Take Up Your Cross - At The Cross pt. 2
Guys, if you haven't heard, we have purchased a building, so I am super excited, man.
I know. I'm excited to know about you. I've lost any chance of having any more hair left. Man, it is gone. I tell you the stress levels of just trying to really just find a place because as I look out and I see our families, I'm like, my god, where were you have to go You know, just praying and just fasting and asking God to show us that he will provide for our church.
So that way we can continue to be great stewards of what he's already given us. So, yes, this coming Saturday, it's a work day. So if you want to grab some gloves, chainsaws, sledgehammers, whatever you call it, you name it, you bring it. And we would love for you guys just to partner with the church this coming Saturday, which is the day before Easter, from 9:00 in the morning to two, we will provide breakfast and lunch and we will guarantee that you will be tired when you leave a man So don't go.
Don't worry about working out that morning. Just come on and you will get your workout. But the facility that we have is about 40,000 square feet and just the worship center by itself is about 15,000 square feet. And so guys, we need some help. We, we definitely need your help to come in and we will send out an email and just communications later this week.
To let you know how you can kind of just, just be available to help us transition us just one of the very many moves that we would take place in because we've got to move all this stuff man chairs, TVs, sound systems, kids stuff. I mean production, I mean you name it, we have to move all of that set up into our new location.
And so we need your help. But also this coming Friday is a night of worship, but we just experienced it. Just, just a preview of what God is going to do this coming Friday night. And so if you would like to partner with this, actually, if you want to just just show up and just see what God is going to do, it's no interruptions.
God is just going to kind of just have his way. And I'll just pray that if there won't be any messages or anything, just so not just the worship before our Lord and savior because that's just practice, right? Once we get to heaven, what are we going to be doing? 20 47 worship in. All right. So this is just practice before the real game begins.And so, yes, I want to kind of highlight a couple of the four things. Just last week we started on our new sermon series called At the Cross and so our sermon that we had last week, we we talked about standing at a crossroad how many have you ever stood before a cross or when a crossroad is where you have to make a decision?
Do, do I go left or do I go right? Doug Dawkins to walk forward or do I begin to walk backwards in last week we talked about I posed the question I asked you, does your decision line up with God's desire the decisions that you make in life? Do they line up with God desire?
We also said that your alignment with God is determined by your actions with God. But I really want to kind of highlight just my three point sermon. Yes. Last week in the three points that I talked about is that following Jesus is greater than your comfort, a man. Your comfort should be out the window like it doesn't matter how or what you feel or what you feel.
If you're in your feelings that your comfortability in the gospel really doesn't matter. In the grand scheme of things following Jesus is greater than our desires. This truly, even though the Scripture shows that God would give us our desires of our heart, but sometimes the desires that we have as men and women just living on this earth is not of God.
And even if our desires to do kingdom things, sometimes our desires does not line up with God's providence you will for your life What I want to kind of highlight is one thing that we talked about. My last point last week was this the following Jesus is greater than your family.
And then I had two people kind of came by the past rank. He Can you do me a favor? Actually, they kind of rebuke me in Jesus name, just a little bit because they say that's kind of one sided. And I love that because they my team are my family. Our family are one church family, you know, they keep me accountable.
It's what I want to do is just kind of expound on that just a little bit more because just because of time, I felt that I was in my rush just a little bit, just to kind of make sure I was making time. Let me just expound on what we talked about last week when I mentioned that following Jesus should be greater than our family.
Right in the scripture that we highlight, it was, Okay, what was it? Matthew Something, something. Chapter something. 61 but I'm gonna give you the verse. Pray for your passing. Yeah.
It says, still another said, I will follow you, Lord. But first let me go back and say goodbye to my family. Remember where Jesus had a conversation with these individuals? And this will follow me. I will follow you anywhere. I'm a writer. Die. Jesus, they're right. And He said, Well, just follow me. Well, let me go back and do this.And so this particular passage of the Scripture said that Before I follow you, God, let me go back and bid my family farewell. And Jesus said, Let the dead bury the dead. What I want to kind of just highlight is this. Now we embrace family within our one church. We embrace this so much that Jason, who did the announcement, said he's our family pastor, and we know that the target of the institution of the family was the first attack of Satan.
We see that in the book of Genesis. And so when Satan attacked the institution, the development of the family, we have to go back and begin to reinstitute what God has already set up where the enemy is trying to tear down. And we see that even through today's society, where we see that, you know, where the husbands are leaving the family unit, where there's a lot of single parent family homes, I am a byproduct of a single parent home where my mom raised us four kids.
