- Good morning, Silverdale.
Good morning those of
you joining us online.
It's gonna be a great day, welcome.
Would you guys stand with us?
I love this song we're about to sing.
It's called Hallelujah for the Cross.
And I love that it just reminds us that
without Jesus, we are nothing.
We are nothing without Him.
He's given us everything.
So let's just praise Him for His goodness
And for His faithfulness this morning.
Sing this out.
♪ I would be hopeless
without your goodness. ♪
♪ I would be desperate without your love ♪
♪ Slave to the darkness ♪
♪ If it wasn't for the cross ♪
That's right.
♪ You have won me with your kindness ♪
♪ Chased me down when I was lost ♪
♪ Where would I be ♪
♪ If it wasn't for the cross ♪
Sing hallelujah
♪ Hallelujah ♪
♪ Thank you Jesus ♪
♪ I was a prisoner now I'm not ♪
♪ And with your blood you ♪
♪ You bought my freedom ♪
♪ Hallelujah for the cross ♪
(upbeat music)
♪ All you've done for us ♪
♪ All my shame was met with mercy ♪
Yes
♪ And now your mercy will be my song ♪
♪ And oh the glory ♪
♪ Oh the power of the cross ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Hallelujah thank you Jesus ♪
♪ I was a prisoner now I'm not ♪
♪ And with your blood you, ♪
♪ You bought my freedom ♪
♪ Hallelujah for the cross ♪
By your stripes I'm healed
♪ By your stripes I'm healed ♪
♪ And by your death I live ♪
♪ The power of sin is overcome ♪
♪ It is finished, it is done ♪
♪ By your stripes I'm healed ♪
♪ By your death I live ♪
♪ The power of sin is overcome ♪
♪ It is finished it is done ♪
♪ By your stripes I'm healed ♪
♪ By your death I live ♪
♪ The power of sin is overcome ♪
♪ It is finished it is done ♪
♪ By your stripes I'm healed ♪
♪ By your death I live ♪
♪ The power of sin is overcome ♪
♪ It is finished ♪
♪ Hallelujah ♪
♪ Thank you Jesus ♪
♪ I was a prisoner now I'm not ♪
♪ With your blood you,
you bought my freedom ♪
♪ Hallelujah for the cross ♪
♪ Hallelujah thank you Jesus ♪
♪ I was a prisoner now I'm not ♪
Thank you God
♪ With your blood you ♪
♪ You bought my freedom ♪
♪ Hallelujah for the cross ♪
With your blood you bought my freedom
♪ With your blood you bought my freedom ♪
♪ Hallelujah for the cross ♪
(audience applauds)
- Hallelujah for the Cross.
It changed everything for each of us.
And today Pastor Tony's message is on
listening and understanding
Jesus's invitation to come and follow Him
by taking up our cross.
So great to see everyone
here in the room with us,
all of you that are
watching online as well.
And if you are here with us, you're new.
If you're watching online and you're new,
we'd love to know about that.
So if you would text the
word guest to the number
423-418-6160 then you'll get a reply back.
You can give us your info.
Then we would love to send you
a gift in the mail this week.
Also, we want to, as a church,
we want to partner with you,
particularly through these
unprecedented, strange times.
We want to pray with you.
So if you have a prayer request,
if you just text the word
pray to that same number
and this week, we'll pray for
every one of those requests.
Now, so through these strange times,
we want to continue to pray with you.
And we know that whether
you're watching online,
you're here with us,
life has taken a big curve here.
All of these adjustments,
whether it be school
or home school, that you've
never done your life,
your job's changed, some of you lost jobs.
The stresses and anxieties of illnesses,
the fear of disease.
So what we will do right now,
we just want to stop and pray.
So I like to do this.
If you would, those online as well,
if you would here in the room, kneel
if you can kneel at your chair there,
if you can't just sit there with us,
because through ancient biblical times,
the posture of kneeling is a
posture of surrender to God.
God, we can't handle it.
We need you.
Would you pray with me?
Father we need you more than ever.
Our great God.
We're questioning things, we're hurting,
my friends online, for that
person that's isolated,
Lord I pray you be the mighty God,
your presence may be felt
for those that are dealing with sickness,
will you be Jehovah Rapha, the healer?
