MARK 8:22-38 BE MINDFUL OF THE THINGS OF GOD2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Mark 8:22-38 Be Mindful Of The Things Of God

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 2020. In the rebuke that Jesus gives to Peter, he says, you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.

And as we look at this passage this morning here in Mark chapter 8, we want to learn from this instruction to Peter. And so I've titled the message, Be Mindful of the Things of God. And I want to encourage you this morning to set your mind on the things of God. You know, it's very easy for us to get wrapped up and consumed with this life.

With the circumstances happening in our lives, with the things going on in the economy around us, or the political scene around us, with the things happening within our families, or the things that we desire or want or crave, it is very easy for us to get so focused on this life, the things that are happening in our own lives, that we forget about

And we forget to see things the way that God sees things. And like Peter, sometimes we can have great revelation from God and then moments later be consumed once again by the things of men. And

And so we need to have these kinds of occasions and reminders to be mindful of the things of God. The Apostle Paul puts it this way in Colossians chapter 3. He says,

Paul says, set your mind on things above because that's where your real life is. There is life down here on earth. It's temporary. It's meaningful, but it's also temporary. And when you think about the things of God, well, you're thinking about the things of eternity, the things that have eternal value, the things that will last. God does things very differently than we do.

You might remember Isaiah chapter 55, where God says, as the heavens are higher than the earth, that's how much higher my ways are above your ways. God does things very differently. And so in order to understand what God is doing, in order to be in tune with what God is doing and be walking with God, we need to be mindful of the things of God.

So that we can have a better grasp of the things that are happening in our lives and the things that God wants to do.

And so we're going to walk through the rest of Mark chapter 8, Mark 8, 22 through 38 this morning, looking at a few different points to consider and help us have perspective on the things of God and God's mind on the things that are happening around us. The first thing for us to consider this morning, it's found in verses 22 through 26, and that is that God works through the process of

God works sometimes instantly, sometimes, you know, in a miraculous overnight type of sense. But many times we see that God works through the process of time, through the sequence of events, through the transpiring of situations that unfold in our lives. Check out verse 22 and 23 again. It says, then he came to Bethsaida and they brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him.

So he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when he had spit on his eyes and put his hands on him, he asked him if he saw anything. Here we have a situation, one we've seen, similar situation we've seen many times in the life of Jesus, that people are bringing to him someone who needs a touch, someone who needs a healing, someone who is in a certain condition.

In this case, the friends of this man are bringing this blind man to Jesus. And they're begging Jesus, Jesus, please touch him. It seems from the passage that this man was not one of those who had been born blind, but he was able to see sometime previously. And through whatever events or circumstances we don't know, he has lost his sight. And so here they are, they're begging Jesus, please, Jesus, please, this man needs your touch. This man needs to be healed.

And it tells us then in verse 23 that Jesus accepts this request. And it would be easy for me to just see Jesus snapping his fingers, you know, doing a quick motion, doing a quick moment, and then this guy is healed of his blindness. It did happen that way in other occasions where Jesus performed healing for blind people. But this occasion was different.

Notice what it says in verse 23. How long do you think that walk out of town took? Of course, we don't know exactly. The town of Bethsaida is one of those towns that we know where it is, generally speaking. It's on the north side of the Sea of Galilee.

But we don't know specifically, and in fact, scholars and archaeologists kind of argue about which location. There's a couple predominant possibilities for the exact location of Bethsaida.

So we don't have the exact dimensions to be able to calculate, you know, well, it was a half mile walk to get out of town. Like, we don't know that for sure, but we can understand that it wasn't probably that they were in the gateway and then that, you know, they took one step over and now they're out of town. And so, you know, that was all of the journey. But whatever the distance was, it was a little bit of a distance. Maybe it was a 10 minute walk.

What if it was a 20-minute walk to get out of town? It says, The Lord's calling our attention to the fact that there's a little bit of a journey here. There's a little bit of a walking together, and it's in close proximity. Jesus takes him by the hand. As terrible as it must have been to become blind,

As hard as that must have been, as difficult as it must have been for him to live a life of blindness, to have the experience of being taken by the hand by Jesus and to walk a little bit down 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes down the path with him must have been an incredible thing to experience. I wonder what they talked about.

