We're saying goodbye to the Shiloh.
This is our last service here.
It has served us well for the last five years.
And so we're going to move on to the fairgrounds.
And then I was just reading through the Old Testament this week.
And how many times the children of Israel moved when they were in the wilderness?
I mean, we got nothing on those guys, right?
So right now we've got things reserved for six weeks.
We're hoping that our contractors can get all their stuff together and get final inspections,
and we can be in maybe before we even get all the doors hung.
We don't know.
We're going to, we'll try to keep you updated on that.
Okay.
If you've got a Bible, turn to the gospel of Luke, the 14th chapter.
It's,
Jesus has been talking about this invitation to come and dine at the master's table to partake of this Christian life.
Somebody has rightly said that the Christian life is a feast, not a funeral, and all are invited to come.
It is a feast, right?
It is a feast indeed.
And I never thought that.
When I was in the world, I thought the Christian life was a funeral.
Man, what a bummer. Can't have any fun.
Well, I soon realized after becoming a Christian, I didn't know what fun was.
Because a lot of fun I had, I couldn't remember.
Or thought I had fun.
But it's compelling this Christian life.
And that's what Jesus, the word Jesus used is go out and compel them to come in.
That word means force, compelled by constraint, doing so with urgency.
I believe time's short and that people need to get in because this train's leaving town
and it's time to get on board this salvation train.
And the invitation went out to all.
Whosover will let them come.
And so he kind of shifts gears in the next verses.
we're going to read verse 25 through 35, and it's some hard sayings.
Some of these hard sayings of Jesus are in these 10 verses.
I've entitled this discipleship, not an easy task because it's costly.
And that's the truth.
So read with me, if you would.
Luke 14, starting in verse 25, it says,
now great multitudes went with him.
And he turned and said to them,
if anyone comes to me and does not hate,
his father and mother, wife and children,
brothers and sisters, yes, in his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple,
for which of you intending to build a tower
does not sit down first and count the cost whether he has enough to finish it.
Lest after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish,
all who see it begin to mock him, saying,
this man began to build and was not able to finish.
Or what king going to make war against another king does not sit down first
and consider whether he is able?
with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000.
Or else, while others is still a great way off,
he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.
So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Let's pray.
Lord, thank you.
Thank you for these hard words that,
that they would sink deep into our hearts, Lord,
and maybe not knowing today the full weight of what you have just said to us
in the perfect word of God, Lord, to forsake all.
I don't even know what that means sometimes,
and I'm sure there's others in this room that feel the same way,
and yet it's your call on our lives, Lord, this call to follow you,
this call to put aside every relationship that would get in front of our relationship with you,
that truly you would have that preeminence in each one of our lives, Lord.
And Lord, the weight of all of this is overwhelming.
And yet we know that with your help, we can do anything.
For with God, nothing is impossible, though the tasks may seem so at the moment.
And so, Lord, we surrender this time to you and pray that you would teach us.
our hearts, Lord, teach us that this is costly and the discipleship is not an easy task, Lord,
but it takes an investment on our part. May we be fully and totally vested in you, in Jesus'
name. Amen. Amen. So when Jesus left the Pharisee's house, you know, after they had that dinner
and he got challenged and he healed the guy with dropsy, says the great crowd,
followed him, but he was not impressed by their enthusiasm. He knew that most of those in the crowd
were not the least bit interested in spiritual things. Some wanted only to see miracles. Others heard
that he fed the hungry, and a few hoped he would overthrow Rome and establish David's promised
kingdom. They were expecting the wrong things. And that's the case with so many people that hear the
gospel and it it rings true in their heart and they they're willing to give Jesus a chance in their
life but then it doesn't go the way that they expect he doesn't do things the way they think that
he should do things you ever heard that problem right no god what are you doing you're not supposed to
do that why are you doing that right please don't do that and what do we know the older i get the
the less I do know.
But it's important to just expect God, listen, expect God to be God.
And he's going to do what he wants to do.
You just have to choose if you want to go along with it or not.
Because he tells us, right, that many are called but fewer are chosen.
And in verse 25 there, there was a lot.
Lots, lots of people.
Lots of people.
But how many truly wanted to be a disciple of Jesus?
And I think these hard sayings that he throws their way
probably dissuaded quite a few.
I've seen people over the years that get pretty disinheartened
with the way God does things.
