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We're saying goodbye to the Shiloh.

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This is our last service here.

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It has served us well for the last five years.

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And so we're going to move on to the fairgrounds.

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And then I was just reading through the Old Testament this week.

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And how many times the children of Israel moved when they were in the wilderness?

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I mean, we got nothing on those guys, right?

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So right now we've got things reserved for six weeks.

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We're hoping that our contractors can get all their stuff together and get final inspections,

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and we can be in maybe before we even get all the doors hung.

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We don't know.

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We're going to, we'll try to keep you updated on that.

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Okay.

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If you've got a Bible, turn to the gospel of Luke, the 14th chapter.

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It's,

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Jesus has been talking about this invitation to come and dine at the master's table to partake of this Christian life.

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Somebody has rightly said that the Christian life is a feast, not a funeral, and all are invited to come.

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It is a feast, right?

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It is a feast indeed.

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And I never thought that.

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When I was in the world, I thought the Christian life was a funeral.

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Man, what a bummer. Can't have any fun.

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Well, I soon realized after becoming a Christian, I didn't know what fun was.

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Because a lot of fun I had, I couldn't remember.

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Or thought I had fun.

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But it's compelling this Christian life.

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And that's what Jesus, the word Jesus used is go out and compel them to come in.

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That word means force, compelled by constraint, doing so with urgency.

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I believe time's short and that people need to get in because this train's leaving town

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and it's time to get on board this salvation train.

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And the invitation went out to all.

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Whosover will let them come.

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And so he kind of shifts gears in the next verses.

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we're going to read verse 25 through 35, and it's some hard sayings.

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Some of these hard sayings of Jesus are in these 10 verses.

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I've entitled this discipleship, not an easy task because it's costly.

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And that's the truth.

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So read with me, if you would.

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Luke 14, starting in verse 25, it says,

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now great multitudes went with him.

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And he turned and said to them,

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if anyone comes to me and does not hate,

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his father and mother, wife and children,

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brothers and sisters, yes, in his own life,

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he cannot be my disciple.

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And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me

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cannot be my disciple,

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for which of you intending to build a tower

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does not sit down first and count the cost whether he has enough to finish it.

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Lest after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish,

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all who see it begin to mock him, saying,

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this man began to build and was not able to finish.

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Or what king going to make war against another king does not sit down first

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and consider whether he is able?

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with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000.

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Or else, while others is still a great way off,

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he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.

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So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple.

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Let's pray.

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Lord, thank you.

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Thank you for these hard words that,

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that they would sink deep into our hearts, Lord,

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and maybe not knowing today the full weight of what you have just said to us

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in the perfect word of God, Lord, to forsake all.

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I don't even know what that means sometimes,

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and I'm sure there's others in this room that feel the same way,

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and yet it's your call on our lives, Lord, this call to follow you,

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this call to put aside every relationship that would get in front of our relationship with you,

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that truly you would have that preeminence in each one of our lives, Lord.

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And Lord, the weight of all of this is overwhelming.

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And yet we know that with your help, we can do anything.

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For with God, nothing is impossible, though the tasks may seem so at the moment.

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And so, Lord, we surrender this time to you and pray that you would teach us.

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our hearts, Lord, teach us that this is costly and the discipleship is not an easy task, Lord,

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but it takes an investment on our part. May we be fully and totally vested in you, in Jesus'

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name. Amen. Amen. So when Jesus left the Pharisee's house, you know, after they had that dinner

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and he got challenged and he healed the guy with dropsy, says the great crowd,

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followed him, but he was not impressed by their enthusiasm. He knew that most of those in the crowd

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were not the least bit interested in spiritual things. Some wanted only to see miracles. Others heard

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that he fed the hungry, and a few hoped he would overthrow Rome and establish David's promised

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kingdom. They were expecting the wrong things. And that's the case with so many people that hear the

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gospel and it it rings true in their heart and they they're willing to give Jesus a chance in their

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life but then it doesn't go the way that they expect he doesn't do things the way they think that

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he should do things you ever heard that problem right no god what are you doing you're not supposed to

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do that why are you doing that right please don't do that and what do we know the older i get the

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the less I do know.

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But it's important to just expect God, listen, expect God to be God.

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And he's going to do what he wants to do.

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You just have to choose if you want to go along with it or not.

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Because he tells us, right, that many are called but fewer are chosen.

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And in verse 25 there, there was a lot.

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Lots, lots of people.

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Lots of people.

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But how many truly wanted to be a disciple of Jesus?

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And I think these hard sayings that he throws their way

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probably dissuaded quite a few.

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I've seen people over the years that get pretty disinheartened

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with the way God does things.

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And because it's not according to their plans.

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and that the Lord yet the Lord has called us to submit ourselves and to take his yoke upon us

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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

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anyone comes to me if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, wife and

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children, brothers and sisters, yes, in his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

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That's rough.

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That's hard.

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Right?

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I like my relationships, but they have their place.

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Our relationships with humans have their place.

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And we need to make sure that we keep them in that place.

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Now, Warren Wersby says about this.

