MATTHEW 16 INVEST IN THE LORD2005 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Matthew 16 Invest In The Lord

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2005.

Matthew chapter 6. We looked at this portion of scripture very briefly last week. We'll look at it very briefly this week and then move on to Matthew chapter 16. But last week we talked about kind of a challenging question, the idea of what is important to us. And we noticed that we can often tell what is important to us.

by the gifts that we receive from those around us. As we had this last Christmas, we know that the people around us that loved us, that know us, and that really just wanted to bless us with something that we would treasure, we would value, gave us many gifts. And the question is, do those gifts lead us closer to Jesus Christ? Do the people around us see...

The things that are valuable in our lives as things that contribute to our walk with the Lord or as things that really distract from what God wants to do in our life. And so right there in front of us, we had a picture of what those around us think is important, think is valuable to us. Now, the challenging question is and the challenge that I put forth was that you would spend the next couple of days. That would be this last week examining and asking the Lord to reveal to you your priorities.

my priorities, that we would have a right heart, that He would be the forefront of our life, the main passion, the master desire of everything that we do, the love of our life, that our priorities would be putting Jesus Christ first, that those around us would know He is the most important thing to us. He is the most valuable thing to us. And only things that...

to our relationship with Him are the things that we desire. Where are your priorities? Where are my priorities? I hope you took the time. I hope you had the chance to examine and to look at your life and to really spend some time asking the Lord to reveal to you the things

In your heart and in my heart. God wants to do a wonderful work in us. Where are your priorities? Where are your treasures? In Matthew chapter 6 verses 19 through 21 it says this. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, where neither thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Jesus here, in speaking to those around him, gives them an encouragement that they would not lay up for themselves treasure here on this earth. Why not? Well, the treasures here on this earth, there's moths that can destroy as well as rust, where thieves can break in and steal. But he says instead, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

Why? Well, because in heaven there is no moth, there is no rust, there are no thieves to break in and steal. Your treasures in heaven are secure, Jesus is saying. And he says, where your heart is, I'm sorry, where your treasure is, that's where your heart is also. And so an important evaluation for us is, where is our treasure? What gifts do we receive? What are the priorities? What is important within our lives?

I don't know about you, but I'm not very good at saving money. I come to the end of a paycheck, if I have $20 or $30 left, I say, praise the Lord, love, we can go out to dinner. It's Clayton Jumper or Red Robin or Gus Jr.'s or something good tonight because we got $30 extra. Where I could say, hey, you know, we got $30 extra, I could save it, and then we can go to like Black Angus. No, I'm just kidding. But...

I'm not good at saving money. I come to the end of my paycheck. I have some money left over. Oh man, it burns a hole in my pocket. I'm like, oh, I already paid all the bills. What else can I get? What else can I buy? I need to get something to put this money to use and make it work for me. I'm not good. I don't know if you are, but I'm just not very good. Now,

I need to learn that. And as Jesus encourages us to lay up our treasures in heaven, how do we really do that? Well, in a sense, it's much like...

keeping a savings account or contributing to savings. Because what you do if you're going to save money is you say, hey, I have $20 extra, I have $50 extra, and I don't want to use it right now because it's not going to be very profitable for me just to use it and to blow it on something I don't really need. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to lay it aside. I'm going to put it into this account or that account or invest it here or invest it there. And then what I'll get back is money.

A better return. I'll get more for my money because I was wise, because I took the time to lay it aside and allow it to collect interest or to put it to use. Laying up treasures in heaven is much the same way. We do it by investing.

We do it by investing. Now, when you invest money, you're saying, hey, I'm going to stop what I want. I know I really want a cheeseburger or the double-double or whatever. I want those things. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to set aside that want, that desire that I have. And I'm going to put that money to better use. Laying up treasures in heaven by investing is the same thing, except for instead of money, we're investing our own lives.

