Made for Mission Week 2: What is my Mission?

Welcome back to the Generations Church Podcast. We're so glad you're tuning in today.

This week, we're continuing our brand new series, Made for Mission.

In week one, we saw that Jesus doesn't just call the qualified,

he qualifies the called.

And in this second message, we're digging deeper into what it really means to follow Jesus.

Pastor Jeff takes us into Luke chapter 9, where Jesus lays out four bold,

Luke 9 · chapter mention

uncompromising truths.

You must want to follow him. you must deny yourself. You must take up your cross

daily, and you must be willing to lose your life in order to gain it.

Today's message is a powerful reminder that following Jesus means fully surrendering

your life to his mission, not just on Sundays, but every single day.

Let's jump into the message now, Made for Mission, week two.

Well, it has been an incredible week here at Generations Church.

Last Sunday, we kicked off a brand new series entitled Made for Mission,

and we learned that each one of us has been called by Jesus.

We looked at Matthew 9, where Jesus called Levi, or also called Matthew,

the tax collector, to follow him.

And we saw that when we answer the call of Christ, he begins to transform us from the inside out.

He transforms the way that we view our finances. He transforms how we view our

relationships. He transforms even who we begin to seek approval from.

So that was Sunday morning, and we just had an amazing time together.

And then Sunday night, our life group that we're a part of, that Jen and I are

a part of, which she's at home with a sick child this morning.

Easton's running a fever.

But we kicked off a brand new study that's called Leverage Your Life.

And you're going to be hearing about that probably in the new year as I'm just

so overwhelmed and loving myself.

The fact that we partner with the SEND Network and that they are pushing us

to leverage our lives for the sake of the gospel.

And so I'm putting together a sermon series for the new year,

and it's a call to action for all of us.

And that time for action is now. Then on Monday and Tuesday,

the Lord allowed us to help a family that was in need.

And I'm just so thankful that we have people here in Generations Church that

want to help and that are able to help.

And so my friend, Jeff Hutton, I want to say thanks to Jeff because he came

out on Tuesday twice to help move someone out of their house that needed to be out.

And we hauled stuff into storage and we got to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

We get to, it's not a have to, it's a we get to.

And then Wednesday night, we kicked off our summer programming for Next Gen

Youth, which again is this week. We're having it every week during the summer.

And we had 22 kids at the falls at the pool, and we had a great time.

And some of the things that we talked about in our devotional,

I'm going to touch on a little bit this morning.

And so honestly, I'm just so thankful that we have people that love to serve,

that love to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

And almost everything that I was able to be a part of this week.

The phrase from that video clip that we watched from Hacksaw Ridge, you remember that?

For those of you that were here, we watched a short video clip,

and this army medic, a military medic, through the night was going back,

and his prayer was, Lord, help me get one more.

He kept rescuing people and carrying them and lowering them over the cliff.

And he was exhausted and he was tired. And his prayer was, God,

Lord, help me get one more.

Help me get one more. Help me get one more. And that should be our prayer and

the desire of our hearts as we walk, as we work, as we do everything that we do in life.

Help me get one more.

Let me give you the big idea for this morning's message. You should have been

handed a sheet when you walked in this morning.

If you didn't get one, go ahead and raise your hand and we'll get you one. Got a couple down here.

If we could get, thanks, Tom and Danny.

But here's the big idea for this morning. Following Jesus means fully surrendering your life,

daily denying yourself, taking up your cross, and living for God's mission over your own.

Following Jesus means fully surrendering your life, daily denying yourself,

taking up your cross, and living for God's mission over your own.

This morning, if you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to turn to the book

of Luke, and we're going to look at Luke chapter 9, and we're going to walk

Luke 9 · chapter mention

through verses 23 through 26 together.

And let me give you just a little bit of background on the context of what's

going on of what we're about to read.

Jesus and his disciples had just retreated away from the crowds and were finally in private.

They just needed a break, right? There were no crowds around,

And in verse 18 of chapter 9, we find that Jesus is privately praying and talking with his father.

Now, they had just had some incredible ministry and some miracles.

And thousands of people had been watching Jesus and had been watching the disciples.

And so Jesus turns to the disciples and he has a question.

And he says, who do those people in the crowd, who do they, like,

what do they say about me?

Who do they think that I am?

And they had answers for him. Like, I think, you know, some of the crowd probably

thinks you're John the Baptist.

John the Baptist had been beheaded by the king.

Maybe it's the second coming of John the Baptist. Others may think that you're Elijah.

