Matthew 16: 21-26 NLT 21 From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.

22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”

23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?

Deny yourself- give up your own way

Take up your cross

Follow me

Deny yourself: Give up your own way

Deny yourself // Take up your own way- Body. Mind. Heart. Jesus must be Lord of all 3.

A) BODY

1 Cor 9:27 NLT I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

1 John 2:15-17 NLT 5 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

Our body has appetites- deny them. Feed an appetite and it grows. If you starve it, it shrinks.

Romans 12:1 NLT And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

B) MIND

Romans 12:2 NLT Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Col 3:2 NIV 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

How do we deny ourselves and give up our own way- we give our mind to Jesus

Isaiah 26:3 NLT You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

C) HEART

Jeremiah 17:9 NIV The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

Matthew 15:19 NIV For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

You don’t have to do years of research and social experiments to find out what’s wrong with the world.. It’s the human heart, and mind and body.

Matthew 15: 8 NIV ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Proverbs 23:26 NIV My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways,

(Deny yourself/ give up your own way) Take up your cross Col 1:24 24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.

Phil 3:8 NLT Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ

Phil 3:10 NLT 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death,

Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him

Follow Me- the invitation to a life of trust

John 15:16 NLT You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.

26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?