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Post by John on Sept 9, 2020 3:53:29 GMT -5
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?
For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angles. Luke 9:23-26 Let us look at the first part of this. If any man will come after Jesus, he must do what? Does the Lord say to just believe, and have "faith plus nothing?" No! He says that this man must take up his cross daily, and follow Him. Yes, of course we must believe in Jesus. That goes without being said. Who would choose to take up a cross each day and follow a man they do not believe in? You would have to put a lot of trust in someone to be willing to do that. Jesus is saying that any man that wants to be his disciple must do this.
Whoever will save his life shall lose it and those who lose their lives for the sake of Christ shall save it. What is He saying here? Those who lose their old life of living in pleasures of the world to follow the Lord and walk in newness of life shall find life. He means true and everlasting life in His Kingdom. On the other hand, those who save the old life they had living in sin will wind up losing their life. They will die in their sins and wind up spending eternity in the torments of hell.
After saying this, Jesus asks us a question we need to all consider. What is a man advantaged if he gains the entire world, but loses his soul and is cast into hell? What good will it do you? Whether you are seeking power, money, fame, anything, in the end, those things will do you no good. Still, many throw away eternal life over the silliest of things.
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Post by watchful on Sept 9, 2020 5:53:29 GMT -5
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?
For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angles. Luke 9:23-26 Let us look at the first part of this. If any man will come after Jesus, he must do what? Does the Lord say to just believe, and have "faith plus nothing?" No! He says that this man must take up his cross daily, and follow Him. Yes, of course we must believe in Jesus. That goes without being said. Who would choose to take up a cross each day and follow a man they do not believe in? You would have to put a lot of trust in someone to be willing to do that. Jesus is saying that any man that wants to be his disciple must do this.
Whoever will save his life shall lose it and those who lose their lives for the sake of Christ shall save it. What is He saying here? Those who lose their old life of living in pleasures of the world to follow the Lord and walk in newness of life shall find life. He means true and everlasting life in His Kingdom. On the other hand, those who save the old life they had living in sin will wind up losing their life. They will die in their sins and wind up spending eternity in the torments of hell.
After saying this, Jesus asks us a question we need to all consider. What is a man advantaged if he gains the entire world, but loses his soul and is cast into hell? What good will it do you? Whether you are seeking power, money, fame, anything, in the end, those things will do you no good. Still, many throw away eternal life over the silliest of things.
Amen. In a nutshell taking up our cross and denying ourselves means doing like Jesus when He said "nevertheless not my will but thy will be done". We cannot enter the kingdom of heaven except we forsake everything we have......and we will find that obeying the Lord ends up in losing everything of this world and flesh that we used to have. The Lord will lead us in such a way that if we follow and obey we will over time lay down and lose all the things we used to depend on for self-esteem, happiness, pride of life, and standing in this world. All the props we used to lean on the Lord is gradually and gently removing from our life and heart so that He who is eternal becomes our source of life, not temporal things.....our dependence and reliance becomes more and more on Him and not on outward things or things of the world and flesh. Thinking of it like a hot air balloon that was made to fly and the Lord is one by one cutting all the tethers and ropes that keep us earth bound.
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Post by John on Sept 9, 2020 6:04:44 GMT -5
Let us look at the first part of this. If any man will come after Jesus, he must do what? Does the Lord say to just believe, and have "faith plus nothing?" No! He says that this man must take up his cross daily, and follow Him. Yes, of course we must believe in Jesus. That goes without being said. Who would choose to take up a cross each day and follow a man they do not believe in? You would have to put a lot of trust in someone to be willing to do that. Jesus is saying that any man that wants to be his disciple must do this.
Whoever will save his life shall lose it and those who lose their lives for the sake of Christ shall save it. What is He saying here? Those who lose their old life of living in pleasures of the world to follow the Lord and walk in newness of life shall find life. He means true and everlasting life in His Kingdom. On the other hand, those who save the old life they had living in sin will wind up losing their life. They will die in their sins and wind up spending eternity in the torments of hell.
After saying this, Jesus asks us a question we need to all consider. What is a man advantaged if he gains the entire world, but loses his soul and is cast into hell? What good will it do you? Whether you are seeking power, money, fame, anything, in the end, those things will do you no good. Still, many throw away eternal life over the silliest of things.
