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Christ’s Call to Discipleship - Part 2 (Luke 9:18-27)
14 Plays13 days ago
Sunday Message recorded 17 August 2025
by Senior Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Scripture Reading
00:00:06
Speaker
Good morning. Would you open God's Word to Luke, the Gospel of Luke, chapter 9, verses 18 through 27.
00:00:18
Speaker
Luke 9, verses 18 through 27. I didn't quite finish all that God had laid on my heart, and so i want to make sure I gave you every little part that he wanted us to know from this passage.
Personal Reflection on Discipleship
00:00:30
Speaker
Last week, we received a call to discipleship from the Lord Jesus Christ. You can have your cell phone turned off and still get his call. But since it's hard to remember the details of a conversation, you know what Jesus did?
00:00:44
Speaker
He gave us a text message. It's found right here in Luke 9, verses 18 through 27. You know, can you still remember when the Lord first called you to discipleship? Can you remember it?
00:00:58
Speaker
You know, for me, I was a freshman in college. It was 46 years ago. It's amazing to think of all that's gone by, but how the Lord just keeps getting sweeter and sweeter, like the song says, as the days go by.
00:01:13
Speaker
But hope that you're learning from him and growing in him.
Understanding Learning Retention
00:01:17
Speaker
If you're a teacher, especially if you're Sunday school teacher or even a school teacher, if you're a parent, I really want you listen what I want to say next.
00:01:25
Speaker
I ran across an interesting article. I'd heard these things before, but the article is entitled Seven Strategies to Improve Learning Retention. Do you hang on to what you learn or do you forget it?
00:01:40
Speaker
Well, I want to give you a strategy for how you can remember it, because I want you to remember what we're about to read from Luke 9, verses 18 through 27, because these are the Lord's words. This is what He will say.
00:01:53
Speaker
But here's the thing. There's a knowledge retention pyramid and it's sort of inverted. I'm gonna start at the bottom where it's gonna be the least amount of retention.
00:02:05
Speaker
Do you know that those who study education have determined that people retain 5% what hear, just 5%. people retain 10% of what they hear just five percent but people retain ten percent of what they hear and what they read.
00:02:22
Speaker
so now you're reading But people retain 20% of what they hear and what they see. So if you ever see someone, you know, acting it out, giving a demonstration of something, that also helps because people retain 30% what is demonstrated.
00:02:44
Speaker
People retain 50% of what is shared in group discussion. There's something that strengthens us whenever we hear other people. It's like the Bible says in Proverbs, iron sharpens iron.
00:02:57
Speaker
And so it enhances what we're learning whenever we hear it repeated by someone else in our small group. That's 50%. But now it's going on up there.
00:03:08
Speaker
Do you know that you will retain 75% of what we apply? in daily life. If you take what you hear today and you go out those doors and you live it, you know what? You won't forget it, 75%.
00:03:23
Speaker
seventy five percent But there's one more thing that goes even more than that. People retain 90% of what we teach to others.
00:03:35
Speaker
We hear it, we learn it, we're applying it, but then we go out and we share it with someone else. Isn't that amazing when you think about how God has made us to learn?
