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Sunday Service - Today Jesus 100

27/8/06
<Luke 14:25-35>

ASSESS FIRST BEFORE FOLLOWING THE LORD

• We should follow the Lord using everything we have. We will suffer even if we
use 1% of our own efforts in doing things.

Read <Luke 14:25-35>


v26, 27 The Lord said these words in the presence of many people

• As we read <Luke 14>, we know that the Lord had completed a lot of work
and was about to enter Jerusalem. Although there were a lot of people
following Him, how many of them actually knew the reason for Him to enter
Jerusalem?
• Everyone has his or her own reasons for following Jesus Christ. However, how
many of them really understand that the Lord will have to suffer and die in
Jerusalem? And how many of them will still follow Him when they found out
the reason?
• The verses we read today tells us the price for following the Lord
• What do these verses mean to us? Are these verses meant only for those who
want to serve the Lord full time, or are they meant for everyone who accepts
Christ as their personal saviour?
• There was a movie called “Quo Vadis”, which means “Oh Lord, where are
you?”
• That movie took place in the old Rome in the year AD64. During then,
Christianity was an underground religion. Rome was then ruled by a wicked
king, who did lots of evil things but pushed all the blames to Christians.
Therefore, Christians were captured and killed by being thrown into the Lions’
den or being sawed into pieces. The Apostle, Peter (Paul?) also fled from Rome
then. However, he returned to Rome after hearing God’s voice and finally
entered jail
• His purpose to enter jail was to encourage the other believers who were
captured. He told them that their sufferings would be over in a short while.
The encouraged believers were singing hymns together till they were killed.
• The wicked king could not understand why the Christians were joyful even
when they were facing . He had never experience real joy in his entire life.
• In the end, Peter, whom had denied Jesus Christ three times, was nailed to the
Cross up-side down.
• A person who really know the Holy Spirit and the love of God will not fear
death
• In other words, if we have really experienced the love of our Lord, we will not
even fear death
• Paul had asked us in the <Romans 8>, “who shall separate us from the
love of Christ”

1.Assess first before following the Lord


• A person who has considered or assessed the costs and benefits before
following the Lord will have joy in the midst of problem and he will not get
excited when he is in a very favorable situation
• Some pastors do not have much expectation on the believers as they are
afraid that the believers might be hurt if they ask them to do too many
things.
• How many believers are ready for solid food? Some of them might not
even want to drink milk
• In fact, a pastor should know the spiritual level attained by each believer
• There are 3 types of believers in the church:
1) Christians who are carnal <1Cor 3:1-2>
• They love the world and things that are temporary. They do not
understand the spiritual things
• Paul told us that men suffer because their concerns are only on the
carnal things
• A church is considered not bad if there are about 70% of such
believers
• There are more than 90% of such believers in a lot of churches.
Their concerns are only the church program or entertainment. They
are not interested in attending prayer meetings.
• We are not criticising the church when we say this. We say this
because of our concern for the churches today.
• If we were to read the four gospel books carefully, it is not difficult
to see that 80% of Jesus Christ’s teachings are on rebuking people
who disbelieve and have no concern on the spiritual things
• We should understand the concern and desire of Jesus Christ
• Jesus is very gentle towards some people, but very fierce towards
the others because the Lord knows who the ones really after His
heart are.

2) Those who serve: 20 – 30%


• It will be great if there are about 20-30% of the believers in church
who are willing to serve.
• There are, however, believers who serve in the church fervently and
yet do not understand God’s heart. They have never seen the love
and work of Jesus Christ upon them.
• Such people will preach ‘Prosperity Gospel’ after some time as they
think that God will definitely bless them with success for their hard
work.
• A lot of people use the Prosperity Gospel to attract others into the
church; however, they are not able to connect to people individually
and directly to God. As such, they will go into “Legalism” and
“Mysticism” easily. They want to have special convictions using all
sorts of methods, especially through their physical senses.
• We should not try to experience God with our physical senses
because God is a Spirit.
• On the other hand, there are some who only rely on themselves.
They are those who go into “humanism”