Elijah never died, right? He was taken up to heaven.

And so some of them thought, man, maybe Jesus is Elijah.

And then he turns to his disciples. And he says, but what about you guys?

Who do you say I am? Who do you say I am? Who do you think I am?

And Peter, I love Peter. He's one of my favorite.

He's, I think he's fiery. You know, he tried to chop off a guy's head in the garden.

That's a fiery guy. And he says, Jesus, I'll tell you who you are.

You are the awaited Christ.

You are the Messiah.

You are the son of God. And so immediately after Peter's confession in verse

22, Jesus tells his followers, this is what's going to happen to me. I'm going to suffer.

I'm going to be betrayed. I'm going to, I'm going to die. I will raise again on the third day.

And all of this would have been incredibly shocking to the disciples.

And it's in that context of him talking about his demise and being arrested

and being beaten and the trials and suffering that he offers the invitation to join him.

Not the kind of setup that I would probably want to put together if I'm going

to invite someone on my mission.

I don't want to, I don't think I would want to invite them the way that Jesus

did. I would want to invite them in to good stuff.

I don't want to invite them to, hey, this is what you're being invited to. You're going to suffer.

You may die. It's great. Come on.

So this is his invitation. And Luke records it in verse 23.

Then he said to them all, excuse me, if anyone wants to follow after me,

let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life

because of me will save it.

For what does it benefit or profit someone if he gains the whole world and yet

loses or forfeits himself.

Verse 26, for whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the son of man will be

ashamed of him when he comes in glory and that of the father and the holy angels.

So in the time that we have this morning, I simply want to pull out some important.

Observations from the text that we're studying.

And the first one is this, in order to follow Christ, there must be a personal desire.

That sounds really simple, really elementary. But how many people in the world

today think that they're Christians or that they're followers of Christ because

their grandparents went to church or their grandparents or their parents took

them to mass or to church and they claim to be Christians,

but they've never yielded.

They've never died to themselves.

I remember there was an old Southern gospel song that said, God doesn't have

any grandchildren. And that's true.

You have to accept him personally. There must be a personal desire to follow Christ.

Doesn't matter if you went to a Christian school. Doesn't matter if you went

to a Christian camp and you cried around the campfire as you stared across the

embers and the flames at some pretty girl also crying and giving her life to Christ.

Great memories, important things, but it's not good enough if you don't have

a personal desire to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

I think so many people want to follow Christ, but Jesus implies in verse 23

that you have to have a personal want to or personal desire to follow after Christ.

And when it comes to being fully engaged with the mission of God, excuses abound.

I've heard that the word but completely impacts whatever was said previously. Just think about it.

I'm pregnant, but I love you, but I want to get married, but I'm pregnant.

I'm all in, but I'll follow you, but I came across a video.

It's pretty funny and it's okay to have fun in church. Okay.

It's okay to laugh. I think Jesus laughed.

I think Jesus, you know, we know that God gave us our sense of humor.

So check this video. It's all about excuses.

I got a, got a big butt.

It's gigantic. if I'm going to be blunt about it. And you know what?

The funny thing is I got several big butts.

And before you discard me or wince at the disgusting notion of that,

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that possibly you have at least

one big butt as well. Yeah, you like that? Hurts a little, huh?

Let me tell you something. Let me just tell you something, okay?

Everybody we know has a big butt. And more often than not, it's the thing that

actually gets in the way of us living a consistent life for Jesus.

I think you know what I'm talking about. I'm going to expound a little bit,

okay? See if you can recognize some of these buts.

Music.

But I have to work more. But my favorite TV show is on. But my kids have practice.

But I've got to tweet something.

But it's such a beautiful day. But I'm just not in the mood.

But I deserve a break today.

You see, everything kind of interferes with my life of just living an authentic life for God, okay?

And more often than not, it always has something to do with some sort of but,

okay? Even the littlest of but can distract me.

It really can. and the littlest butt can make me think, well,

I'm not going to pray today.

I'm not going to think about it today. I'm not going to deny myself.

I'm not going to read the Bible, blah, blah, blah. Whatever God asks me to do,

I seem to have a butt for it and get away, okay?

And the most horrendously big butt of all time is the butt that gets in the

way of me just hanging out with God and reading his word.

It's true. Think about it. All the times you're about to open that,

and all of a sudden, a big, giant butt gets in the way. A butt, much like one of these.

But I got a farm bill. But I'm tired. But the game's over. But I read last Tuesday.

But I got to check Facebook. I don't like Leviticus, but it's too hot in here.