Was it awkward silence, you know, just like, is he going to speak first? Should I say something? You know, no, it probably was an awkward silence. Jesus is there probably engaging in some conversation. They're having a little dialogue. They're walking out away from the crowd, away from the people. And as they walk out of town, Jesus begins the healing process. But it is a process. In verse 23, it says, when he had spit on his eyes and put his hands on him, he asked him,

if he saw anything. And so the first thing that happens here is Jesus spits. It's not clear, and there's some discussion between Bible scholars, if Jesus spat on him directly or spat on his hands and then rubbed it on his eyes in that way. But there's some spit involved. There's some touching involved. And then he asked the guy if he saw anything. In order for this guy to be healed, he has to be walked down the road a ways with Jesus.

And then he has to be touched by Jesus. And then he has to attempt to see. He has to try to open his eyes. Jesus says, do you see anything? In verse 24, and he looked up and said, I see men like trees walking. And so he's trying to open his eyes. But as he's beginning to open his eyes, everything's blurry. Everything's blurry.

And he sees things moving around. It looks like trees, he says, you know, like, you know, not like double vision, but quadruple vision, right? Like, so every person has eight arms, you know, and it's like, you know, everywhere. It just, it looks weird. It looks like trees. I can't quite make out what's going on. And so verse 25, it tells us that Jesus put his hands on his eyes again and made him look up and he was restored and saw everyone clearly. It's interesting to think about how many steps Jesus

We're involved in this miracle. First we see Jesus and the man. They walk out of town. Ten minute walk. Five minute walk. Some amount of time is passing. And then Jesus spits and touches the man's eyes. The man then says,

attempts to see. He tries to open his eyes and express what he's seeing, describe what he's experiencing. Then Jesus touches him again. And then again, the man is attempting to see and this time discovering that he is able to see clearly. Could Jesus have healed this man instantly right there without this whole process? Of course he could. And again, on other occasions, he did work that way. But on this occasion, he chose not to.

Was it a lack of power on Jesus' part? You know, it's always a difficult thing to measure. Like, how much power should I use, right? So the first time Jesus touched him, he's like, I'm just kind of guesstimating about this much power. So he uses some power and almost heals the guy. Did it work? You know, can you see?

And the guy says, oh, no, not quite. And Jesus is like, man, I knew it. I should have used a little bit more power. I don't know what I was thinking. Okay, let me try this again. I'm going to summon some more power, and then you'll try again, right? Is that what happened? No, not at all. That's not what was taking place. This is all measured by the Lord, exactly unfolding the way that the Father has designed and planned. And so in this case, the healing is a process. Now, I could look at this situation. I could say, look, Father,

Let me give you some strategic advice. Here you have Jesus, the Son of God. He has all power.

It would be way more efficient. Rather than go through this 20-minute process, you could heal this guy and then that guy. You could heal 100 people in 20 minutes. You could just wave your hand over the crowd and have them all be healed. That would be way more efficient. You'd accomplish so much more if you would just handle it that way instead of taking individual time. I mean, you think about Jesus, right? He's the Son of God. He's the creator of the heavens and the earth. And at this time,

This guy has one-on-one time with Jesus and nobody else has access to Jesus. That's not very efficient, Lord. That's not very expedient. There's much more efficient ways to handle these things. And yet the reality is God is not as preoccupied with efficiency as you or I might be.

Maybe you're not even as occupied with efficiency as I am, but that's one of my characteristics, my natural traits. I optimize things. I reduce them down. I make them work faster. It's part of what makes me run. But sometimes making things work faster and smoother and efficient is not really the goal and the objective. It doesn't accomplish the things that God wants to accomplish. Pastor David Guzik says, truth be told...

