The Cost of Discipleship Part 3

How are my brothers and sisters? As you know, This the final blog of this three blog series on Discipleship with Christ. It's been good, and fun to dive into these verses with you Beloved! Let's look at the last section of this verse and dive into what God has to say. If you have just tuned into this blog, I challenge you two read the previous to posts: The Cost of Discipleship Part 1, The Cost of Discipleship Part 2.

"33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples." LUKE 14:33

Okay, small recap, Jesus said we first had to love him so much that to everyone else it seemed like we hated them. Second He said that we had to carry our cross and follow him. Lastly He says we have to give up all things to Him. Have we really ever thought about what this looks like? Jesus is saying that He wants Everything! This doesn't mean that we asked Jesus to come into our lives. It means that we gave our lives to Christ. Meaning that when we want something, we surrender it to the will of Christ. Now there are times where what we want is what Christ wants, but to be quite frank, that is a process. This is a process I even struggle with to this very day.

"⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. " MATTHEW 13:44

This verse is another example of what Jesus is talking about. Look at the heart of this man. Think of it this way. This man knew there was a treasure in this field. He took time to find it. He then hid it again, and then sold everything he had to buy this field. This is what Christ is asking us to do! We know there is a treasure in a relationship with Jesus. Christ wants us to find it for our on lives, hide it in our hearts, and give everything else away that our heart is seeking. These two verse show how Christ is asking you to be ALL IN, ALL DAY, ALL YEAR, and ALL HEART.

When is their last time you gave anything your all? See I know one thing, and you can ask anyone that knows me, since I started to give Christ my all; I have never once regretted it! So what if you can't drink anymore. So what if you can't watch porn anymore. So what if you can't bring others down to make yourself feel better. the list continues, but the fact remains those things only can help you stay afloat for a very very small amount of time. In fact, in most cases they only bring you into bondage and chains anyway. You start to let those thing run your life, instead of you making the choices. The bible says:

"8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him." PSALM 34:8

"13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." JEREMIAH 29:13

I promise you Beloved, if you follow these verses you will not only become a Disciple of Christ, but you will be more alive then you have ever been! In fact, the bible says that without Christ we are dead. This means we are nothing. Our career, our family, our love, our hope, our dreams, and our lives are NOTHING. Christ is why I have purpose. I don't write these things in my fleshy desires. I write these post out of the love that Christ Himself implanted in my heart. I promise you beloved, if you spend time reading his word, ridding your life our your wants and your evil desires, and seeking after the Lord in prayer time that you will come Alive.

You don't know how to pray, GIVE THAT TO GOD, His Word say how to in Matthew 6. You don't know if you desires are evil, GIVE THAT TO GOD, His Word lists some thing in Galatians 5. You don't know how to get through this life with all it's stresses, GIVE THAT TO GOD, His Word shows us how to handle that in Matthew 5. I'm not here just to give you these verses, I'm here to tell you the truth. I'm here to say that This is what it takes to be his disciple.

I know you have what it takes! I also know that you need it as much as I do. Let me leave you with one last thing. This Christian walk is not a simple one time prayer that gives you heaven. The word Disciple in the Greek literally means "Learner." This walk is something we are constantly learning to walk. it's also something we constantly have to follow the steps of these three blogs. HAVE YOU COUNTED THE COST? Remember:

"8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him." PSALM 34:8


I love you Beloved!

The Cost of Disciple Part 2

So I know it’s been a little longer than I had hoped for writing this blog, but I’m excited to share with you some things about the continuing verse of last blog’s passage. I ask that if you haven’t read the last blog, that you take a moment to do so that you can be up to speed with the series blog. Again, this is part two of a three part series on the cost of discipleship. Lord I pray that today you take us a step closer to truth in this walk, take us deeper into an intimate relationship with you!

