The Kingdom of God - Part 4

The way of the Cross

February 18, 2007 AM
Pastor Brad Dyrness

Sparks Nazarene Church

When it felt like I was being sent in the wrong direction I had to trust…

Jesus is telling people about the Kingdom… and much of it just doesn't feel right…

Luke 8:10, 8:16,  8:19-21, 8:24, 8:37, 8:45, 9:1, 9:13, 9:20

It just doesn't feel right…

Luke 9:23 ²³Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. ²⁴If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. ²⁵And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?   New Living Translation

Now that… just doesn't feel right…

Jesus is speaking to people who want to see the Kingdom…

To experience the Kingdom we have to embrace a Cross.

Cruciform - shaped or formed like a cross.

Jesus says - to know, experience and benefit from the Kingdom of God you must be cruciformed - shaped with the characteristics of the cross. 

               … it just doesn't feel right…

The Kingdom is supposed to be good for me - you want me to die?

Jesus was not insisting that the disciples die; he was calling them to live the principles of the cross.

For too many the cross is only a symbol of salvation Jesus offers the cross as the pathway of life.

The cross calls us to:

1.      Trust - Luke 22:42

2.      Set aside our agenda

3.      Serve others in humility & love Phil 2:7

4.      Inclusion  and forgiveness - Luke 23:34,  Romans5:8

The Apostle Paul tells the church…

1 Corinthians 1:23, ²³we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. (the cross)   The Message 

The Text of the on going life giving sermon from God is…

The cross - Jesus death and the forgiveness it offers… but there is more!

Luke 17:20-21  ²⁰Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, ²¹nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” New International Version