His Cross; Let Him Deny Himself 3 (luke 9, 23)

[Singer 1] Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword. His truth is marching on. [Narrator 1] Churchisms and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God rightly desires a godly home front. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] Great peace. I will say this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice for He has made me glad. He has made me glad, He has made me glad. And I'm so glad. I will rejoice for He has made me glad. Hallelujah, He has made me glad. And I'm so glad. I will rejoice for He has made me glad. Oh, I will enter, will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart. I will enter His courts with praise, with praise. I will say this is the day that the Lord has made. Oh, I will rejoice for He has made me glad. He has made me glad, He has made me glad. And so, and I'm so glad. I will rejoice for He has made me glad. Hallelujah, He has made me glad. And I'm so glad. I will rejoice for He has made me glad. Our Father, we rejoice for You have made us glad. You have given us reason to rejoice. You have granted unto us justification unto life. You have granted adoption. You have granted redemption. You have granted revelation. You have ordained us, oh Lord, unto honor and glory. You have called us to be conformed to the image of Your Son. You have given us an eye that sees. You have granted us ears that hear. You have given us a heart to perceive. Lord, we are grateful. We thank You for this greatness that we have received. We say, Lord, be exalted in the name of Jesus. Mighty God, unto You we gather this evening. Lord, we pray. Let Your Spirit work within us in the name of Jesus. Lord, we pray. As we gather together, our brethren who are online, our brethren who are here physically, all of us together, either on Mixlr or on Telegram, Lord, we bring ourselves unto You. We say, Lord our God, speak to our situations in the name of Jesus. Meet us where we need You most in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Eternal Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Yeah, we have been looking at this matter of His cross, and we have been looking at Luke 9:23. That has been the test we have been considering under the theme, this topic we started over two months now, His Cross. And we have been looking at different aspects of this matter of the cross. And in the last two weeks, we have been focusing on Luke chapter 9, from around verse 18 thereabouts to the matter, from around verse 18, and we have been looking at that all through to verse 25. This episode we have been considering has been the discussion of Jesus with His disciples when He was asking them the question of His identity. That's from around verse 18. And it happened as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them saying, "Who do the crowd say that I am?" So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah, and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God." And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and killed and be raised the third day." Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and 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 he himself destroyed or lost?" That's been the test we have been reading, and we have been considering our emphasis has been on the verse 23 of the selected tests where He said, "Whoever desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself." And we have looked at the matter of "let him deny himself" in the past two weeks now. We saw that except a man understand the love of God, fundamentally we have considered the truth that except a man understand the love of God, he cannot deny himself. And secondly, we have noted that the reason why we are to live for Jesus, why our life should be centered on glorifying Jesus, is that it is the coming of Jesus that gave our soul its value. Once you remove Jesus from our soul, then our soul is lost. There's nothing valuable again in our soul. Jesus is the only one that gives our soul value. And then last week, we were able to look at this matter of "let him deny himself." We considered Romans 12:1. But to have a proper understanding of that Romans chapter 12, we had to take our reading from chapter 11 so that we can properly situate that verse 1 of Romans chapter 12 correctly, where it said, "I therefore beg you, brothers and sisters, that you present your body a living sacrifice." I therefore beseech you by the mercies of God. I beg you by God's mercy, brothers and sisters, that you present your body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. And last week we were able to consider the matter to see that nothing again can be reasonable, nothing can be reasonable than for us to consider this mercy that we received and as a consequence of that, present our body, the entirety of our life, everything as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. That was our consideration last week. And as we normally do, please I want to, something occurred to me after our discussion last week and I think I should raise it now. Please, our brethren who are online, who are on Telegram, Mixlr, and you're connecting with us, please, we have been looking at this matter of His cross for a while now. I want to throw it open to you that please, if there are questions on your mind, if there are things that constitute questions, some things that we have been