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00:00:00 today's scripture reading is taken from Matthew 16: 24- 28 then Jesus said to his disciples whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me for whoever wants to save their life will lose it but whoever loses their life for me will find it what good will it be for someone to gain the whole world yet for forfeit their soul or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul for the son of man is going to come in his father's Glory with his angels and then he will
00:00:42 reward each person according to what they have done truly I tell you some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the son of man coming in his kingdom this is the word of the Lord good morning thanks Mary interesting it is good to be in the house of the Lord better is one day in the house of the Lord there Thousand Days elsewhere uh those who are on on Zoom I really wish that you were here I pray that uh the children I pray parents with young children they will be able to come back to church soon and
00:01:41 worship together with us uh good morning my name is Joe Ash I'm the youth pastor yeah normally you don't see me because I'm downstairs with the youth uh my wife told me to wear something brighter because it's Chinese New Year so there's are Shades of Gray you're wel welcome you can thank my wife for that uh today's text is very easy to understand very hard to preach and impossible to live out so we need the help of the Holy Spirit today so would you bow your hands and pray together with me Holy Spirit come and do the
00:02:29 impossible come and raise dead men to Life come and remove the Heart of Stone replace it with a heart of Flesh a heart that is tender towards the words of God lord lower our defenses today as we come before you there such a easy text to understand but it's so hard to live out and we have so many objections Lord lower our defenses help us hear you help us hear you in Jesus name I pray amen sorry to the camera man I keep moving around uh follow along with me uh in this sermon outline the cost the
00:03:23 condition and the Cure the cause Jesus presents us with two options option one save your life for yourself option two lose your life for Jesus option one is easy just live for yourself Serve Yourself submit to no one uh live to pursue as much happiness as possible use your time and your money and your leverage and your resources to pursue whatever you want save your life for yourself option two is to lose your life for Jesus live a life of self-denial carrying the cross basically you are a anyone who carries the cross is a dead
00:04:14 man walking the life you had was is is over it's gone your wants your dreams your desires forget about it your time and your money is under his purview submit to Everything Jesus wants once serve others the way Jesus did Live Like Jesus and for Jesus sake you have to be willing to suffer hate humiliation pain in your efforts to Proclaim his kingdom Proclaim his message even be willing to die die like the unnamed heroes in Hebrews 11 they were tortured imprisoned Stone sought in two killed with the sword the
00:05:04 world is not worthy of them like like this man epodes in Philippians 2 who nearly died while delivering eight to Paul the missionary you have to be willing to lose your life for Jesus or at the very least not everyone is called to die for Jesus but you are called to live for him not everyone is called to be a martyr but at the very least you have to be a person that lives according to the values that Jesus taught live according to the Sermon on the Mount non-judgmental humble merciful doesn't get angry doesn't call other people fool
00:05:50 is a peacemaker is active in reconciliation always giving to the needy but never boasting about it doesn't act upon lust in fact passionately fights it doesn't seek revenge but love their enemies which life is more appealing to you when you see the picture on the Left Right the girl with a shopping bag right you you imagine a certain kind of person a high income job well resected in society you know doesn't you know when you go Chinese new yor reunion they're not shin I'm a managing director oh and because of that she can afford
00:06:36 right to live that Instagram worthy lifestyle everywhere she goes it's beautiful for Instagram you know you plan annual holidays you order anything you want on the menu without looking at the price it's a beautiful life the picture on the right it's a beautiful life as well is a person who is living according to the Beatitudes and I know all of you all will agree that this person is also living a beautiful life why because we wish to have this kind of person around us all the time right imagine having a
00:07:16 boss who is willing to say oh you know what you were right I was wrong wow imagine having a colleague who never plays the blame game always willing to take responsibility imagine a spouse who always put your interest above their own imagine a parent who never uses mean or harsh words towards their child even when disciplining them I know FBC would think that the person on the right is living a beautiful life I know because I know because FBC members attends funerals and uh you know on my first day of work
