April 23, 2019 – Matthew 16:24-26

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” Matthew 16:24-26.

When we follow Jesus, we deny ourselves.  What is denying ones’ self? Philippians 2:3-5 explains.  Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Consider how much Jesus loves you.  He left Heaven to come to earth to die because He loves us.  Do you ever feel alone?  Jesus hung on the cross between Heaven and Earth. And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.  And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mark 15:33-34.

Even as Jesus rose from the dead, this is our promise: For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.  I Thessalonians 4:16-17.

For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then He will repay each person according to what he has done. Matthew 16:27.