God, for those that are struggling
with these adjustments in life, God,
would you give them the strength
to walk through every one
of these curves that life has thrown, God?
Because you were never surprised.
Help us to trust in you.
So God, for my friends
in this room here, Lord,
for those online who want to be here, God,
please let us know that you are with us.
You are always with us in
the (mumbles) your spirit.
So God, we rest in you.
We trust you Lord, because
we know you are alive.
So we'll give it all to you
and Christ name I pray, amen.
Now, if you'll stand, as
we continue in worship.
- Let's sing the truth this morning
that because Jesus lives,
we can face tomorrow.
And when we trust in him,
he gives us power to walk
through difficult circumstances.
♪ God sent his son,
they called him Jesus ♪
♪ He came to love, heal and forgive ♪
♪ He bled and died to buy my pardon ♪
♪ An empty grace is there
to prove my savior lives ♪
♪ Because he lives I can face tomorrow ♪
♪ Because he lives all fear is gone ♪
♪ Because I know he holds the future ♪
♪ And life is worth the living ♪
♪ Just because he lives ♪
♪ How sweet to hold a newborn baby ♪
♪ And feel the pride and joy he gives ♪
♪ But greater still the calm assurance ♪
♪ This child can face uncertain days ♪
♪ Because he lives ♪
♪ Because he lives I can face tomorrow ♪
♪ Because he lives all fear is gone ♪
♪ Because I know he holds the future ♪
♪ And life is worth the living ♪
♪ Just because he lives ♪
♪ And then one day I'll cross that river ♪
♪ I'll fight life's final war with pain ♪
♪ And then as death gives way to victory ♪
♪ I'll see the lights of glory ♪
♪ And I'll know he reigns ♪
♪ Because he lives I can face tomorrow ♪
♪ Because he lives all fear is gone ♪
♪ Because I know he holds the future ♪
♪ And life is worth the living ♪
♪ Just because he lives ♪
♪ My life is worth the living ♪
♪ Just because he lives ♪
♪ My life is worth the living ♪
♪ Just because he lives ♪
(upbeat music)
- Matthew 16 24 says,
"Then Jesus told his disciples,
"If anyone would come after me,
"let him deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me."
When lose our life for Jesus's sake,
We gain.
Just sing this out.
♪ I will build my life upon your love ♪
♪ It is a firm foundation ♪
♪ And I will put my trust in you alone ♪
♪ And I will not be shaken ♪
♪ Holy there is no one like you ♪
♪ There is none beside you ♪
♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪
♪ Show me who you are ♪
♪ And fill me with your heart ♪
♪ And lead me in your
love to those around me ♪
I will build
♪ I will build my life upon your love ♪
♪ It is a firm foundation ♪
♪ And I will put my trust in you alone ♪
♪ And I will not be shaken ♪
♪ No, I will trust in you Jesus ♪
Jesus we thank you that you
are our firm foundation.
That you are an anchor for us.
God, when everything else is changing,
when everything around us feels like
it may be falling apart at times,
God, you are in control.
You are steady, you are
constant, you're consistent.
God, and it's your love and your goodness
and your faithfulness
that carry us through.
And so God may, we put our trust in you.
We love you, we need you,
speak to our hearts today, holy spirit.
In Jesus' name, I pray, amen.
You guys can have a seat.
(soft music)
- Everything you are looking
for in life is found in Christ.
And he invites you to come.
Come and rest.
Come and dine.
Come and drink.
Come and follow.
Come and be blessed.
(soft music)
- Well, good morning.
It is so good to see all of you here
worshiping with us today.
I'd like to welcome all of
you at our Creekside Service.
All of you at our Bonny Oaks Campus,
our North Ooltewah Campus,
our St. Elmo campus.
And all of you viewing online.
I'm Tony Walliser I'm one of
the pastors here at Silverdale.
And I have the privilege today
of sharing with you God's word.
So this is what I want
to encourage you to do.
Go and take your Bibles and open up
to the New Testament
to the gospel of Mark.
Mark, chapter eight.
If you've got a smartphone,
you can open that Bible
app to Mark eight as well.
If you have the Silverdale
app, you can open that.
