Deny Yourself, Take Up Your Cross Daily

You don't drift into discipleship friends, you decide into it. The kingdom of God has never been about advancing spectatorship. It's always been advanced by his disciples who decided to carry their cross and follow Jesus. One day we will all stand before Jesus. We will. And the question will not be how much did you know? The question will not be how many church services did you attend? The question will not be were you a faithful leader in a church, although that's important. The question will be that every single one of us will be asked is did you follow me? [00:25:47] (73 seconds)  #DecideToFollow

You can follow your heart straight into sin. You can follow your heart straight into bondage and if it's left unchecked friends, you can follow your heart straight into hell. Hell is going to be filled with all kinds of people who followed their heart. And that's why Jesus didn't say, follow your heart. He said, deny yourself and follow me. If your heart was enough to lead you to life, Jesus would not have needed to go to the cross. [00:06:01] (49 seconds)  #DontFollowYourHeart

You cannot follow Jesus and follow yourself at the same time. It doesn't work. And that brings us to something else that we need to talk about today, and that is that we need to take up our cross. What does that mean? Jesus said to take up your cross daily, not once, not occasionally, but daily. The cross represents death. Galatians five twenty four. Now those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. [00:06:50] (49 seconds)  #TakeUpYourCrossDaily

Death to sin, death to pride, death to comfort, death to control. Again, the cross was never meant to be admired. It was meant to be carried. The cross will cost you your comfort, but I believe it will give you your purpose. What you refuse to lay down, my friends, will eventually be the thing that holds you back. Let me say this plainly. If faith costs you nothing, then ultimately it will produce nothing. [00:07:39] (56 seconds)  #FaithCosts

Following Jesus is not proven by what you say, it's actually proven and revealed by how you live. And that's why friends, the cost of serving Jesus Christ is real. Jesus said in Luke nine twenty four, whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it. That is a powerful statement. Following Jesus is costly, but not following him friends, costs a whole lot more. [00:09:32] (58 seconds)  #CostOfDiscipleship

But how do we know that we're truly following Jesus? How do we know? Our lives will show it. Our lives will show it not perfection, but direction. Growth, change, obedience. Two Corinthians five seventeen says, therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away and see the new has come. The new has come. [00:22:49] (51 seconds)  #LivesShowJesus

But friends, when Jesus changes our lives, their lives must show his lordship Because so many people, they've had a moment with Jesus, but not a surrender. They've had an encounter with Jesus, but no transformation. Let me say this as clearly as I can this morning, Jesus did not come to be your occasional comfort. He came to be your Lord and Savior. He came to sit on the throne of your life. And, when Jesus is king, your life will change. [00:25:02] (45 seconds)  #ChristAsLord

You can gain everything in this world. You can gain it all. You can gain everything this world offers and still lose what matters the most. A life without surrender, it might look full, but it's spiritually empty. And that's a dangerous place to be. There's a phenomenon going around. There's this sense in our culture today, and there's this thing. And we're gonna call it casual Christianity. And I wanna talk with you this morning about the dangers of it, because we must be honest. [00:10:31] (69 seconds)  #NoMoreCasualChristianity