3) Those who really know Jesus Christ


• Knowing Jesus Christ means to know His Covenant. He knows that
the Lord is with him even when he is faced with problems and
hardship. Such people will follow the Lord naturally. We do not need
to tell him / her to do this or that
• We are hurt because there are comparisons
• If all our focus is placed only on lives, we will not compare with
others
• Some believers call themselves Christians but their concerns for
God are in-differentiable from their love for the World
• Are we only church goers or are we Born-Again Christians?
• How can we become Born-Again Christians who really know Jesus
Christ?
• We will have a difficult time if we are following a beggar. However,
it will be very different if the God we follow is a King.
• The God we follow is indeed a King. Are you touched by this truth,
or is this just knowledge to you?
• The problems we meet are not just a matter of losing money,
friends, love or concern. Our real problem is losing the love of God
• We must have a life that has gone through “death and
resurrection”. We will never be able to restore God’s glory, joy and
peace if we do not let go of all our self and the things we have
• Letting go of all our things and self does not mean we cannot have
a family or a career or we will need to stay alone in the mountains.
• Just like any other person, we can have families and careers too.
What makes us different from others is we know the reasons and
purposes for us having all those things.
• Only when our lives are connected to the Lord, we will ask “Oh Lord,
where are you?”
• It is not just in theory that we can follow Jesus Christ. We must
really though it through (as in rough it out?). The Lord wants to
know what the main priority in our lives is. We will love the Lord
even more if we want to love our family members because we know
that the Lord will be protecting and leading them.

2. What are the critical factors for following the Lord?


• The Lord wants to experience a great revolution in our lives because we
are often opposing Him in the things we do
1) The Lord wants to rebuild the Temple in our lives
• We have not really followed Him if we cannot be joyful just because of
God. What we are following is the gods we created
• We should discover the work that Jesus Christ has done for us today
• We should discover how Jesus Christ loves us today
• We should discover, experience it and pray about it
• What Jesus Christ wants in our lives is our Holy of Holies. He wants to
enter deep into our lives

2) The concern of the Lord is the people beside us


• We are the blessed ones. Therefore, the people whom God has placed
beside us will receive blessings just like us
• The Lord wants us to love the people beside us
• The Lord wants us to carry our own cross. It means He wants us to be
sanctified
• However, temptations from the World and the accusation from Satan
will come when we want to be sanctified or follow the Lord.
• To carry our own cross means willing to let go of our personal motives
and willing to listen to the Lord’s instructions
• We will continue to love those who are not lovable or those who are in
disagreement with us if we continue to follow the Lord
• Although we should rebuke those who made serious mistakes, we
should still love them, protect them and accept them

3) Our horizons will widen


• Our horizons will definitely widen if we have the Lord in our hearts and
continue to follow Him
• God will let us meet those people whom really need Jesus Christ and
we will receive doors of evangelism
• We must assess our lives in order to receive the ferventness of God

3. Follow Him today


1) Discover more → differentiate
• God wants us to follow Him today and be successful today
• Our lives are affected by the carnal things in one way or another. As
such, we will not feel good when our colleagues receive higher pay
increment or when others obtain better results than us.
• God knows that we have such weaknesses. Therefore, He wants us to
discover our weaknesses and be differentiated from others

2) Stop
• We should not be running about since we have already known the Lord.
We must know when and how to stop when we face problems
• Our worries and uncertainty must stop
• We stop so that we can discover the perfect will of God and submit to
it. Discover the love and answers of God
• Those who serve in the church should know that they are serving God
and not man. Thus, do not receive hurt from man
• For those who served what they need to follow is the message of the
altar. When we serve, we should do so by following the Word of God
closely and not serve with only a fervent heart that does not know the
Lord
• The church will not select/appoint elders or deacons by looking at how
daring a person is when doing God’s work. Instead, we must see if the
person really loves God and leads the church and his family by relying
on God

3) Add in one more step


• We must add in one more step. This means we must understand the
Lord deeper
• When we are not adding in another step, we are already moving
backward
• We should pray and be resolute to follow the Lord’s temple and get
equipped. When we do this for 2 years, we should able to conquer our
family and region
• We will not receive hurt from others if we only have Jesus Christ among
us
• If a relationship is build only on love and not on Christ, it is just a
matter of time before that relationship breaks up

Prayer and Sharing Topics

1.Assess first before following the Lord: the Lord says “You cannot be
my disciple if you do not let go of everything. Before you follow me,
you should first sit down and consider, are you able to follow me till
the end?” Have I assessed/ considered my “meeting with God” or “following
God” before? What is the consideration that you’d made before you can
proclaim “I will follow the Lord in any situation forever”? Am I really able to let
go of everything for the Lord?

2. The critical factors for following the Lord till then end: Before you
follow the Lord, you must know where the Lord is leading you and
how you can continue to see His leading? Have I already discovered
God’s plan in my entire life? Have I already seen the Lord’s plan and leading in
my current “conditions, relationships and time”? Have I acquired a system of
prayers that allows me to “examine the Lord’s leading anytime”?

3. The most important thing is able to follow today in all things. How is
the onset of my walk with the Lord today? What is it that the Lord wants me to
throw away? What is it that the Lord wants me to receive? Am I able to see
that the Lord is helping and fulfilling in all times? Do I have a limitless
expectation and hope for tomorrow?

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