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He says, now Jesus seems to make a distinction between salvation and discipleship.

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Yeah, he does.

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Salvation is open to all who will come, right?

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Then didn't you tell them, just go everywhere.

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Go into the alleys and under the cardboard boxes and invite them to come in.

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You done that lately?

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Been to the homeless shelter or the alleyway and invited those.

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who are struggling to come in?

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So,

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salvation is open to all,

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can come by faith,

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while discipleship is for believers willing to pay the price,

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is what this is what Weirsby says.

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And I really respect this guy.

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Salvation means coming to the cross

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and trusting Jesus Christ,

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while discipleship means carrying the cross

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and following Jesus Christ.

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Jesus wants as many sinners saved as possible, right?

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Didn't he say that?

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He's willing that none should perish, but that all would come to repentance,

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that his house may be filled?

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He wants a full house.

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God wants a full house.

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He's got a big house.

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My grandson sings that song,

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Big, big house with lots of room.

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Big, big table with lots of, lots of food.

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Right?

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God's got a big house.

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And he wants to fill it.

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but so many are making excuses why they can't come but he cautions us not to take discipleship lightly

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and in these three parables he gives us here in just a minute he makes it clear that there is a price

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to pay and you think about this and then it would beg the question then

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Can you ultimately be saved and not be a disciple?

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I don't know the answer to that question.

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Can you ultimately be saved and not be a disciple?

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Because Paul tells us in Philippians 2, 12, and 13,

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he says, therefore, my beloved,

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as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but how much more in my absence,

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work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

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For it is God who works in you both to will and to do his good pleasure.

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You get saved and you start working it out.

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How do you do that?

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Well, you get close to Jesus.

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You follow Jesus.

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You'd be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

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You live a lifestyle of loving people and repentance.

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It's working out your own salvation.

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For it is God who works in you.

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He's working in you.

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Are you letting him?

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Because so often God convicts us, but we don't do anything about it.

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We're convicted.

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We feel sorry for what we've been.

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done, but we're not doing anything about it. We're not putting it behind us. We're not

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forgiving those who have offended us. We hang on to it. Let it go. Start praying God's blessing

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on those folks that you have a hard time with. Got folks you have a hard time with. Anybody here?

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Got folks you have a hard time. Don't raise your hand.

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don't we all don't we just kind of we just kind of chaf each other

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irritate each other

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and the Lord says you gotta get past that

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you got to love one another

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well didn't it just say we'd hate our family members

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well

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many Bible comment

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believe that hate is a bad translation, that it means literally to love less.

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Or in comparison that your love for Jesus is so far above your love for any other human,

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that that's what it's talking about.

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And so, but we're called to allow God to work in us, to do his good pleasure,

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to produce love and forgiveness and a Christ-like heart and attitude,

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but it's supernatural.

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And it takes a surrendered soul to accomplish that.

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To be successful spiritually is a total yieldedness.

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Otherwise, you lean on your own understanding.

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And I think there's a Bible verse that tells us not to do that, is there not?

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The good old Roman, or excuse me, Proverbs chapter 3 and so many people,

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they know this one by heart, but they don't do it.

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Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

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Lay not on your own understanding.

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Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will truly direct your path.

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So really what it's saying is we must love Christ supremely, right?

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And he says that there that you should hate, right?

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If any man who comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, wife and children,

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brothers and sisters, yes in his own life, cannot be my disciple.

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And really it's prioritizing our life.

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lives and our love. I shared last week. The reason I need to put Jesus first in my life is because

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he's my life source. He's my life source. He's my love source. He supernaturally helps me forgive

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people that don't deserve forgiveness, just like I don't. But he helps us to do that. And he is

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a calling us to this, this supremacy. No relationship should rival our relationship with Jesus.

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It's father, mother, wife, children, brother, sister. Six of them, he mentions there,

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six of these closest relationships that we have in families. And I know a lot of families I talk to,

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they like me better than they like any of them. I just mentioned. And I'm just like,

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What's wrong with this picture?

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Right?

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This is what the Bible calls the preeminence of Christ.

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Is Christ preeminent in your life?

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The preeminence.

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We see it in Colossians chapter 1,

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verses 17 through 19, where Paul's talking,

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and he says,

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and he is before all things, speaking of Jesus,

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and in him all things consist,

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are literally held together.

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And he is the head of the body, the church, that be us,

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who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,

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that in all things he may have the preeminence

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in all things in your life.

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There is nothing that rivals him.

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And looking at this week,

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I was so convicted

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because I do let other things get.

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get in the way. And praise God for his word that kind of helps reel me back in. And give him that

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place, that his rightful place at the head of my life. For it pleased the Father, verse 19,

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that in him all the fullness should dwell. Jesus is everything, right? He's the way, the truth,

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life. He's the path. He's the source. He gives you the ability to do things that you can't do.

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So in reality, if Jesus does not have first place in your life, you're not a disciple.

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If Jesus doesn't have first place in your life, you're not a disciple.

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A disciple.

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A disciple is a learner, one who attaches himself or herself to a teacher in order to learn a trade or subject.

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Perhaps the nearest modern equivalent we have is an apprentice.