And we know that statistically speaking, that is the parents, both parents are in the house. So the children, that is actually a byproduct of that, you know, that you know, whatever, we know that they'll be better off. So this just shows it in school, historically speaking, academically speaking, financially speaking, that those children are better off and so when we say that following Jesus is greater than your families, sometimes as believers, we put our family before the gospel and I'm agreement with you that where it should be God first and then if you're Mary is your spouse, then your family.
Okay. But oftentimes that we work so hard because, you know, for me, I grew up you know, we grew up kind of poor. Right. You know, my mom did an amazing job raising us. You know, we struggled. Everybody struggled. From time to time. And I said, you know what? My mother gave our our her kids opportunities to do better.
And in those opportunities, I said, you know what? I'm going to take that opportunity to ensure that my family we're going to level up to the next level. And so in that I decided I'm a work, I'm a grind it out, I'm a work hard. I'm a make sure that, you know, I have a great profession and things we're done with kind of take place and then do that and doing that.
Guess what I did? I sacrifice my family I miss out on opportunities where I was missing soccer games or swim meets or volleyball games. And I said, no more no more. I had to realign my priorities in such a way that I can go back and making sure that one that I'm following Christ and to lead in my family in a way that's going to honor God.
And so I just want to thank those two individuals who kind of just pulled me aside. I'll call my sister out. Cass. She said, that's right. She said she misses Brother Ryan, but she said, Pastor, right? Sadly, we were that conversation was going already. And so my cast was up. She said, well, you know, how do you begin to do something like, you know what?
You're right. Sometimes we do church so much that we forgo our family here. One just says before Pastor Jason is our family pastor, and we try to make sure that we have safeguards in our ministries where we don't work too much. You know, we don't want to do ministry seven days a week where we have 20, 20,000 different mini ministries and so oftentimes what we'll do is that we'll, we'll make sure that we, we focus on amazing.
And so we will not be a church that has 60 different small ministries we want to have maybe three or four and do those well. And so people come and say, Pastor, I have this amazing idea. Let's, let's do this like, okay, two things before I get into a sermon. If we try to launch another ministry, my team says they know this is a sustainable and who's on the team.
That's all I preach. If you want to start a ministry, first question I'm asking, how is it going to be sustainable?
And who's on your team? And a third will. And typically there's a line up with our vision because if we create a ministry that we start off and then you're the only one leading it, and we don't have levels of leaders up under it to make sure that we've already created a need in the community, we created a need inside the church.
Then we won't start that ministry. I mean, I might not like you, but that's just how we roll. Okay. But we want to make sure that we protect the family. You know, we go out and we do State Night, you know, one of my favorite skate nights and this is off topic, but just because we're fam like we can do for the next 5 minutes, when my favorite skate nights, we had a seventies, eighties and nineties skate night, you know, we went out, we had an afro was just going out skating and people wearing bellbottoms.
My son had it on M.C. Hammer outfit. He doesn't even know who emcee Hammer is. I'm like, you know, what was emcee him? Was it hard to dance like this? Y'all remember that, right? And then in the month of October, we had a pink owl. Not because it pink. He missed you a man, right? But it's just because there's a pink out she's going to get me because I'm preaching about her.
She know I love her. What does that pink out? Just an awareness of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, these things like where we go to a park and we rent a park out and we have gazebos and different things where we really focus in on the family unit because we know that the enemy's always attacking the family. So, yeah, so guys, I just want to kind of just go back and just kind of say that, yes, our desire to follow Jesus should be greater than our family, but we have to make sure that we have balance in all that we do If you have your Bibles, let's open up your scriptures to mark chapter eight versus 34
through 38. I'll be reading from the new King James version. It is 11, 14 and I will make sure that we move out on time. Amen. Yes, if you have it, say, man, if you don't say, hold up, Pastor, I hear you. Mark is in the New Testament. If you flip to the back, you have Eminem's Mark Leaves Matthew and Mark Luke and John Mark Chapter eight verses 34 through 38. I'll be reading from the new King James version. The word of the Lord says his follow when he called the people to himself with his disciples. Also he said to them, whosoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever desires to save his life or lose it. Bojo whosoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel will save him for what will the prophet a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own.
So or what will a man given in exchange for his soul for whosoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him, the son of man will also be a saint when he comes in the glory of his father. With Holy angels. Today's message if I had to give it a title, would be Take up your cross, take up your cross.
