The Cross of Christ and Call to Follow

man good morning everyone how are we doing this morning great good awesome my name is Josh I'm one of the teaching pastors and Lead pastors here at the district Church it is a joy and honor to be with you guys this morning at this time we'll go ahead and dismiss all of our three to five-year-olds to the little District where they will be able to worship and hear of the good news of Jesus and for those of us in here if you have your Bibles go ahead and open to Luke chapter nine we're going to be in verse 22 through 27 this morning we are

finishing up on an intimate conversation between Jesus and his disciples and how he has asked them two questions of who do the crowds say that I am and who do you say that I am a question we must ask and answer today as well um but before we jump into this passage let me give you a couple announcements uh two quick ones uh for the ladies in here as we announced last week women's breakfast will be on hold for June and July just like our Ministries that we have going on like our community groups we have those on pause and so this gives time for

rest and relaxation reflection whatever it might be in regards to hosting and leading and so the same with our women's breakfast we're going to have that on pause until the beginning of August and so if you receive our emails or if you're on the Facebook women's page you'll be able to see Angel's update when it comes to August and where that will be so be on the lookout for that and then finally June 22nd Thursday evening at 6 30 we will be having our second Nations night that will be facilitated by The Parkers and this will be at the Wright's house up in Carmel we'll

be joined by Manuel Sanchez who is a missionary and church planner that we support through the summit Network he is down in the Dominican Republic he has actually preached for us a couple of years ago and so we get the opportunity to hear all that God is doing down in his church as well as how we can pray for him and support him so uh put that on your calendars June 22nd Thursday evening 6 30 at the Wright's house you'll be able to come and join us for our nation's night as well as being able to pray for Manuel and all that God is doing

um and then finally all of this is on our email so if you do not receive those or maybe they're going to spam and we can try to figure out how to get them to your inbox come see me and we'll make sure that we'll get you on that list all right so Luke chapter nine starting in verse 22-27 before we jump into this passage though um what I what I want to do kind of set this up is kind of give some context to what this conversation that we've already seen is bringing about right last week we looked at that question of who do

you say that I am and Jesus telling the disciples why he came and really kind of breaking their expectation of who this Messiah is right and oftentimes in our life we we have those realities of expectation versus what our experience truly is anybody ever do a deep dive on Instagram or Tick Tock of like expectations versus realities anybody yeah right yeah anybody experience those right anytime I go out to the golf course that is my reality I have an expectation of what it's supposed to look like and then I get done and it's not so great but one of the most disappointing realities of my

life actually happened in the last couple of months now most of you know or some of you may remember I used to have a pit bull his name was Aslan he was a large 80 pound pit bull and as you can see he he loved kids he was a gentle giant and he passed away last year at 10 years old he was a dog that I brought everywhere obviously to softball games as well as walking on the Monon things like that I loved him and when he passed away I knew I'd eventually want another dog right and so I knew that it's going to take

me some time to get over him but eventually I would get another pit bull most likely a puppy so that I could train him to be just like Aslan was so after about seven months of being dog-free I decided it's time to go get another dog so I got down to the Humane Society my friend's working there she says Hey we've got this pitbull puppy for you and you should come down check him out and take him home so I did most of you know this is Franklin he now runs around my house and a few months begin to pass as I have Franklin in

the home and I begin to see he's not growing so either he's sick or something's wrong right so I started to feed him a little bit more that didn't help all it did was make him chubbier to where he looked like a land seal he wasn't getting any bigger he wasn't looking like Aslan he actually wasn't acting like Aslan wasn't docile he has an attitude yeah so finally what I decided was I need to figure out what type of dog he is because he looks like a pit bull in his face he has this broad chest maybe a little bit of little man syndrome but

he does not look as if Aslan did at the same time so I finally got a DNA test for him and after a couple of weeks this DNA came back and yes he had pit bull in him but the same percentage of pitbull he also had as Chihuahua so he was a pit bull and a chihuahua which explains a whole mess of interesting things about him his attitude his size all of these things so what I thought I was getting which will come up here this is what I thought I was getting right but this is what I got a small 35 pound somewhat looking

pit bull slash Chihuahua who has an attitude who doesn't listen who tears everything up this is my reality you see I had an expectation of what Franklin was supposed to be I thought he was going to be the 75 80 pound pit bull that would be docile a gentle giant that I'd be able to train just like Aslan but the reality of my life especially when this DNA test showed me what kind of dog he was I saw this is what I have now I love him he's quite funny he has an attitude and I enjoy him most of the time in my home but

