#10: Bearing the Cross

In this episode we discuss nailing your sins with Jesus on the cross.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to episode 10. We're going to be talking about victory in the cross and taking up your cross. We have won, we have obtained victory, if you will, in the sacrifice Jesus did for us, and the sacrifice his life showed us up on the cross, fulfilling the prophecy and defeating death itself and being resurrected. I want to kind of go over three verses just to get us started off, unless you have anything to add on to that first part. No. Alright. And he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9 23. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Matthew 10 38. And calling the crowd, he sorry, and calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, 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 and the gospels will save it. Mark 8, 34 through 35.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Yeah, so that's pretty much going to be the structure of what we're going to kind of cover today and kind of give some examples of how it really impacted our life. But again, kind of going back to uh what Robert was kind of talking about with the victory on the cross. I mean, it is a grace and mercy and love that we didn't even deserve. But he did it anyway, came down from heaven to earth, died the death he did, to be resurrected three days later, to fully transfer the debt of our sin and pay it in full so that we can walk out of our sin and walk into the life that is gifted in the Holy Spirit. Free gift, completely free gift. Nothing we have to do but believe he did it for us. Now, I know that part kind of gets talked about a lot, right? In modern church, online, religion, I mean, you name it, that the that's the epitome of you know John 3.16, right? But what doesn't get talked about a lot is those three verses you just shared with us the Luke 9, 23, the Matthew 10, 38, the Mark 8, 34, 35, just seems to really not get shared very much, especially in the you know, Catholicism that I grew up in. I never knew those verses existed. And it's in all the gospels, basically, right? Like, how do we not talk about it? It's in all the gospels, and it's like a deep meaning. What does that mean, right? Well, if Jesus went on the cross for us, why do we have to take ours cross up?

SPEAKER_00 2:47

And wait, like on that point, kind of it's almost like, well, he did all the work, I'm good, kind of thing. Right. You know?

SPEAKER_01 2:54

And and the the concept of all these verses is to kind of show that the grace and mercy that we received, although we didn't really deserve it, it's not cheap. It's not a cheap grace, right? Where, oh, I believe in Jesus, I'm forgiven, so I'm just gonna live the life I want. It's cheap grace. Yep. That's not the grace that we are to receive. The grace we are to receive is to walk out of the life we once lived and literally be, we're gonna kind of go over this in a little bit, that new creation, right? And it's meant to transform us from the inside out. The more we grow closer to Jesus and reading his word and spending time with them, it should transform us from the inside out by getting rid of the old and replacing it with the new. And that's kind of like the concept of if Jesus went and died on the cross for us, what are we still tolerating in our own lives that was meant to be put away? Meant to be put on that cross and have victory over it. It's kind of like the the what concept that we're kind of talking about, again, taking up your cross. Again, not really talked about enough, in my opinion, no, in in the world and in modern church and and in religion, everything like that. So, really gonna dive deep. And I just kind of want to ask you then, real quick, here, like, why is this concept so important? Then, like, why was it mentioned in all the gospels? Like, it's not just mentioned once. Yeah, it's mentioned by a lot of eyewitness believers here testifying, taking up our cross. Jesus is specifically saying this many times. Yeah, why is this important?

SPEAKER_00 4:41

I I think one of the biggest reasons why is because this kind of defines if you're truly following Christ or not. Like, do you see Christ with all your heart or do you just want to obtain heaven? And like I I mean, for a lot of believers who are willing to die to themselves to follow Christ, you you come to realize like heaven is not a place, it's wherever Christ is. And that's a thing. I'd rather suffer in hell for all of eternity if Jesus was there than live in eternity in heaven without him. And I mean, that's that's just kind of the truth, but like you can't be a true believer, in my opinion, unless you are willing to die to yourself. And unless you're willing to give up all those earthly possessions, because then you'll will never understand your true identity, who God intended you to be one, and like fulfill your plan that He has written for you. Do you have anything to add on to that point?

