WEBVTT 00:00:01.899 --> 00:00:04.519 And he said to all, if anyone would come after 00:00:04.519 --> 00:00:07.960 me, let him deny himself and take up his cross 00:00:07.960 --> 00:00:11.919 daily and follow me. For whoever would save his 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:14.240 life will lose it, but whoever loses his life 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:17.480 for my sake will save it. For what does it profit 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:22.960 a man if he gains the whole world and loses or 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:26.600 forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me 00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:29.160 and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be 00:00:29.160 --> 00:00:32.960 ashamed. When he comes in his glory and the glory 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:36.240 of the father and of the holy angels. But I tell 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:39.579 you truly, there are some standing here who will 00:00:39.579 --> 00:00:43.820 not taste death until they see the kingdom of 00:00:43.820 --> 00:00:49.640 God. Let's pray. Father God, I thank you for 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:53.380 today. I thank you for the salvation that we 00:00:53.380 --> 00:00:57.640 have in Christ. I thank you for how good you 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:00.750 have been to us, how good you are. I thank you 00:01:00.750 --> 00:01:03.310 for the way that you work in and through our 00:01:03.310 --> 00:01:10.090 lives. But God, I also, I want to say sorry for 00:01:10.090 --> 00:01:13.150 the ways that I have lived in this life, knowing 00:01:13.150 --> 00:01:15.390 how good you are, knowing how much you've done, 00:01:15.590 --> 00:01:20.109 knowing how much you desire to be with me. And 00:01:20.109 --> 00:01:24.090 yet there are days where I don't think about 00:01:24.090 --> 00:01:27.489 the life that I'm supposed to live because of 00:01:27.489 --> 00:01:31.719 you. And so, God, I pray that this morning we 00:01:31.719 --> 00:01:34.799 would examine ourselves, that we would find ourselves 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:39.760 where we are, what we've done, what we haven't 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:43.680 done, what we've neglected to say, where we've 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:47.040 neglected to go, who we've neglected to be. God, 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:49.340 I pray that we would see that there is a higher 00:01:49.340 --> 00:01:52.959 calling for all of us and that there is something 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:55.019 more that we're supposed to be doing and saying 00:01:55.019 --> 00:01:58.030 and being. God, help us to see that this morning. 00:01:58.109 --> 00:02:00.989 Help us to see it and then to make the appropriate 00:02:00.989 --> 00:02:03.269 changes. We love you. We praise you. And it's 00:02:03.269 --> 00:02:07.209 in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Whenever I'm interested 00:02:07.209 --> 00:02:10.229 in buying something, the first thing I look at, 00:02:10.270 --> 00:02:14.789 hopefully you do the same thing, is the cost. 00:02:15.530 --> 00:02:17.969 I look to see how much it costs. If I want to 00:02:17.969 --> 00:02:22.009 buy a new vehicle, if I want to buy a... a new 00:02:22.009 --> 00:02:25.530 toy or a new phone, a new gadget, whatever it 00:02:25.530 --> 00:02:29.330 is, I look at the cost. I look at how much that's 00:02:29.330 --> 00:02:31.870 going to cost, and I'll ask myself some questions. 00:02:31.969 --> 00:02:34.469 You know, if it's too high, I immediately leave 00:02:34.469 --> 00:02:37.430 it because, well, there are some prices that 00:02:37.430 --> 00:02:39.389 you see on the price tag, and you just say, yeah, 00:02:39.409 --> 00:02:43.930 that's out of my tax bracket, right? If it's 00:02:43.930 --> 00:02:46.669 reasonable, and by reasonable I mean, you know, 00:02:46.689 --> 00:02:50.699 I probably could pay for it. Maybe not the wisest 00:02:50.699 --> 00:02:53.060 thing, but, you know, I may consider it. I'll 00:02:53.060 --> 00:02:56.500 weigh if I think it's worth it. But then there 00:02:56.500 --> 00:02:59.099 are some things that they don't they don't leave 00:02:59.099 --> 00:03:02.960 you a choice that you don't really get to decide 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:04.840 if you're going to pay for it or not. You know, 00:03:04.860 --> 00:03:07.280 you ever have a hole in your roof and there's 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:08.860 water coming through and you don't you don't 00:03:08.860 --> 00:03:10.500 get to decide if you're going to fix that. Right. 00:03:10.580 --> 00:03:13.400 You just have to fix it. They see goes out in 00:03:13.400 --> 00:03:15.539 the middle of the summer. It's 90 degrees outside. 00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:18.039 You don't have a choice. You just got to fix 00:03:18.039 --> 00:03:22.150 it. There are some things that don't leave you 00:03:22.150 --> 00:03:24.129 a choice, or at least they shouldn't. Back in 00:03:24.129 --> 00:03:28.650 2021, I went to the dentist for just a routine 00:03:28.650 --> 00:03:34.930 cleaning. I hadn't been to the dentist in a while 00:03:34.930 --> 00:03:37.189 at that point, so they do all the exams and everything 00:03:37.189 --> 00:03:40.650 and the x -rays and blah, blah. The dentist comes 00:03:40.650 --> 00:03:43.689 back in and says, Mr. Rillian, you need a filling. 