So You Want To Be A Disciple? Bring Your Cross And Leave Your Ego

Start the year with a radical reset: deny the self that keeps you stuck and discover the life only Christ can give. We open the scriptures to trace a clear path from Adam to Christ, then unpack what it actually means to follow Jesus when the feelings fade and the calendar fills. No clichés, no shortcuts—just the daily cross, honest surrender, and the steady power of grace.

We walk through Luke 9:23 and Galatians 6:14 to show why denying self is not self-hatred but the doorway to freedom. You’ll hear how the cross breaks the world’s pull, why “according to the scriptures” anchors your hope, and how Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection shape every step of discipleship. We explore the benefits of the cross beyond forgiveness: the old self crucified with Christ, the call to take up your cross daily, and the Spirit’s work in producing love, joy, and peace that resolutions can’t create.

If you’ve ever wondered how to keep trusting when the old patterns won’t die, this conversation gives you a grounded, scripture-rich framework. We celebrate grace upon grace, remember God’s promises are yes and amen, and end with a heartfelt prayer that points you back to the One who keeps you from falling. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs hope today, and leave a review to tell us: what promise are you standing on this week?

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Transcript

New Year, Adam And Christ

SPEAKER_00 0:43

We are now in 2026, a new year. Just said in Adam, we lived in Adam, we all die in Adam. We all are made alive in Christ. The Gaiman and Brother said, either check me out what I say. But in the Bible, if you want to see what I'm saying here about all of us being in Adam, that's 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 22. And I'll read it. Even so in Christ shall all be made alive. So that's there. When we lived in Adam, we were sinners. And because we were sinners, all had to die. Christ died for us to bring us into a new life. I want to bring to your attention tonight and let you think about it being a disciple of Christ. I want to talk to you tonight about following Christ, Jesus, as a disciple. Sunday I made mention to our calling. If you are a Christian, you have been called in to the kingdom of God's dear Son. Our calling, God has called each one of us, and in our calling, he gave us the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit helps us to do what God has called us to do, to do his purpose. We work in the purpose of God. Listen to the Bible. Luke 9 23. Jesus speaks through scripture. We are dealing with spiritual realities when we listen to scripture. Jesus says, If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. In Galatians 6 14, Apostle Paul says he understood what Luke has said about the cross. He says, But God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Following Jesus as a disciple is one way to relate rightly to the Lord in humility and faith. The first aspect of following Jesus involves renouncing the self-life. Listen to it again. If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself. It is certainly humbling to admit that any life would be that we would develop by our own natural resources is unacceptable to the Lord and must be done away with. Second issue, second issue in discipleship is the cross. When Jesus spoke of the cross, he was speaking of the ultimate instrument of execution in his day. Consequently, after renunciation of self, we are to confess death for self. The means of this death is the cross of Christ. Oh, we preach the cross of Christ. Christ died for you and me when he died on the cross. It is because God the Father loved us so much that he gave his only Son, and whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. So we must, through the help of the Holy Spirit that's given to us, we must renounce, renounce the renunciation of self. We are to confess death to self. The means of this death is the cross of Christ. Those who want to follow Jesus as disciples are to take the cross of Christ as their personal cross. Yes, he said all of us who would be my disciple, you must take up your cross daily. In doing so, each of us are admitting to God that we deserve to die upon that cross. The Bible teaches you and me that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Wages. According to, and you see the reposition phrase according to, it means all that follows according to is most important. Take notice, pay attention according to Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Through the scriptures, God speaks to each of us. He gives promises. And remember, in 2000 in 2021, six. Remember, God is a God of promises. What he says is true. What he says he will do. All the promises of God are yes, yes, and amen. I found in my life all his promises that he has promised toward me have been fulfilled. They are true. Praise God. Remember, the wages of sin is death. And remember, Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. First Corinthians 15 in verse 3. Second Peter 2 in verse 24. This gospel which brings forgiveness of sins to all who believe includes the essential truth of the resurrection. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. And remember, scriptures, all the promises of God are yet. You can place your faith in what the scriptures say because it's truth according to the scriptures. He was barren according to the scriptures. He rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Praise God. Another wondrous benefit. I like to talk about the benefits of God is good things, benefits. Good things, the wondrous benefit of the cross is that we who believe in Jesus also died there with him. How can that be? Just by believing. We are dealing with the spiritual things, not natural things. We are dealing with the Spirit of God. He's showing us what life is all about in Christ and what Christ has done for each of us who ought to give him the glory. We praise his name. We have a benefit of the cross, benefit. Good things come through Christ's death on the cross. The cross. Read your Bible and believe it. All of us came forth into this world in Adam. All sinned in Adam. All of us have been made alive in Christ, in Jesus, knowing this, that an old man is crucified with him, the old self-life that we were developing while in Adam was executed on the cross with Christ. Yes, the cross is the way out of this world of dead sinners, and we can rightly boast in that truth according to the scriptures. Meanwhile, the attitude and resources of the old man persists in our flesh, our natural humanity. Thus we are to renounce the self-life and confess death to self day by day. Let him deny himself and pick up his cross daily. That's the teaching of Jesus, the Christ, the one who loved us so much that he died for our sins on the cross. We believe in the death of Christ. We believe in the crucifixion of Christ. We believe in the resurrection of Christ. And as he was raised from the dead, we too as believers will be raised with him. In the final resurrection, we shall be with him. Praise God. Let us praise him for what he is doing. That's what grace is about. That's why my testimony is grace upon grace upon grace. Yes, it's God who does the work in our lives. Give him the grace. Because our minds are stayed on him because we are keep on trusting him. Follow Christ dearly. Take your cross dearly and keep following him. Praise God. Let us pray. How Father, we so thankful for your guidance. We are so thankful, Lord, that it's you through your Holy Spirit that you have given. You have given us the fruit. That you are the one who can only supply this fruit. Love, joy, peace. All these good qualities come through your spirit. You have given us your spirit through faith. We believe. We keep trusting you. Keep helping us, Lord. We know you will because of your promises. Amen. Now unto him that is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before his presence with exceeding joy. The only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion, and power. Now and forever, let us all say Amen.