Text: Matthew 16:21-28
Satan does everything he can to keep us from talking about the cross. It’s offensive to many people. But, without the cross, the shed blood of Jesus, there would be no Gospel. The devil offers the kingdom without the cross. He gets into leadership! Some preachers today are not preaching the full Gospel. They are preaching false doctrine and lies, and many people are being deceived because of this. We need to be careful what we’re going after. We need to go after the Giver, not the gift! If we go after material things, we’ll miss Jesus! But, Jesus says if we want to follow Him, we must pick up our cross daily. That means we will suffer, be ridiculed, and have pain. When it comes down to it, we need to WANT to go with Jesus all the way! We must die to ourselves daily. Not our will, but God’s will! We can’t hold onto our lives and go after the things of God. We can’t have it both ways. What is the value of your soul? Eternity matters! Let’s embrace the way of the cross. It’s worth it all!