00:03:45.259 --> 00:03:47.680 You know, whatever. So he he goes through the 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:51.580 potential harm of not getting this cavity filled. 00:03:51.900 --> 00:03:55.560 And and he tells me the cost. He tells me what 00:03:55.560 --> 00:03:57.780 it would look like if I didn't get a field and 00:03:57.780 --> 00:04:01.039 all this stuff. And he lets me decide. Horrible 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:03.659 decision by the dentist, because I thought I'm 00:04:03.659 --> 00:04:06.120 going to save some money. I'm going to save some 00:04:06.120 --> 00:04:07.860 money because, quite frankly, we were broke at 00:04:07.860 --> 00:04:10.400 the time. This is like fresh married Donovan 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:13.759 and Eliza. We've got a kid on the way and we 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:16.810 don't have. The money to just be throwing it 00:04:16.810 --> 00:04:19.069 away on things like fillings, you know, like 00:04:19.069 --> 00:04:22.470 I said, throwing it away. And so I was like, 00:04:22.490 --> 00:04:23.910 no, I think I'm going to wait. I'm not going 00:04:23.910 --> 00:04:26.269 to do that. So we're going to fast forward four 00:04:26.269 --> 00:04:30.129 years. It's February of 2025. And I am chewing 00:04:30.129 --> 00:04:32.250 on some food. And I realize it kind of hurts 00:04:32.250 --> 00:04:36.410 to chew on the right side of my mouth. And then 00:04:36.410 --> 00:04:38.970 it progresses to where drinking hurts. And then 00:04:38.970 --> 00:04:40.730 it progresses to where I could just be sitting 00:04:40.730 --> 00:04:42.930 there and my tooth would start hurting. So I 00:04:42.930 --> 00:04:46.009 go back to the dentist. Somewhere in May, I think, 00:04:46.029 --> 00:04:48.470 was when I went to the dentist. And not only 00:04:48.470 --> 00:04:52.509 do I need a filling now, I need a root canal. 00:04:54.089 --> 00:04:58.110 And something nobody ever told me is that insurance, 00:04:58.370 --> 00:05:01.250 no matter how good it is, does not cover much 00:05:01.250 --> 00:05:04.129 for a root canal. And then it doesn't cover much 00:05:04.129 --> 00:05:08.009 for the crown. So I'm sitting there and I'm like, 00:05:08.069 --> 00:05:09.850 OK, well, what's that going to cost? I'm not 00:05:09.850 --> 00:05:11.329 going to tell you the exact number. Let's just 00:05:11.329 --> 00:05:14.069 say it was at least four times what it would 00:05:14.069 --> 00:05:17.069 have cost me to just get the filling four years 00:05:17.069 --> 00:05:23.290 ago. I waited way too long. And I didn't do what 00:05:23.290 --> 00:05:25.509 I needed to when I was supposed to. And it ended 00:05:25.509 --> 00:05:28.649 up costing me thousands of dollars more than 00:05:28.649 --> 00:05:32.189 it would have if I had just listened when I should 00:05:32.189 --> 00:05:35.769 have. And the truth is, some things in life give 00:05:35.769 --> 00:05:40.480 you time to decide until they don't. You can 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:43.899 choose today not to do the thing that you feel 00:05:43.899 --> 00:05:47.540 called to. But one day that's going to catch 00:05:47.540 --> 00:05:49.699 up to you. We saw that with Jonah. It didn't 00:05:49.699 --> 00:05:52.500 take very long for Jonah before his neglecting 00:05:52.500 --> 00:05:57.759 the calling caught up to him. And the thing we're 00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:00.300 going to talk about today that we can't wait 00:06:00.300 --> 00:06:04.069 on is discipleship. Being a disciple of Christ, 00:06:04.209 --> 00:06:07.509 being a follower, being a student, being a disciple 00:06:07.509 --> 00:06:11.990 of Christ does not wait. It cannot wait. It can't 00:06:11.990 --> 00:06:14.829 take a backseat. You can't say, well, I don't 00:06:14.829 --> 00:06:16.730 really want to do that today. I may wait until 00:06:16.730 --> 00:06:18.910 next year. I'm going to wait until I'm older. 00:06:19.009 --> 00:06:20.170 I'm going to wait until I'm wiser. I'm going 00:06:20.170 --> 00:06:21.829 to wait until I have a little bit more money. 00:06:21.889 --> 00:06:24.649 I'm going to wait until responsibility actually 00:06:24.649 --> 00:06:28.209 means something to me. Discipleship doesn't. 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:30.839 Wait, or at least it shouldn't, because at some 00:06:30.839 --> 00:06:34.420 point, every follower of Jesus has to decide. 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:40.199 Will I pay the price to follow Jesus fully or 00:06:40.199 --> 00:06:43.800 will I settle for something cheaper? I can remember 00:06:43.800 --> 00:06:47.899 when I was nine years old, I'm at camp and I 00:06:47.899 --> 00:06:50.420 hear this lesson and I go forward. I want to 00:06:50.420 --> 00:06:52.639 be baptized and I study with my youth minister 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:55.959 and we talk about it and we talk about receiving 00:06:55.959 --> 00:07:00.079 salvation. One thing, and I love him to death, 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:01.759 and I don't think he meant anything by this. 00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:04.819 It just didn't happen. We didn't talk about discipleship. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:07.839 So I got baptized at nine years old. I didn't 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:12.139 become a disciple of Christ until I was 15. Now, 00:07:12.139 --> 00:07:16.600 what happens to me or to you if we give our life 00:07:16.600 --> 00:07:18.699 to Christ today and we say, well, I'm going to 00:07:18.699 --> 00:07:23.620 wait until I become a disciple. And in the time 00:07:23.620 --> 00:07:26.620 that we're waiting, we don't get the chance. 