“²⁷ And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” LUKE 14:27

In the previous verses Jesus says that our love for him should look like hatred to this world. Meaning we should love him, interact with him, and seek him so much that others think we don’t love them. That’s a hard challenge to follow sometimes. Even more than that, Jesus ends his though with the passage above. This statement always strikes me as interesting. We must remember that Jesus is saying we have to carry our cross, and he hasn’t even died on his cross yet! Jesus says a statement like this one much earlier than this in Luke:

“Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” LUKE 9:23

With these two passages we see some things that we should think about:

There is a cross we

are called to carry

So what does this cross look like? How much does it weigh? Are they square beams or are they round poles? I don’t know the answer to these questions, but what I do know is that you have a cross to carry for Christ. This means that when it comes to our faith that we should take on the weight of our faith. We should know what our faith entails, and what we are to do with that faith. I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t see that carrying a cross is easy. Our society has brought this verse down to a 2 oz metal cross that we wear on our necklace or a big ink tattoo on our arm. I don’t think this is what these verses are alluding too. I see this as sometimes being something we carry even if we don’t want to. I see this cross being something that is big enough for everyone to see. I see this cross being light enough for us to carry, but heavy enough for us to have some struggle. I feel this cross is the Gospel of Jesus. The story of what he did for us, what he did for others, and the story of what he still is doing right now for people around the world. Luke 9 takes it a step further and says we are called to carry this daily, NOT JUST SUNDAY, but daily. That means we carry this cross 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, 60 minutes an hour, and 60 seconds a minute! THAT’S DAILY!

 

After We take up our Cross,

We follow after the cross

What did Christ do with his cross? Last time I checked, he died on it. He did it for you and for me! In other words, these two verses are foreshadowing what he did for us on his cross. This is the part of the Blog some people like hearing, and some won’t. Jesus said to take us your cross and follow after him! He is asking you to put your fleshly desires, your wants, your will, and your plans to death. But let me show you the beauty of this! Jesus rose from the grave! Jesus was given new life!

“¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” ROMANS 8:11

If you die to yourself, the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, which gave him new life, WILL GIVE YOU NEW LIFE! Stay focused though brothers and sisters. We need to carry the cross first and then follow him. You can’t have the new life without carrying your cross first.

So here is the idea. Are you carrying your cross? Are you following Christ to the death of your will and rising and walking in his will? Or, are you just calling yourself Christian and never thinking there is a cost?

Think this one through Beloved! I love you all!

The Cost of Disciple Part 1

So I have noticed a great deal of growth in the amount of viewers of this blog in the past month, Praise Jesus. Knowing this, it would only be fitting to do a small three part series on a core theme of scripture that I feel we as believers should always be reminded about! The series name will be known as The Cost of Discipleship. I want the take the next few blogs and dive into an idea that Jesus himself speaks on in Luke 14. This speech he gives doesn’t stand alone, it actually is a theme that is seen throughout the New Testament! Lord, I pray that the person reading this will be encouraged and have their faith increased as they read this blog. (Reader: feel free to read this a loud) Jesus I welcome you Spirit in this place to do as you will it and that I may begin a deeper relationship with you than I already have now!

“²⁵ Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.”

Jesus is walking with this monstrous crowd following him and decided that he needs to make sure they are following him with the right motives. He had been giving very impacting speeches, healing the sick, and telling very understandable parables, but wanted to make sure they were following him not for those reasons; but for a deeper reason!  He looks at them and says something that I myself wouldn’t be prepared for. In fact, when I came across this verse a few years back, I wasn’t prepared for it.

He has quite a list of things that we should hate here. Hate is a word that most Christians would never associate with words Jesus said! Let’s clear some things up. Jesus is not permitting any follower of Christ to display vengeance, wrath, anger, or punishment on any of the people listed. What he is doing is telling us that we’re involved in something bigger that what we sometimes think! Some commentators on this verse will say that the word hate means “to Love less.” This can make the verse work, but the interesting fact here is the Greek word used here only translates to English word “hate.” What does this mean? You said that we’re not allowed to show acts of hatred toward the people listed.

