Revive Us Again! - August 23, 2020

Pastor Chuck Ryan

Revive Us Again!

 

Text: Mark 8:31-38; Luke 21:34-36

 

Thesis: God’s Word is calling “Believers” to have a greater Commitment to the cause of Christ and the building of the Kingdom of God!

 

1. Jesus is instructing the “crowd along with his disciples” what it means to be a true disciple. (vs 34 &38)
2. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must…”

   1^st “Deny himself”

1. This is one of the hardest things known to human kind.

   2^nd “Take up his cross”

1. Note that Jesus states it is our cross.
2. The cross symbolizes difficulty, suffering and even shame (not popular).

              Jesus’ thoughts about the Cross. “Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:38-39)

           3^rd “Follow me (Jesus)”

1. You cannot be both a follower of the world and Jesus.

• “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.” (1John 2:15)
• "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)

1. Jesus states an additional requirement to be a true disciple.

“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." (vs 38)

1. We are called to be proud of knowing Jesus and that we follow His Word in an “adulterous and sinful generation”.
2. Anything we sacrifice for God will be replaced with something greater.

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” James Elliot

 

 

1. Jesus reveals the value of the human soul as a reason to be totally committed to him and His Word. (vs 35-37)
2. Jesus seeks to elevate the value of the soul to “the crowd along with his disciples.”
3. Jesus reveals that the soul is more valuable than physical life and all of its rewards.

“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul” (vs 36)

2. A guiding Biblical Principle I learned years ago and try to live my life by is “This world is not all there is, the best is yet to come.”