LOSING YOURSELF

Mark 8:35 (NLT)

35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.

Wow, can this verse carry a lot of different meanings to a lot of different people, but quite literally Jesus said it for one reason.

His focus was to lose His life for the salvation of mankind, and for those who follow Him to lose their lives for the spreading of that Gospel message!

How do we really respond to these WORDS OF CHRIST?

They were not only a response to what He was about to do, but what He expected from His followers!

There are some passages of Scripture we actually choke on. lol - This is one of them.

When Jesus was talking to His disciples about not only His future, but theirs as well, HE was bringing them to a point of GREAT FAITH, GREAT TRUST in HIS WORD, HIS KINGDOM, HIS TEACHING!

My life verse has always been:

Proverbs 3:5–6 NLT

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

We are funny about life verses - we love the positive words in them, but often want to ignore the harder words that compromise them as well...

We like the guidance this Scripture promises, but do we realize it comes with a command to TRUST WITH ALL OF OUR BEING! This word in the Hebrew means our inner most parts, inner being!

From the depths of who we are!

This past summer I was releasing myself to trust the LORD for direction. Kimberly and I were sensing a shift in our spirits, but struggled because we love our church, jobs, life here in CO, but were sensing change… we did not want to shift in our own will or idea...

1.Thinking of Myself Less

While praying the Lord laid on my heart the definition of humility...

Not thinking less of yourself

Thinking of yourself less...

Honestly, I told the Lord if He wanted to shift us I wanted to be near my kids, have a promotion in ministry, and sought in reality my own comfort.

Honestly, aren’t we all like that???

Psalm 25:9–10 ESV

9 He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. 10 All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

The Lord spoke this principle into my heart ---

THINK OF YOURSELF LESS!

I had been battling in prayer, and the Lord grabbed hold of Americanized heart and will and said - do you trust me enough to get yourself out of the way for what I want to do in your life???

He was preparing to call me to

serve people, national pastors, and the lost and

to move away from my family not closer, to be a servant not a leader, and

to let go of security and income not gain more!

None of this was possible without thinking of myself less ---

To HUMBLE MYSELF by putting others first even as He did

Philippians 2:4–8 NLT

4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Jesus LOST HIMSELF - trusting in the Father’s plan and will and the Father’s understanding when He went to the cross,

Rob, Kimberly, are you willing to do the same?

Meanwhile, Kimberly was saying I think the Lord is drawing us into a new season, and we are going to sacrifice to enter it.

I did not know it at the time, but the them of European missions is the willingness to LOSE YOURSELF, YOUR AMBITIONS, YOUR RIGHTS, YOUR COMFORTS to take Jesus to those lost without Him.

2. Think of Where the Lord Needs Me

When we lose ourselves we begin asking the Lord - where do you need me? Not where can I be comfortable.

I am comfortable where I am! IN fact the Lord had to make us uncomfortable here so we would listen to HIS DIRECTION!!!

During prayer again, almost audibly I heard the Lord say - TRAIN PASTORS...

There is a lot of baggage to unpack here… I felt called to train people for ministry, not an education, but to do the work of ministry, in EUROPE when I was 17 years old and a freshmen in college - this is BK

Before Kimberly

She also felt a call to be a missionary to Europe before she met me ---

We had just not been released in season to do so...

A decade ago we applied and were approved but the season was not right for us, and at that time we let go of the thought of ever going -

we have grown kids

grandkids are coming

too settled into American life

this was a shut door

Until the Lord said TRAIN PASTORS...

I thought maybe I could work with an organziation and live comfortably in the states and travel out to other places to do training…

I was almost right!

I would be traveling to train pastors...

I called friends and leaders at the top of our movement searching for a door - the Lord had spoken TRAIN PASTORS --

Kimberly had been asking me what was at the core of my heart - this was actually it.

Everyone said call AGWM and talk to someone - I was hesitant, i sat on that for a week or two - when I finally called and in the process of being transferred I was disconnected, and i SIGHED A BIG RELIEF...

Until two days later the European Regional Director called me...

My questions went to NEED immediately

WHy do they need teacher and trainers in Europe - the AG has national districts there...

Then the reality of the unevangelized world of Europe unfolded … something i have known for years that has just gotten worse...

