"The Challenge of Self Denial" - Pastor Doug Batchelor

happy Sabbath everyone and it's good to be home as I mentioned during the Sabbath school it's still true was an hour ago and I'm still glad to be home today's message dealing with the challenge of self-denial is really striking to the very heart of what it means to be a Christian and when I talk about this issue it's really personal because I'm talking to myself I'm always assuming that I'm not alone that some of you are like me in that your biggest struggle is with our very natural tendency to be selfish sin is a three-letter word and in the very middle of the word sin is a letter I have you heard the expression before way from with them you don't want to think with them with them is an acronym that stands for what's in it for me you'd be surprised how often through the day you say what you say and do what you do and go where you go and eat what you eat all because you're asking what's in it for me it seems to me the the governing motive in the carnal heart and unless we resisted we'll find or the Holy Spirit saturates us we find that we all start thinking with him and who was it Augustine that said Lord saved me from sin but not yet yeah that was it problem we have with sin is we enjoy it there were naturally selfish but Jesus in that verse that we read there in Luke he said that the the guiding principle in Christianity if any one that would be you man woman young and old if anyone desires that come after him that's what it means to be a Christian to be a fall or Christ let him deny himself take up his cross that's death and follow me by the way it says deny himself daily and take up his fall that word daily is in the lucra version it's not on the others a daily and follow me for whoever desires to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it self-denial it's not easy even among Christians there was a survey done a couple of years ago they asked a thousand Christians why does the church exist eighty-nine percent responded the church exists to take care of my in my family spiritual needs only eleven percent said the purpose of the church is to win the world Jesus Christ we will find out next Friday where this church fits into that scenario we're gonna be trying to do some evangelism and reach our area for Jesus and I hope you'll become involved as much as possible in helping with that series so what is self-denial self-denial by definition this is both some biblical and dictionary definitions kind of commingled self-denial is a restraint or limitation of one's own desires or interests the willingness to deny one's possessions positions or pleasures in order to grow in holiness and commitment to God now the Greek word which I can't pronounce that's used therein in Luke 4 deny it means to renounce a person fully in all respects perseveringly it's an ongoing renouncing of self-interest it's a compounded word and reading from Matthew Henry's comment here I'm sorry Adam Clarke's commentary here it's a compounded word and abundantly increases the meaning combination of words it means a follower of Christ we'll need to observe it in its utmost latitude ongoing renouncing of self in order to be happy they're happy here and in the glorious here after a man self is to him the private cause of most of his miseries selfishness is the prime cause of most of our miseries I know that's true with me I don't know if it's true with you but the way I hear some pastors and some churches advertising Christianity you would think that Jesus said if any man would come after me he will have lots of money Jesus didn't say that but I've heard pastors all but say that Jesus did not say if anyone desires to come after me he will be loved by everybody matter of fact he said woe unto you if all men speak well of you for so they did of the false prophets Jesus did not say if anyone comes after me they will experience unlimited satisfaction of all their carnal desires you'll be healthy wealthy and wise he didn't say that he said you need to deny yourself take up your cross Jesus took his cross to his crucifixion and it doesn't come easy but that's the only way to have eternal life you know there's a story in the Bible you find it not in John or Mark but you do in Matthew and Luke in Matthew 27 32 after Christ had been tried he'd been beaten he'd been mistreated by Herod's soldiers he'd been brought before Pilate he'd been whipped trying to satisfy them rather than kill Jesus Pilate said we'll look I'll scourge him and let him go he scourged somebody didn't let him go and then they put a cross on his back and he had not gone far from the palace of the Antonian fortress when Jesus fell under the burden and it says in Matthew 27 32 now as they came out presumably came out from where he had been whipped they placed the crowd cross on him and he fell and they found a man of Cyrene Simon by name and him they compelled to bear his cross Luke 23 26 same story and as they led him away they laid hold on one Simon a Cyrenian coming out of the country and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus on the way to the crucifixion have you ever thought what a privilege to be able to bear the cross of Jesus have you ever thought if I live back then and I saw Jesus fall under the burden of his cross what an honor if I could be the one to say here Lord let me help you and I'll carry your cross well you've got that privilege right now and it's actually in some ways harder than just picking up a piece of timber and huffing and puffing and lugging it up brief