You know, growing up I was a peak. That means pastor's kid. And I can remember going to church every Sunday, almost every day, you know. Monday night we have, you know, Bible study night. Tuesday night we have prayer night was a we had another missionary. My night went Thursday was, you know, worship practice night. So every single day was something that we were doing inside the church.
And that asked and it kind of growing up as the second generation of speaks of preacher's kids pastors kids not going to church was not an option they man they knew we were going to church every Sunday and it's not an option now as long as I live in my house they know they getting up going to church they man I don't care how late they stay out Saturday night they came home almost 1:00 in the morning yesterday.
I'm telling it they came on 1:00 in the morning yesterday hanging out with church people, which is great. But they know it's 6:00 is roll call. Guess what's going to happen. Get up and go to church. I learned pretty quickly what church looked like and I began to ask what does a Christian look like? What do we believe and how do we respond to these certain situation?
It doesn't matter what denomination you are a part of, what you have become a part of. There should be some common denominators in the Protestant faith. Amen. It does matter if you're Wesleyan or Baptists or Methodists or Quaker or Presbyterian or even Pentecostal, there should be some common denominators about what Christianity looks like. Growing up in a Baptist church.
I remember seeing in the church that big a wooden plaque that was on the wall. I remember that wooden flag. Oh, come on, church. And that would imply they used to have the church attendance is also have the church offering. And they all used to be this banner that used to be the Sunday school class. We had the highest offer for that Sunday sea growing up in church I knew that in the pews before me, there used to be this this Bible.
And I'm going to talk about, you know, the Bibles that we carry today where we have in our V or A.T. or the new King James. It had to be a King James Bible study growing up in church next to that King James Bible used to be this little green book. We used to call What a hymnal songs like Amazing Grace we used to turn the pages in. We used to sing the song, so we didn't we weren't fancy where we had words on a screen. But no, we had to sing the hymns out of the hymnal. So every Sunday, this is what I saw. A church was made up like when we have baptism. We used to sing a song, Take Me To the Wall to remember that song.
Now I'm not going to go all messed up and take me to the wall to the knees to say to be baptized. There were some things that we saw every single Sunday that was kind of just framework, who gave me the framework of what my Christian faith was like. Growing up in church, we used to have what we call the mothers of the church and the mothers of the church had a rite of passage y'all know what I'm talking about?
The mothers of the church had the rite of passage to any child. I used to run around church and the mothers of the church used to yank them up and say, Child, sit down. Even the mothers of the church had the rite of passage that they can lay hands on your child spare the rod for the child. See, we need some mothers of the church in this generation where the children are running amok.
But some of my favorite mothers of the church, boy, they always used to be this one mother of the church. We used to call her the candy lady.
And the reason being because the mother of the church, she used to reach down into her purse, used to pull out a Ziploc bag of candy. Easter wears what was at Where's Mama? Mama B? Where you at? Yes, ma'am. I used to reach down into that bag, open up the Ziploc bag of candy. She had candy for everybody. That was the mother of the church.
But growing up in a church, you know, in the pews next to the King James Bible, and the hymn used to be this cardboard fan and on that cardboard fair used to be Martin Luther King. And when he got high, used to have a little popsicle stick and handle on the right. But on the back of that fair used to be what, a funeral home I'm sorry, y'all.
Yo, I'm I'm going back just a little bit. This was what I agree with. This is what church looked like for me. This is how a new church was. And so growing up, this was what I encounter as my Christian faith. But growing up in church, us, we used to have this thing, what we call a testimony service.
My, my mother of the church used to get up and say things like this. Good morning, Saint first of all, I would like to give honor to my God, who is the head of my life.
I remember seeing and hearing certain experiences that really shaped my Christian experience. Our cheer deacon would get up and pray the same prayer every Sunday the deacon would pray something like the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lower. We come before the years we bow our heads and with a humble spirit. I used to memorize that prayer by that cheered Deacon every Sunday because he did not change his prayer up for anything or anybody and even at church, someone what we call Catch the Holy Spirit, y'all know what I'm talking about?
And what are the mothers of the church? If it was a lady and she used to kind of just fall out with the mother would do begin to take her a lap cloth that she would do what? Lay it down on the mother of the church, the person who caught the Holy Spirit see, growing up in church, I attended a church called Mount Zion Baptist Church in Waco, Texas.
Before you start judging me and looking at and like, what was going down back in 95? Yes, I was there when the fire was there with David Koresh. But don't judge me. Just pray for me. A man. But my church experience in Mount Zion Baptist Church, I always knew that it didn't matter what my bishop preached on that Sunday morning it always led back to Calvary you see the bishop of my church, the pastor of my church, he always ended up at Calvary.
