Pastor Kent Christmas | Living A Crucified Life | January 10, 2024

Pastor Kent Christmas Podcast www.regenerationnashville.org

We’re watching KC MIT I’m glad you joined me today, and, um, I think I have a great word to share with you, and we’re gonna take our initial reading out of the book of Matthew, uh, chapter 20.
And, uh, I wanna talk to you about living a crucified life And in the book of, uh, in the book of Matthew chapter 20, verse 17.
And then Jesus, he’s he’s going up to Jerusalem.
It says he took the 12 disciples apart in the way, and he said unto them.
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the son of man Shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and to the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death.
In verse 19, it says, and they shall deliver him to the gentiles to mock to scourge and to crucify him.
And the 3rd day, he shall rise again I I’ve read that portion of scripture, uh, for our lesson today because Jesus is not just telling this disciple I’m going to die.
He’s telling them how I’m going to die. And he tells them he says this.
He says they’re gonna use the cross to crucify me.
And, uh, the other day, I was just reflecting on this in prayer and, of course, and I wanna uh, really wanna hammer this home.
The only way you and I can live a victorious life is if we live a crucified life.
And that crucified life is not dealing with our spirit man. It’s dealing with our natural man.
And, uh, it’s very interesting. I I googled this or went to in my study to Strongs.
And I thought I wanna see what the old testament says about the cross.
The cross is not mentioned in the old testament.
And the reason being is because the new creation did not start until the new testament.
And Jesus came as our example, and Jesus was not crucified because he was a sinner.
He was our perpetuation or our substitute And so he allowed us he allowed himself to become the substitute for us.
He said, well, why you know, why doesn’t the lord cause all of us to be crucified?
Because Jesus, oh, I like this. He’s the only one who didn’t have sin any.
And because he did not have sin in him, the devil could not him into grave.
Death had no power over him. He was able to resurrect. And he said this.
He said, they’re gonna curse me, but on 3rd day, I am gonna be resurrected.
If you and I were crucified, we wouldn’t be able to resurrect because we live in a fleshly body that still has sin in it.
And we’re being redeemed and and and changed by the power of the lord.
But, um, crucifying the flesh and and sometimes wouldn’t understand this, but salvation is instant.
Confessing with thy mouth, believing in thy heart that Jesus crisis, lord, and now shall be saved.
He didn’t believe what told me as a scripture, said, out of his belly. She’ll flow rivers of living water.
And so becoming a new creation is instant.
It’s you cannot crucify the old man until you become a new creation because the old man is not gonna kill himself.
And so it takes a new creation in Christ to be able to crucify the old man, and it’s a process.
You know, I I’ve had the holy ghost for 60 years, and I’m still every day crucify my own man.
And this is why Paul said this. He said, I die daily.
That, you know, just as Jesus had the power because of the sinless life to come out of the grave and resurrection.
So does the old man have the power to resurrect himself if we do not keep him in in the ground?
And so I wanna talk to you about the cross.
And of all of the ways that Jesus could have died, the father chose the cross to be the implement or the tool that that would killing And, um, in Matthew, Let’s see.
I think we’ll go to Matthew chapter chapter 10. We just go back a few chapters.
There’s so much in the scripture on this, but in Matthew chapter 10 and verse, 38.
And he that taketh, not his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.
First of all, the having a crucified life is not a choice.
The lord said if you don’t carry your cross, you’re not worthy of me.
It’s very interesting here that the lord is not telling us that we have to die in the natural.
He said he said, no. He said, you have to take it, you cross.
And verse 39, he says, he that find it his life shall lose it.
But he that loses his life, for my sake shall find it. What is he saying here?
He’s saying, if you hold on to the old man, you know, crucifying.
He said, you will lose the life of the spirit man.
But he said if you will crucify the old man, he said, then you will find your new life in Christ.
And Matthew chapter 16.
Jesus is speaking here, and he says in verse 24, He said, unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.
This is a really strong verse.
The lord says the only way that you can follow Christ is, first of all, you have to deny your flesh.
That means coming to a place that you can say no. The Bible talks about.
It says teaching us that denying ungodliness and flesh who loves that we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present life.
Um, serving god and don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s not easy.
Number 1, you have to be intentional about serving the lord because it involves carrying across.
And the lord said this, he said, if any man is gonna follow me.
He says, first of all, he has to deny himself and then take up his cross.
Uh, serving the lord is for him in the eyes of god, the way we carry our cross is if we this that we deny the old man.
And, um, when you carry the cross, First of all, it’s it that crossing the old and then new testament, it was a large it was a large cross and it had a cross piece in it.
And that cross wouldn’t let a man go everywhere.
And and when people don’t carry the cross in their life and see that that then it’ll let you you can go anywhere you want.
It’ll go through any doorway.
But when you carry the cross and you have it on you in the spirit, there are places that your flesh wants to go.
But you gotta go through an opening to get there and you get up to it and you can’t go through why because the cross Hallelujah is keeping you from going through.
Uh, I would say this is probably the greatest state that modern church has made today is that we took the cross out of Christianity.
And we have created this Christianity, this salvation for human beings, that doesn’t involve the death of the old man.
It’s the rehabilitation of the old man. And want you to hear me.
You cannot rehabilitate your own nature. You have to kill it. And on every single day.
The this is why, uh, the greatest single weapon that you and I have to kill the young man.
The power of the cross is prayer. And you say, well, how do we know that pastor?
Because when you go back and Jesus is now getting ready to He knows he’s gonna be arrested.
