Pick Up Your Cross And Follow Me… Jesus


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In the message yesterday at Out Of The Box we looked at Mark 8 where Jesus said “If anyone wants to follow me, you have to pick up your cross and follow me. Many people through the years and many people right now are wondering exactly what Jesus meant when he made this statement. Here is what we discovered yesterday and I am still discovering today.

There is a general call for all of us, starting with Jesus. Jesus came into this world to represent God to the world. God in the flesh, God and how He deals with people, God and who He is. This was Jesus primary task in walking the earth. In that representation Jesus talked about what it means to follow and what it means to have eternal life. Jesus talked about a lot of things and after 2000 years we still haven’t mined all the riches that are there.

Jesus cross to bear was Being God’s hand and feet in the world.

But then there was a secondary cross that had to be borne. Jesus literally came as the ultimate sacrifice to pay the penalty of sin for all who would believe and follow. Jesus would literally hang on a cross and die for our sin. This was the literal cross Jesus had to bear. This is what God the Father had called him to do, in order to accomplish his mission on earth.

What is your Cross?

What mission in life has God created and called you to?

Are you willing to pick your cross up and follow Jesus?

Our crosses today will seldom lead us to actually dying in the process. In some ways your cross may seem more difficult.

My cross has been to work in full-time ministry and lead in different areas of a local church. For 15 years I was a youth leader and worked closely with teenagers.  Now my cross to bear is in being a pastor and starting new places of worship for new people, in order to build the Kingdom of God. You may think it strange that I say this is my cross to bear but think about it. Our cross to bear is to represent God to the world. I love what I do but it would often be so easy to not do it and move on to something else. Would you want to be a pastor? Most people will answer no to that and for various reasons. As easy as some may think it would be to pastor a church, I would like to invite you to come hang out with me for 30 days. I love it even through the difficulties.

Maybe your cross that you are unwilling to bear is your own work place. Are there people there who need to have a relationship with Christ? If there are then you need to represent God to them. Maybe your cross is to represent God to your family and in order to do that you are going to have to make some changes. Maybe your cross is to change some habits that you would rather hang onto, Maybe your cross is something totally different. Are you willing to pick up your cross?

Jesus asked the question, not me.

Pastor Ronnie

“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. Mark 8:34

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