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Exploring The Apparent Contradiction In Jesus_ Teachings On Family Love · truthunedited

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Speaker 1: Did Jesus really say you have to hate your family
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Speaker 1: to follow him? That's exactly what it sounds like in
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Speaker 1: Luke fourteen twenty six when he says, if anyone comes
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Speaker 1: to me and does not hate father and mother, wife
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Speaker 1: and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even their own life,
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Speaker 1: such a person cannot be my disciple. Wait what is this?
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Speaker 1: The same Jesus who said love your neighbor as yourself
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Speaker 1: Mark twelve thirty one. The same Jesus who told us
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Speaker 1: to honor our father and mother Matthew fifteen four. The
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Speaker 1: same Jesus who said to love even our enemies Matthew
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Speaker 1: five forty four. So why would he tell us to
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Speaker 1: hate our own family? Did he mean it literally? Was
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Speaker 1: this just an exaggeration or have we completely misunderstood what
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Speaker 1: Jesus was really saying. Because let's be real, this verse
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Speaker 1: is confusing, and not just for modern readers. Imagine the
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Speaker 1: people standing there when Jesus first said this. They had
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Speaker 1: grown up believing that family was everything. Their identity, their livelihood,
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Speaker 1: their future, all of it was wrapped up in their household,
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Speaker 1: in their tribe, in their people, family wasn't just important,
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Speaker 1: it was survival. So when Jesus turned to them and said,
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Speaker 1: if you do not hate your family, you cannot follow me.
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Speaker 1: You can almost hear the gasps in the crowd. Did
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Speaker 1: he really mean they had to abandon their families? Did
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Speaker 1: he expect them to cut off relationships with their parents,
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Speaker 1: their spouses, their children. Did he contradict everything he had
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Speaker 1: ever taught about love, sacrifice and honoring those closest to us?
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Speaker 1: Because this one verse sounds like it goes against everything
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Speaker 1: we know about Jesus. But here's what we need to
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Speaker 1: ask ourselves. Was Jesus speaking literally or was he using
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Speaker 1: extreme language to make a deeper point, Because here's the truth.
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Speaker 1: Jesus often said shocking things. He told people to pluck
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Speaker 1: out their eyes if they caused them to sin Matthew
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Speaker 1: five twenty nine. He told the rich young ruler to
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Speaker 1: sell everything he had and give it to the poor
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Speaker 1: Luke eighteen twenty two. He told his disciples that they
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Speaker 1: had to eat his flesh and drink his blood to
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Speaker 1: have eternal life John six fifty three. And every time
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Speaker 1: he wasn't just giving commands, he was testing hearts. Because
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Speaker 1: following Jesus isn't just about believing in him. It's about
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Speaker 1: choosing Him above your comfort, above your possessions, above your
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Speaker 1: own life, and yes, even above your family. So let's
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Speaker 1: go deeper. Was Jesus really telling us to hate our family?
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Speaker 1: What does hate actually mean in biblical context? How does
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Speaker 1: this verse fit into jesus bigger message about true discipleship
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Speaker 1: and what does it mean for us to do in
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Speaker 1: a world where family loyalty is often more important than faith.
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Speaker 1: Because by the end of this video you will never
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Speaker 1: see this verse the same way again. And let me
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Speaker 1: ask you something. If following Jesus cost you your closest relationships,
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Speaker 1: would you still choose him? Because that's what this verse
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Speaker 1: is really about. So let's go deeper. We have created
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Speaker 1: in depth explanation videos for every book of the Bible
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Speaker 1: to help you go deeper in your faith. If you
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Speaker 1: want to truly understand scripture, check out our ebooks. The
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Speaker 1: link is in the description. And if this message challenges you,
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Speaker 1: like and share it so more people can understand what
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Speaker 1: Jesus truly meant in Luke fourteen twenty six. Because by
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Speaker 1: the time this video ends, you won't just understand this verse,
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Speaker 1: you'll know what it truly means to be a disciple.
