Radical Surrender: Dethroning Self to Follow Christ

Devotional

Day 1: Deny Yourself, Take Up Your Cross, and Follow Jesus

To truly follow Jesus, we must make a radical decision to surrender our own desires, ambitions, and ways of living. This is not a suggestion but a command from Christ Himself. Taking up your cross means daily putting to death the old self—your habits, your self-indulgence, your vanity, and your selfish ambitions. Every step you take in obedience is a step away from the life you once knew and a step closer to the freedom and purpose found only in Christ. This is not about outward displays of holiness, but about an inward transformation that leads to a life fully devoted to God, no matter the cost. [11:26]

Matthew 16:24-25 (ESV)
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Reflection: What is one area of your life where you are still holding on to your own way instead of surrendering it to Jesus? What would it look like to lay it down today?

Day 2: Love the Lord with All Your Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength

God calls us to love Him with every part of our being—heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is not a half-hearted commitment or a religious act, but a wholehearted devotion that places God above every other pursuit, relationship, or possession. When you yield to this command, you find that everything else in life falls into its proper place, and God begins to bless you in ways you never imagined. Loving God fully means putting Him first in your time, your resources, your decisions, and your affections, trusting that He alone is worthy of your worship and your life. [31:01]

Mark 12:29-30 (ESV)
Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’”

Reflection: In what practical way can you show your love for God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength today?

Day 3: Love Your Neighbor as Yourself—Be Others-Focused

Loving your neighbor as yourself means shifting your focus from self-absorption to serving and caring for others. Just as you naturally care for your own needs, God calls you to look out for the needs of those around you—at home, at work, in your community, and even among strangers. This kind of love is sacrificial and often inconvenient, but it is the mark of a true disciple. When you put others before yourself, you reflect the heart of Christ and build a community where God’s love is made visible and tangible. [41:01]

Mark 12:31 (ESV)
“The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Reflection: Who is one person you can intentionally serve or encourage today, putting their needs before your own?

Day 4: Beware the Trap of Gaining the World but Losing Your Soul

There is a real danger in chasing after the things of this world—fame, possessions, social media influence, or even religious duties—at the expense of your soul. Jesus warns that nothing is worth more than your soul, and no earthly gain can compare to the eternal life He offers. If you try to hang on to your old life, your old identity, or the world’s approval, you risk losing what matters most. Instead, let go of anything that competes with your devotion to Christ, trusting that what He gives is far greater than anything you could gain on your own. [48:19]

Matthew 16:26 (ESV)
“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

Reflection: Is there something you are pursuing that could be costing you your soul or your closeness with God? What step can you take to let it go?

Day 5: He Must Increase, But I Must Decrease

The antidote to the epidemic of “me, myself, and I” is to let Jesus become greater in your life while you become less. This means daily choosing humility, surrender, and obedience, allowing Christ’s character and priorities to shape your actions and attitudes. As you decrease, making less of yourself and more of Him, you will find true fulfillment, freedom, and purpose. Let your identity be rooted in Christ alone, not in your achievements, your image, or your influence, so that His glory shines through you. [53:20]

John 3:30 (ESV)
“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Reflection: What is one practical way you can make more room for Jesus and less for yourself in your thoughts, words, or actions today?

Sermon Summary

In a world increasingly obsessed with self—where “me, myself, and I” have become the unholy trinity—God calls us to a radically different way of living. The invitation to follow Jesus is not just a one-time prayer or a ticket to heaven; it is a daily surrender, a continual laying down of our own desires, ambitions, and identities. Jesus’ words in Matthew 16 are clear: “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.” This is not a suggestion, but a command that cuts to the heart of our culture’s self-centeredness.

Personal testimony reveals the power of this transformation. The journey from a life consumed by addiction, partying, and self-indulgence to one of freedom and purpose in Christ is not accomplished by willpower or religious ritual, but by the supernatural work of Jesus. The old self must be left behind—not dragged along for the ride—if we are to experience true freedom and the fullness of God’s calling.

