Short Term Cost for Long Term Benefits

  We think all of our problems will be solved when we become a Christian. We take God into our hearts and mind and declare that He alone is the one true God and that his son, Jesus, is the Christ. But our problems seem to increase, not decrease when we make and believe and try to live by that declaration. There is always a cost. We experience pain associated with that decision. Along with those comes sacrifice.  The world tells us we must avoid discomfort and inconvenience. Instant gratification is the way, the American Way. Jesus shows us that is far from his way of life. What has been costly for you in following Jesus? Ask God for strength to bear the real cost of discipleship. We must develop an urgency for mission and evangelism work.  

 

 

Luke 9:51-10:24 (New International Version)

Samaritan Opposition

 ⁵¹As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven,

Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. ⁵²And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; ⁵³but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. ⁵⁴When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them^[a]?" ⁵⁵But Jesus turned and rebuked them, ⁵⁶and^[b] they went to another village.

The Cost of Following Jesus

 ⁵⁷As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."  ⁵⁸Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
 ⁵⁹He said to another man, "Follow me."
      But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
 ⁶⁰Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
 ⁶¹ Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."
 ⁶²Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

Luke 10

Jesus Sends Out the Seventytwo

 ¹After this the Lord appointed seventy-two^[c] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. ²He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. ³Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. ⁴Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.  ⁵"When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' ⁶If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. ⁷Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
 ⁸"When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. ⁹Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.' ¹⁰But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ¹¹'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.' ¹²I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
 ¹³"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. ¹⁵And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths.^[d]
 16"He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."
 ¹⁷The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."
 ¹⁸He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. ²⁰However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
 ²¹At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
 ²²"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."
 ²³Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. ²⁴For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."