this is my reality was Franklin but let me ask you a question this morning when it comes to your plans in life how many of you have similar experiences of expectation versus reality how many of you have thought I would have kids I'd have a husband or a wife I'd have a bank account I'd have Financial Security I might have all these things by the time I'm this age and yet you sit here today and none of that is your reality or maybe you have all of those things and what you thought was supposed to bring you life and joy in them is not because

your reality is the things that God has given you but maybe you thought they were going to satisfy you your expectation and your reality are different and jumping back into this intimate conversation with Jesus that he's having with his disciples we see that they are experiencing the same thing you see their expectation of what a messiah was supposed to look like and the reality that Jesus is about to give them are two different things but what I want us to see this morning is that God's plans often differ from our expectations but his plans are far greater than we could ever imagine I'll say that

again because it is wordy God's plans often differ from our expectations but his plans are far greater than we could ever imagine and I want us to see this in three different ways through his cross through the disciples cross and then what we gain from the cross so let's jump into what Luke has to say at the end of this conversation and see how Jesus calls us to follow him and he's strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one saying the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and

on the third day raised and he said to all if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it for what does a prophet a man what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself for whoever is ashamed of me and of my words of him will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the father and the Holy Angels but I

tell you truly there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God this is God's word let us go to him in prayer and ask him to bring light to our passage this morning Lord you are good to us your generous and gracious and merciful and you not only have unique plans for each and every one of our lives but we can rest in those plans because we know your character and your mercy and your goodness and your word reminds us that your ways are not our ways and your thoughts are not our thoughts so even when our

expectations for this life are different from the reality of what we experience we know that you are working all things out for your glory and our good whether those Seasons or valleys of low or Mountaintop highs we can trust you and as we see this morning you have an expectation for the way in which your people are to live so Lord help us to be obedient to it even when it's costly to us give light O Lord to our text this morning help us have the ears to hear and wisdom to receive your word so that we may trust you as king and that we

may grow in maturity and love for you as your servant this morning use me as a mouthpiece and let the words of my mouth and meditations of my heart be acceptable To You O Lord my rock and my redeemer it is in you that I trust and it's in Jesus name we pray amen so picking back up from last week Jesus is asking the disciples who the crowd says he is writing we learned from last week the crowds were often people who followed Jesus for his healing his feeding or his physical Ministries and they were people uncommitted to him being the Lord and Savior and

Messiah but then he turns the question to his disciples and to us who do you say that I am a question that the disciples get right and one that we need to get right because our very Souls depend on it but Peter responds you are the Christ of God the Messiah come to set your people free and yet their expectation of what a messiah was supposed to do was not the same as Jesus ultimately then gives to them of why he came you see for them the Messiah meant freedom but freedom from oppression freedom from the power and Rule and reign of Rome it meant

that Israel would be back as leading in the land and maybe even the disciples because Jesus called them would be put in charge of things we see this in the conversation between James and John and Matt and in Mark 10 where they asked to sit at Jesus's right and left hand to help rule his kingdom now while they were right in their confession through Peter that Jesus is the Christ of God their expectations were far from Jesus's reality of why he came you see Jesus came to bring freedom but spiritual freedom through his death and Resurrection look back at Jesus's reality of of why his

life or why he came to bring his life as a sacrifice for many he says in verse 21 and 22 the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised now imagine if you're the disciples in this moment right they're rejoicing that they are in front of the Messiah they got this question right that God supernaturally has revealed to them who Jesus is the one who came to save his people but instead of allowing them to Rejoice instead of allowing them to live in what they're thinking

and their expectations Jesus immediately gives them the reason why he came and and really probably crushes them disorients them throws them into confusion because the next thing he says is yes you were right but I came to die imagine their expectations dashed the son of man the Messiah the deliverer for all of Israel who they had been longing for to set them free is finally here but he's not here to set them free the way they expected and many people today have a similar expectation for Jesus Even in our church people believe that he is just something or someone that can come and get things

from or someone that they just have to have knowledge of in order to receive eternal life some even think that he's just a moral or good teacher that if all they do is follow his teachings they will be fine some even see them just as their homeboy right who just has him as a friend who's never going to call them out on their sin or call them to repentance or call them to live in obedience to him this world has an expectation for who Jesus is and it is far from the reality of how scripture defines him to be C.S Lewis says this far better