It didn't matter where he started, he could have started in Genesis with Adam. He he would end up in Calvary. It didn't matter if he was preaching on Nehemiah about rebuilding the wall. He always ended up at Calvary. He can begin to be talking about Jonah and the will and how you are late into the will of the belly to belly the well.
He always ended up at the cross at Calvary C. The bishop knew even if he was talking about the Book of Revelations with John, he would find his way back to Jesus. Somehow He would begin to take a deep breath, and then the organ would begin to play and if the organ wasn't playing, he would do this. Lord, no.
On his side. Y'all know what I'm talking about? The musicians knew that. Guess what? Get on the keys because I'm about to throw it down see, bishop would be like, hand he would talk about the Jesus that they took and hug on behind a wooden tree.
In order to stretch them wide and this was my Christian experience. Y'all laugh because y'all know it's true. He would take a microphone and he would take his handkerchief, handkerchief, cloth, and he would take it over to the microphone, and he would begin to preach, Jesus, coming to Calvary he used to say things like He died and the veil was torn.
And when he died, the earth shook and then if you weren't responding correctly, you ask a rhetorical question like, Didn't he die?
I got to keep it together. Guess oh, my gosh, God help me And they would talk to the church. Didn't he die in church? Y'all know what I'm talking about?
He would say things like, I know he died. Surely he die. But they put him in a bar or tomb and he laid there Friday night in, oh, days, Saturday, and then all night Saturday night. But sometime Sunday morning when the dew was still on the grass, but sometimes Sunday morning if they were getting it, he used to say early, early Sunday, morning, he got up with all power in his hands.
I learned early on in my Christian walk the only thing that mattered was the cross and Jesus the only thing that mattered is the cross. And Jesus One of my mentors told me, Pastor Rains, the rain loop. Whatever you do and whatever you preach, never get too far from the cross.
Don't get too far from the cross. See, there's churches that's out there right now that don't even begin to preach about the cross of Jesus.
But we have to know it's because of the cross that we have. Salvation is because of the cross of Jesus that gives us the power of the Holy Spirit. It's only that's the cross that we have salvation First Corinthians Chapter two verses one through five says this and die. Brethren, when I came to you did not come with excellence of speech. Or words of wisdom declared to you the testimony of God broad determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and to Him crucified I was with you in weakness, in fear, and much trembling in my speech, in my preaching were not persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Holy Spirit and the power that your faith should not be in wisdom of being, but in the power of God memory.Verse 21 more time for I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified what Apostle Paul was writing to the Church of Christ was this. He said, All the other stuff really doesn't matter, because if if Jesus did not take the road to Calvary if he didn't take the cross for you and I our faith, the very gospel that we believe in, is null and void.
It is only because of the cross in him. Being crucified is what give us access to the kingdom of heaven.
To begin to act. So questions like What does the Bible say about the cross? How and what does it mean to follow Jesus Christ? What does it mean to carry a cross to really give you guys an understanding the weight of what Christ did for us? We're going to begin to watch a short clip of a very powerful movie that personally that I can only watch one time of year.
One of my favorite movies. And if you have not seen it, I encourage you to watch it. But I will say it is it's graphic. One of my favorite movies I love to watch is called The Passion is directed by Mel Gibson some years ago. And The Passion is probably the best depiction of what Christ, our Lord and Savior begin to walk through from birth. In other words, from the cradle to the grave. If you've never watched it, I encourage you to take some time to watch it. But to give you an understanding and to give you some clarity, the weight of the cross that Christ bear for you and I. Let's watch this clip
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I want you to get that your cross is where God says you are guilty, that you are guilty. Of every sin, of every transgression. You you are guilty and you're not worthy to step foot in my heaven So what does it mean to take up your cross What does it mean that each man must bear his own cross because Luke says this whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.Luke says if you don't want to wear the same, that guilt of that rugged cross you cannot even be my disciple.
So carrying that cross, we are saying that we are willing to follow Christ daily, that we are willing to surrender our lives to Him the daily that my will live my life after Christ it was an invitation for Christ to meet you right where you're at So as I look at Mark, Chapter eight, verse 34 says this When he called the people to himself with his disciples, he said to them, Whosoever comes after me, let him first deny himself let them take up his cross and follow me So what does it mean to deny myself?
What does it mean to to come after me? What does it mean to follow Christ? And what does it mean to take up your cross the verse 34 is a request and mark chapter eight actually is the command God is asking you if you're willing to be my disciple.