I always provide an outline for you
to follow along and take notes.
And so I encourage you to do that today.
We are in a series called the invitation
and what we're doing each week
is we're looking at Jesus's five times
that he invites us to come to him.
And we've done that each week.
And today we're looking
at Jesus's invitation
to come and follow him.
Now, this is a critical invitation
because your very soul
is dependent on this.
In fact, Jesus said,
if you will follow him,
you will actually gain the most
precious thing in your life.
Now you go, well,
what is the most precious
thing in your life?
Let me ask you,
what is the most precious
thing that you have?
Now there's a lot of
trinkets in this world
and there's a lot of
things that people purchase
and buy and have.
Then they go, oh, this
is my most precious item.
For some individuals,
it may be their iPhone,
but how about this iPhone right here?
It is a gold plated,
diamond studded iPhone.
It costs a whopping
amount of $1.7 million.
For some individuals that is
their most precious possession,
or maybe your precious
possession would be a TV.
Like how about the most
expensive TV in the world?
It is this TV,
the Prestige HD Supreme Rose edition
it is surrounded with gold and diamonds.
And the inner frame is
made with alligator skin
and it sells for $2.3 million.
For some individuals, okay?
Their most precious item is a vehicle.
How about this vehicle?
This is the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO.
A lot of bidding went on for that Ferrari.
It's sold for $48 million.
And I'm sure that somebody says
that's my most prized possession.
For many of you ladies
here that love purses,
how about this one?
You can buy the Hermes
Birkin handbag 200, I mean,
2000 diamonds on it.
And it sells for just a
mere amount, $1.9 million.
Or maybe if you're an
art possessor, you know,
you art lover,
you can own this Jackson
Pollock piece called
Painting Number Five.
It sold a few years back for $140 million.
Doesn't look that impressive, does it?
If you want it, it's
gotta go on a big wall.
'Cause it's four feet by eight feet
and that's the same size
of a sheet of plywood
'cause that's what he painted it on.
Now, a lot of people will look at that.
These are my prized possessions,
and we can look at those
and look at the cost of
those things that goes,
people are crazy, right?
I mean, they're just
nuts, but you know, what,
what is your prize possession?
What is it that you have that you go, wow,
this was really my
prize possession, right?
Is it your home that you're
working to pay off every month?
Or maybe it is your car?
Or maybe it's work.
You got this title, and you worked hard
to get to this position.
Or maybe it's that degree
that you worked so hard with
at school to finally achieve,
or maybe some trophy that you won.
What is your most prized possession?
Well, Jesus says it's
none of those things.
The most prized possession
that you have is your soul
and your soul is worth anything else
this world can offer you.
In fact, look at how Jesus puts this
in Mark chapter eight, verse 36,
Jesus says, "for what does it profit a man
to gain the whole world
and forfeit his soul?"
What is your soul worth?
Jesus says, you know what?
You can have all the
possessions of this world.
You can have all the
money in all the banks,
you can have all the wealth
of the fortune 500 companies.
You can have all the stocks
and bonds and gold and silver
and oil of this world.
And it could not equal
the value of your soul.
You go, why is my soul worth so much?
It's worth so much because
it will live forever.
Now you're not eternal.
Only God lives forever,
two directions, right?
There was a point when we started, right?
You were born, God gave us a soul.
And the Bible says that your soul
will live forever somewhere.
Either you're going to
be in the presence of God
forever in heaven
or you gonna be away
from the presence of God
in a place called hell.
And Jesus said, that's why
your soul is so valuable.
And the only way you gain your soul
and the value of your soul
is if you are a true
follower of Jesus Christ.
Notice how Jesus says this.
This is big stuff.
Look at it.
Look at our text today,
Mark chapter eight,
beginning of verse 34 .
"And calling the crowd to himself."
See, this is the invitation.
"With his disciples, He said to them,
if anyone would come after
me, let him deny himself,
take up his cross and follow me.
For whoever would save
His life will lose it.
Whoever loses his life for
my sake and the gospel's
will save it.
For what does it profit a
man to gain the whole world
and forfeit his soul?
For what can a man give
in return for his soul?
For whoever's ashamed of me and my words
in this adulterous and sinful generation,
of him will the son of man also be ashamed
when he comes in glory of his
father with the Holy angels.
