What Does It Mean To Take Up Your Cross, Deny Yourself and Follow Jesus? Looking at Mark  

Dear Melissa... Last night I was watching John MacArthur and he was talking about denying one's self. I had a very vague understanding of what this meant, so I wrote down a reminder to pray about it in the morning, as I've been doing the last few days. Literally prayed about learning more about what this meant this morning and BAM there you are. May God bless you and may you continue to spread His word. Many, many thanks to you for all you do.

The way you explain things is nothing short of a blessing to me, Melissa. I wait eagerly for all of your videos, knowing I will walk away from it with new understanding. Thank you so much, for that. 😭🙏🏼❤️

I want to make Jesus Christ my everything.. I’m working on it. He has changed me i did a complete 180 of things I did before. I don’t want my Lord to deny me. I don’t care what I lose for Jesus

Deny yourself it means obeying Him no matter what happened.

Such an important topic thank you so much for covering it! Praise God, Jesus is everything!!!

I have been a christian for many years (about 40 years) and I have never heard this scripture explained so well. thank you. The Lord is giving many people clear understanding in this day and is preparing his people for what is coming shortly.

This has come to me in the most amazing timing!! 👏 thank Jesus for leading me to good teaching of his word. Praise the Lord.

Always a joy and a blessing to hear the Gospel message done right! As always, well done, and thank you!

I have often wanted to hear the exegesis on this scripture. Thank you. Very well done. x

Excruciating! Wow! This is so deep and I am humbled. Yet again God speaks depth into our souls! Amen💗

Melissa I always enjoy your videos

My mom claims to be saved yet she hasn't read a Bible in years nor does she know even one verse by heart. Love for God's word is a true sign of conversion. Matthew 4:4 man shall not live by bread alone but by every word from God's mouth.

Thanks Melissa. Totally on point... as always. Praying for your channels to all gain many more followers to lead people out of darkness and into Jesus’ marvellous light! You go girl. God is with you!

When you say “giving up your own lordship”.... can you give me a detailed example of what this looks like? Great video!

So blessed to hear your Biblical teachings and the way you explain it is so amazing!

Your explaination of this video was so helpful. Love your videos. God bless you and your family

Thanks for your help. We have limited options to learn about the Scriptures and study the Bible during these covid times. I am so grateful and love how clear your videos are. I love having tough questions answered.

Thank you Melissa! God bless you and this ministry.

There is a revival going on now through my church and this was tonight's sermon. Jesus rebuked Peter because he was concerned with human matters, how it would affect him, and not the concerns of God.

God bless you from Ethiopia

I love your videos Mellisa 🌸💗

This video was so convicting. Thank you 🙏

Lovely, thankyou Melissa, have learnt so much from your videos, love from Aussie

Fantastic. I wasn't aware you were going to go back that far, but I'm glad you did. One thing I struggled with was Jesus calling Simon Peter, the rock, and then turning around and calling him Satan. Upon examining this passage it became clear that Jesus was talking to what Peter said in both cases. The first statement, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God," that is the foundation upon whom the Church is built, not Peter, as some believe. Then when Peter rebuked Jesus for saying He would rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes, put to death , and rise on the third day, Peter was contradicting the very will of God, the very thing that Jesus must do in He were to by salvation for all of us. So Jesus addressed the words as Satan, not Peter as Satan. When I saw that, everything came together and fit perfectly. Thank you for this.

Thank you Melissa!!!!!!!

#nailedit So great, Melissa! Thank you for this!

Wow that was a brilliant breakdown! Very wise woman. 😉👏👏👍

Great job!!!!

How is denying yourself & taking up your cross an easy yoke, a light burden? - because of a heart-deep trust in the Lord, a heart-deep allegiance to Him (which is a gift from Him) - and genuinely caring about the well-being of others, especially their permanent/eternal well-being (which He works in us) - and because of His Holy Spirit, whom He shares with us so we may experience the inner joy which His presence brings, though that may at times be swamped or blocked by us

I like your exegesis on this topic Melissa. I would just like to add that to Jesus, the cross represented God the Father's perfect will for him. By picking up his cross (literally), Jesus was taking on the Father's desire for him, which was to sacrifice himself for all of humanity. Likewise, when we pick up our cross we're taking on our Father in heaven's perfect will for ourselves, which is to deny ourselves in the kingdom of man (die to ourselves) and be reborn in the kingdom of heaven so that we can execute God's perfect will. And what is God's perfect will for us? It's the Great Commandment, which is about being devoted to God and others, not yourself.

