The Cost of Discipleship

I. The Crowded Condition v.25

Prayer Advance

I. The Crowded Condition

-large crowds going along with

-large crowds going along with

II. The Cost of Discipleship v.26-27

1. Relationships

The most important things in our lives must be hated.

The most important things in our lives must be hated.

a.Father d.children

b. Mother e. siblings

c. wife f. own life

2. A Cross to Bear v.27

10,000 Sermon Illustrations Cost of Crosses

Cost of Crosses

Clarence Jordan, author of the “Cotton Patch” New Testament translation and founder of the interracial Koinonia farm in Americus, Georgia, was getting a red-carpet tour of another minister’s church. With pride the minister pointed to the rich, imported pews and luxurious decoration. As they stepped outside, darkness was falling, and a spotlight shone on a huge cross atop the steeple.

“That cross alone cost us ten thousand dollars,” the minister said with a satisfied smile.

“You got cheated,” said Jordan. “Times were when Christians could get them for free.”

Michael Jinkins

The Cross Jesus Had in Mind

The Cross Jesus Had in Mind

When Jesus said, “If you are going to follow me, you have to take up a cross,” it was the same as saying, “Come and bring your electric chair with you. Take up the gas chamber and follow me.” He did not have a beautiful gold cross in mind—the cross on a church steeple or on the front of your Bible. Jesus had in mind a place of execution.

Billy Graham in “The Offense of the Cross” (from Great Sermons on Christ, Wilbur M. Smith, ed.)

Galaxie Software, 10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Biblical Studies Press, 2002).

3. Illustrated Cost v.28-32

a. The Tower

b. The Battle

III. The Conclusion on Discipleship v.33

10,000 Sermon Illustrations I Gave It All

I Gave It All

The first date Jim (Elliot) asked me for was to a missionary meeting at Moody Church in Chicago, late in April. Not surprising that he would choose an event like this rather than a concert or dinner out. The speaker was one of the daughters of the famous missionary to Africa C.T. Studd. She told of her father’s last hours. He lay on his cot, gazing around the little hut and at his few possessions. “I wish I had something to leave to each of you,” he said to the handful of people present, “but I gave it all to Jesus long ago.”

Passion and Purity, Elizabeth Elliot, Revell, 1984, p. 43

IV. Cost of Discipleship Applied V.34-35

According to Foxe's Book of Martyrs, when the sentence of death was passed, Rogers begged Gardiner to let him speak a few words to his wife. Gardiner refused, telling Rogers he was not legally married because he had once been a priest. However, as Rogers walked to the stake, singing psalms, he saw his wife at the roadside, holding their youngest baby, whom he had never met.

At the stake, Rogers was offered a pardon if only he would recant his beliefs and return to the Catholic church. He refused. The fire was lit and Rogers washed his hands in the flames as though he did not feel them. He was the first of many martyrs in Mary's reign.