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I see apprentice all the time.

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There's apprentice plumbers and apprentice electricians.

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There's apprentice pastors, kind of just learning how to do things.

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I'm still an apprentice.

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I've been doing a long time, but I'm a slow learner.

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But an apprentice is one who learns by watching and by doing.

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How do you learn?

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I learn by watching.

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I watched people.

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I was an apprentice horse trainer.

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Guys would try to explain things to me.

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I didn't get it.

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I would have to watch them.

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I would have to watch them do it.

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And then I would emulate what I saw them do.

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And it worked.

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And so it is with Jesus.

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You watch him.

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How do you do that?

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Why do you read the letters in red?

252
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Right?

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I know that's elementary, but that's a fact.

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Read the letters in red and you'll become this.

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this learner, this follower, the word disciple was the most common name for the followers of Jesus Christ,

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and it's used 264 times in the Gospels and the Book of Acts.

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Are you a disciple?

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Only you can answer that question.

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You know whether you are or not.

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Just this week, I'm hearing about a guy that I thought was a disciple.

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I don't think he's a disciple at all.

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He's lost.

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So he says verse 27, it says there, the last thing,

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and probably one of the most powerful things,

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and whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

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that instrument of death.

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You die to yourself.

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So to be a disciple, you have to bear a cross.

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And it's interesting because Luke chapter 9, verse 23, says you have to do it daily.

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Bear your cross daily.

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It's you take up your instrument of death and march out into the world every single day.

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doing what?

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Dying!

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I love Dietrich Bonhofer.

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I've been looking at some of his quotes from some of his works,

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his works called ethics and the cost of discipleship.

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And he says,

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Jesus calls you to come and die.

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Come and die.

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It's like the missionary group that when they have,

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had people come on board, they would have to go and dig their own graves.

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It's a serious thing.

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This being a disciple of Jesus.

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It meant that, and the cross was very methodical in how it killed people.

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So if you took up the cross, what you were doing, you were, you were, you were,

286
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were agreeing to prepare to die by suffocation.

287
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That's what you were doing when you picked up a cross.

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You were going to die by suffocation.

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That sounds really fun.

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Right?

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That's how they would die as they would suffocate.

292
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And that's why they could, the Persians invented this brutal source of execution.

293
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And they could keep them alive because they could push up

294
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on their feet and open their diaphragm and get a breath.

295
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That's why it records it in the Gospels when they broke the legs of the man on the left

296
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and the right of Jesus.

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It would collapse to where they couldn't push up so they couldn't get a breath and so they

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suffocated.

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And so Jesus, he comes up in verse 28, he moves to some parables.

300
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that kind of drive this point home.

301
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In verse 28 he says,

302
00:22:42,180 --> 00:22:44,740
for which of you intending to build a tower

303
00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:47,940
does not sit down first and count the costs,

304
00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:50,320
whether he has enough to finish it,

305
00:22:51,020 --> 00:22:53,200
lest after he has laid the foundation

306
00:22:53,270 --> 00:22:54,440
and is not able to finish,

307
00:22:54,700 --> 00:22:56,720
all who see it began to mock him,

308
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saying this man began to build

309
00:22:59,860 --> 00:23:01,720
and was not able to finish it.

310
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Anybody that's ever built something, you're just like, right?

311
00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:09,580
It always costs more than you expect.

312
00:23:09,870 --> 00:23:12,200
It takes longer than you expect, right?

313
00:23:13,620 --> 00:23:16,820
And throws curves at you, things that you never expect.

314
00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:22,900
And so this parallels the Christian life quite beautifully.

315
00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:27,840
In fact, taking on this building project at First Street, many times, I'm going,

316
00:23:28,940 --> 00:23:29,600
I'm that fool.

317
00:23:30,260 --> 00:23:31,920
I'm the one that everybody's going to laugh at.

318
00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:38,120
Right? I'm the ones that the cops are going to arrest because we're delinquent on our lease.

319
00:23:40,060 --> 00:23:47,540
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?

320
00:23:50,320 --> 00:24:01,360
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.

321
00:24:04,260 --> 00:24:05,520
but I tell people the story.

322
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:08,200
We were praying about this.

323
00:24:08,300 --> 00:24:10,100
We had been looking for about a year

324
00:24:10,420 --> 00:24:12,320
when we found First Street.

325
00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:15,260
And there's about eight of us standing in the big area,

326
00:24:15,340 --> 00:24:16,360
which is going to be the sanctuary.

327
00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:17,460
Some of you have been in there.

328
00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:18,820
And we prayed.

329
00:24:20,100 --> 00:24:21,280
And when we prayed, I walked away

330
00:24:21,380 --> 00:24:23,280
because I'm thinking, this ain't happening.

331
00:24:24,500 --> 00:24:25,700
There's demons in this place.

332
00:24:27,140 --> 00:24:27,280
Right?

333
00:24:27,450 --> 00:24:29,180
It was a haunted house for 15 years.

334
00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:34,680
And I mean, I wasn't totally intimidated by that,

335
00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:37,900
but I had looked at it 15 years earlier at Forest,

336
00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:39,980
the Water Springs School.

