So many of us spend a lot of time thinking about what our calling is going to be on this earth. And we ask ourselves those defining questions:

“What is my purpose?”

“Why am I here?”

“What am I going to do with the rest of my life?”

And I tell you, you can spend a lot of time searching for that answer, and there will be no satisfaction unless you find yourself this day walking in the purpose that God has set for you. From the beginning of time, He has set a purpose for you to walk in it. We don't have to guess, we don't have to try to figure it out. God has one purpose for His children - to know Jesus and to follow Him with all of your heart. That is the calling for the Christian this day.

Some of us have been thinking that salvation is the finish line. That once we get saved, that's the goal and we can stop there. But the reality is that God has said that that would just be the beginning of your amazing transformation - of an incredible journey that you were about to start with God upon the moment of salvation. You receive the mark of the Holy Spirit, that He would empower you to do the ordained works that He's appointed just for you to do since the beginning of time. That is our calling. That is why we are here - to know the Lord Jesus Christ and to follow Him no matter what the cost.

In our society, it's really being watered down - the call of Christ - to become something that has very little change upon our lives. But what does the Word say? That in Him you are supposed to be a new creation, where the old is gone and the new has come. And so I ask you: What will your life look like if you truly answered the call this day? How would your life change? What would your priorities be? What would you be empowered to do this day if you were only called to know the Lord Jesus Christ?

Now, many of you know that I love history and I find myself reading about those people who have come before us and have answered the call of Christ in their lives. And in that, I have found myself reading recently about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And some of you may have heard of him before; many of you have read his book. And he was a young German pastor in Nazi Germany in World War II. And during that time, he watched as the churches - and we forget that there were churches there - but as they remained silent, going along with what Hitler was doing in the world, spreading his evil across all of Germany. But Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew that as a Christian, he could not remain silent. His mouth couldn't remain closed, even if it was going to cost him risking his life. Even if it meant that he was going to be thrown in jail in a concentration camp.

You see, he continued to write books. He began to preach the Word of God. He was able to come and fight against the Nazi regime by going undercover and preaching the Word of God about what it truly meant to be a disciple - to count the costs, to know what you're leaving behind, and still make a decision to follow after the Lord. And that is the challenge today. What will you forsake? What will you leave behind for the call that Jesus has for you?

And so let's open up our Word this morning to our main verse today. Of course, it's up on the board for us. It's going to be Matthew 16, verses 24 through 26.

"And so Jesus said to His disciples, 'Whoever wants to be my disciple, he must deny himself 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. For what good will it be for someone to gain the whole world and yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?'”

And so my friends, the call of Christ begins today with that very first verse - “Whoever wants to be my disciple must first deny himself.” When we choose to answer the call of Christ, you are being called to deny yourself. You are called to be able to lay your life down to receive something greater this day. Something that has been bought for you with the very precious blood of Jesus Christ. It is this precious gift that has been offered to you and I, to all of us here this day, so that we could trade our own lives and take on His for ourselves.

He's not inviting us to have a merging of our life and His and putting it together, having some sort of conglomeration of the two. He's not asking us for our ideas. He's not asking us for our thoughts. He's not asking us for our ideals. It is our life in exchange for His. It is not a merging. It is not a compromise. There is nothing left of the old self when we come into Christ. Salvation is the life of Jesus Christ having come upon us for change and for transformation.

"Salvation is the life of Jesus Christ having come upon us for change and for transformation."

Would you deny yourself this day to take up the life of Jesus? It is the invitation to no longer be living for ourselves. That you would no longer be the center of your own universe. But in fact that you would give up your life of sin. That you would give up all that you used to do, in your only world pursuits and the self-centeredness that we once lived in. And that you would trade it all to be like Christ.

You see, salvation is not just believing in Him. It is becoming like Him - in His death, in His suffering, in the surrender that we know that He gave up. Would you deny yourself this day?

Jesus is looking that once you receive Christ and we are marked with Him, with the power of a Holy Spirit, that that would go and come in increasing measure in your life. And as it increases, the power of God would come upon you to be transformed. That you would have the ability to deny yourself.

Romans 8:11, “And if the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of the spirit that now lives in you.”