He’s hours away. He knows prophetically Isaiah talked about it, and the Psalms talked about it.
And He knows it’s gonna be a hideous death.
And that that natural man in him is is just being repelled by what’s coming.
What did Jesus do in order to be able to submit and take up the cross?
The Bible says he went to the garden of Yosemite and what did he do? He went into intercession.
He went into the power of prayer. People that don’t pray don’t live a crucified life.
And I have Christians all the time.
So, well, I love lord, but, you know, I just it’s hard for me to pray.
But then you’re never gonna live a victorious life because why is it hard?
It’s because soon as you get into prayer, you’re picking up the cross.
And that old man is saying, oh, I don’t want this. This is this is against me.
This thing will take me out. It’ll kill me. And god say no. He says, you cannot.
In fact, let me read this verse here.
Matthew chapter 10 verse 38. I love this where he says this.
He says I’m sorry, in Galatians. Let’s just go to Galatians.
I think this is a great verse Glatians chapter 5 in verse 24, it says, and they that are Christ Have crucified the flesh with its affections and its desires.
And if we live in the spirit, We will also walk in the spirit.
You cannot be Christ unless you live a crucified life.
Remembering the in the new testament, there was the rich young ruler that came to the lord and he he was listening to the teachings of Jesus.
And, obviously, he was drawn to him, and he loved what the lord was saying.
And he said, mastery said, tell me what I need to do to inherit eternal life.
And Jesus looked at me and said, well, you know, he said, you gotta obey the the commandments of the father and not steal, not kill, not committed adultery.
And that rich young ruler, you know, he’s staring and goes, well, man, he said, I’ve been doing all that since my youth.
And the lord looked at me and realized, but you’re not denying your flesh.
He said, son, he said, If you wanna follow me, he said you’re gonna have to take all that you have, sell it.
And give it to the port. See, for each of us, our cross looks different.
What will kill my flesh might not kill yours because that’s not the weakness of your flesh.
And what what I have, uh, a propensity to do may may not be yours.
And so learning how to crucify the flesh and learning how to yield to the lord Paul, you know, Paul was an amazing man.
I I don’t think in the new testament outside of Christ, there was probably a greater man.
And he said this. He said, I am crucified with Christ. Galatians 220.
One of my favorite verse. He said, I am crucified with Christ.
He said, well, why do we have to be crucified?
Because If the old man stays alive, you now live in Civil War Instead of being able to devote all your spiritual energy to the purpose that god has made you.
You’re living in a civil war on the inside between your own nature and your new nature.
Remember, I told you, you you can never crucify the old man until you become a new man.
It’s the new man that has the power to be able to crucify the omen.
And when, uh, some of the most miserable Christians I know as far as for themselves is those who won’t live your crucified life, and so they stay in chaos.
They stay in a state of turmoil. You get around them.
They’re not happy, and there’s this constant war.
I found a place, and I think that so many of you have found this place.
I found a place. Where I live in peace.
I’d rather say no to my flesh.
I would rather every day seeing this is why the lord talks about.
He says, daily, take up your cross.
If you’re gonna follow me, he said, you have to this is This is not something you do on Sunday.
This is why so many Christians are struggling because they wanna kill the flesh on Sunday.
And let the old man live all the rest of the week. No. I thank god for church.
But church is not how you crucify your own man.
This is a personal thing between you and god This is something that you do on a daily.
It’s a private thing. It’s something that’s out of the out of the the side of men.
And when you find that place in god to where every day the old man stays dead in Here’s something else I’m gonna tell you.
Every day you kill the old man the next day, he’s a little weaker.
And the next day is a little weaker. And then you go a year and you find it.
You know, I’m not struggling like I used to in this area. Why?
Because you have so crucified that thing. It’s so weak. It can’t raise its head.
And so now you’re not tormented with desires and you’re not tormented with lust and unforgiveness and hatred or covetousness.
You you’ve you’ve you’re carrying that cross, and that cross keeps those desires dead.
And so now you get up and you can say, oh lord, this is the day that you have made.
I rejoice, and I am so glad in it. And that you’re not living in war anymore.
Your heart’s not a bloody battlefield.
It’s so much easier to live a crucified life than it is to try to keep the old man alive and and to keep him, you know, happy.
As I end here, and Paul said this, he said, I am crucified with Christ.
And what he was saying was because we know the survival says if we are in the lightness of his death, if we’re plunged in the lightness of his death, We are also raising the likeness of his resurrection.
And when Christ was crucified, He reached ahead and he crucified our old man.
So we live that crucified life, but I can also tell you this. It is a choice.
Do you this is why, you know, you you can’t go days without reading the Bible and days without prayer, and you can’t miss 3 weeks without going to church because the very fact of not feeding yourself spiritually is what gives life to the old man.
And then one day, you find out, oh, how did I do this? How did I mess up?
Because your old man got stronger than your spirit, ma’am.
So I wanna encourage you today, if you haven’t done it yet, Go get that cross.
Put it on your back. Listen. I go to bed with that cross on me.
I get up in the morning with that cross on me. I don’t go anywhere without the cross.
At the cross, at the cross. Hallelujah where I first saw the lie.
And the burdens of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith that I received my sight.
And now I am happy all the day. I thank god for the cross.
I’m thankful that in the natural realm, I don’t have to physically die.
I get to live the life of Christ. Well, I hope this has helped you.
I love you, I’ll see you next week. God bless you.
For more information about Kent Christmas Ministries International or regeneration Nashville, Go to campchristmas.org, or regeneration nashville.org.