hill in denying self you are being invited to share in bearing a cross that's not easy not when you get down to the nitty-gritty of what it means to deny self we're going to talk about what some of those things are well I could have started anywhere but for whatever reason I decided with denial of possessions jesus said to the rich young ruler if you'd be perfect go sell what you have give it to the poor and you'll a treasure in heaven and come follow me now some will be quick to remind me that Jesus isn't asking everybody to be an apostle and do that and that's true the Lord is not asking us right now as we leave Church to shed ourselves of our wallets and any thing we've got to go home and liquidate our bank accounts and to donate it all to the church he was asking that man really to do that he was asking him to close out his accounts to sell his home to give it to the poor jizz just didn't say give it to my ministry you noticed that it's the way some evangelists preach that message it's we and give it to me Jesus didn't say that he said give it to the poor he said then you follow me matter of fact you'll not find anywhere jesus said give your money to me some did but you never hear him say that it's hard to believe that the way you hear some evangelists preach but Jesus really does ask all of us to do what he asked that young ruler to do in that when you come to Christ you put it on the altar you say it's not money anymore it's yours all that I have belongs to you there's some other verses you can read where Matthew I'm sorry Luke 5:11 when they brought their boats to land they left everything and followed him that's what it means to be a disciple Luke 14:33 so therefore any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple now that's clear he's not just talking about the call to the apostles let me read that for you again therefore any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple that's kind of tough pastor dark how do you know whether you've done that or not well I would think that it means that whenever the spirit lays on your heart that there's some need that you say Lord I am simply a steward of your resources now what do you want me to do with your resources so that you've already given it to the Lord and you're just allocating as he directs Matthew 19 29 and everyone who has left oh actually I want to read Matthew 19:27 first Peter said Lord we left everything and followed you what will we have and Matthew 19 Jesus answers in verse 29 everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands from my namesake notice how much they had to leave for Jesus houses and lands father and mothers children for my sake will receive a hundredfold more and inherit eternal life in the world to come Hebrews 11 speaking of Moses verse 24 by faith Moses when he became of age he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin esteeming the reproach reproaches of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt for he looked for the reward Moses was looking for a reward beyond now was that the reward of the City of God the reward well yeah but more than that Moses was looking for the reward of Christ because if you think about it if you say I am willing to forsake everything here so that I can get more it's not really hard to move out of your house if you're moving into a mansion is that self-sacrifice so if the idea of sacrificing all that you have means that you're getting more tangibly it's not a self-sacrifice it's a transaction you got that but when you're saying I'm willing to give it all expecting nothing in return for Christ that self-sacrifice so much of what I hear being preached to self-sacrifice is really talking about trading and in a sense it is a trade but Jesus said real Sall soul sacrifice is losing everything that you might have everything that God wants but you're losing it for Christ and for others did that make sense you know the way I hear it preached sometimes it's it's really what's in it for me with them it says Christians form of whiffing I'll give up this but what do I get well that's not self sacrifice self sacrifice Jesus says give expecting nothing in return he says even the pagans give expecting to be recompense even the pagans invite friends over say now it's your turn next to invite me over and I go out to lunch every now and then with a buddy and I'll say here let me pay and the next time he says I'll pay come on what's in it for me Oh pay this time so I can feel good this time and you can feel good next time this time we'll go somewhere cheap next time somewhere expensive there's your pain self-denial means the denial of your rights for your possessions and you know I struggle without again I'm just being honest and I don't claim to have all the answers I I fall back on what Wesley said that being a Christian means that you earn all you can you save all you can and you give all you can and as Karen and I in our quiet moments ponder estate planning and what you want to do for the kids and what you want to do for God's work and it should not be in that order first thing you should think of when you if you have any estate what do I want to do for God's work for eternity because that's storing your treasure in heaven well you wonder how do you divide that ratio and so you could say Lord everything I have belongs to you how do you want me to do this and how much should I save now since the world's ending I mean you think about retirement do you ever think about I never when I was young I thought retirement you know when I joined