And here we see the Word being able to make us convinced that the Holy Spirit, the same spirit that is in Jesus Christ, that raised him from the dead. And we talk about it all the time. I've said it once. I've said it twice. I want to say it again for us to hear this day - the same power that rose Jesus from the dead lives in you.

It is a power that can overtake sin. It is the power that overtakes our worldly thinking. It is the power that overtakes the priorities that we once had. It is the mark of the Holy Spirit given to those who would believe. Giving you the power over all sin, disease, sickness, and darkness, and giving you most of all the power to deny yourself and to live for Him. Amen?

Denying your flesh, we see in the Word of God over and over again. Ephesians chapter 4, verses 22 through 24 - “And you were taught in regard to your old way of life, to put off the old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitudes of your mind, and to put on the new self, to be created like God who is of true righteousness and holiness.”

The Lord is calling us to forfeit our old ways and the old ways of thinking to take on His life of holiness and righteousness. You see the work of Christianity is not supposed to be a burden. And it has been for some of us because we have not taken on this life willfully. To receive Jesus means that you're going to be joyful in the following. It means that it's going to now bring you joy to seek out the Holy Spirit; to ask Him for guidance throughout your day. You're going to be so thankful walking in the Lord every day for the life that He's given you. That you no longer have to live with the guilt in the life that you once lived - living against God; not having peace with the Lord. But this day, He gives us joy in the house of the Lord when you choose to deny yourself. It is not a burden for us.

Now, I want to warn you this day. There is a conflict that is raging war inside of our souls. The old man and the new spirit of God are in a fight with one another and I want to know who is going to win out because they are at odds with one another. One seeks to satisfy itself, of course, and one seeks to satisfy the will of God. Who is going to win over in your life?

When Kris and I used to teach youth group, we would constantly ask the kids, “who are you feeding?” Who are you feeding? You know, when you give in to the desires of the flesh, guess who's getting stronger every time you give in to the desires? He gets stronger and stronger and overtakes the spirit of God and before you know it, we can't really hear him. We actually don't have the power over sin. We keep falling into the same mistakes that we always have because we're feeding into the flesh, into the old man.

But would you starve it out this day? Would you choose that when your flesh rises up and when the old man steps in front of the Spirit of God and says, “listen to me,” would you deny him what he wants? Would you feed the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ to grow deeper and bigger than ever before. He will grow strong and He will overtake your old life. And I speak that from experience.

You see, Jesus was not a slave to sin. He was not mastered by anything of the world. In fact, we see by that scripture that He had power over death, hell, and the grave. And when you choose to live in Him, guess what? You will overcome and overpower the world for He who lives in you is greater than he who lives in the world. Christ has overcome them, all of them, every enemy. He is the master.

Now, a couple weeks ago, we were asked a question, and I thought it was a really great thing to find out who's in control of our life. And we were asked, “what is the fruit that you bear in your life? What fruit did you bear even this week?” Was it being overpowered by our own fleeting emotions? Did we lose control of ourselves in a moment that we were a little bit stressed out? Or do you show the fruit of the Spirit of God? Love, joy, peace. Is He the one that is coming out? We must judge ourselves according to the fruit that we bear to show that our life is no longer in ourselves but it is in Christ.

"We must judge ourselves according to the fruit that we bear to show that our life is no longer in ourselves but it is in Christ."

And so I just pursue each and every one of you. I want us to come into the act of denying ourselves. And when you choose to do that willfully, you are participating in the divine work of God for sanctification. Participate in the holiness and the righteousness, the cleansing and purifying of your souls. And we must choose to deny ourselves. It's something that we choose to do for God. And I guarantee you this day, that you will have a new desire in your heart. It will be for the things of God. It will be for his kingdom. It will be for the change and the transformation for you and for your family. I guarantee that your priorities are going to begin to be different and you will have a new purpose, a purpose in Christ Jesus.

And so when we answer the call by denying ourselves, we receive the life of Christ. And secondly, the calling of Christ is to take up your cross.

There's an idea in this world that you can be in the Lord and yet still live your own life. It's a grace that says to us, “come as you are and remain as you are.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his books, he called this “cheap grace”. It's the grace where you claim Christ and yet never surrender your life before Him. Grace may be free, but it is not cheap because it costs God the life of His Son, Jesus Christ. We must come to the Lord this day and answer the call to be His disciples, not only by denying ourselves, but taking up our cross to follow Him.