337
00:24:40,180 --> 00:24:41,540
We were thinking about doing the school there.

338
00:24:42,820 --> 00:24:44,960
There were bodies, and it was crazy.

339
00:24:46,020 --> 00:24:48,640
And so I lead the group, and I'm going out,

340
00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:51,000
I go out to the hallway towards the back of the building,

341
00:24:51,420 --> 00:24:53,280
and I'm pacing back and forth thinking,

342
00:24:53,620 --> 00:24:55,880
I'm talking to Lord, I'm saying, Lord, we can't do this.

343
00:24:56,980 --> 00:24:57,620
We can't do this.

344
00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:02,960
I mean, we had a pretty good little nest egg set aside to do some stuff.

345
00:25:02,970 --> 00:25:04,680
And I'm thinking, I don't think it's enough.

346
00:25:04,740 --> 00:25:05,940
And I don't think we can do this.

347
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,680
And I'm just pacing back and forth.

348
00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:10,000
I got my hands up on my head.

349
00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:12,480
And I stop and I turn and I look at the wall.

350
00:25:13,700 --> 00:25:17,360
And in big cursive letters, it says, stay.

351
00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:22,240
So stay.

352
00:25:23,180 --> 00:25:25,760
And I'm like, do I have to?

353
00:25:29,619 --> 00:25:37,060
And there's this little angel drawn down by where it says stay.

354
00:25:38,620 --> 00:25:43,820
But something that I haven't noticed until, you know, last several months, but up in the

355
00:25:44,020 --> 00:25:48,680
right-hand corner of this little, it's like a little mural, is a name.

356
00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:54,180
And then what appears to be a birth date and a death date.

357
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:57,080
Birthday, 2007.

358
00:25:57,820 --> 00:25:59,080
Death date, 2023.

359
00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:02,620
And his name's Oliver.

360
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:08,400
And I'm going, is this some kind of a shrine to a person named Oliver?

361
00:26:10,540 --> 00:26:12,140
And then I look up what Oliver means.

362
00:26:12,700 --> 00:26:15,280
It means bearer of an olive branch.

363
00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:22,400
Bearer of an olive branch.

364
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:27,080
And I'm thinking, Lord, is this a sign?

365
00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:35,960
And obviously it impressed me because we might be moving into that building here in August.

366
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:42,400
I want to seek the Lord.

367
00:26:42,740 --> 00:26:48,520
And I'm so dumb, God would have to put a word like stay on the wall.

368
00:26:49,540 --> 00:26:50,860
Because I wasn't about to stay.

369
00:26:53,559 --> 00:27:02,540
And so God is, he's faithful, he'll meet us, he, what is so cool about the Lord, he'll call you.

370
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:04,720
And you have all these deficits.

371
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:06,160
I have all these deficits.

372
00:27:07,180 --> 00:27:07,300
Right.

373
00:27:07,340 --> 00:27:10,500
I look up my life and I'm thinking, God, I'm so lame.

374
00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:12,780
How can you use my life?

375
00:27:14,100 --> 00:27:14,220
Right.

376
00:27:14,360 --> 00:27:16,400
I'm so deficit in so many areas.

377
00:27:17,460 --> 00:27:17,600
Right?

378
00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:19,360
I'm a scatterbrain.

379
00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:20,880
I fly by the seat of my pocket.

380
00:27:20,900 --> 00:27:29,600
pants, right? I usually have to do it two or three times before I get it right. And yet God,

381
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:36,800
in his grace and his mercy, he picks up all the slack, right? Got some slack in your life?

382
00:27:38,060 --> 00:27:47,820
Listen, God can use, he can use you. He can gather it up. He can gather up the slack and make things happen.

383
00:27:49,740 --> 00:27:52,640
And then it is hilarious when people try to give you the credit.

384
00:27:53,420 --> 00:27:56,220
It's like, it's laughable.

385
00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:04,580
But he says he got to sit down first.

386
00:28:04,700 --> 00:28:05,800
You've got to count the cost you.

387
00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:06,700
It is going to cost you.

388
00:28:07,500 --> 00:28:07,660
Right?

389
00:28:08,420 --> 00:28:11,400
It's going to cost you this life of walking with Jesus.

390
00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:12,920
It's going to cost you friends.

391
00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:15,860
I realized how my friends start sloughing off.

392
00:28:16,140 --> 00:28:18,560
You know, it's like that skin that comes off of a snake.

393
00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:20,380
That was what my friends were like.

394
00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:22,500
You know, they were just kind of sloughing off.

395
00:28:22,580 --> 00:28:23,980
You know, Scott, he ain't no fun no more.

396
00:28:24,500 --> 00:28:24,620
Right?

397
00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:26,220
All he wants to do is talk about Jesus.

398
00:28:26,300 --> 00:28:27,360
You don't want to drink whiskey.

399
00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:28,500
You don't want to smoke dope.

400
00:28:29,020 --> 00:28:31,980
He don't want to, you know, go out with girls who do.

