Listen to Him!
Listen to Him!
What’s the most important teaching that Jesus taught His disciples? You might be thinking, “Is it even possible to dig through everything Jesus taught and pick out one teaching and say that was most important?” Thankfully, God the Father does that for us.
In Mark 9:2-8, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to the top of a high mountain, and He was transfigured before them. Revealing His divine and glorious nature, His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became dazzling white. Verse 7 says, ”Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: 'This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!’” In this context, when God said, “Listen to him,” He had three particular teachings in mind. Six days earlier, which is the end of the previous chapter, Jesus foretells His death and resurrection by teaching the disciples about the cross. In Mark 8:31, Jesus said He will “suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.” He follows that up, in verse 34, by revealing the high cost of being His disciple: self-denial, cross bearing, losing your life for His sake and the gospel’s sake. He ends the chapter teaching that many will reject Him and not be saved when He returns.
Beloved, of everything Jesus taught, God highlights these three teachings. Listen to the message of the CROSS! This was where sin was dealt with once and for all, and unless you recognize that Jesus died on that cross paying God’s penalty for your sin and that He physically rose from the dead, you cannot be saved. Listen to the high cost of DISCIPLESHIP! If you are not willing to pay the price discipleship demands (which is your life), you cannot and will not be His disciple! Listen to the cost of REJECTING Jesus! Beloved, if you say “no” to Jesus Christ, the full weight of God’s wrath will fall upon you, and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God! Beloved, are you LISTENING to Him?
This is Laine Wilder for Carry the Light Ministries, bringing you Insights From an Elder.
by Laine Wilder
author of “Insights From an Elder” for
Carry the Light Ministries
