So You Say You Want More Of God

SO YOU SAY YOU WANT MORE OF GOD

Luke 9: 23-25

Intro: In our text we see Jesus giving the disciples and invitation and instructions on what was necessary to follow Him even after He was gone. He had just foretold his future and He wanted to prepare them for the time when He would not be here. Now none of us have ever seen Jesus, but we believe He was and is and will be. If I was to ask you how many of you wanted more of God in your life how many of you by raising your hand would say yes, I want more of God in my life? Well guess what; you got all of God you were going to get when you got saved. The reason you are not experiencing God in your life right now like you should is not because you haven’t got all of God, but God has not got all of you. Here Jesus gives us three things that are necessary if we were going to be his followers. I want to preach this day of the subject, “SO YOU SAY YOU WANT MORE OF GOD.”

I. …LET HIM DENY HIMSELF

A. The word deny in this text means to utterly deny or disown according to the Greek manuscript and there is no deviation in the English language

B. To deny ourselves means to willingly renounce our right to choose for ourselves and to recognize His lordship in every area of life

C. I believe when a person really gives their heart to Jesus they give up any so called plan they have for themselves because they do not belong to themselves anymore

D. (I Corinthians 6:20) For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s

II. …TAKE UP HIS CROSS DAILY

A. To take up the cross means to deliberately, on purpose, without hesitation choose the kind of life He lived

B. For a person to take up their cross they have got to be prepared for:

1. The opposition of loved ones

2. The reproach of the world

3. Forsaking the comforts of life

4. Obedience to the Holy Spirit

5. Proclamation of an unpopular message

6. A pathway of loneliness

7. Suffering for Christ’s sake

8. Pouring out yourself for others

9. Death to self and to the world

C. Christians instinctively recoil from a life of cross-bearing.

D. We find it hard to believe that God’s will could lead us through some of the places we are going

III. …AND FOLLOW ME

A. If you are going to follow Jesus you are going to have to leave some things behind

B. (Matthew 4:9) Peter and Andrew left their fishing nets

C. (Matthew 4:21) James and John left their father

D. (Matthew 9:9) Matthew left his filthy profession

E. All of these are examples of things that would have hindered them in their relationship with Jesus

F. That’s why they had to leave it

G. If you are ever going to have the type of relationship you truly need with the Lord Jesus there are some things you have got to say good-bye to it