Now, when you read that
passage, you go, wow,
this looks like Jesus is
wanting us to go all in,
absolute surrender.
Yes that's exactly what it means
to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
You see Jesus Christ
is not trying to win a popularity contest.
Jesus is telling us what it
means for him to be savior
and Lord.
Now let me set this up for you.
When Jesus gave this teaching,
he was at the height of his popularity.
I mean, tens of thousands of
people were following Jesus,
but they were primary following Jesus
because of the miracles
that he was working.
And so Jesus, he's not there
for popularity or fans.
He wants true followers.
So he begins to teach
passages like this saying,
this is what it really means
to come after me and follow me.
And for those individuals
that begin to realize, wow,
you know what?
I was just following Jesus for a free meal
or a free miracle.
This is, he's wanting all in.
Yeah.
'Cause Jesus doesn't want
fans, Jesus wants followers.
Several years back our
church did a series called,
Not a Fan.
And in that series we
basically said, okay,
a fan is an enthusiastic admirer.
We're all fans, right?
We're typically fans of sports teams.
And what does it mean to be a fan?
You know, you are enthusiastic
at (mumbles) right?
You may root for that team.
You may travel to the stadium.
You may buy the tickets,
maybe season tickets.
You may wear the jersey, you applaud them.
And whenever your team
wins, what do you say?
We won.
We won, but here's the deal.
You didn't do a thing, right?
You didn't strap on the helmet.
You didn't put on pads.
You didn't make a tackle.
You didn't make a touchdown.
And yet we say we won.
No, we didn't.
We're just fans, right?
That's what Jesus is saying.
Jesus is saying, I don't want fans.
You see, that's what I'm afraid
has happened in the church.
A lot of people come to church and,
and they sit on their seat
and they applaud at the right time.
Maybe even they wear the Jesus jersey.
But they're not all in with Jesus.
Not really followers, they're
just fans of Jesus Christ.
Because somewhere along
the way in Christianity,
we have separated believing
in Jesus and following Jesus.
And we say okay, you
know, to be a Christian,
you believe in Jesus.
But if you really,
you want to go to another
level of experience
then you become a follower of Jesus.
Jesus never made that distinction.
If you are a follower of Jesus
than you're a believer in Jesus.
believing just means you have faith.
You're totally trusting
and surrendering to Jesus.
That's what faith is.
And so, you know, you
go, well, I'm a believer,
but I'm not a follower,
then not really a believer.
You see,
true Christianity is becoming
a follower of Jesus Christ.
So Jesus said, come after me.
You go, well what does it
mean to come after Jesus?
Well, this is critical
because what does it
mean to follow Christ?
Well, Jesus gives us the
three ingredients of that.
And so jot them on your outline.
You're going to follow Christ.
Number one, first of all,
you need to deny yourself.
You need to deny yourself.
And what I love about this is
Jesus gives you the choice.
He's not gonna force this.
Look at it again, verse 34,
"And calling the crowd to
himself with his disciples,
"He said to them, if anyone
would come after me", right?
He's not going to force you.
God's not going to coerce you.
He's given you a free
will to make a decision.
You can make that
decision to follow Christ.
So what does that mean?
Okay, well Jesus says, all right?
Again, verse 34.
He says, "if anyone would come after me,
let him deny himself".
In your Bibles or outlines
you can circle the word, deny himself.
What does that mean?
That means you say no to self.
Now, Sigmund Freud he
called it the id or the ego
and the super ego.
Theologians call it our lower
sinful nature or the flesh.
You can call it your
pride, you can call it ego.
You can call it self centeredness.
I sorta describe it
like this, as the big I.
Inside of every one of us is the big I.
inside your soul is the big
I that says, I want my way.
I, this is what I think.
This is what I want, this is what I need.
I, I, I.
It's the big ego of our
life, it's the big I.
A good acronym for ego
is edging God out, right?
We are we're self centered,
we have the big I.
That's what controls us.
And Jesus says, you have
to say no to the big I.
It's sort of like that little
nursery rhyme goes like this,
"I had a party this afternoon at three.
"'Twas very small, three guests in all,
"just I, myself and me.