We're saying, hey, my life, that's not so important to me. The things that I desire, the things that I want to do, not so important to me. You know what's better? I'm going to lay aside my will, my desires, my pleasures, and I'm going to do something that's worthwhile. I'm going to do something that will last forever. I'm going to lay aside the use of my life so that I can get a good return later. Turn with me now to Matthew chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16 says,

As we think about this idea of investing that we may lay up treasures in heaven, the word invest means to spend or devote for future advantage or benefit.

to spend or devote for future advantage or benefit. That's what we do when we invest money. We spend or devote a certain amount of money so that it would have a future advantage. It would come back with interest. We'd be able to collect even more on it. But as we look into the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God, as we lay up our treasures in heaven, we invest our lives in the

the things that are eternal and the things of God so that we collect back something that has a future benefit. And what is that? We'll get to see it here in Matthew chapter 16. Let's read together verses 24 through 27. It says, Then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone 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 will find it. For what profit is it to 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 the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each according to his works. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity this morning to hear from you out of your word and specifically out of Matthew chapter 16.

God, I pray that you would help us to open ourselves up to you, God, that you would be able to have full access to our hearts, to our minds, to our thoughts and feelings, God. Lord, that you would do what you want to do within us this morning, God, that you would speak to us through your word, God, that you would challenge us in our ways, Lord, that you would examine our priorities, Lord, and show us how we can better serve you, how we can walk with you, how we can draw close to you, especially in this coming year in 2005.

God, I pray that you would do a work in our hearts this morning. Keep the enemy from here, any distractions, anything that's not of you. Lord, we just ask that you would be glorified. And it's in Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen.

Matthew chapter 16, Jesus is talking to his disciples and he gives them an interesting challenge. Those who are around him, those who are following him, his disciples. He says in verse 24, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

He's talking to those who are around him and he says, you know, if you desire, if you want to come after me, to walk with me, to follow me, there's some things that you need to know. There's some information that I need to give you that might change your mind as you understand it, as you take a look at it. But if you desire to come after me, here's what it is.

Now the question for you and I this morning is, do we desire to come after Him? Do we desire to follow Jesus, to walk with Jesus? I believe that we do because many times, or not many times, but even now, we're here. We desire the things of the Lord. We desire to walk with Jesus Christ. We've had the past week to look back and reflect on our priorities and understand, Lord, where is my heart in my relationship with You? Are You my first priority?

I believe we do want to follow Jesus. We do want him to be our first priority. We are here to hear from him this morning. But the question is, how much do we desire to follow him? If we're talking about investing, hey, how much of our lives are we willing to invest in following Jesus Christ?

Sunday mornings, Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights and Friday nights, Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights, Friday nights and Saturday mornings. How much are we willing to invest of our lives in the work of Jesus Christ, in the work of the gospel, in the calling that he's placed in each and every one of us? How much are we willing to invest in the work of the Lord? Jesus gives us three things to do.

If you desire, he says, then these three things must be true in your life. What are the three things? Well, he says, number one, deny yourself. Number two, take up your cross. And number three, to follow me. That's not follow Jerry. That's follow him. He said that.

We need to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus Christ. Now, these are the things that he did. He didn't tell us to do something he didn't do. He denied himself. You might remember back in the Garden of Gethsemane. He's there. He's bowing before the Lord in prayer because he knows what's coming for him. He knows right around the corner is the crucifixion, is the scourgings, is the trials, and the horrible torture that he would go through in dying upon the cross for your sins and my sins.

He says, Lord, if there's any other way, but not my will, your will be done. What was he doing? He's denying himself. He says, I'm denying myself, not my will. I'm not so important right now. Your will be done, Lord. And then what did he do? He obeyed. He took up his cross, a physical, literal, wooden cross, and he walked. In obedience to the Lord, in obedience to what God had called him to do, he walked. So for you and I this morning, he calls us to do the same things. First,

He says, if you would come after me, let him deny himself. Now, the word deny means to forget oneself, to lose sight of oneself and one's own interests. Let me read that again and think about this for a second. To deny is to forget oneself, lose sight of oneself and one's own interests. Do you deny yourself? I often do not. In fact, when I'm hungry, you know what I do? I eat.

When I'm thirsty, I get a drink. When I want to do something, I do the best that I can to do it because I desire. I desire those things and I want to do them. But to deny yourself, according to Jesus, is to set aside, to forget yourself, to forget your interest, to forget your will, and then to follow him. To forget those things, to lay aside things.

Your will, your desires, your plans. Jesus did not preach an easy message and we need to understand that.