Teaching Methods of Jesus
00:03:48
Speaker
Now I want you to look closely at Jesus. I want you to listen closely to what he will say but don't you remember what we've already learned from the the gospel of luke you see jesus has been training a small group of twelve men right but then he took those twelve men and what did he do a few chapters back he sent them out he sent them out to go and teach what they had heard him say he had already been challenging them to live it out and they had seen him live it out they had seen the demonstration of his own life it's like every one of these things
00:04:26
Speaker
were included in his model of teaching that's why if you want to know how to be the very best teacher just study christ's life that's all you've got to do study him and you will know how to pass on truth to other people let's read his truth would you stand with me in honor of luke chapter nine verses eighteen down through verse twenty seven now it happened that as he was praying alone the disciples were with him and he asked them
00:04:58
Speaker
who do the crowds say that i am and they answered john the baptist but others say elijah and others that one of the prophets of old has risen and then he said to them
Recognizing the Identity of Jesus
00:05:15
Speaker
say that i peter answered the christ of god and he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one saying the son of men must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised and he said to all if anyone would come after me let him deny himself
00:05:47
Speaker
and take up his cross daily and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake we'll save it for what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself for whoever is ashamed of me and of my words of him will the son of man be as ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the father and of the holy angels
00:06:19
Speaker
but i tell you truly there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of god let's go to the lord in prayer father we want to know what you would say today i want to step out of the way and just follow your word very closely but i pray that as we follow your word we would hear you speaking through your word it is living and so speak to us lord ignite within us this incredible fire
00:06:51
Speaker
that call to discipleship that cannot be quinched and so i pray that lord today each of us would go from this place changed because of the word of god because of what we hear so you speak lord and we want to listen but we want to do more than listen we want to live we want to live for you and want to follow you we want to implement and apply what you're saying we want to pass it on to others and so o lord help us truly truly be disciples
00:07:23
Speaker
in jesus' name we pray amen thank you you may be seated first i want us to review two components of disippleship that were presented last sunday someone may be here and you weren't here and so i want to make sure that i cover those but we're going to quickly move on to the two remaining facets ah following him as a disciple you know this text you're going to find that it's both challenging and inspiring you're going to hear this call to not only listen
00:07:54
Speaker
but to live to live it out to follow the lord not just to be here in attendance but more than that every day to say okay lord how can i honor you how can i live for you this day well if we looked at verse eighteen that's where we looked last time i want to remind you that the call to disccipleship includes upholding
Demands of Discipleship
00:08:17
Speaker
his priority to prayer what was jesus doing in verse eighteen well it says now it happened that as he was praying alone
00:08:27
Speaker
do you ever take time to pray alone we went on a few ah verses last time we looked them up chapter five verse sixteen told us he had a habit of praying chapter six and verse twelve told us that he prayed before making major decisions one of the most important things for him was who will i hand this ministry off who will who will continue to live this out after i ascend back to the father chapter six verse twelve says he spent the whole night in pray do you pray before major decisions
00:09:01
Speaker
chapter twenty two verse forty four we've not looked at that yet but later we're going to see jesus in a place called the garden of gassemmone and you know what he did he prayed when life was hard when life was heavy is life hard for you is it heavy right now well jesus was always praying it's interesting that the rest of the verse says the disciples were with him but yet it says he was praying alone i think he was trying to tell them i want you to do this i want you to follow me follow my example and you pray as you go through your lives
00:09:37
Speaker
so let's go to the second thing then secondly we saw last week that the call to discipleship also involves understanding his identity if someone asks you today or maybe this week who is jesus what would you say would you say well he's just a man he's just a prophet where would you go to find your information jesus asked them why don't you find out the social evaluation what are people out there saying and that's why he says who do the crowds
00:10:10
Speaker
say that i am you could go to the crowds and you could say who do all of you say that he is you would probably get a bunch of answers there you could go to the culture you know the cultural speculation at that time they gave sort of a synopsis of it and they said well really they don't know some say you're john the baptist some say well you're elijah or maybe another prophet that's risen from the dead but then jesus says you know what that's what they're all saying that's what they're all speculating
00:10:41
Speaker
but i want to know from you who do you say that i am man wouldn't that be something if jesus stood before you let's say you wake up in the night and he's standing at the foot of your bed and he says who do you say that i am who would you say that he is what would your answer to him be that's what he says who do you say that i am and so there's a biblical revelation when the father reveals to jesus to peter who jesus is