"Myself ate up the candy,
"and I drank up the tea.
"'Twas also I that ate the pie
and passed the cake to me."
That's us, right?
We're just all about us.
The world revolves around us.
And Jesus says, no.
If you're gonna follow me,
the first thing you got to
do is say no to the big I.
No, to me, myself and I.
And so what does this mean?
This whole idea of easy believism
is a false teaching to say, okay,
I can believe in Jesus and
then live any way I want to
and go to heaven.
You're fooling yourself.
That's not what Jesus said at all.
Jesus is up front.
He says, no, look, you've
got to deny yourself.
You've got to repent.
Now this goes completely against
the grain of our culture.
I mean, in our culture,
you're never taught to deny yourself.
You're taught to deify
yourself, magnify yourself,
get it your way.
You know, glorify
yourself, promote yourself.
(Mumbles) yourself, advertise yourself.
In fact, let me be candid with you.
As a pastor, we have from time to time,
some members that give me trouble.
But let me tell you about the one member
that gives me the most trouble.
I mean, this guy is always after me.
It's like,
I can never get away from this guy.
Who is the member that
gives me the most trouble?
Me and I got to tell me
to get out of the way
all the time so that
Jesus Christ can rule.
You see most of us as
Christians, what do we do?
We'll say, okay, I'll follow Jesus.
I'll serve, Jesus, I'll obey Jesus
as long as I'm comfortable.
But if Jesus calls me to do something
that makes me a little uncomfortable
and Jesus calls me to
become a little radical,
get outside of my comfort zone.
You know what?
I'm not going to follow Jesus.
Jesus said no.
First thing, if you're
going to come after me,
you must deny yourself.
So that's the first thing,
you got to put Jesus above yourself.
That's what it means
to follow Jesus, okay?
But then the Jesus says,
okay, first deny yourself,
but then there's a second thing.
Jot this down in your outline.
You got to take up your cross.
You got to take every cross.
Again notice this passage, verse 34,
"and calling the crowd to himself".
So this isn't just for a
few, this is for everybody.
This is Jesus's invitation
to all of humanity, okay?
This isn't just for the elite few.
If anyone he says, not just a few,
"if anyone would come after
me, let him deny himself,
"take up his cross and follow me".
So now in your Bible
circle, take up your cross.
What does it mean to take up your cross?
Well, in Jesus's day a cross
was a symbol of execution
Today Jesus may say, if
you're going to follow me,
take up the electric chair.
If you're gonna follow me,
take up the hangman's noose.
Because if you saw anybody in
Jesus's day, carrying a cross,
you knew what was about to happen.
They were about to die.
If you were carrying your cross,
there was always a one way
trip for your execution.
Carrying your cross is not
putting a cross around your neck
or a cross in your pocket.
No it's saying I'm going to die.
Several years back.
I was in the middle East
with some of our missionaries
and these missionaries from our church
they work specifically
with the persecuted church
and God's doing amazing
world in the Muslim world
and they're coming to faith rapidly,
but it's against the law to convert.
And many of these former
Muslims who come to Christ,
they stand for Christ
and they risk their life
and many of them are executed.
And so I was there and I met
a number of these Muslims
who had come to faith.
And I was asked to baptize one.
And of course it's very secret.
You know, it's just true followers
that are in the room that day.
And everybody's cell
phones had to be removed
out of the room just in case
anybody was spying on them.
And so there I am in the baptism waters
with this former Muslim,
who's now a follower of Jesus Christ
and they asked him five questions.
Some of them were about
doctrine about Christ,
those kind of things,
what he believed or those type of things.
He gave his testimony.
But the very last question
they asked him was this,
are you ready to die for Jesus?
And he says, absolutely.
And when I baptized him,
I had tears in my eyes.
'Cause I knew I was in essence
writing his death certificate.
But he knew that's what it meant
to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
I don't know what's happened to us.
But we won't even come out in
the rain to come to church.
Something's wrong with
Christianity in America.
We've forgotten what it means
to really be a follower of Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, if you come
after me, you deny yourself.
And then you do what?
You pick up your cross.
So the big I must die.
The self within must bend.
I'm a say, okay, I'm now
going to follow Jesus.
