Revolution
Revolutionary Living
 This morning we are bringing to a conclusion our series Revolution.
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We need a spiritual Revolution in America today.
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Right now in America, the fastest growing religion is “no religion”.
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One-fifth of the U.S. public and one- third of adults under 30 are religiously unaffiliated.
 There are over 13 million self-described atheist and agnostics as well as 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation.
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In America... Islam is increasing as Christianity is on the decline...
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As we know, those who profess to be Christian... Only 18.6% attend houses of Worship and only 7% say that there has been a change in their lives.
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If there was ever a time that we need Revolution in America... it is today... We must rise up as the Church! Pause...
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We have to ask a question? What is it about Christianity or Christians that has become so unappealing to the world?
1.
Churches have become a noun... A stationary building... instead of a living, functioning, working community of Jesus following believers.
2.
Churches have redefined faithfulness... If you show up occasionally and give a little you are faithful.
3.
Churches have compromised... They have taken the teeth out of the truth.
4.
Churches have domesticated Jesus true identity.
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We have turned Him into a good natured Mr. Rogers figure who beckons the tired and weary to come to His neighborhood for a little R&R.
5.
Churches have turned faith into easy believism...
6.
Churches have dumbed down what it means to be a follower of Christ. Simply,
because following Jesus isn’t pretty or easy...
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As the day approaches we have to reclaim the gospel that was espoused by Jesus.
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We have to get out of the pews and attack the Kingdom of Darkness.
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We have to stand in the face of wicked culture and proclaim and stand on the truth no matter the consequence.
 We have to reclaim the art of being a follower of Christ...
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Because followers lead Revolutionary Lifestyles...
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This morning we are going to look at Revolutionary Living.
 Background: Mark 8

Mark 8:27a (NIV) 27 “Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea
Philippi.”
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Caesarea Philippi is not only a location but it represents something... Cityscape
 Caesarea Philippi represents the world and everything that it has to offer, it was a place of idol worship.
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People would worship images made by men rather than worship the One who created
Men. (Pause)
 P.O.E; where there is idolatry there is a cultural decline... Whether it was in the O.T.,
N.T., or present day...
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A decline in morality, virtue, no sense of right and wrong... Wrong becomes right.
 Idolatry always leads to injustice, greed, corruption and excessive behavior...
 It leads to total self- worship and self-interest.
 The truth is that people love idol worship... because they can manage their gods...
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I want us to see the backdrop... that leads to the following conversation between Jesus and His disciples.
27... On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?" 28 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." 29 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ." (Matt. 16) 30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. 31 He then began to teach them that the Son of
Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
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Peter considered himself a follower of Jesus... He literally followed... and had been following for some time.
 Even though Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ...
 Jesus... moments later calls him Satan... Because he wasn’t concerned with the things of
God, but the things of men.
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People of Revolution are concerned with the things of God rather than the things of
men... Peter thought he was following... but he wasn’t... Because followers are keeping in mind the things of God.
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Satan doesn’t mind anyone calling themselves a Christian, disciple, or follower, if they are not concerned with the things of God.
 Revolutionary living... always has in mind the things of God... Not the things of men...
Self-interest is a type of idolatry. We enthrone ourselves over the living God.

