“With His Eyes on Jerusalem”
Luke 9:”51-56
April 19, 2026

It seems inconceivable, but Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, the God-Man, God incarnate, was rejected by Israel when He came to be her Messiah and to provide redemption from sin.

• His message was rejected by Herod when Herod imprisoned and beheaded John the Baptist (3:20)
• He was rejected in His first sermon when the crowds wondered how “Joseph’s son” could preach in such a way (4:22), made Him unwelcome (4:24), and in a rage attempted to kill Him (4:28-29)
• When He forgave the lame man’s sins, the Scribes and Pharisees said He was a blasphemer (5:21)
• The Pharisees and scribes grumbled that He ate with Levi (tax collectors and sinners, 5:30)
• The Pharisees claimed He was a Sabbath law-breaker (6:2ff)
• The Pharisees and lawyers rejected John the Baptist and His message (7:30ff)
• The Pharisee Simon hated His compassion to a woman who was a “sinner” (7:39)
• The Gerasene people rejected Him after He healed “Legion” and asked Him to leave (8:37)
• The people rejected Him by calling Him a prophet, but not the Messiah (9:18-19)
• At the end of His Galilean ministry, Jesus called the people ashamed and unbelieving (9:26, 41)

And in the passage before us this morning, we see the expansion of Jesus’ ministry to those who were perceived to be “outside” true Israel.  The Galileans rejected Him, so He expanded His ministry to the Samaritans.  And they also rejected Him.  It’s a familiar story.  Christ was rejected.  Christ would be rejected still more.  And He will still be rejected today.  Yet, Christ was resolute in His commitment to go to the cross. 

He was resolute to go to the cross because it was all part of God’s eternal plan of redemption.  And that plan was filled with Christ’s compassion and gentleness with sinners.  He yearned (and yearns) to save sinners. 

The rejection of Christ reveals the compassion of Christ.

Christ’s rejection is good news for us because His rejection not only leads Him to the cross, but the cross was the eternal plan of the Triune Godhead.  So His rejection makes the way for our acceptance in salvation.   That acceptance is the ultimate manifestation of His compassion; in this passage we see four expressions of the compassion of Christ…

1. Christ’s Compassion for Sinners (v. 51)
2. Christ’s Compassion for His “Enemies” (vv. 52-53)
3. Christ’s Compassion for His Disciples (vv. 54-55)
4. Christ’s Compassion for the Unreached (v. 56)

Download the rest of this sermon on Luke 9:51-56.

Samaria from Mt. Gilboa.

The audio will be posted on the GBC website by Tuesday.

It’s hard to pray.  Sometimes we lack the discipline to pray.  Sometimes we forget to pray.  Or perhaps worse, we allow the pressures and burdens of less important but seemingly more urgent responsibilities push aside prayer.  At times prayer is inhibited because of sinful indulgences — and those indulgences become more precious to us than time with our gracious Father.  Or perhaps we are hurting or grieving so deeply that we do not know what to say in prayer. 

So we don’t pray.  But we are not alone.  The struggle with prayer is a long-lasting one.  The disciples watched and heard Christ pray and recognized they needed to learn to pray — so they asked Him, “Lord, Teach us to pray” (Lk. 11:1).  The Reformer, Martin Luther, also struggled to pray — and provided direction for us when we similarly struggle:

…when I feel that I have become cool or joyless in prayer because of other tasks or thoughts (for the flesh and the devil always impede and obstruct prayer), I take my little Psalter, hurry to my room, or, if it be the day and hour for it, to the church where a congregation is assembles and, as time permits, I say quietly to myself and word-for-word the Lord’s Prayer, Ten Commandments, the Creed, and if I have time, some words of Christ or of Paul, or some psalms, just as a child might do.

In that statement, Luther offered a three-fold antidote to prayerlessness:

• Be obedient to pray 
• Read Scripture to teach you how to pray
• Listen to (or read) the prayers of others to stimulate affections to pray

The same provisions are also given to us.  

As soon as you recognize the inclination not to pray, run to prayer and begin by repenting of your self-dependence and self-righteousness.  

Secondly, use the Bible to stimulate your prayers.  There are abundant examples of prayers in the Bible and there are many exhortations for what to pray for others.  As you read your Bible day-by-day keep a list of items to pray, or start with the list, “Prayer in the Bible” and expand it as you read your Bible. 