And that means there's got to be a burial,
that I've got to take my life
and my agenda for my life
and I put it in a tomb and I cover it up
and I say, it's all dead.
I am now following Jesus Christ.
That's what it means to be
a follower of Jesus Christ.
Now here's the deal.
A lot of preachers and churches,
they don't talk about this.
Why?
Because it doesn't fill churches.
They want easy believism.
Hey, just believe in
Jesus, pray this prayer,
and you're going to be healthy, wealthy,
and happy all your life.
But that's not what Jesus said.
See Jesus, isn't selling
hamburgers like Burger King,
have it your way.
Jesus isn't pushing
shoes like Nike, do it.
Just do it.
No he's telling you that he is
Lord and savior of your soul.
And that means you come
and die and follow him.
That's what he says.
But there's an upside to all of this.
He says, if you'll do that,
if you'll trust me with your life,
that's when you're going to live.
Check it out, look what Jesus says.
Verse 35, "for whoever would
save his life will lose it.
"But whoever loses his life for my sake
"and the gospel will save it".
This is one of the many
paradoxes to the Christian life.
Do you want to live?
You must die.
You want to be strong?
You must become weak.
You want to gain your life?
You must lose it.
You want to be exalted?
You must humble yourself.
Every one of us have two choices.
Either we're going to follow Jesus
or we're going to follow ourself.
But Jesus said, if you'll
lose your life for me,
that's when you're really
going to start to live.
And so Jesus calls us to die with him.
Now, Jesus died for us, right?
But there's no way that
we can die for Jesus.
I mean we can't die for
Jesus, Jesus died for us.
But you know what we can do?
We can die with Jesus.
Did you know that there
was a literal person
who died with Jesus on the cross?
It's true.
We call him the thief on the cross.
Remember that story?
There was Jesus in the middle cross,
a thief on one side of him
and he's observing Jesus and how he dies
and interacts with the crowds
and hearing Jesus constantly
pray, father forgive them,
they don't know not what they're doing.
And then in the middle of his crucifixion,
he turns to Jesus and
says, Lord, remember me
when you come into your kingdom.
Now this is amazing.
He's looking at Jesus,
who's being crucified.
And he calls him Lord and
then incredible faith.
He says, I believe you're the Messiah.
Who's one day going to set
up the kingdom on this earth,
remember me.
And what does Jesus say?
Jesus looks at him and says,
today you'll be with me paradise.
And so what happened?
That man, he literally was
dying with Christ there, right?
Now think of it, that guy's pride and ego
all disappeared in that moment.
And all he cared about
was Jesus in that moment.
And so think about it.
Imagine if that day there were
people there and the crowds
that started mocking that thief
on the cross, you are sorry.
You're no good, you're
ugly, you're an idiot.
Would it bother him anymore?
No, because he had now been
crucified with Christ, right?
Or think about it.
He was probably afraid of the Romans
and all the torture they'd do to him.
But you know what?
Was he afraid that Romans
were gonna get mad at him
for talking to Jesus?
No, why?
Because he's now crucified with Christ.
Or just imagine that
let's say that, you know,
the notorious, you know,
prostitute of the area comes
sauntering by, in front of him.
Does he suddenly have
lustful thoughts toward her?
No, why?
'Cause he's now crucified with Christ.
Or let's just say a Roman Centurion
comes up with a new fancy
sporty chariot and horsepower.
Does he go,
oh my goodness I wish I had that chariot?
No 'cause he's crucified with Christ.
Well,
let's just say you have
a member of the Sanhedrin
that comes up and got this
beautiful robe, it's mink lined.
You know, he's got a prayer
shawl, you know, made of velvet.
Does he go, hey bud, where'd you get that?
I'd love to have the rope like that.
No, he doesn't think
about that stuff anymore.
Why?
'Cause he's crucified with Christ.
And can I tell you it's the
very same thing with you and I?
When we die ourself and we
say Christ, old me dies,
I'm going to follow you
something supernatural
happens in that moment.
There's a death, spiritual
death that we die.
And the Bible says we're
to pick up our cross daily.
We don't just do it once.
We've got to make this choice every day.
There's an old hymn that we
would sing from time to time.
Turn Your Eyes Upon
Jesus, remember that song?