401
00:28:32,620 --> 00:28:33,740
He don't want to do any of that.

402
00:28:36,300 --> 00:28:37,120
Starts costing you.

403
00:28:40,900 --> 00:28:42,680
At work, they'd call you a Bible thumper.

404
00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:44,360
Or Billy Graham.

405
00:28:45,300 --> 00:28:46,560
Or Rick got called the worst one.

406
00:28:46,620 --> 00:28:47,860
He got called World Roberts.

407
00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:00,920
But he says, sit down first, count the costs.

408
00:29:01,220 --> 00:29:02,540
Maybe you've been counting the cost.

409
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,160
Maybe you just come here and you've been hearing about Jesus.

410
00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:06,520
I think, man, what does this really mean?

411
00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:10,900
What does it really mean to be a Christian and to be a disciple and to walk with the Lord?

412
00:29:10,980 --> 00:29:11,620
What does that mean?

413
00:29:12,580 --> 00:29:13,480
What does it look like?

414
00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:17,080
And you're starting to count the cost, you realize, oh,

415
00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:23,440
really i mean god calls you to turn from some stuff repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand

416
00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:30,640
god calls you to reach out to people you've hurt and offended and to to try to restore

417
00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:36,460
relationship god calls you to these things just like i don't want to do those things

418
00:29:37,860 --> 00:29:44,580
in my in my nature i don't want to do those things i remember going to my class reunions and

419
00:29:44,500 --> 00:29:51,720
thinking, I saw one of my high school English teacher. I tormented this poor woman.

420
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:59,860
She was beside herself. She called my brother to try to intervene. She called my mother to try to

421
00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:05,140
intervene. Nothing worked. And you can tell by how I talk. I didn't do very good in English.

422
00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:13,500
And I remember looking at her and saying, Mrs. Leonard, would you please forgive me?

423
00:30:15,220 --> 00:30:16,460
for being such a jerk.

424
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:20,540
And she just gave me a big smile.

425
00:30:20,820 --> 00:30:22,540
She said, I did a long time ago, Scotty.

426
00:30:26,300 --> 00:30:29,260
And I believe she was a believer, so that was a plus.

427
00:30:29,700 --> 00:30:32,480
But God calls you to these things.

428
00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:40,900
That relationship was restored by that simple little interaction we had over a bucket of funeral potatoes.

429
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:45,100
So simple.

430
00:30:47,620 --> 00:30:49,940
The Lord doesn't make things complicated.

431
00:30:50,980 --> 00:30:55,880
It's just that so much of the cost that he asks us to pay, we're not willing to.

432
00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:02,140
Sit down and see if you can afford to follow me.

433
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:10,700
As I look back, I'm thinking, those times when I was kind of flapping in the wind, that first year,

434
00:31:11,700 --> 00:31:18,820
right i was going lord i love you but i like smoking weed too right and i was back and forth

435
00:31:19,220 --> 00:31:25,180
lord i love you but i you know and i was straddled the fence and i got chafed and all that stuff

436
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:29,760
that we talk about all the time because you're not you're not comfortable in either place

437
00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:38,120
no just just realize it's going to have a cost cost me you know some zigzag papers and a half

438
00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:47,280
an ounce of weed. That was worth it. Right? Got rid of it. And walking with Jesus. He's much better,

439
00:31:48,340 --> 00:32:00,140
right, than a THC. High. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he talks about the cost of discipleship. He says,

440
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:06,240
the messenger of Jesus will be hated to the end of time. They will be blamed for all the

441
00:32:06,260 --> 00:32:12,180
division that rend cities and homes. See if this doesn't fit today. This was written some time ago.

442
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:20,580
They will be blamed for all the divisions which rend cities and homes. Jesus and his disciples

443
00:32:21,110 --> 00:32:27,320
will be condemned on all sides for undermining family life, for leading the nation astray.

444
00:32:28,220 --> 00:32:34,740
They will be called crazy fanatics and disturbers of the peace. The disciples will be sorely tempted

445
00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:38,540
to desert their Lord, but the end is also near.

446
00:32:39,060 --> 00:32:44,060
And they must hold on and persevere until it comes.

447
00:32:44,780 --> 00:32:51,140
Only he will be blessed who remains loyal to Jesus and his word until the end.

448
00:32:52,260 --> 00:32:53,200
You got to finish.

449
00:32:54,820 --> 00:32:55,780
You got to finish.

450
00:32:56,880 --> 00:32:59,600
If you've started, don't go back.

451
00:32:59,660 --> 00:33:01,420
The Bible talks about backsliders.

452
00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:02,580
Don't go back.

453
00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:04,560
Don't slide backwards.

454
00:33:04,580 --> 00:33:13,080
into the world. I've heard people say that to me. I just want my life back. Really? No, you know.

455
00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:25,720
Because your life stinks. All of our lives stinks without Jesus. And I've come to that place in

456
00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:31,980
my life while I'm not I'm not afraid of being mocked, right? I've probably already been

457
00:33:32,020 --> 00:33:39,220
mocked quite a bit just by some of the stupid things I've done. I'm not afraid of being called a fool.

