The hardest crowd to speak to...

Garth Heckman The David Alliance [email protected]      I have spoken to groups of 20k, I have spoken to a 1000 dentists, I have spoke to professional sports teams, I have spoken to kindergartners and I have even spoken to men in prison… like Jeffery Dahmer… but nothing could have prepared me for that day…     INTRO: I stood in front of a group of boys who were all under 18 and were in prison. They were hardened criminals… in for stabbing, shooting, killing, raping… You are not in here because you made a bad choice, you are not in here because you got caught, you are not in here because you chose the dangerous path… You are not in here because you chose the hard way You are in here because you chose the easy way!      The ultimate choice!  LUke 9: 23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. NASB       Chew on this: Your health right now is because you chose hard or you chose easy… your feelings. Your finances - you chose your feelings or you chose the cross. Your marriage to your spouse - you chose your feelings or you chose the cross.  Your spiritual depth - feelings or cross. EVERYTHING IN YOUR LIFE… INCLUDING YOUR ATTITUDE IS FEELINGS OR CROSS.   *TO be the BOSS you gotta choose the CROSS!      CROSS - what does it mean?    Context: In 1st-century Roman culture, this phrase meant carrying the instrument of one's own execution, signifying absolute surrender and a, willingness to die to one's own desires. The Cost: It means putting aside personal ambition, comfort, and, if necessary, one's own life to follow Jesus. The Reward: Jesus contrasts this by saying, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it”.   Daily Application: It is not just about extreme sacrifice, but daily choosing obedience, patience over anger, and selflessness over comfort.        In the first-century Jewish context under Roman occupation, the cross symbolized the most degrading, torturous death imaginable—not a mere "burden" like a difficult circumstance (a common modern misinterpretation). Jesus' audience would have immediately understood "take up your cross" as a vivid metaphor for being willing to face execution, shame, and total loss of life for His sake. It was shocking and countercultural: no one "took up a cross" expecting to survive or gain worldly power.   Cross = shame, guilt, suffering, rejection,