Finally, pray regularly with someone else to teach you to pray — including using the written prayers of those who have gone before us.  There are many outstanding books of prayers and they can be profound encouragements to our prayer life.  You might consider some of these that I have found helpful over the years (and you might keep some on your digital reader to use when you can’t sleep at night as well): 

• The Valley of Vision
• Into His Presence: Praying with the Puritans 
• Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans
• Fount of Heaven: Prayers of the Early Church
• Grace from Heaven: Prayers of the Reformation
• Joy of Heaven: Prayers of the Church
• Cloud of Witnesses: A Treasury of Prayers and Petitions through the Ages
• At the Throne of Grace: A Book of Prayers

The struggle to pray is common.  And God’s provision for teaching us to pray is also common and available.  Now we just need to use those resources He has given us. 

Passover is finished.  The crowds are gone from Jerusalem.  The Roman soldiers are relaxing.  The disciples and their friends and family are returning to their daily duties and a few added priorities.  There is still some buzz in the city and among the disciples, but Easter is over.

Or is it?

What happens after the resurrection?  Yes, the believer can be confident in the promised salvation from Christ, but does anything else change?

Indeed, much changes, as the New Testament affirms.

Because of the resurrection, care of God’s people is entrusted to Christ’s disciples.

So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.” (John 21:15-17)

Not only is Peter restored to Christ and ministry in this interaction, but he is given instruction about how to care for Christ’s people, and the instruction to him serves as a pattern for us as well — we care for one another by the administration of Scripture to life.  Tending and shepherding is to spiritually feed, protect, heal, and restore the people of God so they delight in God above all else.

Because of the resurrection we go to the nations with the gospel and make disciples of Christ.

“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” (Matt. 28:18-20; see also Lk. 24:47-48; Acts 1:8)

The message of the death and resurrection of Christ is of first importance (1 Cor. 15:3).  There is no message that is more essential.  So we take that message of Christ’s work on the cross to other countries and other cultures and exhort them to believe and then train them to follow and obey Him.  That was a requirement not only for the Twelve, but for all people who believe in Christ.

Because of the resurrection, we work diligently, tirelessly, and persistently in Christ’s church and with Christ’s people.

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 15:58)

Yes, work for Christ is often laborious, perplexing, and exhausting.  But we work in caring for the people of God because Christ is resurrected (we are “steadfast” in the resurrection — the resurrection is the foundation of our ministry).  We endure hardship and we sacrifice joyfully because Christ is resurrected — and because we also share in that resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20 — more, many more, are going to be resurrected after Him).

The early church that was bombarded with problems both from inside and outside could be tempted to quit.  They needed the reminder to continue to work.  And so do we:

“What a word Paul gives to the countless Christians who work and pray and give and suffer as little as they can! How can we be satisfied with the trivial, insignificant, short-lived things of the world? How can we ‘take it easy’ when so many around us are dead spiritually and so many fellow believers are in need of edification, encouragement, and help of every sort? When can a Christian say, ‘I’ve served my time, I’ve done my part; let others do the work now’?” [John MacArthur]

Easter is over.  Our privileged work has just begun.

“The Greatest Message”
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
April 5, 2026

What’s your most important possession?  (Not your most important person, but possession.)

You might say, “My cash/wealth,” or “My job” (no cash without some kind of job), or “my car” (have to get to work somehow) or “my house,” or “my special collection — wedding pictures, art, stamps, baseball cards, coins, books, etc…”

My most important possession is my wedding ring.  It’s a simple gold band, nothing particularly unique about it; it might be worth a couple hundred dollars or so.  The value of this ring, however, is not in its intrinsic value, but in what it represents.  This ring provides the motive for why I go to work each day.  It guides my schedule and informs the choices I make with my time — why I don’t work late without calling and pay bills or mow the lawn in the evening instead of watching baseball or reading all night long.  It directs my relationships — some I won’t have because of it (with other women) and some I do have because of it (with my children and other married couples).  This ring represents the source of all my greatest earthly joys.

The value of my wedding band is not the gold in it; the value of my band is the relationship with Raye Jeanne that it represents.  And that value was not only significant to me on my wedding day, but is valuable to me every single day of my life.  It informs and guides everything I do.

