Desert Calling: Elements of Sacrifice - No Fine Print

Desert Calling: Elements of Sacrifice - No Fine Print

Pastor Brandon Berg

BIG IDEA for this series on Lent: Giving up something physical for the sake of something spiritual

Luke 9:23, ESV
"And he said to all, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'"  

Matthew 16:24-25 ESV
"For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?"

Matthew 16:24-25 MSG
"Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?"

BIG IDEA for today: The Kingdom life is not necessarily about letting go of passions or possessions, it’s about pursuit.

“Let us stress once more that the purpose of Lent is not to force on us a few formal obligations, but to 'soften' our heart so that it may open itself to the realities of the spirit, to experience the hidden 'thirst and hunger' for communion with God."

– Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent

Application Questions

1. Who do I say Jesus is?

2. What could the Lord be asking me to give up for Lent?

3. In what ways am I beginning to look more like Jesus?

4. What might picking up my cross today look like?

5. What am I pursuing? And more importantly, WHO am I pursuing?