00:07:27.879 --> 00:07:33.319 To become the disciple. All we did was get baptized. 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:36.079 And we came out of the water and we just lived 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:42.300 life the same way. Discipleship can't wait. I've 00:07:42.300 --> 00:07:44.060 got four points that I want to go through this 00:07:44.060 --> 00:07:47.839 morning. And in each of them, I hope that it 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:49.360 challenges us with something. We're going to 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:51.600 look at Luke chapter nine, what we just read 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:52.959 from, but we're also going to look at Luke chapter 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:55.420 14 a little bit. And the first point that I have 00:07:55.420 --> 00:07:59.720 for you is the call comes with a cost. The second 00:07:59.720 --> 00:08:02.839 point is consider before committing. The third 00:08:02.839 --> 00:08:04.779 one is devotion to Christ above all. And the 00:08:04.779 --> 00:08:08.500 fourth one is discipleship could cost everything. 00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:12.459 Notice I didn't say will cost everything. The 00:08:12.459 --> 00:08:16.180 first point, the call comes with a cost. Looking 00:08:16.180 --> 00:08:19.019 at Luke chapter 9, verses 23 through 24. If anyone 00:08:19.019 --> 00:08:22.540 would come after me, let him deny himself and 00:08:22.540 --> 00:08:26.699 take up his cross daily and follow me. See, Jesus 00:08:26.699 --> 00:08:30.459 isn't asking for fans. He's not asking for followers, 00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:33.440 at least followers in names only. What he's calling 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:36.179 us to do is to die to ourselves every single 00:08:36.179 --> 00:08:38.500 day. When he says you should take up your cross. 00:08:38.840 --> 00:08:41.559 What he's saying is, is take up this thing that 00:08:41.559 --> 00:08:44.500 is ruthless. Take up this thing that brings pain 00:08:44.500 --> 00:08:48.539 and suffering and all it knows is harm. Take 00:08:48.539 --> 00:08:53.820 that up. Bear it daily. It's not something that 00:08:53.820 --> 00:08:55.620 you get to pick and choose when you're going 00:08:55.620 --> 00:08:58.100 to do it. I'm going to be a disciple today, but 00:08:58.100 --> 00:09:00.620 tomorrow I'm just going to live my life. It's 00:09:00.620 --> 00:09:02.500 not one of those things that you get to just 00:09:02.500 --> 00:09:05.480 pick and choose when and how and what you're 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:09.210 going to do with it. It's not something you just 00:09:09.210 --> 00:09:12.649 wear around your neck or you paint on your eye 00:09:12.649 --> 00:09:15.230 black for the football game. It is a thing that 00:09:15.230 --> 00:09:19.129 you take with you every single day. If you are 00:09:19.129 --> 00:09:23.950 a disciple of Christ, it is a daily habit. It's 00:09:23.950 --> 00:09:26.429 not something that happens at baptism. It's not 00:09:26.429 --> 00:09:29.070 just something that you come forward in the emotional 00:09:29.070 --> 00:09:31.789 moments after a worship service. It is a daily 00:09:31.789 --> 00:09:36.370 surrender. It's not just a change in my name 00:09:36.370 --> 00:09:39.570 or my title. It is a change in my lifestyle. 00:09:41.570 --> 00:09:46.350 I no longer belong to myself. I belong to Jesus. 00:09:46.450 --> 00:09:48.850 And we have to ask ourselves this question. What 00:09:48.850 --> 00:09:54.629 does it cost? What does that cost include? Well, 00:09:54.730 --> 00:09:57.429 it includes some things that we really value, 00:09:57.549 --> 00:10:03.139 right? Like comfort. It requires you. To say, 00:10:03.179 --> 00:10:07.860 I'm going to maybe pull out of what I feel safe 00:10:07.860 --> 00:10:11.340 in. I'm going to walk away from what is familiar. 00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:14.879 I'm going to stop doing the things that I like. 00:10:15.220 --> 00:10:17.299 I'm going to stop doing the things that I know 00:10:17.299 --> 00:10:21.320 best. You know, I can remember when I was in 00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:24.759 high school. Before, like I said, I became a 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:28.000 disciple at 15. So this is sophomore year of 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.419 high school. Well, before that, I had a mouth. 