And because it's not according to their plans.
and that the Lord yet the Lord has called us to submit ourselves and to take his yoke upon us
and be stuck to him and he's a good one to be stuck to just by the way in verse 26 it says if
anyone comes to me if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, wife and
children, brothers and sisters, yes, in his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
That's rough.
That's hard.
Right?
I like my relationships, but they have their place.
Our relationships with humans have their place.
And we need to make sure that we keep them in that place.
Now, Warren Wersby says about this.
He says, now Jesus seems to make a distinction between salvation and discipleship.
Yeah, he does.
Salvation is open to all who will come, right?
Then didn't you tell them, just go everywhere.
Go into the alleys and under the cardboard boxes and invite them to come in.
You done that lately?
Been to the homeless shelter or the alleyway and invited those.
who are struggling to come in?
So,
salvation is open to all,
can come by faith,
while discipleship is for believers willing to pay the price,
is what this is what Weirsby says.
And I really respect this guy.
Salvation means coming to the cross
and trusting Jesus Christ,
while discipleship means carrying the cross
and following Jesus Christ.
Jesus wants as many sinners saved as possible, right?
Didn't he say that?
He's willing that none should perish, but that all would come to repentance,
that his house may be filled?
He wants a full house.
God wants a full house.
He's got a big house.
My grandson sings that song,
Big, big house with lots of room.
Big, big table with lots of, lots of food.
Right?
God's got a big house.
And he wants to fill it.
but so many are making excuses why they can't come but he cautions us not to take discipleship lightly
and in these three parables he gives us here in just a minute he makes it clear that there is a price
to pay and you think about this and then it would beg the question then
Can you ultimately be saved and not be a disciple?
I don't know the answer to that question.
Can you ultimately be saved and not be a disciple?
Because Paul tells us in Philippians 2, 12, and 13,
he says, therefore, my beloved,
as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but how much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God who works in you both to will and to do his good pleasure.
You get saved and you start working it out.
How do you do that?
Well, you get close to Jesus.
You follow Jesus.
You'd be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
You live a lifestyle of loving people and repentance.
It's working out your own salvation.
For it is God who works in you.
He's working in you.
Are you letting him?
Because so often God convicts us, but we don't do anything about it.
We're convicted.
We feel sorry for what we've been.
done, but we're not doing anything about it. We're not putting it behind us. We're not
forgiving those who have offended us. We hang on to it. Let it go. Start praying God's blessing
on those folks that you have a hard time with. Got folks you have a hard time with. Anybody here?
Got folks you have a hard time. Don't raise your hand.
don't we all don't we just kind of we just kind of chaf each other
irritate each other
and the Lord says you gotta get past that
you got to love one another
well didn't it just say we'd hate our family members
well
many Bible comment
believe that hate is a bad translation, that it means literally to love less.
Or in comparison that your love for Jesus is so far above your love for any other human,
that that's what it's talking about.
And so, but we're called to allow God to work in us, to do his good pleasure,
to produce love and forgiveness and a Christ-like heart and attitude,
but it's supernatural.
And it takes a surrendered soul to accomplish that.
To be successful spiritually is a total yieldedness.
Otherwise, you lean on your own understanding.
And I think there's a Bible verse that tells us not to do that, is there not?
The good old Roman, or excuse me, Proverbs chapter 3 and so many people,
they know this one by heart, but they don't do it.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Lay not on your own understanding.
Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will truly direct your path.
So really what it's saying is we must love Christ supremely, right?
And he says that there that you should hate, right?
If any man who comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, wife and children,
brothers and sisters, yes in his own life, cannot be my disciple.
And really it's prioritizing our life.
lives and our love. I shared last week. The reason I need to put Jesus first in my life is because
he's my life source. He's my life source. He's my love source. He supernaturally helps me forgive
people that don't deserve forgiveness, just like I don't. But he helps us to do that. And he is
a calling us to this, this supremacy. No relationship should rival our relationship with Jesus.
It's father, mother, wife, children, brother, sister. Six of them, he mentions there,
six of these closest relationships that we have in families. And I know a lot of families I talk to,
they like me better than they like any of them. I just mentioned. And I'm just like,
What's wrong with this picture?
Right?
This is what the Bible calls the preeminence of Christ.
Is Christ preeminent in your life?
The preeminence.
We see it in Colossians chapter 1,
verses 17 through 19, where Paul's talking,
and he says,
and he is before all things, speaking of Jesus,
and in him all things consist,
are literally held together.