There is a similar possession we have as believers in Christ.  We tend to think of it as something that while good, is no longer particularly needed to us.  Like a classic car, we pull it out periodically and look at it — maybe shining it up or taking it for a drive or showing it to a friend — but it is not something that we think is of particular importance to us day by day.  I’m speaking of the gospel and the truth of Christ’s resurrection.

Like our wedding band on our wedding day, we know that we need the gospel for our salvation.  It is what begins our lives with Christ.  But we are prone to forgetting about its importance after our salvation or after Easter Sunday.  The gospel and resurrection are important today.  And tomorrow.  And next week…

Paul says the gospel of first importance.  It’s primary.  It’s fundamental.  You need the gospel.  The true gospel is no more a one-time event than a true marriage is a one-day event.   The gospel is most important.  Paul said it this way in 1 Corinthians 15 —

The greatest need for every person is to believe that Christ died and was resurrected for their sins.

This morning, as we look at the opening section to the longest section on the resurrection in Scripture, we will observe three reasons to believe the gospel and the resurrection —

1. Believe the Gospel Because It is Your Life (vv. 1-2)
2. Believe the Gospel Because it is Redemptive (vv. 3-8)
3. Believe the Gospel Because it is Grace (vv. 9-11)

Download the rest of this sermon on 1 Corinthians 15:1-11.

The audio will be posted on the GBC website by Tuesday.

When you think about Christ, how do you characterize Him?  What is He like?  What does He do?  How is He different from everyone else that has walked on earth so that we should believe in and follow Him?  John Newton said that Christ is our all-sufficient Shepherd, our Husband, our Prophet, our Priest, our King, our Friend, our Lord, our Life, our Way, our End, our Head, our Root, our Meat, our Drink, our Portion, our Strength, our Hope, our Foundation, our Sun, our Shield, our Lawgiver, our Exemplar, our Forerunner, and our All.  He is everything to us — when we have Him we need nothing else. 

Similarly, Spurgeon said, “If you take Christ out of Christianity, Christianity is dead.…If you leave out Christ, you have left the sun out of the day, and the moon out of the night, you have left the waters out of the sea, and the floods out of the river; you have left the harvest out of the year, the soul out of the body; you have left joy out of heaven, you robbed all of its all.  There is no Gospel worth thinking of, much less worth proclaiming, if Jesus is forgotten.  We must have Jesus as Alpha and Omega…”

These men and countless others were overwhelmed by the character of Christ.  Similarly, we want to be captivated by Christ and conformed to Christ.  That’s why we are in the book of Luke.  In the first nine chapters, we have seen the revelation of Jesus as the Son of Man.  Luke is encouraging us to believe in Christ (if we don’t yet believe) and to delight in Him (if we already believe). 

This morning we are going to revisit locations and stories we’ve already seen in these opening chapters and remind ourselves of the themes and purposes — has Luke done what he said he would do?  What are primary realities of Christ that should be the foundation of our faith and give us hopefulness in Christ?  To that end, we will revisit some of the broad themes in Luke that we talked about in the first sermon in this series, to see how Luke accomplished those in these opening chapters, including the theme of the book…

Luke tells the story of Christ so that we will be confident in Christ at all times.

As we are reminded of our Savior, the Son of Man, remember also that Luke wrote His gospel as something of a travelogue — he recounts the history and theology of Christ as Christ travels around Israel: 

• The introduction and preparation of Jesus for ministry (1:1–4:13) — primarily Nazareth
• The Galilean ministry of Jesus (4:14–9:50)
• Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem (9:51–19:44)
• Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem as the crucified and resurrected Son of Man (19:45–24:53)
• Summary…that we will be confident in Christ.

The outline — 

1. The Arrival of the Son of Man (1:1–2:40)
2. The Introduction of the Son of Man (2:41–4:13)
3. The Galilean Ministry of the Son of Man (4:14–9:50)
4. The Purpose of the Account of the Son of Man (1:1-4)

Download the rest of this sermon on Luke 1-9.

The audio will be posted on the GBC website by Tuesday.

Jealousy and envy are insidious and persistent, showing up in unexpected places and at unexpected times.  Jealousy wasn’t there.  And then it was.  Even in church.  Among church leaders.  Among the faithful servants of God. 

Consider the story of Jesus in Matthew 20:1-16.

