Mark 8:34

Plain English Version

Then Jesus called out to all the people that were there. He called them to come up close, with his followers, and he said to them all, “If any of you wants to follow me properly, you have to stop thinking only about yourself. You have to live like me. You have to be ready to die, yes, die like a criminal on a cross, just like I will die.

Cross References

Matthew 10:38

If you want to follow me properly, you have to stop thinking only about yourself. You have to live like me. You have to be ready to die, yes, to die like a criminal on a cross, just like me.

Mark 10:21

Jesus looked at him, and he loved him. And Jesus said, “There is still one more thing you have to do. Go and sell all your things to get some money, and give all that money to people that haven’t got anything. After you do that, God will be really happy with you. And later, in heaven, he will give you lots of other good things. So go and do what I told you, then come with me, and follow me.”

Mark 7:14

Then Jesus called out to all the people to come and listen to him. He said, “Listen to me, everyone, and try to understand what I’m saying.

Luke 14:33

Then Jesus said, “It is the same for you. If you want to be one of my followers, you have to think about it. You see, your life will be hard. You will have to leave everything you own, and then you can follow me.” (We have not yet translated 14:34-35. You can read those messages in Mark 9:50; Matthew 5:13.)

John 10:27

I know the people that are my sheep. They listen to my voice, and they believe what I say, and they follow me.

John 19:17

Then the soldiers got a big wooden cross, and they forced Jesus to carry it out of the city to a place called Skull Place. In the Jewish language, the name of that place is Golgotha.

Acts 14:22

In each of those towns they talked to the Christians and said, “Keep on believing in Jesus, and don’t turn away from him. Some people will keep on making big trouble for all of us Christians, but don’t worry, Jesus is with us. We are in God’s family now.”

Romans 6:6

We know that they nailed Jesus Christ to that cross, and it was like they nailed a part of us there too, that old part of us that makes us do wrong things all the time. It got nailed to that cross with Jesus, and it is dead. So now it doesn’t have any power over us. It can’t make us do bad things.

Romans 8:17

We joined up with Jesus Christ, God’s son, so we are part of God’s family now, and we will get some of the good things that God gives to his son. But people gave Jesus a lot of trouble, and they will give us a lot of trouble too, because we belong to him. Yes, we will get trouble, and we will get good things too.

1 Corinthians 15:31

Every day, I worry that somebody might kill me. My Christian friends, I’m very happy that you are trusting our leader Jesus Christ, so I’m telling you this.

1 Corinthians 8:13

So, you see, this is what I think. I reckon every other Christian is like a brother or a sister to me, so I will not eat anything that gets them to go wrong. If something that I want to eat might get another Christian to do something wrong, I will not eat it. Never.

1 Corinthians 9:19

You know, I’m a free man and nobody can force me to work for them. But I work for everyone without pay, so that a lot of people will listen to me and believe in Jesus Christ.

Galatians 5:24

You see, sometimes doing bad things makes people feel good. But people that belong to Jesus Christ stop doing those bad things. That bad part inside them might make them feel like doing those bad things, but they don’t take any notice of it any more. It is like they nailed it to a cross and killed it.

Galatians 6:14

But I never want to say anything to get other people to say I am good. The only good one for me is Jesus Christ. He died for me on the cross. And when I think about him, the things of this world mean nothing to me, and I am nothing to this world.

Philippians 3:10

And I really want to know Jesus Christ properly. And I want God’s power to be in my life, the same power he used to make Jesus alive again. And I even want to share the pain that Jesus got. I will even let his enemies kill me, like they killed him.

Philippians 3:7

I used to think that if I lived like that, God will like me. But then I found out the true message about Jesus, and I knew that I was wrong. Those things didn’t help at all. Now that I know Jesus Christ properly, I reckon all those things are useless.

Colossians 1:24

Yes, I tell people the message about Jesus. Some people don’t like it, and they give me trouble. But that doesn’t matter, that message helps people that believe it. You believe it, so it helps you. So I am happy, and I keep on telling it. You know that Jesus Christ got a lot of trouble. In the same way, I get a lot of trouble. But I want to keep on helping his people. They are the church. They are like the body of Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3:5

So now you have to stop doing bad things. If that bad part inside you wants you to do something bad, don’t do it. It’s like you have to kill that old bad part inside you. Don’t listen to it. Don’t sleep with anyone that is not your wife or your husband, as if you are married to them. And don’t think bad, dirty thoughts. Don’t think about doing bad things. Don’t be greedy, wanting lots of money and things. Greedy people respect money and things more than they respect God.

2 Thessalonians 3:11

You see, somebody told us that there are some lazy people there with you that never want to do any work. They just go around talking about people in a bad way and messing up other people’s lives.

Titus 2:12

He teaches us to say no to the bad things of this world. He tells us not to live a wild life. He tells us to control ourselves. He tells us to do good things that make him happy.

1 Peter 4:1

Remember that Jesus Christ got trouble while he lived on earth. Well, you will get trouble too, so get ready for it and don’t get upset about it. If you get trouble because you belong to Jesus, that shows that you want to live God’s way and don’t do bad things any more.

1 Peter 4:13

You are getting trouble just like Jesus got trouble, so be happy. Don’t be sad. Then on the day that Jesus comes back and shows everyone that he is really great, you will be very happy.

2 Peter 1:14

Our leader, Jesus Christ, told me that soon I will die. He will take me out of this body.