Music.

But I just don't like books, but I don't understand it, but it's boring,

but what does that have to do with me in the 21st century?

Those are some ugly butts, people.

Let's just call them what they are, ugly. Ugly butts, okay? And there's a lot

more to them, sad but true.

Here's a list, although not exhaustive, of some of the most popular butts known to mankind.

But I don't have enough money yet, but others will think that I'm a nerd if

I carry the Bible, but they won't like me if I talk about Jesus,

but I don't know if I'm a nerd.

Music.

Else is having fun. Butts abound, friend. But, but, but, but. Here a but, there a but.

Everywhere, a but, but. Okay? And the most overused but of all time,

but I just don't have enough time.

Really? Oh, come on. We have a lot of buts. God has given us a real simple word.

Okay? If we learn it and we share it and we teach it and we live by it,

then see, God gets glorified, people benefit, and then we get blessed.

That's why we do what we do. That's the why behind the but.

Okay? And ultimately, that's the whole point I'm trying to make here,

my fellow butt lovers, is if your butt is bigger than your why,

then your butt's too big.

Okay? It's time to, metaphorically speaking, snap into a Slim Jim.

Okay? Let's slap on some spiritual shape-ups and hit the road a little bit so

we can just manage the butts a little bit.

That's all we're trying to do. That's what we're talking about.

Let's minimize the excuses.

Let's shrink the butts. Shrink the butts. Say it with me.

Shrink the butts. That's what we need to do. And you and I can do that together.

We can conquer this. You and I can do it if we start the day. Okay? I know we can.

Let's just do it. No ifs, sands or yeah i

think you get it it's time

that we shrink our butts that's the

truth we have to shrink our butts i love that phrase he said your why has to

be bigger than your butt we have the biggest why that is out there the cross

the cross should overshadow every butt never thought i'd say that before.

But the truth is we have to stop with the excuses.

Stop with the excuses of why we haven't invited someone to church.

Stop with the excuses of why we're not witnessing.

Stop with the excuses of why we can't serve or why we can't do this or why we can't.

We are called to, and our why is the cross of Jesus Christ.

You and I are going to give an account for our lives one day.

Romans 14, 10 through 12 says this, but we will all stand before the judgment

seat of God. How many of us?

All of us will stand before the judgment seat of God.

For it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me and every

tongue will give praise to God.

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

The only person who can be saved is the person who has a personal desire to follow Christ.

I can't save you. Mom and dad can't save you.

Grandparents can't save you. Church attendance can't save you. Tithing can't save you.

The only thing that can save you is a personal relationship and dying to yourself to be reborn.

The second thing we see here is that in order to follow Christ,

number two, we must deny ourselves.

We have to deny ourselves. What does that mean to deny ourselves.

Let me give you a working definition that might help you put it into perspective.

To deny ourselves means to intentionally put aside our own desires.

Now, this sounds easy, but it's the hardest thing we'll ever do.

We're selfish. I'm selfish. We like our own way, don't we?

To deny ourselves means to intentionally put aside our own desires,

our own preferences, and our own ambitions in order to follow Jesus wholeheartedly.

Listen to me, you cannot say you wholeheartedly follow Jesus when you're still

living for your own purposes and living for your own desires.

If you haven't attended Generations very long, you may not be familiar with

our mission statement, but it includes four things.

Our desire is that everyone knows God. They come to know him.

They have that personal relationship with him. They find freedom.

They discover purpose.

It's not our purpose. It's not my purpose. It's God's purpose for their lives.

Each person's discovering God's purpose for their lives. And then they use their

spiritual gifts to make a difference. And here's the thing.

They're all connected.

We all want to live a life of meaning and of purpose.

We want to make a difference with the life that we've been given,

but you'll never make a difference and you'll never discover what your purpose

is in life unless God's purpose has been put into your life and into your heart by himself.

When we deny ourselves, we're saying, God, your purpose is now my purpose.

I no longer live to fulfill my purpose in life.

I live to fulfill your purpose in life. And it's a journey.

It's a path of sanctification that begins at the time of salvation,

the time that we give our lives to Christ.

Jesus gave an incredibly stern and scary warning to us in Matthew when he said this.

Matthew 7, 21 through 23, Not everyone who says to me, Lord,

Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

You can come to church and you can say a prayer, but if it's not real and it's

not in your life and you're not putting it into practice, on that day,

many will say to me, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name?

Didn't we even drive out demons in your name and do miracles in your name?

Then I will announce to them, I never knew you.

I never knew you because you lived for yourself. You didn't live for me. You called me Lord.

Maybe you did it all the time. Maybe you were in church every week.

Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, I lift your name on high. There's an old one for you.

Lord, I love to sing your praises.

And then I walk out of the church and I live for me, myself, and my purposes.

And he says, if you're not living for him, if you're not surrendered to him,

he doesn't know you. That's scary.

That's a really stern warning. You can profess that you're a Christian your entire life.

You can be at church every single week and hear the word of God preached every week.

You can serve in everything and you can volunteer and you can give away all

your money to missionaries. And guess what? You can still go to hell.

The repetition of the phrase Lord there in Matthew signifies a fervency and

continual profession of faith. It's a continual thing. It's a lifestyle.

And sadly enough, so many people have a lifestyle of professing Christ who will

be denied entrance to heaven.

Profession does not equate to true discipleship.

Profession does not equate to true discipleship. The kingdom of heaven is reserved

for those whose actions align with God's will and God's will for your life is that you deny yourself,

that I deny myself.

Aren't you thankful for grace and for mercy? I fail at denying myself every day.

But that's my goal. That's what I'm trying to attain every day.

Not attain. That's a terrible word. That's the practice that I have in my life.

Paul says he crucifies himself every day.

And that's what we have to do. We have to deny ourselves every day. It's a call to holiness.

It's a call to live according to scripture, not to culture, to scripture.

We're call to look different than culture. It's a call to stand with God's word

rather than the changing of society or the changing of morality.

It's living in humility, yet loving.

It's letting go of our pride and serving others.

It's putting the needs of those around you above yourselves.

It's a complete surrender Of our own rights.

Came across one commentary, and it says this about this verse here in Luke.

It says, this passage serves as a cornerstone of Christian discipleship.

Jesus addresses a universal invitation that anyone desiring to follow him must

engage in a personal daily commitment.

The act of denying oneself is not merely a passive rejection of self-interest,

but an active choice to prioritize Christ's will above one's own.

We have to deny ourselves.

Number one, we have to have a personal desire, a personal relationship.

Number two, we have to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily is number three.

We must take up our cross daily.

Verse 23 says, if anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself,

take up his cross daily and follow me.

What in the world does that mean in the 21st century?

How do you and I take up our cross in the 21st century?

Jesus said, if you want to follow him, you must be ready to give up your life for his sake.

Because some will give their lives up and some give their lives up every day

and are killed for naming the name of Jesus.

There are people who are in prison and beaten and tortured because they have

one sheet of paper from a Bible.

You know what they do in the underground church in China? They gather together

in someone's house and they'll rip out a page from, they might have one Bible

among a thousand people, and they'll rip out a page and they'll pass it around

and each week they'll memorize it.

They will memorize. Some of these pastors in China have the entire New Testament

memorized and committed to Scripture, and they're in jail, and they're in prison,

yet they have the Word of God in their hearts and in their minds.

And yet we have excuses why we're not in our Bibles every day when we have—I

probably have 20 Bibles—and we make excuses for why we are not in our Bibles.

I came across an article in Christianity Today this week.

Listen to the statistics for just the last year and a half. Just the last year

and a half. I think I put it up here.

As of early June 2025, that's where we're at, at least 4,476 Christians have

been killed worldwide for their faith, according to Open Door's World Watch List 2025.

Nigeria continues to be the most dangerous country for Christians,

with 3,100 faith-related killings reported during this period.

However, violence has also intensified in other regions.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, over 100 Christians were killed by

Islamist militants between December 25 and January 15.

A massacre in Kasanga DRC on February 12 resulted in the beheading of 70 Christians

by allied democratic force militants.

In Syria, secretarian violence has surged with over 1,300 people killed in coastal

towns since March 7th, including Christians targeted by Islamic groups.

We don't know what it means to deny ourselves and follow Christ compared to these people.

When it says take up their cross, guess what? They literally are taking up their

cross, knowing that if they gather together to worship Jesus,

whether in a hut or in the jungle or in the desert, they are putting their very

lives and well-being at risk.

We have it so good that we don't understand what it means to take up our cross daily.

But here's what it does look like for us. And I'm not meaning to step on any toes.

All I'm doing is bringing the word of God.

But you know what it looks like sometimes? It means fleeing for our lives like

them, but we have to take up our cross in different ways.

Taking up our cross today means that you call sin, sin.

That homosexuality, guess what? Don't tell me, oh, that person's a homosexual,

but they're a great Christian.