said that they are not clear or you want clarification on them, please put your question through to us. The technicals will work on it, we will get it. You can place it on Mixlr, we will get it. You can put it on Telegram, we will get it. It can also come on WhatsApp, on the WhatsApp group, if you're on our WhatsApp group. Please, if there are questions in your mind, there are things you want us to handle, please let us begin to have them so that we can be treating the questions as we are going on this matter. So, last week I said we considered Romans chapter 11, 12. And I don't know, for those of us who are here physically, if there are one or two things we have to say, whether by way of contribution, by way of comment, by way of question, by way of testimony, by way of sharing in relation to the matters that we considered last week. So let me ask our brethren who are here physically. Is there anyone that have anything to say? Anything to say? Okay, so nobody have anything to say for our brethren who are here physically. So let's go to that verse that we have been considering, Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9. And when we look at that verse, it says, then He said to them all. He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself." That is what we have been considering, let him deny himself. And this "denying himself," the two things we have considered, I've just highlighted them. Now we want to still go to this matter of "let him deny himself." We have looked at living for Jesus is the essence why our life should glorify Jesus, is because He's the one that gives our life a value. Let us evaluate the mercy of God and that mercy should make us see why we should live for Him. Now, "let him deny himself." Let him deny himself. We want to look at this matter in the other dimension or the other side to it that we could not get into last week because we had to expand the matter of understanding that the only reasonable thing we can do is to present our body a living sacrifice. Now we are seeing a very important thing here. You notice immediately Jesus said in that Luke chapter 1, verse 29, in that Luke 9, He said, "Who do people say that I am?" And then the disciples mentioned several names. "Okay, you, who do you say that I am?" They said, "You're the Christ." Okay, so You're the Christ. He said, so get this. Don't tell anybody this until I've been glorified. He said because the Son of Man will be rejected, suffered, humiliated by the chief priest and scribe. He will be killed, He will die, He will come back to life, the resurrection. And then before He now said, "If any man would be My disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me." Now we are seeing in this place that one thing that we must understand about our Christian walk—this is cross—is that it is given to us. It is given. This is one thing that is given. The King James says it is given, am I correct? Is there any other rendering? NLT. [Speaker 2] Philippians 1:29. "For unto you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake." [Speaker 1] "Let him deny himself." This is the other side we couldn't get to last week because we had to expand the matter of understanding that the only reasonable thing we can do is to present our body a living sacrifice. Now we are seeing a very important thing here. You notice immediately Jesus said in that Luke chapter 1, verse 29, in that Luke 9, He said, "Who do people say that I am?" And then the disciples mentioned several names. "Okay, you, who do you say that I am?" They said, "You're the Christ." Okay, so You're the Christ. He said, so get this. Don't tell anybody this until I've been glorified. He said because the Son of Man will be rejected, suffered, humiliated by the chief priest and scribe. He will be killed, He will die, He will come back to life, the resurrection. And then before He now said, "If any man would be My disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me." Now we are seeing in this place that one thing that we must understand about our Christian walk—this is cross—is that it is given to us. It is given. This is one thing that is given. The King James says it is given, am I correct? Is there any other rendering? NLT. "You have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ, but also the privilege of suffering." You see what the Bible calls it? It's a privilege to suffer for Him. It's a thing we must understand that when people hate you for the sake of Christ, it's a privilege. It's a blessing to suffer for Christ. It is not, it is not—what I want to say is that it is not a suffering to suffer for Christ. It is not a suffering to suffer for Christ. It is a privilege. It is a blessing to suffer for Christ. So the matter of "let him deny himself" should also be understood from this standpoint that if anybody want to follow Me, let him understand that he has been granted the privilege of not only believing in Me, but also to suffer for His sake. It is a blessing. And you know the Lord Jesus made a statement here that, "For so they persecuted the prophet that have been before you." I want us to check this vis-à-vis the matter in Hebrews chapter 11 where it talk about the heroes of faith. The heroes of faith. In Hebrews chapter 11, the heroes of faith. Now you will notice that he's speaking about these heroes of faith, the Bible spoke to both side. And I did emphasize that when we read this scripture