By The Rev. Rachel Brown
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Sermon Text: Mark 8:34-38
Sermon Theme
The LORD calls each and every one of us to deny ONESELF, take up one’s CROSS and FOLLOW Jesus Christ. Jesus is basically saying “If anyone wants to follow me they must just follow me no matter what.”
In The Message version of The Bible, Eugene Peterson translates Mark 8:24-38: “Then JESUS called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘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 and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.’”
