Christianity is Real

Luke 14:25–28 NASB95

25 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26 “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. 27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?

Luke 14:25 NASB95

25 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them,

large crowds - going along with him, accompanied him, traveling with

not disciples but crowds - the ideas is they are with him, but not with him

they are hanging on - to see another miracle, another verbal joust with the religious leaders, he’s popular right now

and large crowds still travel with Jesus 65% Americans still claim Christianity

they will hang out with Jesus as long as no decisions need to be made

and this is what Jesus is addressing when he turns to them

my mother was not a part of the crowd

Priority

Luke 14:26 NASB95

26 “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.

wait . . . what?!!

Jesus is first, and whatever is second is a distant second . . . those closest to you, even what you want from life, your plans, your dreams, what you would like

Price

Luke 14:27 NASB95

27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

There is a price, not to be saved, but because you are saved

my kids did not have to pay to be born - Sherry and I did all the work

then prenatal care, then birth, then childcare . . . . fed, clothes, shelter, TV, furniture, cell phones, toys,

but there was price that came with being our kids

expected to act a certain way

expected to do the dishes, clean their room

Contrary to a lot of what do you hear today, Christianity is not a fairy tale religion

On this side of life there is no guarantee of a Cinderella like happily ever after

Hebrews 11 talks about the heroes of faith, and we only pay attention to the first part

who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight, women received back their dead by resurrection

and ignore the other part

and others were tortured, experienced mockings and scourgings, chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, wandering in deserts

Then look at the lives of the 12 apostles - only John died a natural death, but he was rumored to have been tortured at least once in his life

Then there is Paul’s own testimony

2 Corinthians 11:24–25 NASB95

24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.

he also speaks of being in hunger, thirst, without food . . . spent plenty of time in jail . . . eventually beheaded

But we have been inundated with everything will turn out all good, all the time . . . trust God for a little while and you will turn out insanely successful, just name it and claim it, just believe long enough

and we quote some scriptures out of context, and just run with them because we are so desperate for some good news

and we follow false teachers and false preachers and false prophets so easily because we are desperate for some good news

I have been called to bust that bubble

There is joy, peace, and hope

Romans 15:13 NASB95

13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

why do you need those things?

because you are going through

you have been saved to serve, not saved to prosper

that sound good, when you don’t consider the other scriptures . . . that is simply a lie

There is joy unspeakable and full of glory

There is a peace which passes all understanding

There is hope that last win all hope is gone

And there is a fairytale ending when Jesus comes back

But until then it’s going to take a real faith

I wonder how come God did guve us fairytale endings all the time, in this life?

Because then there is no true trust relationship. There is only God is the ultimate sugar daddy

What would happen if every Christian eventually became rich I’m perfectly healthy? Our churches would overflow with Treasure seekers.

You eventually have to come to the point that you will serve the lord no matter what happens