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Yeah, 100%. I mean, this is the why behind this is like this is how the gospel spreads, right? Like the gospel of Jesus Christ is supposed to change you, and everyone has like a different like timeline and path and walk to that. But overall, like as you enter into discipleship, and we've mentioned this before, as all of us are called into discipleship, right? We are meant to be in that ongoing learning, you know, from the Father how to be molded more into the image of Jesus Christ. And one of my favorite verses here I'd like to look at in this concept here is 2 Corinthians 5.17. And if anybody wants to kind of turn to their Bibles and kind of flip this, kind of follow along, again, it's 2 Corinthians 5.17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. Now, to kind of break this down here, right? So if anyone is in Christ, right? So if you have full faith in Jesus Christ, like not just half, not just 25%, not just on Sundays, not just when you feel like it, not just when things are going good, it is 100% all in when you have full faith and belief in Christ, you are a new creation, right? And this kind of ties into like your body's the temple of the Holy Spirit, but you're being formed into the original blueprint, the original image of who He created to you, who He created you to be, why He created you to be that way, and you are gonna be walking in that new identity of the Holy Spirit, therefore, the old just has no more room to be in there. Like you can't have both, right? It's one or the other. The fence is not owned by Jesus, you are all in or you're all out, and it is a consistent walk of learning that new creation, that new identity. And the part of how this spreads, right, is like that's gonna turn heads. Like it kind of talks about it, Matthew, right? You're the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world. That kind of means you stand out. Like you're kind of going against the grain of like worldly concepts, worldly ideas. Who you used to be is just who you are no longer. Just a real quick example of like what I personally went through kind of experience is honestly, I was really, and I mentioned this before in my testimonies, but I was really heavily involved in airsoft and tabletop gaming, way more than I should have been. Like I was fully immersed in it, and when I gave my life to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, like it was an old thing that just had no room in the new creation, and I just cut it out completely, put it on my cross, right? Put that thing on my cross, carried that cross. I had temptation, don't get me wrong, I had temptation to go back. I had temptation to, oh, maybe just a little bit. I had thoughts of like, ah, it's not that bad, even though I already kind of get rid of it. Nope. You're to die to the flesh daily. I don't want nothing to do with the old self, the old is past, for I want to walk in the creation that the Lord has made me for. And honestly, again, the peace, the freedom, the joy I got from not having to be bound by something like that of the world is something I never thought was even possible.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

And that kind of like fruit of the Holy Spirit, if you could say, like the that peace, that joy coming from not being bound by that, it turns heads and it starts asking questions. And honestly, it's all because of Jesus. There's no other answer. It's all because of Jesus, and like everyone can have that same relationship and intimacy with the Father and walk out of the things that are binding us to this world. So I don't know if you want to kind of like plan for that at all.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Yeah, a couple things there. So I mean, one, that verse kind of goes back to Mark 8, 34 through 35, you know, perfectly. Same with uh Romans 12, 1 that we're about to go over. But I I heard this quote, I believe it's by West Huff his name is, where he says there's five gospels of Jesus Christ. There's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and then you. You're the fifth gospel. And I mean that is so true because the the gospel didn't die or sorry, end at Revelation. No, it continues on with us. And I feel like like in modern times, people forget they they just read a couple verses, they go to church, all this stuff, and then it just dies there. And you don't ever let God do anything with you. You don't let him mold you into the creation you were intended to be. And you sit there and you end up being lazy and you waste away the life he had intended for you. And I mean, same thing with me. Man, I was wasting away too. You know, I was drinking from sunrise to sunset. I was basically trying to slowly kill myself, you know, and I tried to quit. You know, I had a family coming, like all these things. And it got to a point I could not get rid of it. It was out of my control. I I tried everything, but I knew God could take it, and he took it from me. It was no longer my choice. By the grace that I obtained through him, because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, I was able to pray and ask for those things, and he took it from me. And he could take away anything in your life that is holding you back and keeping you from your purpose, because greater is the power in us than the power that is in the world. Yeah, and that's all I have for that. And then if we go into, or do you have anything?

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Yeah, real quick, just for some viewers out there that kind of like maybe want some like tips of like kind of going through that phase of you know, the Lord led you and guided you and helped you put the drinking on the cross. Mine was definitely some hobbies that I overindulged and idolized. Were you tempted to go back, you know, after some moments?