He didn't preach, you know, a fluffy duffy, you know, just love each other and smile and you'll be okay. He taught a hardcore message that, hey, we need to pay attention to. And if you want to follow me, Jesus said, you have to deny yourself. That is hard. That is not an easy thing for us to do because we're consumed with ourselves and all the things that we want, the things that we desire, the plans that we have and the hopes that we have.

We saw that very clearly in the story of the rich young ruler last week. As the rich young ruler was very wealthy, he comes to Jesus and says, Lord, how do I inherit the kingdom of God? And Jesus said, hey, you know the commandments, do them. Oh yeah, I've done them for a long time. Oh, one thing you lack, Mr. Young Ruler. One thing you lack. What is that? Oh, you need to sell all your belongings, give the proceeds to the poor, and then come and follow me.

What did Jesus tell him? You need to deny yourself. Those riches, that wealth that has a grip on you, you're not willing to let go of those things. And he walked away sad because he was more interested in investing in this world, in the wealth that he had to offer. He was more interested in giving himself to those things rather than saying, hey, those things aren't important. The most important thing is you, Lord, and I'm going to follow you. Jesus said, look, if you want to come after me, you're going to have to forget about yourself.

about your plans, about your will, about your desires. There's an old song that says something like that. Let's forget about ourselves and magnify the Lord and worship Him. Let's forget about ourselves. That's what denying yourself is all about. Denying yourself and laying aside those plans. We must lay aside the use of our life. We have all these elaborate things in our head and desires and things that we would love to do.

But the most important thing for us is not to focus on those things. Because our desires, they're not so good for us. In fact, because of our sinful nature, most of them are very harmful for us. But what we need to do is to lay those things aside so that God can fill us with His desires. So that He can give us His will and His plans for our life. Because His ways...

are far above, way above, exceedingly above our ways. In fact, in the book of Isaiah, he says, as high as the heavens are above the earth, that's how far higher my ways are than your ways. That's how better my ways are than your ways. So Jesus said, if you want to follow me, if you want to come after me, first you need to deny yourself. Hard thing to do? Yes, absolutely. But it's a commitment to follow him and to keep him first. And that's what is important. The second thing he tells us,

Not only must you deny yourself if you want to come after Jesus Christ or follow Jesus Christ, you also need to take up your cross. He says, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross. In denying, we lay aside our lives, our plans, our desires, our will. And now he says to take up something. What is that that we're taking up? Well, he says it's a cross.

Now, what is the cross? You know, it's not, first of all, many have said, you know, hey, this is my cross to bear in life. And it's in reference to a sickness or a husband or wife or, you know, some rebellious children or whatever. And it may feel like that sometimes and that's okay, but this is not what Jesus is talking about. That's not our cross to bear. The cross is not some burden around us or in us.

You know what the cross is? The cross is us. The cross is our lives. Yes, we lay down our lives, our desires, our plans. We crucify them with the Lord on the cross and then we take it up and we give our lives back to Jesus Christ and say, Lord, you do what you want to do with my life.

Paul put it this way in Galatians 2, verse 20. He says, Paul says,

And now the life that I live, I live it unto Christ. Paul says, I've taken up my cross and I want to follow Jesus Christ. Now, taking up your cross is a picture of giving your life to God. And we know this because that's what Jesus did. He took

took up his cross in obedience and said, okay, Lord, your will be done, not mine. I give my life back to you. If I have to die and that's part of your plan and that's what you want, then that's what I will do. I choose to be obedient even to the point of death. Philippians 2 tells us, even to the point of death, the death on the cross. That's how the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, became obedient to God.

Now, for you and I, we don't necessarily have to die on a cross, but we should be willing to. We should be willing to, in obedience, do whatever God asks us and calls us to do. Denying is laying aside our life, but taking up the cross is now giving back to God what we laid aside, allowing Him to direct the things that we do. Serving God.

Serving God and doing what is right is worth dying for. It's worth living for. It's worth giving our whole lives in the pursuit of it. Thousands upon thousands have done this as they became martyrs for their faith, as they stood up for the things that God had called them to do, as they would not refute the things that they had said. They would not renounce their faith.

They held on to. Why? Well, because Jesus Christ is the most important thing. They were willing to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him. Even if it cost me my life, they would say, I will serve Jesus. I will serve Jesus, no matter what. My life is his. If it's his will that I die in this way, that this happens, or this happens, or I lose this job, or go to this school, hey, my life is his.