This is how most of God's work happens in us. We receive it little by little. We like to tell ourselves and others that we make huge spiritual leaps at one moment, but most real Christian growth happens little by little. Most of our growth, he says, happens little by little. We're facing a situation perhaps of financial distress, and we're hoping for God to just wave his hands, snap his fingers. It's instantly resolved, but it's very likely that

God will resolve it through a process. There's going to be some time involved. There's going to be a walk with Jesus. There's going to be some dialogue. There's going to be some communication back and forth. There's going to be a touch of Jesus. There's going to be some attempts to resolve the situation. There's going to be some failures in that. Like I can kind of see, I can't see, there's

Not success necessarily on the first try. And then you go back to Jesus and there's some more talk. There's some more touch. There's some more work of the Lord. And then trying again. Be mindful of the things of God. And part of that involves recognizing the way that God works. We always want him to work instantly, miraculously, you know, without any part from us. But a lot of times God is going to work through the process of time, through the sequence of events, through

You know, it's amazing to think about Jesus, his life and his ministry. Again, he's the creator of the heavens and the earth, and yet he lived out life in real time. You ever have those situations where, you know, you're facing something and you want to just like, you know, just knock me out, wake me up when it's done.

Let me just fast forward to the end, right? Like skip through all the painful middle process and let's just get to the end where it's resolved, right? Think about Jesus, the creator of the heavens and the earth, living 33 years on this life. And he lived out every moment. He could have fast forwarded or just jumped. Or you think about Jesus, you know, you see him in his ministry going from place to place and understand that when he went from Bethsaida to Caesarea Philippi, he walked. He walked.

Step by step by step by step. He went through the process Went through the journey every step of it. He didn't just teleport there Although he could have can you imagine if Superman walked everywhere he went if Superman didn't have super speed, right? He couldn't fly he could only help so many people just as many as I can get to in walking distance Right as fast as my car will take me. It's not quite as impressive. I

Here's Jesus, far greater than Superman. And he walked everywhere he went. We would have teleported. At least I would have. I would have just, let's just skip to the end. Skip over those parts. Just do this work right now. This morning, let the Lord remind you. Be mindful of the things of God that God works through the process. Sometimes we're experiencing the process and we don't see success.

And so then we begin to doubt and wonder and wrestle with, is this of God? Is God with me? And I'm opening my eyes and I can only see blurry things, you know, like, ah, maybe the Lord's not with me. Maybe I misheard. But we don't have to jump to those conclusions or freak out about that. God works through the process. He is going to work through your situation. Keep walking with him. Let him lead you by his hand. Let him touch you. Let him speak to you and work in your life.

attempt things as he directs and recognize that sometimes they're not going to succeed on the first try, then try again. Through that whole process, the Lord is working in your life. While continuing to consider this idea of being mindful of the things of God, we now move to verses 27 through 30 for the second aspect of this to consider. And that is that God reveals truth to people. God reveals truth to people. Verse 27 and 28 says this,

Now Jesus and his disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi. And on the road he asked his disciples, saying to them, Who do men say that I am? So they answered, John the Baptist. But some say Elijah, and others, one of the prophets. Jesus, going about the process of heading up north to Caesarea Philippi, he's walking down the road with his disciples, and he throws out a question. Who do men say that I am?

Hey guys, what's the word about me? What is everybody saying? What's the popular opinion about who I am? And so the disciples begin to relate all the things they've heard about Jesus. And the predominant theory is that Jesus is John the Baptist. Now that's pretty interesting because Jesus and John the Baptist were only six months apart. They were alive at the same time. In fact, they were seen together in public multiple times. And so they were

You might remember that it's John the Baptist who baptized Jesus, right? Jesus was walking by and John the Baptist said to the multitudes, behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world. They were seen in public. It wasn't one of those situations where, hmm, how interesting. I never see John the Baptist and Jesus in the same place at the same time, right? Maybe he is. No, no. They were seen together. And yet, for some reason, the main idea of the people was, this is John the Baptist, right?