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Jesus, as He was talking plainly, then began to characterize Revolutionary Living.
Revolutionary Living
1.
Revolutionary living requires denying oneself.
Mark 8:34 “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself”...
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Deny... Gk. “to disown”...
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This was the same word that was used when Peter disowned Christ...
 Revolutionary living begins with us disowning the old man and His interests.
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When we deny ourselves... our interests will be the interests of God... not the interest of men.
 Peter knew who Jesus was... He professed you are the Christ!
 Yet, Peter wanted a Christ that would serve His interests... His interest was for Jesus not to die... But to take an earthly throne...
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Jesus had other interests... reconciling men to God, ushering in a spiritual kingdom that would change hearts..
 A lot of us are like Peter... We want a Savior that will cater to our wants and our interests.
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We want the Jesus... that will save us... give us money... heal us when we are sick... and keep the boogey man away...
 As Andy Stanley put it... we want a Jesus that we think we can lasso... and control.
 That is not following... God was not made for man... But man made for His good pleasure...
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Revolutionary living requires denying oneself.
2.
Revolutionary living requires a decision to take up your cross.
Mark 8:34 (NLT) Jesus said “take up your cross”...
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The disciple’s understood fully what Jesus was saying.
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They lived in a culture of public execution.
 They witnessed men, picking up the cross and carrying it to their place of their death.
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They witnessed the suffering, indignities, humiliation, and degradation of what it represented...
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They witnessed men scream in agony and pain as they were nailed to the cross...
 They witnessed men die slow deaths.
 What was Jesus saying to the crowd? He is saying to “if you follow me there is a cost”
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I want you to follow me no matter the cost.

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We have been fortunate to this point to have suffered little for the cause of Christ...
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We have lived in a nation that has protected religious freedom...
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But the time is upon us... Where the enemy is drawing the line in the sand... He is saying who are you going to follow?
 Revolutionary living will not bow to political correctness nor compromise the truth.
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People who decide to take up their cross draw their own line in the sand!
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As for me and my house we will serve the Lord!
 We may face persecution, shame, embarrassment, reproach, rejection, and even death.
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But the narrow path of following Jesus leads to life...
The Paradox
Mark 8:35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
 Video
3.
Revolutionary living takes undiluted devotion.
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People that deny themselves and take up their cross can only do so having an undiluted devotion.
 “Jesus is Lord” was the battle cry of the early church. This was not only a spiritual reality it was a declaration to Rome!
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The same Peter who wanted a Messiah that would serve his interests...
 The same Peter who disowned Jesus...
 The same Peter that who decided to hide from the cross...
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When the church was birthed on the day of Pentecost... Peter emerged a new man with a new heart and new interests and passions.
 He was now a spirit-filled sold out follower who demonstrated an undiluted devotion to
Jesus.
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Preaching to everyone that Jesus is Lord!
Acts 2:36 (NLT) “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”
 What a change in Peter... He was now living a Revolutionary life!
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For the first 300 years, “Followers of the Way”, were enemies of the state. They were bringing revolution to religion and revolution to the World...
 They made it clear for “all of the world to hear”... that “Jesus is Lord”...
 It wasn’t a banner on the wall, nor was it Christian ease...

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It was a declaration to the Roman Empire and to the world... that Caesar was not lord... but Jesus is Lord...
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They pledged their devotion and lives to Christ...
 For the first 300 years of the church there were ten government-sponsored persecutions against the Church.
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And the worst persecution was the Diocletian Persecution ordered in 303 A.D.
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The bodies of believers lined the streets impaled for all to see as a warning.
 Christians were fed to the lions for sport... Christians were crucified for their confession.
 Yet, despite the persecution, these followers refused to bow to anyone or anything that defied Jesus authority... Pause
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They accepted the clear danger of following Jesus... no matter the consequence...
 They made the decision follow Christ, deny themselves, take up there cross, and serve their King with an undiluted devotion.
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They turned the world upside down... despite the trouble that followed them...
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In Acts 17:5-8, Paul was on His second missionary journey and stopped in Thessalonica.
 Jason, a follower, invited Paul and Silas into his Home... A mob formed outside of
Jason’s house...
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They rushed the house, when they didn’t find Paul they grabbed Jason and some other believers.
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They were taken before the city officials... and mob said, “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here”. “They are defying Caesars decree,
saying that there is another King, one called Jesus”.
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Arch Bishop once said; “Everywhere Jesus went there was a riot. Everywhere I go they make me a cup of tea”.
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We must bring Revolution to the world around us!
Bottom Line: “Revolutionary living keeps in mind the things of God, follows by bearing his cross, and is devoted despite the cost!”