It's a very difficult thing to give our lives back to God and to not take back control and take back the reins and say, well, this is what I had in mind or this is what I wanted to plan. And that's why in the gospel of Luke chapter 9 verse 23, Luke telling the same story, talking about the same portion of scripture, adds in a word here that puts a little bit of a different light on this scripture. Because he says not only to take up the cross, but he adds the word daily at the end of it.

It's not something we do, you know, how I did that 10 years ago. No, today, I must decide, I must wake up and say, you know what, Lord, today, I'm going to deny myself and I'm going to give my life back to you. I'm going to live for you today, right here, right now, January 2nd, 2005. My life is yours. And tomorrow, guess what? I do the same thing again. Because it's a daily thing I must do.

so that I don't control my own life. I don't bring back in the reins and try to take over what God wants to do. I say, hey Lord, each and every day, I give my life back to you. I give my life back to you. Have your will and your way. Jesus said, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself. Let him take up his cross. And lastly, let him follow me. Let him follow me. A very simple thing.

In fact, the word follow is interesting because it's in the present tense. You know what that means? When do we follow him? Right now, in the present. Right now. Right now, we are called to follow Jesus Christ. Wherever we are, wherever we're at, no matter when it is, right now, at that time, or at this time, or at another time, right now, right then.

We're to follow Jesus Christ. He says, follow me. We talked about this in Psalms 85 on Wednesday, about walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and walking in his path, living our lives the way he lived his life. Now, this is where we actually do the things that we think about, the things that we read about, the things that we say.

This is where we actually live out the Christian faith. We put feet to the faith and we walk in the things that God has called us to do. We live out the denial, the taking up of the cross and following Him. We live out those things as we follow Him. It's talking about for real, in your life, each and every day, taking real steps forward.

Walking with Jesus, putting aside your desires, your plans, your will, and saying, God, whatever you want to do, that's what I'm going to do, but then following through with it. I don't know if you're anything like me, but there's many times where God speaks to me. I say, oh man, that's what I want to do. Yes, Lord, yes. But then I never follow through. Yes, God spoke to me. Yes, it was in my heart. And then, yeah, well, I just didn't do the follow me part.

I denied myself. I took up his cross. Oh, Lord, I give it to you. But then there was no follow through. I didn't follow him afterwards. Jesus says, you got to do these three things. If you want to come after me, if you want to be my disciple, here's what you got to do. You got to deny yourself. You got to take up your cross and you got to follow me. You have to live like Jesus lived, blessing and serving others.

Now, these are very difficult things, I understand, for us to do in real life. It's very easy for us to understand and go, Amen, yes, brother, I believe you, yes, praise Jesus.

But to live it out is very difficult. To live a life in surrender, to wake up each and every day and give our lives to God and say, you know what, Lord, I don't care what happens to me in my life. I want you to be glorified and I'll do whatever you want me to do. It's very difficult things. Why would Jesus say that we must do that? Why would Jesus say we must follow him in this way?

Well, because it's an investment. And he explains that to us. He gives us three reasons why in verses 25, 26, and 27. Verse 25 is the first reason. He starts out and he says, For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What's reason number one? He says, I want you to do these things. Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. Because number one,

He who loses his life, finds it. Whoever loses his life, finds it. Now, this doesn't make a whole lot of sense to our normal mind, to the natural world. What do you mean, lose your life, you find it? Some kind of deep philosophy thing. Oh, that's deep. Wow. Lose your life, find it. Yeah. Yeah.

He's not trying to say something kind of just so we can kind of go, hmm, that's deep, that's nice, that's interesting. No, this is a principle that God is setting forth here. He's saying, look, if you lose your life, you will find it. In the verse he says, whoever desires to save his life will lose it. He gives that side of it first. If you try to save your life, what's going to happen? Nothing.

You're going to lose it. Why? Well, because you're going to be clutching on to the things that you want to do and your will and your ways, and you're going to be trying to make your profit or build your kingdom, do whatever it is that you want to do, and holding on to your life and succeeding in your life and fulfilling your plans, that you're going to end up missing out on what God wants to do. If you try to hold on to your life, you're going to lose it. You will lose it all, is what Jesus is saying. If you try to save your own life and live your way,

It's not going to work out for you. In the end, you're going to lose it. But opposite of that, conversely, he says, if you lose your life for my sake, well, then you'll find it. And now we're really confused. What are you talking about? Now I've got to lose my life. What does that mean? Well, he's talking about denying ourselves, losing our lives, forgetting about our own interests, our will, our way.