Others believe that Jesus was Elijah. Elijah was an Old Testament prophet, worked many miracles, known to be a powerful prophet of God. And there was promises in the word of God that Elijah would come again. And so, yeah, this guy is probably Elijah, was what many people were saying in Jesus' day. It's the return of Elijah, the return of that powerful prophet and the miracles that are happening today.

Another specific prophet that was believed that Jesus might be is found in Matthew chapter 16 in the parallel passage for what we're looking at today. Matthew 16, 14 tells us that others thought Jeremiah was who Jesus was. Jeremiah was also a famous prophet, not known so much for his powerful works, but for his words and for his sorrow.

We know from the scriptures that Jesus was a man of sorrows. And so there was some connection here, some people thought. Maybe this is Jeremiah. Come back. The return of Jeremiah the prophet now in our day. But that wasn't the end of the theories. It might be John the Baptist, it might be Elijah, it might be Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He could be one of a multitude of other prophets who have come before him.

And so this is the speculation, the ideas of the people of Jesus' day. Now what's really interesting to think about with this is that they could only imagine, they could only think about the idea that Jesus was a reappearance of somebody else. They couldn't understand that this was something different. They could only relate it to something that they were already familiar with or that they already knew.

And it's one of the reasons why they missed out on the reality of who Jesus actually is. Man's opinions can only go so far because we're limited by what we know and we're limited by what we don't know. And we don't know what it is that we don't know. So we don't even know what our limitations are because, well, we don't know. And many of the times that we're thinking about things or coming up with ideas or

figuring out, you know, solutions or concepts. It's based upon our experience. It's based upon what we've seen ourselves or others have told us about. It's the reappearance of previous prophets. It's really hard for us to come up with something new or different, something unique. And so we miss out on Jesus, who is not like the prophets.

who is not a reappearance of one of the prophets. He's not just a prophet like the other prophets were, but he is so much more. And so Jesus here lets the disciples give these answers about who the crowds, who the people, what's the opinions and ideas of the people of the day. But then he points it at them in verse 29. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? And Peter answered and said to him, you are the Christ.

then he strictly warned that they should tell no one about him. So he lets them tell him about the popular opinion, what the Facebook polls say about who Jesus is. But then he looks at them directly. He says, let's make a distinction between what everybody says and what you say. What is it that you say? Is it different than what everybody else says? And indeed it was. Peter answers and says, you are the Christ. The word Christ says,

It's the Greek version of the Hebrew word Messiah. It means anointed one. Originally, it was used of speaking of any priest or prophet or king that had been anointed, but it became throughout the prophets in the Old Testament, a specific title of this savior that God has been promising from the very beginning. The Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one who is Jesus Christ. That wasn't the prevailing thought of the day.

They thought, must be John the Baptist, must be Elijah, maybe Jeremiah, one of the other prophets. But Peter answered differently than the rest of the world. And we're told in Matthew chapter 16, the reason why that is. It tells us, Jesus answered and said to him, "'Blessed are you, Simon,' that's Peter, "'for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, "'but my Father who is in heaven.'"

Peter would have never come to this conclusion by listening to the prevailing opinions and thoughts and ideas of the people around him. Peter would have never made this statement by adopting the opinions of, you know, the notable thinkers and revered rabbis of the day. He wouldn't have come to this conclusion on his own either. Jesus says, this is a revelation from God.

This is truth that God has revealed to you directly, Peter. God reveals truth to people. And we need to stop and recognize and understand that it's often hidden from the world, from those who aren't connected to God. And so there's all kinds of theories and all kinds of ideas and all kinds of opinions. And yet there's room for us to go to the Father and have a revelation of the truth. I listen to a lot of

tech podcasts and shows and things in that regard. And one of the conversations that has just been ongoing for a while now is the subject of fake news and what to do about it and all these, you know, promotings of ideas that are false and concepts that are not true and all of these kinds of things. And there's a lot of discussion about it. And it's interesting. At the same time, it's not really new. Fake news is not new.