Workers arrive at the town marketplace looking for work; a landowner arrives a short time later needed workers for the day.  He hires a few, agreeing on the daily rate for their work, and they go to work.  A few hours later, needing more workers, he hires a few more who are waiting in the town center; they had nothing to do since no one hired them.  He doesn’t promise them the full wage for the day, but does promise them work and that he will give “whatever is right.”  Three more times throughout the day, the landowner does the same thing, even hiring some workers right before sunset — they might have only been able to work for an hour. 

All went to work for the master, trusting that he will give them at least something for their partial day of work.

And at the end of the day, when the owner settled up with all the workers, he gave them all the wage for a full day of work, though only a few worked the full day.  And those “all day” workers were indignant — “we worked all day through the scorching sun, and you treated even the one hour workers as equal to us!”  The complaint is indignant, self-righteous, prideful, and envious.  “They aren’t entitled to what we have (or should have).”

The owner rebuffs their complaint in several ways, but perhaps most penetratingly by asking, “Is your eye envious because I am generous?”

Are you envious?  Do you want what others have (in this case, wage without work)?  Or do you want to restrict others from receiving what you have (in this case, grace and generosity)?

Jesus applies the parable particularly to those who are serving Him:  “Can you be humble in your service of Me?”  “Can you rejoice both when you receive a gift of grace from the Lord, and when others also receive a gift (and seemingly a greater gift)?”  His questions echo what He taught the Twelve when His closest disciples complained about the ministry work done by an “outsider” (Lk. 9:49-50).

It is a reminder of the subtle temptations to envy that every servant in the church faces — can I be content with my role and reward among Christ’s people, no matter what others are doing for and receiving from Christ?  Can I resist envy and rejoice in their blessings?

Jerry Bridges has given us an explanation of envy that helps us understand the temptation:

“Envy is the painful and oftentimes resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by someone else. Sometimes we want that same advantage, leading to the further sin of covetousness. And sometimes we just resent the other person having something that we don’t have. But we don’t just envy people in general. Usually, there are two conditions that tempt us to envy. First, we tend to envy those with whom we most closely identify. Second, we tend to envy in them  the areas we value most.” [Bridges, Respectable Sins.]

Envy is an internal yearning that resents the ministry success of others.  We desire what they have.  We don’t want them to have what we have.  

Left unchecked, that jealousy will bring harm to the church and destroy the individual:

Edmund Spenser, the 16th century poet, is most famous for composing The Faerie Queene, an allegorical poem about the Christian life. In the first book, Spenser’s hero, the Red Cross Knight, encounters the seven deadly sins in the House of Pride. Envy is depicted as a man with cankered teeth, chewing on a venomous toad, poison running down his jaws. He wears a many-colored robe, rides upon a ravenous wolf, and hides a deadly snake close to his chest. Inwardly, he devours himself, weeping over the wealth of others and rejoicing in their misfortune. Envy grieves at the happiness of others and spews spiteful poison and abuse on those who practice faithful Christian obedience. [Joe Rigney, in Killjoys.]

Are you tempted to envy?  Recognize that your envy is a discontentment with what the Lord has given you.  It is anger against Him.  So repent of your anger, pride, and lack of contentment.  And cultivate humble contentment by intentionally praying for, thanking God, and rejoicing in the success of others (specifically, the ones of whom you are tempted to be jealous).  Celebrate the godly successes of other faithful servants, and your temptations to envy will begin to wane.     

Bibliothèque nationale de France, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

It’s hard to be humble.  Pride may show up at the most unexpected times and unexpected places.

Consider the story of William Masvinu and Mison Sere.  For three years (2012-14) William won Zimbabwe’s annual “Mister Ugly” contest.  But in 2015 he lost the title to Mison.  And he protested, “claiming that Sere was ‘too handsome’ to win and his ugliness wasn’t natural since it was based on missing teeth.…‘I am naturally ugly. He is not. He is ugly only when he opens his mouth,’” William said.  And Mison proudly replied, “…[He] should just accept that I am uglier than [him]…I hope to get a TV contract. I already moved around schools performing and showcasing my ugliness so this is a chance to make it on TV.”

So a new claim to fame — “I’m uglier than you…”  The quest for greatness is greater than I thought.

But maybe we shouldn’t be surprised by the pursuits of pride.  After Jesus showed His inherent glory on the mount of Transfiguration to Peter, James, and John, and after He demonstrated His Messianic power by casting out the powerful demon from the possessed boy, and after He revealed His great humility to the disciples by reiterating His intention to go to the cross, the Twelve got into an argument about who was the greatest among them.  Remarkable.  (And I don’t mean that in a good way.)  And so like us.  