458
00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:45,700
What I am afraid of, I'm afraid of not being a disciple of Jesus. That's what scares me.

459
00:33:46,260 --> 00:33:53,100
That's what I'm afraid of, is not being a disciple of Jesus that finishes the race.

460
00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:59,300
Yes, you've got to set your pace. Might have to slow down a little. Might have to speed up a little.

461
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:01,940
I don't know. But it is a marathon.

462
00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:12,780
this this discipleship and and anyone who starts in a race should want to finish it with all that they are

463
00:34:15,159 --> 00:34:20,179
I want to follow Jesus the way that he wrote into Jerusalem you guys remember that right

464
00:34:20,240 --> 00:34:27,639
when he rides into Jerusalem it says and he set his face like flint like flint I guess it's

465
00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:31,919
it's really a prophecy in Isaiah chapter 50 it says

466
00:34:31,940 --> 00:34:34,840
For the Lord God will help me, and He'll help you.

467
00:34:37,240 --> 00:34:38,280
The Lord God will help me.

468
00:34:38,399 --> 00:34:40,740
Therefore, I will not be disgraced.

469
00:34:41,300 --> 00:34:46,740
Therefore, I have set my face like Flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.

470
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:52,480
Set your face like Flint to the Lord.

471
00:34:52,820 --> 00:34:54,740
It was a hard substance, right?

472
00:34:54,820 --> 00:34:55,620
It wasn't pliable.

473
00:34:57,080 --> 00:35:01,140
But you want to put your eye on the prize as the saying goes.

474
00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:08,480
that high call that God has on each one of our lives

475
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:14,700
we must set our faces like flint towards Christ Jesus

476
00:35:17,620 --> 00:35:18,560
no matter what the cost

477
00:35:21,470 --> 00:35:22,700
no matter what the cost

478
00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:25,300
so count it up

479
00:35:26,900 --> 00:35:29,740
determine in your own heart if it's worth it

480
00:35:30,240 --> 00:35:38,680
the second the second uh parable he used is a king in verse 31 or what king going to make war against

481
00:35:38,900 --> 00:35:44,940
another king does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with 10,000 to meet him who

482
00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:51,720
comes against him with 25,000 or else while the other is still a great way off he sends a delegation

483
00:35:52,460 --> 00:35:59,580
and asks for conditions of peace so likewise whoever of you does not forsake all that he

484
00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:07,900
has cannot be my disciple. And so he says, it's like a battle. Getting ready for a fight?

485
00:36:08,940 --> 00:36:14,680
You got the weaponry to be successful or not or beg for peace.

486
00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:28,400
Truly the Christian life is a battle. It's a war. And you better be ready because you're outnumbered.

487
00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:31,140
Notice, it's two to one, right?

488
00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:35,560
The only way we see in the Bible of being out number two to one

489
00:36:36,780 --> 00:36:41,680
and being successful was fully trusting in the Lord, right?

490
00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:45,200
Responding to his call, Gideon when he is called, right?

491
00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:50,480
Takes 300 and puts a whoopin on the enemy armies.

492
00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:55,740
We see David, his unwavering confidence in God when he faces Goliath.

493
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:03,600
We see Jonathan who believed God would give the victory and that God would show him and God did.

494
00:37:07,980 --> 00:37:08,600
They all knew.

495
00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:12,240
They all knew that God would fight for them.

496
00:37:12,980 --> 00:37:13,520
Do you know that?

497
00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:21,460
If you're his, if you've been saved and you heed this call to discipleship,

498
00:37:22,540 --> 00:37:23,220
he's going to help you.

499
00:37:24,660 --> 00:37:25,980
He's going to help you.

500
00:37:26,940 --> 00:37:31,000
excuse me, Exodus 14, verse 14, says,

501
00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:34,200
the Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.

502
00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:39,500
He'll help you, he'll see you through.

503
00:37:43,060 --> 00:37:44,520
We just have to walk by faith.

504
00:37:45,780 --> 00:37:49,060
Now, these parables, usually, you know,

505
00:37:49,240 --> 00:37:56,600
the one who's making war or the one who is building a,

506
00:37:57,540 --> 00:38:03,420
a building, many believe it would be us in operating in faith.

507
00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:08,240
Gee Campbell Morgan, the old preacher, had a different take on it.

508
00:38:08,300 --> 00:38:13,680
He says that the builder and the king represent not the believer, but Jesus Christ.

509
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:20,280
He is the one who must count the cost to see whether we are the kind of material he can use

510
00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:22,440
to build the church and battle the enemy.

511
00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:28,440
He cannot get the job done with half-hearted followers who will not pay the price.

512
00:38:29,700 --> 00:38:30,440
I like that too.

513
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:37,980
Maybe you're just in that place.

514
00:38:37,980 --> 00:38:39,860
We just said, I just got it.

515
00:38:40,420 --> 00:38:41,280
I can't fight.

516
00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:42,260
I just want peace.

517
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:44,540
Make conditions of peace.

518
00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:46,520
Maybe that's the best place to start.

519
00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:50,820
It's just come to the Lord and said, Lord, I just want peace.