amazing facts at first I didn't even claim Social Security so the Lord is gonna come and there'll be no social security left because you know it's all gonna run out of money and a few years went by and I thought I might actually have to retire I might actually live long enough to retire and I'll need something to live on so I started setting aside the Social Security and so you wonder how much do I say for old age well Lord what are you coming can you let me know so I could just you know how what happened enough to get to 70 but I don't need to live till 90 because you'll come by then am I the only one that thinks these things well you give it all to him and and you just pray for wisdom and the decisions that you make and he'll give you peace now pray for the bachelors because we still try to sort this stuff out every day you know how do you pace yourself so that your possessions all belong to the Lord self-denial in your relationships now this gets tough again I didn't put these in any particular order Jesus said whoever loves father or mother is not worthy of me whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me you notice he connects the denial and the relationships with the cross again every now and then I'll meet young woman or young man they're believers and they've taken a fancy to somebody and it may be a wonderful person a beautiful person a healthy person an ethical person but they're not a believer and they say oh you know where am I gonna find someone that is this this is really you know prime material I found this person just a wonderful person this is little detail they don't believe quite like I do but we get along so well they've got a wonderful family they're educated good-looking and Jesus said you need to deny yourself in your relationships because his word is very clear you should not be unequally yoked together and that means you put the Lord first and you take the cross of having to write them a letter and say you know I really care about you but God comes first and if God is not first in your life we don't have a future together and that can be tough but that's what it means to deny yourself and I've seen Christian young men and women cry their eyes out because they knew they had to tell somebody this is not gonna work in every other way it looks like it might work and it was a test because later God brought him someone better that did believe but they had to deny themselves it's tough you know you can see in the Bible some people were even asked to put a wedding husbands and wives let me read this to you and you might think with Pastor Doug is this an endorsement for a divorce well there are times as ratan worse 11 now therefore make confession to the Lord God of your father's and do his will separate yourself from the peoples of the land and the pagan wives now Abraham had to put because he had one wife too many so that would be grounds for divorce one of them and she was the pagan and he stayed with his first wife who was the worshipper of Jehovah but can you imagine how difficult that was I read that story and you find it both in Ezra Nehemiah where they come back from Babylon they've been carried off by their sins and they came back and they began to intermarry with all the pagans and God said this is why you were carried off to babbling you're doing the same thing that's not what way it's too late now we got kids inside you said no no no we're getting ready to rebuild the temple we're not going back down this road again it's not too late to and all these things stopped it and they had to make some tough decisions now don't use that as an endorsement for an unbiblical divorce I'm just reading a verse to you where they had to put the Lord first and it must have been very painful self-denial in diet now this is something that is an ongoing struggle but I surprised how much the Bible had to say about that I know the health educators in our midst are gonna appreciate this section Daniel 1 verse 8 Daniel resolved he would not be file himself with the Kings food or the wine that he drank though it may have tasted good I added that part he knew that it was inappropriate to eat the unclean things that the pagans were eating and the alcoholic beverages that came from the Babylonian capitated cafeteria even though it risked his security he had to deny him stop and why everyone else was eating it up feasting Daniel and his friends were eating vegetable mush now he ended up being healthier because of that and it was better for him but he had to deny himself you can read later Daniel 10 verse 3 during the time when he was fasting I ate no delicacies no Pleasant food no meat or wine entered my mouth nor did I anoint myself at all for three full weeks he was fasting now why do Christians fan and you know what I say that it to be very frank that just sailed over most of your heads and you're gonna let it go because you think fast you know that's some Old Testament ritual that they went through or some bit sad that's an ancient custom but you know the Bible says Jesus didn't say if you fast jesus said when you fast fasting and praying is part of no I don't want you to be like the publican that will stand in the front of the church and say Lord I think he died fast twice a week but there are times when you need a fast and pray there are health benefits and fasting but there are spiritual times you might know somebody that's afflicted by the enemy and there's a father that brought his son to Jesus and and he said Lord why couldn't your disciples do anything and Jesus