Sacrifice.

Sacrifice.

The man I am proud to call my Pastor, David Cowger, spoke from the below passage this morning. He spoke from the perspective that Christ has called us to lay down and submit our lives to Him, that according to Christ, to gain LIFE, we must submit our lives.

This means that we must be willing to lay down anything that God requires of us in our pursuit of Him. The attached picture was taken after virtually everyone in the room nailed something to the cross. Each of us wrote something down that we felt God was telling us to lay down. It could be addictions, lusts, money, pride, hurt, anger, disappointment, geographical location, work, ministry goals, opinions, attitudes or something else.

My question is: What are you holding back? What are you holding on to that you need to nail to the cross? Is it your plans? Your beliefs? Your traditions? Your job? Your wallet? Your dreams? Your prideful pursuit of riches? Your hurt? Your anger? Your lusts? What do you need to nail to the cross?

Listen to this after you read the below passage: No Sacrifice, by Jason Upton

Luke 14:26-33 (Amplified)
²⁶If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his [own] father and mother [^[g]in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God] and [likewise] his wife and children and brothers and sisters--[yes] and even his own life also--he cannot be My disciple.

²⁷Whoever does not persevere and carry his own cross and come after (follow) Me cannot be My disciple.

²⁸For which of you, wishing to build a ^[h]farm building, does not first sit down and calculate the cost [to see] whether he has sufficient means to finish it?

²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid the foundation and is unable to complete [the building], all who see it will begin to mock and jeer at him,

³⁰Saying, This man began to build and was not able (^[i]worth enough) to finish.

³¹Or what king, going out to engage in conflict with another king, will not first sit down and consider and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand [men] to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

³²And if he cannot [do so], when the other king is still a great way off, he sends an envoy and asks the terms of peace.

³³So then, any of you who does not forsake (renounce, surrender claim to, give up, ^[j]say good-bye to) all that he has cannot be My disciple.