than me in his book Mere Christianity he says I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher but I don't accept his claim to be God that is the one thing we must not say a man who is merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher he would either be a lunatic on the level of a man who says he is a poached egg or he would be the devil of hell you must make your choice

either this man was and is the Son of God or else a Madman or something worse you can shut him up for a fool you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God but let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about him being a great human teacher he has not left that open to us and he did not intend to as some would summarize this he is either a liar lunatic or Lord and this is the reality of Jesus being the Messiah who came to deliver his people he

did come to bring freedom but freedom from the oppression of sin and our bondage to it through his perfect life his sacrificial death and his resurrection from the grave and it's only through Christ's work on the cross and Resurrection from the grave that we can be saved by putting our faith and trust in him and being obedient to all that he calls you see God's plan often differs from our expectations but his plans are far greater than we could ever imagine you see the disciples had an expectation of what the Messiah was supposed to look like and Jesus shatters that by telling them why he

came but the reason he came is far greater than they could ever have imagined because he brought what they truly needed and he has brought what we truly needed forgiveness of sin and reconcili Reconciliation to the father restoring our relationship back to him that brothers and sisters it's the good news of Jesus Christ and it should cause us to Rejoice like Paul does in Romans 11 when he says Oh The Depths and riches and wisdom of the knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and inscrutable are his ways for who has known the mind of the Lord and who has been his counselor or

who has given him a gift that he might need for from him and through him and to him are all things to him be the glory forever amen the disciples expectation was that the Messiah would free them but the reality is that Jesus does free but he gives us spiritual freedom from sin that we all need but with the disciples expectation also comes how to follow him and these expectations of following him don't stop at the cross this is where they begin while all that Jesus offers in Salvation is a free gift I want you to hear this this morning it's also costly it requires

death first the death of Jesus Christ in order for our sins to be covered in order for his righteousness to be imputed to us but it also requires our death now for most of us in here it may not require a physical death there are some of brothers and sisters throughout the world who have experienced and will experience this but for most of us this isn't a physical death that Jesus calls us to but it is a death of Our Lives daily our desires that we have look at verse 23 and what Jesus says is required of us as we take up our cross if

anyone would come after me let him deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me as if Jesus hadn't already begun to shatter the disciples expectations of what it would look like to follow the Messiah he goes even further by telling them in egregious and heinous thing connected to discipleship to him and what it costs to follow him Jesus's reality here is that you must die to self deny your desires and follow him through surrender through sacrifice and through suffering because Jesus surrendered sacrificed and suffered on our hat on our behalf Phil reichen says the only way to follow Jesus is to follow him

to the very death and this has to come every day for the disciple of Jesus Christ and this cross this death starts with denial it is a surrender of self a denial of self we must surrender our desires daily in order to follow him denial here is to forget oneself entirely it is to reject any thought of doing our will that does not please God this is especially true of our old sinful fleshly self as Believers we have a new creation we have put on a new flesh we have been given righteousness that is not our own and Jesus has taken on our unrighteousness so

it is our job to daily follow him daily put to death those sinful desires we are called to deny our old selves to put on death of our old sins and ways in which we used to live in order to live according to God's standards and God's holiness that he calls us to and guys this right here is going to be extremely hard in our day and age I'm sure that it was also hard for the disciples but when you look at our day and age when you look at our world around us this is not what we are called to this is not the

expectation that we often hear when it comes to choices and Desires in our own life am I right often this world tells us that we need to live completely opposite of denial in order to be happy we must indulge ourselves we must gratify whatever longing or feeling or desire that we have or as Parks and Rec tells us we must treat ourselves we see this so much in our world today from the partying drinking over indulgence the sexual Revolution and how the world tells us it's okay to sleep with whoever you want man or woman going completely against God's desire and design for marriage and

the sanctity of it I mean look around you I'm not trying to shoehorn a specific topic but we are in June we are amongst the pride right and what does pride tell us to not deny ourselves to actually indulge ourself this is what the world would tell us this is what the world would expect of us but Jesus says if you are my disciple you are to deny yourself and follow me all that I've commanded all that I've called you to take up your cross and follow me now not to make this just in us against the world type of mentality that churches will often

do there are desires that we in the church must deny as well that we have allowed into our gathering one of the constant desires that I see in Church hours and church around is the desire to forsake the Gathering of the Saints for consistent periods of time right Hebrews 11 tells us do not neglect the Gathering of the Saints it is a command of Believers to come and gather together and yet when the weather's nice when a holiday comes when whatever we desire whatever we desire leads us to choose not coming to Sunday morning and worshiping with the Saints we do it we do not

