HE CARRIED HIS OWN CROSS
Part 2
It’s so difficult to die to “self” without being pressured.
1. Jesus carried his own cross even knowing that they would use it to kill him.
I would have said “No way! they’re crazy! they wanna kill me and make me carry this wooden cross. what? Do they want me to carry the nails as well? How abusive! Etc.”
Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull… (John 19:17 NLT)
2. Jesus went to the place where he would die.
My nature makes me run from places where I see my personality threatened, where I see that they want to change something from me or take something away; Yet Jesus willingly went to the place where He knew He would die.
3. Jesus died to “self”.
There they nailed him to the cross… (John 19:18 NLT)
He didn’t regard being God as something to hold onto. He willingly died to self.
(Read Phillipians 2:5-9)
That’s why Jesus could say with authority:
Think about it:
What’s the most difficult thing for you when dying to self?
Do you usually flee from places where changes are required in you?
Are you willing to follow Jesus and take up your cross?