some weeks back. When we look at Hebrews chapter 11 from verse 31, he says, "For by faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she received the spies with peace. And what more shall I say? For the time will fail me to tell of Gideon, and Barak, and Samson, and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets." Now look at the two side. Please look at these verses very closely. Looking at the two side. What is he talking about here? How men were able to obtain a good report, is that not? He said they obtained a good report through faith. So he was talking about the report that they received. Now he says, through faith they subdued kingdom. Is that a good report? Is that a good report? Yes. They wrought righteousness. Is that not a good report? Yes. They obtained promises. Is that not a good report? Yes. They stopped the mouth of the lions. Is that not a good report? Yes. What they did through faith. They quenched the violence of fire. Wow. How does that sound? How does that sound? Powerful, great, stopping the mouth of the lion, quenched the violence of fire. I hope you know the person who quenched the violence of fire. Who are those people? The three Hebrew boys. They entered fire. It could not do them anything. They escaped the edge of the sword. Out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle. Remember Gideon? When he was pursuing those people? He says they became valiant in battle. They turned to flight the armies of the alien. All of this, how does this sound? A demonstration of power. Is that not it? Demonstration of miracle. We move on again to 35. "Women received their dead raised to life again." They did it through faith, is that not? When when the dead come back to life, what is being display? Power of God through faith. But also look at it, still talking about faith. Others were what? Were tortured. What what are they also expressing? Faith. But we don't look at this as faith. We look at it as suffering. We look at it as, this side, we don't often talk about this other side of faith. We call it expression of defeat. We say that one is not part of faith. It is only to receive miracle, to receive sign, to do this, to do that. That is what you're talking about faith. Then we are not taking the total gospel. Both side is expression of faith. They are good report. It's a good report to be tortured. It's a good report—you see what the Bible is making—it's a good report to be tried by mockery. It's a good report to obtain scourging, whipping, because of faith. It's a good report to be in chain and imprisonment. It's also a good report. It's not only when we perform miracles. It's not only when there is food on the table that you're talking about faith. But that there is no food on the table and there is no money to buy the food and I refuse to steal and I endure hunger for His name's sake is also faith. That's the point the Bible is making. There is a dimension of "let him deny himself." I'm talking about the this dimension to our faith. "Let him deny himself." This preparedness to suffer. And the preparedness to suffer is coming from the background that we understand that suffering for Jesus is what? Is a privilege. That is why you will observe that what we mentioned earlier when we were considering the cross. You can now understand the reason why Peter and John, when they were beaten, flogged, for the gospel, the Bible says they did what? [Speaker 3] Matthew 5:10-12. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." [Speaker 1] They were rejoicing because they counted themselves opportuned, privileged to suffer for Christ. It was a privilege to suffer for Christ. So that gives you the background to why they were rejoicing. Why? Because they understood what? That it is not only given to them to believe in Christ, but there's also the privilege of suffering for Him. It's an honor. There is this honor of suffering for Jesus Christ. Now he said they were sawn in two—were tempted—were slain with the sword. It's not only that they stopped the mouth of the lion, they quenched the violent fire. It was also expression of faith, obtaining good report when they took saw and they sawed them into two. They were cut boom-boom and they killed them. And they were not ready to deny that faith and they died in the process of that faith. It was also a good report. Why? Because we must understand that if anybody want to follow Jesus, the first condition is you must lose sight of yourself. You must lose sight of your interest. You must forget yourself. You must renounce yourself. You must totally, totally place yourself, subordinate yourself, make yourself secondary and whatever you think you want to gain so that coming to Jesus is not just making up our mind to come and gain. It's also making up our mind to come and suffer. And that suffering, what I am saying, suffering for Jesus in the actual sense of it is not suffering. From the point of the scripture, what is it? A privilege, an honor. It's a honor. And so that is what the Lord was trying to say when you look closely at that Luke chapter 9 that we have been considering. You see that the matter followed themselves, they follow themselves very closely. He says from 22, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the third day." Then He said to them all, "If anybody desire to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me." Now, if you are not doing that, what exactly are