In Jesus's day, the fake news of the day was that Jesus was the return of John the Baptist. And if he bought into that, you would be misled. We need to go to the Father. As we face our situations and face our predicaments and go through the things that we go through in life, there's a lot of opinion that we can get. We can walk around every person at the church and say, what do you think about my situation? And then, what do you think about my situation? And we're going to get a multitude of answers, just like there was a multitude of ideas about who Jesus was.

And God does use the one another, right, to minister to us and give us counsel and advice. But at the same time, I would also say along with that, that it's when it's revealed from God, that it's the actual truth that we receive. If I go to you and ask for, you know, counsel about a situation, if I'm looking for, you know, what's your opinion about this? And you share your opinion, that's what it is.

It's your thoughts. It's your opinion. But if you share, this is what God has shown me. God has revealed this. There's a difference. God reveals truth to people. And we need that because we can't think of, remember the reference to Isaiah 55. God's ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. We are never going to come to the same conclusions as God through logic alone. We can't, you know, rationalize it and reason it and come up with the same thing.

Not because God is not logical, but just because of our limited minds. And we don't see the whole picture and we don't have all the data. We don't know all the facts. And so we're not going to understand the reasons why. We're not going to understand the right direction. We're not going to understand the truth without revelation from God. We need to ask God to show us the truth. Show us the way. And not just listen to ideas, beliefs, theories, speculations, rumors.

But God reveals the truth. Be mindful of the things of God. I want to continue to consider some of the verses we've already looked at. Verse 26 and verse 30 for point number three. And that is that God values timing in his plans. And I think this is an important one for us to consider. Just like the process part of it. That God also values not just the length of time, but things happening at the right time.

Back in verse 26, as Jesus is addressing the blind man who is healed, it says, And this was something that Jesus did frequently. He worked miracles, he healed people, and then he said, don't tell anybody. Why was it a secret? Why was this instruction given? Did Jesus never want Bethsaida to know about this?

Was it his intention that they never find out, make sure it's a secret, you know, it'd be bad if they found out. No, it's not that they were to never know, but not yet. It wasn't the time for that to be revealed yet. And there's some side note concepts to consider in that because in Matthew chapter 11, Jesus, this happened previously, he pronounced a woe upon Bethsaida.

And he said,

And so here he tells the blind man, don't go tell anyone in town. Their hearts are hard. They're not going to believe. It's not going to be to your benefit. And it's not going to be to their benefit if you share this now. But it wasn't intended as a never, because otherwise the Lord would not have recorded it in the scriptures, right? Sooner or later, the people of Bethsaida found out about the work that Jesus did for this guy. But it wasn't the right timing for that to become known.

Well, then as Peter has this revelation from the Father and pronounces that Jesus is the Christ, it says in verse 30, he strictly warned them that they should tell no one about him. Imagine that. Jesus says, don't tell anybody about me. Right? Imagine if I stood up today and don't tell anybody about Jesus. Like that seems contrary to what we are convinced.

familiar with regarding disciples and Christians and the Great Commission, go therefore and make disciples, right? Why the difference? Why did he tell them, tell no one about me? Did Jesus want the disciples to announce that he was the Messiah? Yes, but not yet. It wasn't the right time for that. It wasn't the time for them to tell people that Jesus is the Christ. That day would come, but the

We see it also happen in Mark chapter 9, the very next chapter where Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up on the mount and he is transfigured before them. And they get to witness this glorious scene of Jesus meeting with Moses and Elijah. And it's incredible. It's glorious. But Mark chapter 9 verse 9 says, Don't tell anybody about this, Jesus said.

Don't spread this news. Don't share this information. Don't reveal this, what you have seen, what you have understood. It's not time yet. Until, and then it needs to be revealed, and then it needs to be shared, and then it needs to be recorded in the New Testament so that it can be publicly known and available. But there's an appropriate time for this. Even as Jesus gave the Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28, he said go, but then he said wait. Wait until

for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And that happened a few days later on the day of Pentecost. They had to wait for the right time. Be mindful of the things of God. Part of that means that you'll be seeking the Lord, not just for the truth, not just for his direction, but also for the timing in which he wants things to unfold. When you know what it is that God wants you to do,

You have an important piece of revelation, but you might be missing a big piece. When does God want you to do it? I was thinking back to the day after I met Kim. You guys know the story. I met Kim here on a Wednesday night, and then on Thursday, I went down to Costa Mesa, and on the way, God told me I was going to see the woman I would marry. And that was quite exciting, and so I arrived at Costa Mesa expecting to see. Nothing major happened, and so...