Wonderful. Thank you

Hi Love your channel I keep hearing that we should love our self cause in the Word said love your neighbor as u love your self.. it's wrong to preach love your self cause if you don't then u can't love others.. is that man centered using the word of God I heard about picking up your cross loved it and I'm so glad you made it very clear I just had this other burning question about loving yourself and that that's wrong because then that sent it about you and it's a flesh of the world thing whenever you have time please answer my question I was trying to tell my pastor that if you say you love yourself then that means you do and he was like no anyway thank you for your wonderful testimony

Amen

It’s not like this is preached in churches often if ever.

❤❤❤❤ This teaching

Thank you, this was great!

Amen! We are all “born that way” - Rosaria Butterfield Have you read her book The Secret Confessions of An Unlikely Convert? It’s right up your alley.

2 Thessalonians 2 11

What do you think of veganism&low waste lifestyle and its relationship with Christianity? I am interested in the cultural aspects and the Biblical proofs of wether they had some diet like that. Thank you so much for the quality conent you are making for us from time to time. :)

Melissa God Bless you, I don't know if you are going to read this message, I'm writing from Italy, Doreen doesn't leave in her videos the comments open, sorry to write to you. Doreen is famous here in Italy but when she was talking to angels and in the new age. So there's a woman that talks about her, making videos saying to people "What's wrong with Doreen Virtue, who knows what's going on" saying false things about her. It would be nice if Doreen and you too can make a video talking to the Italians who followed Doreen in the past. I can translate if you want to. Is important that she can make this, it can be a wonderful testimony. I can't listen to that lady cause she really was very wicked. If you can tell this to Doreen I will appreciate it. Blessings.

This explanation of taking up our own cross and following Jesus while correct is incomplete and deliberately so in the Bible so no criticism to any ministry is intended. Taking up our cross is clear enough. It means submitting ourselves to God. Following Jesus is less clear but I think it comes down to this. We all have unique gifts and the Bible expects us to have a vocation. For some it may be preaching the gospel. For others it might be practicing medicine, law, or working with their hands. What is important is that we submit ourselves, all subject to one another with humility under the hand of God that he in good time may exalt us (1 Peter 2:5 - 6) "casting all care on Him for he careth for you." 1 Peter 2:7. For God of all grace, who hath called us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen settle you." 1 Peter 5:10. In other words, you "pay your dues" and God will make his plans for you clear and pave the way for you in a way you can best be of service to others and to yourself thereby.

Enjoy your videos,. Something small stood out for me. Luke and Mark as authors were not eyewitnesses to Jesus ministry. They were certainly writing from eyewitness accounts. Mathew and John however were were written by eyewitnesses. John in particular makes this clear. I don’t think this distracts from the message, on the contrary I think it highlights the divine guidance the sees these ancient gospels so incredibly well aligned

Nothing to do with this video, I have a question, do mystics believe in the demonic realm if so how do they distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys apart? Only based on if their spirit guide is nice or not? How do they get rid of the evil? Can you answer these and go into deeper explanation for me. Thank you a new viewer

It means: give up your religious beliefs and accept only those that take you to Love.

I have a serious problem with denying myself because I'm addicted to nicotine and it's hold on anyone who smokes knows the struggle.

I love the sound biblical teachings you produce. It's so hard in these times to find them.

This year will be my 28th year as a follower of Jesus Christ. I’m all these years, including my studies for a bachelor’s degree in theology, I’ve never heard a more satisfactory, concise, biblically sound explanation of to take up one’s cross and follow Jesus. Thank you.

35 yrs of being a Christian and this is the literal first time I’ve heard this taught this way. I’m so grateful for your ministry and your cross, God bless you 💖🙌🏼

Love the explanation. It reminds me of when I studied this passage years ago and this is the result of it: Matthew 16:34, "If any man will come after me [be my (Jesus's) diciple], let him deny himself [renounce self dependence], and take up his cross [bear troubles and difficulties in the Christian walk], and follow me [be an imitator of Christ]. Mind you, that was years ago.

To follow Jesus, we want what he wants, we desire what He desires. amen 💕

Your teaching is so valuable in this time of much twisting of Scripture. We can come to you for the truth.

I really enjoyed this teaching! As a pastor, this is one of the most persistent themes in my preaching. That and, "There is a cost to following Jesus!". My life is not my own, I was bought with history's heaviest price! It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me! Phil 3: 7-11 is a passage I'd love to hear more ministers teach on, too!!

Awesome video! I’m getting baptised tomorrow, this was perfect to watch. 😊

Not sure if this has been done already but a video discussing the difference between a “believer” and a disciple. A chicken is involved in breakfast, but the pig is fully committed. Not the best comparison but you get the point.