00:10:32.009 --> 00:10:35.090 That like to say what it like to say. You know 00:10:35.090 --> 00:10:38.570 what I mean. And I had some fists that like to 00:10:38.570 --> 00:10:41.649 do what fists like to do. And I was somebody 00:10:41.649 --> 00:10:44.730 that felt comfortable in what I knew. And what 00:10:44.730 --> 00:10:46.629 I knew was say what you want and do what you 00:10:46.629 --> 00:10:50.450 want. And so at 15, I start realizing that I've 00:10:50.450 --> 00:10:52.970 got to make some changes. And so two of those 00:10:52.970 --> 00:10:54.769 things that I was comfortable with. And two of 00:10:54.769 --> 00:10:57.549 those things that I knew really well. I had to 00:10:57.549 --> 00:11:01.559 let go of. And that wasn't easy. It wasn't easy 00:11:01.559 --> 00:11:03.519 when somebody said something to me that I didn't 00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:06.100 like for me to not say what I wanted to say back 00:11:06.100 --> 00:11:08.580 to them. It wasn't easy for me to not do what 00:11:08.580 --> 00:11:11.659 I wanted to do. And even today, if you pull out 00:11:11.659 --> 00:11:14.000 in front of me in traffic, I may revert back 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:18.940 to old habits. I don't like that person. And 00:11:18.940 --> 00:11:22.220 I try to leave him in the water. But sometimes 00:11:22.220 --> 00:11:26.299 the remnants come up with us, right? Because 00:11:26.299 --> 00:11:28.929 they're comfortable. But being a disciple, being 00:11:28.929 --> 00:11:31.990 someone that says I have murdered my flesh is 00:11:31.990 --> 00:11:34.549 someone that says I'm going to let go of what's 00:11:34.549 --> 00:11:41.509 comfortable. It also costs you your plans. Being 00:11:41.509 --> 00:11:47.549 a disciple may redirect your dreams. It may reshape 00:11:47.549 --> 00:11:54.070 your goals. And sometimes it will even make you 00:11:54.070 --> 00:11:57.919 take on a new career. It may move you to new 00:11:57.919 --> 00:12:00.679 places. It may bring you to new people groups. 00:12:00.740 --> 00:12:03.080 It may make you do things and say things that 00:12:03.080 --> 00:12:05.360 you didn't want to, that you had never planned 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:08.899 for your life. But because of Christ, it changes 00:12:08.899 --> 00:12:11.960 everything about you, including your plans. It 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:18.659 also may just change your relationships. You 00:12:18.659 --> 00:12:23.259 may face rejection. There may come points where 00:12:23.259 --> 00:12:25.559 because of the lifestyle that you've chosen to 00:12:25.559 --> 00:12:28.480 take on, there's a rub and there's a tension 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:32.139 in your friendships. There may come loneliness 00:12:32.139 --> 00:12:35.139 because the place that you're in doesn't exactly 00:12:35.139 --> 00:12:38.259 fit the lifestyle that you're wanting to lead. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:40.940 And so your family, they start to walk away and 00:12:40.940 --> 00:12:43.039 your friends, they start to walk away. And now 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:46.120 you're trying to figure out who you are and who 00:12:46.120 --> 00:12:51.409 you belong to and where you fit in. It may cost 00:12:51.409 --> 00:12:55.590 you your reputation. Faithfulness to Christ might 00:12:55.590 --> 00:12:58.129 get you labeled in a certain way. It might get 00:12:58.129 --> 00:13:02.789 you in a place of being misunderstood. Because 00:13:02.789 --> 00:13:06.049 now the world doesn't understand why you live 00:13:06.049 --> 00:13:08.730 and why you speak the way you do. Why you make 00:13:08.730 --> 00:13:10.730 the choices you do. Why you don't do certain 00:13:10.730 --> 00:13:12.710 things with your money because you have other 00:13:12.710 --> 00:13:16.850 responsibilities for it. And it may cost you 00:13:16.850 --> 00:13:21.960 your habits. See, discipleship calls you to leave 00:13:21.960 --> 00:13:26.139 behind sin, to leave behind self -centeredness, 00:13:26.299 --> 00:13:30.039 to leave behind laziness. And here is, I think, 00:13:30.039 --> 00:13:33.519 the key to all of our struggles in life. Being 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:36.840 a disciple of Christ calls you to leave behind 00:13:36.840 --> 00:13:41.179 your pride. Everything that you value about yourself. 00:13:41.559 --> 00:13:43.879 Everything that you feel confident in. Everything 00:13:43.879 --> 00:13:47.120 you feel good about. About you. About yourself. 00:13:47.399 --> 00:13:49.419 About what you do. And about what you say. And 00:13:49.419 --> 00:13:52.679 where you go. And what you are. Everything about 00:13:52.679 --> 00:13:56.379 that gets left behind. Because your pride is 00:13:56.379 --> 00:13:59.139 no longer in you. It's in Christ. You know that 00:13:59.139 --> 00:14:01.740 it's not your talent, your ability, your charisma 00:14:01.740 --> 00:14:04.759 that gets you far in life. It is Christ. It's 00:14:04.759 --> 00:14:07.399 not anything you're capable of or anything that 00:14:07.399 --> 00:14:10.980 you are equipped with. It is Christ. Being a 00:14:10.980 --> 00:14:15.759 disciple causes you to leave behind your habits. 00:14:17.820 --> 00:14:22.080 Sometimes the cost is dramatic. Sometimes it's 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:24.679 really drastic and it's something that when you 00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:27.639 do it, everybody notices and you notice this 00:14:27.639 --> 00:14:30.779 big, massive shift in your life. But other times 00:14:30.779 --> 00:14:34.360 the cost is just daily obedience when nobody 00:14:34.360 --> 00:14:38.840 is watching. And here's the truth. I mentioned 00:14:38.840 --> 00:14:41.419 the cross necklace earlier. The cross isn't just 00:14:41.419 --> 00:14:44.980 a decoration. For so many of us, we put crosses 00:14:44.980 --> 00:14:47.179 on our walls in our homes. We get it tattooed 00:14:47.179 --> 00:14:50.519 on us. We wear the cross necklace and we use 00:14:50.519 --> 00:14:53.399 it as this decoration to say who we belong to. 00:14:53.539 --> 00:14:55.879 But really what the cross is, is it's a death 00:14:55.879 --> 00:15:00.679 sentence. It is a symbol of what we are and whose 00:15:00.679 --> 00:15:03.799 we are. It is a death sentence for the old me 00:15:03.799 --> 00:15:09.179 and a reminder of who I am now. And this is why. 