deny ourselves we give in to our flesh now I want to be honest I do recognize there are providential hindrances that take us away from gathering with the Saints whether it is work or sickness but more often than not there are times where we do not deny ourself and we give into our desires in order to not come to the gathering with the Saints and Jesus tells us deny yourself this is important to be with the Saints to hear God's word to take communion to worship with one another for what God has done for us it is unique it's far greater than anything that you

can go to or gather with other people in and God has designed that for our good and the growing incentification so we need to deny ourselves more often than we do when it comes to the Gathering of the Saints but there's other desires that we need to deny a lot of times when we talk about rest our rest looks more like laziness than it does biblical Sabbath so maybe instead of watching Netflix for four hours on your day off read about God's goodness and mercy and grace to you or get out in nature and worship and see all that God has provided for you as

his children there are other desires as well I would call them legitimate desires they often can be very subtle but there are things that are legitimate that we desire that aren't inherently wrong or sinful but we do need to deny them for certain Seasons or even for our own lives for the rest of our lives in order to continue to follow Jesus I don't know what that might be for you but there are freedoms and Liberties that we have as believers that in order to Faithfully follow Jesus we must deny ourselves these things because this is what Jesus calls us to do as his disciples

now Jesus Takes the denial of self and and brings it to another level in this next command it's similar to this call of denial but it is more weighty and it is to take up your cross daily this is the sacrifice that we are called to obey as Disciples of Jesus Christ what's interesting here is that Luke's first use of the word cross comes in connection with following Jesus the way a disciple would live I'm sure that you've heard this before but I think it's worth repeating today crosses are more of artwork right or or maybe they're more of jewelry that we wear and and

it's not wrong or sinful but that's not the case for the disciples upon hearing this for the first time in the Roman world you see a cross was a symbol of death and no doubt the disciples would have seen criminals who had taken their crosses to their own crucifixion as Leon Morris puts it when a man from one of their Villages would take up their cross and go off with a ban of Roman soldiers he was on a one-way Journey where he would not return most often today when we hear or maybe you've even used this phrase this is my cross to bear it's often

used in the form of our struggles or our sinful tendencies in our lives it could be our tempers it could be our anxiety it could be our worry whatever it might be in your life maybe you've used this phrase this is my cross to bear but the reality is those things actually need to be taken to the Cross laid at the feet of the Cross and Given over to the Lord so that he can help you deny them and we have to recognize that the hardships and struggles in our life are not our crosses to bear but they are a work of the Lord to

sanctify us for his good purpose and ultimately our joy you see taking up one's cross is the most extreme form of self-denial specifically when it comes to suffering for the sake of Christ Joni Erickson Tada explains this so well and for for those of you who don't know who she is at 17 years old she was injured from a diving accident that left her paraplegic and in a wheelchair she said this in one of her teachings at Wheaton College she said I've learned that it's a passion for God that will give you a passion for people and this utter Delight in him will come from

the toughest of trials that you are about to face our Affliction becomes that which pushes and shoves us down the road to the cross and that's what it means to become like him in his death don't think that the cross is simply the wheelchair or an irritating job or an irksome mother-in-law the cross is the place where you die to sin and live to God the cross is a place where you die to sin and live to God this is Jesus's expectations for his disciples that we would die to self that we would take up our cross that we would deny sin and follow him

and this isn't a once in a lifetime thing it isn't the the form of justification where when we accept and trust in Jesus and faith that we are set free and we are made righteous no this is our sanctification this is the daily walk in which we deny ourself in which we take up our cross in which we live for his sake in obedience and service to him guys he willingly took up his cross for our sake so how could we be content with doing anything less than picking up ours and living for him finally the last verb that Jesus gives his disciples is surrender

or follow me following him this is the most basic definition of a disciple is it not that we followed Jesus but we follow him even to his death and all of this cannot come from our own strength this must must come from a supernatural strength outside of ourselves you see last week we saw that Peter made the confession that Christ is God he is the Messiah he is the deliverer and we see in the the parallel passage in Matthew that Peter came to this Revelation through Supernatural natural Revelation from the father that it was from the father that Peter and the disciples were able to

recognize who Jesus truly was and this is the same for us it's supernatural Revelation that leads us to know truly who Jesus is and that he is the Christ but it's also through Supernatural strength by the power of the holy spirit that we can live for Jesus that we can be obedient to his call to be disciples and to follow him and to deny ourselves and to Bear our cross daily guys the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that lives in US so we have the power to fight temptation to deny ourselves to Bear our cross because the Holy

