Luke 9:18-27 (New Living Translation)
18 One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone. Only his disciples were with him, and he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
19 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other ancient prophets risen from the dead.”
20 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
Peter replied, “You are the Messiah sent from God!”
21 Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone who he was. 22 “The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”
23 Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, 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? 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.”
I. A prayer problem (vv. 18-20)
• Jesus demonstrated a pattern of
• Prayer is making room for God our
• Prayer helps us to resist the temptation of
• Prayer helps us to remember that God allows people to
II. A processing problem (vv. 21-23)
• There can be no salvation without
• Jesus has a problem with people whose
• Saviors without suffering endorse
• If there is no
• Jesus has a problem with people whose
• The process of
III. Solving impossible problems (vv. 24-27)
• Prayer helps us to process how our sin always affects
• Prayer helps to process how our sovereignty is
• God conquers our need for
• God undermines our need for
• The cross helps us to process how love is