The chorus goes, turn
your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in his wonderful face.
And the things of this
earth will go strangely dim
in the light of his glory and grace.
So Jesus says, if you come after me,
you deny yourself and take up your cross.
You will find the life that
you've been looking for.
So you want to follow Christ.
This is what it means.
Deny yourself, take up your cross.
But it also means this, jot
this down, number three.
It means you follow Jesus.
You follow Jesus.
You said no to yourself.
Now you're saying yes to Jesus Christ.
Look at this verse again, verse 34.
If anyone would come after me, Jesus says,
let him deny himself, take up his cross.
And what?
Follow me.
That means you've decided you're gonna go
the same way Jesus is going.
You're going the same direction.
You're on the same path.
Now in that day,
when a teacher or a rabbi would
say to somebody follow me,
it means you become his disciple,
you become his follower.
That means that your
now submitting to him,
that means that you're now, you know,
you've given up your
freedom to follow him.
And that's exactly what it means.
Every one of us,
when you become a
follower of Jesus Christ,
you become his disciple.
And you say, Lord, you're the master.
And I am now your student,
I'm going to follow you.
Let me illustrate it in
several different ways.
Imagine that your life is a car, okay?
Your life is a car and
you need to ask yourself
who's driving your car?
Have you given the keys of
your life to Jesus Christ?
Now the problem with a lot
of us is that, you know what?
We want Jesus in the car with us,
but we don't want him
behind the wheel, right?
I mean, we want Jesus to do
sort of a ride around with us,
but we want to be in
control of our life, why?
'Cause it's nice to have Jesus in the car.
'Cause he's handy, right?
You may get in trouble and you need Jesus.
You may get sick
and I just needed a
little healing here, Jesus
and, or, you know,
things are going bad at work
and I need you to resolve those issues.
You got some relationship
problems over here,
really need some wisdom.
Got some financial problems,
really need some prosperity.
God, I've got this, this
issue where I've got anxiety,
I would really love your peace
(mumbles) and understanding.
Got sadness, boy, I'd love your hope.
God, I'm going to die one
day, I hope I go to heaven.
We want Jesus in our life,
but we don't want him
steering and in control.
We just want him as a ride along.
And Jesus says it doesn't work that way.
If you're going to come after
me, you must deny yourself,
take up your cross and then follow me.
I am your master, I surrender all.
That's what Jesus is calling us.
And so let me ask, who's
got the keys to your life?
Is it you or is it Jesus?
Now surrender is an unpopular term.
We don't want to surrender
because surrendering
has the idea of losing.
Oh no, I lose.
And losing's bad and winning is good.
But here's the deal, it all
depends on who you lose too.
If you lose to Jesus
Christ, Jesus says you win.
In fact, it's not winner-take-all.
Jesus says loser takes it all.
Look at it, verse 35.
The only way to victory in
Christ is to lose to him.
Verse 35, "for whoever would
save his life will lose it.
"But whoever loses his life for my sake
"and the gospel will save it".
Most of you know the story of Jim Elliot.
He's a missionary to the Auca
Indians in South America.
He went down there to bring the gospel
to this very native tribe
and they killed him,
they murdered him
and a couple of other
missionaries as well.
He was martyred.
He gave his life to bring the
gospel to the Auca Indians.
But you see Jim Elliott
had died a long time ago.
He had died to Christ long ago,
so he was willing to
give his life for Christ.
In fact, Jim Elliot is
often quoted, in fact,
look at one of his most famous quotes.
I love what he said here.
Jim Elliot once said, "he is no fool
who gives up what he cannot keep
to gain what he cannot lose".
And I love that, it's so true.
It's right, Jesus's words.
You're not a fool,
if you give up what you can't keep
to gain what you can't loose.
And you got the choice.
Either you're going to surrender to Jesus,
or you're going to surrender to yourself
or surrender this world.
But he can't have it both ways.
Jesus said, if you're
going to come after me,
you must deny yourself, pick
up your cross and follow me.
And if you will do that, you
will gain your very soul.
Check it out.
Verse 36, "for what does it profit a man
"to gain the whole world
and forfeit his soul?
"What can a man give in
return for his soul?"
Man Jesus says, if you will do this,
you gain it all for me.
