TITLE: The Cost of Discipleship

2. TITLE: The Cost of Discipleship • TEXT: Luke 14:-25-34, Matthew 10:38, 16:24, Mark 8 • THEME: The believer should weigh the cost of following Christ

4. “Anything worthwhile is never easy.”

5. Thomas Edison famous quotes: “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” From Telegraph to Light Bulb with Thomas Edison” (2007) by Deborah Hedstrom, p. 22

6. Thomas Edison famous quotes: “None of my inventions came by accident. I see a worthwhile need to be met and I make trial after trial until it comes. What it boils down to is (genius) one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.” Uncommon Friends: Life with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Alexis Carrel & Charles Lindbergh (1987) by James D. Newton, p. 24.

7. Thomas Edison famous quotes: “Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.” Thomas Alva Edison : Sixty Years of an Inventor's Life (1908) by Francis Arthur Jones, p. 14

8. Persistence and hard work alone are not adequate to provide success if you are on a wrong course

9. Matthew 11:28-32 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

11. What cost should be considered before following Christ?

12. I. Your relationship with Jesus must supersede all other relationships (25-27)

13. Luke 14:25-27 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. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

14. In comparison to our love for Christ all other relationships appear as hate

15. Signs and characteristics of Love Addiction • Mistake intensity for intimacy (drama driven relationships)

16. Signs and characteristics of Love Addiction • Mistake intensity for intimacy (drama driven relationships) • Seek to avoid rejection and abandonment at any cost

17. Signs and characteristics of Love Addiction • Mistake intensity for intimacy (drama driven relationships) • Seek to avoid rejection and abandonment at any cost • Afraid to trust anyone in a relationship

18. Signs and characteristics of Love Addiction • Mistake intensity for intimacy (drama driven relationships) • Seek to avoid rejection and abandonment at any cost • Afraid to trust anyone in a relationship • Highly manipulative and controlling of others

19. Signs and characteristics of Love Addiction • Mistake intensity for intimacy (drama driven relationships) • Seek to avoid rejection and abandonment at any cost • Afraid to trust anyone in a relationship • Highly manipulative and controlling of others • Sense of worthlessness without a relationship or partner

20. Signs and characteristics of Love Addiction • Mistake intensity for intimacy (drama driven relationships) • Seek to avoid rejection and abandonment at any cost • Afraid to trust anyone in a relationship • Highly manipulative and controlling of others • Sense of worthlessness without a relationship or partner • Feelings that a relationship makes one whole, or more of a man or woman

21. Signs and characteristics of Love Addiction • Intense need to control self, others, circumstances

22. Signs and characteristics of Love Addiction • Intense need to control self, others, circumstances • Using others to alter mood or relieve emotional pain

23. Signs and characteristics of Love Addiction • Intense need to control self, others, circumstances • Using others to alter mood or relieve emotional pain • Tendency to leave one relationship for another. (Inability to be without a relationship.)

24. Signs and characteristics of Love Addiction • Intense need to control self, others, circumstances • Using others to alter mood or relieve emotional pain • Tendency to leave one relationship for another. (Inability to be without a relationship.) • Attempts to replace lost relationships with a new one immediately

26. When we make Jesus first in our life: • Our relationship is eternal- it does not die or change with circumstances.

27. When we make Jesus first in our life: • Our relationship is eternal- it does not die or change with circumstances. • There is no abandonment- no instability - no fickleness- no uncertainty

28. When we make Jesus first in our life: • Our relationship is eternal- it does not die or change with circumstances. • There is no abandonment- no instability - no fickleness- no uncertainty • We are not dependent on anyone or anything else for our worth

29. When we make Jesus first in our life: • We are strengthened and more secure in other relationships

30. When we make Jesus first in our life: • We are strengthened and more secure in other relationships. • We have a perfect partner- I cannot accuse Christ of imperfection.

31. When we make Jesus first in our life: • We are strengthened and more secure in other relationships. • We have a perfect partner- I cannot accuse Christ of imperfection. • Therefore: • Perceived flaws are ours to correct

32. When we make Jesus first in our life: • We are strengthened and more secure in other relationships. • We have a perfect partner- I cannot accuse Christ of imperfection. • Therefore: • Perceived flaws are ours to correct • Required changes must come from us

33. When we make Jesus first in our life: • We are strengthened and more secure in other relationships. • We have a perfect partner- I cannot accuse Christ of imperfection. • Therefore: • Perceived flaws are ours to correct • Required changes must come from us • Christ is there to support us and empower us to change

35. What cost should be considered before following Christ?

36. II. You must be prepared to complete what you start (28-34)

37. A. Like a person building a tower 28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

38. B. Like a king going to war 31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he 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, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

39. Like Salt Preserving Meat • 34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

40. What these three illustrations have in common is that we must be ready to stay the course when we choose to follow Jesus- persistence

41. “If following Christ is so hard then why should I bother?” The answer is simple, “Because the long term the benefits far outweigh the temporary hardships.”

42. What caused these men to stay even when their lives were at stake?

44. What cost should be considered before following Christ?

45. III. You must be willing to share in Christ’s suffering(Mark10:35-40)

46. Mark 10:35-40 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” 36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

47. Mark 10:35-40 38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” 39 “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

48. Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

49. Mark 8:34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life[b] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul

50. Romans 8:17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.