SPEAKER_00 11:52

Yes, yeah. I I was tempted to go back, and I was so back and forth in the beginning of my walk before he like finally like like literally like it was like a slow process at first, and then I just woke up, and we're gonna have somebody else on here that could attest to the same thing where I literally like did not crave it anymore. Like it I didn't want it. I even tried going back a couple times, and I was like, why was this even like I can't even remember why it was a a crutch, a chain in my life, and and kind of like with all those things he's gotten rid of, and now that I'm more clear-headed and I can think about like maybe more things I observe in my life that is no longer a part of me, that is no part more part of the identity that I am in Christ now. Like I just think about those things and just I gotta nail that to the cross because you purchased those. I no longer have I no longer like even deserve those things. Like they belong to you because that's what you died for. I'm not gonna keep your inheritance from you. Because he died for all iniquity. And and like like the cross, like heading up the hill, kind of thing. He had the cross on his back, and that's where we should keep our sin behind us, kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Yeah, absolutely. And just just some examples that I kind of go through. Like, if I were to ever want to like have temptations, I shouldn't say want to, but if I ever had temptations to like get back in just a little bit of like airsoft or like tabletop gaming, or like just some old self me that was of the flesh, like my passions and everything like that, that is not of the new creation in Christ. Let's say they're coming into your head a lot this week, or you know, like you're tempted to go back, or you're being persuaded by co-workers or friends to like participate in something you know you should not, right? Some of my go-to's would be find some scripture, and maybe we're even going over some scripture right now that are gonna that might help you, and just start like focusing and like almost like memorizing and like just speaking it over yourself a couple times through the day where like when those thoughts get heavy, you just remind the enemy certain scripture because he has to obey the word of God, and that will help with the spiritual kind of like attacks. Remember what God has done for you. Like, remember how you used to feel in it, and remember what the feeling was when you were called out of it. Remembering the glory God has done always helps me, or straight up just worship, just worshiping God, giving gratitude and praise definitely helps quiet, and those thoughts will leave. But if you try to fight them on your own, we never win. The battle's already won in Christ, right? So why not give the battle to him with those concepts instead of trying to fight on our own and be like, oh, I'm just not gonna think about it. If that's your game plan, eventually it's not gonna work. Yeah, like you have to give the battle to Christ because again, as Robert's saying throughout this podcast, it's already won. Yeah, but if we don't give the battle to him, we're trying to fight on our own, we're not equipped to win on our own. It's it's it's not gonna happen. And honestly, if there's some like things that you know the father thinks about you, speaking them out loud over your thoughts too is a huge concept. And then honestly, just if it's if it's thoughts you know you don't want, just rebuke them in Jesus' name out of your mind.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Yeah, hold them captive, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Hold them captive, get them out of there, give it to Jesus, and yeah, that will help put take up your cross, right? Because every time you get those temptations and you don't give in, your spirit is winning over your flesh. Yeah, it is a spirit versus flesh battle every single day, and every time you give those battles to Christ, your spirit is winning over your flesh, and that will help you in your walk tremendously as you continue this.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Yeah. And I think at this point, Satan just could keep us from the truth, is really his power to keep us manipulated, so we actually run to him instead of Christ. And we think of these scenes as like like the religion aspect of it, or whatever you call it, like Jesus Christ as the chain when he's really the freedom. And we just think about all this sin in our life. Well, it's fun, I can't get, you know, can't get away from it, or ah, well, I'm just human, we're all sinners, kind of thing. Well, what sounds more chained to you? The one who has the freedom to overcome it and keep those that poison out of their life, or somebody who literally cannot move forward at all in any aspect of their life. I mean, that seems like a prison cell to me. But you won't know until, you know, you know, it's until it's too late. I I like that video of that old lady and that guy, you know what I'm saying? The the guy in the suit. And he's like, Yeah, I I've you know, you were the nicest person I ever met, like you followed Jesus, and now you're sitting here in the hospital, like with dementia or whatever what the case was, and he's like, I'm rich, I have all this stuff, you know, I I hit up all these girls, all whatever the case is, and like you have nothing. And she's like, That's what the devil wants. Like, sometimes you end up chaining your own links, and then right when it's before it's too late, the jail cell closes, or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Yeah, he'll he'll make the sins feel so comfortable, you don't even feel the jail cell around you, and the second you want to leave, the door's already locked and it's too late. Yeah, as in perfect, as in if you try to realize it after you've already passed, it's too late. You have to walk out of it when Christ has grace and mercy for you before you take the last breath. That's actually in God's Not Dead. If you ever want to check out that movie, great scene. I gotta watch it. Great scene, great movie. But anyway, getting back into um, I guess, like the how aspect, right? Like, how do we apply? Oh, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