Praise God praise be to Jesus! I was saved by Him out of a lifetime in the occult. I am struggling with how to truly seek and follow him. This helped me so much.

thank you for taking the time to make these videos i literally wait from the one to the next because your explanations are biblical and easier to understand can you do one that explains speaking in tongues there are so many explanations i would love to hear your thoughts on that kind regards

I love Jesus so very much. I was absolutely giddy through this entire video. I can hardly wait to be with Him 💖🕊👑

Melissa, I just watched this video of yours this morning and God has definitely used you as a vessel of His glory. I was so edified and fulfilled, both spiritually and emotionally by this video. Such an eye opener.... new knowledge and understanding on this passage. My Men’s Group here in Tampa just had a discussion on this last week so I’m definitely going to pass along this video and share with them. Thanx. God Bless, sister!!!

By denying onself it's also easy to become a victim. 😢 So also good to ensure no one isn't taking advantage of unselfishness. So many of bible teaching can also become harmful if not understood with decearnment. I mean this for those who have always been there for their parents and others in their childhood. We have to build our relationship with God up first. We have denyed ourselves in such a way or extent already beyond our limits.

27th September 2021, yesterday's was the day I realised the new age belief was taking me so far away from Christianity and how I was manipulated just because I was extra curious trying to dig in starting with the law of attraction. I had my eye opener yesterday and I'm so glad that my Lord Jesus has always got my back to save me in different ways. We are so so blessed. I want to thank u and Doreen for the informative videos and interviews you'll posted because that gave so so much clarity. You'll have played such an important role that I cannot thank you both enough. Thank u thank u thank u sooo much. God Bless 🤗

WOW! I find myself falling so short of this. Just don't know if I am capable of truly living this out. How will I ever make it?

I have been a Christian for many years, and am a senior citizen now...but your teaching is Excellent, and you keep it simple, as I believe teaching the Bible should be. Keep on, sister, your ministry is a blessing to all ages.

I've never heard this verse said this way! So blessed to have found your channel! I'm a new subscriber as of today. Glory to God!

Newbie here. Thanks for clearing that up. I'm reading in Judges now and I have LOTS of questions.

Have enjoyed your video's, but I would like to ask a question regarding the point of Denying Yourself. As a Gentile adopted into the family of God, If I had the desire to meet someone get married and start a family, adopt a child, or even study to become a doctor, lawyer or become a pilot; because these are things that people desire to have and or be, should they be given up?? In other words, can a person have the desire to be an artist, engineer, doctor or mother. and still have a relationship with Jesus?? Thank you and may God always Bless you.

This is so different from Progressive Christianity. It is completely against the self and this life now. I wonder if Jesus would say this to a Progressive? The Bible is so good!

Great video, Melissa. You do an excellent job of explaining some difficult passages and teachings. When I was studying Mark, I noticed that in subsequent passages, he shows us what it looks like to deny yourself, such as Mark 9:33-41, Mark 10:13-22, and 10:35-42. I love how Scripture interprets Scripture!

Deny yourself means >> putting off the old and putting on the new which is Salvation in Christ. " Being born again"! That is the message here. But Jesus had to describe what would be provided through him after his death and resurrection in a different way at this time in this passage because the way had not yet been fulfilled. Your old nature has been removed and you have been placed in Christ as a new creation . That is what taking up the cross means by accepting the Good News of the Gospel and walking in the truth of the cross and living in this truth everyday . The only denying that is required in this passage is to stop denying the truth and start believing in it. Any other explanation of what denying means here in this passage is just another way of earning approval through the flesh and not resting by faith in the truth".

Galatians 2:20. Powerful verse. One of my favorites.

His will not our will.

I think the answer is not to deny our desires, but to deny the evil in ourselves, as Amos 5:15 says, "Hate the evil and love the good, and establish judgement in the gate, ..." Your desires are not evil. Feelings are not evil. If you deny your feelings you are judging them incorrectly. What is evil is possibly the intention attached to a desire; a desire is a feeling that motivates an intention. When you analyze a desire, if you find an evil or imbalanced intention in it, then all you have to do is repent for it to God, with all your heart, and do it repeatedly until the intention actually disappears and you grow a healthy desire. So, the idea is to deny the evil in yourself, not the good. The good is what emanates from God, which is light and life, and hence truth, love and justice. The soul is life, and life is feeling; you are not alive if you don't feel. Even hatred is not evil if no intention is attached to it, and as long as it is directed toward the evil (Luke 14:26). The evil is that which is contrary to loving God because evil destroys truth, life and the way of justice, which is what emanates from God, but contrary to popular opinions, the Will of God is not limited to the good happening exclusively in the world right now, because if that were true, evil would not exist, but God creates the evil for a good purpose (Isa. 45:7); so to say that only certain things, specifically the good and not the evil, is the Will of God is incorrect, since evil is still necessary for our spiritual growth, as we need to learn how to get rid of it, with love and not by creating more conflicts like we usually do. By the way, love is necessary for life; a child without love may even die. So, a lack of love, as when there is no mercy or compassion, is of course evil. Note that an absence of feeling, specifically, when we suppress or deny our feelings, is much more evil than having the feelings and expressing them in private, while repression of feelings is scientifically accepted to be unhealthy. It is what we do with our feelings that may be evil, but not the feelings themselves. Feelings are all good because they express the soul, and so they actually come from God because the soul comes from God (Gen. 2:7), but our intentions come from our own free will and hence they come from us and not from God.