I thought, okay, well, I just was confused. And then as I was driving home, I stopped by Pastor Tom's house. And there, as I was pulling up to Pastor Tom's house, I saw Kim's car, who I just met the night before. And God said, you're going to see the one you will marry tonight. And I was like, no way. And so then I ran inside. I told Kim, God told me we're going to get married. No, no, I didn't. I didn't. God told me. But boy, it would have been out of place for me to walk up to her the next day and say, no.

That wasn't the right time for me to act on that information, right? God gave me that information to prepare me so that over the next couple years, then I would be ready for us to be wed. God works that way in our lives. And sometimes there's a great temptation for us to run ahead. We're so excited about what God wants. We're so excited about what God has said is going to happen. We try to like run ahead and make it happen. And maybe we need to just double check with God. What's your timing on this, Lord?

Maybe God has given you some great revelations, some great insights, some great truths to share, but maybe you need to go back to the Lord and say, Lord, when do you want me to share these things? God values timing in his plans, and at just the right time, he works the things that he wants to work, and he reveals the things that he wants to reveal. And so allow God to indicate and to share with you the timing as you receive his instruction and revelation.

Well, moving on to verses 31 through 33, the fourth thing for us to consider to help us be mindful of the things of God is that God works through suffering. Verse 31 says, And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and after three days rise again.

And so here we're picking up with Jesus and his disciples. It's right after Peter makes this bold declaration. You are the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus says, great. Now that you know who I am, let me give you some insight into what I'm about to experience. I'm going to suffer. He says, the son of man must suffer many things. Jesus explains to them, I'm about to go through some excruciating pain.

I'm about to go through some really difficult circumstances, some great hardship. I must suffer many things. And it really stands out because this was so different than what the people expected of the Messiah. The people of Jesus' day, when they were looking for the Messiah, they were expecting glory. They were expecting victory. They were expecting power.

And so now as Peter makes this declaration, you are the Messiah, along with that came all of these expectations of the disciples. You are the Messiah and we can't wait to see your glory and to see your victory and to see you set up your kingdom. They had all of these expectations put upon Jesus because they now agreed and believed that he was the Messiah. And so when Jesus says, the son of man must suffer many things,

It's completely contrary, completely different than what they expected or wanted. Now he does go on to say, after three days, he will rise again. But as we see Jesus share this with his disciples, it seems over and over again, they miss that part. You ever have those occasions where you can't hear the next things that someone said because the first thing that they said is so shocking? It's why, you know, hey, if there's an accident and you have to share that news with somebody, you

You don't start out with that. You start out with, everybody's okay, but there was an accident, right? Because if you start out with, there was an accident, then you don't hear anything after that, right? It's just this ringing, like shock, trying to process, like, oh my goodness, emergency panic. What am I going to do? You know, this is what happened. Jesus said, the son of man must suffer many things. And all the disciples are like, they can't hear anything after that. It's so radical. It's so, they begin to panic. What, what is, it doesn't make sense. They can't understand, right?

And so even though Jesus declares he will rise from the dead, they completely missed that. As Jesus explains, I'm going to suffer. Verse 32 tells us, he spoke this word openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Jesus said this openly. It wasn't just his immediate disciples that were there, but there were other people around. And openly he says, hey, everybody, the son of man must suffer many things and be killed, rejected by the elders and killed. And on the third day, he will rise again.

