Jesus said if you come after me you must deny yourself, pickup your cross and follow me. What does it mean to pick up your cross? We know Jesus died on the cross as our sacrifice for our sins to redeem us from spiritual death. So, to pick up our cross we must sacrifice ourselves and die to sinning.

Sin is disobeying Jesus’ teachings and commandments which he has given to us to know how to love God and receive God’s new covenant which give us eternal life.

Paul teaches in Romans that the way we pick up our cross is to be a living sacrifice for Jesus. A living sacrifice is not mentally or physically punishing yourself with pain and suffering it is to die to your sins by obeying Jesus as your Lord out of love for him.

Romans 12: 1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.

To be a living sacrifice is to do spiritual acts of worship by setting yourselves apart for God’s use doing what is a pleasing offering to him and that is to obey his Son.

Worshipping God in not just singing songs of thanksgiving on Sundays we must also worship God daily by being a living sacrifice just as we are told to pray without ceasing.

Paul teaches what are spiritual acts of worship that we know are holy and pleasing sacrifices to our Father in heaven.

Romans 12: 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

A living sacrifice does not conform any longer to the teachings and beliefs of this world which we came out of. To do this you must renew your mind by becoming a disciple of Jesus studying God’s word. Then you will know what is good, pleasing and perfect to God’s will and able to test yourself to know that you are not following the ways of this world.

We do this by examining ourselves to see if we are in Christ by capturing our every thought and make it obedient to Jesus.

As a disciple of God’s word your mind should be renewing and transforming to have a Godly viewpoint and not one of this world.

You can tell you are maturing when you listen to someone’s teaching and you discern its truth by the Holy Spirit recalling Scripture to you and not just because the teacher spoke it.

You can no longer assume or take for granted that because some says I am a Christian they are a Christian, nor calling themselves a pastor make them a pastor, or a church is the body of Christ obedient to Jesus as its head. You need to know first if you are a Christian then you will know if someone is one also. You should know that being a pastor is a gift and not a title. And a church is the body of Christ when they are united in having one faith in the knowledge of Jesus.

Romans 12: 3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

A living sacrifice never measures their faith with another person’s faith being better or worse. God has given all believers a measure of faith based on their ability and not yours.

Jesus wants our faith to be humble and lovingly obey him by encouraging, strengthening and comforting believers to help each other grow in our faith in Jesus.

Romans 12: 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

A church must be a living sacrifice using the spiritual gifts Jesus has given its members with the purpose to become one body in Christ that loves Jesus first and each other the way Jesus has loved them.

Our spiritual gift is given through God’s grace with no favoritism so never treat one gift being of greater worth than another but with equal importance to Jesus.

Paul said there are certain gifts we need to honor with respect.

1 Thessalonians 5: 12 Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work.

Those who have the gift of working hard in the Lord, those who shepherd you to follow only Jesus and elders who admonish you to remain true to Jesus we need respect because of their love for Jesus and love for you to be with Jesus forever.

We should not seek a spiritual gift to please ourselves but seek gifts that will edify the church which Paul said was prophecy.

Never seek a spiritual gift to reassure you are saved because now you no longer trust salvation by faith in Jesus. Paul said 1 Corinthians 13 spiritual gifts not done out of love for Jesus has no worth to him. Use your gift to show your love for Jesus and not to please yourself or to know you are saved but for the common good of the church.

Paul gives a list of spiritual acts of worship we can live daily and know they are good and pleasing to Jesus to show our love for him.

Romans 12: 9 Love must be sincere.

Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.

Honor one another above yourselves.

11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

16 Live in harmony with one another.

Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.

Do not be conceited.

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil.

Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.

18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.

20 On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

If you want to follow Jesus deny yourself pick up your cross by being a living sacrifice by following Jesus’ teachings as spiritual acts of worship to God.

Your brother in Christ, Glenn.