The Word: Luke 9: 43 (KJV)
23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Dig Deeper: Matthew 8: 34 (KJV)
34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Think about it
THE DISCIPLE – LEARNING CONTROL
We discussed the disciple – the voluntary lover yesterday. Let’s at another phrase in our memory verse today:
23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Let him deny himself…… Denial in that verse talks about control. It talks about self discipline. Quite interesting that God does not take the responsibility of self discipline for us. He expects us to deny ourselves and control our appetite.
Proverbs 25: 28 TLB
A man without self-control is as defenseless as a city with broken-down walls.
Proverbs 25: 28 NCV
Those who do not control themselves are like a city whose walls are broken down.
Proverbs 25: 28 AMP
Like a city that is broken down and without walls [leaving it unprotected] Is a man who has no self-control over his spirit [and sets himself up for trouble].
Proverbs 25: 28 TPT
If you live without restraint and are unable to control your temper, you’re as helpless as a city with broken-down defenses, open to attack.
– To be in control is to be in charge.
– To be in control is to be in command.
– To be in control is to show restraint.
– To be in control is to learn to say no
Without control we can never be true followers. Lack of control kills destiny. Lack of control destroys life. Inability to have self discipline is a potential waster, a purpose destroyer.
Lets look at some of the aspects God wants us to exercise control:
– God wants every aspect of our lives to be within restraint
– God wants us to control our feeding appetite. Example Esau lost his birthright by inability to say no to a bit of porridge. Genesis 25: 29 – 34
– God wants us to control our appetite for sex – Reuben got cursed for inability to restrain his sexual appetite. Genesis 49: 3-5.
David brought a lot of problems by taking Bathsheba (Uriah’s wife)
– God wants us to learn to say no to too much sleeping and physical comfort – Proverbs 24: 30, Proverbs 6: 10-12
– God wants us to learn to show restraint with our emotions and temper – Cain couldn’t control his emotions. Nabal also didn’t know how to control his temper
– God wants us to learn to control our tongue – what we say. Many things can be destroyed by our mouth. – James 3: 8- 14
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself….
The coming after is voluntary, the second thing a follower must learn is self discipline.
2 Timothy 2: 3 – 5
3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
Follower is like the military. Until we learn to deny ourselves, we would struggle to be true followers
Nuggets:
Every follower needs self discipline to be able to stay as a follower in God’s army
Our memory verse for March 2018
Luke 9: 23
23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Let’s take a few moment to learn our memory verse for this month by heart. It can be memorised in 3 lines:
Line 1: And he said to them all,
Line 2: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,
Line 3: and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Once you say it a few times it will stick.
Prayer focus: Our next level prayers:
Lord help me become a true follower of you….
On Grace:
Masterlife Workbook: The Church is embarking on weeks of discipleship workbook study: Masterlife now on the 2nd workbook: The Disciple’s personality