you doing? Look at it. [Speaker 3] Hebrews 11:31-40. "By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace. And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us." [Speaker 1] "For whoever desires to save his life." If you don't lose your interest, if you don't forget about yourself, "whoever desires to save his life will lose it." "Whoever thinks he can save his life." And I keep telling people, it is not wisdom to try to save a life that you cannot save. You cannot save it. The Master made this clear that you cannot save it. And that is wisdom. And that is why I normally say that that man is not a fool who gave to God what he cannot what he cannot keep, to obtain what he cannot lose. Hallelujah. The man is not foolish. He gave to God what he cannot keep. What can we not keep? We cannot keep our life. That's the reality of the scripture. You cannot keep it. Oh, he said, don't let me, if I tell the truth, I will lose my job. If I don't compromise, I will not make it in life. If I if I do this, they will kill me. If I do that, they will not promote me. If I do all those things, your wanting to live a godly life, he says, whoever want to live a godly life in this world must suffer persecution. The person must suffer persecution. If you want to be godly, then the only way to understand that is to prepare your mind, is to lose sight of yourself, is to understand that, look, I am I will definitely have to suffer for Jesus. And suffering is part of my call. It has been given to me not only to believe in Him, it has been given to me to suffer for Him. It is understanding that that preparedness that is a strong condition, part and parcel of "let him deny himself." And you notice, "whoever desire to save his life will lose it." What I am saying, brethren, is that there is nothing you can do. As long as you are trying to save your life, let me tell you the truth, you will lose it. That's the reality, you will lose it. The best you can do is to forget yourself and remember only Jesus. The best you can do is to live for Jesus. Because as as no matter how much you try to save your life, there's already a judgment waiting upon your head. That judgment is that you will lose the life. He says, "Whoever will save it will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it." So, you see the contradiction, a paradoxical statement. It looks foolish, but that is the wisdom of God. The more you are running away from living a godly life so that you can save your life, the more you will lose it. The more you say, look, no matter what it will cost me, me, I will live a godly life. I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to live a godly life. What will happen to your life? You will save it. And please don't don't forget that the cross is the wisdom of God, and the cross is the power of God. It may sound foolish to those who are perishing. But for us who believe, Christ, the cross is the what? The wisdom of God and what? The power of God. Everybody that run away from godliness to preserve his or her life will lose it. There is no how you try to do it. The end is that you will lose it. That's the end. On the final analysis, you will be a loser. May we not be a loser at last. May we not be losers at last. May we not be losers at last. May we not be losers at last in the name of Jesus. It's so crucial. I normally make this statement and honestly it makes a lot of meaning to me. Where did I get the statement from? I actually got it from Matthew 7, the issue of the wise man, the wise builder and the foolish builder. That's where I got that statement from. Where the Lord said, where is it now? "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven." I'm using Matthew 7 from verse 21. "But he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'" Then the Lord went further. "Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of Mine." Hallelujah. Whoever hear these sayings of Mine and does them. May that be our portion in the name of Jesus. We will be doers of His sayings, we will be doers of His word. May the Lord grant us a the act of not just being a hearer, but a doer. A doer of scriptures, a doer of His will. He said, "Therefore, whoever hear these sayings of Mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain descended, and the flood came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. And beat against that house and it did not fall for it was founded on the rock. It was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine and does not do them will be likened to a foolish man who built his house on sand. And the rain descended, and the flood came, and the wind blew and beat against that house, and it fell. And great was its fall." Are you noticing something here? Are you noticing something here? The Lord is making a matter very, very clear. That there are people who are in the kingdom. They are in the kingdom. But they will not put His saying into practice. They will not do what He says. These set of people, these set of people, they are people that are building on sand. And when you look at it very critically, do you notice that the Bible says this set of people, for majority of them, it is when they get to the point of no return that they will realize it. At the point when they will say, "I cast out this in Your name, I did that in Your name, I did this Your name." He says, "Look, I don't know you, you workers of iniquity." Now you can see