Take Up Your Cross

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Take Up Your Cross

• Text Luke 923/ Isaiah 535-7

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Headlines That Communicate?

• Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
•  
• Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers 
•  
• Miners Refuse to Work after Death
• Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant 
•   

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Headlines   

• War Dims Hope for Peace 
•  If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last
  Awhile
• Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures 
•  Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges 

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Headlines

• Man Struck By Lightning Faces Battery Charge 
•  
• New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group 
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• Kids Make Nutritious Snacks 
• Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half 

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Things Are Getting Serious Around Here

• In these last days, we must get SERIOUS about our
  call as disciples and our position in Christ

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Setting the Tone!

• Easter season--more than any other time--
  declares our freedom and our unique identity as
  Christs very own people
• Focus on the call of Christ to be a disciple
• To take seriously the call to be a
  DISCIPLE MAKER.

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Luke 923-26 NLT

• 23 Then he said to the crowd, If any of you
  wants to be my follower, you must turn from your
  selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and
  follow me. 24 If you try to hang on to your life,
  you will lose it. But if you give up your life
  for my sake, you will save it. 25 And what do you
  benefit if you gain the whole world but are
  yourself lost or destroyed?

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Luke 926-27

• 26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the
  Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he
  returns in his glory and in the glory of the
  Father and the holy angels. 27 I tell you the
  truth, some standing here right now will not die
  before they see the Kingdom of God.

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The Big Idea

• Immediately after Peters confession, Christ
  began to talk of deathboth His own and that of
  His followers
• The only way to life and resurrection was through
  death (to self)

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The Message Luke 923-27

• Then he told them what they could expect for
  themselves Anyone who intends to come with me
  has to let me lead. Youre not in the drivers
  seatI am. Dont run from suffering embrace it.

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The Message Luke 9

• Follow me and Ill show you how. Self-help is no
  help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way,
  to finding yourself, your true self. What good
  would it do to get everything you want and lose
  you, the real you?

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The Message Luke 9

• If any of you is embarrassed with me and the way
  Im leading you, know that the Son of Man will be
  far more embarrassed with you when he arrives in
  all his splendor in company with the Father and
  the holy angels.

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The Message Luke 9

• This isnt, you realize, pie in the sky by and
  by. Some who have taken their stand right here
  are going to see it happen, see with their own
  eyes the kingdom of God.

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The Call to Cross Bearing

• Deny yourself
• Death to ones own agenda
• Voluntary submission
• Obedience

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Insert the Jesus carry the cross photo from file
Slide 11
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The Heart of True Discipleship

• Any one who determines to pursue the perfect will
  of God for his/her life and, because of that,
  gladly accepts the discipline to accomplish it

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The Heart of True Discipleship

• No one can force you to be a disciple.
• Discipleship is volunteering to take up His life
  and living

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The Heart of True Discipleship

• Deep love for Christ a tremendous desire to give
  it all to Jesus!
• A deep trust in Christ If I get on the cross,
  Hell raise me up.
• A deep desire to glorify Him with our lives.

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The Difference Between Civilians and Soldiers

• A disciple is one who is willing to lose this
  world in order to gain the next
• A disciple is one who is NOT ashamed of Christ,
  His work, or His Word

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The Difference between civilians and soldiers

• A disciple is one of whom the Father will not be
  ashamed.but His glory will cover that one
• A disciple is one who will see Him in glory and
  will inherit His kingdom
• A disciple is one who is discipling others

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The Impact of Cross Bearing People. Vs. 26-27

• The promise out of this passage not taste of
  death until you see the Kingdom of God
  manifested...
• His glory through disciples impacts our world

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HOW is This Accomplished?

• This life begins with deliverance from sin and
  progresses to deliverance from self the process
  of discipleship is accomplished by the
  application of the cross of Christ through the
  Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and the love of
  mature believers.

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His Work on the Cross is the Exact Antidote for
ALL Sin and Self

• We must daily discover His freedom from the old
  ways and our own sin nature through the cross

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This morning I want to PICK UP the cross--His
cross and ours--and look at it in a fresh way
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Isaiah 535-6 NLT

• But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for
  our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He
  was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us,
  like sheep, have strayed away. We have left Gods
  paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him
  the sins of us all.

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Four Core Battles the Cross Resolves For Us.

• Rebellion vs. 5
• Insecurities vs. 5
• Ambition vs. 6
• Personal will vs. 7

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After Crucifixion Comes Resurrection

• Isaiah 542-3 Enlarge your house build an
  addition. Spread out your home, and spare no
  expense! 3For you will soon be bursting at the
  seams. Your descendants will occupy other nations
  and resettle the ruined cities.