This surrender is not just about abstaining from obvious sins, but about dethroning self in every area: our schedules, our ambitions, our possessions, even our social media identities. Jesus warns that clinging to our own lives—our plans, our comforts, our “brands”—will ultimately lead to loss. But in giving up our lives for His sake, we find true life.

Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength is inseparable from loving our neighbor as ourselves. The evidence of a crucified self is a life that is others-focused, willing to serve, sacrifice, and step out even when it’s inconvenient or uncomfortable. The call is not to a half-hearted, religious performance, but to a wholehearted devotion that transforms both our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationships with others.

In the end, nothing in this world—no amount of success, influence, or self-fulfillment—is worth the cost of our soul. The only way to resist the epidemic of self is to daily decrease, so that Christ may increase in us. This is the path to true freedom, purpose, and eternal reward.

Key Takeaways

1. The call to follow Jesus is a radical command to surrender self. Jesus does not invite us to a comfortable, self-improving religion, but to a daily crucifixion of our own desires, ambitions, and identities. Only by giving up our own way can we truly follow Him and experience the life He offers. [05:26]
2. True transformation is not about behavior modification, but about a supernatural exchange of identities. The old self—marked by addiction, vanity, and self-indulgence—must be left behind, not dragged along. Only the power of Jesus can break the chains of the past and create a new person who desires the things of God. [12:39]
3. Surrendering to Christ means dethroning self in every area, including our time, money, and even our social media presence. Clinging to our own plans, comforts, or platforms will ultimately lead to emptiness and loss. When we lay everything down, God is able to entrust us with blessings that align with His purpose for our lives. [35:22]
4. Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength is inseparable from loving our neighbor as ourselves. Genuine devotion to God will always manifest in sacrificial, others-focused living. Our love for God is proven not just in private worship, but in practical service and compassion toward others, even when it costs us. [41:01]
5. The epidemic of “me, myself, and I” is the greatest threat to spiritual vitality. The world’s message of self-fulfillment and self-promotion—even when dressed in religious language—leads to spiritual emptiness. The only antidote is daily dying to self, so that Christ may increase and our lives may bear eternal fruit. [53:20]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:45] - Spontaneous Praise and Names of God
[02:30] - Summer Struggles and Holy Ghost Injection
[04:30] - The Epidemic of Me, Myself, and I
[05:26] - Our True Purpose: To Know and Make Jesus Known
[08:00] - The Radical Call of Matthew 16
[11:26] - Personal Testimony: From Addiction to Freedom
[21:38] - The Cost of Discipleship: Laying Down Our Way
[27:35] - Letting Go of the Old Self
[29:30] - The Greatest Commandment: God Alone
[31:01] - True Worship vs. Religious Ritual
[35:22] - Surrendering Possessions and Ambitions
[38:01] - Loving God and Neighbor in Action
[41:01] - What It Means to Love Your Neighbor
[45:53] - Obedience vs. Love: The Next Steps
[47:24] - The Danger of Clinging to the Old Life
[48:45] - Social Media and the Idolatry of Self
[51:51] - The World’s Gospel vs. Christ’s Call
[53:20] - He Must Increase, I Must Decrease

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Matthew 16:24-26 — Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”

- Mark 12:29-31
Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

- John 3:30
“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Observation Questions

According to Matthew 16:24, what are the three things Jesus says are required to be His follower?
In the sermon, what are some specific examples the pastor gave of “giving up your own way” when she first decided to follow Jesus? [12:39]
In Mark 12:30-31, what does Jesus say is inseparable from loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength?
What does Jesus warn will happen if we try to “hang on” to our own lives, according to Matthew 16:25?

