Untitled Sermon (56)

THE COST TO FOLLOW JESUS

INTRODUCTION:

WHEN YOU DETERMINE TO BECOME A DISCIPLE OF GOD,YOU MUST BE WILLING TO DIE FOR CHRIST, RATHER IT BE BY DEATH OR BY LIFE.

JESUS SAID THE FIRST DEATH THAT WE MUST FACE IS THE DEATH OF OURSELVES.

IN ORDER FOR US TO BE A DISCIPLE OF GOD WE MUST GIVE UP THE PHYSICAL AND TAKE ON THE SPIRITUAL LIFE WHICH IS AFTER CHRIST JESUS.

I LIKE TO DISCUSS WITH YOU TODAY THE COST TO FOLLOW JESUS.

YOU MUST ALLOW JESUS TO LEAD.

YOU MUST DENY YOURSELF.

YOU MUST TAKE UP YOUR CROSS DAILY.

A. YOU MUST ALLOW JESUS TO LEAD.

LUKE 9:23 “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

IN ORDER FOR US TO BE A FOLLOW OF JESUS, WE MUST FIRST HAVE A WILL TO FOLLOW HIM.

THEN WE MUST ALLOW JESUS TO LEAD US BY HIS SPIRIT OR HIS WORD.

WHEN WE LEAD OURSELVES THAT’S WHEN WE BECOME SELF CENTER AND EVERYTHING REVOLVE AROUND OURSELVES.

IT’S HARD TO FOLLOW JESUS IF YOU ARE IN HIS WAY. JESUS WILL NEVER VIOLATE YOUR WILL OR FORCE YOU TO FOLLOW HIM.

YOU MUST WANT HIM,LIKE HE WANT YOU.

TO COME AFTER HIM IS TO HAVE THE WILL TO SEEK AFTER HIM OR PURSUE HIM WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART, MIND, BODY, SOUL AND SPIRIT.

LUKE 14:26 “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”

YOU CANNOT BE A DISCIPLE OF GOD IF ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFE BECOME FIRST OVER GOD.

B. YOU MUST DENY YOURSELF.

SO YOU MIGHT ASK THE QUESTION HOW DO I DENY MYSELF?

YOU MUST GIVE UP THE RIGHT TO BE FIRST.

THEN YOU NEED TO STOP TRYING TO IMPRESS OTHER’S TO BRING ATTENTION TO YOURSELF.

THEN YOU NEED TO STOP OVER ESTIMATING YOUR VALUE . THE ONLY VALUE YOU HAVE IS IN CHRIST JESUS.

THE WAY YOU DENY YOURSELF IS PUTTING OTHERS INTEREST ABOVE YOUR OWN INTEREST.

YOU NEED TO LEARN HOW TO PUT ASIDE YOUR OWN AGENDA, FOR THE PLANS THAT GOD HAS FOR YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW.

YOU CANNOT DENY YOURSELF,IF YOU HAVE OTHER THINGS THAT TAKE PREFERENCE OVER YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.

PAUL SAID AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST:NEVERTHELESS I LIVE; YET NOT I, BUT CHRIST LIVETH IN ME; AND THE LIFE WHICH I NOW LIVE IN THE FLESH I LIVE BY THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD, WHO LOVED ME, AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME.

SELF DENIAL COME WITH BEING ABLE TO PUT THE SELF LIFE TO DEATH. IT’S NOT ALWAYS EASY IF YOU BEEN SELFISH MOST OF YOUR LIFE.

2 TIMOTHY 2:12-13 “if we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”

C. YOU MUST TAKE UP YOUR CROSS DAILY.

TO TAKE UP THE CROSS DAILY, YOU MUST BE WILLING TO SUFFER FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST AND NEVER THINK ABOUT TURNING BACK.

JESUS SAID NO MAN, HAVING PUT HIS HAND TO THE PLOUGH, AND LOOKING BACK, IS FIT FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

TO TAKE UP YOUR CROSS DAILY, YOU MUST DEMOSTRATE AN LIFE THAT IS CONSISTENT WITH GOD’S WORD.

YOU MUST BE WILLING TO DIE FOR THE COST OF CHRIST.

YOU CANNOT TAKE UP YOUR CROSS DAILY IF YOU ALLOW THINGS TO COME INTO YOUR LIVES THAT WILL HINDER YOU FROM THE TRUTH.

THE CROSS WAS CHRIST JESUS DEATH TO THE WORLD , BUT HIS LIFE UNTO GOD.

WE HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO TAKE OFF THAT OLD NATURE WHICH IS AFTER THE WORLD AND PUT ON THE NEW MAN WHICH IS AFTER GOD.

JESUS WAS WILLING TO GIVE UP HIMSELF TO PLEASE HIS FATHER AND LIKEWISE WE NEED TO BE WILLING TO GIVE UP OURSELVES FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST SO THAT WE MAY REIGN WITH HIM.

ROMANS 8:35-37 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”