“What God says is best, though all the men in the world are against it.” ~ John Bunyan

Glory... now that will bless a brother! I need to give you something... something Jesus discerned that His disciple needed, as they were getting closer and closer to His cross. We can’t forget that the entire life and public ministry of Jesus was headed to the cross. And if He was making a beeline to cross, don’t you think that ought to be something we are getting better at, as we follow Him and the Father is making us more and more like Jesus. I think so.

The closer they got, the more challenging and harder His messages became. Think about it? This was the most significant Man to ever live. He’s bearing and believing the most significant Message ever spoken or heard or believed. He’s walking toward the most significant Moment in the history of mankind, that would ever be given to a Man and for men to trust. That this Man, with His Message, at this Moment in time would produce the single most magnificent Memory and Mission and Ministry anyone could ever embrace, experience, enjoy and endeavor to tell the world, a million trillion times over. Don’t miss it my friends... don’t let familiarity trip you up.

Glory... as I said earlier this week, astonishment always leads to some form of acknowledgment. And if you’re not astonished with Jesus you’ll have a hard time acknowledging Him. The sad thing... that will come at a cost you or no one else can afford. I noticed in the last three days, three distinct times that Jesus unashamedly intermingled Himself with His message, words and gospel. Remember, as the road narrows toward the cross, Jesus is clarifying to us all: We cannot claim Him and be silent about Him, His message, His words and His gospel. That would be a false claim... because to have Him is to have all of Him, including His message, mission and ministry.

I paraphrased the following passage and gave some specific commentary on them, in the text, to simply explain the heart of these three passages. But notice how Jesus unquestionably connected the dots and said that when an individual gives himself to Me they also know they are giving themselves to My news about Me and my life. He takes away any false claims that someone can ever give that says, “I can have Jesus and be silent about Him and I don’t have to serve Him or His gospel.” That my friends is impossible...

May this help:

“Whosoever desires to play it safe (as they see it, calling the shots) and take their lives in their own hands and trust themselves with the direction of their life, will forfeit anything and all things that I will accomplish through My life and death and they will be empty handed when they face Me through death. But whoever will entrust their lives to Me AND my message, and all that will come with Me and My mission and ministry, they find life in Me and making My memory known” (Mark 8:35).

Jesus said, when you trust Me and deny yourself, it’s:

For Me and My message!

For Me and My mission!

For Me and My ministry!

For Me and My memory!

“For whosever is ashamed and embarrassed of the light of Me and My words, among the contrary darkness and worldly ways of a evil society that opposes Me and My words, will never ever taste the eternal reward of Me and My words, Me and My witness, Me and My will, and Me and My work when I come in the glory of My Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38)

Jesus said, when you trust Me and take up your cross, it’s:

For Me and My words!

For Me and My witness!

For Me and My will!

For Me and My work!

“So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions because of Me and gospel, Me and My grace, Me and My goodness, Me and My glory—and in the age to come, eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30)

Jesus said, when you trust Me and whatever you have left to follow Me, it’s:

For Me and My gospel!

For Me and My grace!

For Me and My goodness!

For Me and My glory!

“When He had called the crowd to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whosoever desires to come behind Me, walking into the opposition and rejection and shame and mocking and beatings and ridicule and death I’m about to walk into, let Him, don’t get in his way like Peter did with Me, let him deny himself for Me and My message, let him take up his cross for Me and My words and let him follow for My sake and My gospel’s sake” (Mark 8:34).

Wow... to personally know Jesus is to love and be astonished with Him. And to love and be astonished with my King, in my experience and what God traces us, can only lead to acknowledging our astonishment, again and again.

Glory... thanks for your time and I pray this will help you, and those you know and love, take a moment consider their claims, who they really trust and whose identity do they long for people to see and know.