Sorry, Romans 12, 1.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Oh, yeah, yeah, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. And I I forgot who told me this. I think it was my brother, actually. But like in the Old Testament, they had to put up sacrifices, right? Burning sacrifices. And like, we don't do that anymore. We can't do anything besides repent for forgiving of sins, but we could die to our flesh, we could burn off our fleshly desires. Was that you? Okay, that was Jesse. But yeah, like that is our spiritual sacrifice, like through fasting, through praying, through giving up those fleshly desires, that is an acceptable sacrifice to Jesus. Yeah, yeah, I've I've thought about that a lot.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Yes, and when it's burned up means you can't go back to it. It's like we're like literally 180 turning from it, turning back to the Lord, and not having that thing or aspect replace our time with the Lord. Right? Like, if we're those, you know, temple of the Holy Spirit, right? Like, again, as Robert just explained very perfectly, our body's the living sacrifice in Romans 12.1. Meaning, why not give it back to the Lord since he created it in the first place? Right? Like, why not let him use you as a vessel as he has intended you to be perfectly made in his image? And I think it ties in great to the Galatians 2.20 that you're about to mention here as well.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Yep, let me just pull it up quick.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Do we have any commercial sponsors yet? Wait, weren't you gonna bring that one up?

SPEAKER_01 20:10

I I can.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

Oh no, no, I got it, I got it. Okay, 220. Alright. Oh yeah, Galatians 2.20. That's right. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Again, Galatians 2.20.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

So yeah, so with the Galatians 2.20 verse here, the best way I can kind of put an applicable sense to this is like again, if we die with Christ, then we live with Christ, right? When we're in the world, right, and before we kind of like really like give our life to Christ, we're holding on to stuff in the world, right? Like we're identifying with the world, we're living in the world, we're in love with the world. Like we're we're like white knuckling aspects of the world where like we think it embodies who we are, we think it molds our character into who we are, we think this is like how we were created and how we were made. And what really prevents us from sometimes, or I guess we could say it's like a holdback of like, well, I really don't want to. What what if this really isn't it? That I'm giving up all my stuff that I love that's in the world for something I don't really know. Even though scripture says it so many times, like he is peace, he is joy, he is the way, the truth, the life, right? But I want to do this thing too. Like, I was definitely there, right? I wanted both, right? And we hold on to what's of this world with such a type. Grip that Jesus is kind of saying, if you just let go, I can fill your hands with something greater and better, and it is eternal. What we're holding on is to stuff that distracts us, that breaks us down, that deteriorates us, that burdens us, that chains us, that essentially withers away and won't even be with us for eternity anyway. And what Jesus is really saying is if you would just let go of that, you'll be able to hold on to and see the much greater thing that lasts forever, which is salvation, freedom, grace, mercy, peace, joy, love, gentleness, kindness, self-control. I mean, fruits of the Holy Spirit, right? And it just you can't have both because this proverb says, like, a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. If you if you're trying to have both, you're gonna be teeter-tottered and swayed, and it's it's gonna be a spiral. That's why it's like again, Matthew 28, or say 11, 28 to 30 is like take your yoke upon Jesus, let just let go. And a good how to that, like how to get started, like how do I find areas in my life that might I might be holding on to? Like, like we know the why now, like how do we kind of apply it, right? And one of the best ways I kind of think to help get you kind of started is Colossians 3, 17. Now, I personally recommend just go ahead after this podcast, dive into the Bible, just read Colossians chapter 3 in general. I think it's an absolutely, I mean, every chapter in here is great, but it's a great passage where it kind of just talks about putting on the new self, right? We're talking about, you know, taking up your cross, dying to your flesh, walking in the new self. I think it's a great passage. I'm just gonna talk about one verse here where it just says, and whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of Lord Jesus, giving him thanks to God the Father through him. And basically what this kind of breaks down to is like everything we should be doing, everything we are saying, should be revolving around giving thanks to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, right? Like honoring and giving him glory. If there are things you know you're doing that doesn't quite align with like his ways, that's what we could be holding on to. That's what we could be like stalling our progress and like just inhibiting truly putting it on the cross. And if there's like a gray area, you're like, oh, you're kind of on the fence, you're not really sure. My biggest recommendation is you know what, give it up for three days. And if you got hesitation of me just saying, giving that one thing up that's on your mind that might be a gray area, get hesitation, giving up for three days. Definitely give it a shot because that might be something you're holding on to. And it could be social media, it could be, you know, I mean, it could be anything. It could be literally anything, a certain food, a certain drink. Again, like I said, social media. It could be a certain hobby, it could be a TV show, it could be video games, it could be, I mean, you name it, right? Give it up for three days. Watch how much of a hold it has on you. Watch how if you get agitated, irritated, lack of self-control, you're constantly thinking about it, counting down the days or hours until you can go back to it. That's kind of the white knuckling concept of holding on to the world. If you would just release that, so your hands would be open to have what God has ready and in store for you walking in the new creation, it is better than what you think you have in that thing. What you don't want to get rid of. And that's kind of my biggest like how to kind of like get started. Like, how do I know? That's my biggest recommendation to that. And I don't know if uh, you know, Brother Robert here has anything for that.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

