Carry Our Cross Daily

“Pick Up Your Cross”

Welcome everyone to Sovereign Heights Church online service

I am pastor Joseph

and i am super blessed to have you join us for these weeks service

We are continuing on this week in Our Luke series and we will continue through chapter 9 where we find our selves in verses 21-27

This is going to be a powerful passage today = one where we will learn what it means to be a true follower of Christ

If you can stand with me as we read todays passage

Luke 9:21–27 ESV

And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

This is the word of God

Lets Pray

So, we see here some powerful statements being made.

Talk on the power of the verses we just read

Today is and is not a message about the cross, what it is not is a theological in depth preaching on jesus’ cross,

rather an in depth teaching on our cross more specifically, and not one of a literal term, thank you jesus (elaborate on that a bit) but of a symbolic cross.

we have three point we want to talk about here today = if your taking note be ready, i will point them out

lets dive right in

Luke 9:21–22 ESV

And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

so here we see Jesus giving instruction, and rather an order, to not tell anyone that he is the messiah. Jesus just revealed it to his 12 disciples, however, the time is still not now for the rest of the people to know, why?

Jesus knew they were not ready for the messiah = to the people the messiah was supposed to be a conquerning king, so for them to know jesus is the messiah could have had them followiung him for all the wrong reasons

There were still things needing to be fulfilled, Jesus still needed to suffer, and he still had to be rejected by the elders - they decided issues of religious and civil law and a group of them was included in the Jewish Council (Sanhedrin). Chief priests - not just the ruling high priest but all those who formerly held the title and some of their family members; and the scribes - also called teachers of the law, who were the legal experts. All three groups made up the Jewish supreme court that would sentence Jesus to die.

Now for some peoples life story that would be the end, “…and be killed,”. However, for jesus it was really the beginning. he added that on the third day he will be raised. All this was prophesy being fulfilled and by jesus telling his disciples this he was letting them now that when they see this happen they would truly know he was the messiah, and not worry when this finally did happen.

The son of man, as Daniel prophesied, would return and conquer and bring all his followers with him to that final victory, but things needed to happen for that to happen and Jesus was letting his followers now what that exactly was

That leads us to our first point

Point 1 - The Weight of the Cross

Luke 9:23 ESV

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

This message again is not about Jesus’ cross, this is about our cross, so what does this look like

well i believe to first understand this verse we must understand what the weight of the cross was so to speak.

The actual act of crucifixion was started back in about 300-400 B.C. By the Persians.

this form of punishment was reserved for traitors, slaves, revolutionists, and the harshest of criminals

The term Cross comes from the greek word σταυρός (Stauros) this is the root word from which the english word cross comes from.

now i want to read to you the detailed description of what actually happens to the human body on the cross

you see first off the punishment of crucifixion starts with the person being flogged/whipped. so there body is already beaten up.

now they must walk with their cross to the place where the crucifixion would take place usually up on a hill top so all may see

once at the location the punishment begins. first they are nailed to the cross (Stavros) through their hands. Greek word for hands includes the wrist, which is most likly where jesus was nailed.

due to the fact that it would have ripped out of the soft tissue around the hand.

placed in the wrist, the bones in the lower portion of the hand support the weight of the arms and the body remains nailed to the cross.

The huge nail (seven to nine inches long)2damages or severs the major nerve to the hand (the median nerve) upon impact. This causes continuous agonizing pain up both of Jesus’ arms.

Once the victim is secured, the guards lift the patibulum and place it on the stipes already in the ground. As it is lifted, Jesus’ full weight pulls down on His nailed wrists and His shoulders and elbows dislocate (Psalm 22:14).3 In this position, Jesus’ arms stretch to a minimum of six inches longer than their original length.

It is highly likely that Jesus’ feet were nailed through the tops as often pictured. In this position (with the knees flexed at approximately 90 degrees),4 the weight of the body pushes down on the nails and the ankles support the weight. The nails would not rip through the soft tissue as would have occurred with the hands. Again, the nail would cause severe nerve damage (it severs the dorsal pedal artery of the foot) and acute pain.

Normally, to breathe in, the diaphragm (the large muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity) must move down. This enlarges the chest cavity and air automatically moves into the lungs (inhalation). To exhale, the diaphragm rises up, which compresses the air in the lungs and forces the air out (exhalation). As Jesus hangs on the cross, the weight of His body pulls down on the diaphragm and the air moves into His lungs and remains there. Jesus must push up on His nailed feet (causing more pain) to exhale.

In order to speak, air must pass over the vocal cords during exhalation. The Gospels note that Jesus spoke seven times from the cross. It is amazing that despite His pain, He pushes up to say “Forgive them” (Luke 23:34).

The difficulty surrounding exhalation leads to a slow form of suffocation. Carbon dioxide builds up in the blood, resulting in a high level of carbonic acid in the blood. The body responds instinctively, triggering the desire to breathe. At the same time, the heart beats faster to circulate available oxygen. The decreased oxygen (due to the difficulty in exhaling) causes damage to the tissues and the capillaries begin leaking watery fluid from the blood into the tissues. This results in a build-up of fluid around the heart (pericardial effusion) and lungs (pleural effusion). The collapsing lungs, failing heart, dehydration, and the inability to get sufficient oxygen to the tissues essentially suffocate the victim.5 The decreased oxygen also damages the heart itself (myocardial infarction) which leads to cardiac arrest. In severe cases of cardiac stress, the heart can even burst, a process known as cardiac rupture.6 Jesus most likely died of a heart attack.

Now do you understand the weight of the cross…?

Talk about this....cross = necklaces, pictures, decoration…= do you know the weight of the cross???

Now im not one of these pastors that will condemn you for having crosses cause well there is something beautiful that came from Jesus’ cross,

freedom, victory, hope, salvation

but we must understand the true weight of what jesus is telling us here… Lk 9.23 “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Preach on this...

This is just the surface level here = understanding what it really means to follow him...

These leads me to my second point

Point 2 - The Way of the Cross

You see for us to actually understand what it means to pick up our cross and follow him leads us to understand that it is not something pretty, its not beautiful, at least on the surface, it is costly and hard, but it is worth it...

preach it please

so what is the way of the cross, looking at it deeper what does it mean?

Luke 9:24–26 ESV

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

This is the way…sounds like star wars right...

Sounds like Yoda…but look this is calling for a lethal devotion to christ…We must be willing to lay it all down for him, and when?? not on sundays, not on christmas, easter, pot bless, uh oh

Not just when we need something from Jesus, no daily.

There is a saying, at least i think, but it goes like this…how do you know what someone really values, see what they are willing to die for…something like that, but the point?

Speak on loving our life here on earth so much we would die for it, but then jesus says what good is it to gain this whole world but lose your soul in the process?? thats talking eternal life yall....

Preach...

Being ashamed of him Rm 1.16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

which leads me to my third point and this is my conclusion so everyone stand please

Point 3 - The Cross

Preach

If you are going to take all the good the bible has to offer, if your going to take all the riches and rewards, then you better be ready to take all that comes with following christ

Preach it...

Holy Spirit Take Over....