Even in the presence of true greatness, the temptation of the flesh is to be prideful.  It was true in the Garden of Eden, it was true with the Twelve, and it is true of us.  Said one writer, “The proud man is simply one who bends the knee and worships a more hateful idol than can ever be found in the whole catalogue of heathendom, and its name is ‘Self!’” 

Jesus’ interaction with the Twelve and their battle with pride is instructive for us as well.  It reminds us…

If we want to be great, we will be great in knowing and following Christ.

Greatness isn’t in accomplishments or position; greatness is a gift from God given to those who are humble and low.  “Unlike the world, status is not a virtue.” [Bock]  In these verses, Luke records the final episodes of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, which is a reminder to the Twelve (and us) to take up their crosses and follow Christ (v. 23).  Believe in Him.  Submit to Him.  Love Him.  Obey Him.  Why?  Because He is great and we are not.  In these stories we see two temptations of pride and two pathways to humility and greatness…

1. To Cultivate Humility, Serve the Lowest (vv. 46-48)

• The temptation: “I’m greater than you” (vv. 46-47a)
• The correction: “I will serve you” (vv. 47b-48)

2. To Cultivate Humility, Serve with the “Outsider” (vv. 49-50)

• The temptation: “He’s not worthy of serving with us” (v. 49)
• The correction: “Welcome fellow servants of Christ” (v. 50)

Download the rest of this sermon on Luke 9:46-50.

The audio will be posted on the GBC website by Tuesday.

Raphael, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

In recent years, it seems that there has been a fair bit of talk about GOATs.  Not goats, as in “domesticated, social, and intelligent mammals in the Bovidae family, related to sheep, known for providing milk, meat, and fiber.”  GOATs as in the Greatest of All-Time.  As in Willie Mays or Babe Ruth or Shohei Ohtani.  Or Tom Brady or Troy Aikman or Roger Staubach.  Or Michael Jordan or Kareem Abdul Jabar or Larry Bird.  Or Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods.  Or Muhammed Ali.  Or “2001:  a Space Odyssey” or “Citizen Kane” or “Vertigo.” 

It makes you wonder — just what makes greatness?  Something new?  Something uniquely powerful?  Something newly influential?  Something enduring?  What is great?  Who is great? 

The debates about what constitutes greatness and who is great are not new.  When the crowds considered Christ, they misunderstood greatness.  They thought the healing miracles and the feeding miracle were great.  And they were amazed by the powerful preaching.  And they missed the true greatness behind His words and works — that He was the Son of Man, the expected Messiah. 

Even the disciples misunderstood the greatness of Christ.  After He stilled the Sea they asked, “Who then is this…?” (8:25).  They knew He was powerful; they didn’t yet see His greatness.  And in this account, His greatness is again on display, and we will see next week that they entirely misunderstood Him. 

When reading the narratives of the Bible, we can often discern how the author is using the story by paying attention to the statements of the people and the author’s interpretations.  And that is true in this account:  how the crowd responds to the healing of the demoniac boy is the point of the story (though even they miss the true significance of their own statement):   “And they were all amazed at the greatness of God” (v. 43a).  God is great.  And God revealed in the God-Man Jesus, is great: 

Follow Christ (believe in Him) because He (alone) is great.

Luke is continuing the theme of verse 23 — take up your cross and follow Christ.  Believe in Him.  Submit to Him.  Love Him.  Obey Him.  Why?  Because, these verses tell us, He is great.  In these verses wonder at two pictures that reveal the one theme of God’s greatness.

1. Christ is Great: He’s Greater Than Satan and Suffering (vv. 37-43a)

• He is compassionate towards suffering (vv. 37-41)
• He is powerful over Satan (vv. 42-43a)

2. Christ is Great: He’s Greater Than Sin (vv. 43b-45)

• He is humble to suffer (vv. 43b-44)
• He is sufficient to save (vv. 44-45)

Download the rest of this sermon on Luke 9:37-45.

The audio will be posted on the GBC website by Tuesday.