Matthew 10:38, “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me in fact is not worthy of me.”

This verse cuts right through cheap grace. You see, it is an invitation to you this day to pick up your cross. To deny yourself, to deny your will, to die to anything that you wanted to do and follow after Jesus. I give it all up. I don't want to hold on to anything more. Not my money, not my accolades, not my degree, not my name, not my reputation, but to give it all up that you would gain Christ this day - to die to yourself.

Man, that's not a popular thing to say. That's not really the thing for me to say if I want to fill the pews of these chairs. Nobody wants to hear that they need to pick up their cross and follow the Lord. But the Word of God says that salvation is that small gate, that narrow road, and few find it, my friends.

When we look at our verse, our main verse for today, Matthew 16:24, in every single version of the Bible other than the NIV, it has this very special word.

“And then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If any man would come after me.'” And it's that “if” that we have bolded, because He wasn't expecting the multitude.

I'm wondering today if there's anybody here in this place, is anybody going to deny themselves and pick up their cross to follow Jesus? Will anyone follow the Lord? Because I know for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Many people throughout history have given up their lives. Many people have made sacrifices for social reasons, for world peace, for world hunger. And you might even look up to them. Maybe they had some sort of determination or resilience or strength that you could get behind. But you know one thing that separates Jesus from all of them is that even in His death, He is rejected.

People have rejected the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not many men wanted to follow after Him and yet He endured the cross. He still went to the cross, scorning its shame out of love for you and for me. He picked up His cross and He wore it upon His back. And He was displayed for everyone to see - out of love for you and for me. Jesus did it first. As an example, that we would follow in His footsteps - to be a Christian today. To answer the call of Christ is to walk in the steps of your Savior. That is what it means to pick up our cross. To follow in the example of no longer being self-centered. No longer thinking only about the worldly priorities and my path and what my plans are for my life, but to give up my life for the sake of Christ who gave Himself for you and for me.

When you pick up your cross, it's not something that you can take on and put back on and off. When you answer the call of the Lord, he's going to call you to go where you don't really want to go. He's going to make you say things that you really don't want to say, for the sake of keeping the peace. You're going to do the things that you don't want to do all for the sake of Him who gave His life for you.

I think of when God was calling Jeremiah into service. He said, “I will put my words in you and you will say what I called you to say. You will go to the leaders. You will go to the nations and to the kingdoms. Do not be afraid of them or I will terrify you before them.” And the Lord is saying, “do not be afraid of the world. Do not be afraid to take up my cross.”

He's calling us into service of the Almighty God to join into the forces of the army of the Lord and in doing so, we must pick up our cross. I just ask that all of you would even imagine that cross being picked up on your back. An actual big wooden cross that you would have to carry upon your back. There would be an obtrusiveness to it. It would be big and bulky, and you would not be able to cover it. You wouldn't be able to hide it. And there would be a weight of it that you would need to bear.

I think of some of our young people. If you were to walk inside the high school, walking with that cross on your back and you open the doors and the first thing that somebody says to you is, “what's that?” As they're pointing to you, and what is your only answer? You can't hide it. You can't put it away. You can't cover it. And your answer is, “oh yeah, I'm a Christian. I'm a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and I don't want to hide it anymore. I don't want to take my cross off. I don't want to fit in anymore. I want to belong to the Lord and lift up my cross because He has given His life for me.”

When you come into the Lord, you know, the Lord never forced anybody to give Him anything. He didn't make them give Him money. He didn't make them give Him loyalty. He didn't make them give Him honor. And yet everything is required of us this day.

Somebody will willfully lay down their life before the Lord. That's the power of the Christian. That we reject and renounce the world. We forsake all to gain Christ. And that's the power of the love that draws us to Him.

How could anybody explain that in words? How could you even have words to explain somebody turning away from money, from accolades, from degrees, from people patting you on the back?

No, but it is the love of Christ that causes us to forsake the world to gain Christ. That is our calling this day. Who would willfully subject themselves to persecution, rejection, ridicule, other than those who are just a slave to loving the Lord Jesus Christ this day?

