Count The Cost And Surrender

The Cost of Being a Disciple

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

- Luke 14

Do you think you can go up against God and win?

We all build our lives like a tower that we don't have the funds to finish. We will die and that will be the end of our tower.

Afterward, we will meet our maker, a demanding sort who is more powerful than we can possibly imagine. We don't want to face Him as an enemy. We need to send an envoy to seek peace now, while He is far off. He will want complete surrender of everything, but that is reasonable considering His power and position and our poverty and helplessness.

Kingdom Values

Loyalty to kingdom values rejects all subservience to temporal things, whether that subservience be the type which accumulates endlessly, or the type stamped by a frenetic, faithless, and worried scurry for essentials. - D. A. Carson

The culture of western Christianity keeps us from risking anything for the Gospel. Comfort keeps us from being risk takers for the Gospel. See the big picture. The Holy Spirit is all the Comforter we need. We need to be willing to do whatever God wants.
-What are you willing to risk for Christ?
-When did you last leave your comfort zone for Christ?
-Will you be a risk taker?
- Thad Blount

Jesus left heaven and came to earth to be misunderstood, hated, lied about and killed violently. He did this for you and me out of love. There is no way to repay him for what he did. All we can give him back is all we have and all we are. The Bible says that he did it for the joy that he saw on the other side. It also says that we are his trophies. He wants to show us off as trophies of grace. He paid a high price for us and we become his treasured possession.

Skip Coryell

My roommate in college wanted to be a writer. One time I was busy when Skip asked me to type up a paper for him. I had a little time so I did type it and realized that he was gifted at writing. Several years after I left college I happened to notice a photo on the front of a Sunday school paper that was taken at my college. I saw that the article was written by Skip and it was a story about how he broke his ankle playing soccer but it ended up in the chance to talk to a young man in his hospital room about the Lord.

Very recently I saw in a college magazine that Skip had authored some books and I got on his website. I also wrote him e-mails and it was great to see an old friend realize his dream and use his gift for the Lord.

Skip's Website

The Red Pill

I am reading Inside Skip's Brain and enjoying it very much.

Sample Skip's Brain

Skip is big on Second Amendment rights. I agree with much of what he says, but like Skip, I believe men are evil at heart and sin is the big problem and only the Lord Jesus can solve that problem for men.

One time I said something dumb while we were talking in our dorm room and Skip turned to me and said, "Carl, are you a dullard?" I will never forget that as he always had a great sense of humor and was fun and sincere. Skip was in the Marine Reserve and punched a hole in our dorm room closet door with an umbrella showing us the six basic maneuvers for rifle with fixed bayonet.

Listening to his voice on the podcast from the Iowa radio station on his website he sounds like he has matured over the years and his voice has changed. He sounds more articulate and speaks well. I can see that he makes a great guest on a radio talk show.