And he is the head of the body, the church, that be us,
who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he may have the preeminence
in all things in your life.
There is nothing that rivals him.
And looking at this week,
I was so convicted
because I do let other things get.
get in the way. And praise God for his word that kind of helps reel me back in. And give him that
place, that his rightful place at the head of my life. For it pleased the Father, verse 19,
that in him all the fullness should dwell. Jesus is everything, right? He's the way, the truth,
life. He's the path. He's the source. He gives you the ability to do things that you can't do.
So in reality, if Jesus does not have first place in your life, you're not a disciple.
If Jesus doesn't have first place in your life, you're not a disciple.
A disciple.
A disciple is a learner, one who attaches himself or herself to a teacher in order to learn a trade or subject.
Perhaps the nearest modern equivalent we have is an apprentice.
I see apprentice all the time.
There's apprentice plumbers and apprentice electricians.
There's apprentice pastors, kind of just learning how to do things.
I'm still an apprentice.
I've been doing a long time, but I'm a slow learner.
But an apprentice is one who learns by watching and by doing.
How do you learn?
I learn by watching.
I watched people.
I was an apprentice horse trainer.
Guys would try to explain things to me.
I didn't get it.
I would have to watch them.
I would have to watch them do it.
And then I would emulate what I saw them do.
And it worked.
And so it is with Jesus.
You watch him.
How do you do that?
Why do you read the letters in red?
Right?
I know that's elementary, but that's a fact.
Read the letters in red and you'll become this.
this learner, this follower, the word disciple was the most common name for the followers of Jesus Christ,
and it's used 264 times in the Gospels and the Book of Acts.
Are you a disciple?
Only you can answer that question.
You know whether you are or not.
Just this week, I'm hearing about a guy that I thought was a disciple.
I don't think he's a disciple at all.
He's lost.
So he says verse 27, it says there, the last thing,
and probably one of the most powerful things,
and whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
that instrument of death.
You die to yourself.
So to be a disciple, you have to bear a cross.
And it's interesting because Luke chapter 9, verse 23, says you have to do it daily.
Bear your cross daily.
It's you take up your instrument of death and march out into the world every single day.
doing what?
Dying!
I love Dietrich Bonhofer.
I've been looking at some of his quotes from some of his works,
his works called ethics and the cost of discipleship.
And he says,
Jesus calls you to come and die.
Come and die.
It's like the missionary group that when they have,
had people come on board, they would have to go and dig their own graves.
It's a serious thing.
This being a disciple of Jesus.
It meant that, and the cross was very methodical in how it killed people.
So if you took up the cross, what you were doing, you were, you were, you were,
were agreeing to prepare to die by suffocation.
That's what you were doing when you picked up a cross.
You were going to die by suffocation.
That sounds really fun.
Right?
That's how they would die as they would suffocate.
And that's why they could, the Persians invented this brutal source of execution.
And they could keep them alive because they could push up
on their feet and open their diaphragm and get a breath.
That's why it records it in the Gospels when they broke the legs of the man on the left
and the right of Jesus.
It would collapse to where they couldn't push up so they couldn't get a breath and so they
suffocated.
And so Jesus, he comes up in verse 28, he moves to some parables.
that kind of drive this point home.
In verse 28 he says,
for which of you intending to build a tower
does not sit down first and count the costs,
whether he has enough to finish it,
lest after he has laid the foundation
and is not able to finish,
all who see it began to mock him,
saying this man began to build
and was not able to finish it.
Anybody that's ever built something, you're just like, right?
It always costs more than you expect.
It takes longer than you expect, right?
And throws curves at you, things that you never expect.
And so this parallels the Christian life quite beautifully.
In fact, taking on this building project at First Street, many times, I'm going,
I'm that fool.
I'm the one that everybody's going to laugh at.
Right? I'm the ones that the cops are going to arrest because we're delinquent on our lease.
I don't know if they do that or not, but anyway, I'm just going, what did I do? Why did I do this?
And I was talking to one of my passport members the other day and we got to talking about it and he's going, yeah, you know, kind of, he's kind of been some ups and downs in this. I said, yeah, tell me about it.
but I tell people the story.
We were praying about this.
We had been looking for about a year
when we found First Street.
And there's about eight of us standing in the big area,
which is going to be the sanctuary.
Some of you have been in there.
And we prayed.
And when we prayed, I walked away
because I'm thinking, this ain't happening.
There's demons in this place.
Right?
It was a haunted house for 15 years.
And I mean, I wasn't totally intimidated by that,
but I had looked at it 15 years earlier at Forest,
the Water Springs School.
We were thinking about doing the school there.
There were bodies, and it was crazy.
And so I lead the group, and I'm going out,
I go out to the hallway towards the back of the building,
and I'm pacing back and forth thinking,
I'm talking to Lord, I'm saying, Lord, we can't do this.
We can't do this.
I mean, we had a pretty good little nest egg set aside to do some stuff.
And I'm thinking, I don't think it's enough.
And I don't think we can do this.
And I'm just pacing back and forth.
I got my hands up on my head.
And I stop and I turn and I look at the wall.
And in big cursive letters, it says, stay.
So stay.
And I'm like, do I have to?
And there's this little angel drawn down by where it says stay.
But something that I haven't noticed until, you know, last several months, but up in the
right-hand corner of this little, it's like a little mural, is a name.
And then what appears to be a birth date and a death date.
Birthday, 2007.
Death date, 2023.
And his name's Oliver.
And I'm going, is this some kind of a shrine to a person named Oliver?
And then I look up what Oliver means.
It means bearer of an olive branch.
Bearer of an olive branch.
And I'm thinking, Lord, is this a sign?
And obviously it impressed me because we might be moving into that building here in August.
I want to seek the Lord.
And I'm so dumb, God would have to put a word like stay on the wall.
Because I wasn't about to stay.
And so God is, he's faithful, he'll meet us, he, what is so cool about the Lord, he'll call you.
And you have all these deficits.
I have all these deficits.
Right.
I look up my life and I'm thinking, God, I'm so lame.
How can you use my life?
Right.
I'm so deficit in so many areas.
Right?
I'm a scatterbrain.
I fly by the seat of my pocket.
pants, right? I usually have to do it two or three times before I get it right. And yet God,
in his grace and his mercy, he picks up all the slack, right? Got some slack in your life?
Listen, God can use, he can use you. He can gather it up. He can gather up the slack and make things happen.
And then it is hilarious when people try to give you the credit.
It's like, it's laughable.
But he says he got to sit down first.
You've got to count the cost you.
It is going to cost you.
Right?
It's going to cost you this life of walking with Jesus.
It's going to cost you friends.
I realized how my friends start sloughing off.
You know, it's like that skin that comes off of a snake.
That was what my friends were like.
You know, they were just kind of sloughing off.
You know, Scott, he ain't no fun no more.
Right?
All he wants to do is talk about Jesus.
You don't want to drink whiskey.
You don't want to smoke dope.
He don't want to, you know, go out with girls who do.
He don't want to do any of that.
Starts costing you.
At work, they'd call you a Bible thumper.
Or Billy Graham.
Or Rick got called the worst one.
He got called World Roberts.
But he says, sit down first, count the costs.
Maybe you've been counting the cost.
Maybe you just come here and you've been hearing about Jesus.
I think, man, what does this really mean?
What does it really mean to be a Christian and to be a disciple and to walk with the Lord?
What does that mean?
What does it look like?
And you're starting to count the cost, you realize, oh,
really i mean god calls you to turn from some stuff repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand
god calls you to reach out to people you've hurt and offended and to to try to restore
relationship god calls you to these things just like i don't want to do those things
in my in my nature i don't want to do those things i remember going to my class reunions and
thinking, I saw one of my high school English teacher. I tormented this poor woman.
She was beside herself. She called my brother to try to intervene. She called my mother to try to
intervene. Nothing worked. And you can tell by how I talk. I didn't do very good in English.
And I remember looking at her and saying, Mrs. Leonard, would you please forgive me?
for being such a jerk.
And she just gave me a big smile.
She said, I did a long time ago, Scotty.
And I believe she was a believer, so that was a plus.
But God calls you to these things.
That relationship was restored by that simple little interaction we had over a bucket of funeral potatoes.
So simple.
The Lord doesn't make things complicated.
It's just that so much of the cost that he asks us to pay, we're not willing to.
Sit down and see if you can afford to follow me.
