If
you are serious about discipleship,
Here
are three requirements:
1) deny
yourself
- James and John coveted the limelight. They replied,
“Let one of us sit at your right and the other at
your left in your glory. Mark
10:37. One of your greatest challenges will be to
resist promoting yourself and trying to succeed on your
own, then asking God to bless your efforts. God's not
interested in second-hand glory. He wants the credit for
what He (not you) accomplishes in your life.
2) take
up your cross
- Nobody goes directly from denying themselves to
following Jesus. First we go through crucifying
experiences. Paul says: 'I die daily' 1Corinthians
15:31. Certain things in your life can be handled
only one way - dying to them. Listen: 'Count yourselves
dead to sin but alive to God' Romans
6:11. Jesus did not even talk about the cross to His
disciples, until He knew they understood this principle.
Why? Because until you do, you will never see the cross
as a plus.
3) follow
Him -
Too often we take God's presence for granted because He
said He would never leave us. But He also said: 'You did
not choose me...I chose you' John
15:16. It is not God's job to follow you, it is your
job to follow Him! When you do, it will cost you, change
you, and challenge you. Sometimes you will go through
valleys, other times you will stand with Him on the
mountaintop. You must be willing to follow Him anywhere,
any time, under any conditions; that is the deal!
Still
want to be a disciple of Jesus?
Matthew
10:38
38and
anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not
worthy of me.
Matthew
16:24
24Then
Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come
after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me.
Mark
8:34
34Then
he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and
said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me."
Luke
9:23
23Then
he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me,
he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and
follow me."
Luke
14:27
27And
anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot
be my disciple.
"You will seek Me
and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart"
(Jeremiah 29:13)
"You will find Him
if you search for Him with all your heart and all your
soul" (Deuteronomy
4:29 ).
"He is a rewarder of
those who seek Him." (Hebrews
11:6b)
"If you seek Him, He
will let you find Him" (1
Chronicles 28:9)
We don't HAVE TO
seek God with all our hearts...
WE
GET TO!!!
"I believe that we
can all "take up our cross" and be modern day
Disciples (Christian
Soldiers) if we will take the time to
listen and unconditionally do as we're told. In fact, it
seems strange to me that many of those that say "God
has no beginning and no end, He can do miracles, and that
He is with us always" seem to be the ones that have
the most trouble grasping the concept that Christianity
is not some out-dated, two-thousand year old,
institutionalized religion. But that God is here and now.
We ask for His guidance, then if we don't like what we
hear simply ignore Him because of fear of ridicule,
rejection and pride."
Jesus said,
"If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you,
before My Father."
Help
spread
the word
Get
involved before it’s too late!!!
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