The Way of the Cross: Living Unashamed for Christ

good morning church we'll be singing uh he a song called he leadth me [Music] he Le me oh bless God words with heaven we Comfort what I do where I be still that he leaded me he leaded me by his own name he Leed me his faithful follower I will be for by his he me sometimes Miss of deepest sometimes weing power F by water still or TR Seas till is God Hand That me he leaded me he leaded me by his owned me his faithful follower I would be for by his he Leed he leaded me he leaded me by his own andth me this faithful follower I would be for By His s he leaded me [Music] You Are My Strength when I am weak you are the treasure that I See You Are My All In All seeking you as a precious je or to give up my be a fool You Are My All In All Jesus Lamb of God Worthy is your name [Music] Jesus Lamb of God Worthy is your [Music] name taking my sin my cross my shame Rising again I praise your name You Are My All In All when I fall down you pick me up when I am try you fill my cup You Are My All In All Jesus Lamb of God Worthy is your name Jesus Lamb of God [Music] Worthy is your name Jesus Lamb of God Worthy is your name [Music] Jesus Lamb of God Worthy [Music] is praise God praise the Lord brothers and sisters for this beautiful morning that we can all come here together and it's kind of funny too cuz you know my alarm went off this morning I thought I had to go to work cuz how dark it was I was like trying to like me or remember if it was work today or church today but praise God for everything and I'm just going to read a Bible verse that we can all uh dwell on and it's going to be in Isaiah 43:2 and it says here when you pass through the waters I will be with you and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you when you walk through the fire you will not be burned the Flames will not set you Ablaze praise God and I also want to announce our program for this morning uh we have a very simple program and we'll have uh brother Vlad saying a word for us and continuing his series God bless praise God brothers and sisters so today we will be continuing the second half of the topic the way of the Cross and to recap a bit I'll just summarize what we went over last time um let's read from Mark 8: 31-36 Mark 8 31-36 I'll let you guys open up to that and you can go to the next slide as well he then began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders the chief priests and the teachers of the law and that he must be killed and after three days rise again he spoke plainly about this and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him but when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples he rebuked Peter get behind me Satan he said you do not have in mind the concerns of God but merely human concerns then he called The Crowd to him along with his disciples and said whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me for whoever wants to save their life will lose it but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it what good is it for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul in verses 31-33 Peter rebuked Jesus while not understanding that he is the Messiah that would suffer and Jesus responded to him with get behind me saying uh which show that Peter had a worldly mindset and in verses 34-36 Jesus invited everyone to follow him but to deny self and uh we heard last time Moses denied himself when he left Egypt in order to suffer with the Israelites and to eventually fulfill God's Will and that is to deny self and then we get to taking up our own cross which represented suffering shame and sacrifice and Jesus calls us to Bear uh our cross for his sake and we saw the example of Simon of sirene helping Jesus carry his cross and this represents People Like Us who are willing to share in the suffering of Jesus and when there was the follow me part uh you know it's not just a one-time event but following Jesus means every single day for the rest of our lives and it's a lifelong commitment and in verse 35 Jesus explained that those who try to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for Christ in the gospel will save it and find true eternal life and we also saw the example of the Rich Young Ruler who couldn't give up his worldly possessions and that served as a warning for us not to be like this young man and uh it's a very sad story and the analogy we looked at was also a single grain of sand which is our life on Earth and then a beach that stretches endlessly that uh symbol symbolizes eternity and in verse 36 Jesus asks what good is it for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul and our soul is infinitely more valuable than anything that the world could offer us and once the soul is lost nothing can recover it and to reflect on part one uh there were a few questions you could have asked yourself which is are we denying ourselves are we taking up our cross daily in following Jesus and what areas of Our Lives do we need to surrender to God so that's a recap of part one now to get into part two we'll be focusing on two more verses in the Book of John chapter 8 which is verse 37 and 38 and I'll will read those now or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul if anyone is ashamed of me and my words and this adulterous and sinful generation the son of man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his father's Glory with the Holy Angels we can go on to the next slide so let's focus on this verse 37 or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul Jesus here is emphasizing that the soul is priceless and nothing on this worth nothing on this Earth is worth its value and we touched a bit on Jud Judas last time as well and going on to next slide uh we read from Matthew ch 26: 14-6 Matthew 26:14 to16 then one of the 12 the one called Jud Judas es scariot went to the chief priests and asked what are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you so they counter so they counted out for him 30 pieces of silver from then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over and I did a bit of research to find out how much exactly those 30 pieces of