I am excited about where the Lord has us in His Word. This scripture refers to the calling of the twelve disciples to Jesus and His appointing of them as His disciples.  And this is very unique because this is what Jesus does in our lives. He calls us out of "mere Christianity" and into a "discipleship Christianity". And this is where many of us get hung up. We think that being "Christians" is enough and God is pleased and honored at that. Reading our Bible, praying to Him, and going to church is the extent of our relationship with Jesus. And all those things are great, and we should be doing them, BUT there is so much more.

In Christian context discipleship means that "you devote your life to Jesus Christ, you learn and accept His teachings, and you intent on living that way." I think for many of us, we are content with learning the Word, but RELUCTANT to live out the teachings of Jesus Christ. And that is what a "Christian" does, they sit back and don't LIVE OUT the teachings of Jesus. We need to be intentional about living out the teachings of Jesus Christ. That is what it means to be a disciple of Him.

In LUKE 14:25-33, Jesus explains what it takes to be a disciple. And there are three things that discipleship requires. Discipleship requires:

3. Discipleship involves a DETERMINED OBEDIENCE.

In verse 26, Jesus says that we should hate our families in order to be a disciple of Him. And of course He is not calling us to literally "hate" our families, He is calling us to something different. He uses hatred to explain those relationships in comparison to our relationship with Him. He is to be #1 in our lives. No other relationship should take His place, and to do that takes a DELIBERATE CHOICE.

In verse 27, Jesus says that we should bear our own cross. Not meaning that we wear it around our necks, but we wear it on our backs. Thereby symbolizing our death. Philippians 3:8 "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ." Paul is saying I COUNT IT ALL LOSS.

- Money as LOSS

- Friends as LOSS

- Family as LOSS

- Image, reputation, success, jobs, prosperity as LOSS

IN COMPARISON TO THE TREASURE THAT CHRIST HAS BECOME FOR ME. Paul made a deliberate choice to DENY HIMSELF of the things that were most important to him for the sake of Jesus Christ.

In verses 28-33, Jesus basically says, "Discipleship is costly." Therefore requiring all the more from us a determined obedience to carry out what God has called us to do. It is hard work to be a disciple. There will be persecutions, trials, temptations, attacks, you name it, it will come, but in those times we need to be determined to obey what He wants. Nehemiah is a prime example. Being the cupbearer to the king made him probably the most unskilled to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Yet, God called him to do it and he obeyed. Even when he had attacks coming from all over, he still obeyed.

Now, our motivation to do these things should be one of LOVE. It is because we LOVE Jesus and we desire to serve Him. And that should be our sole motivation. However, there is a reward that we store up in heaven as well. Mark 10:28-31 explains it well. And we rejoice in that. Don't be CONTENT with being a "pew potato", be a "disciple". Be a follower of Jesus Christ by DELIBERATELY CHOOSING, DENYING YOURSELF, and DETERMINED IN YOUR OBEDIENCE to follow where He is leading. Let that be your prayer to Him. God Bless!