Live No Lies
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Sermon Series Topics
- The world
- The flesh
- The devil
“Self-Denial in an Age of Self-Fulfillment”
“From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. ‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’ Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’ Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘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 will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their sould? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 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.” —Matthew 16.21-27
“Love your enemies.” —Matthew 5.44
“Pray for those who mistreat you.” —Luke 6.28
“Those who live by the sword die by the sword.” —Matthew 26.52
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” —Jesus, Mark 8.34
Cross
“When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
Self-Fulfillment
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” —Galatians 2.20
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” —Galatians 5.24
For Jesus, the cross is the entrypoint into the life “to the full” of the kingdom.
“Every choice is a renunciation.”
The cross isn’t just something Jesus did for us; it’s also something we do with Him.
“Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the Gospel will save it.” —Jesus, Mark 8.35
Only Two Choices
Option 1:
You deny Jesus and follow yourself.
Option 2:
Your deny yourself and follow Jesus.
It’s true it will cost us to follow Jesus, but it will cost us even more to not follow him.
“Repent and believe the good news!” —Jesus, Mark 1.15
The question isn’t, “Do you live by faith?” rather the question is “Who or what do you put your faith in?”
“Through the half-open door of a room in one of the huts I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer, still in his prison clothes, kneeling in fervent prayer to the Lord his God. The devotion and evident conviction of being heard that I saw in the prayer of this intensely captivating man, moved me to the depths.”
Practices
Fasting
Solitude
Community
“admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.” —Colossians 1.28
“Sin is unwillingness to trust that what God wants for me is only my deepest happiness.” —Ignatius of Loyola
Today’s Songs
- Hosanna
- King of My Heart
- Victory on the Way
- No Longer Slaves