I think about the church in China right now, and I think even on the news this morning as I was checking my phone, that Trump is even sending military power to Nigeria - I think it was - because Christians are being slaughtered. And I know in China, the pastors there are being arrested because it is illegal to be a Christian there. They're being thrown in jail and their families have no idea how to even reach them.

And yet the faith continues. The church is stronger than it's ever been in China in the history of that nation. Why? Because they are not afraid of the calling to pick up their cross and follow the Lord.

It's not a matter of laws and rules, my friends. It's not a matter of what I have to do. You see, we could be following all the rules just like the Pharisees, and yet still be far from Him. And sometimes we want somebody - “tell me what I have to do, tell me how long I have to pray, tell me how many hours I have to be here, how many services I need to attend.” And this reminds me of the parable of the rich young ruler, who went to Jesus and said to Him, “tell me what I have to do to be saved.” And Jesus turns to him and He says, “sell all that you have and give it to the poor.” And at this, what does he do? His face falls and he went away sad because he had great wealth.

You see, it's not something he was willing to do. And for Jesus, it wasn't about money. It was about the surrender. It's about knowing what the Lord was worth. It's about giving it all to Him. And this day, God wants us to be able to pick up our cross and follow Him and forsake our riches. Forsake all that we used to hold dear and come into Jesus.

Now I do know of somebody in the Bible who was willing to pick up their cross. I do know of someone who was willing to leave their old life behind. Who was all too glad to say goodbye to the past and come into the life of Christ. And that woman is the woman at the well.

When she meets with Jesus, He goes and He tells her all about her life of sin - “I know you had five husbands, and I know the man that you're living with now is not even your husband.” And what is her response? She runs into town and says, “let me introduce you and tell you about the man who told me everything I ever did wrong.” This is a woman who is excited to leave her old life behind. And this is the attitude of us this day.

We must be with the excitement to leave our old life behind that the woman at the well had. Because it is a life of sin and we come into the life of Christ who calls you into goodness, His grace, His forgiveness, His power, His might over darkness and all other things. Do not be ashamed of the cross of Jesus Christ because it is the power of God to save men. Hallelujah.

And finally, "Jesus said, 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must follow me...'” You see, I believe today that somebody is going to be called out of the boat to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

Can we put our main verse back up in Matthew 16? "Jesus said to His disciples, 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross,'” and the last is to “follow me.” God is calling some of us out of the boat today - to be able to follow the Lord into the life of the supernatural, into the life of impossibility, into the life of the Spirit, into the life of heaven.

"God is calling some of us out of the boat today - to be able to follow the Lord into the life of the supernatural... "

Folks, we don't have to wait till we go to heaven to experience the supernatural. In fact, we know that He has called us to perform miracles in His name - doing signs and wonders, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, allowing the lame to be able to walk again, being able to give a mouth to those who could not speak. This is the life that God has called us today. And this is our heart cry.

When Jesus was walking on water, Peter said to him, “Lord, if it is you, if it really is you, bid me to come.” And that is our cry this day, to say to the Lord, “call me to follow you, that I may live as You did, that I may have the power that You have, and that I may follow in Your footsteps.”

When Jesus calls out your name for the very first time, make no mistake, it is the greatest day of your life. To leave the old behind and come into the supernatural life of Jesus. A forgiven life, a powerful life, a life where He is able to make his mark on us that we no longer live for ourselves, but for Him.

"...leave the old behind and come into the supernatural life of Jesus. A forgiven life, a powerful life, a life where He is able to make his mark on us that we no longer live for ourselves, but for Him."

And the very first thing you need to do as Jesus is calling you is put your trust in Him. For your future, for the now, for the past, to forgive you, to get rid of everything that once kept you in chains. God wants you to put your trust in Him this day. And many of you have been here a long time. And many of you have not yet put your trust in the Lord. I tell you, forsake everything, but do not forsake your soul.

Matthew 16:26. “What good would it be for somebody to gain the whole world and yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”

You see, we have houses, cars, jobs, all these different things, but what does it really matter in the end if we do not have Christ? We must be following the Lord this day. And if you find today that you are not on that narrow road, the straight and narrow path that will lead you to Christ, I beckon you, answer the call of God to follow Him because if the Lord returns and you are not on that road, you will not be going with Him.