He spoke it openly, but Peter says, you know, I'm pretty special. I received revelation from the Father in heaven. Jesus, let me pull you aside and give you some more clear instruction here. He begins to rebuke Jesus. He pulls him aside, away from the crowd. Jesus, oh, don't be talking about suffering. That's not good. That's not going to happen. Why are you saying those things? Jesus said he would rise again. Peter didn't hear that. He didn't think Jesus should be talking about suffering. Pulls him aside.

But Jesus responds in verse 33, when he had turned around and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter saying, get behind me, Satan. For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. Jesus responds to this rebuke, not just to Peter, but it says he looks at his disciples. I want all you disciples to know this. Right now, Peter, you're speaking on behalf of Satan. You're not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.

Moments before, Peter, you were speaking on behalf of God. You had revelation from the Father in heaven. But now, not too long later, you're an instrument of the enemy because your mind is set not on the things of God. And see, here's the thing. When it comes to suffering, this is a really difficult concept for us. It's really hard for us to process because our minds are set on the things of men. If we will set our minds on the things of God, we will better understand God.

the reality of suffering. It doesn't take away the difficulty of it or the pain of it or the challenge of it, but we can better understand it when we see it from God's perspective. When what we want is God's will and God's purposes, we'll be able to accept and receive and endure suffering in a better way. Jesus said the Son of Man must suffer.

There was no other way for people to be saved. The only way for this work to be accomplished that needed to be accomplished was for Jesus to suffer. And Jesus worked that out in the garden with the father later on, right? Father, if there's any other way for this cup to pass from me, let's do that. But not my will, your will be done.

And he went to the cross because that was the only way. Sin is so serious that Jesus had to suffer. And so there was suffering, but it's totally worth it. And when our minds are set on the things of men, we don't see the value of suffering. We just see the pain and the hurt and the hardship. He tells Peter, you are not mindful of the things of God. How did this happen? Pastor David Guzik says this.

Jesus exposes how Peter came into this satanic way of thinking. He didn't make a deliberate choice to reject God and embrace Satan. He simply let his mind settle on the things of men instead of the things of God. And Satan took advantage of it. He allowed his ideas of the Messiah, his concepts, the things of man, to dominate his mind. So he wasn't thinking on the things of God. He wasn't mindful of the things of God.

And now he's vulnerable to be used as an instrument of the enemy to try to discourage the Messiah from the mission, from the task of redemption. Be mindful of the things of God. Here's what you need to know. God works through suffering. I would love it if this point was reworded to say, God keeps me from suffering. That would be amazing. I would choose that 100 times out of 100. But God works through suffering.

That's why James tells us to count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Because God works through suffering. He works through challenges and heartache and hardship. He works through it to accomplish things that later on we'll agree it's worth it. But even when we can't understand the value, God does. He sees the whole picture. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4,

He says, therefore, we don't lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. God's meeting us where we're at and renewing us and supplying what we need. He goes on to say, our light affliction is but for a moment, and it's working a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. It's worth it. We don't want to go through suffering. We don't want to endure suffering. We don't want to experience suffering, but it's worth it. Be mindful of the things of God.

Paul goes on in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 to say, while we do not look at the things that are seen because those are temporary, but the things that are unseen because those are eternal. I'm setting my mind on the things of God, the things of eternity. I'm trusting God this is going to have great value and it's going to be worth it. God works through suffering. Well, finally, verses 34 through 38, we're not going to get into a lot of detail here, but

The final aspect to consider is that God requires full allegiance to Jesus. In verse 34, it says, As Jesus is having this interaction with his disciples, he says, you know what? Everybody needs to hear this. Everybody come on in, bring it in, listen up. This is not just for the 12 disciples. This is not just for the elite few disciples.

Whoever desires to come after me. If anybody wants to follow Jesus, here's the path. Deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. This is a message for everyone. Whoever desires to come after me. If you want to follow Jesus, this is the way. And the first step in this, he says, is to deny himself. What does that mean, to deny himself?

Warren Wiersbe describes it this way. He says, Right now is the season called Lent where some groups of people decide we're going to give up something for this time period. That's self-denial.