said this kind that does not come forth except by prayer and fasting and I know father came to him once he said we've been praying for our son and I said have you ever fasted and prayed no sometimes it you might want to fast and pray about our meetings that begin this week there are special causes when the people of God were going to be annihilated in the book of Esther she asked everybody to fast and pray for three days that's pretty serious Daniel went three weeks then he didn't say you need anything he was an old man at that point and you probably fall over from low blood sugar if he hadn't eaten anything you got a you know be intelligent about it and you all know your bodies and you know I heard this rabbi was talking to his wife and he said you know I got into a discussion with a priest and the priest said yeah for Lent we give up food for 40 days and the rabbi said well for Yom Kippur we give up certain things for a day and the rabbi's wife laughed she said the Gentiles even pay retail when it comes to their feasts they're giving it up for 40 days but we get a bargain wholesale Yom Kippur one day and Protestants we have a theology where 365 days we don't have to give up anything that's not like just saying you know I'm gonna do without chocolate birthday fasting there's reason and do we have reasons to pass world's coming to an end what reason do you want this there's reasons the fast and pray we might be like Christ I'm not done proverbs 23:23 do not be among gluttonous eaters proverbs 25:16 if you found honey eat enough lest you fill yourself and vomit it out if it's a pleasant thing to seed a little bit we should be living on junk food romans 14 21 it is good not to eat food food or wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble so there's another principle denying yourself even something you think you might have a right to eat if it's gonna cause a problem for someone else now that's that was particularly written in the case you had a brother that was afraid to eat food that had been offered to an idol in it it made him uncomfortable and even though Paul said look I have no problem buying food in the market that may have been offered to an idol it doesn't bother me the idol is nothing but if my brother is concerned about it I'm not gonna eat it even though I may have a right to eat it even though it's clean food because it might cause him to stumble he that's called self-denial I am NOT gonna do something because it might offend someone else even though it inconveniences me or I'll have to sacrifice some pleasure because I love my brother now that principle regarding diet goes through a lot of things in life you don't want to do anything that's gonna make a brother or sister stumble anything by your example you want to be we were out of town for a couple weeks during this last series and our one of our neighbors a dear believer goes to central church next-door neighbor took care of our flowers and our mail for us while we were gone and so I thought I'd like to do something nice for the family and I I told God anything you know we just got back she hadn't gone to the market let's bring him something I went in the closet and I had one of those bottles of Martinelli you know to get the Apple and yeah but it had something else and it was cherry - it was good good stuff good stuff but it's in you know the wine bottle and it's middle of the day and I want to take it next door and I thought everyone in the neighborhood knows I'm a pastor I thought am I gonna walk down the street and hope nobody's looking out their window as pastor legs walking down the street with his bottle in his hands looks very much like a wine bottle you all know what I'm talking about so I put it inside an amazing thanks bag now I know that it was apple juice bubbly apple juice apple juice and my neighbor would have known but I didn't want to make anybody stumble so I thought I'm putting it I thought if I just had it in a brown bag where it was sticking up out it's not that would look really bad so I put it where it's completely covered inside an amazing facts bag and took it next door and they appreciated that and I told them that too I said you know I brought it over to bag because you know I don't what the neighbors should be they understood so you don't want to do anything to make your brother stumble in connection with the denial in appetite is just the general denial of sensual carnal pleasures Romans 8:13 for if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the spirit there's the key you put to death the deeds of the body you will live Romans 13:14 but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires now it doesn't mean that you're never to enjoy your food this is a great storm of this poor potluck everyone feels guilty and you're afraid to enjoy your food right it's not saying that it's just saying you can't be controlled by that it's you know the Bible talks about eating for strength and not for drunkenness first Peter 2:11 beloved I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh and of course that goes a lot further than appetite there's sexual passions there all kinds of carnal passions you could decide there which wage war against your soul you've got a spiritual side you've got a physical side and there's sort of this is getting until this is between the two em nity Matthew 5:29 Jesus said if your right eye causes you to sin tear it up pluck it out and throw it from you better that you lose one of your members than your whole body be thrown into hell and I think