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Sermon Notes

Date of Sermon:    April 6, 2025

Main Idea:   To ride Jesus’ coattails to eternal life, progressively surrender to His loving intentions and all for His glory.
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Key Verses:   “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Matthew 16:24

Bible Reading:    13Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. 21From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” 24Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
 
Outline:
Primary Passage: Matthew 16:13-27

• Jesus wants us to count as gain for ourselves the eternal life He achieved for us by His own efforts.
  • Matthew 16:24a
  • Matthew 16:13-15
• If we wish to gain the eternal life Jesus offers, let us
  • Acknowledge Him for who He is, our caring and capable Savior.
    • Matthew 16:16
    • Matthew 16:17-20
    • Matthew 16:21-23
  • Progressively surrender ourselves to His Way. 
    • Matthew 16:24-26
  • Give Him the glory.
    • Matthew 16:27a
• At the end of ourselves is life in Him.
  • Matthew 16:27

For next week’s message: Read and reflect on John 19:28-30.

Things to Consider:

1. Put yourself in the shoes of one of the soccer team members in Chamber 9. If you need to, watch a YouTube video or two on the Tham Luang cave rescue.
   1. What do you suppose they were thinking and feeling? 
   2. How desperate do you think you’d be to get out, after 10 days of being trapped? 
2. What do you think about the analogy of our lifetime in this temporal world being likened to the time they spent in Chamber 9?
3. In what ways does it ring true and in what ways not?
4. The idea of following Christ as consisting of multiple acts of surrender to Christ versus multiple acts of growing for Christ may be a new concept to you.
   1. To what degree do you agree with the concept as presented in the sermon and why?
   2. Which approach sounds more effort-ful versus effort-less and why do you suppose?
5. How, if at all, are you sensing Jesus asking you to take the next step of surrender toward placing yourself more firmly into His saving hands and death to yourself?
   1. How does your flesh fight that surrender?
   2. What will you decide?

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As always, feel free to contact Charles if you have questions or concerns regarding the message; its content, meaning, or application to your life. The easiest way to do that is by submitting a Bridge Card at steamboatbiblechurch.com/bridgecard. 
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