Take Up the Cross

The title of today's sermon is, Take Up the Cross. Take up the cross. Whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my what? My disciple. Christ said it. Let me prove it. Go with me to Matthew. I'll be reading from the new King James Version. Go with me to Matthew. Matthew. Matthew 16, verse 24. Then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself. Take up his cross and follow me. Follow me. Go with me over to Mark. Let me do Mark 8. Mark 8, verse 34. Mark 8 and verse 34. And when he had called the people to him with his disciples, this wasn't just the 12, this was other people, and said to them, Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself. Take up his cross and follow me. Being redundant? No. How about in the spirit of emphasis? It's being laid out for us. By the mouth of two or three witnesses, a matter established. I think he's establishing something here. For the last, I have to remember now, 25 years I have been given sermons on the first day, usually the last day of Unleavened Bread. And there's a lot you can cover, and I'm not going to go way back to Egypt. I'm just going back 1990 years to some instructions given to us to help us through the next seven days, which hopefully will help us then for the next 360-odd days. So I want to touch on what to me is the heart of the matter. Because that is exactly what Christ was about, the heart.

Let's go on down here in verse 35. Yes, for whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's sake will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with his holy angels. He just ratcheted it up another notch. We're getting serious here about what we just did Thursday night, what we just proclaimed, what we believe now as followers of God. And we're going to follow Christ. Let's go to another one. Let's make this three in a row. You will go with me to Luke 9. Luke 9 and verse 23 from the New King James version. 9 and verse 23. Then he said to them all, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross. Uh-oh. Luke added the word daily, Bill. Take up his cross daily and follow me. Well, but the Holy Days are easy. How about daily? A little different. Daily, kind of a big word. Let me read from you because the greens Greek interlenial, which I use because I find greens incredibly close in so many verses and so many scriptures. So I want to read you in the Greek what I just read from Luke. This is how it is in the Greek. If anyone desires after me to come, let him deny himself and take up the cross of him daily and let him follow me whoever. Whoever. That was originally the original words there. So what do we come to this decision? We said, Thursday, we say, hopefully daily now, this is what we're supposed to be doing. Three. First one, deny yourself. Deny yourself. So this is what I'm going to cover in the time I have today. The three aspects that we, the three mandates, the three proclamations we made the other night. Deny yourself. Take up the cross and number three, follow him. Follow him. Those are the three very fundamental basic instructions. But like I used to tell my dad, yeah, that's easy to say, but it's hard to do. So let's look at the very first one. Number one, deny yourself. Deny yourself of what? Deny yourself of what? Do you really want to know? Mark earlier actually talked about life. Deny yourself life. Will you be willing to do it? God doesn't require that very often. But are you willing to give up your deepest hopes for what God wants you to have? What God wants you to do? How about your greatest dreams? How about your possessions? Wait a minute. If I didn't have to tie, then I didn't have to worry about this. We just, when we were driving over here, we saw some rich people driving a car. And it was Bentley, and they kind of came through the light as we were going through, and it was a baby blue Bentley, convertible, and had two young blondes in there, just like. Don't get excited, Bill. No, they do. They weren't coming here.

But would that be something? Well, wait a minute. If I didn't do all this, I could drive a Bentley, and I could chase him. No. God is saying, are you willing to give up everything? Because this is what Christ said three times in the Scriptures. Go with me to Luke. Luke 14. Luke 14. And I encourage you to read the whole chapter later on, because I love that chapter. There's so much in there that instructions to us. But let's go to Luke 14 and verse 33. Christ is saying here, so likewise, whoever of you, Vero Beach, Trinidad, Tobago, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple. Ooh. That's getting serious now, isn't it?

Figuratively? Literally? Go with me over a few verses before. Let's go to verse 27. Look at it. Verse 27, Luke 14. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost? Count the cost. We do this when we counsel people for baptism. Count the cost. This is not something you just feel good today and do. It's a way of life. It's a way of life that leads to the way to eternal life.