it's interesting if you jump to matthew 18:8 he says the same thing but he adds in your foot in your hand if your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away it's better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands and two feet be thrown into eternal fire you see with your eye it's your direction your vision for your life you touch with your hand and you go with your foot it's talking about the direction of your life the sensitivity of your life what you're grasping your possessions your vision all of these things need to be consecrated by the cross you need to learn self-denial in all of these areas does that make sense no I don't want you to misunderstand what is the nike slogan what's the nike slogan see you know it just do it and some people think the Christian slogan is just don't do it and I'm not saying just don't do it but there are times when you need to live by that slogan just don't do it and you know if for parents teach your children self-denial they've got to learn that don't say because I love them I want to satisfy every women desire you're gonna hurt them you must teach them self control self-denial discipline a lot of things that you think all the poor baby it's actually good for them and the mother sometimes say no but he's crying and the father will say let him cry he'll live that's why God puts men and women together right now I won't tell you who I won't tell you who but I know parents their kids cry and they get in bed with them and they're like nine years old come on now oh but they're crying they may cry for an hour they may cry for two but at some point you're gonna have to listen to him cry and they will go to sleep eventually they will go to sleep I know people you go visit them and kids are sleeping you got tiptoe around the house they gotta learn to sleep while you're living right if they're really tired they'll go back to sleep if they're not tired go wake up and it's like now the reason I say that is we're living in a society where the the the rigors of growing up on a farm most people don't there are so many conveniences in our world today there's so many areas where we have just every little satisfaction not our fingertips the children are growing up in a world where they don't understand work they don't understand healthy amount of pain discomfort self-denial self-control discipline and it is really hard to learn you can learn it but it's much harder to learn when you're grown up the concrete starts to set and it's difficult and they think the whole world exists to satisfy their every desire and the slightest inconvenience they start to moan and complaining and whining and I'm still trying every time telling me this is because I I would spoil as a kid I mean compared to a lot of kids in the world I actually told my mother when I was 11 years old I saw what was happening I said I need to go to military school to learn some discipline I was actually something perceptive I said and it really did help me because they didn't care that they were tough and I you needed to learn that and Karen will testify I'm still I need Nora she thinks I'm eccentric but I mean because you learn those things they beat it into you that's not all bad but it's hard to learn later in life to deny yourself and if every time you cry your parents give you what you want what's gonna happen when we reached a day where you can't buy or sell food unless you deny your faith if you're used to having I told Karen she said what time do want to eat last night I said 5:30 it was 6:30 and I was really hungry because I just ate breakfast I hadn't eaten any dinner but she had eaten lunch in my head and so she wasn't hungry I thought I was gonna die by 6:30 and so I'm thinking Lord when the day comes and you can't 5:45 it was later than that but we won't go there usually we make tacos but I got so hungry I said go to Chinese get something anyway it was good but we're okay we're you pray for us but and you're thinking about is there gonna come a day when we can't by yourself is there a chance you might get hungry if we can't fast for an hour without thinking our world is falling in and we have to sign on the line and forfeit our faith unless you learn to deny yourself and control those passions and urges and desires then how will we stand we somehow think well because I know what the Bible says about prophecy in the last days that I am gonna have this supernatural ability to deny myself even though I've never practiced it in my real life up until that point suddenly I'm going to be injected with this power I don't think so friends I think now we have an opportunity to learn to deny yourself that will prepare us for what's coming and if we're not learning it now we will not have it then it's like laying in a hospital bed without getting up for six weeks and then thinking you're gonna get up and run around the track you'll faint you just will not be able to do it now in the little tests that come to us we need to be practicing self-control denial self-discipline we need to learn those things in prestige and position let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God but he made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bondservant and coming there likeness of men if we are constantly thinking about wanting the prestige and the power and the position and wanting to climb and wanting the respect that's not the mind of Christ Jesus was willing to serve he was willing to take the lowest position I heard about the Secretary of State in Illinois Paul Powell