Interpretation Questions

The pastor described the “unholy trinity” of me, myself, and I. Why is this mindset so dangerous for a follower of Jesus? [04:30]
The sermon emphasized that surrendering to Christ is not just about giving up obvious sins, but “dethroning self in every area.” What might this look like in everyday life? [35:22]
How does loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength naturally lead to loving your neighbor as yourself? Why can’t these be separated? [41:01]
The pastor shared her personal story of transformation. What role did supernatural change play, as opposed to just willpower or religious ritual? [12:39]

Application Questions

The pastor talked about laying down her old life, including habits, relationships, and even her social media identity. Is there something in your life—maybe a habit, relationship, or area of pride—that God might be asking you to lay down? What would it look like to surrender that to Him? [49:16]
Jesus says, “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it.” Are there areas where you are still “clinging” to your own plans, comfort, or reputation? What is one step you could take this week to let go and trust God more? [25:00]
The sermon challenged us to be “others-focused” and not just serve when it’s convenient. Can you think of a recent situation where you chose comfort over serving someone else? How could you respond differently next time? [44:09]
The pastor mentioned that loving God with everything will always show up in how we treat others. Who is one “neighbor” (not family) you could show practical love to this week, even if it’s inconvenient? [41:01]
Social media was described as a potential idol. How do you use your online presence? Is it more about promoting yourself, or could it be surrendered to God’s purposes? What is one change you could make in your social media habits this week? [48:45]
The pastor said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” What is one area of your life where you need to “decrease” so that Christ can “increase”? How will you remind yourself to do this daily? [53:20]
The sermon warned against a “half-hearted, religious performance.” Are there any areas where your faith has become more about routine than real relationship? What would it look like to move toward wholehearted devotion? [31:01]

Sermon Clips

If you came today I promise you when you leave you're going to be blessed, you're going to be emboldened in the Holy Ghost today, you're going to get a Holy Ghost injection. Who needs a Holy Ghost injection today? You're going to get injected with the word of the living God. Amen. That's the best kind of injection I know of. Amen. Better than any COVID uh injection, better than any flu injection, we got a Holy Holy Ghost injection coming. Hallelujah. [00:04:04]

How many of you know church that we are living in a generation that is being plagued with three of the most dangerous individuals on the planet and they are me, everybody say myself, and I. And I don't know about you guys but I am officially a little traumatized because what I used to think, I used to think that the plague of self only affected the lost, the world in Hollywood, but now I'm afraid to admit that this holy trinity of the father son and the holy spirit is being exchanged for the unholy trinity of me myself and I. [00:04:47]

If you ever wonder why we are here, we are here for one purpose. He created us in his image and we're here, we're not here to do our own thing even though that's what general the general population thinks that we're all here for ourselves but that is further, that can't be further from the truth. We're not here for ourselves, we're here for one reason and that's to receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, to know him and to make him known so that when he returns we all have and we all know where we are going, we have our heavenly home, our eternal home, hallelujah, and that's in heaven together. [00:07:58]

So the cross was a means of death. Oh pastor, you're saying that I have to die, you're saying, well I mean yes sure you have to give up your life but when you take up this cross I want you to imagine Jesus and those that were condemned had to take up their cross and they started walking to their execution. Every step was like walking, walking down death row. That's the last thing they were ever going to do is walk down because they were going to be executed. What do we do when we take up our cross? Every step we take we're executing the flesh, we're executing our way, we're executing our carnal nature, we're putting it down. How many know because it gets in the way of us surrendering fully to Christ. [00:10:05]

Jesus said, look, if you're sincere about following me, if you're sincere about being my disciple, if you really love me, and if you really made this declaration and received me as your savior, then you're going to take up your cross and follow me. [00:10:58]

If you want to be a follower of Christ, that's the attitude that that comes with being a Christian. It's not a teeth out, I receive Jesus and hallelujah and I'm good and then I do my, my hallelujah in church and that's it and I put some money in the bucket and that's it, those are my duties. How many you know that I'm fixing to get to that in a minute, then it becomes religion. Amen. [00:25:10]

Me, myself, and I is not our Lord. Amen. We need to put me, myself, and I under the power of God. We can only do it if we're saved. We can only do it if we have Jesus in our lives and if we've accepted him as our Lord and Savior. We put the flesh under submission because the most important person, the number one, there's no other God. There's no other way. [00:30:23]