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:12.820 I bring up point to consider the cost before 00:15:12.820 --> 00:15:17.799 you commit. See, in Luke chapter 14, Jesus brings 00:15:17.799 --> 00:15:21.639 up this cost of discipleship topic again. And 00:15:21.639 --> 00:15:24.039 in verses 28 through 30, what he says is for 00:15:24.039 --> 00:15:26.620 which of you desiring to build a tower does not 00:15:26.620 --> 00:15:32.259 first sit down and count the cost. You ever sign 00:15:32.259 --> 00:15:35.120 up for something and then after the fact, find 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:37.960 out what your responsibilities are or you sign 00:15:37.960 --> 00:15:40.559 up for something and. Then after the fact, you 00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:42.559 find out exactly what you signed up for. Any 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:44.659 married people realize, don't raise your hands. 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:50.720 After you got married, who your spouse was and 00:15:50.720 --> 00:15:52.779 what you signed up for and how many personalities 00:15:52.779 --> 00:15:54.759 you're going to have to put up with in one person. 00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:59.580 You didn't really count the cost before you committed. 00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:04.139 You didn't really consider everything that what 00:16:04.139 --> 00:16:07.870 you committed to entailed. Maybe you signed up 00:16:07.870 --> 00:16:11.409 for the PTA and you thought it was just going 00:16:11.409 --> 00:16:13.490 to be bringing juice boxes every couple of weeks 00:16:13.490 --> 00:16:15.730 to school. But really what it is, is now you've 00:16:15.730 --> 00:16:19.049 got to serve at every ball game in the concession 00:16:19.049 --> 00:16:22.769 stand. Whatever it is you signed up for without 00:16:22.769 --> 00:16:25.649 understanding exactly what it was that you were 00:16:25.649 --> 00:16:28.549 getting into. And maybe you got into it and you 00:16:28.549 --> 00:16:31.409 realize you're not cut out for this or you realize 00:16:31.409 --> 00:16:33.070 it's not as easy as you thought it was going 00:16:33.070 --> 00:16:36.399 to be. And being a disciple is what. We have 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:42.000 to consider this morning. Are you prepared for 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:44.649 what you're signing up for? Jesus isn't trying 00:16:44.649 --> 00:16:46.730 to push people away when he says this. He's not 00:16:46.730 --> 00:16:49.409 trying to scare people off. What he's doing is 00:16:49.409 --> 00:16:51.929 he is warning them that they have to be honest 00:16:51.929 --> 00:16:54.549 with themselves. You and I have to be honest 00:16:54.549 --> 00:16:58.250 with ourselves. Are we ready to say yes to what 00:16:58.250 --> 00:17:01.450 Jesus is calling us to do? Because too many people 00:17:01.450 --> 00:17:04.190 say yes. They get in the water. They give their 00:17:04.190 --> 00:17:06.170 life to Christ. And then when they get into the 00:17:06.170 --> 00:17:08.630 weeds of it, they realize I'm not good for this. 00:17:08.710 --> 00:17:13.259 I'm not ready for this. Or flat out, I don't 00:17:13.259 --> 00:17:18.720 want this. And then they walk away because it's 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:22.799 too hard. Or because it just doesn't really fit 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:26.039 with their idea of what a good life looks like. 00:17:27.579 --> 00:17:30.220 What Jesus is saying is don't start something 00:17:30.220 --> 00:17:34.900 that you're not willing to finish. Sit down and 00:17:34.900 --> 00:17:41.190 weigh it. Is it worth it? Is it true? Is it of 00:17:41.190 --> 00:17:46.170 value enough to pay that price? Following Christ 00:17:46.170 --> 00:17:49.329 is free. And I want to make sure that that doesn't 00:17:49.329 --> 00:17:52.130 get misunderstood in this. This is not about 00:17:52.130 --> 00:17:55.609 what you bring to the table. Following Christ 00:17:55.609 --> 00:18:01.410 is free, but it will cost you everything. You 00:18:01.410 --> 00:18:05.599 can't just follow him halfway. You don't just 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:07.480 carry a cross in your pocket, wear it around 00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:09.960 your neck or or hang it up in your house. It 00:18:09.960 --> 00:18:14.140 is a total life shift. So you're working with 00:18:14.140 --> 00:18:16.640 college students in Montgomery. I had the honor 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:18.460 and the opportunity to work with some really 00:18:18.460 --> 00:18:21.079 cool kids. And one of my favorite kids that I 00:18:21.079 --> 00:18:25.240 got to know over the last couple of years. He 00:18:25.240 --> 00:18:29.400 was a part of our college ministry and he went 00:18:29.400 --> 00:18:32.359 to a Christian college, but he came from a Muslim 00:18:32.359 --> 00:18:36.329 family. And so we'd study with him and we read 00:18:36.329 --> 00:18:38.670 through books and passages of scripture and we'd 00:18:38.670 --> 00:18:45.930 pray with him. And this kid, I could tell that 00:18:45.930 --> 00:18:52.130 he wanted Christ. And he got to a point where 00:18:52.130 --> 00:18:55.170 he would tell us he believed. He believed that 00:18:55.170 --> 00:18:57.369 Jesus Christ was the son of God, that he was 00:18:57.369 --> 00:19:00.269 the way to salvation, that he was the only way 00:19:00.269 --> 00:19:03.029 that we have access to eternal life. He believed 00:19:03.029 --> 00:19:07.250 that. And he was ready to give his life to Christ. 