The reality is that less than 2 people in a 100, not even 3 people in 200 or 4 people in 300 know Jesus as their Savior. are born again. have a relationship with Jesus.

Theologians in Europe are so liberal - God is still dead to them! There is no sin! Catholocism is despised and people are burned on religion...

Yet amongst those 1.3% born agains - there is a desire to reach their people groups - in Belgium the Flemish (dutch speaking) and the Walloonians - French speaking which make up the majority of the country, identify as Catholic but will barely frequent a church 6 times over their entire life, and even then not hear the Gospel.

This story repeats itself throughout European nations, with more Christians among immigrant groups than in the indigenous European people groups. They have been secularized, they killed God, God is dead, but inside they miss Him, but have no one to lead them to Him.

The Lord said - I NEED YOU HEAR! Will you TRUST ME? Will you LOSE YOURSELF for me?

ANd Kimberly and I joined together and said yes.

Yes we will sell the most beautiful home we have owned and loved

Yes we will leave our church, the pastors we lead in NOCO, our friends

Yes, we will move away from our kids and the grandkids who will come

Yes, we will lower our income by almost 70% from what the two of us combined earned

Yes, we will go to a new land, culture, rainy weather and gray skies...

We will TRUST YOUR PLAN for our lives and not our OWN PLANS and UNDERSTANDING…

Can I say the last 30 days have been some of the hardest days of our lives. Letting go when the rubber hits the road has pain...

Watching many of you hurt - has pain!

Overwhelmed by the many requirements in eating this massive ELEPHANT - one bite at a time and choking on the unpleasant/tough parts!

Mark 8:35 NLT

35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.

3. Think of Gaining Life

What?

He said if you lose your life for my sake and the sake of the Gospel --- not being ashamed to proclaim and follow Christ and make His message known...

You will find it!

It comes down to the ultimate in trust...

PLEASE UNDERSTAND I AM NOT SAYING MY FAITH IS GREATER THAN ANYONE ELSES FAITH.... I AM TESTIFYING OF MY JOURNEY

I have been tempted to get off this road a couple of times in moments of weakness and fear!

That is when I remind myself that Jesus said - I GOT THIS!

When I have to leave my kids - I got this

When I have to raise my own income - I got this

When I have to live on so much less - I got this

When I have to leave my comfort - I got this

When I cannot see the pat - I got this!

You see when we trust in the Lord with all of our heart and don’t lean on our own understanding - that is when God’s GOT THIS the MOST.

He will do what is right for my kids, my needs, my hopes and desires, because they are all YIELDED TO HIM!

I no longer have to CONTROL THE NARRATIVE, I have to TRUST HIM TO BE IN CONTROL OF THE NARRATIVE!

Isn’t this the essence of our Christian faith???

To grow in our faith in complete surrender to the will of God?

To esteem others higher than ourselves? Like Jesus did

To lose ourselves for the Kingdom of God

Maybe the world has become so lost because the church has become so caught up in justifying ourselves in NOT LOSING OURSELVES!

I pray this morning that Kimberly Rocca and Rob Rocca’s lives will be a living SERMON to DESTINY CHURCH what

SURRENDER

TRUST

and REWARD in the KINGDOM is all about!!!

CONCLUSION

The Lord calls all of us to

TRUST IN HIM WITH ALL OUR HEARTS and stop leaning on our own understanding (the excuses we make to obeying the Lord, serving the Lord, ministering for the Lord are all our own understanding - He calls us to trust)

HUMBLE Ourselves by thinking less of ourselves - esteeming others more than ourselves --- in the church, in the community, etc.

LOSE OURSELVES to HIS PLANS for HIS GLORY and KINGDOM so others will be saved...

We do this through our faithfulness to the church

Through going where we can go - maybe it is not across the world, but it is across the street or into the community

We do this by praying for those who are going

We do this by sending those who are going and supporting the local and extended work of the Kingdom of God...

Losing ourselves might be losing a StARBUCKS A WEEK so we can give (one Starbukcs a week is about $28 a month now, or a losing watching a football game to serve at church or prepare for a ministry, or letting go of a hobby to show up to church and be there to pray with someone else and encourage others in the body of Christ.

What is God saying to lose?

How is he calling you to humble yourselves for another person?

Where does He want you to trust what you don’t understand?