Amen. In a nutshell taking up our cross and denying ourselves means doing like Jesus when He said "nevertheless not my will but thy will be done". We cannot enter the kingdom of heaven except we forsake everything we have......and we will find that obeying the Lord ends up in losing everything of this world and flesh that we used to have. The Lord will lead us in such a way that if we follow and obey we will over time lay down and lose all the things we used to depend on for self-esteem, happiness, pride of life, and standing in this world. All the props we used to lean on the Lord is gradually and gently removing from our life and heart so that He who is eternal becomes our source of life, not temporal things.....our dependence and reliance becomes more and more on Him and not on outward things or things of the world and flesh. Thinking of it like a hot air balloon that was made to fly and the Lord is one by one cutting all the tethers and ropes that keep us earth bound. Well said watchful . I could not agree more!
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Post by watchful on Sept 9, 2020 6:25:39 GMT -5
Amen. In a nutshell taking up our cross and denying ourselves means doing like Jesus when He said "nevertheless not my will but thy will be done". We cannot enter the kingdom of heaven except we forsake everything we have......and we will find that obeying the Lord ends up in losing everything of this world and flesh that we used to have. The Lord will lead us in such a way that if we follow and obey we will over time lay down and lose all the things we used to depend on for self-esteem, happiness, pride of life, and standing in this world. All the props we used to lean on the Lord is gradually and gently removing from our life and heart so that He who is eternal becomes our source of life, not temporal things.....our dependence and reliance becomes more and more on Him and not on outward things or things of the world and flesh. Thinking of it like a hot air balloon that was made to fly and the Lord is one by one cutting all the tethers and ropes that keep us earth bound. Well said watchful . I could not agree more! Praise the Lord, amen.
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Post by frienduff on Sept 9, 2020 8:51:08 GMT -5
And now for a short musical interlude of praise UNTO THE LORD .
LET all who call upon the LORD depart from inquity and sing those praises OUT UNTO THE LORD .
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Post by John on Sept 9, 2020 9:30:18 GMT -5
Let us look at the first part of this. If any man will come after Jesus, he must do what? Does the Lord say to just believe, and have "faith plus nothing?" No! He says that this man must take up his cross daily, and follow Him. Yes, of course we must believe in Jesus. That goes without being said. Who would choose to take up a cross each day and follow a man they do not believe in? You would have to put a lot of trust in someone to be willing to do that. Jesus is saying that any man that wants to be his disciple must do this.
Whoever will save his life shall lose it and those who lose their lives for the sake of Christ shall save it. What is He saying here? Those who lose their old life of living in pleasures of the world to follow the Lord and walk in newness of life shall find life. He means true and everlasting life in His Kingdom. On the other hand, those who save the old life they had living in sin will wind up losing their life. They will die in their sins and wind up spending eternity in the torments of hell.
After saying this, Jesus asks us a question we need to all consider. What is a man advantaged if he gains the entire world, but loses his soul and is cast into hell? What good will it do you? Whether you are seeking power, money, fame, anything, in the end, those things will do you no good. Still, many throw away eternal life over the silliest of things.
Amen. In a nutshell taking up our cross and denying ourselves means doing like Jesus when He said "nevertheless not my will but thy will be done". We cannot enter the kingdom of heaven except we forsake everything we have......and we will find that obeying the Lord ends up in losing everything of this world and flesh that we used to have. The Lord will lead us in such a way that if we follow and obey we will over time lay down and lose all the things we used to depend on for self-esteem, happiness, pride of life, and standing in this world. All the props we used to lean on the Lord is gradually and gently removing from our life and heart so that He who is eternal becomes our source of life, not temporal things.....our dependence and reliance becomes more and more on Him and not on outward things or things of the world and flesh. Thinking of it like a hot air balloon that was made to fly and the Lord is one by one cutting all the tethers and ropes that keep us earth bound. I want to add one more thing to this watchful. It is about the timing of this post. I had been in prayer, and just happened to see your post as I was ending that prayer time. Of all things, the Lord was speaking to me about not only the fact we are not to love the world and the things of the world, but why. Those things literally will keep us held back from God, in the same way Lot's wife's love of Sodom kept her from being saved from God's wrath. We cannot be holding onto the world and be ready for heaven, because in our hearts, we will always be desiring to remain here, to enjoy this worldly pleasure or complete some worldly task. We must have an attitude at all times of being ready for our departure, and of being happy to abandon everything we have down here, including our possessions, our lives, and the things we enjoy, for the Kingdom of God. I was thinking how that when the Lord returns, love of the things of the world might well keep people held on the ground, rather than being part of that meeting in the air. Like Lot's wife, rather than just fleeing the wrath to come, we will be busy holding on to the world. That is what Jesus means about the need to hate the things down here, including our very lives if we want to be his disciples.
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