"Truly, truly, I Say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24.
Take up your cross and follow Jesus
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Nice verse Paul
a. Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies: Just as a seed will never become a plant unless it dies and is buried so the death and burial of Jesus was necessary to His glorification. Before there can be resurrection power and fruitfulness, there must be death.
i. “The principle stated in verse 24 is of wide application; in particular, if it is true of Jesus, it must be true of his followers.” (Bruce)
Praise GOD for HIS Truth, and in HIS Truth HIS Grace and Mercy to those undeserving of what our GOD took upon HIMSELF that we might live.
It truly is amazing Grace.
It sure is Paul, a very amazing grace!
After I first believed I thought all I had to do was tell someone and wait for the penny to drop, such was how amazing and loving to me it was what GOD had done for the world.
I soon learned how stubborn people are in refusing JESUS, but what hit me hardest was how far removed from what I was reading so many Christians are from The Truth Of GOD and The Church we read of in The New Testament. How difficult it is doesn't get any easier, only the understanding why is clearer.
The Church is so divided and this amazing Grace and what faith is and means and brings to show in us through The Sanctifying Work of The HOLY SPIRIT and faith in The Truth is just not understood by so many. Sadly it is the fruit, being thorns and thistles, that false doctrine produces, because the flesh prevails in so many.
Psalm 50.
Our pastors are not preaching the gospel because they are afraid it will drive their members away.
Sadly this is the problem with the church today. People wanting to have their ears tickled to pointlessly follow myths, and those supposedly entrusted with The Gospel to shepherd The Church Of GOD blindly accommodating.
It just shows The HOLY SPIRIT is not in many churches today, because HE is not in those who profess to follow CHRIST.
It's so very sad and provokes to feel indignation and agitated in spirit, just as our LORD JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF Felt at unbelief; John 11.
One with a heart after GOD'S Own Heart could not do this, regardless of who it will offend in speaking the Truth Of GOD in love.
GODS Judgement is Coming and is unavoidable. The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick.
by David Guzik
(Mat 16:24) Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
1. (24) Jesus declares His expectation that His followers would follow Him by dying to self.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
a. Said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me”: This was a word spoken to the disciples of Jesus; to those who genuinely wanted to follow (come after) Him.
b. Let him deny himself, and take up his cross: It was bad enough for the disciples to hear that Jesus would suffer, be rejected, and die on a cross. Now Jesus told them that they must do the same thing.
c. Deny himself, and take up his cross: Everybody knew what Jesus meant when He said this. Everyone knew that the cross was an unrelenting instrument of death. The cross had no other purpose.
i. The cross wasn’t about religious ceremonies; it wasn’t about traditions and spiritual feelings. The cross was a way to execute people.
ii. In these twenty centuries after Jesus, we have done a pretty good job in sanitizing and ritualizing the cross. Yet Jesus said something much like this: “Walk down death row daily and follow Me.” Taking up your cross wasn’t a journey; it was a one-way trip. There was no return ticketing; it was never a round trip.
iii. “Cross bearing does not refer to some irritation in life. Rather, it involves the way of the cross. The picture is of a man, already condemned, required to carry his cross on the way to the place of execution, as Jesus was required to do.” (Wessel, commentary on Mark)
iv. “Every Christian must be a Crucian, said Luther, and do somewhat more than those monks that made themselves wooden crosses, and carried them on their back continually, making all the world laugh at them.” (Trapp, commentary on Mark)
d. Deny himself, and take up his cross: Jesus made deny himself equal with take up his cross. The two express the same idea. The cross wasn’t about self-promotion or self-affirmation. The person carrying a cross knew they couldn’t save themselves.
i. “Denying self is not the same as self-denial. We practice self-denial when, for a good purpose, we occasionally give up things or activities. But we deny self when we surrender ourselves to Christ and determine to obey His will.” (Wiersbe, commentary on Mark)
ii. Denying self means to live as an others-centered person. Jesus was the only person to do this perfectly, but we are to follow in His steps (and follow Me). This is following Jesus at its simplest: He carried a cross, He walked down death row; so must those who follow Him.
iii. Human nature wants to indulge self, not deny self. Death to self is always terrible, and if we expect it to be a pleasant or mild experience, we will often be disillusioned. Death to self is the radical command of the Christian life. To take up your cross meant one thing: you were going to a certain death, and your only hope was in resurrection power.