Spirit lives with uh within us if we are Sons and Daughters of God God's plan often differs from our expectations but his plans are far greater than we could ever imagine and if we're honest oftentimes when it comes to following Jesus what we are called to today isn't really always our expectation right maybe it's not even how the world would Define what following Jesus looks like but we have to look at Jesus's words and take them seriously and when we follow him and when we deny ourselves and when we take up our cross daily here's the promise we gain freedom not only do we have

freedom spiritually but also freedom in this world freedom from trying to find satisfaction in anything else in this life freedom from trying to work as hard as we can to gain everything in this world because as Jesus will go on to show us when you gain everything in this world you actually lose it all look what he says for whoever would save his own life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it this is the great Paradox of the Christian Life to lose your life for Jesus's sake you will save it but to try and save it yourself you

will lose it to save your life in this manner that Jesus explains describes self-preservation it's trying to find security and saving through your works and through your means that actually can't save you and this is the warning Jesus is trying to give think of the Rich Young Ruler when he asks what he must do to follow Jesus Jesus's response is leave everything you have and follow me and that ruler goes away saddened because his treasures were his Idol these are the same people who Jesus talks about in The Sermon on the Mount that Luke gives in chapter 6 where Jesus gives woes to these men

and women who seek to save themselves to self-preserve who seek satisfaction and Security in this life and not in the Life to Come their expectation is their Pursuits in the here and now will save them and not in the Investments of the kingdom of God which are eternal and Jesus says they won't if you pursue it if you do not deny yourself if you do not bear your cross daily if you do not follow me and you try to save and preserve yourself you will lose your life and it's not just an eternal reality which is what Jesus is talking about how often do we

see people seek to save themselves through security and peace and whatever means possible and yet they seem unsatisfied it's like drinking salt water right you think that you're going to you think that you're going to not be thirsty but in the end it makes you even more thirsty you are not satisfied in seeking the things of this world you will not be as Jim Elliott once says he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose to lose it all for Jesus's sake while it may feel like death now will in fact bring salvation will in fact save you

and this is our hope because Jesus said to his disciples the reason he came is what to die but also to resurrect I said this last week and I'll say it again I love the certainty that Jesus gives that not only is he going to the Cross to die but he is also telling his disciples and us he will resurrect he will defeat sin and death and we know as his disciples in this reality of his resurrection that this is not our end this world this life does not end here but losing our life here for the sake of Jesus will bring that greater peace

that Greater Joy that everlasting life that he promises and he goes on to say from this Paradox there's a great tragedy of the one who doesn't listen and the one who seeks to save his life listen to what he says for what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits his life or himself for whoever is ashamed of me and of my words of him will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in glory in the glory of the father and of the Holy Angels Jesus wanted his disciples and us to know the reality of trying

to self preserve or save yourself here on Earth will cost you everything so he asks this rhetorical question and gives this Grand example of a man who seemingly saved his life here on Earth but what does he lose everything he loses his soul it should make you think back to one of the Temptations Jesus has given right I believe it's the third one where Jesus is brought to the edge of the Earth and Satan says if you Bow Down and Worship me I will give you everything here Jesus is showing if you do that you will lose it all this is the tragedy in trying

to preserve and save yourself in trying to gain everything that this world has to offer and the reality is scripture actually gives us an example of someone who did this go read the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon in all his wisdom gains the whole world and second Kings actually tells us he loses his soul so we have this played out there's nothing new Under the Sun and Jesus is trying to warn us again that if you seek to preserve and save your life here you will lose it guys consider everything this world has to offer riches luxury entertainment achievements that's a that's a grand picture of

what this world has to offer consider your own Treasures that you seek to find whether it's Financial Security Pleasures you feel that you can't live without the achievements that you might be striving for you realize that none of these things will save you now none of them have to be wrong or sinful but when they are placed above God as the good Gift Giver then they become idols then you realize that they are not satisfying then you realize that you will lose everything if you worship them to their end this is the reality of seeking pleasure in this world and pouring all that you have