Yeah. I I mean like a big thing is getting rid of those things in your life so you could reflect what Christ has done in you. Like if you're just a closet worshiper, I guess you could say, and you know, you act one way with him, but then you go out and you misrepresent him when you claim his name, again, you're doing him a dishonor, you're blasphemy his name, you're saying his name in vain, in a sense, but and it shows that you really don't know who he is. Because who he is, like me and my brother here, and all who have claimed him and who claim his as as our sorry Lord and Savior have received salvation in him because of what he did. And now because we received salvation in him, it is our duty as believers, as disciples, is to pick up that cross and to continue his work until out into our final resting place with him next to him. And if we do not die to ourselves and represent him, I'm I I kind of want to bring up this passage to Matthew, saying, Prophesy to us, you Christ, who is that who struck you? Like this is what they're saying, Matthew 26, 68. When the people that he came down to save are beating him, are spitting in his face, torturing him, who when Pontius Pilate says, I find no guilt in this man, and his own people said, Crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. And when we have a little scuffle with a brother or sister, with our wife, with everybody that Jesus came to save, knowing that we're saved and we're like, No what? They don't understand me. Like this is different. When if Jesus could take everything that he took, who am I to say that I deserve anything different? Who am I to take what is not mine and what has been inherited to Christ through his sacrifice? Meaning I need to put down my problems aside and think about what he came for, which is each and every one of us. And my goal in this life is to make sure he obtains what he came here for, his offspring, all of us. So I need to represent him in that aspect.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

