What would you risk your life for? Said differently, what is of ultimate importance to you? Hear our missionary, Luke, discuss his experience in this week’s sermon.

Taking Up Your Cross Daily: A Missionary's Story of Faith

Taking up your cross daily is not a metaphor for a hard Monday. It means placing every claim on your life under Jesus's claim on it. It means trusting that following Jesus is still good even when it costs everything.

A missionary who goes by the name Luke recently stood in the sanctuary at Grace Anglican Community and answered that question with a true story instead of a theory. Luke and his wife, Abby, are not their real names. For the safety of the people they serve overseas, the church keeps their identities hidden even in the sermon recording.

What they shared was still fully true: a rooftop in Khartoum, Sudan, a civil war that began three years ago, and a walk to take out the trash that turned into the most frightening minutes of their lives. Taking up your cross daily, Luke said, does not always look like danger. Sometimes it looks like staying faithful in a job, a home, or a season that feels ordinary and unfinished.

What Does Faith Through Suffering Actually Look Like?

Faith through suffering is easy to talk about and hard to live. Luke did not describe it as a feeling of constant peace. He described a rooftop in Khartoum where, if you looked left, you saw a market with fresh bread, the smell of coffee and incense, and a hospitable Ethiopian neighbor who ran a small restaurant from her home.

Look right from that same rooftop, and the picture changed. Three years ago, civil war broke out in Sudan, a war Luke called forgotten because most of the world has stopped paying attention. Faith through suffering meant living without electricity in 110 degree heat and rationing one meal a day between a large family.

The hardest moment came on an ordinary walk to take out the trash the morning before an evacuation. Luke heard an explosion, then another, each one louder and closer, while his wife and children huddled on the floor of their apartment praying he was still alive. He does not describe that day as a triumph; he describes it as traumatic and, at the very same time, miraculous, because he watched God provide at every step.

Faith through suffering does not require a war zone to be real. It can start today with one honest admission: naming a hard season out loud to God instead of carrying it alone.

You do not have to figure this out alone, and Grace Anglican's Bible studies groups offer a steady place to keep asking, so join us here.

What Does Cross and Sacrifice Really Cost You?

Cross and sacrifice sit at the center of the Gospel passage Luke preached from. Jesus said that whoever loves father or mother more than him is not worthy of him, and whoever does not take up his cross and follow him is not worthy of him either. Luke explained that family is often the first and most precious place people find their identity, which is exactly why Jesus names it first.

Cross and sacrifice do not mean God is against family or ordinary life. Luke was careful here. He said some people are called to take real risks for the kingdom of God, while others follow Jesus by simply persevering in the monotonous, ordinary places where life happens: a school, a job, a home.

The line that landed hardest was simple: if anything competes for our allegiance to Christ, we are giving him our leftovers instead of our best. Cross and sacrifice ask a specific question of every reader, not only missionaries overseas. What are you loving more than Jesus right now, and are you willing to name it?

A small, honest step today might be writing down that one thing, whatever it is, and asking God to help you hold it loosely.

When you are ready to talk through what following Jesus actually costs, Grace Anglican's Our Beliefs page lays that foundation out plainly and without pressure, so read more here.

What Does It Mean to Be Worthy of Jesus?

Worthy of Jesus is the only question Luke said actually matters once the theology is stripped away. Worthy of what, he asked the congregation. Your life, your family, your time, your talents, your resources.

Luke traced the question of being worthy of Jesus back to a twelve-year-old boy who was not raised in a ministry home. He was the son of a truck driver and later spent thirteen years as a construction worker. After a Sunday service, his great uncle, a furniture-company worker named Uncle Von, walked up in his flannel shirt and said only, "Luke, God has something for you to do."

That was enough to change the direction of his entire life. Being worthy of Jesus is answered less by grand gestures and more by quiet attention. Luke's advice was to position yourself to hear the Holy Spirit, including standing near other believers who are already following Jesus, because God may choose to speak through them.

Luke closed by asking the congregation to picture standing on their own rooftop, looking left and right, and being honest about which side they see. A simple next step today is to name, out loud or on paper, one thing you are still unsure is worthy of Jesus, and bring that thing to him directly.

What Does Matthew 10 Teach About Positioning Yourself to Hear God?

Matthew 10 is the passage Luke preached from. The verse he quoted teaches that whoever does not take up his cross and follow Jesus is not worthy of him, and whoever loses his life for Jesus's sake will find it (Matthew 10:37-39). Luke treated that as a daily posture rather than a decision made once.

He named a few practical ways to position yourself to hear God clearly, drawn from his own story and the pattern of Scripture.

• Hold your hard memories honestly instead of avoiding them, naming both the joy and the pain in the same breath
• Keep praying and asking others to pray, since Luke said his family saw specific answers in real time
• Surround yourself with people who are visibly following Jesus, since God may choose to speak through them
• Stay listening for a small, unremarkable moment, the way a twelve-year-old heard eight words that changed everything

None of these require a crisis to practice. They are just as available in an ordinary week in Katy as they were on a rooftop in Khartoum.

Where Can You Bring These Questions in Katy, Texas?

Questions about suffering, sacrifice, and whether you are truly worthy of Jesus rarely get resolved in a single sermon, and they were never meant to be carried alone. Whether you are in Katy, out toward Fulshear, or coming in from the greater Houston area, plenty of neighbors are asking these same questions. Fort Bend and Harris County are both home to people quietly wrestling with the same rooftop, wondering which direction to look.

That is simply where this community happens to be. The invitation is not to arrive with it figured out. It is to show up as you are and keep asking.

Taking Up Your Cross Daily: Why the Question Never Goes Away

Luke's sermon never resolved into a tidy formula. It ended where it began, with a rooftop, a real war, a real family, and one unavoidable question: is he worthy? Luke's answer, offered by a man who spent thirteen years pouring concrete before ever pouring himself into ministry, was a simple and hard-won yes.

There is a place for you at Grace Anglican Community this Sunday, and there is no expectation to have it figured out first, so plan your visit here.

If you would rather ask a question first, in your own time and without pressure, reach out here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do I trust God through trauma and suffering?

A: Start by naming both the joy and the pain in a hard memory rather than avoiding it, the way Luke described his own counseling process. Trust grows less from having answers and more from watching God provide in small, specific ways over time.

Q: What does it mean to take up your cross?

A: It means letting Jesus's claim on your life outweigh every other claim, including family, comfort, and safety. For some that looks like a dramatic risk; for most it looks like staying faithful in an ordinary job, home, or season.

Q: Is Jesus worthy of my whole life?

A: Luke's sermon argues yes, pointing to his own family's experience of civil war and evacuation as proof that God is trustworthy even in the worst circumstances. The invitation is to test that claim honestly rather than accept it blindly.

Q: How can I start hearing God's voice more clearly?

A: Luke suggested positioning yourself near other believers who are visibly following Jesus, since God often speaks through ordinary people rather than dramatic signs. Consistent prayer and honest reflection on your own life story also help.

Q: What does Grace Anglican Community believe about following Jesus?

A: Grace Anglican teaches that following Jesus is a lifelong, daily posture rather than a single decision, rooted in Scripture and the historic Christian faith. Their Our Beliefs page lays out this foundation in plain language for anyone exploring it for the first time.