00:11:13
Speaker
and peter just speaks up he says you're the christ of god if you were to go to matthew's gospel his account he adds that peter said you're the christ of god you're the son of the living god would you say that jesus is the son of god
00:11:29
Speaker
you know matthew sixteen seventeen when jesus heard peter say that he said you know peter flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven you know the lord wants you and he wants me he wants us to know who he is so are you growing and getting to know who god is are you able to tell other people what you're learning from god's word god's word reveals to us who he is you don't have to speculate don't go with speculation go with the lord's revelation the written word of god
00:12:04
Speaker
you'll learn he is the christ he is the son of god he is the son of man he is the head of the church and the king of kings he's the lord of lords he's the savior he's the bread of life he's the living water any he's so many other different titles and names that are given in scripture over two hundred so get to know who god is as you answer that call to discipleship but i want to move now to newground to the third principle so if you're
00:12:35
Speaker
filling out the information on the back of the bulletin that's where it begins for us today the call to discipleship begins with uniting under his adversity for our redemption you know his adversity is sometimes called the passion of christ sometimes it's called his suffering have you ever thought about all that he went through you know that the whole bible even the old testament the theme of the whole bible is redemption
00:13:06
Speaker
it's all about redemption because early on in genesis it says that we rebelled against our creator and so what will he do to make that right that's why jesus came he wants a personal relationship with each one of us in this room he wants it really bad he wants it so bad that jesus came to the cross and said you know what i will pay the penalty for their sin i will die as a substitute in their place
00:13:37
Speaker
and that's what redemption is it's how he was purchasing us from sin but you know in loopke later in luke he's going to actually talk about in chapter twenty four verses forty four through forty nine that that message of the cross the message of his suffering the message of repentance the message of resurrection and so forth never gets old we're actually supposed to take that message
00:14:08
Speaker
of all that he went through for us it unites a room full of people all of us in this room we don't live on the same road we don't live on the same street we don't live in the same kind of house we don't even choose to do our hair the same way some of you are saying i'm glad that man others of us you know we don't come from the same place maybe some of you grew up here in columbus that's awesome maybe some of you from outlying areas some of you are from other parts of texas others of you are from other parts of the united states
00:14:40
Speaker
what would bring us all together christ it's jesus that's what brings us together so when we unite around that message when we unite around the gospel anything's possible from that moment on so matter of fact i want to share with you this incredible summary of redemption that jesus gives in verses twenty one and twenty two want you to look closely at it and i just want to kind of go through there and help you understand how does that apply to redemption
00:15:12
Speaker
how does that apply to redemption how does this apply to redemption let's go together verse twenty one says and he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one what was going on doesn't jesus want us to tell the gospel doesn't jesus want us to share what he did with other people absolutely he does but at this time why did jesus say i don't want you to tell anybody what peter just
00:15:44
Speaker
confessed or professed before all of us he said i don't want you to tell anybody why you know what god was doing he was protecting redemption it wasn't time yet remember the crowds when he fed them the loaves of bread and the and the two fish and multiplied all of that and fed them remember what it said and john they wanted to do they wanted to make him a king they were like i like this guy that gives me free bread free fish i don't even to go out there and catch him but you know what that wasn't why he came he didn't come
The Value of the Soul vs. Worldly Gains
00:16:17
Speaker
to give free bread and free fish and he didn't come to be a king by force
00:16:22
Speaker
no that's why he had to say don't tell anybody and so what you see there is the protection around redemption but who is going to be able to redeem our souls you know each one of us the bible says that all of sin and falls short of the glory of god so all of us are guilty you understand all of us every one of us even with our best efforts the bible says that all of our righteousness it's like filthy rags even the best that we can do because god's perfect
00:16:53
Speaker
god is holy and maybe we don't take that holiness seriously i'm not saying you don't but i'm saying some dode but if we don't take his holiness seriously he takes it seriously and if we're going to spend eternity with him then we've got to find a way to be in his holy presence and so somebody has got to pay that price someone is going to have to pay for redemption it means to buy back it means we've gone away from the lord so how is god going to pay for us to come back who can ever pay enough
00:17:28
Speaker