And then we'll find out what God's will is, what God desires for our life, His will and His plans. And so in losing ourselves and laying aside the things that we desire, we want, we find out from God the things that He wants, which is infinitely better for our lives. This is tough, though. And so in...

A similar portion of scripture in Luke 14, if you could turn there with me, keep your thumb here at Matthew 16, but Luke chapter 14, Jesus is talking to those around him again, to his disciples, and he gives them some kind of hard information, kind of the same thing we're looking at right now as far as, hey, if you want to follow me, there's some price to pay. There's a cost involved in following me. It's not a fluff and puff message that Jesus was giving, but

There's a challenge here that he gave to these guys. In Luke chapter 14, verses 25 through 33, you can write it down and read it later. We'll just touch on it. But he gives three things, three areas, three ways that if those things are true that he says, then we cannot be his disciple. The first thing he says is found in verse 26. He says, if there's relationships...

husband, wife, father, mother, if there's people in your life that you love more than Jesus, more than me, he says, you cannot be my disciple. You cannot follow me. You cannot be my disciple. If you love anyone else more than me.

In verse 27, he says the same thing, only says it in regards to yourself, as he makes reference to the cross about our own life. If you love yourself more than Jesus, he says, you cannot be my disciple. In verse 33, he gives the third thing. If you love things, material wealth or the things that you have in this life, more than Jesus Christ, you cannot be his disciple. That's what Jesus said.

realizing that it was kind of some hard information that he was giving to them, he gives them two illustrations or two examples that they might know and understand to count the cost. And they're found in verses 28 through 32 of Luke chapter 14. Let's read together. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it?

Verse 31. Verse 31.

Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for conditions of peace. Two examples. The first, building a tower. The second, waging war. In building a tower, he says, look, who of you, if you're going to build a tower, doesn't sit down and count the cost first and realize, okay, it's going to cost this much money to build the complete tower. I only have this much, so maybe I should wait until

save up the money, do whatever I need to do, and then I can build the tire completely. Who just starts it and then halfway through realizes, hey, I don't have enough money to finish this. It's halfway built and now I can't do anything. I'm broke. Now, we do see that happen from time to time with businesses around. They get halfway through it and realize, man, it didn't work out like we thought. We're broke. We can't continue on. He's given us the example, the illustration that we might learn to count the cost.

Yes, you must love Jesus more than anyone else. You must love him more than yourself. You must love him more than the things you own and possess. So count the cost. Are you willing to follow him? Are you willing to be his disciple?

Because if you love anything else more, then Jesus says, you cannot be his disciple. He also gives the example of waging war. A king with 10,000 coming against another king with 20,000 and only in the midst of the battle realizing, man, we don't have enough guys. We're not going to win this war.

The same thing is true. Jesus says, hey, come and follow me. I invite all of you, everybody, come, follow me, but count the cost. Realize that I'm asking you to live your life, to give your life to me, to deny yourself, to take up your cross and follow me. Jesus said to count the cost. Realize what you're committing to and then invest it. Do the things that he says. Put into place and put into practice things

the things that he calls us to do, in laying aside our life for now, so that in the end, we'll get a great return, a wonderful return, a return we can't even imagine or understand on our investment. Back in Matthew chapter 16 now. That was reason number one. What was the first reason? Why must I deny myself, take up my cross and follow him? Well, because in losing my life, I find it.

In losing my life, I find it. In denying myself and laying aside my will, my desires, I find God's will, God's desires, which are infinitely better. Verse 26 tells us reason number two. It says this, For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? He says, what's the profit? He asks this question. What is it profit a man?

What does it profit a man? Now, if you invest your life in this world...

There's no profit. That's reason number two. There's no profit found in this world. There's no profit from the things that are here, that are temporary. He said, what profit is it to a man? It doesn't profit you anything. If you gain the whole world and lose your soul, big deal. So you gain the whole world for a time, for a season. It was temporary, maybe somewhat fulfilling, but definitely not completely. What profit is it? What good is it if you gain all of that and in the end,

Lose your soul. Jesus says, look, if you don't invest your life, but instead use your life to accomplish what you want to do and build your kingdom, in the end, you're going to lose everything. You're going to lose it all. There's no profit there. Where's the profit? In laying aside my life, in laying aside my will and my desires, that His will would be done.