As I look back, I'm thinking, those times when I was kind of flapping in the wind, that first year,
right i was going lord i love you but i like smoking weed too right and i was back and forth
lord i love you but i you know and i was straddled the fence and i got chafed and all that stuff
that we talk about all the time because you're not you're not comfortable in either place
no just just realize it's going to have a cost cost me you know some zigzag papers and a half
an ounce of weed. That was worth it. Right? Got rid of it. And walking with Jesus. He's much better,
right, than a THC. High. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he talks about the cost of discipleship. He says,
the messenger of Jesus will be hated to the end of time. They will be blamed for all the
division that rend cities and homes. See if this doesn't fit today. This was written some time ago.
They will be blamed for all the divisions which rend cities and homes. Jesus and his disciples
will be condemned on all sides for undermining family life, for leading the nation astray.
They will be called crazy fanatics and disturbers of the peace. The disciples will be sorely tempted
to desert their Lord, but the end is also near.
And they must hold on and persevere until it comes.
Only he will be blessed who remains loyal to Jesus and his word until the end.
You got to finish.
If you've started, don't go back.
The Bible talks about backsliders.
Don't go back.
Don't slide backwards.
into the world. I've heard people say that to me. I just want my life back. Really? No, you know.
Because your life stinks. All of our lives stinks without Jesus. And I've come to that place in
my life while I'm not I'm not afraid of being mocked, right? I've probably already been
mocked quite a bit just by some of the stupid things I've done. I'm not afraid of being called a fool.
What I am afraid of, I'm afraid of not being a disciple of Jesus. That's what scares me.
That's what I'm afraid of, is not being a disciple of Jesus that finishes the race.
Yes, you've got to set your pace. Might have to slow down a little. Might have to speed up a little.
I don't know. But it is a marathon.
this this discipleship and and anyone who starts in a race should want to finish it with all that they are
I want to follow Jesus the way that he wrote into Jerusalem you guys remember that right
when he rides into Jerusalem it says and he set his face like flint like flint I guess it's
it's really a prophecy in Isaiah chapter 50 it says
For the Lord God will help me, and He'll help you.
The Lord God will help me.
Therefore, I will not be disgraced.
Therefore, I have set my face like Flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.
Set your face like Flint to the Lord.
It was a hard substance, right?
It wasn't pliable.
But you want to put your eye on the prize as the saying goes.
that high call that God has on each one of our lives
we must set our faces like flint towards Christ Jesus
no matter what the cost
so count it up
determine in your own heart if it's worth it
the second the second uh parable he used is a king in verse 31 or what king going to make war against
another king does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with 10,000 to meet him who
comes against him with 25,000 or else while the other is still a great way off he sends a delegation
and asks for conditions of peace so likewise whoever of you does not forsake all that he
has cannot be my disciple. And so he says, it's like a battle. Getting ready for a fight?
You got the weaponry to be successful or not or beg for peace.
Truly the Christian life is a battle. It's a war. And you better be ready because you're outnumbered.
Notice, it's two to one, right?
The only way we see in the Bible of being out number two to one
and being successful was fully trusting in the Lord, right?
Responding to his call, Gideon when he is called, right?
Takes 300 and puts a whoopin on the enemy armies.
We see David, his unwavering confidence in God when he faces Goliath.
We see Jonathan who believed God would give the victory and that God would show him and God did.
They all knew.
They all knew that God would fight for them.
Do you know that?
If you're his, if you've been saved and you heed this call to discipleship,
he's going to help you.
He's going to help you.
excuse me, Exodus 14, verse 14, says,
the Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.
He'll help you, he'll see you through.
We just have to walk by faith.
Now, these parables, usually, you know,
the one who's making war or the one who is building a,
a building, many believe it would be us in operating in faith.
Gee Campbell Morgan, the old preacher, had a different take on it.
He says that the builder and the king represent not the believer, but Jesus Christ.
He is the one who must count the cost to see whether we are the kind of material he can use
to build the church and battle the enemy.
He cannot get the job done with half-hearted followers who will not pay the price.
I like that too.
Maybe you're just in that place.
We just said, I just got it.
I can't fight.
I just want peace.
Make conditions of peace.
Maybe that's the best place to start.
It's just come to the Lord and said, Lord, I just want peace.
I want your peace that pastors all.
understanding.
We'll wrap it up here in the last couple verses there.
It likens us to salt.
It says salt is good.
If the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?
It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.
He who has ear, let him hear.
Jesus has called us, he called us to be the salt of the ear.