for all those sins that you have done you know if i wanted to i could go back and just remind myself of all the bad things i've ever done i'm telling you there's so many things i'd be so ashamed of but you know what somebody paid for them who was that somebody well he tells us right here in this verse as he goes into verse twenty two he says don't tell anybody saying the son of man must suffer oh there he is the son of man do you know that jesus could have told them he was the son of god but you know what his preference was
00:18:03
Speaker
he he usually referred to himself as the son of man he was identifying with us he was coming down to this earth he was born as a baby took on flesh he had been with a father for eternity and so he says just call me son of man you know that son of man as a title for jesus is mentioned eighty four times in the new testament and i think what he's trying to say is i've come down here mankind humanity ah matter what race
00:18:35
Speaker
matter if you're ah a man or a woman if you're a boy a girl if you're a student you know if you're a senior adult it doesn't matter he says i came for you to pay the price for you and so the plan of redemption is mentioned in this one little word it means a lot doesn't it have you ever said i must do this that's what he says the son of man must suffer him must see that's talking about a plan
00:19:08
Speaker
the cross was in the the plan of god somebody had to do this and so this is the plan of god when he uses that word must but when you see him follow it by the word he must suffer that's the pain of redemption you do realize that the the gospel says that when jesus was going to the cross that he was abused that they took a whip it was a whip with lots of different leather you know strips that were on the end and there were pieces of bone or metal that were tied into that
00:19:45
Speaker
and they whipped him on the back and every time they whipped him he said that's okay i'm coming to die for your sin he's coming to die for my sin and so i think wow his suffering you know that also they they mocked him he was the king he was from eternity if he wanted to he could have wiped out all the all the people that were around him he could have just said to the world you know what we're evaporrate in this we're done they're they're mistreating me
00:20:17
Speaker
but you know what he was mocked and he was spat upon and they hit him they they took a reed and they hit him they put crown of thorns on his head can you imagine all those things they made him carry his own cross to the place of execution there was pain and redemption have you ever thought about all that he went through doesn't jesus say here he's going to suffer many things many things that's why i've never really understood you know
00:20:49
Speaker
why people would say i got my own religion i'm a good person i can do this you know what what you're saying to jesus is you did all of that for nu you suffered many things for nothing cause i could have done it all by myself how outrageous ephesians two eight nine says that we're saved by grace through faith it goes on to say that this is not
00:21:20
Speaker
your own doing it also says that it is not a result of work that anyone should vote and what it says that it is it says clearly but it is in ephesians two eight nine it says salvation it is the gift of god it's a gift but whenever we just reject it outright and we say i'm okay the way i am i know it can be good enough for god to accept me
00:21:52
Speaker
no you can't not because of my judgment but because of scripture's judgment when scripture says that we all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of god it's all of us but then i thought wow you know look at that there's the process of redemption was it easy what he went through of course look at the rejection have you ever been rejected by somebody it feels rough doesn't it well it says that the son of man's going to be rejected by the elders
00:22:23
Speaker
and she priests and scribes that's the sanhedin i mean all of these three different groups there he said the process for me to go to the cross for you he said i don't mind um'm going to go ahead and suffer rejection that's why it it must be so shocking whenever we're too ashamed of him you know and it's like really he wasn't ashamed of us he took a lot of rejection and we're thinking i don't think the crowd will accept me
00:22:55
Speaker
i think they'll reject me you know the price of redemption is clear in verse twenty two when he goes on they say and he's going to be killed that's right the son of man laid down his life for us you know in this country we appreciate those in the military who've laid down their lives for us do you really let that sink in that jesus actually died for you and for me and maybe you would think
00:23:26
Speaker
well how do we know that it was even acceptable to god oh we know we know quite clearly because of the last part of verse twenty two he says he's going to be killed but then don't don't stop there he goes on to say he's going to be killed and on the third day be raised that's the fun the father said you know what i accept year your sacrifice i accept your price that you gave so that all of humanity could be received into
00:24:00
Speaker
the family of god for those who will turn in repentance from their sins and place their faith in the finished work of christ he said you know what ah totally accept it but the lord said you know what jesus son i accept fully your sacrifice you do not we sang it earlier he's worthy he's worthy he's worthy but father said he's worthy of life he's not worthy of dead and so the father raised jesus from the dead and and even if you and i have never seen that happen in our lives
00:24:35
Speaker
that's because nobody else is worthy right but i'm telling you there were over five hundred people that saw him raised the father raised him up because jesus was perfect he was sinless and so when he laid down his life for us that's what can unite us you see what i'm saying but can not only unite us it can unite the whole united states it can unite the whole world if we wanted to if people really wanted to come underneath the banner of the cross you know jesus said this this is lack of prophecy