So for which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost whether he has enough to finish? Do you have enough to finish? Can you finish? What does he say? He who endures to the end, the same shall be saved. It's about a finish. But what I find interesting, because before I was in this church when I was younger, my parents jumped from church to church and looking for something and I would sit in the back seat and hear them complain about what they didn't like about this church and this church and this preacher and this preacher and I was young and I was like, well, dad's a hard man to please. Not that I didn't know. I was raised on a farm. That post hole's not deep enough. It's supposed to be 16 inches deep. You got it 15 and a half. So this was interesting because think about it. How many altar calls will be made tomorrow morning? Quite a few. Just turn on TV. They'll do them on TV. But how many churches will do it tomorrow? Will have altar calls. How many of them tell you that to count the cost? How many times are people told to count the cost before they're baptized? Hardly any. Hardly any because it's not part. Most preachers use the words just believe. Just believe. Which is true. We must believe in Jesus Christ. He's the only way. I am the way, the truth. He's the only way. That's so true. And He is Lord. And He died for you and me. I think it's great they say that. Because that is the truth. And Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. And the only way you're going to be saved is through Him and His life and His death. It's the truth. But after that, what happens now? Nothing. Nothing is required. Just a proclamation that you believe. That you believe. Christ said, deny yourself. Take up the cross and follow Him. If you'll forgive my English, that's not nothing. That's not nothing. Can you live like the world and live as you choose? What is this denying? We must deny ourselves of worldly stuff. No, there's nothing we're doing. It's great. It's great. If you have the money and you go buy you a Bentley, whatever you want. I mean, God doesn't call a lot of rich people, make a lot of people rich. You don't have a problem with that. But if that is your God, if you want that, there's quite a few motivational speakers out there today in America. You know, whatever you want, you just go get it. It's yours. Just reach and grab it. But you've got to put your all into it. And you know, many of them are right. If you want money, and that's really, really important to you, and you don't care what you have to do to get it, you can get rich. But that's not what this is about. Remember the rich young ruler who came to Christ? Oh, I've done this ever since, yes, keep the commandments. Oh, yes, I've done all that. And so, one thing you like, just one thing. Sell it all. Follow me. Uh-uh. I'd say he probably as rich as he was. He had a nice horse. I'd say he got on that horse, and he rode.

Deny lust. My father used to tell me growing up, this, things you don't do. If you steal something, because I stole something out of a store one time when I was young, paid for one candy bar and took two. And he saw me eat one. I was sitting in the back of the car. He saw me eat it. And then he saw me eat another one. He said, where'd you get the second one? When you're nine or ten, you can't think that fast. You know, I'm sure now I could have thought of something really good that he might have bought, but I couldn't at that time. And I got the lecture, and the next time I was going to get this. Because he said, there's a penalty for stealing, and I'd rather you, me give you the penalty, than you have to face the penalty down the road from someone else. We must deny ourselves. That's one of the things that he wants us to do, deny ourselves things that are not good for us. And I don't know about you, but I see them every day, things that are not good for me. Anybody have internet? This thing's not good for you. This thing's not good for me. Now, I don't need to look at that. Deny lust. Deny the flesh. That is what this first thing is about. If you're going to follow him, deny. Deny. Deny. Why? In order to feed the spirit. Because there is, this war goes on in us, between the flesh and the spirit. And if we do not deny, the spirit will be quenched. Our relationship with God is going to be just a surface. Not going to be very deep. So we must deny to follow Christ. It's the first step. And then we come to the second. Take up the cross. Take up the cross. Bear the cross. What does it mean? Because all the books I've read and it's like, well, it wasn't really a cross that Christ was put on. It was this and it was a stake and it was a piece of wood and it was this and that and we never want to talk about a cross because it meant Tamus and all this kind. Let's just look at the real scriptures and history and put it out there. I'm not saying Tamus couldn't have been it, but let's look at this because the word cross is used in the scripture multiple times by Paul. It was a reality. So what does it mean according to historians and Roman history? Bob, you've studied. The condemned man only carried the cross beam. He carried the cross beam and it weighed about 30 to 40 pounds. You have to understand. Let me pull mine.

