Outreach Ministry For Jesus Christ Volume One May. 2014 | Page 25

Are We Willing To Take Up Our Cross And Follow Jesus
Mark 8:34-38
When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them,
“Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it
profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and
My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man
also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the
holy angels.”
When Jesus Christ walked here on the earth, He showed us by example of some of the things we may
go through. Jesus Christ suffered through many things. There was many people who mistreated Him
and did not accept Him. However, Jesus Christ was a teacher and loved us so much that He he was
willing to give His life so that we can be save.
Jesus Christ showed us through example on how to be faithful and willing to give up our life for a
purpose. In the Book of Mark, Jesus began teaching His followers that He must suffer many things.
Jesus told His followers to stop thinking about themselves and what they wanted. We must realized that
we are not here for our own purpose, but we have come here for the purpose of God. Jesus want us to
give our lives to Christ. God's greatest law is to love Him with all our hearts by
doing the Will of God.
Jesus told His followers that they could never pay enough to buy their lives back. Jesus paid the
ultimate price by dying for us. Our lives belongs to Jesus. In order to do the Will of God, we must
allow God to come into our lives and separate us from sin. God does not like sin in any way, shape or
form. Sin can and will get in the way of God's purpose for our lives. We must be willing to allow God
to renew us and remove all sin out of our lives. He told His followers that if anyone tries to save
their life will lose it.
In order for us to follow the example of Jesus Christ, we must remain faithful to God. Jesus told His
followers that we must be willing to carry the cross that is given to us. Jesus has called us to be willing
and faithful to Him. There were many people who did not accept Jesus, however, He
remained faithful through it all. Jesus has called us to do the same.

Are we willing to give our lives for God? Will we
trust God and stay faithful to His Word?
Yes, we should. We must be willing to completely turn to Jesus Christ by trusting Him to work
in our lives. Jesus told His followers to never be ashamed of Him nor His teachings. Our purpose here
is not about us, it is about the Will of God. Are we willing to give our
lives for God and trust that He will save us? Yes, because the good news is that through faith and
trust in Christ, He will save us.