00:08:06 uh February 1st 201 2017 I work five years here already I love my job please don't cancel me uh but yeah uh uh when I on my first day on the job uh uh Elgin reminded me that uh I was song leading for the Brother's funeral yesterday we went to the father's funeral and uh we few weeks ago we had uh Joseph chinu here right recently so my my family had a funeral and uh when you listen to the eulogies people remember what people remember the sacrifices you make the kindness that was offered that life that
00:08:58 was very generous towards other people that's what we remember that's what that's why we say it is a beautiful life someone who is always giving of themselves sacrificially to love other people to care for other people to serve other people imagine if everyone in your home lives like that how amazing will your family life be if imagine if all the families of the world live like that it will be a beautiful world imagine if every Christian is passionate about preaching the gospel even at the risk of losing their life
00:09:43 they will make the world a beautiful place Jesus would come sooner we will be rid of this broken World sooner so both our beautiful lives which one is more appealing to you now some of us may say wait wait wait wait wait wait wait isn't there option Tre I mean I care about Comfort I like shopping you know but I'm not as materialistic as that person you know I put a lot of things in my cards but you know not like that you know I I like the things of the world but you know I it's not that I want to gain the whole world I'm not
00:10:21 that greedy and I want to follow Jesus also I want to be the kind of person that people like people say say nice things in my funeral yeah I want that I also want to make the world a better place so you know I want to I want to carry the cross too but you know uh uh lightweight cross something that is easier this is my my childhood friend model model friend the sister in shoppy shopping mall sorry I digress we we prefer a a cross that is uh not too heavy you know a a cross that makes me look good you know I can still Stand Out
00:11:08 stand tall and I don't have to it's not so weighty I'll serve in church I'll tell other people about Jesus I I'll ask them to join Alpha but you know there's a limit there's a limit Jesus if it's going to affect my Revenue stream is going to affect my networking oh I definitely if it's going to affect my health I'm not going to put my body on the line I'm I'm not going to risk my life for this is that option three Jesus say if you want to be my disciples you have to go for option two you have to be willing
00:11:49 to die there is no such thing as casual comfortable Christianity I don't know why we sometime think like that you know maybe it's the it's the lights maybe it's the air conditioning maybe it's a comfortable chair maybe it's our understanding of what love is you know if you love me you'll never let me go through pain and I me suffer but there is a cost involved in following Jesus there is a price to pay Jesus said whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me whoever loves son daughter more than me
00:12:28 is not worthy of me Luke 14:33 Jesus said so therefore anyone of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple Jesus wants his disciples to live in such a way that the world knows how amazing Jesus is that you're willing to give up everything to follow him how following him is worth losing everything yes Jesus is a king he will extend establish his kingdom there will be great reward for those who follow him but his path to glory is suffering before Resurrection there is a cross there must be
00:13:12 death and his disciples must be willing to walk the same path to Glory foxes have holes birds of the air have nests but the sun of man has no way to lay his head now I know know I know what what we're all thinking right let's go for the yellow door why it's it's too much it's it's not worth it why I want to follow Jesus if I'm going to end up suffering so much it's not worth it there's too much to lose I tell you a story tell you a story recently I heard this American Girl cares so much about humanitarian
00:13:52 efforts gos to a won country you know a neighboring won of the w where where refugees are coming out and she's caring for the refugees you know and one day she enters into that waron country and got caught by terrorist and uh she she suffered tremendously in that uh uh and and she there was one time that she had an opportunity to escape a few of the girls who were caught as well they they found a way a time to escape and they called her to come along and she said what know she say no because I'm an American if
00:14:42 they know I'm I escape they will hunt all of your down they will make sure that you are captured so it's better that I stay and you go she sacrifice herself to save the others uh there was one time where she was paraded you know with among the other prisoners you know and and the terrorist say you know she converted you know your should be smart like her she converted you know and she said I didn't I didn't and people who survived that meeting people say she's so brave so brave she's willing even in the face
00:15:26 of her torturers she's willing to say I didn't convert I'm still for Jesus how you feel when you hear that story I bet some of us will feel right now so foolish why why is she go why she go to another country and bother to care about other people why is she going to risk her life it's so it's so silly it's not worth it she should have escaped you know and you know she shouldn't have said anything who cares don't don't care what crazy people think about whether you converted or not don't say anything you say anything you get
