Deny Oneself

Scripture:
Matthew 16:24 - Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Mark 8:34 - Show ContextAnd when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them,
Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Luke 9:23 - And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Last week I was watching TBN and observed a preacher who appeared to be just sharing his thoughts on one of TBN's Guests Interview shows when I noticed that what he was sharing was more then just his words or this thoughts but they profound words of prophecy. Now by prophecy I do not mean the kind that talks about the future events, I am referring to a kind of preaching that is expounding on a the Word of God in a way that brings rich new depth and in a way that is anointed by the Holy Spirit of God. I laid up in bed captivated, hanging on to very word until my wife nudged me that it was getting late and she wanted to get to sleep.

The next day I could not wait to look up this preacher on the Internet and see where his ministry was. Part of me was hoping that it was close and that I could go and see him someplace in the area. While googling him, I found him on www.streamingfaith.com. This of course lead me to a couple of more of his messages from which one of them she shared today's scriptures, particularly Luke 9:23. For over an hour this pastor preached on this verse in a way that would grip the heart of any soul who truly wanted to be committed to Christ.

Very briefly he expounded on what it meant to: 1) Deny oneself, 2) Take up one's cross DAILY, and 3) Follow Christ.

I encourage you to look up Bishop Kenneth Ulmer of Faithful Central in Inglewood, california. You probably will not be able to stream the message because of Avery's online policies but here is the URL for your later review.

Note that this is a worship service and about the first 45 minutes or so is worship music, which is really great.

Request:
That we are truly committed to Christ in a way where we deny ourselves and willing to take up our Cross and follow Him.

Prayer:
Dear Lord, you have given us so much and we are so grateful. Help us to truly understand even more what you did for us and be willing to take up our Crosses and follow you.