The Price Of Power

Today’s message is designed to challenge each and every one of us that follow Jesus Christ!

My prayer is that at the end of this message you will ask yourself this question Am I ready to pay the price?

Matthew 16:24 NKJV

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

Confession of Faith

I am not moved by what I see or by what I feel. I am moved by what I believe. I believe the WORD of God! The victory is mine! I have it now! I can see it through the eyes of my faith!

The Law Of Exchange

Everyone needs power. Every willing person has the Master's promise of power. But not everyone possess the power.

Some will never have the promised power.

Some of us will look back at the close of life with a sense of disappointment and of bitter defeat.

And the reason is not far to see, or hard to see through.

If we do not have power it is because we are not willing to pay the price.

Everything costs.

There is a law of exchange that rules in every sphere of life.

It is this, "to get, you must give."

If you want a house you have to pay what the house cost

If you want a college degree You must put in the disciplined hard work, study, tuition fee’s - t pass the courses required to graduate with the degree.

The same is true in the spirit realm. If you want to have power over sin and selfishness, fleshly passion, and appetites; power over your tongue, and temper, power over self-seeking ambition; power in prayer, and power in winning others Jesus Christ, you must pay the price.

The Price Of Power

Matthew 16:20–22 NKJV

20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. 21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. 22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”

They were not ready!

1. They still needed more preparation. They did not yet know the full gospel. The death and resurrection of Jesus, the very core of the gospel, had not yet taken place. He told them not to tell anyone that he was Jesus Christ the Messiah or Anointed One!

You have got to be ready to pay for the Price Off Power!

Matthew 16:21 NLT

21 From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.

Jesus was ready to pay the price for Power and he knew that suffering is part of the price!

He had to get his disciples ready! The bible says from then on Jesus told his disciples plainly!

This was a new stage in the revelation of God's plan for the world!

God's Son was to die and be raised again for the sins of the world.

God's plan for saving the world was to take place through a suffering Messiah, not a conquering Messiah.

Jesus was not going to deliver a materialistic world into the hands of His followers.

God's Messiah was going to die, and through death He was going to usher in the Kingdom of God and make it possible for His followers to live eternally in the very presence of God Himself

Peter

Matthew 16:22 NKJV

22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”

Jesus was talking about suffering and dying.

I don’t like to hear that - you don’t like to hear folks we care about suffering and dying! The conversation of death and dying does something to my flesh! My flesh rebels against death and dying - that’s why many of us cannot deal with the Cross! We want another way to get the power other than dying! This is what happened to Peter This is what Peter was doing: rebelling against the idea that Jesus Christ, God's Son was to die, that His blood had to be shed for the sins of the world I understand Peter.

But Jesus had to deal with Peter’s flesh

Matthew 16:23 NKJV

23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

Matthew 16:23 NLT

23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Some of us who are not ready to pay the price for power, become a dangerous trap! The only see things from their human perspective - not what God is doing!

The Disciples

Matthew 16:24 NKJV

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

The Price Of Power means you must willing follow Jesus! This is not mob mentality - this is a conscious deliberate choice to follow Jesus! Because Jesus is all in! He is totally committed! He already said he had to suffer, then he was going to die, but that he would rise again!

All In

If you are all in - you must deny self. The word "deny" means to disown, disregard, forsake, renounce, reject, refuse, restrain, disclaim, do without. It means to subdue, to disregard one's self and one's interest.

Simply, it means to say "no."

The call is not to say "no" to some behavior or thing, but to self.

The Price Of Power

Matthew 16:25–26 NKJV

25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

When we are all in and lose our life for Christ—sacrifices and gives all you are and has for the cause of Christ - Saves his life, and he saves it eternally.

The call of Christ is just what He says: it’s a life of denial that takes up the cross and follows in His steps.

Commitment

Matthew 16:27 NIV

27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

The Price Of Power

The standard is to come after Jesus!

Not to be regarded as a pillar in the church, a leader in religious circles, a good Bible student, a generous giver, an earnest speaker, an energetic worker, a spiritually minded person, but, to walk in the footprints of Jesus

The Fork In The Road

I bring us up to this dividing, and therefore deciding, point.

Let each choose our own road deliberately, prayerfully, with open eyes.

This road to the left is about yielding to self; saying "yes" to the desires and demands of self; with some modifications possibly, here and there.,

Yes to Jesus sometimes, but not at other times, or when it suits my circumstances and desires better to do otherwise-well,

That means a decided yes to self, with no to Jesus' by implication!

This right-hand road knows only one law. No exceptions.

Yes to Jesus, everywhere, always, regardless of consequences, though it may entail loss of friendships, or money, or position, or social standing, or personal preference, or radical change of plans, or, what not. Yes To Jesus!

Matthew 28:18–20 NLT

18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Next Steps:

Read Old Testament :

1st & 2nd Kings

New Testament :

1st & 2nd Thessalonians