00:25:08
Speaker
he gave this prophecy three times one of them is found here in luke chapter nine verse twenty two but there's a second one found just a little later look at verse forty three first forty three
00:25:28
Speaker
the son of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men he says verse forty five but they did not understand this same and it was concealed for them so that they might not perceive it and they were afraid to ask him about this thing so he's about to be delivered so once again jesus is saying this is what's going to happen it hasn't happened yet but then you see again in chapter eighteen once again he's talking about for he'll be delivered over to the gentiles verse thirty two and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon
00:26:05
Speaker
after flogging him they'll kill him and on the third day he will rise but they understood none of these things this thing was hidden from them and they did not grasp what he said see what he's saying he said this is what's coming all of that tells us this incredible price that jesus has paid so that's how we all all of us enter into disccipleship same exact way there's only one way of salvation through christ but now let's go to that fourth and final thing the call to discipleship continues
00:26:39
Speaker
by unpacking his clarity regarding loyalty see jesus didn't write things in fine print and then sort of spring it on you later no it's out there you want to read through the gospel matthew martin luke and john you can know exactly what it means for you to become a christian you know the cost he doesn't say in fine print he writes it in bull print he wants you to know jesus was so clear and so he clearly outlines five demands of loyalty from his disciples
00:27:10
Speaker
what does he expect from us once we're a disciple the first thing i want you to notice is found in verse twenty three you see in verse twenty three i think we see clearly the application of his demands of disciplesship maybe you'd say it doesn't apply to me no listen to what he says he says and he said to all so all of them i think he's speaking now to all of us if anyone that's anybody in here has anyone in that crowd right there if anyone would come after me let him deny himself
00:27:44
Speaker
take up this cross daily and follow me so you see he's saying this to all of us it applies to every believer so all of us or included if you were to go to the parallel accounts in matthew sixteen and mark eight it's in all of those as well but what about the announcement what does he demand of disciples that's the second thing he covers in verse twenty three the announcement of his demands of discipleship i want to give you three words that i feel like tell us what does he mean by deny himself
00:28:19
Speaker
take up his cross daily and follow me i think when he says deny self i think he's told about surrender he's talking about surrender you know who we want to do you know who we want sitting on the throne that we want to obey him self self is in control all of us have gone his own way each of us have chosen to go our own way what mankind said to god we don't care what you say we know what we want to do with our life it's our life and we want to live it
00:28:51
Speaker
but whenever a person becomes a disciple whenever a person becomes a believer you know what they have to do have to surrender they surrender and say okay lord it's not going to be me anymore i'm willing for you to sit upon the throne of my lot and to tell me what to do the second thing though take up his cross daily is any kind of suffering that you would have to go through because he's on the throne so what if the people snicker what if someone were to say well
00:29:23
Speaker
if you don't wantdo that you're going to have to be fired you know well hey i'm not going to do that because the lord doesn't want me to do that so it means i'm willing to take up the cross daily every day and say if he's on the throne i will take whatever comes because i want him to stay on that throne in my life and then to follow me talks about obedience it talks about sacrifice it means whatever it costs me to obey him i'm willing to do it i want to follow him
00:29:55
Speaker
but do you know one time in john chapter six verse sixty six jesus had made it clear what the demands of discipleship were and you know what happened listen to john six sixty six six six six stay away from that number it's a bad number and john six sixty six it says after this many of his disciples turn back and no longer walked with him see there was a whole bunch of groups that was following him they were saying we're disciples we're following you
00:30:29
Speaker
but whenever he made it clear they said you know what i guess ah maybe we'll go follow somebody else see would you be willing to say okay lord i'm going to deny myself i'm going to take up the cross daily whatever whatever i have to pay whatever happens i' willing to sacrifice and obey you that's true disiples there's also something here about abandonment to his demands of disciplesship abandon you know when i talk about surrender that's kind of the the idea but verse twenty four and twenty five seem to spell it out even clearer
00:31:06
Speaker
abandoned what are you willing to do for his namesake he says are you willing to release your life for my name's sake it's like the investment of your life you know that's why you know a missionary that went to ecuador like jim elot he would say you know he's no fool who gives what he cannot keep in order to gain that which he cannot lose here he's saying something very similar for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake that's the key
00:31:37
Speaker
for my sake you were said wow are you willing to release your life and say okay lord i want to invest my life in your glory and your honor What about the appraisal of your life? Have you ever stopped to think about it?
