The Benefits of Following Jesus

Then he called his disciples and the crowds to come over and listen. If any of you wants
to be my follower, he told them, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder
your cross, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if
you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true
life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the
process? Is anything worth more than your soul? If a person is ashamed of me and my
message in these adulterous and sinful days, I, the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that
person when I return in the glory of my Father with the holy angels. Mark 8:34 34

The Cost of Following Jesus...

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Give up the pursuit of recognition of self and self-centeredness in order

to embrace the ambition and recognition of God in our lives.
Dying to self that the life of Jesus will be seen in our lives.
Letting go of things that take the place away of God in our lives
Submission to God no matter what the cost.

The Benefits of Following Jesus

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We receive the life of God in our lives. The Forgiven, Abundant, Fruitful
and Victorious life.
We are set free from insecurities and worries of loosing the things that
we have because our real treasure is God who can never be taken
away from us.

Dying to Self means

Letting go off anything that
displeases God.
As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only
want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people
of Israel! Why should you die? Ezekiel 33:11

Giving all I have to honor God through my life.

And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your
strength.' NLT Mark 12:30

Seeing myself the way God sees me.

The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said, Mighty hero, the LORD is with you! ..Then the LORD
turned to him and said, Go with the strength you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am
sending you! But Lord, Gideon replied, how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole
tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family! The LORD said to him, I will be with you.
And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man. Judges 6:12, 14-16

Trusting God to work through my life more than I can do through

myself.
For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need. Philippians 4:13.

Putting all my Confidence in God more than anything else .

This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his
strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he
understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on
earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:23-24