submitting to someone greater than yourself.
- The season of discipleship is open. Now is the time to surf the wave and go out to make disciples.
Personal Application
- Who are you really following today: a career, an opinion, an influencer, a family tradition, or Christ?
- What concrete models has God placed in front of you in your local church that you can start imitating this week?
- Is there a personal conviction, a cultural habit, that you refuse to let go of even though the word is asking you to tear it down?
- How will you synchronize your personal plans with God's plan for this season of discipleship?
- Which of the spiritual fathers and mothers the Lord has placed on your path will you thank this week, and for whom will you pray?
Scriptures Cited
- Romans 8:29-30 · "Those he foreknew he also predestined..."
- Proverbs 16:4 · "The Lord has made everything for its purpose."
- Matthew 4:17-19 · "Repent... Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
- Acts 9 · Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus.
- 1 Corinthians 11:1 · "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ."
- Matthew 15:6 · "Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition."
- Ephesians 6:2-3 · "Honor your father and mother... so that it may go well with you and you may live long."
FAQ
Doesn't following a spiritual father put a man in God's place?
No. Paul states it clearly: "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1). The spiritual father does not replace Christ, he points to Christ. You are following someone who follows Jesus. If that model were ever to stray from Christ, your allegiance goes to Christ first.
Why doesn't Jesus answer Paul directly on the road to Damascus?
Because God had already established a pattern (Ananias), and he wants to teach Paul the humility of a disciple. "Go, and you will be told" is an invitation to submit to what God has already put in place, rather than waiting for a spectacular revelation on your own.
What does "the season of discipleship" concretely mean?
It is a period declared by the fathers of the house during which the church's focus, anointing, and resources are mobilized to train disciples, so that everyone in turn becomes a disciple who makes disciples. It is a time to get involved, not to stay a spectator.
Conclusion
Follow to become: that phrase holds the whole teaching. You will not become what God intended by inventing your own path. You will become it by following Christ, and by imitating those Christ has placed in front of you. In this season of discipleship, the wave is here. It is up to you to surf it.
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