Hello everyone, welcome back.
My name is Elise Brooklyn and this is Scattering Flowers, a podcast where we scatter flowers of faith.
Today is Friday, August 9th, and we will be reading Matthew 16, 24-28.
Follow along in your Bible if you have one.
Now let’s read Matthew 16, 24-28.
Then Jesus told his disciples, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?
Or what shall a man give in return for his life?
For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done.
Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.
My whole family wears a crucifix necklace.
My dad and brother take theirs off to sleep, but my mom and I wear ours all the time.
My mom said she does it because she likes having Jesus close to her heart.
My dad said he wears it because if anyone sees it, then people will automatically know he loves Jesus.
My brother wears it because he says it makes him feel closer to Jesus.
I wear mine because it’s a good reminder of the sacrifice he gave for me.
When Jesus is talking to his disciples, and he said his to them, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up the cross and follow me.
Us wearing our necklaces isn’t really what Jesus meant by this, however, I’m not saying don’t wear it.
We should totally wear our crucifixes as reminders.
Taking up our cross means following Jesus is not always easy.
It means that he must be more important to us than anything else in our life.
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, dear Jesus, we are so thankful that you are willing to take up the cross and die for our sins.
Help us to take up our cross and making you the most important thing above all else.
Continue to lead us so we can learn to follow you.
Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Thank you so much for listening.
I’ll be back next week scattering more flowers.
See ya!