If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.
2 Timothy 2:12a
Today it was my turn to present the sermon. I preached on the subject of suffering for Christ. That the hardships and difficulties we sometimes go through as followers of the Lord are not things which occur by happenstance...
2 Timothy 2:12a
Today it was my turn to present the sermon. I preached on the subject of suffering for Christ. That the hardships and difficulties we sometimes go through as followers of the Lord are not things which occur by happenstance...
Rather they are God-ordained events used by the Lord to accomplish certain things in our lives.
This is no doubt a hard concept to understand, I said, as many Christians believe that following Jesus will mean living in a lofty state of continual bliss. Yes, there is peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, and Jesus has promised to always be with us, I stated.
Yet being a disciple of Jesus demands much. As in the Scriptures, the Lord himself calls His followers to a life of sacrifice and self-denial. And we have to deliberately resist sin as well, by the grace of God, and by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in the Life of a believer. Such resisting, I admitted to the men, could at times be emotionally and even physically draining, even with God's help, as our flesh is weak.
I then read to them Luke 9:23-24, which was my main text. "And Jesus said unto them all, 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." Not surprisingly, not one man gave an "Amen!" to this.
"Such a message will never be a crowd-pleaser," I said. We don't like to suffer. But these were Christ's own words, and so they are worth heeding.
This was followed by asking the men what exactly is a disciple anyhow? I gave the answer to my own question: A committed follower, and nothing less.
I explained that in Christ's day there were many who followed Him, some for the wrong reasons. Not all were true and sincere followers. Many followed Jesus for selfish reasons. Judas Iscariot being one of them. He had ambitious plans to become the nation's treasurer once Christ took over the affairs of the Jews. But he was ill-informed. Things didn't happen as he had hoped. Judas didn't understand that Christ's kingdom was and is a spiritual one, not a physical kingdom run by military and political power, or by those who have the most silver or gold.
I then added that the benefits of serving the Lord are many. They are truly wonderful. For the Christian there is peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). But, unfortunately, we are oftentimes not ready to pay the price of persecution and hardship, which are some of the costs of being a genuine disciple.
Although I was physically drained from yesterday's retreat, God was faithful to have provided me with the strength to finish the message. Hopefully I was able to encourage the guys to give all of themselves to the Lord. That Jesus is worthy of such service. That He deserves our best. Half-hearted commitment, I declared, is not God's will for His children.
In closing, I told the men, our heart's cry should be the same as Christ's cry when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Father, not my will, but thy will be done" (Matthew 26:39).
D. B.
This is no doubt a hard concept to understand, I said, as many Christians believe that following Jesus will mean living in a lofty state of continual bliss. Yes, there is peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, and Jesus has promised to always be with us, I stated.
Yet being a disciple of Jesus demands much. As in the Scriptures, the Lord himself calls His followers to a life of sacrifice and self-denial. And we have to deliberately resist sin as well, by the grace of God, and by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in the Life of a believer. Such resisting, I admitted to the men, could at times be emotionally and even physically draining, even with God's help, as our flesh is weak.
I then read to them Luke 9:23-24, which was my main text. "And Jesus said unto them all, 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." Not surprisingly, not one man gave an "Amen!" to this.
"Such a message will never be a crowd-pleaser," I said. We don't like to suffer. But these were Christ's own words, and so they are worth heeding.
This was followed by asking the men what exactly is a disciple anyhow? I gave the answer to my own question: A committed follower, and nothing less.
I explained that in Christ's day there were many who followed Him, some for the wrong reasons. Not all were true and sincere followers. Many followed Jesus for selfish reasons. Judas Iscariot being one of them. He had ambitious plans to become the nation's treasurer once Christ took over the affairs of the Jews. But he was ill-informed. Things didn't happen as he had hoped. Judas didn't understand that Christ's kingdom was and is a spiritual one, not a physical kingdom run by military and political power, or by those who have the most silver or gold.
I then added that the benefits of serving the Lord are many. They are truly wonderful. For the Christian there is peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). But, unfortunately, we are oftentimes not ready to pay the price of persecution and hardship, which are some of the costs of being a genuine disciple.
Although I was physically drained from yesterday's retreat, God was faithful to have provided me with the strength to finish the message. Hopefully I was able to encourage the guys to give all of themselves to the Lord. That Jesus is worthy of such service. That He deserves our best. Half-hearted commitment, I declared, is not God's will for His children.
In closing, I told the men, our heart's cry should be the same as Christ's cry when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Father, not my will, but thy will be done" (Matthew 26:39).
D. B.
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