Deny yourself. Come after me. Pick up your cross and picking up your cross. You're admitting that you're a sinner, that you're guilty if you think about it, that's what Romans Ten nine is about. That if you confess with your mouth believe in your heart, that Jesus Christ came and He died and he's coming back, that you have eternal salvation that you will live a life in eternity with me the God that we serve never just tells us that you must do this.He never says, do this without me asking. Just do it because I'm telling you to do it like he says, no. But if you do this this is what takes place. If you reverse 34 by self, you will miss what Mark is saying you have to read 34 in conjunction with 35 and 36 and 37 and 38 he says, because if you take up that cross and if you deny yourself and if you follow me then whoever desires to save his life will lose his life but whoever loses his life for my sake, the gospel will save it.
See 34 it's connected to verse 35 and in verse 35 is connected to verse 36, because in verse 36 it tells us what does it profit you to get the entire world that you would gain all these riches and all this wealth, but yet you lose your own soul but if you're willing to exchange your life for money and not be ashamed of me and my words if you begin to proclaim the son of man who he is, he will come in all of his glory.
And He will begin to speak to his father. Then he will give charge over his angels, over you. And then you can dwell in eternity with him and as I begin to close I begin to look at this water bottle in five were to ask you, how heavy is this bottle? Some of you may say maybe two ounces maybe six ounces.
But in all reality, the absolute weight of this water bottle doesn't matter the weight of the bottle only depends how long I'm willing to hold on to it, because after one minute, nothing happens before I decide to hold on to it for another hour, my arm maybe beginning to get numb, either weak it hurt, begin to hold on to this water bottle all day long.
I will begin to see that my always be paralyzed Pastor. Reverend, what are you saying? How long are you willing to hold on to your sins?
How long are you willing to carry the weight of your sin?
De Jesus journey to Calvary. We have to know that Scripture tells us that he was not alone in his journey. On Calvary. He had this young man by Simon of Cyrene along the way where he fell with that cross and the weight of the cross fell on top of him. A young man came by his side and helped him up and begin to carry that cross with him.
So I'm coming here to tell you today that you don't have to carry that cross by yourself. Better yet, that you are not even designed to carry that cross by yourself. You're not designed to carry that sin, that bitterness, that the unforgiveness, the hatred that's that you may carry day after day you're not designed to carry that secret sin that you've been walking with. Year after year, because first Peter says this chapter two versus 20. Chapter two versus 24. 25 that he himself for our sins in his body but on that cross so that we meet, that we may die to our sins and live a life for righteousness for by his wounds we have been healed, that we were like sheep who gone astray.
But now you have returned to the great shepherd the overseer of our souls so if you don't mind standing with me today, as we close as we know that Scripture tells us that we have to carry our own cross and if you are here today and you don't know where you're going if you don't know that you know that you know that you know that you know that you're going to heaven I will ask that you come before the altar today and let us pray with you.
Let us walk with you through the sinner's prayer you know what? Don't. Don't be afraid. It don't be a shame because Scripture tells us that you are ashamed of me before man. I would be ashamed of you before my father know that you are in great company. That your church want to rally around you and pray with you and walk with you and begin to do life with you and encourage you along the way that you are I'll have to carry this cross by yourself because we have believers.
We have deacons and elders and pastors and brothers and sisters of Christ who is willing to walk this walk with you in such a way when your cross is getting too hard for you to care, when it's getting too heavy for you to carry that we have air that errs in this in this church as willing to hold your arms up when you are weak.
So today could be your day for you to give your life to Christ and if everyone's here, saved you know that you're not alone. I know that you have to walk this life out by yourself.
Know that you have a community of believers you have neighbors in arms, remarks live who is willing to say that we love you and they're willing to do life with you.
Because there's no other name under heavy which man can be saved. And that only name is Jesus Christ and I reminded it to tell you today that this church would never get too far from the cross, that we will preach the Gospel of Christ, of him coming to being born of a Virgin Mary live 33 years, sit by his father who die for you and me, so that way we can have a relationship with God, the Father.
And yes, he was stretched wide and hung on a wooden cross because we had a guilty verdict on our life. But I'm here to tell you this coming Friday, there's a not guilty verdict come to come on church. There's a not guilty verdict for you or not, because Friday where he died, he's right. He's going to rise in three days.
And then the third day on that third day early. That's right. Early Sunday morning.
Lord and our savior, with all power and with all authority, grows for you and I. They man so the altar is open if you're saying that's great, but if you have some unfinished business with your father, bring it to the altar. If you have some unresolved request bring it to the father.