into the here and now and not into eternity and this is what Jesus is ultimately getting after we are Eternal beings despite what this world has to tell you that this life is short and then when you die you go into nothingness or you're annihilated or whatever it might be scriptures show us that we are Eternal beings and there is an end for us all in eternity and it's either Heaven or Hell and the one who is focused on gaining life here will never deny himself he'll never take up his cross days he will never truly follow Jesus and ultimately that will lead him or

her to be uh be ashamed of Jesus because their loyalty is tied to the things of this world how many of us have seen this how many of us have seen believers or people who claim to follow Christ only claim Jesus with their lips but when the Winds of culture change so do they they typically question the authority of God they question the authority and inerrancy of scripture Jesus becomes more of an activist than a savior who they need to follow and obey they are as Paul describes in Ephesians 4 those who are tossed to and fro by the waves and carried by every wind

of Doctrine by cunningness and craftiness in man's deceitful schemes those who seek to gain their life here their expectation of discipleship through Jesus is based more on feeling and emotion and not through the lens of scripture and how Jesus calls us to live and follow him and one day Jesus will come back to judge this world this is what he's telling us as Eternal beings there is a day when Jesus comes and he will judge this phrase that Jesus will come in glory shows us this this is what this phrase points us to that Jesus will come back to judge this world and those who

have denied themselves who have taken up their cross daily and have followed him he will welcome them with joy into heaven but those who have sought to self-preserve those who have sought to gain their life here who are ashamed of him he will be ashamed of before the father and they will be condemned to the fires of hell this is the reality someone who does not deny themselves who does not bear the cross of Jesus Christ and follow him now Jesus then closes this conversation with an interesting and unique statement to his disciples that we will unpack next week so for the sake of time

I just want to read this passage or read this verse and then we'll close out Jesus tells the disciples but I tell you truly there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God now he's talking to his disciples but he's talking to some specifically that we will see next week in the Mount of transfiguration so you have to come back to figure out who Jesus is talking to and we'll also get to see the final conclusion or the answer from God the father of who Jesus is that Luke has been asking us since chapter 8. but to

close this morning I want to ask us a question that we must ourselves and hopefully we have been asking ourselves in light of today's passage will we truly follow Jesus will we deny ourselves take up our cross and Faithfully be obedient to his call of discipleship knowing that this call is not salvific this is not our Salvation being earned our Salvation being earned it was through Christ on the cross and his righteousness being given to us for those who believe in faith but this is obedience the Overflow of what it means to trust and believe and follow Jesus so Jesus last week asking the question

who do you say that I am is not just something that we verbally say but it is also a life we live and remember God's plans often differ from our expectations but those plans are far greater than we could have ever imagined as we submit Our Lives to Jesus and present ourselves as living sacrifices holy and acceptable to God which is our spiritual worship not being conformed by the pattern of this world but being transformed by the renewing of our minds there we find Freedom and joy and satisfaction in this life and hope for the life to come when Jesus returns or calls us home

so even though God's plans may look different than how we would have planned things out we can trust that God's plans are greater for us than we would have planned for ourselves and we can seek to deny ourself to Bear our cross and to Faithfully follow him believer brothers and sisters this morning will you obey and if you're an unbeliever in here you have not placed your Faith and Hope in Christ the author of the offer of following him in faith is offered to you this morning but denying yourself and seeking the pleasures of this world you will not find true life it is only

found by putting your faith in Jesus as Lord that your sins will be forgiven and that righteousness will be added unto you and I promise you I promise you that this pursuit of Jesus trusting him in faith this will be greater than anything you could ever gain in this world and in the Life to Come so as we close with communion I want to be reminded of the one who gave us the great example the greatest example of denying himself and that is Jesus Christ who as Philippians 2 tells us put on flesh and though he was in the form of God did not count

equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of man and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on the cross every week when we take communion we are reminded of this humility and self-denial of Jesus who step out of heaven and put on flesh live a perfect life die a sinner's death we so rightly deserve and Rose from the grave defeating sin and Death on our behalf sealing our election as Sons and Daughters of God and we can now rejoice

so every time we come to this table we remember and reflect on what Jesus has done for us it is a reminder of this sacrifice and the suffering that Jesus went through but it also points us to a future reality a reality where all the saints when Jesus returns or calls us home a reality where we will be celebrating at the wedding Feast of the Lamb this bread and this juice is just a shadow of what is to come it's supposed to make you hungry for the eternal life and that Feast that we will partake in so I'm going to invite you to the table

and I'm going to give us some expectations of what it means to take communion and then we will continue to Worship the Lord through song so come and grab the bread and juice and we will continue in communion