The word cross is from the Greek storis. S-T-A-U-R-O-S. Storis. Storis. Oh Greek, you should know. You should know. Thank you. It's the only reason you're here today. You can leave now. Yes, but it's interesting because there were two different types as my history that I studied this and there were two types of T's. It's called crux amissa. Did I pronounce that right? Crux amissa, which is Latin. Sorry, you're not Latin. You're just from the Greek. Crux amissa and crux commissa. And those are the two different types of crosses that were used by the Romans at the time. Now, I want to explain this because it's kind of important. This cross would have been the one that would have been used by the Romans with Christ. How do we know that? Because there was a sign on top of it. They put a sign on top of it. And on the sign, it was Greek, Latin, and Hebrew would have been on top saying who this was. And in the Latin, it was I N R I. You can go study and type that in your Google and find out what it means. But there was a sign saying who it was. Sometimes a crime. This is what it was. But you have to understand the the word could mean stake, could mean pole, or could mean cross. But when it came to the Romans, it meant a cross. This was their invention of torture. This was what they did. They came up with the Assyrians. Hey, they had a stake, and they would impale you on a stake. The Romans, they didn't want to kill you right off because if you committed a crime big enough to be taken and hung on a cross, they wanted you to suffer. So they found a way for a man, because they very seldom there's only a couple cases where they even think they did a woman this way. But most of the time it was a man. 99% of the time. That's what people, you watch what's a Mel Gibson movie, Passion of the Christ, and you see various things. You'll see them on TV, I guess, tomorrow night or whatever, and it shows Christ, you know, after he's beaten, which he was there, but it shows him with a cross, and he's trying to carry it, and then Simon of Serene has to come and do that. That wasn't correct. This was a common torture for criminals. This is what people saw. That's why when Christ said, pick up your cross, the people he was talking to had seen people carrying the cross piece. Because you see the Romans, they had vertical poles which went seven, eight foot high, but they went down into the ground. You've got to remember who invented concrete. The Romans. So they knew how to plant one of these things, and they had vertical poles like this, wherever, and Gogotho was one of them. And those poles stayed there. They would move, and they were strong, but the one thing they did have, they were notched out, and it was just this high off ground. You have to remember, the average Jewish citizen at the time, they've got the bones, they can put everything together. The average man was only about five two. They weren't as tall as we were. A five foot four man would be tall. Bill, you'd be a giant over there. Okay? And so they only put these notches six foot. The person who hung on that piece of wood was only three or four inches off the ground. You see, oh, well, they're way up here. That's Hollywood. No, they were there so the Romans could smack them in the face if they wanted to, so people could go up and spit on them. This is what was done.

But that notch, that notch was put up so that your hands would be nailed to this piece of wood. This is what you had to carry up there. If you were convicted, you would carry that crossbeater. Then they would lay you down, and they would nail your hands. One here and one here, except they found out after a few years that people actually, they're in such pain, they pulled their hand, they pulled through the nail with their hand, so they started nailing it right through the wrist. Imagine those tendons throbbing. You're a nurse. You can see. They nailed. They nailed. And then they just picked it up, and they didn't have to have a ladder or anything else. Two men would just grab the side and set it up there on that notched out part and nail it. And if you were, if you, a couple cases of this, that you would be, if you were cursing the soldiers as they were putting you through this cat of nine tails and then you were, had to carry your cross piece up there, they wouldn't just nail you like this. A few cases where the people cursed and they spit on the soldiers, because you're going to be hanging there. Some, some actually, they found them hanging for four days. They would last up there. Most people didn't because of the beating. But if the soldiers really want to do it, they didn't just nail your hand. They pulled you around like this and nailed it backwards. So your whole body's out of joint. Then they would nail your feet to the very bottom.

It's one of the worst deaths you could have in history because it drug out the pain for so long. You were in such agony. This is what the Savior did for us. He took our place. So you don't understand. He didn't do, he didn't commit any sin. We're the ones. We're the ones that deserve to be up there. But he said, no, this one's on me.

Carry the cross. He was willing to carry our cross. And he's asking us now, carry your cross. Can you do it? Will we do it? So you can see it was just, they were just barely off the ground. And so you could do anything there. But the one thing that the others don't show you is the degradation, the shame, the disgrace. Because once they nailed you up there, they removed all your clothes. So here was the Savior of mankind naked before all. They did it to shame people. I mean, you're in such pain, such agony, that you would lose control of your bowels, dying of thirst. So this is a serious matter for us because Christ said, carry your cross. He's wanting us to carry our cross. Be like Him. Follow through. We're told to be carrying or bearing the cross. Are we willing to carry the beam, the weight of the Lord, and all it entails? Or is it easier just to give it up? And how many people say, well, wait, all I need, all I heard was all I had to do was call on the name of Jesus and write my name somewhere. Huh? First to deny yourself. Then it's that big one of take up the cross. Take up the cross. Are you willing to lose closeness of family? Because it can happen. And when Christ said these words at that time, it was shocking to His audience because they were from the Middle East and family is big in the Middle East. Family is, you know, you can't depend on anybody but family and that's where you go and you live and you build house off of their house and you do all this kind of stuff. And He's saying, no, even if you need to, forsake all. Mother, Father, matter of fact, go with me. You don't have this. But Luke 14, since you're there, in verse 26, if anyone comes to me and does not hate or love less, is how the proper translation says you read it in the New Living translation actually says it. Matter of fact, I'll pull that out. Luke 14, because this is closer to the real translation in the New Living. 14 and verse 26. 14 and verse 26. If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison. Okay, that means God's first. He's way up here. Everybody else is way down here. Do that again. If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone by comparison. Your father and mother, your wife, your children, your brothers and your sisters, and yes, even your own life. Now, that takes on serious connotations.