silver was worth and in our money today and with its purchase power it's about $8,000 to around $118,000 and during that time it was a few months wages for a Roman soldier or a little above what a slave was worth now do you really think your soul is worth only that much over etal life or let me just put it this way like let's say someone offers to deposit you $1 billion to your bank tomorrow uh but they say only one thing you will not be able to wake up in the morning you'll probably not take that offer because you would rather live what is that money if you can't wake up to enjoy that money so in reality you already value your life more than a billion dollars or maybe even one trillion or 100 trillion you know if someone asks you uh the same question your life or your soul it is priceless and now let's look at another story in the Bible and let's open up to acts 5 verse 1-1 I'll give you guys a few moments to get there acts 5: 1-1 now a man Nam named ananas together with his wife Safa also sold a piece of property with his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself but brought the rest and put it at the apostles feet then Peter said ananas how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the holy H spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land didn't it belong to you before it was sold and after it was sold wasn't the money at your disposal what made you think of doing such a thing you have not lied just to human beings but to God when ananas heard this he fell down and died and great fear seized all who heard what had happened then some young men came forward wrapped up his body and carried him out and buried him about 3 hours later his wife came in not knowing what had happened pet Peter asked her tell me is this the price you and ananas got for the land yes she said that is the price Peter said to her how could you conspire to test the spirit of the Lord listen the feet of the man who buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out also at that moment she fell down at his feet and died then the young man came in and finding her dead carried her out and buried her beside her husband great fear seiz the whole church and all who heard about these events here ananas and saf saf are exchanging integrity and spiritual Truth for temporary gain and appearing righteous before the people that are around them and in Mark 8:37 Jesus asks what can anyone give in exchange for their soul ananas and saf valued external approval and material gain over their souls leading to horrible horrible consequences and like Judas their choice to deceive reflects how prioritizing worldly things over one's Soul results in spiritual loss and destruction and there are three lessons that we can take away from this specific Story the first is the danger of hypocrisy both of these people wanted to appear more spiritual than they really were and they wanted other people to look at them as generous and how much money they put in and the massive mistake they made was seeking human approval over gods and the second is honesty and stewardship the reality is they were not made to give up all of their proceeds from the land they sold it was not a requirement by by the people that were around them if they were honest about how much percent they gave of the sale I think they would be in a much more different position than they were in and this really teaches us to be honest especially before God himself and the third is the seriousness of sin people really forget how serious it is to sin you know there are teachings going around today in certain churches that everyone sins and that if you do this kind of sin or this kind of sin God will Qui quickly forgive you and you should not worry about it yes God does forgive and he is very patient but if you're taking advantage of him you do not want to see God's Wrath and in this story we saw God's Wrath ananas and Safa they had a swift judgment by God resulting them falling down dead on the spot and do not forget brothers and sisters that God is the same yesterday today and tomorrow so we have to take these things very seriously what is your soul worth let's go on to the next slide Jesus asks us to ponder on this and to think about if we are ready to give up our soul to achieve uh worldly Glory riches and power and there's an example of Tom Brady after winning several Super Bowl titles he admitted in an interview that he still felt like something was missing in his life despite all his success or Justin Bieber admitted to struggling with depression and emptiness despite Global Fame stating that all his success didn't bring him true happiness or purpose and Jim Carrey once said I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it is not the answer these people have it all brothers and sisters all the money the fame you know the all the possessions you can imagine yet so many people like this take their lives and Solomon the richest man to ever live who in our time today would be a trillionaire also mentioned everything is Vanity and nothing he tried fulfilled him either now I'm not saying that we don't want a nice house a nice car a good paying career let's be realistic like everyone wants these nice things but do we give up our souls in order to achieve these things there lies the difference just reflect on your own life uh what do you prioritize are there things in your life you're chasing that lead your focus away from God and putting him first as a priority and now going on to uh verse 38 of Mark chapter 8 next slide um if anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation the son of man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his father's Glory with the Holy Angels I wanted to break this verse into three parts the first is the danger of being ashamed of Christ the second is eternal consequences and third living boldly for Christ and to start with the point of the dangers of being ashamed of Christ Jesus warns that being ashamed of him whether through fear Pride or worldly pressure has Eternal consequences and and if we're ashamed of him now he'll be ashamed of us when he returns to this earth and there is a