LUKE 9:23-27 (NKJV)
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross 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. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.”
JOHN14:6 (NKJV)
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
MATTHEW 22:35-40 (NKJV)
Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
LUKE 22:24-30 (NIV)
A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
WHO DO YOU WANT TO CONTINUE TO SERVE IN THIS LIFETIME? YOURSELF AND SATAN OR THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SAVE YOUR SOUL YOUR CREATOR JESUS CHRIST.
WHOSE TABLE DO YOU WANT TO SIT AT WHEN THIS LIFE IS OVER? THE TABLE FOR JESUS’ DISCIPLES OR IN THE PITS OF HELL WITH THE ENEMY OF YOUR SOULS WHERE THERE IS NO TABLE ONLY WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH FOR ETERNITY?
A DISCIPLES REWARD…
MATTHEW 19:27-30 (NIV)
Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
YOU MUST MAKE A DECISION NOW. WHO WILL YOU SERVE? THIS DECISION WILL DETERMINE THE ETERNAL DESTINATION OF YOUR SOULS.
JOSHUA 24:14-18 (NIV)
“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”
GENTLEMEN. CHOOSE TODAY THIS DAY WHO YOU WILL SERVE. THE GODS OF YOUR PAST, THE GODS OF YOUR DRUGS, THE GODS OF YOUR OWN SELF RULE, THE GODS OF YOUR WICKED INDULGENCES, THE GODS OF YOUR OWN DESTRUCTION (OR) THE ONE TRUE LIVING GOD JESUS CHRIST, THE ONLY ONE WHO CARES FOR YOU AND WANTS TO SAVE YOUR SOULS FOR ETERNITY. THE GOD WHO ROBED HIMSELF IN FLESH AND CAME INTO THIS WORLD TO OFFER HIMSELF UP AS A SACRIFICE TO PAY FOR THE WAGES OF YOUR SIN WHICH IS DEATH SO YOU WOULD NOT HAVE TO. THE GOD WHO HUNG ON A CROSS FOR YOU! THE GOD WHO ALLOWED HIMSELF TO BE HUMILIATED, BEATEN, TORTURED AND BRUTALLY MURDERED SO YOU COULD BE WITH HIM FOREVER. THE GOD WHO IS CALLING YOU NOW OUT OF THIS WORLD TO BE HIS DISCIPLE. THE GOD WHO IS GIVING YOU THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE DELIVERED FROM THIS PRISON AND FROM THE MISTAKES OF YOUR PAST TO GIVE YOU A NEW LIFE AND PURPOSE IN HIM. CHOOSE THIS VERY DAY WHO YOU WILL SERVE! YOU MUST DECIDE NOW!
ISAIAH 53 (NIV)
Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely, he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
IN 2013, I MADE THE DECISION TO SURRENDER MY LIFE TO JESUS CHRIST AND BECOME HIS DISCIPLE AND IT WAS THE SINGLE GREATEST DECISION I EVER MADE IN MY LIFE. THE DICISION COST ME EVERYTHING I HAD BUT GAVE ME SO MUCH MORE.
LUKE 14:25-33 (NIV)
Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish It lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
TODAY I STAND BEFORE YOU AS A MAN OF GOD AND A DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST! WON’T YOU FOLLOW HIM TOO?