Harvest Church Knoxville
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Following Jesus - A New Way Of Living
Mark 8:34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his
life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 37
Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful
generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
At first glance, this passage can come across as harsh and demanding, especially to a heart and mind that is untrained in New
Covenant grace and truth.
So I want to break this down for us today in a way that is simple yet stays right in step with what Jesus was getting at as it pertains to
walking with Him in a New Covenant understanding. First, let me modernize this passage for our sakes.
If you truly want to follow Jesus, it requires more than admiration — it requires surrender. You must be willing to set aside your
agenda, ambitions, and sense of control. Following Jesus means choosing God's will over your own, even when it's difficult, even
when it costs you something.
Because the truth is, if you spend your life trying to hold onto comfort, security, and personal success, you'll eventually discover that
you've lost what matters most. But when you're willing to surrender your life — your plans, your desires, and your future — into His
hands, you won't lose anything of eternal value. Instead, you'll find the life you were truly created to live.
What does it really profit someone if they achieve everything this world says is important — financial success, a beautiful home,
recognition, influence — yet in the process, their heart grows distant from God? What lasting value is there in gaining temporary
things while losing something so precious and of great value that is eternal?
Your soul is of immeasurable worth. There is nothing in this world valuable enough to exchange for it. No amount of success, security,
or status can compare to a life that is right with God, a truly healthy, uncondemned, and shameless soul. Is there anything more
valuable and priceless than a brand new spirit created in the likeness of Christ, full of His life, able to discern the presence of God
continually? Jesus wants all to be bold and unashamed of Him and His words so that He need not be ashamed of them at His return.
This was not something Jesus was saying to create a competition within the body of Christ where someone could claim they were
more devoted to Him than another. It was not spoken to give someone ammunition to compare themselves with others and feel better
about themselves. It is a value-based declaration that places value on the soul and extreme value on knowing Jesus and trusting Him.
I would assume that when many people read these passages in Mark 8, they approach them from a performance-oriented ideology.
However, under the New Covenant established by Jesus Christ, grace and faith are not in conflict with this teaching — they actually
make it possible and allow it to be the beautiful, wise, and powerful instruction Jesus intended. Let's break it down, shall we?
Grace First — Then Surrender
Under the New Covenant, we don’t deny ourselves to be saved — we deny ourselves because we are saved.
Paul the Apostle explains this clearly in Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Grace means:
We are accepted before we perform
We are loved before we change
We are saved before we sacrifice
So when Jesus says, “deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me,” He is not giving requirements for earning salvation — He is
describing the natural response of a heart transformed by grace. Grace changes what we want. It establishes the pricelessness of Jesus
Faith Is Trust — Not Just Belief
Faith under the New Covenant is more than agreeing with facts about Jesus — it's trusting Him with your life. Faith produces action.
When Jesus says:
“Whoever loses his life for My sake will save it…”
He’s describing faith in action.
Faith says: I trust God's way more than my own. I trust eternal things more than temporary things. I trust that surrender leads to life.
This is what grace produces — a heart that trusts enough to follow. Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give
you the desires of your heart. When you gain new life, you also gain new desires. Your priorities get realigned to what truly matters.New Covenant Grace Removes Fear From This Teaching
Without grace, this passage sounds heavy: Statements like:
Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Lose your life.
But with grace, it becomes hopeful:
You're already loved. You're already accepted. You're already secure. This earthly life is temporal. I am set free to pursue the eternal.
Now surrender isn't about fear — it's about freedom. We don't follow Jesus because we're afraid of losing salvation. We follow Him
because we've found something better. Set your mind on things above, as the Scripture tells us.
Under the New Covenant, Jesus Is Not Taking Life — He's Giving Life
Jesus is not asking us to give up life — He's asking us to give up lesser things to gain greater things. We're called from death to life.
Give up:
Living for approval. Living for possessions. Living for status.
Gain:
Peace with God. Purpose in life. Eternal security. Deep joy that circumstances can't take away.
This is why Jesus says:
“What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?”
Grace helps us see clearly:
Even the best this world offers is temporary — but life in Christ is eternal. His ways are so much better than the ways of this world.
Jesus said take up your cross so what is it we should understand about the cross under the New Covenant
When Jesus says "take up your cross," He's not saying:
"Carry your burden so you can earn My love."
Instead, He's saying:
"Walk with Me in trust, even when following Me costs something."
And here's the beauty of grace:
We don't carry the cross alone. Taking up our cross is believing in the truth about Jesus despite opposition. It is accepting by faith what
has already been done. It can be challenging to stand on His word in a world that doesn't believe in Him to start with.
Paul the Apostle later writes in Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and
the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
He also said in Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we
who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into
His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory
of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death,
certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of
sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we
died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.
Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives
to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is not our works that launch us into a right relationship with God or help us maintain it. It is by grace through faith in Christ. Christ
starts it, maintains it, and completes it as we grow in our trust and faith in Him. Hebrews 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God.
Under the New Covenant:
Christ gives the strength. Grace provides the power. Faith trusts Him step by step.
Grace saves us. Faith trusts Him, and then Surrender follows naturally.
Jesus isn't saying:
"Give up everything so I will accept you."He's saying: "I have given you everything — now follow Me into real life."