Yeah, absolutely. And we have to also remember, too, like the very power of the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, right? Defeated death and grave, is in us as a free gift. Like this is possible not because we're trying to do it in our flesh, but because it's the power of the Holy Spirit working in us and through us that gives us honestly, again, we keep talking about grace and mercy. Grace and mercy to be able to do this walk with him, right? And to be able to be called out of once we once we're in and once we're and everything of that nature. I'm gonna I want to do an applicable example here. So of course, I talked about in my earlier testimony, like I was quit my job, got led to a framing company, never not wasn't really uh on my uh list of things I uh desired to do. Let me put it that way. But again, we're called to give up our even our own passions, right? For for the glory of God. So I decided, you know what, that's what the Lord wants me to do, I'll do it, and I will do it to honor him. I mean, I'm you know, servant to him first and everything. And one of the things I knew, like my my how concept right here, applied to myself. One of the things I knew I needed to work on giving to the Lord, putting on my on my cross, take like dying to my flesh, was my sarcastic nature in character. Like I was always keen to be witty with jokes and very sarcastic to the point where like it was like condescending sarcastic, like almost like a cut down, like, oh, you know I'm joking though, right? Kind of concept. And as I'm as I'm reading the word and as I'm kind of like seeing, like, ooh, it's actually not good to do that. Um probably probably should stop. Like, it was one of those where like I really needed to like put attention to it, focus on it. Like, all right, God, like get in the prayer room, like talk to the Lord about it. Like, one, ask forgiveness, repent, turn from it, genuinely want to turn from it. And I'm like, all right, God, like I've been doing this for the better part of 20 years. I mean, that's a long time to like all right, now I just don't do that anymore. So it took a few months. I'm honest, if it took a few months, and it really, I think, like hit the hit the rubber to the road when I went into the the framing job. Because if you can imagine, blue collar job site, that's all that talk is, genuinely. And it's like, all right, you're gonna give in to the environment around you, or are you gonna do what you know you gotta do and put that put that characteristic on the cross? Because that's the old you, not the new creation I made you to be. And there's some there's some moments, I'll be honest, where I was kind of like, oh, there's so many moments early on where like I wanted to have like a quick witty one-liner sarcastic joke, but it would have been totally condescending to a coworker. I'm like, I just I bit my tongue, bit my tongue, kept praying, kept worshiping, you know, like, you know, asking God for help, you know, help me, you know, walking the Holy Spirit and everything. And about the third weekend, a comment got to me and I hit a quick witty one-liner that was just not something I should have said. And like a couple coworkers heard it, and they thought it was funny, super good, like, oh Jesse, I didn't know you would you had that in you or anything like that. And I immediately, I immediately knew. I'm like, I should not have said that. So I was like, no, no, I shouldn't have said that, you know, just kind of announced that I shouldn't have said that. Um I take that back. I kind of even apologize to about it. Like, I shouldn't have said that, my bad, you know. Um, that's not who I am. That's who I once was, but that's no longer who I am. That was a reaction of my old self. That is not who Christ has called me to be. So I I will retract that comment. And everybody's like, Rummy's like, what? And yeah, that's I mean, I I I want to grow closer to Jesus. Like, I I have to put that away. I have to put that on the cross, you know? And to again full circle this back to like the what? Like, what is the purpose of this, right? Is like, because we are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We are called to not fit into the world, we are called to be different in the way God has created us because that is how the gospel spreads, right? That is how the love spreads because I love my coworkers so much I don't want to talk in a condescending way to them. And I, hey, I slipped up, yeah, you know, and the first step is to kind of omit it so you can kind of work through it. And again, I just kind of kept applying those scenarios where it's like, okay, that doesn't like me condescendingly joking to a coworker or anybody for that matter, does not glorify God in my actions or my my words. It's like I knew I needed to I need to work on that, and that was I'll be honest, that was a process because again, better part of 20 years, that was kind of like my sense of humor. Yeah, I mean, having to restructure a whole sense of humor. I mean, that it's and there's still I there's still temptations. I'll be honest, there is still temptations when a certain thing comes up, or like it's almost like a layup for a sarcastic witty comment, like just temptation. I'm like, I just gotta bite the tongue. You'd be like, nope, I I can't do it, you know. Yeah, it it gets better, but I'm I'm telling you, there's sometimes there's still temptations, you know, and that's the whole concept of taking up the cross. But I just want to share that quick story.

