Who Turned Loose Me Or God
Who Turned Loose Me Or God – I want to challenge your thinking this morning by asking you a multiple-choice question. The question: in daily life terms, what is the purpose of life? Rank these five options with number one being the highest option:
Achieving success
Taking care of your family
Achieving a desirable lifestyle
Enjoying life
Serving God
Who Turned Loose Me Or God – I ask you to rank these items privately, in your own mind, with no one knowing your list. All I ask is for you to be honest with your own heart and mind.
Who Turned Loose Me Or God – In your own mind and heart, list each with number one your most important consideration and number five your least important consideration [in this list].

* Now that you have made your selections, I want to read some New Testament scriptures for you to consider.

* Each of these statements was made by Jesus either to a group listening to him or to his disciples.

* I realize that each scripture must be studied in its context with serious consideration given to Jesus’ point at the time.
* I am not going to discuss each scripture, but I hope to call your attention to a single factor all these scriptures have in common.
* As we read together (you are encouraged to follow each reading on the screen), ask yourself what do these scriptures share in common.

* Scriptures:

* Matthew 8:19-22 Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”
* Matthew 10:24-28 A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household! Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
* Matthew 16:24-27 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.”
* Mark 8:34-38 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
* Luke 9:23-27 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.