Are we willing to be mocked following Christ? Because I've had people many, not that I'm mocked. They don't come there, but I've had people went to hospitals. I've gone even to prison. I've done this kind of thing. You say, Oh, you're a pastor. Yes. Well, yes. Can you come this Saturday? I said, No, I preach on Saturday. That's a holy day. Huh?

Really? Seven-day Adventist? No? Church, you got a seven-day. Nope. You're Jewish. Nope. Well, what are you? I've never heard of you. Never heard of your kind. He's not going to understand. They never did. If you tried to explain. That's a light cross. Have you ever had your reputation smurched? Because of it. Be smurched? I don't know. I looked and said smurched. So yeah, I battled that in my mind and went online and your English majors can. My wife is an English freak, so she always tells me, but I actually check this one out because.

So I think I'm right, but you can tell me later. You're tainted. Your reputation because you profess to be a Christian, but you don't keep Easter. You don't even believe in Christmas. You freaks! Because that's how some people feel. It doesn't matter that it's not in the Bible. This is part of the cross. Are you willing to lose your job? Would a loving God expect you to do that? Wouldn't expect you to. Wait a minute. To lose your job, not feed your family, and derelict in your duties to your kids? To not work on Saturday? How about one day? You know, just one Saturday a month. I still remember I worked for this company, and I was one of the managers, and there were over the sales department, and there were four of us.

And so the owner of the company goes, wow, you know, we're really doing well now, and we've got traffic coming here, and we've put all this money into this new advertising stuff. So we're going to open from 8 o'clock to 12 o'clock every Saturday. And each of you can take a different Saturday. It's only half of your day, so you know, and you can share that. And we'll see how much money we bring in, and you know, how profitable, because, you know, I'll even give you a percentage of everything you sell off of that day.

We're sitting there, and no one was happy about it, because we already were working 50, 60 hours a week. You know, Bill, you remember how you know how sales go, and then all of a sudden, they wanted to put Saturday in. I said, well, I can't. I told him, I said, I can't work Saturday. You know that. But I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll come in on Sunday. Open this thing up on Sunday. I'll do it twice a month. That way, instead of one, I'll do it twice. And he goes, well, no, we go to church on Sunday. So the other guys kind of looked at me like, yeah, you're going to get out of this.

You're using religion to get out of it. Three weeks, they shut the thing down. They didn't bring in any money. But I so remember the look on the other guy's face, because I was the youngest guy, and how dare I get away with that? A big cross? Not really, but it's there, isn't it? There's always that thing of people, yeah. Are we willing to die for our beliefs? You read Fox's Book of Martyrs and you find quite a few have. God, in this generation, no one I know has lost their life that I've worked with.

And all these years. But sometimes, just life can be tough. Matter of fact, I cannot get this Clint Eastwood out of my mind. There was this story, a movie made called the outlaw, Josie Wells, if any of you saw it. It was actually based on the true character of Josie Wells and so forth. And so he had this scene with an Indian chief. As a matter of fact, play that. I got nowhere to go. And you will die. I came here today with you.

And it's hard for men like you and me. It's living. It's hard for a lot of people. And God hasn't asked us, but he's asked us to live. And a lot of times living for him is hard. Sometimes harder and longer. Because longer is something we're supposed to do. God put in his word that we're to be a living sacrifice. Remember that? A living sacrifice. And who wants to be a sacrificial lamb? Now, God wants us to be a living sacrifice. That means we sacrifice ourselves for him and his way. Luke 9 and verse 23. New Living Translation. It says, if any of you wants to be my followers, you must... what?