Jesus is a relationship, not an act, not a religious act, not a religious ceremony. How many know this right here is a, a religious ceremony that is good? Giving money is a religious ceremony that is good because it helps the kingdom of God. It helps us preach the gospel. People get saved and then we get to go out and do things for the Lord and reach the lost. [00:31:21]

If we just yield to the must then we won't have to go back to the dust, right? If we yield to the must we don't have to go back to the rust, earthly things rust don't they? If we yield to the must then we don't have to go back to our lust. Amen. [00:33:49]

And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. That means everything. I talked about it last week, it's not halfway, it's not a quarter of the way in, just put my toe in, just gonna just kind of, no, all the way. I promise you it's a good life, you'll never regret it and everything that you've done in the past will pale in comparison. [00:34:15]

Some people are hanging on to their money so hard that you hang on to your money. You hang on to all your possessions and all your materialism and all your me and your vanity and my selfish ambition and me and my promotions. You hang on to all that, you're going to lose it. Can't hang on all that too tight. [00:35:22]

You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. And he shared that with the people there. And let me tell you, when he got to that outreach, he was helping the other ministry as if he was working with them. Like he was doing their cables. And what I loved, and he doesn't know I was observing something because it just took me. It just kind of like, I was like, wow, Lord. He was walking around, and he was with all of us, right? We were passing out. We were fixing to pass out snacks. But he was trying to help the man, the ministry that we partnered with. [00:38:46]

The second is equally important. Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these. You want to talk about putting me, myself, and I under, even in his physical situation that he was in. But he was up there. And I'm sorry. and he was sharing that scripture, and he was helping, and you would have just thought when he was sharing even that he had shared scriptures many times or many sermons many times in an outreach, and I just want to take time to just praise Brother Dale in front of the body of Christ because that was a big thing. [00:40:19]

So we love our neighbor. Do we love our neighbor like that? See, Brother Dale and Sister Teresa were out there. He had just had surgery a week and a few days before, but he's out there. I was kind of concerned because he was moving like if he had never had surgery. It was kind of scary to me. And I said, me, myself, and I, hey, I had surgery, but, and I'm not saying that everybody is going to be like Brother Dale. I mean, he's from Mars. Brother Dale is from Mars. I'm not saying everybody's going to be like that. I'm not saying that you have to be like that. [00:42:53]

In other words, being others-focused. Others-focused. I'm not saying these are the only two. I'm just, the spotlight's over here. These are others-focused. That's why they're leaders. They're others-focused. Sister Isabel. I said it because of the leaders. Sister Isabel and Brother Jesse. Others-focused. Devoted to the death. Devoted to the death. I'm being serious. That's how these people are. And that's why they're the leaders, because they've laid their lives down. [00:44:13]

When you love God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul, it's going to show horizontally. It's going to show this way. It's this way, and it's going to show this way. Amen. A lot of people want to stay this way, and nothing happens this way. You've got to check where your love is. Because how many know you can be obedient? You can be obedient and not show love. [00:45:33]

If you try to hang on to your life. In other words, if you try to cling to your life. It says here, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And it goes on to verse 26. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world, but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? [00:47:54]

If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. [00:47:57]

You want to get people upset? Talk about the social media. Why? Because it has to do with me, myself, and I. You want to get people to leave Jesus Christ and leave the church? Talk about the social media. We talk to other pastors that say, you talk about social media to the body of Christ, and they get offended. Why? Because their social media has become a God. Their social media platforms, profiles have become a God to them. [00:48:42]

My social media belongs to the Lord. Why? Because my identity is in God, not in the social media. We get wrapped up too much in what the world is saying. [00:49:44]

You and me, myself and I is the problem. We need to die to ourselves daily. The Bible says in John 3 and 30, He must increase. But I must. Everybody here. He must increase. But I first must decrease. [00:53:20]

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