00:16:09 worse she died uh in in uh captivity um blood force trauma some of us may think she suffered unnecessarily cily we don't see this as beautiful we see this as foolish this is why we want to go for the yellow door Jesus says the stakes are higher than you think there is one way of living that leads to death and there's another way of living that leads to life verse 25 and 26 whoever loses his life whoever saes his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sick will find it verse 26 for what will it profit a man if he
00:17:01 gains the whole world and forfeits his soul or what shall a man give in return for his soul this is the cost the cost is eternal life or death if you choose surrender and submit to Jesus if you choose to live a life of service to others like Jesus did even willing to suffer and die for him and you forgo all the pleasures of the world all the world has to offer you will be granted eternal life Jesus will renew the World by removing all evil and all pain all suffering he will establish his kingdom on Earth and you will be granted
00:17:49 permanent residence there but if you choose to say no to surrender no to submit to Jesus instead you choose to save your life for yourself you choose to go after everything the world has to offer you won't receive eternal life you will not be part of the good world that Jesus will bring about in his future you will have no part in his kingdom and no matter how much you regret whatever you whatever you have you cannot exchange it for eternal life there's no price you can pay this is the decree of King Jesus
00:18:28 this is his ruling if you choose to live for yourself you'll ful fit your life if you choose to live for him you will find eternal life what is your choice this is the cost what will you choose the I mean this part the Ser we all we all know we all know what Jesus demands we know what is the cause we know the consequences what will we choose when I come to this text to me is like I won't do it I'm going for the yellow doll I I won't do it I I know some of us are more Sanctified than others but surely you
00:19:15 can some of you can identify with me don't raise your hand but just not your yeah I'm going for the yellow door I am we know the kind of life we should live but we don't have the willpower to do it why because we are afraid we are afraid ask yourself this question what are you afraid of losing one of the biggest lessons in the pandemic is that a lot of our lives are driven by fear do you realize how much you're gripped by fear you are worried for your safety so you are for lock down you are worried for your business so you
00:20:03 oppose lockdown right you you you you fear losing your faith that's why you want to come to church you you fear losing your life that's why you don't come sorry I'm making a very big General uh generalization but my point is the same we our lives right are are dictated by by our fears and we are motivated by our fears we we spend money on insurance why because we scar you know whatever happened you know I don't want to be crippled and homeless you know even if if I me an accident to sorry Chinese if
00:20:49 if I me an accident you know at least I have the security you know I have the medical bills you I still have my house we succumb to peer pressure because we fear losing friends we fear being the OD one out we see wrongdoings at work but we don't dare to confront why because we scared that person will make life difficult for us we we scared that work will be even more difficult than it already is we push our children in our in their education why you know I'm Prudence you know is why and it's good to
00:21:30 study but you know you cannot deny at the back of your head that there's that fear to be seen as a failure as a parent you know I I don't want to go Chinese new year reunion dinner and my hip is hanging low I don't want people to see me as a failure so my kids must do well we are afraid of losing out that's what that's why we we know that the Beatitudes right is Abus beautiful life but but if I'm the only one doing it right then I sit tired know I'm on the losing end no people take advantage of
00:22:07 me know if I'm so kind and so generous and so willing to serve always say sorry so we don't know how to resolve our conflicts you know because we fear we don't want to admit our mistake because uh H if I admit my mistake next time I have to admit it again or you know the person now will hold me accountable again you know that person now will will will hold it for the the rest of my life know every time we argue she is going to bring it up again because I admit I don't want to admit we we don't want to Humble
00:22:39 ourselves because we have to do it again later if we give we give an inch to people right they take a mouth we don't want to say sorry to our children because they will blame us forever see see even my parents at me I'm so messed up because of them we don't want that so we end up with arguments and fights and wounds that accumulate over decades you know I don't want to lose I don't want to lose to my spouse what makes you think I want to lose my life for Jesus of course I want to save my life of course I don't want to die because