The New Living Translation says, you must turn from your selfish ways. Take up the cross and follow me. That's what the New Living Translation says. Are we willing to do that? Because it's a struggle. At times when we're together, it's easier when you have people. But there are those times when it is very hard. Maybe your mate's not converted. Maybe your family isn't. Maybe your kids. Maybe, maybe this... and they all look like you're crazy. And why would you do that? Do you love those church people more than you love your own family? I've heard that one before. Taking up your cross refers to giving your whole life to God. And it means dying to yourself. Dying to self. What does self want to do? You say, no, what does God want me to do? Christ literally died for you. And now we are to, figuratively, die daily for Him. Throw ourselves away and do what He would want us to do. Because getting up in the morning isn't always this, oh wow, I get to read the Bible today. Oh, well, let me go see if I can pray an hour and a half today. No, that isn't something we all get pumped up about. Sometimes we get drugged in it because praying to someone you can't see is not natural. It's just not natural. Relying and saying, I need your help to an entity that you have never seen or heard in person, that's hard. But God says, do it. Take up your cross and bear it. Our human nature is to die, and the spiritual nature is to live. You're replacing one with the other. And that's hard because some days I'm just so, I'm just so human. And my human nature is stronger than most of you ever dreamed.

And we fight. We fight because. A sacrifice of self-will for God's will. It's that simple.

I'd like to. So I wrap this part up. This doesn't weigh but about, I would say, 15-20 pounds. No more than that. Day after day. Day in, day out. Will this beam get any lighter? No. No. It won't. Your cross is not going to get any lighter. But what is our view? What is God's view? The cross we bear won't get any lighter, but we will get stronger. Anybody who's ever worked construction realize the first day or two? Oh, man! Your sword is just like, how do I carry that 2x12 up 16 foot long and take it up to the second story? And it's like you come back the end of the day. You're like, I don't know whether I should do this job. Jeff! And then all of a sudden you get up and you do it the next day and the next week or two, you're handling them like it's nothing to it. The wood doesn't get any lighter, but you get stronger. And spiritually, brethren, we get stronger. The more we bear this cross, the more we handle it, the more experienced we get, this is what he wants us to do. Marriage. Who's been married 40 years here? Anybody been married 40 years? You've been married 40 years? How many years? 52. How many? 58. Wow! How old are you guys? 58. Too old. Okay. You didn't tell me in 58 years it wasn't work. Every day, he says. Well, I better get that married sermon down. This is what we... This is an analogy of it. It's a good marriage. It has to be worked. You don't always want to do what the other ones do, but you learn to give. And over time, you do. They have this saying, the honeymoon's over. Well, guess what? A lot of times it is.

We were somewhere one time, and we met this young couple. They'd just been married. And they went on their honeymoon, and they went to a sandals resort, one of those that gives you all you want, and you can do anything you want, and everything. And so we got to meet them the last day or two before we left, because you're all kind of there together. And it's a beautiful young lady and a good-looking young guy in the 20s, and this was our 10th anniversary, so we were in our 30s. And I was out with him in water. I said, wow, have you really enjoyed this? He goes, that woman's driving me crazy. Except he used the B word on his wife. And he said, I just want to get home so I can go back to work so I don't have to be around her. Now, I don't know what happened, but I got a pretty good idea that didn't work. He was all about himself. He talked about what he did and what he wanted to do. And honeymoon was over for her. Marriage is work and has to be done by both spouses. But after a while, you kind of adapt to each other. You kind of appreciate and can live with the differences.

