GYC Canada: The Cross Connection: Love & Law Combined

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

GYC Canada

Plenary

Justin Kim

Mercy and Truth are Met Together

Amara Sims

Testimony: Woman on a Mission

Sebastien Braxton

The Story of Redemption: The Love and the Law Combined

Gem Castor

The Joy of the Cross

Christ’s Life; Our Life: The Law and the Gospel

The Cross and Salvation: The Plan of Salvation

Final Charge: Take up Your Cross

Father in heaven, Lord, we want to commit ourselves to you just now.

And so we pray this morning as we meditate upon this theme of take up your cross, that the Spirit of Christ that moved our Lord to bear his cross, that that same Spirit may be upon us today.

Guide us, instruct us, inspire us, motivate us, and move us, Lord.

But most of all, may you mold our lives under the pruning knife of trials.

We love you and we thank you for hearing and answering this prayer.

And we offer this prayer from our hearts in Jesus' name.

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to the gospel of Matthew chapter 16 Matthew chapter 16, beginning in verse 24.

The Bible says, Then Jesus said to his disciples.

Jesus is talking to those who have committed their lives to him.

Has anyone here committed their life to Jesus?

Then I imagine that Jesus's words to them would also apply to you and me because the Bible says that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after me, that means to follow me, To truly be a disciple.

Jesus says, let him deny himself and do what?

Now it's interesting, when Jesus gives these words, this is in the very context in which he predicted his death, and Peter comes and says, Lord you're not going to be crucified.

Suffer it not to be so and he says get thee behind me Satan because Peter did not want to see Jesus go through this experience.

This lets you know that the cross as a Roman method of torture to maximize pain.

Human beings are the only mammal on planet earth that devises ways to increase your pain.

And the Romans are the greatest illustration of this.

Because the moment you were crucified, you had to exhaust energy just to breathe.

So this raises the question that to bear your cross, to follow Jesus, means that we must be prepared for suffering.

It is impossible to follow Jesus and not suffer.

It is impossible to be Christ-like and not suffer.

But you see, some of us act as Peter said, when we find ourselves in trials as if some strange thing has happened to us.

If it happened to Jesus, it's going to happen to me and you.

You want to know how a perfect person would be treated on the earth?

You want to know how a person who loves God with a perfect love will be treated on planet earth?

You want to know how a person will be treated that loves all humanity as himself?

Just go ahead and read the story of Jesus.

For some reason we've gotten this notion into our minds as Christians that because I do what God has asked, because I'm serving Him, because I sacrifice for Jesus, no bad thing should happen to me.

That's funny, because the worst thing that could ever happen to any being in the universe happened to the only person who was the best person in the universe.

So what would make us think as disciples of Jesus that we can follow him and expect a road less thorny.

So let me ask you a question just for sake of illustration in my mind.

When you start basic training, after about 3 weeks, you go through something called the confidence course.

The confidence course is this basically about a mile-long obstacle course.

You know, I have brothers in the military.

They got video games and boot camp and stuff.

I'm like, these are the people defending our country.

But Nevertheless, back in my day, it was long, it was difficult, and it had height and length.

So yes, you had to pull yourself up on a rope in the middle of the course in order to finish.

And you pulled yourself up almost 50 feet off the ground.

So now you're thinking about the fact that as soon as you start using your legs they tell you start over.

So as we're going through this course they give it to you 3 weeks into boot camp and as you're going through this confidence course you can imagine most of us don't finish the rope so therefore you don't finish the course and you're like why would you call this the confidence course when all it's doing is destroying my confidence and my ability to be a Marine.

And then, of course, in great boot camp fashion, they punish you for not finishing the confidence course.

And you think you're going to be Marines?

Because in boot camp, they don't call you Marines, they call you recruits.

They don't even call you by your name, they call you thing.

So as we're coming back from not finishing the confidence course, he's like, oh yeah, you know, we're going to do pushups the rest of the day.

Not an hour, not a number, just the rest of the day.

I'm doing pushups so long that I'm sweating through my clothes, onto the floor, you can see a silhouette of my body in sweat.

And this guy's like, yeah, it's about lunchtime, maybe we should go eat.

Takes us to eat, brings us back, He says, you know, I haven't forgotten that you didn't finish the confidence course.

So we're going to keep pushing the rest of the afternoon.

But you know what happens is, Marine Corps boot camp is 3 months.

The last week of boot camp before you go through was something called the crucible.

The interesting thing is they take you back to the confidence course.

And the moment you finish it and you cross the other side, you realize this is where I was at 3 weeks and this is where I am now.

And what initially destroyed your confidence, Now you realize I have actually grown.

But not only that, the confidence course taught you, you developed a will and determination.

You didn't finish this time necessarily because you were stronger.

Not necessarily because of your physical fitness has increased, but because throughout the process of boot camp, you learned to do something that Jesus called us to do to follow him.

And that is, I will get to the end no matter what it takes.

Series

Plenary

Final Charge: Take up Your Cross

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Flip the Script

02 How Bible “Buts” Change Trials Into Triumph

53m

Encounters With Jesus

Jesus’ Encounters at the Cross

41m

The Mystery of God

The Mystery of God- Part 2

35m

Fall Week of Prayer 2012

In the Midst of Chaos

25m

The Darkest Hour

50m

Plenary

A Muslim and His Christian Mother

1h 15m

Preparing For the End of Time

1. Why Prayer Matters

45m

Restoration 2009: Expect It

The Pearl of Great Price

31m

It Is Finished

50m

Fall Week of Prayer 2012

Christ in Job

43m

Chad Kreuzer Weekend 2022

Healing the Helpless

47m

How to Pray for One Hour!

49m

Sound Doctrine