Paul
Wonders (Who Is Like You In The Heavens)
Great And Glorious (Everything I am I give you)
God Of Wonders (God Of Wonders Beyond Our galaxy)
Savior (Beautiful Savior Merciful King)
Everlasting (From The Inside Out)
Jon
Prayer for the offering
Paul’s speaking tonight
We’re in fundraising mode for the next six weeks
Paul
I wish you could see what I see up here
Everything we experience
When the speaker is uneasy the listener is uneasy
At least I have Angry Birds on my phone
Breathless, I hang on the every word from my adonis
Protagonist: main character
Dooteragonist: 2nd main character
Antagonist: villain
I’d like to touch on what the bible says about this
Luke 9:23 pick up your cross and follow me
We see a cross and feel welcomed because we know the rest of the story
What was Bartholomew’s perspective?
It was a bloody awful thing
Why would Jesus use this imagery?
Scicero (emperor before Jesus) wanted to abolish crucifixion
Self-denial
Deep-fried Twinkee
Whack-a-mole with the sinful self
Denial of it like Peter’s denial of Christ
Just as passionate as his confession of Him
What would it take to say that to your sinful self three tones like your life depends on it
It’s one thing to talk about wrestling with yourself
My sinful self is dead (Thank you Jesus), but every day you have to kill it
It’s a zombie
You are the star of your own zombie movie
They are relentlessly trudging on after you
I think that’s what Jesus had in mind in Luke 9
…
Jesus wasn’t an extrovert, He kept trying to find private areas to be with His disciples
He wasn’t a grandstander
He hung out with fisherman who probably didn’t speak their own language very well
Philippians 2 – obedient to death
It’s one thing to deny the donuts on our lives
Jesus put aside the glory of God to die like a criminal
Moments of “Don’t I deserve this”…are we supposed to deny those?
Paradoxes
Letting go of the right to be the protagonist
When 2 protagonists get together nobody volunteers to be the deuteragonists
They fence back and fourth, parry thrust
What happens I’d I really let go of the spotlight
See the other person’s movie going on
What if I choose a supporting role for the people on my life?
I was really busy this morning getting ready to speak and noticed the dishwasher needed to be emptied
First thought was I’m really busy, Jeami will understand
Then I realized what I’d been preparing to say today and emptied it
Then I started thinking about how much praise I was going to get for emptying it
Are we supposed to deny that?
…
I want to be in charge for a day on my birthday
Can we lay a path for selfish people by being selfless towards them?
I think about Jesus on the cross, what He did
Setting up his mother with John, remembering the thief on the cross
He’s a footnote to the crucifixion, but he has his own story; parents, a crime leading to this punishment
What does it mean to lay your life down
Nobody wakes up trying to be a villain
No believers are twirling their mustaches, trying to ruin your life
I’m going to try fasting from the words I, me, my
A little less me, a little more you
C.S. Lewis – inclined to think He has done enough
God is building a different house than you thought
Only one hero in humanity and that’s Jesus Christ
God needs a house for himself – will He accept a two room shack?