that the statement I said I normally make from this place. It is a glorious thing to endure and endure to eventually succeed than to succeed and succeed to eventually fail. My prayer is that you will endure and eventually succeed. That is the correct pattern. It's a wrong pattern to succeed and succeed to eventually fail. And so that is what we I'm bringing from that place. Let us make up our mind. As long as you try to save your life, you have also written your destination. Your destination is that as long as you try to save your life, you will definitely lose it. That's destination. As long as you're interested in your interest, you want to protect your interest, you want to protect this, "No, this is my right, this is my this," as long as you want to do that, then definitely, the Bible says it's going to come to pass that every such person, they're going to lose it. Whereas on the other hand, every person who loses his life will definitely save it. And so these are very, very these are very, very these are very, very crucial thing for us as believers to call our attention to. Because it is not just that we believe. That is true, we believe. This is good, but beyond that we believe is that we must be obedient. He said, "Anyone who desire to save his life will lose it." And if you have lost your life, look at what the Bible now says. He says, "For what profit is it for a man if he gains the whole world and himself destroyed or lost?" So is that the point He's making? If you will not deny yourself, if you will not choose to suffer for Christ, if you will not choose to go the way of suffering because of godliness, and so as a result what happened? You were able to gain the whole world. What did the Bible say you have gained? You have gained nothing. You have gained nothing. So the point I'm making, I'm making and I want it to be very, very clear this evening, is that we must realize that it is given to us in Christ not only not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer, for His sake. And honestly, the matter did not end did not end in that place. The matter did not end here. When you look into scripture, it was it was something that the Bible repeats in several, several places so that we can get the message very, very clear. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 10. 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 10. [Speaker 2] 1 Timothy 4:10. "For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe." [Speaker 1] You see that? He says, "For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe." You can see these people talking about suffering, suffering reproach, suffering reproach. Let's look at 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy. Please I want us to open in advance because we will be reading plenty a little plenty scriptures today. 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 12. 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 9. 1:12. [Speaker 4] 2 Timothy 1:12. "For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day." [Speaker 1] Are you seeing that? What is Paul suffering here? Imprisonment. They were talking about their faith. He's talking about being in prison. He said, but it is nothing to him because it is working for him a far greater glory. Can we give 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 9? 2 verse 9. [Speaker 2] 2 Timothy 2:7-9. "Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things. Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained." [Speaker 1] Do you see that? What was he suffering for? He was preaching that Jesus Christ, the cross of Jesus is the only basis of salvation. We don't need any other thing in addition. Some were adding circumcision, they were adding Sabbath, they were adding a lot of thing, but Paul insisted, anything outside being complete in Jesus is nonsense. For that cause, he was suffering. "Even to the point of chains, like a criminal, but the word of God is not chained." We are looking at "let him deny himself." What I'm trying to make you see, this is what I'm trying to make you see, that please, suffering suffering for Jesus was is actually the mark of what, if we look at this thing that we are talking about. That is the mark of being a hero. When we are looking for heroes, people who don't suffer for Jesus, they are not heroes. Heroism is suffering for Jesus. And this is something today that our generation—you know what our generation is making suffering to look like?—they are making it a shame. Paul said, "For which I suffer in prison, but what? I am not ashamed." You know what he's trying to say? Please, how do you see it? Let's look at it, brethren. They took some elders, Peter and John, these are married men, these are fathers, publicly they took cane, gave them lashes. And when they were through with that, they were rejoicing. "Thank Jesus. Ah, me too have suffered for Jesus." Now, ordinarily that thing is shameful. Is it not shameful? It is shameful. But do you know that the reason why the pain and the shame was nothing was that these people understood what? That suffering for Christ is not suffering but privilege and honor. So being what makes us hero is suffering for Him. When we are suffering for Him like this, ah, it is to begin to say, "Yes, me too have received the mark of heroism." That is the mark of being heroes. Unfortunately today, it is the mark today of being stupid. It is the mark of not being smart. It