Episode Details

Hey everyone I’m Pastor Gary Hoban and welcome to Refinery Life Australia. This year our goal is to release a new video / Podcast every Monday Wednesday and Friday. As we head towards Easter we are going to move through a series titled “The Centrality of the Cross.” Today is part 5 The Cross and Discipleship. Text Matthew 16:24-25 (ESV) Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus 24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Scripture Reading Matthew 16:21-27 (ESV) Introduction The word disciple is an appealing word to Christians because it brings to mind those twelve men who were chosen by the Lord for a unique task, that of being the first messengers of the good news He came to give the world. Certainly the shepherds on the Judean hills and the wise men who came from afar were “heralds” of the Saviour, but they did not have an opportunity to know the very essence of His gospel. The familiar word, discipleship, also carries a certain appeal, because we interpret it to be the ideal lifestyle of a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, a lifetime of following and learning from the Master. Yet, inherent in the word disciple, and hence discipleship, is the word discipline. We don’t find the same appeal in the word discipline because it has negative overtones. Everyone is born with a tendency toward rebellion against authority. In other words, discipline, the enemy of everyones will, saturated the way of life Jesus came to reveal. Many who were confronted with the challenge to follow Him could not accept this discipline. As the time for His crucifixion drew closer, there was an unusual urgency in what Jesus said about the cross and about discipleship. Visit us at www.refinerylife.org Twitter @PastorGaryHoban @RefineryLifeGC Facebook @PastorGaryHoban @RefineryLifeChurch Instagram @gary_hoban @refinerylifechurch YouTube Gary Hoban http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxvrTCsjg98vGjMTObxJhtQ Refinery Life Church Australia http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkvD9z50SuKWxhSw0TPQkgQ