years ago when they began to have these personalized license plates he had to decide who was going to get the license plate that said number one and he thought man I'm gonna make everybody mad because I had several applications for number one he's so you know he solved it gave it to himself that's a lot of us thing Philippians 2 verse 4 let each one of you look not only to his own interests but to the interests of others it is so hard for us to break out of the Whitlam thinking how do we get first in line how do we move ahead do you go to the supermarket and you you you are walking towards the checkout line and you say oh there's almost nobody there and it's open and you see someone else pushing their cart in the same direction they you can see there you make eye contact they guy they're making their head in the same line as you and you're far enough apart you know Walmart's a huge you're far enough apart sure I do all my shopping and all son you know I you pick up the pace but you don't want to look like you're going real fast and you're looking casual you need to just all the sudden you start walking real fast like that and they start pushing their Cardinal fast and then you get to that intersection point and I say what would Jesus do he'd walk faster right now and then you're like that that happened to me this week happened yesterday I told Karen and lady was in line ahead of me and so I stood there and I had like just two or three things I don't have much and she was having the biggest struggle because it was the self-checkout there was nobody there market was full Friday but the self-checkout and you know we I I let her go ahead of me and so she's having a hard time and she's trying to find out how to where's this label on the bananas well there is no label on the bananas you actually you know it's you got to type in bananas and it knows what the price is and achieve three times she calls over the attendant who helps you with the self-checkout you'll know what I'm talking about that someone who's sort of on standby there and I'm waiting and everyone else in every other line that I thought was too long they're just going through like you're in a slow-motion film you know and everything's and I thought you know I could stop my feet and just go off to another line I thought that won't look very well so I just wait and eventually he gets through line she checks out and she looks back at me to thank me for she thank you for your patience she goes you're that pastor she said are you pastor I said yes she said I see your programs at all yeah oh I love your programs and it's a whole boy I'm glad I didn't stomp off people are watching all the time prestige and position including in line checking around so what is the key to success how do we it's enough to talk about self-denial and I haven't covered the gamut of things that are involved you can fill in your own list of where you struggle with denying yourself it's all day long isn't it we're always thinking about it's just so natural it's like the compass points north we always point toward self I'll read to you from first Corinthians 13 and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned but have not love it profits me nothing love suffers long it is kind it does not envy it does not parade itself it is not puffed up it does not behave rudely here it is love does not seek its own it's not provoked it thinks no evil love does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth it bears all things that believes all things that hopes all things that endures all things love has to be the reason that we deny ourselves otherwise Wesley said John Wesley founder of the Methodist Church you know why they're called Methodists because they were so methodical about their sanctification and obedience they had truth statements about every area of life your dress do you think Adventist came up with that no Methodist had dress diet time work they just were extremely methodical about their religious worship their devotions and Wesley got that from his mother who was a godly woman but he came back from doing mission work in North America and he said I was lost and then I learned about righteousness by faith and I fell in love with Jesus and he continued to do all of the good deeds but now he did it for the right reason because of faith and love and so when I talked about self-denial the Pharisees were the very best at self-denial I fast twice a week pay tithes of all that I have that's important but are you doing it for the right reason otherwise there's legalism but we must learn self-discipline for the right reason we need to learn to take up our cross and say no to ourselves there's a quote I found in the book Acts of the Apostles this is the one by eg white page 246 speaking to Paul who was the hardest working of the Apostles he loved the Lord he sacrificed you read about what Paul went through whipped and shipwrecked and stoned and love for the Lord of glory whom he had so relentlessly persecuted in the person of his Saints was the actuating principle of his conduct love the motive power if ever his ardor in the path of duty flagged if he ever noticed that he was becoming a weak in his duty one glance at the cross and the amazing love there revealed was enough to cause him to gird up the loins of his mind and to press forward in the path of self-denial love looking at the cross and it's not just the love but one more verse on love Ephesians 5:1 and to therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God love as Christ loved he