00:19:07.509 --> 00:19:09.849 And not was, he is. I mean, he's so alive, he 00:19:09.849 --> 00:19:13.470 wants to accept Christ. But he's weighed the 00:19:13.470 --> 00:19:18.690 cost. And he's not sure he can pay it. In fact, 00:19:18.730 --> 00:19:21.750 before we moved here, there was a baptism while 00:19:21.750 --> 00:19:26.250 we were still in Montgomery. And this young man's 00:19:26.250 --> 00:19:28.210 sitting there in the pews watching the baptism. 00:19:28.789 --> 00:19:33.099 And he's got kind of teary eyes. He leans over 00:19:33.099 --> 00:19:34.980 to one of the other college students sitting 00:19:34.980 --> 00:19:39.059 next to him and he says, I want that. I want 00:19:39.059 --> 00:19:43.039 to give my life to Christ. But maybe you know 00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:46.359 this about people that come from different religious 00:19:46.359 --> 00:19:52.539 heritages. There comes a family cost. Because 00:19:52.539 --> 00:19:54.559 if he gives his life to Christ, what happens 00:19:54.559 --> 00:19:56.480 with his relationship with his Muslim parents 00:19:56.480 --> 00:20:00.650 and his aunts and uncles and cousins? What happens 00:20:00.650 --> 00:20:04.069 to the community that he was raised in? The kid 00:20:04.069 --> 00:20:07.009 lives at home. So is he going to have anywhere 00:20:07.009 --> 00:20:10.569 to live if he gives his life to Christ? He doesn't 00:20:10.569 --> 00:20:12.490 drive. His parents drive him where he needs to 00:20:12.490 --> 00:20:15.470 go. And so if he gives his life to Christ, how's 00:20:15.470 --> 00:20:19.970 he going to get to school? He wants so badly 00:20:19.970 --> 00:20:22.750 to become a disciple, but he's afraid of what 00:20:22.750 --> 00:20:26.710 it costs. And that leads us to our third point. 00:20:29.230 --> 00:20:34.430 Devotion to Christ has to come above all else. 00:20:36.470 --> 00:20:44.630 Above family. Above friends. Above careers. Above 00:20:44.630 --> 00:20:51.410 communities. Above countries. Devotion to Christ 00:20:51.410 --> 00:20:57.630 has to be first. In Luke 14, Jesus continues. 00:20:58.410 --> 00:21:00.670 If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own 00:21:00.670 --> 00:21:05.369 father and mother, even his own life, he cannot 00:21:05.369 --> 00:21:11.690 be my disciple. I think about my buddy. He loves 00:21:11.690 --> 00:21:14.789 his parents. He loves his family and the community 00:21:14.789 --> 00:21:19.109 that he knows. But he wants Christ so bad. And 00:21:19.109 --> 00:21:22.069 my prayer for him all the time is that he'll 00:21:22.069 --> 00:21:25.109 get to the point where he realizes that Christ 00:21:25.109 --> 00:21:30.559 is worth it. That Christ is worth the cost. It 00:21:30.559 --> 00:21:33.099 doesn't sound easy. It doesn't sound right, but 00:21:33.099 --> 00:21:36.059 it's true. And I want to also clear something 00:21:36.059 --> 00:21:39.339 out or clear something up. When Jesus says you 00:21:39.339 --> 00:21:41.299 have to hate your own father and mother, what 00:21:41.299 --> 00:21:43.640 he's not saying is that you actually have to 00:21:43.640 --> 00:21:46.299 hate them. He's not promoting hatred. This is 00:21:46.299 --> 00:21:49.339 a Jewish idiom of comparison. What Jesus is saying 00:21:49.339 --> 00:21:53.039 is your love for me should be so complete, so 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:57.250 exclusive, so. First and foremost in your life. 00:21:57.390 --> 00:22:00.650 That every other love you have. Feels like hate. 00:22:03.329 --> 00:22:11.509 In comparison. To your devotion. To Christ. Charles 00:22:11.509 --> 00:22:14.369 Spurgeon once said. It is only in a comparative 00:22:14.369 --> 00:22:17.730 sense. And not literally. He's talking about 00:22:17.730 --> 00:22:22.130 that passage. That the term hate. Can possibly 00:22:22.130 --> 00:22:26.630 be used. And to make this very clear, Christ 00:22:26.630 --> 00:22:31.509 even said that we are to hate our own life. He's 00:22:31.509 --> 00:22:34.349 not saying that you just give up on everybody. 00:22:35.109 --> 00:22:38.150 He's not saying that you rebuke them and you 00:22:38.150 --> 00:22:41.809 walk away. What he's saying is, I need you to 00:22:41.809 --> 00:22:46.710 be devoted to me, to value me, to want me more 00:22:46.710 --> 00:22:50.009 than anything else, including your own life. 00:22:51.450 --> 00:22:55.890 He's asking you to. prioritize him above all 00:22:55.890 --> 00:22:59.829 and here's what that means it's not just about 00:22:59.829 --> 00:23:02.829 our family but if following christ puts you at 00:23:02.829 --> 00:23:07.630 odds with your parents choose christ if your 00:23:07.630 --> 00:23:10.390 friends don't quite understand your choices and 00:23:10.390 --> 00:23:13.890 it may strain the relationship choose christ 00:23:13.890 --> 00:23:18.369 if your job your school your community your country 00:23:18.369 --> 00:23:23.170 pushes you to compromise choose If your own desires, 00:23:23.589 --> 00:23:26.630 your own dreams, your own goals, they conflict 00:23:26.630 --> 00:23:30.289 with his commands, choose Christ. Discipleship 00:23:30.289 --> 00:23:34.130 means there is no competition for your and my 00:23:34.130 --> 00:23:39.750 loyalty. And hear me say this because it's very 00:23:39.750 --> 00:23:42.589 important. Christ is asking for your devotion. 