But you got to go all in.
I don't know if you've
ever played poker before,
or maybe you've watched
Texas Holdem on ESPN,
but whenever they're playing that game,
there is one term that they use
that sometimes a player can
say, okay, I'm going all in.
And what he's doing is
he takes all his chips
and he literally pushes them
to the center of the table,
and he says I'm betting it all.
I'm going all in on these cards.
Well, that's what Jesus Christ is saying.
Jesus says, hey, if
you're gonna follow me,
put all the chips on the table, go all in.
That's what it means to follow me.
There's a person in
history that went all in.
If you may remember this
guy from history classes,
his name is Hernando Cortez.
He was a Spanish Explorer.
Went to Mexico in 1519,
landed in Vera Cruz.
Was commanded to set up a
colony there in Vera Cruz,
but only one problem.
You have these millions of people
in this empire called the Aztecs.
As they have a few hundred
people that land on the shore
with this monumental task
to set up a colony there
in Vera Cruz, and then
Cortez does the unthinkable.
He burns his ships.
He gives the command, burn the ships.
That's why he's famous.
And he said, look, you know what?
If we're going to do this,
I have to remove the
possibility of retreat.
We're not going to retreat anymore.
We're burning the ships.
We're either gonna die
here or we're gonna win.
And so what does it mean
to be a follower of Jesus?
It means you burn your ships.
What does it mean to
be a follower of Jesus?
It means you put all the
chips in, I'm all in Jesus.
What does it mean to follow Jesus?
It means Jesus, I'm
giving you the control,
the keys of my life.
Here it is, you take the wheel Jesus.
That's what it means to
be a follower of Jesus.
Jesus said, if you're
going to come after me,
you deny yourself, take up
your cross and then follow me.
And if you will do that, you will live.
You'll live, but you got to
choose to come and follow.
Let's pray together.
Gracious Lord I'm so
thankful for your word.
It's not easy to say, but
God, it is your truth.
And your truth sets us free.
God would you please move
among us in this very moment.
With your head bowed and eyes closed.
If you're here and maybe
all you've ever had
is easy believism and maybe
this is the first time
you've heard Jesus' true
call to surrender all to him,
can I tell you something?
Today can be the day
where you can call on the
name of the Lord and be saved.
You can pray something like this.
Lord, Jesus, you are my Lord.
Forgive me for living my life for me.
I surrender all.
I say no to me and yes to you.
Come into my life and be my Lord.
I've burned the ships, I'm
putting it all in the middle.
I'm going to follow you.
God, thank you for hearing those prayers.
Answer them, bring salvation to them.
Now I know there's others of you
that you know what?
You've made that decision in the past,
but somewhere along the way,
the world and the temptation
and the lure of this world
has drifted you away from Christ
and you've taken back
control of your life.
And today Christ is calling you to repent.
Quit playing games with Jesus.
It's time to again, live
your life for Jesus.
Maybe you need to pray
Lord Jesus forgive me.
Thank you for making me your child,
but God forgive me for
not really following you.
All over again I say yes to you.
Today, a new day, I say yes to you.
I choose to follow you.
God thank you so much for these prayers,
for these commitments,
these decisions for you.
You've invited us to come and
Lord, we have made the choice.
We're going to follow you.
We love you Lord.
In Jesus name, we pray.
Amen, amen.
Chuck, you can come brother.
- Amen.
What a powerful challenge.
Not just Pastor Tony,
but from Jesus himself for
us to genuinely follow him.
So whether you're with us here online,
if you've never followed Jesus,
maybe you've prayed that prayer.
Then listen,
would you text the word
reply to 423-418-6160
because we would love
to follow up with you.
Myself, one of our pastors
will follow up with you
this week and walk with you
through this new journey
or whatever that response is.
You text that word to us.
Now don't forget for next week,
be sure to register starting
Thursday at 5:00 PM.
So be ready for the next week.
And two weeks, our preschool
ministry begins back.
That's September 12th and 13th.
I know that'll help, a lot of you guys
will have places for your kids then.
So listen, be sure to connect
with us on social media,
Facebook, our website.
There's also things coming
out with student ministry
as well.
So we love you, have a
great week depending on him.