00:23:21 dying would mean losing everything we we know the Eternal consequences right eternal Eternal death but you know I'm more afraid about losing my Earthly life and my Earthly possessions I care more about my Earthly life than my eternal life I I the the world is too beautiful for me to care about the future the present is so distracting that I cannot be bothered about what will happen later I'm still young I got I got many things to accomplish I I haven't gotten what I want out of in life I don't want to miss
00:24:01 out all the good things in life the food and the people and the travel so Jesus T please just give me my space just let me live I I'll volunteer in church I'll do some good deeds I'll tell some people about you but please give me my space I'll I'll I'll even sing some songs to you Jesus just let me live what I want now and need is too urgent for me to care about what Jesus wants from me I'm too busy worrying about the matters in front of me that I'm unable to care about my eternity and you know behind all these
00:24:48 fears there is an ancient thought from the Ghana of Eden I don't know if God loves me more than I do I don't know if God loves me more than I do I don't know if God have my best interest at heart so if I give my life to him right I don't know what he's going to do with it man so I fear I think I think about I think about our all the people in FBC that have have passed on I recently got there a lot of funerals and you can't help but think about uh uh angle Danny uh elgin's brother father Jason kung's
00:25:51 grandmother um Auntie Morin's husband anti Bama Joshua uh you know and and I I when we go to their funerals right we we feel sad that they left but we also feel so peaceful no the the funeral service is so beautiful because we know where they are we know where they are we know they're in a better place but here we are right we are scared about going to that better place I I I wonder I Wonder no MAA I'm talking about MAA maybe you don't feel death as much as I do I I wonder what they will say to me know seriously you
00:26:38 you're happy that I'm here but you don't want to come you know you know that Jesus is preparing a beautiful future for all of us right so you're you're steady already you you your future is set you settled already whatever you do on earth right just give it to Jesus he's worth it that great cloud of weaknesses I think that's what they'll say to us but our our hearts are still so gripped with fear what is the cure to our condition we know that if we don't live and die for Jesus we will lose eternal life
00:27:25 that's what Jesus says but we are so gripped by fear that we are unable to respond to his demand are we doomed for Eternal death in Hell Jesus offers two solutions two solutions one Jesus declares the certainty of his kingdom and two the certainty of his love let's look at the first one the certainty of his kingdom verse 27 and 28 for the son of man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his father and then he will repay each person according to what he has done truly I say to you there are some
00:28:13 standing here who will not taste death until they see the son of man coming in his kingdom the son of man is a man sent from God is a is a it's a throwback to Daniel's seven the vision of the son of man right but it's clear here in this text a man send from God with the authority of God to rule the world as king and to execute judgment you see he will repay each person according to what he has done that's the judge the son of man is coming in his kingdom that's his role as king over the Earth and verse 28
00:28:56 say Jesus was telling the disciples that his kingdom will come within their lifetime so when when did they see that Jesus Kingdom came there are some there are various theories uh Jesus coming was his Transfiguration in the next chapter is it his resurrection is it the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost whichever it is what's clear is that Jesus was telling them the disciples my kingdom will be established really soon what I say to you is true and is urgent that is in the life of disciples what about us Jesus has already
00:29:44 establish his kingdom he will come as king and judge and whatever he says matters now urgently you have to make a choice you either fear losing everything or you fear me Jesus says Jesus asks us to replace our inferior fear with a greater fear Jesus say you see me as mere mortal now you see me as weak I will suffer in the hands of evil men I will die under their oppression but I will rise again Jesus says and when I come again I will come in the fullness of my glory I am King I am judge and you can be
00:30:33 absolutely certain about it Matthew 10:28 Jesus says do not fear those who can destroy the body but cannot kill the soul rather fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in Hell who is Jesus telling us to fear fear Him Jesus is King fear Fe him the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom fear Him and you will have the wisdom to Choose Wisely Jesus tells us of the certainty of his kingdom because he wants us to fear Him lose your inferior fear for losing everything in the world and take hold of a greater fear
00:31:29 fear Jesus the king and the judge of the world now what about the certainty of his love it's found in his demand of us Jesus calls us to deny ourselves take up our cross and lose our lives for his sake on the cross Jesus did all of that in obedience to God and Out of Love for us although Jesus is King and judge he choose to Humble himself to serve us even to the point of death on the cross Jesus denied himself when he was praying in the garden he he really didn't want to go right but he said not my will but yours
00:32:24 be done he submitted to the will of the father he denied himself and he obeyed God on the cross Jesus the king and judge became the humble suffering servant on the cross Jesus served us by receiving the punishment that we deserve so that our sins may be forgiven and we are restored back to our Heavenly Father in obedience to God Jesus denied himself self took up his cross and lost his life for our sake for all our selfish and self-centered living we forfeit eternal life we deserve Eternal death and for all of Jesus selflessness
00:33:17 and for all his sacrifice and submission to God Jesus deserved life but what happened on the cross he took our death so that all who believe in him can take the life the eternal life that he offers to US 1 John 4:9 in this the love of God was made manifest Among Us that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him God sent his only son into the world that we might live through him if you believe in this good news that he freely gives you eternal life you don't deserve he gives you the Holy Spirit he
00:34:14 grants you the gift of the Holy Spirit I will put my spirit within you to help you walk in my ways he gives his Spirit to help us live like him for him and for me for me this is what gried me in the text is that is that God gave me a gift that I could never earn he tells me to lose my life for him I'm I'm not willing to do that I I can't I can't do it my willpower is not strong enough and so that eternal life that reward for losing my life for his sake I will never earn it I don't deserve it but it's so crazy he he gives it to us
00:35:03 freely he offers to us freely at a cost to himself it's it's so crazy we don't deserve it but he gives it if you believe Jesus gives you the gift that you could never earn and he helps you through the power of the Holy Spirit help you live the life that you could never live by yourself if you ever doubt Jesus loves you more than you love yourself look at the cross that's the demonstration of his love for you and me musicians come uh last this is the last slide yeah last slide yeah I don't know what you what cure you need today Jesus
00:36:02 offers two cures fear Him Jesus offers the fear of God if you live with the fear of God you can live that life you can live that life that will lose willing to lose your life for him and he offers his love I don't know which cure you need today some of us we need to be acquainted with the fear of the Lord again the son of man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his father and he will repay each person according to what he has done so die to your rage die to your anger stop hurting your wife stop
00:36:52 abusing your family love sacrifice lay down your ego lay down your anger the judge is coming he'll repay you for what you have done so stop stop mistreating your employees stop lording over them stop scheming and cheating your way in business put to death your need for control put to death have your need for greed for security stop being ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Jesus say if you're ashamed of me before men I'll be ashamed of you before my father fear Him Do you know Jesus to be the king and judge who repay for
00:37:55 everything we have done fear he [Music] him some of us need to experience the love of God again some of us have been pouring out our lives in sacrifice for so long to serve other people maybe you're a caregiver and you're losing patience maybe you're a a parent and you're running out of ideas how do I help this child of mine maybe you're a frustrated spouse and you're like I'm ready to walk out pour your heart out at the foot of the cross and let the Holy Spirit fill you with the love of God you just need sorry let me say
00:38:50 something so cliche you need a hunk from from from God you need you need an Embrace of the love of God you need to know know and experience his love you need [Music] to Jesus loves me so much Jesus gave himself so much for me I am loved not because of what I do I'm loved not because of my sacrifices I'm loved because he loved me and he gave himself for me and with that love I am I have strength give me the strength to love and care for others remember the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for you
00:39:37 and now walks with you through the valley of the shadow of death he is with you he will guide you he will comfort you whatever cure you need today the fear of God all the love of God I invite you to linger and see the cross of Jesus Christ on the cross we see the display of God's Wrath and judgment toward what Sinners may they drive you to fear him on the cross we see the love of God displayed for sinners May that compel you to love him and to live for him so let's all stand right now and we want to respond to God in
00:40:50 song and I want us to meditate upon the cross of Jesus Christ where we see where we know the fear of him and we see his love for [Music] us sing