That is a lie from the pit of hell.

It's God's word. You cannot go along with the world and go against scripture

and believe that you're fine. and I know it's offensive.

Gender dysphoria, premarital sex, gossip, sticking up for the inspiration of the word of God,

that it transcends time and that it's applicable today, that 100% of it is God

breathed an inspiration from him.

This is the truth of the word of God.

That's what it means taking up your cross, that I will lift high the word of

God when it's unpopular, when it makes you be called names or say, oh, you're not loving.

The most loving thing we can do is to hold fast the word of life.

Taking up your cross means that we must willingly deny ourselves and live with

sacrificial obedience.

It is a sacrifice for me to get up here and say the things that I'm saying.

I know that people won't like me.

I know that people will be displeased with what I say, but I have to stand before

God because I'm going to give an account for what comes out of my mouth.

And so I have to say what he tells me to say. Young people, you want to take

up your cross? Don't give into the way your peers talk.

There's no room for foul language or cursing. taking the Lord's name in vain.

Don't dishonor your parents. Don't dishonor your siblings. Don't dishonor your neighbors.

Live putting other people above you. That's taking up your cross.

Living a life of sacrificial obedience means that we obey no matter what it may cost us.

And when we begin to live for Christ, your friend circle is going to change

and your purpose changes.

It changes every aspect of our lives. Before we move on, I think it's important

that we emphasize one more thing in verse 23.

I just want to invite you to read it out loud with me. Luke 9,

23, we'll put it up there.

Then he said to them all, if anyone wants to follow after me,

let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.

How often do we do this?

Not a trick question. How often do we take up our cross?

Daily, hourly, every minute, every second.

We live a life completely yielded to him.

Listen, the commitment to follow Christ is not a one-time event,

but a continual journey requiring perseverance and dedication.

In other words, when I wake up, I'm going to wake up every morning and I'm going

to put off my desires and my wants,

and I'm going to determine within me to commit to obey Christ,

regardless what it may cost me.

We have to take up our cross daily.

Finally, number four, we must lose our life to gain it. That's what it comes down to, doesn't it?

If we want to gain life, we have to lose our own life.

Verse 24 says, for whoever wants to save his life will lose it.

But whoever loses his life because of me will save it. It's a paradox, isn't it?

It's the opposite of what we would think.

The world is all about self-preservation and pursuing gain.

The world chases comfort. But here Jesus says that if you and I want to save

our lives, we need to lose our lives.

And those who lose their lives because of Christ will be saved.

I know it's confusing, but here's what Jesus is teaching us.

That true life is found not in gaining temporal comforts.

It's found in surrendering to God's eternal purposes.

It's not about what we gain. Scripture says we can gain the whole world, yet lose our lives.

This idea or notion of losing one's life involves relinquishing our own ambitions

and desires in favor of serving Christ and his kingdom.

Because those who live a sacrificial lifestyle will discover a deeper, more fulfilling life.

It's a life of significance.

Listen, I think the mission that God calls us to has to be seen as a reward, not a regret.

That's how Paul lived his life, that it was a reward to gain Christ.

He said, brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of

it, But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead,

I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

There is a prize. There are crowns that will be given to us for the way we live

and the way we serve and the way we die.

The way we die daily.

I've never felt more confident or passionate about the direction of Generations Church than I do today.

There's been a confirmation in my heart that we are going back to the basics

and we are going to serve, serve, serve, serve, serve.

We are not too busy to serve. It's what we're called to. It's our purpose.

And whether it's that Saturday serve or on a Monday or Tuesday helping out or

a Wednesday night or a Thursday, whenever you do it, our lives are called to serve.

May we be broken and poured out at the feet of Jesus.

May we live on purpose for Jesus Christ would you pray with me,

Father we love you and we thank you for what you're doing in so many people's

lives here at Generations.

What a privilege it is that you would call us at all you called us when we were

full of sin and filth, headed for hell.

May we see life through the lens of the cross.

May we do everything through the lens of the cross because it is all about the gospel.

Everything we do is all about the gospel. May it be our prayer.

Lord, help me save one more help me get one more help me bring one more to you,

because you desire that no man perishes but all come to repentance,

fuel us with a holy fire and a holy passion get us out of our own way may we

accomplish incredible things for the kingdom of God here in the Cedar Valley and around the world.

We praise you. We praise you and give you honor and glory for all that you're

doing, all that's been done, and all that you will continue to do.

May Christ be glorified by our testimonies. In Jesus' name, amen.

Music.