00:31:52
Speaker
if you If you let the world's attractions and you let the world sort of pull you away from Christ, you know what
Being Unashamed of Faith
00:32:02
Speaker
you're doing? You're saying they're more valuable than my soul.
00:32:06
Speaker
Well, look at what he says here about that in verse 25. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits his soul or himself? It's almost like some of those old-timey scales that were weighted.
00:32:21
Speaker
yeah You put weight on one side, put weight on the other. It's like what we think is, man, you put all the world's gadgets, all the world's gold, all the world's money, all the world's applause. You put all of that on that side.
00:32:34
Speaker
you know what Jesus said? You can put all of that on that side. You can gain the whole world, but you lose your soul, buddy. He said, man, are you ever in trouble? Because you forfeited everything.
00:32:46
Speaker
And so what Jesus is doing is he's saying, your soul means more than everything else. It means more than the whole world and all of its machines and gadgets and so forth.
00:32:57
Speaker
Have you ever taken that kind of appraisal? That's the abandonment that we're being called to. But then I noticed also in verse 26 that we should be unashamed, unashamed of his demands of discipleship.
00:33:12
Speaker
He gives a warning to those who are ashamed of him now. We should listen very quickly. I mean, it should send cold chills down anybody's spine that's trying to be ashamed of him now. He said a warning to those who are ashamed of him now because what's going to happen is he'll be ashamed of them later.
00:33:31
Speaker
You don't want that. Trust me, you don't want that. You want the Lord to welcome you.
00:33:38
Speaker
The last thing is assurance of his demands of discipleship. The assurance of it. He says, you know what I tell you? Truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.
00:33:53
Speaker
So they're going to see the kingdom of God before death. How does that work? There's three different possibilities that that could mean. I'll give those to you really quickly. One is some that are standing there would say, you know what? It's worth it. All that he's described, it's worth it because I can see a glimpse of his transfiguration.
00:34:12
Speaker
Three of his disciples are about to go up on a mountain. Lord willing, we'll look at that next time. About to go up on a mountain and something very amazing happens there. They see who Jesus really is. They see his glory.
00:34:25
Speaker
And so it's called the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus was transfigured before them. So he's saying some, not all of you disciples, but three of you guys, you're going to see that. That's what some say it means. Others say, no, that's not what it means. It's it's all of those who are going to see him resurrected.
00:34:45
Speaker
So it's going to be worth it when they see the glory of his resurrection. They're all going to think it's over when he died on that cross, when they placed him in the tomb, when they rolled the big stone over and in front of that tomb.
00:34:58
Speaker
But it wasn't over He appeared to them and proved to them that he was alive. But then some say, no, that's not it. It's the growth. They're going to begin to see the number of disciples multiply.
00:35:12
Speaker
And so it's going to be worth it when they see not the glimpse of transfiguration or the glory of his resurrection, but the growth through evangelization. So in other words, he's saying some of you are going to see when this thing really takes off.
00:35:27
Speaker
Have you answered Christ's call to discipleship? I know a young couple and the wife, she she used to ah go here to our church. She was a part of our congregation for a while.
00:35:41
Speaker
Her name's Amber. And God took her to the mission field. And while she was on the mission field in Central Asia, she met a young man named Ben and they married. And just recently, you know what? They had their first child.
00:35:54
Speaker
They were having trouble having a child. And then all of a sudden God came through. And so some of us got to hear them when they were here last, just a few weeks back. But their baby girl, Ariana, was born on July 19th.
