Overcoming the storms in your life – Take up your cross
Mat 10:37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Mat 10:38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Mat 10:39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Everyone has a cross
Jesus was on the cross. But here we see that everyone who does not take his cross and follow Jesus is not worthy of Jesus. Every believer has a cross. You must carry your cross before you can have a resurrection.
Jesus shows us how to handle a cross. Jesus was on the cross for six hours and spoke only for 1 minute. Jesus set the example how to handle your cross. He did not curse. He did not free himself from the cross. The victory was in going through the cross process.
Mat 10:39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Crosses are not going after your own ambitions, following your own plans in life, following what the community says is good. Die to what the world says is a success, find out what God has placed you on earth for, and pursue it.
Your career is not the cross, your wealth is not your cross, your work is not your cross, your cross is what God has created you for.
To fulfil God’s will is your cross. The test of Jesus was not his work on earth but on the cross. The real you don’t show-up until pressure arises. It is what you do under pressure that shows who you really are.
Calvary was a set-up for resurrection morning. Jesus’s shining hour was on the cross. Anyone who wants to follow Jesus must take-up his cross. If you want to be successful get ready for some cross. The sinner on the cross asked Jesus why he could not come down from the cross? If he did, the work would have never been finished. While you in a trial, people are saying come from the cross.
Hang-on, you will make.
Carrying your cross is trusting God
Psalm 28:7 ESV The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exalts, and with my song I give thanks to him.
Matthew 6:25 ESV “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Psalm 9:10 ESV And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Hebrews 13:8 ESV Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever
Psalm 112:7 ESV He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
Isaiah 26:3 ESV You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
You must go through the cross process.
On the cross you feel like complaining. On the cross you must trust God. If you keep on trusting God on your cross, on the third day you will be revived. Every time the enemy kills, you keep on coming back again. Satan cannot hold you back. Take up your cross and follow Jesus.
Sometimes you feel that you are in a cave, in a tomb. Don’t worry Sunday is coming.
You may be defeated on Friday, but Sunday is coming.
Mat 16:25 For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for my sake, you will find it. Mat 16:26 Will you gain anything if you win the whole world but lose your life? Of course not! There is nothing you can give to regain your life.
You aren’t living until you find your life. Joseph found his purpose in his cross
Genesis 50:20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.
You must die
Mat 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Mat 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Mat 16:21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. Mat 16:22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” Mat 16:23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
When you became a Christian, you entered cross country
It is a country full of crosses. Let no-one tell you it will never happen to you. Carrying your cross is part of becoming a disciple of Jesus. Peter had this spirit, this will never happen to you.
Every day is full of crosses.
Mat 16:23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Jesus told Peter to get behind him. Problems we will have, but Sunday is coming. When God sets you up for growth go through the cross.
Sunday is here
John 12:24 (GW) says I can guarantee this truth: A single grain of wheat doesn’t produce anything unless it is planted in the ground and dies. If it dies, it will produce a lot of grain.
There is a difference between being buried and being planted. The difference is in your expectation of what happens next. When you plant a seed, you expect to see it rise again. The time for planting comes when challenges arise. We all face difficulties, touch times and disappointments. You feel like you have been buried, but the fact of the matter is that you have been planted. This means you are coming back. You are not only coming back, but you will come back much better.
The seed will never reach its full potential until it is planted. If, not planted, it is comfortable and is dormant. It can never reach its potential. The same truth applies to us when we are facing hard times. We don’t want to deal with adversity. In the meanwhile, our potential is locked up on the inside, dormant.
Most people don’t want to be planted. It is lonely in the dirt. It is dark and uncomfortable. Yet the truth is that you are not buried, you are planted. When you are planted something supernatural happens, because it has the life of God in you. You have the comeback power of God in you.
Sometimes we feel that we will never see bright time again, but press forward, eventually you will burst through the darkness into the light, grew and flourish, as God intended.
Remember, no matter what comes against us in life, we are planted, not buried.
Mat 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Mat 16:25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Mat 16:26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Every Friday has a Sunday
James 1:2-8 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS) 2-8 When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realise that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character with the right sort of independence.