#2 THE COST OF FOLLOWING JESUS
OUR AGENDA MUST BE ONE WITH
JESUS
V:25. Large crowds were
traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 "If anyone comes to
me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers
and sisters — yes, even his own life — he cannot be my disciple. 27 And anyone
who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
A. In any crowd, there will
be people with different agendas.
1. There will be some who are just curious,
but no committed.
2. There will be some who are there to see
what they can get
for themselves, but not committed.
3. There will be some who hate the agenda
of Jesus.
4. There will be some who have not made up
their mind
about Jesus.
5. There will be some who are committed to
Jesus and
ready to build God’s church.
B. Jesus demands that He be
first in your life.
1. God put us first above His own Son.
For God so loved the world that He gave
only begotten Son.
2. To follow Jesus, we must put Him first.
C. The Greek word for “hate”
in this text means to love less.
1. The Lord would not contradict His
command to honor your
mother and father.
2. Putting Jesus first means, living in
obedience to His commands.
3. Living in obedience to God's commands
means every other
consideration is second. And some
things are not considered.
4. According to the text, the order of our
love is Jesus, the family then
self.
5. Our daily objective ought to be to serve
Christ by drawing others
to Him through our Christian lifestyle.
C. According to the Roman
custom of the time, a convicted man was forced
To carry his cross to the crucifixion site.
This was a sign that the
Roman government was right and the
condemned man was wrong.
1. To carry the burden of the cross for
Jesus is to say that Jesus is right
and the world is wrong.
2. The burden of the cross requires us to
forsake our fleshly desires
for the righteousness of Christ.
3. The burden of the cross requires us to be
submissive to the guidance
and directions of the Holy Spirit.
4. The burden of the cross requires us to
serve God with the gifts and
talents He has provided.
5. The burden of the cross requires our
agenda to become one with
Jesus agenda.
THE TOWER OF DEFENCE
V:28 "Suppose one of you
wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see
if he has enough money to complete it? 29 For if he lays the foundation and is
not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30 saying, 'This
fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
A. The tower was a tall
lookout station used for observation to guard
against the enemy.
1. The enemy to every Christian is Satan and
his demons.
2. We have to build a defense against Satan.
3. Eph 6:13-18 outlines our tower of defense:
“Therefore put on the full armor of God,
so that when the day of evil
comes, you may be able to stand your
ground, and after you have done
everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then,
with the belt of truth buckled
around your waist, with the breastplate
of righteousness in place, 15 and
with your feet fitted with the readiness
that comes from the gospel of
peace. 16 In addition to all this, take
up the shield of faith, with which
you can extinguish all the flaming arrows
of the evil one. 17 Take the
helmet of salvation and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit.”
4. Notice that our tower of defense is
trusting in God’s protection and
provisions.
5. As Christians, we stand on God’s
promises and noting else.
B. Satan goes to and fro to
see who he may destroy.
1. The moment you declare Jesus as Lord and
Savior, you become
his target.
2. Friends and relatives may be who he uses
to Polk fun at your
religion.
3. In addition, you may face all kinds of
temptations to draw you
away from Christ.
4. Therefore we must always guard
our hearts and minds
from being distracted from Christ.
THE BATTLE
V:31 "Or suppose a king
is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and
consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming
against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a
delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of
peace. 33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has
cannot be my disciple.
A. We are in a constant
battle with Satan.
1.
The Apostle Paul stated it as follows;
I find then a law, that evil is present
with me, the one who wills to do
good. 22 For I delight in the law of God
according to the inward man. 23
But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my
mind, and bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin which is in my
members.
24 O wretched man that I am! Who will
deliver me from this body of
death? 25 I thank God — through Jesus
Christ our Lord!
2. We cannot make peace with the devil, but
we can make peace
with Christ.
3. To make peace with Jesus is to take up the
cross and follow Him.
4. The cost of discipleship is to put our
trust in Christ and not rely
on self.
B. The battle that we are in,
is fought in the spiritual realm which we
are not capable of winning without Christ.
“Ephesians 6:11-12
12 For our struggle is not against flesh
and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the
powers of this dark world and against
the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly realms.”
1. We have to humble ourselves before the Lord
and allow Him to work in
our favor.
2. 2 Chronicles 20:15
For the battle is not yours, but God's.
3. Jesus rose from the dead with all power over
heaven and earth in
victory over Satan and his demons.
4. We have no business in a battle that is
already won.
WE ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH
V:34 "Salt is good, but
if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither
for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
"He who has ears to
hear, let him hear."
A. Salt was designed with a
purpose.
1. It seasons that which it comes in
contact with.
2. Salt adds flavor to food.
3. Salt preserves food.
4. Salt can be corrupted by rain and lose
its quality.
a. Salt contains sodium chloride which
is water-soluble.
b. Our love for Christ should not be
dissolved by the lust of
the world.
B. The life of a Christian is
designed to be the salt of the earth.
1. We are to affect those we come in
contact with by proclaiming
the Word of God.
2. It is our job to season our conversation
with love, grace, and mercy,
and compassion for everyone.
3. When we proclaim Christ, the Holy Spirit
works in the lives
of the hearers.
C. If we lose our desire to serve Christ we
become corrupt and useless
to the Church.
1. According to the Apostle Paul, it is
the temptations of life that
derails our intentions to serve,
“ Heb 12:1
12 Wherefore seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud
of witnesses, let us lay aside every
weight, and the sin which doth so
easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before
us,”
2. It is up to us to stay focused on
Christ and serve Him through which
success in mission is obtained.
Rev M. Mitchell
Asst Pastor Of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church
For More lessons follow me on
facebook and visit my blogs
Revmmitchell.com and
goodnewsrevmitc.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment