"THE WORLD IS WATCHING"

                      "When he had called the people to himself with his disciple also"

                                                         Mark 8:34-38

        He said to them, "Whosoever desires to come after me let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's sake will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gain the whole world but lose his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of my words in this sinful and adulterous generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with his holy angels." 

                      1Corinthian 1:17-18 

      "For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the Gospel. Not with wisdom of words lest the cross of christ should be made to no effect. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,?but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

       The Apostle Paul was determined to know only the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. Consequently, we can never have too much teaching on the cross because the cross of Christ is the central theme of christianity. Without Jesus Christ and the cross that he hung on for you and me, there would be no Christianity. Without the cross there would be religion but no possibility of relationship Without the cross there would be philosophy without reality.

       Theology has a tendency to make simple things complicated. But the cross of Christ will always make complicated things simple. When we truly understand the cross, we understand the importance of that intimate relationship with Christ to our individual Christian lives.

       The people in your community were asked about christians who live there, what do you think they would say? Would they say they recognize christians by their love, or because of something else?

       Consider these two true situations: In one small town a restaurant decided to close on sunday nights because the staff refused to work for the after-evening-church crowd. The people who came from church were rude, messy and left small tips.

        In another town, the manager of a store that sold concert tickets reported that some of the rudest people she had ever met were several who had bought tickets to hear a well-known Christian singing group. Sometimes we don't realize it but the non-Christian world is watching us. Our neighbors and acquantances and others we encounter notice our behavior. They know that if we claim to be followers of christ we are supposed to be kind and compassionate. They know that our lives should reflect love and Christlikeness (John13:35; 1John2:6) they know that we shouldn't be so busy with our own interest that we don't love other people. Let's make sure the people who are watching our lives will want to get to know our Savior.

       The vast masjority of the preaching and teaching on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ deals with the aspect of what the Cross has done for us. Now certainly we need to understand this, but there is so much more. Central to our walk with God is the understanding of just what the cross will cost us. We must deny ourselves. Now I want to emphasize that if we are not careful we can get completely off balance in this issue Jesus did not say that in order to follow him we must deny ourselves things. Denying ourselves things in and of itself is not a sign that we are following Christ. Aesthestic Monks throughout the Dark Ages denied themselves just about everything. Yet they had very little understanding of the meaning of a personal relationship with Christ.

       Poverty is not spiritual. As a matter of fact, if you want to get scriptually accurate on the subject, poverty is considered a curse in the Word of God. Why would we call poverty a blessing or sign of spirituality when God clearly says that it is a result of the curse of the law?

       Denying "self" is what we are to deny in order to follow after Christ. We need to realize that the grace of God is what has made salvation available to us and not anything that is our flesh. Paul clearly admonished the the Galatians for this very error. They tried to complete through fleshly activities the very work that Christ accomplished through the spirit on the cross.

       Paul said he rejoiced in his suffering because he knew that by them he was able to participate in the suffering required. To bring others into Christian maturity.( Col.1-24 ).

       We tend to want to go immediately from "denying ourselves" to "following Jesus." But you can never follow Jesus unless you have first taken up your cross. (Matt.16:21). You will never be able to endure the suffering of the cross unless you have first been convinced that Jesus is the Christ. Once you have settled your relationship with Christ, He will introduce you to your cross."