COME AND DIE

Good day everyone!

We continue on our DISCIPLESHIP SERIES today, and what the Lord will have us talk about tonight is ‘COME AND DIE’.

When the Spirit of the Lord laid this in my heart, I had an inkling of what He meant but in my head, I was searching for a less harsh title for it, just so we are not bringing Ak47 to a water gun fight. But the Holy Spirit insisted ‘Come and die’.

Truthfully, it really is not a water gun fight, this is precisely what Christ bids us to do, Die!

The minute we accept the call to discipleship, we are saying that we are ready to die.

The call of discipleship is a call to put the flesh to death.

What the Holy Spirit made me see is how all of our struggles with being true followers of Jesus stem from things that are meant to be dead still being alive.

“When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's, will save it.”  Mark 8:34-35 NKJV

If we look at the verses before this, what comes first was Jesus asking then who He is and Peter confessing Christ as Messiah. Then just after this, Jesus is asking them to "carry their cross".

Our walk as believers doesn't stop at accepting Christ as savior. We should not be okay with this stage when there is so much more!

“Calling the crowd along with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it.” Mark 8:34-35 CSB

See what happened after Jesus called men to Himself, He told everyone to "carry their cross". We may not understand what this means in this context until we read the next statement Christ made:

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it"

But it is cross He asked me to carry, how did we enter saving life and dying? Because that's exactly what Jesus meant.

Jesus did not stop at Let him deny himself. Self-denial is key o, very important but it is not where we stop. There is something bigger. We must take up our cross and die. We must not try to save ourselves or patch up because in the end we will lose ourselves.

The same way Jesus headed for the cross, His disciples must face the same direction; and I tell you, the road to death is difficult. The road to the cross is very hard.

I tell it to you from experience. There is a martyrdom of one kind or another at almost every phase of our lives. We will have to choose daily to die so that we may live.

Now, nobody can nail anything on the cross if they've not learned self-denial. What you feed every day will not die, it will grow.

There is a reason why Christ said you must first deny yourself. To deny self is not just to deny things:

"Oh! I'm not going to eat like a glutton for the next three days"

"I'm denying myself so I will not masturbate again"

All of these are exercises in futility. You will in fact fail woefully at them. 

Self-denial is first submission to Christ!

Because let me tell you, fleshy desires are hard to say no to if you are the one saying no. Our approach is saying ‘Yes’ to Jesus which in turn means I'm saying ‘No’ to my flesh. It is from saying ‘Yes’ first to Jesus daily, that we are able to look the flesh in the eye and say ‘No!’

Note that this doesn't mean we will not say no to the flesh, what it only means is that our approach changes.

A lot of us are trying to say no to the flesh when we've refused to submit to Christ. We ignore the leadings of the spirit and we are tight-chested towards His correction but we want to die to self; waste of effort and energy.

When Paul said "I no longer live but it is Christ who now lives in me", this is it for all of us, and what it will mean is that our decisions are Christ's. We are led just as He was.

“Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:24 CSB

Now those of us who say we belong to Jesus, those of us who say we are His followers, this is our mark: We put to death our self/flesh; all of its desires and passions.

I will pause here and ask us: What do you desire?

Be truthful to yourself, please.

What are the things you dream about?

What are the things you are passionate about?

Especially the things your heart desires in secret, the ones you have to caution yourself to not desire but you know you already desired it. What are those things? Take your time to write them down. We are going somewhere with that.

Please don't lie to yourself o. Write it all down.

He who comes to God for help must come completely open.

The list is for you and your God so be free and open. For some of us, it is the state of our hearts that need to change: unforgiveness, bitterness, pride, backbiting, drunkenness, hurtful words, gossip, hurtful thoughts of others, etc.

The list is endless o, write it all down.

For some of us, it is that we are not submissive. People think submission is in marriage alone or to just our spiritual heads but even I should submit to you.

All of these things need to die! Death in Zion is not the end of the story, Nah!

It is a necessary part of our journey in Christ. When we think of the cross Christ is asking us to carry, we usually like to assume persecution. Of course, it is included as we share both in His sufferings and glory, but what you are really carrying is yourself; your already judged flesh to the cross, following right behind Jesus.

Guys, the flesh has nothing to offer to us o! It has received its judgment in Genesis 3. It was pronounced dust and asked to return back to that. So why then do we follow the leading of that which is already doom to death/nothingness?

Those who hold on to their lives will lose it.

“Jesus continued to say to all of them, “Any of you who want to be my follower must stop thinking about yourself and what you want. You must be willing to carry the cross that is given to you every day for following me.” Luke 9:23 ERV

You must stop thinking about yourself and what you want because usually what we want is not what God wants. The flesh never desires the things of the spirit.

We must then take up our cross.

In those days, everyone that is to be put to death will carry their own cross and there is no going back after picking the cross. You know exactly where you are headed: death!

I like the way Luke added the everyday/daily part. There are no cheat days.

We will never enjoy the fullness in this life with Christ until we walk towards dying to self and this starts will submission. Surrendering to the leading of God; everyone who follows must be led by something.

If we are still led by the flesh, then we are followers of our flesh. We are followers of Christ if we are led by His spirit, and this is where the work is. Engaging the spirit every time. No, not just for gifts and when we have programs.

Beyond demonstrations of the gifts and power of the spirit; His teachings, His truths, because He is really here to guide us into knowledge of all truth.

He is here to not just show us that this is the right way, He is here to help us follow that right way.

So ask Him for help today. Let Him help you

On the things (fleshy habits) you wrote down. Write this on them: (Put your name) has received the help of the spirit to live above these things. I am alive in the spirit so I am dead to the flesh and these works. I am led by the spirit so my flesh cannot lead me to do these things again.

Have daily conversations with the Holy Spirit on the truth of who you are. There is liberation here.

Again, don't focus so much on what to not do:

20 steps to stop having sex, 100 steps to stop gossiping, etc. Take 200 steps and you are back to fornicating and slandering.

Take your focus off them.

Focus on your spiritual meal plan instead. It is what you feed that will grow. Ignore the flesh and its desires will wane off.

You will also have to deliberately/boldly say No on days the flesh tries to put up a fight.

You will remind it that it is dead and dead things do not dictate to the living!