520
00:38:50,900 --> 00:38:52,880
I want your peace that pastors all.

521
00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:53,600
understanding.

522
00:38:57,640 --> 00:39:00,140
We'll wrap it up here in the last couple verses there.

523
00:39:01,860 --> 00:39:03,240
It likens us to salt.

524
00:39:03,380 --> 00:39:04,580
It says salt is good.

525
00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:08,400
If the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?

526
00:39:09,100 --> 00:39:13,340
It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.

527
00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:16,240
He who has ear, let him hear.

528
00:39:17,460 --> 00:39:20,280
Jesus has called us, he called us to be the salt of the ear.

529
00:39:22,300 --> 00:39:25,260
Matthew chapter 5, verse 13, you're the salt to the earth.

530
00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:28,040
What does that mean?

531
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:33,080
Well, salt was something that they say the word salt and salary are similar.

532
00:39:33,700 --> 00:39:37,520
The people are people, you have to determine whether they're worth their salt.

533
00:39:38,500 --> 00:39:42,340
Because it was a way of payment if you had good salt.

534
00:39:44,300 --> 00:39:47,080
But if the salt loses its flavor, what's it good for?

535
00:39:47,620 --> 00:39:48,460
Absolutely nothing.

536
00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:52,920
Salt is a preservative.

537
00:39:54,460 --> 00:40:04,560
God's people in this world are helping to slow the growth of evil and decay.

538
00:40:05,220 --> 00:40:06,020
It's a preservative.

539
00:40:06,700 --> 00:40:10,960
My old buddy told me how they used to do preserve meat.

540
00:40:11,340 --> 00:40:13,380
They would take a 55-gallon drum.

541
00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:17,760
They would take a layer of salt, throw down a layer of meat, raw meat, right?

542
00:40:17,980 --> 00:40:18,880
Take a layer of salt.

543
00:40:19,020 --> 00:40:20,400
They'd cover it with a layer of salt.

544
00:40:21,220 --> 00:40:23,520
And that's how they had their winter meat.

545
00:40:25,260 --> 00:40:26,500
The salt would preserve it.

546
00:40:28,240 --> 00:40:32,320
Salt is also a purifying agent and antiseptic that makes things cleaner.

547
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:33,960
You can put it on a wound.

548
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:39,220
I went to a man's house one day and he had a horse in his shoot.

549
00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:40,460
I said, what are you doing with that horse?

550
00:40:40,560 --> 00:40:41,960
She cut her neck really bad.

551
00:40:42,660 --> 00:40:43,940
And he had a bag of Ebson salt.

552
00:40:44,580 --> 00:40:48,160
And he poured the salt in his hand and stuffed it in the womb.

553
00:40:49,500 --> 00:40:52,020
cleaned it out, killed all the bugs that were in the wound.

554
00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:54,920
It's an antiseptic.

555
00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:56,160
It purifies.

556
00:40:56,560 --> 00:40:57,680
It enhances taste.

557
00:40:59,440 --> 00:40:59,600
Right?

558
00:41:00,980 --> 00:41:02,860
What's a bowl of beans without some salt on them.

559
00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:15,040
But the sad thing about it, and so it is with you and I,

560
00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:18,580
if we're really salty, salt can be an irritant.

561
00:41:20,900 --> 00:41:28,040
right and salt irritates the world we really have no place in this world

562
00:41:28,940 --> 00:41:32,980
Jesus said listen don't be upset when the world hates you

563
00:41:33,900 --> 00:41:39,320
it hated me before it hated you when you walk with Jesus and you remind the

564
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:44,560
world of Jesus it will hate you it's just the way it goes

565
00:41:45,100 --> 00:41:48,580
there ain't no getting around it or away from it you just kind of

566
00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:50,740
of got to learn to embrace it.

567
00:41:53,080 --> 00:41:55,840
The Lord is telling us, listen, be salty.

568
00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:57,580
Don't lose your saltiness.

569
00:42:01,580 --> 00:42:06,000
Whereas he says, when a disciple loses his Christian character, he is good for nothing,

570
00:42:06,420 --> 00:42:11,900
and it will eventually be walked on by others and bring disgrace to Christ.

571
00:42:14,900 --> 00:42:17,360
And then he says, if you got ears.

572
00:42:18,620 --> 00:42:18,840
listen

573
00:42:20,720 --> 00:42:20,900
listen

574
00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:23,920
count the cost of discipleship

575
00:42:24,220 --> 00:42:25,260
I think that we do that

576
00:42:25,660 --> 00:42:27,760
we are to do that every day that we live

577
00:42:29,660 --> 00:42:30,940
to be mindful of Jesus

578
00:42:32,640 --> 00:42:33,660
that's why it's so important

579
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:34,960
to be in his word every morning

580
00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:36,160
to be mindful

581
00:42:37,140 --> 00:42:38,860
I had to take a guy to the airport this morning

582
00:42:39,260 --> 00:42:41,020
I handed him my Bible and said read me

583
00:42:41,540 --> 00:42:42,660
Deuteronomy chapter 4

584
00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:45,420
he read me Deuteronomy