Sunday Apr 12, 2026
Sunday Apr 12, 2026
Partnering With Jesus
I am so looking forward to the opportunity to preach the gospel in the open air this coming Thursday while working alongside all of
you. I am also excited to serve on Friday and Saturday evenings, when two other church leaders will speak and lead the meetings.
I am thrilled at the prospect of seeing those I've never met before and watching Jesus love on them by touching their lives with His
power. It is simply a privilege to be allowed to be part of anything that He has orchestrated for His own glory.
I am always amazed at how He grants me the privilege of declaring Him and magnifying His greatness, and then allows me to watch
Him be Himself, demonstrating His power and love towards others.
Jesus hasn't changed. He is still moved with compassion for those in need who seek Him for help.
When Jesus walked the earth, wherever He went, people were drawn by the news of His exploits and power. He had healed, delivered,
brought back to life, made the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, and cleansed lepers.
That was the Jesus the crowds were gathering to see. They had needs no human could meet. Jesus met those needs miraculously with
supernatural power on display and exercised authority over demonic spirits possessing people so that the ones oppressed were set free.
That's my Jesus! He is the same yesterday, today, and forever! He has invited us to join Him in His mission here on this earth.
He lives in me, and anyone who is a true believer, and that is why Jesus said signs would follow those who believe in Him.
The believer doesn't do the work; Christ in the believer does. It will always point to Jesus because it is beyond human ability.
The most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life, aside from my wife and my kids, are when I have seen someone come to Christ
and become a New Creation in Jesus, living a transformed life, changed by His love and grace. There is a rush of joy that moves
through the soul whenever we are privileged to watch Him at work.
I love beautiful things; they make life more pleasant, and I can think of nothing more beautiful than when God goes to work creating a
new species right before our eyes. This is what it means to be born again! You become something that never existed before. You are
unique in your existence!
There's nothing as powerful and rewarding as seeing a once broken person set free and praising Jesus with all their heart. Jesus is
inviting us this coming week to be a part of that kind of ministry. Serving Him in whatever way He asks of us is the call, even if that's
just showing up to be a support by being present and glad to be there. He will be with us, He will enable us, He will empower us, He
will love on us and through us as we give ourselves to joining Him.
I remember when I was a young boy, my dad took my younger brother and me fishing in a canal that ran through the town where we
lived.
My younger brother and I both, at different times, hooked really large Alligator Gars that we fought and fought, and when our strength
ran out, our dad would come up behind us, take hold of the rod, put his hand on our hand, and help us reel them in.
Landing those fish was beyond our limited strength, but not beyond our dads'. We have a Father in Heaven who more than makes up
for our human weaknesses in this life. He loves us dearly, just as much as He loves Jesus!
Imagine that! You, as a believer in Christ, are loved just the same as Jesus is loved by the Father. The Father does not love Jesus more
than He loves you. Do you find it difficult to believe me?
Look at how Jesus prayed.
John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which
You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I
have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love
with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Do you think the Father heard that prayer? I believe the Father heard and answered it. Jesus displayed the Father's love and glory by
openly revealing His relationship with the Father through all that He did and said. Relationship is the manifestation of glory.
John 17:1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your
Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have
given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have
glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with
Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.Jesus' ability to see, hear, and know what the Father was doing, and to partner with Him in it, was the glory of God on display before
everyone.
John 17:6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to
Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given
to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and
they have believed that You sent Me.
Jesus, in this prayer before His disciples, makes declarations and petitions to the Father. Jesus declares they have heard His words and
kept them. He says they know all things that the Father has given Him and that those things came from the Father. In other words, they
know that Jesus has a relationship with the Father based on all that Jesus is describing here.
John 17:9 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine
are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come
to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. 12 While I was with
them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of
perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have
My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just
as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into
the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
Jesus, in this prayer, reveals that all that He has belongs to the Father and all that the Father has belongs to Jesus. The amazing
statement here is Jesus' declaration, "I am glorified in them." Think about that for a moment. Jesus is glorified in those in relationship
with Him and the Father remaining on the earth.
It was the prayer of Jesus that believers be one with the Father, and with Him in the same manner.
John 17:20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one,
as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory
which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made
perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
This prayer for oneness is not about our unity as much as it is about our union with Father, Son, and Spirit. The focus is on "one in
Us." We most glorify Jesus and the Father when we reflect the reality of being in relationship with them. We reflect on our relationship
with them by being able to testify to knowing them intimately, hearing them speak, and joining them in whatever way is ours to do in
whatever we see them doing.
It is true that when a people seek after and embrace a single purpose, it brings them together.
However, Jesus' prayer focuses on the greater thing: knowing the Father and the Son and being in a tight, very real, and active
relationship with them.
That's why, when a group of people on a journey in a real relationship with God is brought together by the Lord, it is with purpose,
and the ability to work together for whatever the Father desires is not a foreign idea to them.
Each person embraces their particular role in the process, desiring to be in step with the Holy Spirit and is motivated by love to be a
blessing to others in whatever way He desires.
When you think of it, we're not all that different after all, because we all, in a way, share the same type of testimony.
Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of
this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also
we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children
of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were
dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit
together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His
kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand that we should walk in them.
You might be here today and not have a relationship like I am describing today. But do not despair, it is available to you if you will
only believe and receive; you too can know God as Father through knowing Jesus as your Lord and Savior. If you feel that your
relationship has been lacking, no problem, let's change that today. You can leave here feeling brand-new in Him, with a fresh start.
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