What Christ is saying here is a spiritual Hyperbole. He is saying the word hate as an exaggeration to show the amount of love you should have for him. Here is what I mean. When I was in high school I had one really good friend. He was my best friend. We did everything together. We soon made another friend that shared the same likes, dislikes, music, ECT. I remember this one week I hung out with this newer friend more than I did with my long time best friend. I’ll never forget what my best friend said, “Bryan is everything okay between us? Have I done anything to hurt you?” I was blown away by this question, and kind of chuckled. I asked him why he asked and he said, “Well I saw that you hung out with (Newer Friend) a lot this week and…. I don’t know… felt like I must have done something. Bryan, I kind of felt like you hated me.”

See where I’m going with this? Our interaction, our love, our intimacy should be focused on Christ some much so, that the people Jesus lists could almost feel that we hate them. That everyone in the list could have a similar conversation with us based on our walk with Jesus.

Some people reading need to look at their boyfriend, girlfriend, or their spouse and tell them, “Look, I gave my life to Christ, I want you to help me in this decision, but if you are going to lead me into sin, you better check yourself! Christ is telling us that He is our First Love!

 “³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’” MARK 12:30

We are called to love Jesus above all things, above all people, above all friendships, above all relationships, and above all family members. Remember, the end of the first verse is that if you can’t love Christ above these things: 

You Cannot Be Christ’s Disciple!

Be Blessed Beloved!

Happy 25!

Beloved,

I want to thank you for looking at this blog, and for all the encouragement i've Recieved over the past month! this being blog #25 i want to encourage you all to read some of my older ones! My plan is to repost an old post and to watch God use it again in our lives. Below is oine of My favorite posts just becuase God was so random and soo Awesome! Be Blessed!

Whats that Buzzing Sound?

So I’ve wanted to write this for a while. It’s weird, I had this thought days ago but I felt I was writing too much and decided I’d not write it. That was the Enemy, and in the name of Jesus I ask God to rebuke him.

Have you ever gotten in your car and hear a strange buzzing sound? A few days ago got in my car after work and there was a decent size fly in the back of my car. I watched him fly around trying to escape through my back window, knowing that he’ll never make it through. I thought to myself, “Poor fly, let me help him out!” So I opened the window that he was closest to in the back to let him fly out of it. He flew to the other side of the back and didn’t even go close to the window. I thought, “The window must have startled him.” So my next step was to roll down my other back window. He moved now to the middle of the back window and chose not to fly out the open windows. At this point I thought it funny that there are two very easy ways for him to go and he still chose the one that was never going to work. I then swatted toward him with my hand and he decided to go out one of the windows!

I normally would have just shrugged it off, but God had a different plan. He said, “Bryan, that fly is an example of you and how you walk your Christian walk.” I was puzzled! God said that I was the fly. I realized what he was saying is that there are times where I try and walk this walk and try and “escape” my sin but there is just something I can’t see blocking me. That blocker can be my pride, my lust, or many other things. God sometimes gives me one or two easy options to get around these blockers and to escape my sin. Yet, I chose to continue flying toward my sin “window.” In some cases it’s when God has to literally scare me for my life that I pay attention and escape his way instead of mine. God reminded me of Proverbs 3:5-6.

“5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

God said, “Bryan I need you to trust me in faith, sometimes without you understanding what I’m asking. You need to trust that I’ve cleared the path and made a way, and that I’m doing what’s best for you!”

Father thank you for this revelation, I pray God that I can walk this the way that you have for me!

My questions are simple:

• Are you like the fly in the story?
• Has God given you a way to make it out?
• Are you trying to fly through your own back window, and not out the easily seen open side windows?

God I pray that you can move the hearts of your children so that we seek your clear still voice, so that we can walk in your ways! I love you Yahweh!

Be blessed Beloved!