With or without: are you?
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Where there is no vision, the people perish:
But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Alarm Clock this morning?
One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to these things.
Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’ ”
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a 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 out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
luke 14
Date?
more than one
only one
couldn’t see spending another date with him/her
Vision
Planning ahead
study for a test in home room the morning of the test
Non-Christians look at Christianity with a lot of vision
it looks costly
I’ll have to wake up on Sunday mornings
these people:
hug
listen to music that I don’t know
talk about Jesus who I’ve never seen or met
expect me to stop enjoying my life - call it sin
can’t keep sleeping with my girlfriend
can’t cuss
I’ve got to stop getting drunk or high
THE LIST GOES ON AND ON
Satan will use this to keep people from God
there is some truth in these things
that’s how the enemy communicates
lies laced in truth
The Bible encourages us to count the cost of following Jesus
Luke 14:28
“But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’
“Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away.
It would be foolish to enter into a relationship with Jesus and not first count the costs
How do we count the cost of being a disciple of Jesus?
A Follower?
Look a couple of verses back...
Luke 14:26-
“If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.
and then we should look at the verse after...
Luke 14:
So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
The cost:
we must be willing to abandon anything and everything for Him
no limitations
true followers of Jesus do not commit 70%
because 70% won’t cut it
neither will 80, 90, or 99%
Following Jesus is an all or nothing decision
that’s how marriage was designed as well
and parenthood
but we have degraded commitment
used to commit over a handshake
now we need lawyers and signatures
because we are in a culture of no commitment
Jesus is looking for us to commit to Him
are you willing to let go of the things or people that you love if He leads you to do that ?
We must be willing to give it all but only need to give what He calls
rich young ruler
you may not be asked to give away everything that you have
but if He does ask you to what will you do?
You may not have to break ties with family or friends
but if He asks what will you do?
So we know how to figure the cost...
How do we figure the value?
value of things:
different for different people
10th anniversary dinner
$20 bottle of water
skateboarding incident
There have been times I would have
I knew that there was a chance that I could get hurt when I started
hanging out with people that I enjoy and doing something fun was worth the risk
If I knew for sure what was going to happen when I went up that ramp I would have chose a different ramp BUT I went in with the expectation that there was potential cost but the value was high enough that I was willing to take the risk - still don’t regret it
even though I could barley sleep last night
So we know how to figure the cost...
How do we figure the value of Jesus?
I could talk about the temporary benefits of a relationship with Jesus
what we gain while living on earth
joy, hope, peace
fellowship with Him & other believers
purpose that we can live out thru Him
I could talk about the eternal benefits
what we will receive in heaven
eternal
rest
peace
health
Never have:
sorrow
pain
sickness
heartbreak
stress/worry
we could talk about all of that BUT what if we just simply looked at the cost of giving anything less than 100% to God
we get confused and think that the suggested 10% tithe is the level in in which we give of our lives
If we aren’t all in
THEN WE ARE OUT
If you come 90% to my house
you won’t get to eat my wife’s amazing food
we won’t hang out or spend time together
you may have had the anticipation and excitement of coming over
but in the end you would be let down
Try going to work this week and only doing the stuff that you really like to do and only show up when you feel like it
next week when you are looking for another job let me know how that went for you
Some show up to God’s house when it’s convenient
give what’s easy
They may have the anticipation that they are going to get paid like they were all in but there will be a let down
you may think that you will get my wife’s cooking but you’ll be stoping at McDonalds on the way home
because these things are all or nothing
So what is the cost of not being all in for Jesus?
No Heaven
let down is a place called Hell
wasn’t made for me or you
place of tourment
punishment
lonliness
sorrow
pain
AND IT’S ETERNAL
hell on earth not even a taste of actual hell
just as the greatest day on earth won’t hold a drop in a bucket in comparison to heaven
If your not all in for Jesus
you’ll miss out on some of the earthly and temporary benefits as well
you’ll lack peace when you need it
you won’t have the comfort that surpasses all understanding
you won’t fully experience the fellowship of God’s people
there is something different about being part of the body of Christ when we are all in vs feeling like a third wheel on a date
life will never satisfy unless you are all in
we were designed with a purpose and we must live it out to be satisfied
God created us and gave us our purpose
only committing our lives to Him will fulfill that
you can try to fill it with
stuff
love
next high
BUT NONE OF THAT WILL SATISFY
The value of being a follower of Jesus Christ is that you can experience life to the full
you can have a hope beyond the end of this life
SO THEN WE MUST DECIDE IF THE COST IS WORTH THE VALUE
It’s like the mattress company on the radio
we don’t offer sales because we simply offer the best product at the best price everyday
Maybe your looking for a blue-light special or you thought that you found one years ago
one where you can get Jesus at 25% off
your giving Him 75% of your life
but you think that maybe you got a lemon
others talk about having something that you only pretend that you feel so that you don’t seem like an outcast
SATAN mixes truth with his lies
He isn’t afraid to tell people that Jesus is the answer - truth
because he knows that he can tell you that you can have Jesus at full value for only a portion of the cost
If you want the real thing then you have to count the cost and make that decision for yourself
Satan will say:
sure you can still live in sin and have Jesus
you don’t need to read your Bible and pray
the pastor will do that for you on Sunday
no sense in trusting in God with that area of your life
you’ve already accepted Jesus into your heart...
It’s a lie and until we put the truth into action we will never experience the true power and presence of God
So what kind of a vision do you have for your life?
where do you see yourself in 100 years
grave?
I see myself skipping and singing on the streets of gold hand in hand with my Savior