is the mark of not being wise. You know what it means to be wise? It's to leave godliness, tell one lie to escape suffering. What it means to be smart is is to is to tell official lie, diplomatic lies, live double standard, live double life, get along with the majority so that they don't call you names. That is what it means to be smart today. But we are looking at what it means to be smart, what it means to be hero. What is it? Is to do what? Is to suffer for Christ. That is what it means to be. Yes. We now have heroes and it is in suffering. So you notice that he said, "I'm not ashamed." Our generation is making suffering for godliness a shame. We don't celebrate people again who suffer for godliness. You know what we say? Alaseju de. Mr. Know-Too-Much. Mr. Too-Know. Only him is righteous. We call in fact, when I'm talking of what believers will be calling believers. I'm not talking of what the world is calling believers. I'm talking of what fellow believers will say. When you say I entered into the exam and I could not understand anything, I said I didn't understand so I just left the exam, I will carry the course. To them, ah, you mean you did what? So you could not just ask somebody what was the answer? I'm sorry, I whether you are understanding me. How will you how will you tell them they are looking for somebody that is not up to 35, how will you tell them that you are 36? Say you just say that you are 34 and then you make it in the age, the declaration of age is age not just number. That is why you will not get job. With the way you be doing all this mumu thing, that is why you will see a fellow believer telling you. Nobody want to celebrate you that you are suffering for godliness. You are not to be celebrated. What I'm trying to say, I'm talking of what more generally happens. Celebrating people who suffer godliness today is becoming not the common thing. It's becoming the awkward thing. That's what I'm saying. The awkward thing. Why do you have to tell them that truth? Is it not Nigeria? Who does not do anything? You should have. I'm telling you, the way you are going like this, you will not get promotion. You will not get promotion. The way you are going like this, you will not make it. You think you ever get contract in Nigeria? You will never get contract the way you are going. You know, and I'm trying to I'm just using different job situation to explain the reality of our today. Enduring, being tormented, suffering is oh, they will waste your time. Don't let them waste your time. Just do whatever they want you to do and leave the place. May the Lord help us in the name of Jesus. But we are looking at "let him deny himself." Let him deny himself. We must lose sight of ourself. Today we are not losing sight of ourself. We are not losing sight of our interest. I'll pick the matter from here next week. For today let us pray. "Let him deny himself." "Let him deny himself." You must lose sight of yourself. You must forget your interest. Prepare your mind to suffer for Jesus. That is what it means to deny yourself. Prepare have a prepared mind and understand that suffering for Jesus is nothing, it is honor and privilege. That is what it means to deny ourselves. Have this kind of mind. I want you to talk to the Lord. I want you to talk to the Lord. How are you living honorably among the Gentiles? Are you living honorably? Or your life your life cannot put to silence their foolishness because you too you are foolish. You live like them. You keep malice like them, you fight like them, you talk like them, you react like them, you steal like them, you lie like them, you are not different. You compromise like them, you do everything like them, then later you now carry the Bible. For God so loved the world. Which which which stupid preaching are you preaching? When your life could not silence their foolishness, is it your your word that want to silence their foolishness? Can you give what you don't have? [Speaker 2] 1 Peter 2:11-15. "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men." [Speaker 1] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Lord, we pray as we keep considering this matter of Your cross, our place, what You have done and our place in this cross. This matter of this old rugged cross, the emblem of what it is, what it stand for. Lord we pray, may our life be correct. May our life be correct. May our life be right. Lord, may we not build and build and build to eventually fail in the name of Jesus. Lord God Almighty, may we be that at last, oh God, it is the song of victory in the name of Jesus. Lord help us. Help us that our perception of the cross will be correct. Our relationship to the cross be correct. May it be right in the Jesus. Thank You, Eternal Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. [Narrator 2] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in reaching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission hit. Our regular activities are discipleship class every Monday, 5:00 PM; adolescents and singles club every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; marriage forum second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; family life seminars, regular school outreaches, and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite Very Joy filling station along Idjere road, Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are 080-33-86-11-36, 070-33-61-38-48. God bless you all.