That was really good. I like how you worded the definition of denying yourself.

You’ve blessed my life today with this teaching. Thank you!

Wait wait wait a minute here! ... So I’m a Veteran, and I’ve always seen a lot of those scripture plaques and memes for soldiers, that quote that verse. As if soldiers dying for their friends/country/family, is the greatest “of these”. But from this study here with you, that’s all a false and misinterpretation?!! Mind. Blown! 🤯

Here's what A.W. Tozer says about the cross... "The cross is the most revolutionary thing ever to appear among men. The cross of Roman times knew no compromise, it never made concessions. It won all its arguments by killing its opponent and silencing him for good. It spared not Christ, but slew Him the same as the rest. He was alive when they hung Him on that cross. and completely dead when they took Him off of it. That was the cross the first time it appeared in Christian history. "With perfect knowledge of all this, Christ said, 'If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself take up his cross and follow Me.' So the cross not only brought Christ's life to an end, it also ends the first life, the old life of every one of His true followers...this and nothing less is true Christianity. We must do something about the cross, and there's only one of two things we can do - flee it or die upon it!"

Nice Melissa 👍🏻 Peter allowed his emotions to go against what Jesus was saying and Jesus stopped those words and thoughts immediately, which were planted by Satan. Satan always tried to disqualify or prevent Jesus from doing what He came to do, but Jesus was so focused on fulfilling the Father’s Will.

Melissa, “Excruciate” Nabeel said “Crucifixion was such a horrifically painful death; they had to invent a word to describe it!” Powerful words and they really help put Our Lords sacrifice into perspective! God Bless

Amazing!!! So many Christians need to hear this. Thank you😊

I was amazed when this video showed up. I had recently studied these very same verses a few days ago, and though I understood them on the surface, I couldn’t seem to get away from them. My thoughts weren’t so much focused on the denial of oneself where it concerns giving up our desires for the things that are not of God; rather, I looked at the: “taking up of our cross”. After research into the Greek definition of the word: “up” ... I found that according to Thayer’s Definition to take “up” could infer: a moving from its place, or to cause to cease. Maybe I’m overthinking things here; nevertheless, and based on another of your videos wherein you discuss “Faith without works”, I’m somewhat lead to draw the conclusion that the, “taking up” of our cross could carry the meaning of: moving our self-efforts from their place and causing them to cease to exist. How often do we try in our own strength, not only before salvation, but also after salvation; to crucify our fleshy desire for sin? We have our virtual “cross” so to speak. Yet, the very fact that we have received Christ Jesus by faith, we are, or have now been crucified apart from our own self efforts, and there remains no need to rely on our “old cross of good works”. We can uproot it, move it from its place, rely on it no more; thereby, we deny ourselves to follow Christ and trust in what He did for us on His Cross.

Melissa this comment is in reference to this video as well as the others that you have posted. You do an excellent job breaking down scripture into biblical teaching and discussing a variety of topics utilizing scripture to drive home to a point. You are striking a balance of tact without mincing words. The Holy Spirit is working through you greatly and I enjoy how the Holy Spirit is utilizing your personality. There is no one size fits all with the Holy Spirit. God Bless.

I think we all hover between our fleshly desires and God's desire for us while we are learning. If you suddenly find yourself wrestling hard with fleshly desires, it could be demonic. Satan takes notice of you when your light starts to shine and you become a threat to his undercover mission.

Another question, is it possible for a Christian to see demons and feel them? How ffg o you know that you are in the new age?

☕🔨 ) " The cup of the carpenter is a profound analogy. Thanks for sharing this message from the Word of God with your viewers, Melissa Dougherty. "

We must be careful to read the scriptures in context and consider who is speaking and who they're speaking to. When Jesus was talking about picking up your cross, he was talking to his disciples because they would face much turmoil from the religious leaders. A lot of people think that this is addressed to us as Christians but we're saved by grace and not works. We should do reasonable service as Christians but we should not confuse our salvation with discipleship.

