Brother Gary Sunday Evening 1/4/15

Brother Gary Sunday Evening 1/4/15

This message is an introduction to the thought of counting the cost.  It covers a lot of different aspects of counting the cost.  For all that we are burdened for, there is a cost to be counted.  It is sad that so seldom people count the cost of what sin will cost them.  Individuals believe that they will be the exception.

It will not happen.  God’s law of sowing and reaping is still intact.  Someone will not rebel against God and not have the consequences.  We are so blessed to have the Bible and the Gospels that so well record the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Luk 14:25  And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,

Luk 14:26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

The first thought of counting the cost: Jesus left the principle truth that we must love Jesus more than family, more than friends, and more than our own life. 

In this audience God knows how wise His wisdom was in ordaining that our love to Him must be first and must be fervent.  This releases us from all sorts of pressures and bondage.  When you love God first, it sets a standard of the tempo in your life. 

The majority of our family and friends know that on Sunday we go to church.  We tell them, “You can come and I hope you come to church with us”, but on Sunday they know we will be in church.  They are welcome to come to church with us or have dinner ready when we get home.  That is how it is, because we love God more than them.

We love our family.  God still has to come first.  We have to love Him more.  As much as Karen and I have been blessed of God, we have been blessed and God has been wonderful.  It doesn’t mean we haven’t had heartaches, sickness, or sleepless nights. 

God has been good.  There is something in my soul that anticipates good things.  That doesn’t mean that there will not be tough things come.  There are good things on the horizon. 

We want to keep it real, “I love Jesus more than sons, daughters, son-in-laws, daughter-in-laws, or grandchildren.”  There is nothing like hearing a child pray.  You young parents are so blessed to hear those children pray, to hear those voices crack and start to cry.  What a wonderful season!  We must love God more.

Love Him more than our own life:  this is challenging.  It was challenging when I was half my age, it is a different challenge now.  We feel so limited, we feel like we are not as quick in our mind as we used to be.  

It is a lot easier for me to make mistakes, and some mistakes can cost you your life.  You step in front of a truck and you may not survive it.  You also feel that, “I am going into the presence of individuals that may have premeditated murder.  Will I have it together enough to answer them correctly?”

We cannot take that attitude, “I love my own life and rather than be in a difficult situation, I am going to hide.”  No, I have to take the attitude, “I am going to trust Jesus with everything that I have.”

Luk 14:27  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

Take the cross:  be willing to suffer joyfully.  I don’t need to tell anyone in this audience about difficult things.  Some of you are packing some difficult things.  We want to remember, “Take the cross and pack it joyfully as long as there is a lesson to learn tonight.”  We can rest assured that He will never put more on us than we can bear. 

The cross may be heavy.  There are some really tough things that we all have to go through.  We all face disappointment.  Heartache, being misunderstood, and disappointment can be a real cross. 

One of the saints had hoped and from all visible evidence the hope failed.  That can be a real cross.  We have to take it joyfully and say, “I am not going to let this separate me, it is better to have tried and failed than to have never tried.”

Luk 14:28  For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

There is a burden in our soul for what may be the unknown labors of 2015.  What God has spoken to you or to your subconscious mind about, we sense there is something there but perhaps we don’t feel that we have a grip on it.  There is a season of counting the cost.

Karen has received about five seed catalogues.  Buying the seeds is just a very little bit of raising a garden, but it is very necessary.  If you don’t buy any seeds then you will not have a garden.  It costs us about 100 dollars a month in the summer to water a garden and the lawn.  We have to count the cost.

Karen was looking at a catalogue and was really impressed with the garlic.  When I raise the garlic and plant it again, it costs us something but we have something.  That is the same way of counting the cost.  God doesn’t despise small things.  You may not go out and preach to 100,000 people but you can preach to one. 

It costs something to take the gospel to one.  We have to count the cost.  “Do I really want to put the effort in to not just run in and run out and say, “I worked with a soul.”  It really costs something.

If you are planning to build, count the cost.  If you don’t:

Luk 14:29  Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

Luk 14:30  Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

I want you to help me to count the cost of what God wants me to do this year.  I am hoping for tomorrow.  We are going to celebrate my grandson’s birthday. 

God help us to count the cost.  Am I willing to carry through with this burden?  It has to be something from the presence of glory.  I believe in asking the saints to help me.  I give you liberty of saying, “Brother Kelly my plate is too full.”  And I don’t think less of you. 

We have to count the cost, “God is wanting me to do this.”  Sometimes the field is prepared and easy to work.  Some hearts are full of rocks.  The scar tissue on many souls has almost left them so you cannot get to the heart.  Pain causes people’s heart to become encased. 

When we say, “God I’ll do anything you want me to do,” unless we mean it, we better qualify the statement. There are hard hearts but they are a soul and God loves them.

Luk 14:31  Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?

This is fitting for situations where we realize that there are a lot of oppositions against us.  We must take into account, “Unless God wins this battle, we are going to be defeated.”  We count the cost, “God I am depending on you.”  When faith takes hold, “I am going to win.”  No one knows how we get the victory except God and us.

Luk 14:32  Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

Luk 14:33  So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

I am not here to take anything from you and God is not here to take anything from you.  But we would say, “Count the cost.”