00:36:08
Speaker
Six pounds, 15 ounces. But you know what it is now? Now it's time to go back. It's time to go back to the mission field. I have a copy of their mission letter and they're saying, you know what? It's harder now.
00:36:21
Speaker
Because now there's the grandparents of our daughter. And now we're going to have to go through this all over again on a new level. And so there's Amber's parents, there's Ben's parents.
00:36:35
Speaker
And so now they they're both going through this and they said, it's so much harder, but how are they going to do that? How could you do that if God called you to go overseas in missions?
00:36:46
Speaker
Well, they look to Mark 10, 29 through 30. Let me close with this. Truly, I tell you, no one has left home. or brothers, or sisters, or mother or father, or children, or feels for me.
00:37:04
Speaker
And the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age, homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and feels, along with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life. Wow. Wow.
00:37:24
Speaker
That's amazing, isn't it? When you think about that, a young couple just had their first baby and now they're going to go all the way around the world. Why? And they're saying, well, we just trust God.
00:37:35
Speaker
We trust him that he's worth us pouring out our lives for. He's worth us giving up the time that our parents would have enjoyed having with the grandbaby.
00:37:48
Speaker
What would you be willing to do if you knew that it was for sure in God's will? Do you remember Levi? You know, Levi was called to follow Jesus in Luke 5, 23 to 27. It is amazing how many things we just read, how many of those things fit in Levi's response and call to discipleship.
00:38:13
Speaker
But I just want to close with this one last thing about Levi. you know Do you know who Levi is? Levi has another name in scripture. He's called Matthew. Matthew. You know, Matthew, Matthew's gospel.
00:38:26
Speaker
Do you know Levi, when he left the tax collector's office there, it says he just walked away. He just walked away and he started following Jesus. he He was used of the Lord to write Matthew's gospel. If you've ever been blessed by that, I'm so glad that he he listened, right?
00:38:44
Speaker
But you know what else? Matthew was willing to go to other places like Ethiopia, And when he was in Ethiopia, the historians say in AD 70 that Matthew was willing.
00:38:57
Speaker
He was willing to give his life. And so they pinned him to the ground and a guy took an ax and he removed his head all because he's a disciple.
00:39:08
Speaker
He's following Jesus. Matthew, you shouldn't do that. And so his life was taken. Was it a waste or was it worth it? I submit to you that Matthew, you can ask him in heaven when you get there and say, was it worth it? I guarantee you he'll say he was worth it.
00:39:27
Speaker
He was worth it. You know, you might not be called to give your life in another place. You might not. But you're called to live.
00:39:40
Speaker
with your life right here to live for him in whatever it is you're doing, you know whatever career, whatever no network of relationships that are all around you?
00:39:52
Speaker
Are you heeding the call to discipleship where God has you? Why don't we stand together? Let's have a prayer and then we'll have a time of invitation.
Invitation to Renew Discipleship
00:40:02
Speaker
You know, one of the songs that I've always appreciated that's in the hymnal is, Pass Me Not.
00:40:09
Speaker
Pass me not, gentle Savior. You know, pass me not. You know do you want the Lord to just keep on walking by you? Or would you say, no, you know what? I'm going to follow you. i don't know where you're going, but I'm going to walk with you. Let's walk together.
00:40:24
Speaker
That's why I'll be standing down front. If you would like to turn from sin, place your faith in Jesus Christ, become a disciple, follow him, then I can help you with that. We might not finish it today, but we can definitely get it started. Let's pray together.
00:40:39
Speaker
Lord, thank you so much for this time to look into your word. I know that you speak to us from your word. So I have no way of knowing to whom you have spoken, but I trust I trust you that as we've given your word, you have spoken.
00:40:55
Speaker
So help each of us, not some of us, we don't need to come forward. We just need to live. We need to live for Christ. And so help us, oh Lord, to live for you in our relationships, live for you at school, live for you in our career, whatever we're doing, wherever we go.
00:41:14
Speaker
May we just honor Jesus and follow you. But bless this time of response for those who do need to come and turn from sin and turn to Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
00:41:30
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.