Do you know people who claim to be a Christian but have just enough religion to make themselves miserable? Oh, they pray at mealtime (sometimes), when there’s no coronavirus they’ll go to church once or twice a month to flip God a couple of coins of commitment so they can get their name checked off on the imaginary attendance chart in heaven, and if they are asked if they’re a Christian they’ll say, “Of course – I believe in Jesus”. They know they should get off the fence and go ALL IN and follow Jesus. The problem is they’ve let the devil hold them back from being totally committed to following Jesus. There are so many passages that address what it actually/factually means to believe in Jesus and be saved. Tonight @ 7:00 p.m. we are going to study the radical demands of Jesus for reckless abandonment of our lives to follow Him. That is a tall order to fill. All or nothing – with Him or against Him. We do NOT earn salvation by having the right amount of commitment – it’s faith, but what is “faith” and what kind of faith? Read Mk. 8:31-38 to wet your appetite for tonight’s study and then listen to All in by Matthew West. See you tonight for one of the most important bible studies we will ever study.
Mark 8:31-38
And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”