He says, what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Now, that's an interesting question. What is worth exchanging our souls? What is worth exchanging eternity for? There's no car that compares, there's no bank account that compares to the value of spending an eternity with Jesus Christ.

It's like if you're trading in a car. He says, you know, what can you give in exchange, right? So you take your car down to the dealer. You have a pretty nice car. It's pretty decent. And the dealer goes, all right, you want to trade it in? All right, here's what we got for you. We have this, it's kind of older, you know, it's a little bit junky. It's kind of a fixer-upper, we like to call it. And it works pretty good. And we'll let you borrow it for the day if you trade in your nice automobile.

You go, huh, that doesn't sound like such a great idea. The dealer goes, okay, well, we got this other one here. It's a sweet luxury car, man. $80,000, all the works, and you get to keep it for the rest of your life.

Which are you going to choose? Well, obviously, you're not going to choose the old junky car that you just keep for a day. You're going to keep the luxury car that you get for the rest of your life. The same thing is true. This is what Jesus is saying. What will you give in exchange for your soul? Are you going to give it temporary pleasures, temporary things that just don't even fulfill? They're just old and junky and they just kind of last for a little bit? Or are you going to get something that's valuable, that lasts forever, that in the eternal scope of things means everything?

What will you give in exchange for your soul? We have two choices. We can get temporarily unfulfilling pleasure in this life, or we can get eternal fulfillment and pleasure in the next life. Jesus Christ lays down this example for us, lays down this question. He says, look, what are you going to give in exchange for your soul? Reason number two, there's no profit found in this world. Nothing in this world is worth it. Reason number three, found in verse 27 says,

He says,

You have something to look forward to when he comes back. In verse 27, he says, the Son of Man will come in glory. Will come in the glory of his Father. Jesus Christ is coming back. It doesn't say he might come back. Hopefully he'll come back. He is coming back and he's coming back soon. He promised it. He prophesied about it. Others have prophesied about it. And you know what? All the prophecies that they said beforehand, they've come to pass.

And so we know beyond a shadow of a doubt, Jesus Christ is coming back. And when he comes, verse 27 tells us, he will reward each according to his works. The return on our investment. If we invest our lives for the things of God, we can rest assured he is coming again. We can look forward because he's bringing with him the reward for the things that we've done for him, for his namesake.

The rewards that have eternal value and aren't just temporary fulfillment in this life. Jesus Christ is coming again.

So three great reasons to do what Jesus said. Three great reasons to deny ourselves, to take up our cross and follow him. But it still is a difficult request. And at this point you might be asking, well, can't I just be a mediocre Christian, you know, just kind of do most of it or some of it or part of it or some of the time? Can't I just, you know, kind of be casual Christian? You know, I don't like to be that full-fledged kind of thing. And man, it just kind of sounds like a radical commitment that you're talking about. Well, that's what Jesus asked for.

Man, do I have to be so on fire? Can't I just be lukewarm? Well, yeah, you can if you want. But the Bible doesn't say good things about lukewarm people. You can look it up in Revelation chapter 3. We need to be careful that we don't become complacent, that we don't become lukewarm, but we stay on fire, that we stay sold out, that we deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. So what am I asking you to do? Well, I want you to sell everything, move to Africa, and minister to the natives there. No. No.

Hey, if that's what God wants you to do, then you've got to do that. But I'm not saying that we all have to take a vow of poverty. And that's not what Jesus was saying either. But what he was saying is make an investment in the things of God. Lay aside the things that you desire, the things that you want, and invest your time, invest your money, invest everything about you into the things of God. Invest them into the things of God.

You know, it's very easy for us to get caught up in our careers and wanting to advance and wanting to move forward and wanting to do good and to get the next promotion or the next job or this or that. But the question needs to be asked, is that what God wants? Is that what God wants? Or would He rather you sacrifice your career, stay where you're at, make enough money to provide for your family and devote more time to the things of God?

