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Welcome to Day 2346 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to\xa0Wisdom Prepare Your Heart \u2013 Take Up Your Cross \u2013 Daily Wisdom Putnam Church Message \u2013 03/17/2024 Prepare Your Heart \u2013 Take Up Your Cross - Mark 8:34-35 Today, we continue our five-week Lenten series ending on Resurrection Sunday, March 31st. Today, our message is, \u201cTake Up Your Cross.\u201d (Point to Cross) Bishop William Williamson tells the story of a recruiter from Teach America who came to Duke University in Durham, NC. Teach America places talented college graduates to work in some of America's hurting schools. The recruiter began her talk with these words ... \u201cI can tell by looking at you that I have probably come to the wrong place. Someone told me this was a BMW campus, and, looking at you, I can believe it. You all are successful just by getting into Duke, and you will all go on to successful careers. \u201cAnd yet I am hoping,\u201d she continued, \u201cthat I can convince one of you to give your life away in the toughest job you will ever have. I am looking for people to go to places like poverty-stricken West Virginia, the back hills of Kentucky, South Los Angeles, or downtown Chicago and teach in some of the most difficult schools in the world. Last year, two of our teachers were killed while on the job. But I can tell, just by looking at you, that none of you are interested in that. So go on to your law school, or whatever successful thing you are planning on doing. But if, by chance, some of you just happen to be interested, I've got these brochures here for you that tell about Teach America. The meeting is over.\u201d And with that, the students got up all at once, pushed forward, and jostled to get a brochure for themselves. Those students sensed they wanted something more in their lives than money and fame. They wanted to live for a more significant cause. |That's the kind of life Jesus means for us to have as his disciples as well. Today's Scripture passage is Mark 8:34-35, on page 1567 of your Pew Bibles. Jesus gives his recruitment speech, his call to discipleship. It goes: 34\xa0Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said:\xa0\u201cWhoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.\xa035\xa0For whoever wants to save their life[a]\xa0will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. So here\u2019s the straight truth. Jesus never promises us safety or security or perfect health. He does not promise us success by the standards of this world. He does not promise that we will always get what we want. If we choose to follow him, he promises us times of sacrifice and hardship that could even include death in some countries. But he also promises us that, in the end, we will have a life worth living \u2013 an abundant life. The problem is \u2014 when we present the Gospel to others \u2014 that we often fail to mention Jesus' recruitment speech. We tend to make things seem more palatable, by mentioning the promises of the Gospel but neglecting to point out the demands. This makes us sound bland and tasteless, not seasoned with God\u2019s love. ...