SPEAKER_00 34:04

No, no, that's good. And I actually have a similar one to it too, the one I shared with you just recently, um, that I could go over. But I mean, like, this is the problem with the modern world, and there's like a curse of the cross, right? When we're not truly following God, and I have a whole thing on this, but I'll I'll keep it plain. The commandments kind of mirrored the curses against the false idols of Egypt, nine being who the supposed sun god was, but the plague was darkness, and it was like a darkness where one could not see another, where brother could not see brother. And in today's society, we as Christians don't remember that that is no longer my brother by blood or my friend, or that is my family now in Christ. We are family by his blood. And if Christ is with all and in all, as in Colossians or Colossians uh 3.17, then when we hurt that other person, we are hurting Christ. There is nobody that understands your pain more than Jesus Christ, because he does it with you throughout everything. So we need to keep that in mind when we treat each other with disrespect and things like that. Same thing. I've I've been through a lot with that. I mean, I work in healthcare, anybody who works in healthcare, we get abused, like mentally, physically, it's becoming more and more common kind of thing. I'm used to that, right? But when I get home and my guards down because I'm around family and things like that, and they attack me, I kind of lose it, which is kind of odd. Like I have a I do better in high stress situations, if you will. But like I had that problem with a coworker the other day, and that's not an excuse for the audience. That's something I prey on with grace. I don't allow it in my life, I can't, that's not who I am. I just notice it, recognize it. Sometimes I gotta fast about it, but anyway, like I was the patient was with us, and like something happened, it was minor, and they expected me to to help the patient out, but I got like caught up because I had to do something else like right after. Like, I didn't say it in the best way, however, like they were flipping out about something. They go out, they start talking bad about me to another coworker, then basically to the whole department. Like, I could hear them screaming, and I said nothing. Another coworker came up and was like, Hey, like, I I heard they're mad at you, and I'm like, Yeah, I don't know, I think there's something going on. I think I'm just gonna wait until she cools down so I could like talk to her and just honestly like apologize to her because I didn't mean for her to feel like that. Even though nothing I said was wrong, it wasn't about how I was feeling, it was that she wasn't in the right place, and the fact that whatever my reaction was, like that's not what I had intended for that person to upset them like that. Like we worked together, yada yada. So she's just like the more she starts insulting me, the more angry or like she's getting. It's like almost like her words are starting to attack herself. What were was intended to hurt me, that spiritual warfare. So I talked to her the next day, I'm like, hey, just so you know, like that's not what I I'm sorry I made you feel like that. And then they brought it to my attention, like, yeah, I've just been so disrespected lately, blah blah blah, all this stuff. I'm like, in my head, like I knew there was something else up, you know. And if I would have lost it in that moment, even though again I was in the right, to the best of my knowledge, it wouldn't have been good. And I wouldn't have come to that resolution where we could work through it the way we did, you know what I'm saying? What would have happened three years ago? Oh, dude, I would have flipped her. Like it would not be good. Probably end up in the boss's office. Who knows?

SPEAKER_01 38:48

So basically, yeah, like the taking up the cross is like acknowledging that the situation would not get any better, basically fighting fire with fire.

SPEAKER_00 38:58

Yeah, yeah, and you know what?

SPEAKER_01 39:00

I'm just gonna eat this one and put this reaction that I want on the cross and just walk in the Holy Spirit, and then come to the conclusion the next day when things are less tense. No, that that's a great example, absolutely, because like again, salt of the world and light of the earth, right? Like, anybody can fight fire with fire. Yeah, that's easy to do. Anybody, you know, when when words get start getting thrown, or like let's even say hands, anybody can just have that reaction of like, oh, I'm gonna get in right into it then. Easy to do, yeah, easy to live out in the flesh, easy to just react however we want. Yeah, you know, but when we put on the cross, we're like, you know what? No, that's my old self. Can't do that. You know, that's that's kind of uh the message, I think. Yeah. Past couple stories here of kind of like applying it. That's yeah, that that's basically the message we wanted to deliver here.

SPEAKER_00 40:01

So yeah. And like just one more thing. You know, if you if you live by the sword, you'll die by the sword, right? A war a warrior who just goes out not not trained, not nothing, swinging that thing around, is gonna get cut down in battle pretty fast. But our tongue is our is the word, is the sword. Just like it says in Revelation. Like if we can't hold our tongue, if we're not quick to listen and slow to speak, and we speak death instead of bring things to life, we are not of Christ. Or we just need to pray on those things and obtain restraint, I guess. But yeah, I feel like I'm rambling at this point, so we should probably cut it. It's getting a little late here. Do you have anything to add on that, or you want to close us out, brother?

SPEAKER_01 41:00

That's all I really got. The only thing I want to conclude is almost like a little like give give this a shot here. Anyone who's listening, if if you're open to this and willing, pick one thing to give up for three days. Pick one thing in your life. Like, you know what? I'm gonna not do it for three days. It could be anything. It could it could be a food fast, it could be just giving up social media, it could be giving up a hobby, it could be giving up anything. Give up for three days. See all that is, you know what I mean? Like it like see see where see where it's at. See where it's at. Kind of thing. But that that's all I got for this message. But yeah, definitely was a good one.

SPEAKER_00 41:45

Yeah. All right, thank you for listening, and hope you have a great evening, morning, whatever time you're listening. Peace.