And this day, if you also are in Christ, and if you've received your salvation, and your path and your walk with Him is getting dry, I say to you, God is still calling you out of the boat this day.

He's calling you out of the boat to a life of trust. He's calling you out of the boat to a life of power. He's calling you out of the boat for a life of regeneration and newness over your life. Your life is to be called new. And what you speak will be God's words. And what you do will be His actions. To take on His life and to be like little Christs living in this world of darkness. The world needs to see the example of Christ living in you. And that's what it means to be a Christian. For what other purpose have we been saved than to be like Him and to follow Him in His ways?

The Lord is mighty and He has the power of heaven to overcome all sickness, darkness, disease, lies. And we must yield to that dunamis power of God. Would you follow him this day?

The invitation is to live faithfully to the Lord. You can't find loyalty in this world today. It's hard to find because everybody is too busy living for themselves. But would you find the joy this day in following after Him?

The invitation of following Him is to bring light into a dark place. You see, Jesus was always overcoming the darkness. He brought light into the minds of darkness, showing them that He was the path. He revealed to them that their life of darkness was being further and further, being drawn away from God, but He opened up their minds to the light of God's salvation. And this is what the Lord has for us.

Jesus calls the disciples to Himself when He brings them from the boat. He walks in there at work as fishermen, and He walks along and He says to them, “come out, drop your nets and follow Me.” And I believe the Lord this day is saying the same thing to all of us. “Would you drop your net and follow Me this day?”

Would you leave your thinking behind? Would you leave your livelihood behind? Would you leave all that you have familiar and come for a journey that you know nothing about? I will open up your eyes to My goodness. I will open your eyes to My wonder. If you would only leave the old behind, the familiar things, the comfortable things. God is calling us out of the boat this day.

And you know what? I love the story when He calls the disciples to Himself because on day one, you realize this happened. There was no easing in when God called them in. We like to take years when God calls us. “Well, let me first tend to this. Let me first get a job. Let me finish my degree and then I'm going to follow you.” Day one, He comes over to them and He says to them, “drop your nets and follow Me.” And they were all in. Hallelujah.

The Lord wants us to not have this struggle of the struggle of our life where we are one foot in the boat and one foot out. The Lord is saying, come all in, no more plan B. No more plan B, get rid of plan B. The biggest defeat of having plan A is having the plan B. That is destructive to our success in the Lord this day.

In the 1500s, there was a Spanish explorer named Hernán Cortés. And he takes his fleet of ships and they land on the shores of Mexico. And when he gets there, he makes his soldiers burn the ships. Burn them up. Why? Because the chance of defeat had to be destroyed. The chance of going back to the old ways had to be destroyed - no plan B, burn the ships, burn the ships, burn the plan B.

God is calling us to a life of unwavering commitment to Him. To pick up our cross and then to follow Him. And the Lord wants us to show Him that we are no longer in this fight of the boat, of having one foot in the world, not really sure if we want to go all in with Him this day. But God is calling you out into the boat, into the life where He is going to change and transform us into His being.

God is calling us out to follow Him. I think of that song that says, “I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back.” Oh, somebody is going to walk away from the Lord, but I this day will be found at the foot of the cross.

And I want to read our last verse to us today. Luke 9:62, and Jesus said, “no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of heaven.”

No one who puts their hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom. You see, can you imagine putting your hand to a plow to start plowing that field and going midway through and deciding, “well, I want to look back and see what was left behind?” No one is going to leave a field half plowed. No one is going to go ahead and waste the seed.

There is a seed that has been dropped in the hearts of each and every one of you. Would you see it through to fruition? Would you cultivate the ground of your own heart this day to see that the fruit of God would be brought forth, and that you would birth Christ this day?

Not to look upon our old life, not to look back longingly like Lot's wife, who turned around at Sodom and Gomorrah thinking about her sinful lifestyle; thinking of the things that she could have had or that she wanted in the past. And what does the Bible say? That she became a pillar of salt.

But this day would you come even as we start worship and look at the lonely cross. Would any man come and follow Jesus? Would anyone answer the call of Christ this day; regardless of the cost that it is to follow after Jesus who first gave His life for you?