Raphael, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

“The Son of Man, Revealed”
Luke 9:28-36
March 1, 2026

In Luke 14, Jesus offers two parables to explain the importance of considering the cost of believing in Him and following Him:  a builder who makes sure he has enough money to construct his tower and a king in battle who first determines if he has enough forces to defeat his foe.  And Jesus concludes:  “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all His own possessions” (Luke 14:33).  Jesus is compelling His listeners to consider the cost of following Him and whether they are willing to pay the cost.  

In Luke 9, Jesus has also been enticing His hearers to follow Him — and to be aware of and weigh the costs of following Him (and the danger of rejecting Him).  But He also entices them to follow Him by weighing the benefits of following Him.  There is benefit and value in every hardship endured for the sake of Christ —

• You will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (19:17)
• Your reward in Heaven will be great (Mt. 5:12)
• The Father will honor you (Jn. 12:26)
• You will experience incomparable glory (Rom. 8:18)
• Your perishable and mortal body will put on that which is imperishable and immortal (1 Cor. 15:54)
• You will know an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison (2 Cor. 4:17)
• You will have an eternal inheritance (Col. 3:24)
• You will receive the crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:8)
• You will see the face of the (currently) unseeable God (1 Jn. 3:2)
• And you will experience the fullness of being in Christ’s kingdom (Lk. 9:28-36)

That last benefit is the focus of the transfiguration of Christ.  Jesus wants to give the disciples a taste of what life with Him in glory will be like.  This passage contains many themes and sub-themes:  the priority of prayer, the anticipation of Christ’s suffering, the superiority of Christ to Moses and the prophets, the witness to and of Christ, the fear of God, and more.  But the main theme and focus of this section is on the glory of Christ.  And because it follows the call of Christ to the crowd to lose their lives to follow Him (vv. 24-25), it affirms the benefit of following: 

Follow Christ (believe in Him) because He is glorious and supreme.

You will gain everything through Him.

Jesus gives the three disciples a taste of what His Kingdom will be like for those who follow Him and give up their lives to follow Him.  When you follow Christ, you get Christ in all His glory.  This passage provides four glimpses of Christ’s glory…

1. Christ’s Glory Revealed (vv. 28-29)
2. Christ’s Glory Explained (vv. 30-31)
3. Christ’s Glory Clarified (vv. 32-33)
4. Christ’s Glory Affirmed (vv. 34-36)

Download the rest of this sermon on Luke 9:28-36.

The audio will be posted on the GBC website by Tuesday.

Mount Hermon, the most likely place of Christ’s transfiguration.

Perhaps no advertising campaign has ever been as successful as the one undertaken by the US government in 1917.  Initially designed to promote patriotism and enlist men into the military for World War I the campaign has persisted and remained an iconic slogan in American culture:  “[Uncle Sam] wants you for U.S. Army…”

It has been noted that “The impact of the poster was immediate and profound. It wasn’t just a call to arms; it became a symbol of American patriotism, urging citizens to contribute to the war effort in any way they could. The poster’s design, with Uncle Sam dressed in stars and stripes, pointing directly at the viewer, was a masterstroke of persuasive art. It personalized the recruitment message, making each viewer feel individually addressed and responsible for the country’s fate.”  This poster and other similar efforts did the job:  over three million men were conscripted into service and $24 billion in war bonds were raised.

One of the attributes of that recruiting campaign is that it did not minimize the largeness or hardness of the task to which the American public was being called.  The need was made clear.  And still the government solicited people to invest their money and their lives in the venture.  And they did.

It seems counter-intuitive to say, “Let’s tell people the task is hard and then they will invest themselves.”  The American government was (unwittingly) following the pattern of Christ, who articulated the hardness of following Him — and then said, “Now follow me.”  The call that Jesus gave the Twelve and the crowds in His first century ministry remains the same today.  Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 9:23-27 —  

Follow Christ (believe in Him) because it will cost you everything.

And you will gain far more.

Jesus is calling you to faith in Him.  You will lose your life.  It will cost you everything.  And it will give you infinitely more.  In this passage we see four declarations of what it means to believe in Jesus as Savior…

1. Believing in Jesus Means Denying Yourself (v. 23)
2. Believing in Jesus Means Losing Your Life (vv. 24-25)
3. Believing in Jesus Means Not Being Ashamed (v. 26)
4. Believing in Jesus Means Having the Kingdom of God (v. 27)

Download the rest of this sermon on Luke 9:23-27.

The audio will be posted on the GBC website by Tuesday.