There's many other leisure activities that we can be involved in. Sports and TV and all the rest. Does God want us to be involved in those things? I don't know your life. It's not a set thing that, well, nobody's supposed to watch TV. No, no, there's not that. Because God has called each of us to different things in our life.

But what he has asked of us is that we be willing. We say, Lord, whatever you want me to set aside, I'll set it aside. What if, what if, just think with me for a second. What if you could make arrangements in your life so that you would be here every Sunday, so that you would be here every Wednesday, so that you'd be at the home studies on Thursday or the women's study on Thursday nights, or you'd be involved in this study or that study or different outreaches or evangelism. What if you could arrange your life to invest in the things of God?

There's no what if. It's here. It's now. What do you want to do? What's your priorities? What's this life worth living for? What does it profit you if you gain the whole world and forfeit your soul? Jesus says, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself. Lay aside the use of your life right now. Do what God wants you to do, but lay aside your desires, your plans, your thoughts, your will, and take up the cross.

then take that life and use it for God. Yes, the Lord probably will keep you in a job, but not just to make money. He wants to use that job as you give your life back to Him and say, Lord, here at my workplace, here in my family, here at the school that I'm at, use my life. Do with it what you want to do. It's not about my desires anymore. It's not about the career that I want or the job that I want or the thing that I want to do. I give my life back to you and I just ask that you would use me

Deny yourself, take up your cross, and then follow Jesus Christ. How do we do that? In Acts chapter 2, verse 42, it tells us about the early believers, the early church. It says they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Basic things, simple things. These are things that are worth investing our lives in.

in the Apostles' Doctrine, in the study of the Word of God, being involved in Bible studies, being involved in devotions on your own, spending time with your family and leading them in devotions. It's worth it. It's an investment that will pay eternal dividends.

Also in fellowship, in encouraging one another in the Lord. In breaking of bread. Man, there's such a beautiful thing when believers get together to share a meal, to share the love of Jesus Christ, to share what God is doing and encourage one another in the Lord and in prayers. These are things that God says, these are worth investing in. These are worth pouring out your life into.

These are worth it. So make arrangements. Make adjustments. Deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me. Invest your life in the things of the Lord. This year we are praying about and one of the things we'll share about on our family meeting is the desire to do more outreach and to be able to share with the community around us the good news that Jesus died for them, loves them, and wants to live with them and have a relationship with them. I pray that you would invest your life

As we have opportunities to reach out, that you would invest your life, give of your time, and lead people to Jesus Christ. Something that will last for eternity. Something that will last forever. Outreaches, Bible studies, evangelism, you name it. You know what the things of God are. I ask you this morning to invest your life in the things of God. You know, in many professions, you have to complete a certain amount of schooling,

a certain degree, certain types of schools that you have to go through. If you want to be a doctor, you have to go through a certain amount of years depending on what field you want to go into. But those who are in those programs, those who are in it, even though it might be eight years away, they see it as an investment. Why? Well, because at the end, the return on that, the return on that sacrificing those times away from their friends and family and doing what they want to do, the time that they dedicate to studying and learning the things that they're supposed to learn,

It's an investment to what's going to come in the future. It's an investment to the career, the profession that they're looking forward to, the things that they're desiring. Christians, what are we desiring? What are we looking forward to? Jesus Christ is coming back, eternity with him. If we're looking forward to that, what cost is it to sacrifice some of the pleasures of this life, some of the things that we desire to do, that we can invest in the things of God that will last forever? There's a challenge for you and I in here.

What are we going to invest our lives in? The things of this world that are temporary, that are unfulfilling, or the things of eternity? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, this morning we come before you, God, and we ask, Lord, that you would speak to our hearts now about the things in our life that are not of you. God, I ask that you would help us, Lord, to recognize those things, Lord, and that we would deal with them according to your word, that we would allow you, Lord, to help us in denying ourselves.

that we would allow you to help us in laying aside of the things that we desire, Lord, that you would help us take up our cross. Lord, that we would give our lives back to you in obedience. Lord, we would walk with you, involved in the things that you want us to be involved in, serving in the areas you want us to serve in, reaching out where you want us to reach out. God, help us.

to deny ourselves, to take up our cross and follow you. Jesus Christ, we want to surrender our hearts. Lord, our spirit is willing, but our flesh is weak. So Lord, forgive us. Lord, forgive us and help us to walk with you. Let's worship the Lord together. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.