great story most of us know which is in Luke 22: 54-62 whoever wants to turn there I'll give you some time Luke 22: 54-62 then seizing him they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest Peter followed at a distance and when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together Peter sat down with them a servant girl saw him seated there in the Fire Light she looked closely at him and said this man was with him but he denied it women I don't know him he said a little later someon El saw him and said you also are one of them man I am not Peter replied about about an hour later another asserted certainly this fellow was with him for he is a Galilean Peter replied man I don't I don't know what you're talking about just as he was speaking the rooster crowed the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him before the rooster crow today you'll disown me three times and he went outside and wept bitterly Peter's story of denial and Redemption is powerful because it reveals first uh human's weakness and then also God's grace and Peter out of fear denied knowing Jesus three times after Jesus's arrest and even though Peter was one of Jesus's closest disciples the pressure of that moment overwhelmed him uh leading him to distance himself from the Lord and however uh Jesus's after Jesus's resurrection he graciously restored Peter and let's read that as well which is John 21: 15-9 215-9 when they had finished eating Jesus said to Simon Peter Simon son of John do you love me more than these yes Lord he said you know that I love you Jesus said feed my Lambs again Jesus said Simon son of John do you love me he answered yes Lord you know that I love you Jesus said take care of my sheep the third the third time he said to him Simon son of John do you love me Peter was hurt hurt because Jesus asked him the third time do you love me he said Lord you know all things you know that I love you Jesus said feed my sheep very truly I tell you when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God then he said to him follow me and these verses Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him symbolically allowing Peter to affirm his love and commitment and this moment not only forgave Peter but also strengthened him preparing him to boldly proclaim the gospel in the years to come what we can learn from this is the is that Peter's experience shows that even if we fail God offers forgiveness and the opportunity for a fresh star and it encourages us to seek restoration with God when we stumble and it reminds us that he can still use us as powerfully just as powerfully and looking at the story was there any time in your personal life where you were hesitant or afraid to speak of Christ perhaps at school work among friends you know any chance that we get we should learn to testify about Christ and believe me it's easier said than done and I look at myself first one talking about this um but God's mercy and Grace allows us to ask for forgiveness and next time an opportunity arises to speak boldly about Christ we are not to be ashamed of Christ and touching on the second point it's Eternal consequences what if we are ashamed of Christ what happens to people like that well when Jesus returns with his angels He will acknowledge or deny those who are faithful to him and this is a reminder that our response to Christ now will determine how he responds to us in eternity and Jesus says if anyone if anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation the son of man will be ashamed of them and in Acts 7 Stephen was the first Christian martyr and he uh boldly proclaimed Christ even as he was stoned to death he was unashamed of Jesus even in the face of death and his reward was a vision of Christ welcoming him and uh let's actually read that so Acts chapter 7: 54-60 acts 7 verse 54 when the members of the Sanhedrin heard this they were Furious and nashed their teeth at him but Steven full of the Holy Spirit looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God look he said I see heaven open and the son of man standing at the right hand of God at this they covered their ears and yelling at the top of their voices they all rushed at him dragged him out of the city and began to Stone him meanwhile the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul while they were St stoning him Steven prayed Lord Jesus receive my spirit then he fell on his knees and cried out Lord do not hold this sin against them when he had said this he fell asleep that is the glory that awaits those who Proclaim Christ those that are not afraid to speak about him even when it may mean death and ask yourself if faced with opposition or ridicule would you stand firm or would you be tempted to hide your faith uh another point is living boldly for Christ Jesus doesn't call us to private Faith he call us to follow him boldly even when it costs us and we must live unashamed of Him in all circumstances and this is not just in the Bible times you know this is not just when uh Steven was alive or Apostle Paul this is in our time brothers and sisters we must do this today and uh going on to next slide uh next one actually after that so there's an an example of Tim tibo the former NFL quarterback and current baseball player uh he's known for displaying his faith and including this includes something that he created called tbing which was kneeling in prayer on the field and tibo often faced backlash and criticism for his public expressions of Faith you know and uh no matter if we are at work at school or around friends if we live a life carrying our daily cross people will see that we are different people will say there's something about that guy or girl that is different and they may ask you about why you are like that uh you know why do you act a certain way and in that moment you can share your faith but even better is when we see an opportunity ourselves and boldly Proclaim Christ to them you know it's it's funny on my social media accounts in my bio I have Jesus is King and in my work field when people look me up or I reach out to them uh there are a lot of them who tell me I do not work with people like you