Luke 9:18-27

One time, Jesus was praying in a quiet place with his disciples nearby. He went to them and asked, “Who do people think I am?” They answered, “Some are convinced you’re the prophet John who has returned. Others say you are Elijah, or perhaps one of the Jewish prophets brought back from the dead.” Jesus asked them, “But who do you believe that I am?” Peter said, “You are the Anointed One, God’s Messiah!” Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell this to anyone yet, saying, “The Son of Man is destined to experience great suffering and face complete rejection by the Jewish leaders and religious hierarchy. He will be killed and raised back to life on the third day.” Jesus said to all of his followers, “If you truly desire to be my disciple, you must disown your life completely, embrace my ‘cross’ as your own, and surrender to my ways. For if you choose self-sacrifice, giving up your lives for my glory, you will discover true life. But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves, you will lose what you try to keep. Even if you gained all the wealth and power of this world, and all the things it could offer you, yet lost your soul in the process, what good is that? So why then are you ashamed of being my disciple? Are you ashamed of the revelation-truth I give to you? “I, the Son of Man, will one day return in my radiant brightness, with the holy angels and in the splendor and majesty of my Father. On that day I will be ashamed of everyone who has been ashamed of me. “I promise you this: there are some of you standing here right now who will not die until you have witnessed the presence and the power of God’s kingdom realm.”