I'm withholding something from myself or withholding myself from something. But denying self is more than that. It's a complete surrender. Not a selective surrender, not a selective fast, but a complete surrender to the will of God and purposes of God. Let him deny himself and take up his cross. And there's a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings about what it is to take up the cross.

We talk about our cross to bear whenever there's something irritating in our lives, right? Like that kind of thing. But to take up the cross, think about what Jesus has just been talking about. I'm going to suffer and be rejected. And if you want to follow me, listen, you're on that same path. You're going to suffer and be rejected. To take up the cross was, picture Jesus on the road to Golgotha, and you take up your cross and you say, yes, I'm going to be crucified with him. I'm on the same path as him.

My life is his. Take up your cross and follow me. He goes on to explain it more in verse 35. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels 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? Jesus says, look, if you don't want to take up your cross and follow me, instead you choose to save your life and hold on to your life, then you'll lose your life.

You won't achieve the fulfillment. You won't achieve what God desires for you. You're not going to experience real life if you try to hold on to your will, your purposes, and the life that you plan for yourself. But if you will lose your life, Jesus says, for my sake, that as you let go of life, you stop demanding control of your life and let God have control of your life, then you're going to experience life

In the way that God has designed and planned, it's going to be far greater than you could have worked out for yourself. But let's say you hold on to your life. What does it profit you? If you reach all of your goals and accomplish everything that you ever dreamed of and lose your own soul, is that an exchange that's worth making? All the great treasures of the temporary for a lost eternity doesn't measure up. No matter how much you accomplish in this life, it's not worth exchanging for your soul.

So don't chase those things. Lose your life for the sake of Christ. Verse 38, Jesus says, look, my ways are different than the world's ways. There's going to be some conflict and some contrast. And if you're going to try to save your life, then you're going to be ashamed of me and my words.

But if you'll lose your life for my sake and you'll believe me at my words and you'll hold fast to my words, you're going to receive opposition like I receive opposition. You're going to receive persecution like I receive persecution. You're going to be different. You're going to stand out. But listen, if you're ashamed of me, Jesus says, I'll be ashamed of you. And if you believe my words and hold fast to my words, then I'll hold fast to you. One final thought from Pastor Warren Rimsby.

He says, Satan promises you glory, but in the end you receive suffering. God promises you suffering, but in the end, that suffering is transformed into glory. If we acknowledge Christ and live for him, he will one day acknowledge us and share his glory with us. It's powerful. The enemy, the world, our flesh promises glory now, but it ends up resulting in suffering. And the things we chase after hurt us.

God promises us suffering. And if we pursue him, we will endure suffering. But we have the promise of glory. Be mindful of the things of God. He works through the process. He doesn't just remove the process or get us to the end or fast forward us to the end. Sometimes he does and thank God for those times.

But remember, a lot of times he works through the step-by-step, day-by-day, real-time it takes to accomplish his purposes. He reveals truth to people. We can go to him, and there's a lot of ideas and opinions, but we need to go to the Lord and seek him for truth, for declaration, for revelation, for instruction. God values timing in his plans. Don't just hear from God and know what he wants.

but also look to him for the timing when does he want you to do those things and when does he want these things to be shared and revealed god works through suffering don't run from it you don't have to run into it and needlessly bring on suffering but but also don't run from it don't try to get out of it seek the lord through it he uses it it's a powerful tool in his hands that brings forth an eternal wheat of glory and finally god requires full allegiance to jesus don't be half-hearted don't be ashamed

Align yourself with him fully and completely. Be mindful of the things of God. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word.

And the challenge and the truth that is revealed, Lord, that we might be challenged in the areas where we are deceived and confused and distracted. Lord, I pray that you would bring us back into a full allegiance with you, a full commitment with you. Help us, Lord, to set our minds on the things above. Lord, that we'd be focused on you, on your will, on your plans. Ultimately, Lord, it's for our good.

for us to love you and follow you in this way. So help us to do that, Lord, and protect us from the attacks and confusion of the enemy that would keep us from walking with you and having our mind on the things above. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. 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.