or I would not be interested in what you have to offer because I do not believe in Jesus and yes I may lose some business because of that but I would have never even wanted to deal with people like that in the first place you know and when I do meet a follower of Christ our first time meeting each other is that much more stronger and in anything we do we should do for Christ and like it says in First Corinthians so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do it all for the glory of God every task we take on in our daily life should be with Jesus right by our side no matter what it is you know even the most simple matters and if we train ourselves to think like this and if we ask the Holy Spirit to help us you will see that it will be that much easier to Proclaim Christ to others and that is because your life is living for Christ Christ and with Christ and being bold for Christ is summed up by this speaking up for your faith we can go on to the next slide speaking up for your faith whether it is defining Christian values uh which you need to know your Bible for and sharing the gospel it is living out your faith in your actions whether through kindness Integrity or love that reflects Jesus and it is witnessing boldly by offering to pray for others or sharing your testimony that is what it means to be bold for Christ and taking up your cross and some uh questions or Reflections uh that you could kind of ask yourself are we living boldly for Christ or do we shy away when the world challenges us what is one area this week where you can take a stand for your faith and we can go on to the next slide which will be the summary or the keep points that we reviewed the first is the soul is priceless and nothing in this world is worth more than our Eternal Destiny with Christ and Jesus calls us to live boldly and unashamed of him no matter the cost because the reward is eternal life in his presence Brothers and Sisters Let's commit it let's commit to First taking up our cross daily and second living unashamed of Christ in our daily lives if we acknowledge Jesus he will himself acknowledge us before God Amen let's pray amen amen all standing on our feet we'll be singing a song by the name of when we all get to [Music] heaven seing the wonderous love of Jesus seing his mercy and his grace in the manions bright and blessed you prepare for us a place when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing there will be and we are see Jesus Will Sing and Shout the [Music] victory while we walk the pilgrim pathway clouds will loers sprad the sky but when traveling Days Are Over not a shadow not aide when we all get to heav heav what a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus we sing and shout the victory let us then be true and faithful trusting serving every day just one glimpse of him and Glory with the tws of life weay when we all get to heav What a Day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus Will Sing and Shout the [Music] victory onward to the before us soon is Bey will be home soon the Burly Gates will open we shall sh the streets of gold when we all get to heav What a Day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus who sing and shout the victory [Music] praise God well praise God my dear friends our service has come to the end and you know I think we heard a very good message you know um uh brother Vlad was saying that uh people kind of took the the word sin and uh thinking that uh uh grace of God covers everything and it sure does but sin has consequences you know because just one example um last night uh we were driving home and there was a huge car accident you know and the car I mean nothing was left of it my kids were like dad did you see that car there was literally that car was so smooshed up I don't know what happened over there but how many people die because of drunk drivers right you know that's a consequence that's a consequence and a person maybe did that once did that twice but then with these consequences we have to live but when we come to Christ he he frees us from our sins right he frees us and he makes us uh Stronger but he also teaches us to not go back and live that kind of Lifestyle that's it you you are renewed take up my life my cross live a righteous life not a life that always keeps on going back and forth you know and um may God all give us uh strength to to live for him to be bold to be bold you know what I noticed the closer I am to God the less I'm afraid of man you know when I'm not seeking God I'm afraid of men I'm like a little girl you know like oh I'm afraid I can't can't go tell them about Jesus but when I'm bold that's because I'm ready to die for Christ amen you know and that's the boldness that God gives us well uh today I guess it's an early release and uh praise God you know vad had a very good series and um I think we we all could take something home this week today be changed reformed by the word of God and uh we're going to end but before we do does anybody have any needs if not we'll after our prayer we'll go to down to the gym like before and there will be some coffee it's on the way and some uh breakfast to to strengthen us for our main service and uh let's pray Lord God we thank you we thank you for the word that was spoken today Lord we thank you for the holy Holy Spirit Lord God touching our hearts Lord God may this word Lord God uh strengthen us Lord that we understand Lord what it is to uh carry that that uh shame Lord God that that this world uh put on you Lord God you carried it like all the way Lord God Lord God and help us Lord God to be more like you spiritually to to be renewed Lord God to we have a new life in you Jesus God because you make us strong Lord nobody else can make us strong but you Lord God and help us God to be renewed in Jesus name we pray amen Our Father in heaven Hallowed Be Your Name Your Kingdom Come your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from the evil one for your kingdom your power and Glory forever are yours amen like and I said shame let me re so let me rephrase that we do not carry shame we do not carry shame God get God set us free from that amen