Matthew chapter 5, verse 13, you're the salt to the earth.
What does that mean?
Well, salt was something that they say the word salt and salary are similar.
The people are people, you have to determine whether they're worth their salt.
Because it was a way of payment if you had good salt.
But if the salt loses its flavor, what's it good for?
Absolutely nothing.
Salt is a preservative.
God's people in this world are helping to slow the growth of evil and decay.
It's a preservative.
My old buddy told me how they used to do preserve meat.
They would take a 55-gallon drum.
They would take a layer of salt, throw down a layer of meat, raw meat, right?
Take a layer of salt.
They'd cover it with a layer of salt.
And that's how they had their winter meat.
The salt would preserve it.
Salt is also a purifying agent and antiseptic that makes things cleaner.
You can put it on a wound.
I went to a man's house one day and he had a horse in his shoot.
I said, what are you doing with that horse?
She cut her neck really bad.
And he had a bag of Ebson salt.
And he poured the salt in his hand and stuffed it in the womb.
cleaned it out, killed all the bugs that were in the wound.
It's an antiseptic.
It purifies.
It enhances taste.
Right?
What's a bowl of beans without some salt on them.
But the sad thing about it, and so it is with you and I,
if we're really salty, salt can be an irritant.
right and salt irritates the world we really have no place in this world
Jesus said listen don't be upset when the world hates you
it hated me before it hated you when you walk with Jesus and you remind the
world of Jesus it will hate you it's just the way it goes
there ain't no getting around it or away from it you just kind of
of got to learn to embrace it.
The Lord is telling us, listen, be salty.
Don't lose your saltiness.
Whereas he says, when a disciple loses his Christian character, he is good for nothing,
and it will eventually be walked on by others and bring disgrace to Christ.
And then he says, if you got ears.
listen
count the cost of discipleship
I think that we do that
we are to do that every day that we live
to be mindful of Jesus
that's why it's so important
to be in his word every morning
to be mindful
I had to take a guy to the airport this morning
I handed him my Bible and said read me
Deuteronomy chapter 4
he read me Deuteronomy
chapter 4
talked about the law
and I don't know we're in trouble
talked about the law
talked about how to teach it to your children
helps me be mindful
if I don't do that for a couple days
I'm not mindful of Jesus
my mind is full of Scotty
that's the problem
that's the cost
Scotty needs to be
go away
needs to die to self.
So I'm going to ask us all to stand right now.
Ask the prayer team to come up.
If you need prayer, come up and talk to them.
We're going to close with prayer.
Then I want you to sit tight.
Just sit tight for a minute because they're going to have a raffle drawing.
But I want to close with a scripture verse.
It's found in in Ecclesiastes chapter 12.
And if anyone had a lot to lose, it was King Solomon,
because he had so much in this world.
And Solomon comes to the end of his life.
Many believe that they don't even know if Solomon made it into heaven
because we don't see him in Hebrews chapter 11.
You don't see Solomon there.
I believe he's in heaven simply because God promised David
that he would be merciful to his son.
Do you need God's mercy today?
So this is what he said at the end of his life.
Tell me what you think.
And maybe apply it to your own.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
This whole matter about discipleship,
about following Jesus.
Fear God and keep his commandments.
That main command that Jesus gave us was to do what?
Love one another.
love one another.
When the Apostle John was in his 90s,
he would get up and preach a message,
and it would be two, no, it would be three words,
four words, excuse me.
My math is not very good.
He would say, little children, love one another,
and then he would sit down.
That was his whole message.
Little children, love one another.
Thanks, five words, like I said.
fear God and keep his commandments for this is man's all for God will bring every work into judgment
including every secret thing whether good or evil right that scripture verse sums it all up right just keep
God at the forefront of your life your thinking follow Jesus with all your heart every hour of every single
day and we'll all do well. Pray with me, would you? Father, we praise you. Please give us, Lord,
what it takes to be your disciple. I know I don't have what it takes, but by your spirit,
you'll give us what it takes. Because we don't have what it takes, Lord, just realizing that it's you,
that it's you that does the work in us. He who began a good work in you will complete it until the
Jesus Christ. You are the one that kindles the fire in our souls to fulfill us. Lord, as you call
us to this discipleship, this being that follower and that learner of Jesus, may you empower us to do so
by your Holy Spirit. And we pray at the mighty and powerful name of Jesus. Amen and amen.