585
00:42:45,700 --> 00:42:46,120
chapter 4

586
00:42:47,220 --> 00:42:48,100
talked about the law

587
00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:49,880
and I don't know we're in trouble

588
00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:52,380
talked about the law

589
00:42:52,540 --> 00:42:54,020
talked about how to teach it to your children

590
00:42:57,040 --> 00:42:58,200
helps me be mindful

591
00:42:59,300 --> 00:43:00,900
if I don't do that for a couple days

592
00:43:01,860 --> 00:43:03,000
I'm not mindful of Jesus

593
00:43:04,300 --> 00:43:05,520
my mind is full of Scotty

594
00:43:07,380 --> 00:43:08,020
that's the problem

595
00:43:09,680 --> 00:43:10,420
that's the cost

596
00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:13,380
Scotty needs to be

597
00:43:15,220 --> 00:43:16,100
go away

598
00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:19,060
needs to die to self.

599
00:43:24,140 --> 00:43:26,400
So I'm going to ask us all to stand right now.

600
00:43:28,340 --> 00:43:29,640
Ask the prayer team to come up.

601
00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:32,160
If you need prayer, come up and talk to them.

602
00:43:32,260 --> 00:43:33,240
We're going to close with prayer.

603
00:43:33,520 --> 00:43:34,600
Then I want you to sit tight.

604
00:43:35,200 --> 00:43:42,000
Just sit tight for a minute because they're going to have a raffle drawing.

605
00:43:42,100 --> 00:43:44,560
But I want to close with a scripture verse.

606
00:43:45,140 --> 00:43:48,480
It's found in in Ecclesiastes chapter 12.

607
00:43:49,500 --> 00:43:54,820
And if anyone had a lot to lose, it was King Solomon,

608
00:43:55,720 --> 00:43:57,380
because he had so much in this world.

609
00:43:58,780 --> 00:44:00,480
And Solomon comes to the end of his life.

610
00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:03,220
Many believe that they don't even know if Solomon made it into heaven

611
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:07,200
because we don't see him in Hebrews chapter 11.

612
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:09,120
You don't see Solomon there.

613
00:44:10,520 --> 00:44:13,260
I believe he's in heaven simply because God promised David

614
00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:14,920
that he would be merciful to his son.

615
00:44:15,180 --> 00:44:16,340
Do you need God's mercy today?

616
00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:20,640
So this is what he said at the end of his life.

617
00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:22,380
Tell me what you think.

618
00:44:22,820 --> 00:44:24,140
And maybe apply it to your own.

619
00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:27,780
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

620
00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:32,080
This whole matter about discipleship,

621
00:44:32,940 --> 00:44:34,080
about following Jesus.

622
00:44:35,500 --> 00:44:36,960
Fear God and keep his commandments.

623
00:44:38,940 --> 00:44:41,400
That main command that Jesus gave us was to do what?

624
00:44:42,260 --> 00:44:42,860
Love one another.

625
00:44:43,900 --> 00:44:44,500
love one another.

626
00:44:45,340 --> 00:44:47,540
When the Apostle John was in his 90s,

627
00:44:47,540 --> 00:44:48,860
he would get up and preach a message,

628
00:44:49,740 --> 00:44:52,960
and it would be two, no, it would be three words,

629
00:44:53,760 --> 00:44:54,720
four words, excuse me.

630
00:44:55,040 --> 00:44:55,980
My math is not very good.

631
00:44:57,680 --> 00:45:00,100
He would say, little children, love one another,

632
00:45:00,380 --> 00:45:01,120
and then he would sit down.

633
00:45:02,100 --> 00:45:02,980
That was his whole message.

634
00:45:03,840 --> 00:45:05,840
Little children, love one another.

635
00:45:08,180 --> 00:45:09,980
Thanks, five words, like I said.

636
00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:20,500
fear God and keep his commandments for this is man's all for God will bring every work into judgment

637
00:45:20,980 --> 00:45:31,080
including every secret thing whether good or evil right that scripture verse sums it all up right just keep

638
00:45:31,400 --> 00:45:39,960
God at the forefront of your life your thinking follow Jesus with all your heart every hour of every single

639
00:45:40,020 --> 00:45:51,080
day and we'll all do well. Pray with me, would you? Father, we praise you. Please give us, Lord,

640
00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:56,960
what it takes to be your disciple. I know I don't have what it takes, but by your spirit,

641
00:45:57,120 --> 00:46:03,320
you'll give us what it takes. Because we don't have what it takes, Lord, just realizing that it's you,

642
00:46:03,980 --> 00:46:09,940
that it's you that does the work in us. He who began a good work in you will complete it until the

643
00:46:09,960 --> 00:46:17,760
Jesus Christ. You are the one that kindles the fire in our souls to fulfill us. Lord, as you call

644
00:46:17,860 --> 00:46:24,860
us to this discipleship, this being that follower and that learner of Jesus, may you empower us to do so

645
00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:31,180
by your Holy Spirit. And we pray at the mighty and powerful name of Jesus. Amen and amen.