It's like the job you have. You go to the job first year, it's like, oh, yeah, this is pretty good. Okay, the job doesn't get any better. The next year, the next year, and 10 years later, you're going to go, oh, I love my job. You just do it. Why? You learn to go to work. You learn it's work and you don't dread it. You don't just, ugh, some people do, and they're miserable at their jobs. But it's work. Anything worth having is worth working for. Everyone's probably experienced that. He's offering a lot, but guess what? Carrying the cross is going to be work. It's not something we should complain about, because that's life. You know, God in His wisdom knew that Christianity, knew that being a Christian-like person was a load-bearing job. It's a load-bearing job. Carrying the cross like this, you're burying the load. If you're ever doing construction, there's load-bearing walls that go through. And in my decades of construction, I would go into a house and the woman goes, oh, I just want this to be open. I want everything to be open. And I tear out that wall and make it all open. I said, yeah, that's a load-bearing wall. And I've got to put a lamb beam in here, too. And it's going to have to span this whole distance. I'm going to have to cut all those ceiling joists, and I'm going to have to do this. And it's going to cost another $2,500. And that's when lamb beams were $5 a foot. And they were like, wow, that's really? I said, yeah, it's a big job. Brethren, it's a big job. Being a Christian, being a Christlike person. Thankfully, we can all be thankful. We're not like Christ that every day He got up, and there were enemies coming after Him, religious leaders, testing Him, making fun of Him, mocking Him. I don't have that, and most of you don't either. Our cross is a little smaller, a lot smaller than His. But you see, we humans, we were given the Holy Spirit to help us. He gave us His Sabbath day to rest and rejuvenate. Why? Because you need to be able to take the cross off sometimes. You need to take the load off, and He gives that for us. So we come together because together we can all carry a load. So to rest and rejuvenate, and He gives us His Holy Day seven times a year to recharge us so that we're ready to take up that cross. See, the spring Holy Days remind us who we are and where we are. It's like a compass. The fall Holy Days tell us what we're going to be and what the future is. They help us. Most of us, we deal with tough things in life. If your car is not broken down, you're usually broken down, or your bank account is broken. There are things we deal with. It's just part of life, but then there's that load-bearing cross that we must do. That comforter will help us. Last but not least, the third one. Deny yourself, take up the cross, and then what? Follow Christ. Follow me, he says. Follow me. We are told to follow him daily. Do we? Only you can answer that. What do we say? I kind of need a day off, because now I kind of take Wednesday as my day off. I can't take the other days. It typically doesn't work. So, Wednesday, I try to take that day off. Mary knows, and whatever, and now Jeff, I say, well, I don't, because it's my day off, I don't have to carry a bigger load as that. But guess what? I still have to pray and study. It is like, oh, I take complete days off. I don't have to look at the Bible. I don't have to. Why? Because that's what we all do.

We can't take days off of prayer and study if we intend to follow him, because Christ never did. He stayed connected to his Father, and he connects us to his Father. And Jesus said, follow me, which literally means in the Greek, to accompany on the same road. Doesn't mean like, oh, get behind me, Mary, because I'm the head of this family. You follow me. No. What is said in the Greek is to, you're going to accompany on the same road. So we are told, follow him. That means we're going to be on the same road Christ was on. That means we're going to be there to help people when we can't. We're going to be there to serve people. We're going to be there to obey God. We're going to be there when people need a light and when they need salt. We got to be like Christ.

Are we ready to walk down that same road, facing reality like Christ? And the same, put your hand to the plow. He who puts his hand to the plow, and Matthew, I counseled him for baptism. I said, you know, this is big. Put your hand to the plow, because I'm, I can look at him and he's never had a plow. And if you look back, your plow just goes this way. And Christ said, he puts his hand to the plow. Put your hands on this and look back and say, boy, I wish I never did this. You're not worthy, he said, of the kingdom of God. That's why it is serious. So as we wrap this up, let me answer your question. Deny yourself. Carry the cross. Follow me. Is it worth it? Is it worth it? Let's go to Mark 10. Let's go to Mark 10. Because, guess what? I'm not the first one to ask that question. Mark 10 and the New King James Version. Verse 28. Then Peter began to say to him, see, we left all. I gave up my fishing business. And I was making money. Peter began to say, see, we have left all and followed you. So Jesus answered and said to him, assuredly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mothers or wife or children or, you know what they say, lands, fields. It means fields in the translation. For my sake and the Gospels. Who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life. He said, I can take care of you now, but the big is eternal life if you will do it. The world to come. One last scripture now. Same thing. Let's go to Luke. Luke 18, verse 28. Luke 18, verse 20 I'll read from the new living translation. Verse 20, Peter said, we've left our homes to follow you. Yes, Jesus replied, and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will be repaid many times over in this life and will have eternal life in the world to come. So is it worth it? It says it is. There's going to be some unpleasant days carrying the beam, carrying the cross, following Christ, not every day, but some days, more than we want. Thankfully, the word says I will never leave you nor forsake you. We go now for the next six days after the day and eat unleavened bread. That means you don't get to eat at McDonald's. Is that a burden? You don't get donuts. You don't get this. Oh, what? Boy, that's a heavy burden. No, brethren, it means we get a chance to work on ourselves, putting sin out of our lives, focusing on it, focusing on being more Christ-like. So what? We can follow Him. Count the cost, but envision the reward, the promise of eternal life. And it starts with the big job that says, take up your cross.