00:23:43.150 --> 00:23:46.829 He's asking for your intention. He is not, nor 00:23:46.829 --> 00:23:52.099 has he ever asked for your perfection. Because 00:23:52.099 --> 00:23:54.059 there will be times where you fail to put him 00:23:54.059 --> 00:23:56.500 first. There will be times where you choose your 00:23:56.500 --> 00:23:58.559 desires, your goals, your wants, your needs over 00:23:58.559 --> 00:24:00.880 him. And he doesn't strike you down because you 00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:03.460 failed to choose him first. But he is asking 00:24:03.460 --> 00:24:09.960 for your desire to be him above all else. See, 00:24:10.019 --> 00:24:13.319 Peter even denied Christ. Three times, actually. 00:24:13.319 --> 00:24:17.740 But grace restored Peter. And Jesus still was 00:24:17.740 --> 00:24:22.619 able to use him in a very powerful way. Do not 00:24:22.619 --> 00:24:26.420 confuse the call to commitment with a call to 00:24:26.420 --> 00:24:31.079 flawless performance. Because if you do, you 00:24:31.079 --> 00:24:34.500 will find yourself very disappointed every day. 00:24:36.059 --> 00:24:39.460 When it comes to paying the cost, living a life 00:24:39.460 --> 00:24:47.059 of sacrifice, God is gracious and merciful. But 00:24:47.059 --> 00:24:51.109 still, we have to continue with this fact. Discipleship 00:24:51.109 --> 00:24:57.930 could cost you everything. It could. Up to your 00:24:57.930 --> 00:25:02.549 life. In Acts chapter 7, we see Stephen, a deacon 00:25:02.549 --> 00:25:04.690 in the first century church. He's stoned to death. 00:25:05.490 --> 00:25:08.950 And Stephen, he preaches the truth. He stands 00:25:08.950 --> 00:25:12.430 firm in his faith. And it costs him his life. 00:25:12.509 --> 00:25:15.630 What Acts chapter 7 says is, but they cried out 00:25:15.630 --> 00:25:19.140 with a loud voice. And stopped their ears and 00:25:19.140 --> 00:25:23.180 rushed together at him. Then they cast him out 00:25:23.180 --> 00:25:29.059 of the city. And stoned him. Peter preached the 00:25:29.059 --> 00:25:33.940 truth. Not Peter. Well Peter did too. But Stephen. 00:25:36.279 --> 00:25:41.559 Even unto death. Stephen is the first recorded 00:25:41.559 --> 00:25:47.839 Christian martyr. But in his dying moments. Stephen 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:53.720 looks up and he sees Jesus standing there at 00:25:53.720 --> 00:25:59.220 the right hand of God, welcoming him home. And 00:25:59.220 --> 00:26:01.460 can you imagine knowing that your life is coming 00:26:01.460 --> 00:26:03.720 to an end, knowing that all the memories you've 00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:06.339 made, all the people you've loved, all the relationships 00:26:06.339 --> 00:26:09.079 and the families and the communities that you've 00:26:09.079 --> 00:26:11.240 been a part of, all of those things that you 00:26:11.240 --> 00:26:13.759 have just been blessed by in your life, all of 00:26:13.759 --> 00:26:15.880 that is coming to an end because you preach the 00:26:15.880 --> 00:26:18.900 truth. And instead of being sorrowful in that 00:26:18.900 --> 00:26:21.480 moment, you're able to rejoice because you know 00:26:21.480 --> 00:26:24.660 that the king of kings, the creator of the universe, 00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:32.200 the giver of life is welcoming you home. In spite 00:26:32.200 --> 00:26:37.559 of the sorrow that you could feel, all you can 00:26:37.559 --> 00:26:42.500 do is rejoice because you know who holds your 00:26:42.500 --> 00:26:47.769 life in his hands. I think about my friend. He 00:26:47.769 --> 00:26:51.529 wants to give his life to Christ. But he can't 00:26:51.529 --> 00:26:57.549 fathom what might happen if he does. That's the 00:26:57.549 --> 00:27:03.549 extreme. And the truth is, for most of us, it's 00:27:03.549 --> 00:27:08.369 not that bad. So what? You can't do the things. 00:27:09.019 --> 00:27:11.180 That the rest of your friends get to do. You 00:27:11.180 --> 00:27:13.759 can't go to the parties that they go to. You 00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:15.940 can't spend the money on the things that they 00:27:15.940 --> 00:27:18.579 do. You can't say the things that they say. You 00:27:18.579 --> 00:27:22.440 can't act like they act. Man, how easy we have 00:27:22.440 --> 00:27:28.380 it. And how little the price we pay. When Jesus 00:27:28.380 --> 00:27:30.980 calls you to give up everything and to follow 00:27:30.980 --> 00:27:34.640 him. For most of us, he's not calling us to a 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:41.559 physical death. But even if he is, so be it. 00:27:42.759 --> 00:27:46.180 Because we know who welcomes us home in the end. 00:27:47.940 --> 00:27:50.759 You see, Stephen's story reminds us that this 00:27:50.759 --> 00:27:54.099 isn't a game. This isn't just dress up and come 00:27:54.099 --> 00:27:56.019 to church on Sunday morning, sit in a chair and 00:27:56.019 --> 00:27:59.339 sing pretty songs. This is not something we get 00:27:59.339 --> 00:28:02.220 to pick and choose for. Following Jesus is not 00:28:02.220 --> 00:28:06.680 always safe. And what I imagine, you know, the 00:28:06.680 --> 00:28:09.359 person who writes the book of Acts or records 00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:11.400 these acts of the apostles in the first century 00:28:11.400 --> 00:28:14.940 church is Luke, who also recorded the gospel 00:28:14.940 --> 00:28:17.720 that we read those two costs of discipleship 00:28:17.720 --> 00:28:20.779 passages out of. And I can imagine Luke as he's 00:28:20.779 --> 00:28:24.019 recording the book of Acts. He's just remembering 00:28:24.019 --> 00:28:29.160 what Jesus said as he's thinking about Stephen. 