This was your best.........

Really enjoyed this video melissa, great work.

Your description of Jesus and your reference of it to the Indiana Jones movie can be found in Isaiah 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him.

Strong's G4716 Greek: σταυρός Transliteration: stauros Pronunciation: stow-ros' Definition: From the base of G2476; a stake or post (as set upright) that is (specifically) a pole or cross (as an instrument of capital punishment); figuratively exposure to death that is self denial; by implication the atonement of Christ: - cross. KJV Usage: cross (28x).

Melissa do you still want/need a Passion Translation for study and research? I was given a very nice one for Christmas from MIL... I’m very torn on what to do with this $60 book besides just burn it! It’s just 1 book, but I think the most commonly referenced by them, according to what I’ve seen. I would love to gift it to you, to use to help more people.

I realize you were talking about taking up our cross to follow Jesus, but, as you always do, and we love you for it, you backed up to give it context. As it happens I've had discussions with people about Peter's confession of Christ. Some claim this is where he received the appointment of the head of the Church. So I try to show them the context. When Peter responds, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” in Matthew 16:16 Jesus follows up, not speaking to Peter so much as to the statement Peter just made. In the same way, after Jesus tells the disciples that he will suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and Peter states in verse 22 “Far be it from You, Lord! This shall not happen to You.” Again Jesus was speaking to the statement more than the person, however, as you pointed out, our statements can be attached to our person. That doesn't mean Peter was Satan, but at that point in time he was allowing Satan to use him. This is something we must beware of at all times.

In the Indiana movie, just after the scene you talked about, came one of my favorites, the Knight Templer says, "He chose poorly." That said, this was a very fine tutorial on taking up one's cross. Well done.

What you said about Indiana Jones, reminded me of Samuel and David.

Thank you Melissa! Your videos are great. I am always excited when I see that you've uploaded a new one ❤👍

🌈💃💖 I listen & learn, find that u explain things in a very clear & simple way! However..... I watched ur video on 💦the only SIN God CANNOT forgive! 💦 Blasphomy of the Holy Spirit! 💦U mention that even a murderer can get to heaven, as long as he doesn't commit THIS SIN! To me this is confusing. & somewhat contradictory unless I've misunderstood On this video u say** DENY YOURSELF & FOLLOW JESUS*** but at the same time, anything u do or occurs in ur life is OK. AS long as u don't commit that one unforgivable SIN Do you understand why it's so confusing too many & how the bible & diff teachings (due to the many religions as well) & misinterpretation of the words, can create division among even the simplest of christians??

Side Note Feel like I might have known you from High School used to know someone by the same name @MelissaDougherty I went to GHS. Anyways I also appreciate your videos. And you speak with other Christian RU-vidrs I like also like #RuslanKD . Btw I'd like to see you speak with @Southsiderabbi LORD willing ADONAI bless , bless ADONAI.

Jesus was God spelling himself out in language humanity could understand. - S.D. Gordon

Eph 2:8-10 salvation is a free gift. Not of any works or actions on our part ... those verses were for those who believed they did not need Jesus as Saviour they could deny or do things such as the rich young ruler.... it is by grace we have been past tense saved .. the perfect life the substitionary death and resurrection and ascension. We're all for our completion and he gave those who believed upon his finished work. Receive his spirit as a guarentee our salvation by being born again... read. John 5:24 Jesus teaches hearing and believing. Gives us eternal life we walk in the spirit in all aspects of life.....thanks for sharing. Grace and peace be multiplied to you

Fellow Christians. Please consider that for some people if you give them the gospel, they need die or be condemned in their religion. Example a Muslim to accept Jesus, especially as God, means the commit the unforgivable sin in Islam (Shirk/Shurk). So have understanding and patience if they struggling to accept the Truth. So picking up the cross for some means being declared dead or condemned by their own religion.

Wow, you have a good grasp of theology (special revelation), I like that. But your understanding of human design (general revaluation) does not fit. Your application is all wrong. In your application you have no right brain functioning at all, and so no integrated functioning. It is very immature. All I can think of is as a Parent study more about relationships, more about how we develop and grow. With neuroscience there is a lot of good stuff out their now. Or perhaps read Curt Thompson MD, Anatomy of the Soul. He is getting closer to bringing general and special revaluation together, so our application is closer.

Crucifixion is a long, slow, painful death. Most people don't know this, but besides blood loss or exposure, what actually kills the person crucified is asphyxiation, because with arms outstretched and being suspended, the diaphragm loses the ability to move bringing air into the lungs.