Sunday Sermon 8.12

Sermon Passage: Mark 8:34
Sermon Title: Take Up Your Cross
Sermon By: Pastor Davy (Youth)
Sermon Summary:
In this passage, Jesus lays out three requirements for anyone who is willing to follow him.

1. Deny yourself. Jesus requires that we deny and reject ourselves in our sin but also in every other aspects of life as well. Our lives are centered around self-promotion and self-righteousness. To this, Jesus says there is nothing in this world that could help you gain what Jesus is offering, namely, eternal life.
2. Take up your cross. We do not often talk about the shame of the cross. But when Jesus mentions the cross here for the first time in the gospel of Mark, Jesus is talking about how a criminal would carry the horizontal beam of the cross to his site of execution. People would throw rocks at him, spit at him and shame him for the crime committed. Jesus reminds us that the world will hate his followers. The world will laugh and mock his followers. Are you ready to follow Jesus?
3. Follow him. This third requirement is more of a response that flows naturally from the first two requirements. Jesus offered himself to us and he yearns for followers who will love him above all thing. He longs for followers who will reject and deny everything in this world to pursue him.

It’s through these three requirements or conditions that Jesus challenges the disciples and crowd listening to him to follow after him. And as we will see in coming week, Jesus offers eternal life to those who are willing to follow him.