loved us and he gave himself up for us and remember now here's the whiff from spiritual principle if you lose your life you'll gain it jesus said you take up your cross and you follow him and then you find everything love and the holy spirit galatians 5:16 but i say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh love for God and the love of God will spread his spirit in your heart and it's through the Spirit of God you get the power to deny self practical tip don't be overwhelmed with the idea of how many changes you need to make because if you're like me you're selfish and the things I didn't learn as a child I'm wrestling with today it can be done do it in little things like letting someone go ahead of you at the line or pull in front of you and there's its street or the potluck line it'll be interesting to see what happens and it's a little pile but it's in little things practice and little things pray for little victories if you can't fast for a day fast a meal but say lord help me learn to deny myself I want to be ready what I'm gonna be really called to forsake everything maybe be hungry flee for the hills I mean this is gonna it's gonna be tough for real Christians in the last days and I think that so many are gonna fail because we're not learning in everyday life to deny ourselves for Christ and for others amen you know I read about years ago a story of a Chinese Christian he was actually a an attendant to a barber in China as a boy a Christian missionary shared the gospel with this man by the name of local low folk was his name and he accepted Jesus then he said he asked his master he said I cannot work in the barber shop seven days a week I need to keep the Sabbath he believed that was Sunday but he said he would not work on Sunday anymore knee was fired well he managed to survive and ended up becoming a very prosperous businessman in China and in the 1860s he was very concerned about what was happening to his countrymen because while the Civil War was going on here in North America there was another kind of war that was taking place among the Chinese coolies that were being sold and sent to work in the mines in South Africa and South America building the American railroads in California and they lived terribly poor lives grueling conditions the Chinese coolies and his heart love Luke's heart went out to them so you know what he did he signed up in China sold himself as a slave to a British company he went to British Guiana and he contracted to work as a slave among the coolies for five years so that he could witness to them and experience their conditions so they would listen to him about Jesus and he did that and by the age of forty three his lungs gave out and he ended up dying of pulmonary disease directly related with working in the mines but at that point he had built two churches and brought 200 of his countrymen to Jesus and he would work side by side when I thought yeah talk about denying yourself to say I am going to give up forsake everything I have I'm gonna become a slave I'm gonna work in terribly grueling conditions where it stinks and it's miserable and the food is miserable so I can lead other people that are being lost to Christ you got to have a passion for souls to do that that's what self-denial is I think if the church has a revival of this teaching of self-denial you will see a revival of mission work of people being willing to deny themselves and go into difficult circumstances and risk their lives for Jesus I want to learn it so you've just listened to me talk to myself I have a feeling that you may be feel the same way that we need to learn how to take up our cross like Simon took up the cross of Jesus and follow him and live for him is that your desire saying five seventy as we close him number five seventy and we invite you if that's your prayer let's stand together as we sing this and make it the prayer of your heart not i but Christ [Music] is it your desire friends to really say Lord give me your spirit give me love for you so that I can really learn what it means on a daily basis to be willing to follow Jesus if it means taking the lowest position if it means maybe not having friends denial of some desire that's within reach whatever it means to do your will and say lord I want to really practice taking up my cross denying myself and following you letting you live out your life in me that's your prayer dear father we thank you so much for the example of Jesus and others Lord we look at Ruth who are forced took everything and embraced the life of poverty because of her love for Naomi of Nehemiah who left the courts of Persia so that he can endure hardship and build up the City of God and Peter James John Matthew that walked away from their nets and their occupations so they could follow Jesus and Lord it's not changed you're asking us all to do the same thing today to really follow you and forsake all help us to recognize that pearl of great price is worth it Lord be with us teach each of us how to deny ourselves give us the spiritual discipline that we need and to embrace what makes us like your son and lord I pray that you'll just pour out your spirit on this church be with the meetings that will come in about a week and maybe many be one to you and we thank you and pray this in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Aaron

Views: 37,957

Rating: 4.857729 out of 5

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Id: kgXtNm1Y-Jk

Length: 48min 43sec (2923 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 15 2018