(Matthew 8:34-35)…..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. ³⁵ 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.

Take Up His Cross

The Christian is to take up his cross and follow Jesus. What does that mean? It means to voluntarily and decisively accept the pain, shame, and persecution …

(Mark 8:34-35)…..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. ³⁵ 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.

At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus called people to become His disciples, such as Simon and Andrew (Mark 1:16-18), and also James and John (Mark 1:19-20). At the …

(Philippians 4:4)…..Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Now that is an amazing verse. Did you know that at least five times the Bible tells the people of God to rejoice in the Lord. We may not always be able to rejoice in other people, or in our circumstances, or just life in general, but we can always rejoice in our Lord. Right? Certainly people can be frustrating, people can be immature, people can even be undependable. But the Lord is different! God is dependable, God is faithful, …

God is a just God who will exact severity upon all those who disobey Him. Both the Old and New Testaments are replete with examples of God punishing the disobedient. For example, God drove Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and from the tree of life. God placed a curse on Cain for murdering his brother Abel. God destroyed the ungodly by a flood because of the greatness of their corruption and sin. God killed Nadab and Abihu, priests and sons of Aaron who were consumed with fire because …

As a Christian (a disciple-follower of Jesus Christ) it is easier to see the miserable state of the wicked now than when we were numbered with them. When I use the term wicked what do I mean? I mean those who are not born-again in Jesus Christ, those who have not believed the gospel of our Lord. That is those who do not know God and who have not obeyed the gospel. How does the Bible (God’s Word) describe the wicked?

• They desire evil – (Proverbs 21:10)
• He does not hate

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“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Maybe you have heard those words from Scripture? Maybe you’ve studied them in your quiet time with the Lord. It really addresses our feelings of sufficiency. Paul’s sufficiency is found in Christ, where’s yours? We can make it through every situation we might find ourself in, but how? Through Jesus Christ who will strengthen us. Remember, without Him, and yes apart from Him, we could do nothing at all (John 15:5). You know that’s true because we have all tried …

God’s wrath is necessary because wrath is an attribute of His, that due to His Holy, Sanctified hatred for sin, must judge those who practice it. By His very nature He cannot tolerate evil. He hates it! It cannot be in His presence – (Habakkuk 1:13a) (Psalm 5:1-6) (Psalm 11:5) (1 John 1:5). God would not be God if He did not punish evil. Note this “God’s wrath is the beginning of the gospel”Without the reality of God’s wrath coming upon sinful men there is no gospel (good news). (Romans …

(1 Corinthians 12:12)…..For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. What a powerful verse! But it is never experienced by those who are not believers in Jesus Christ. I am reminded of what (Ephesians 2:11–12) says….Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the …