Men of Destiny in Discipleship - (Luke 9: 23 - 24, 14:27 - 29)

HYMN

 

Be thou My Everlasting Portion,

More than friend or life to me,

All along my pilgrim journey,

Savior, let me walk with Thee.

Refrain 1:

Close to Thee, close to Thee,

Close to Thee, close to Thee;

All along my pilgrim journey,

Savior, let me walk with Thee.

Not for ease or worldly pleasure,

Nor for fame my prayer shall be;

Gladly will I toil and suffer,

Only let me walk with Thee.

Refrain 2:

Close to Thee, close to Thee,

Close to Thee, close to Thee,

Gladly will I toil and suffer,

Only let me walk with Thee.

Lead me through the vale of shadows,

Bear me o’er life’s fitful sea;

Then the gate of life eternal

May I enter, Lord, with Thee.

Refrain 3:

Close to Thee, close to Thee,

Close to Thee, close to Thee,

Then the gate of life eternal

May I enter, Lord, with Thee.

Luke 9:23-24

International Standard Version

Then he told all of them, "If anyone wants to come with me, he must deny himself, pick up his cross every day, and follow me continuously.

Weymouth New Testament

And He said to all, "If any one is desirous of following me, let him ignore self and take up his cross day by day, and so be my follower.

A Cross is not refers to circumstances of life, it not physical illness, state of health one is passing through, it is not strained relationship, not financial constraint, it is not difficulties or challenges of life BUT a willingness to die to self daily in following JESUS which also known as “Discipleship”.

Discipleship is a process of making people of different background to conform to the image of Christ, which requires;

• Absolute obedience; 
• Commitment;  
• Travailing and labouring every day to be like Him (dying to flesh daily;
• Knowing the terror of this end time, realising that the time is short and that the Kings business requires haste and being persuaded to fulfil this mandate - Matt 28:19  
• Denial of Self i.e. forsaking self (your existence), your ideas, plans, desires and exchanging them for His, 

These may appear to be very hard decisions to make. Following JESUS and taking “the cross” daily you must be able to answer the following questions truthfully because these are costs/sacrifice of following him:

• Am I willing to lose some closest friends? Not by death but by relationship (disassociations)
• Am I willing to be alienation (set apart, detach) from my family? There are some family rites/functions that one need to excuse him/herself.
•  Am I willing to lose my reputation? 
• Am I willing to let go my job if need be for the sake of Christ?
• Am I willing to lose my life for Christ so that I can gain it?

PRAYER

Luke 14: 25 – 29

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

26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not [c]hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life [in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God]—he cannot be My disciple.

27 Whoever does not carry his own cross[expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow after Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me] cannot be My disciple. 

28 For which one of you, when he wants to build a watchtower [for his guards], does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to finish it? 

29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is unable to finish [the building], all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!

• Thank God for them, taking this bold step and determined to follow Him
• Thank you that you will equip them of everything needed to run this race and complete it.
• Thank Him that will uphold them, they shall not shipwreck

John 16:33 NLT

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."

• This journey may appears unpleasant, there will be loads of persecutions, battles; pray that God will give them grace to endure the cross 
• Father ground their hearts in the truth of your Word (The gospel) against every opposition (battles of the mind, physical – home front, financial, at work, among family and friends)

John 8:31 “.......If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure.”

• Help them to continually obeying and living in accordance to the teachings, let their lives depend on it.
• Father, renew their strength each day, help them to always win the battlefield of their minds, draw them close to you and to walk with you in every steps of the journey. 
• They have put their hands on the plough, they will not look back, their names shall remain on list for the roll call at the end of their journey – Luke 9:62 .
•  Their lives shall not be a container that always receive and not given out, rather, they shall be channels that receives and gives out; let the fragrance of their lives draws many to the kingdom; as they receives, let them also make disciples of their homes, community of souls around them and of the nation at large.