00:28:30.009 --> 00:28:31.990 Being stoned to death as he's thinking about 00:28:31.990 --> 00:28:35.329 Paul being arrested and put in chains and chased 00:28:35.329 --> 00:28:38.210 out of cities. As he's remembering those moments, 00:28:38.369 --> 00:28:41.069 he's remembering exactly the words of Jesus. 00:28:43.670 --> 00:28:48.589 The cost. For some, the cost of discipleship 00:28:48.589 --> 00:28:52.769 is included being mocked, losing family, losing 00:28:52.769 --> 00:28:56.869 freedom, even losing their lives. And the question 00:28:56.869 --> 00:29:00.140 we have to ask. Is are we willing to lose those 00:29:00.140 --> 00:29:05.039 same things too? Most of us will not be called 00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:08.880 to physically die for Jesus. But we are all called 00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:14.240 to live for him. And living for him might be 00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:18.779 even harder some days than others. And so we 00:29:18.779 --> 00:29:22.480 ask the question that we started with. What is 00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:28.980 the cost? And is it worth it? Because it will 00:29:28.980 --> 00:29:33.960 cost you. But the reward, and we'll talk about 00:29:33.960 --> 00:29:37.220 this more next week, because the price is steep. 00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:40.339 But I want to leave you with hope this morning 00:29:40.339 --> 00:29:45.759 that the promise is far superior. What God has 00:29:45.759 --> 00:29:50.539 promised is so much greater than any price we 00:29:50.539 --> 00:29:55.200 pay here on this earth. We may be losing a little 00:29:55.200 --> 00:30:02.119 here. We may be losing a little now, but we gain 00:30:02.119 --> 00:30:07.420 an enormous and infinite lot in eternity. And 00:30:07.420 --> 00:30:09.839 to foreshadow next week, I just I want to leave 00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:13.839 you with this. Whoever loses his life. Well, 00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:16.380 I thought I had it somewhere. Anyways, I'll say 00:30:16.380 --> 00:30:20.220 it. Whoever loses his life for my sake will save 00:30:20.220 --> 00:30:25.299 it. The life we gain from a life with Christ 00:30:25.299 --> 00:30:31.880 is worth it. It is. There's so much that we gain 00:30:31.880 --> 00:30:34.740 from just saying, I'm going to die to myself. 00:30:34.880 --> 00:30:37.059 I'm going to give up on my wants. I'm going to 00:30:37.059 --> 00:30:41.140 give up on my needs, my desires, my choices, 00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:46.980 and let Christ do the leading. Hold on to that. 00:30:47.539 --> 00:30:49.460 We'll talk about it a little more next week. 00:30:49.480 --> 00:30:52.799 But for today, I want to also remind you, you 00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:55.680 can't buy salvation. If anybody ever told you 00:30:55.680 --> 00:30:58.099 you could pay a physical price for it, they lied 00:30:58.099 --> 00:31:00.839 to you. You cannot buy salvation. You can't earn 00:31:00.839 --> 00:31:03.220 it. You can't do enough good deeds. You can't 00:31:03.220 --> 00:31:05.000 say enough good things. You can't pray enough 00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.339 prayers to receive salvation. You can't earn 00:31:09.339 --> 00:31:13.880 it. It's a free gift that you simply, that I 00:31:13.880 --> 00:31:16.880 simply just have to give up myself in order to 00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:19.420 receive it. Isn't that something? All I've got 00:31:19.420 --> 00:31:21.220 to do is just say I'm going to put Christ first 00:31:21.220 --> 00:31:23.740 and then actually live like that. And I receive 00:31:23.740 --> 00:31:28.019 salvation. I receive eternal life. And so this 00:31:28.019 --> 00:31:31.339 morning, maybe you've been halfway in. Maybe 00:31:31.339 --> 00:31:33.619 you've been baptized. Maybe you've received salvation, 00:31:33.640 --> 00:31:37.619 but you never became a disciple. You'll notice 00:31:37.619 --> 00:31:40.160 I pray a lot. We want to be disciples that make 00:31:40.160 --> 00:31:42.319 disciples that make disciples. Well, you can't 00:31:42.319 --> 00:31:45.549 make disciples if you yourself are not one. And 00:31:45.549 --> 00:31:47.869 so this morning, as we're talking about what 00:31:47.869 --> 00:31:50.029 our calling is, and that is to go out and make 00:31:50.029 --> 00:31:52.670 disciples, the first thing we have to figure 00:31:52.670 --> 00:31:59.869 out is, am I one? And if I am, then I'm paying 00:31:59.869 --> 00:32:05.990 the price daily. If you haven't been, today is 00:32:05.990 --> 00:32:10.329 the day to commit, to put the down payment on 00:32:10.329 --> 00:32:13.670 and start making those daily payments towards. 00:32:14.259 --> 00:32:19.799 Following Christ. If you haven't ever. Decided 00:32:19.799 --> 00:32:23.059 to accept Christ. It's a good day to do that. 00:32:23.740 --> 00:32:27.579 Because you just never know. You never know if 00:32:27.579 --> 00:32:29.900 you'll get a chance. To even pay for the root 00:32:29.900 --> 00:32:33.380 canal. Go ahead and make the changes necessary 00:32:33.380 --> 00:32:36.180 today. If you need to accept Christ and put him 00:32:36.180 --> 00:32:38.940 on in baptism, if you need to just have the prayers 00:32:38.940 --> 00:32:40.720 of the church so that you can have the strength 00:32:40.720 --> 00:32:43.339 and the courage to bear your cross daily, we 00:32:43.339 --> 00:32:46.059 offer you an invitation now to come as we stand 00:32:46.059 --> 00:32:46.720 and as we sing.