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Speaker 1: The crowd was still reach feeling from Jesus words hate
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Speaker 1: your family. This was not what they expected from a
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Speaker 1: teacher who had spent his ministry talking about love, grace,
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Speaker 1: and forgiveness. And if we're being honest, it's not what
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Speaker 1: we expect from Jesus either. But here's the question. Was
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Speaker 1: Jesus being literal or was he using extreme language to
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Speaker 1: make a deeper point, Because one thing we know about
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Speaker 1: Jesus is that he often spoke in ways that shocked people.
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Speaker 1: He didn't just teach truth, he made people wrestle with it.
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Speaker 1: He used hyperbole, exaggeration, and extreme statements to grab attention
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Speaker 1: and drive home spiritual realities that people would otherwise miss.
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Speaker 1: Think about some of the other things Jesus said in
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Speaker 1: Matthew five twenty nine to thirty. He said, if your
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Speaker 1: right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and
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Speaker 1: throw it away. If your right hand causes you to sin,
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Speaker 1: cut it off and throw it away, it is better
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Speaker 1: for you to lose one part of your body than
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Speaker 1: for your whole body to be thrown into hell. Was
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Speaker 1: Jesus really telling us to mutilate our bodies number he
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Speaker 1: was using strong, exaggerated language to emphasize how seriously we
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Speaker 1: should take sin. Sin destroys Sin separates us from God,
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Speaker 1: and if we are not willing to cut it out
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Speaker 1: of our lives, it will lead to destruction. Then in
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Speaker 1: John six fifty three, he said, unless you eat the
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Speaker 1: flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
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Speaker 1: you have no life in you. The people were horrified.
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Speaker 1: Many walked away because they thought he was talking about
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Speaker 1: actual cannibalism. But Jesus wasn't speaking literally. He was pointing
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Speaker 1: to the deeper reality of his sacrifice. He was saying,
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Speaker 1: you cannot just admire me. You must take me in
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Speaker 1: to yourself. You must fully depend on me for life.
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Speaker 1: And then in Luke eighteen twenty five, he told a
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Speaker 1: rich man it is easier for a camel to go
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Speaker 1: through the eye of a needle than for a rich
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Speaker 1: man to enter the kingdom of God. Was he saying
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Speaker 1: that rich people can never be saved. Number He was
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Speaker 1: warning that wealth has the power to control our hearts,
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Speaker 1: to make us trust in ourselves instead of God. He
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Speaker 1: was saying, if you love money more than me, you
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Speaker 1: cannot follow me. So when Jesus said, if any one
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Speaker 1: comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, wife, children,
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Speaker 1: brothers and sisters. Yes, even his own life. He cannot
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Speaker 1: be my disciple Luke fourteen twenty six. Was he really
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Speaker 1: telling us to hate the people closest to us number
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Speaker 1: He was saying, your love for me must be so great,
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Speaker 1: so complete, so absent, that every other love looks small
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Speaker 1: in comparison. This was not about hatred. It was about priority.
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Speaker 1: Jesus was testing their hearts because in that time, following
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Speaker 1: Jesus could mean losing everything. If a Jewish person chose
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Speaker 1: to follow Christ, their family could disown them, their synagogue
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Speaker 1: could excommunicate them. They could lose their job, their inheritance,
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Speaker 1: their community. In some cases, they could be killed. And
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Speaker 1: Jesus was asking, are you willing to follow me even
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Speaker 1: if it costs you everything, even if your parents beg
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Speaker 1: you to turn back, even if your spouse threatens to leave,
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Speaker 1: even if your children don't understand, even if your whole
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Speaker 1: family rejects you, would you still follow because you cannot
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Speaker 1: be a disciple of Jesus if anything or anyone is
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Speaker 1: more important than him. And the truth is, this is
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Speaker 1: not just a first century issue. This is still happening
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Speaker 1: to day right now. There are believers in countries where
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Speaker 1: choosing Jesus means losing their family forever. Right now. There
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Speaker 1: are former Muslims who have been disowned, beaten, and even
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Speaker 1: threatened with death because they chose Christ. Right now, there
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Speaker 1: are people who have lost jobs, friends, relationships because they
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Speaker 1: refuse to deny Jesus and this verse it is their reality.
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Speaker 1: Jesus was never calling us to hate our families in
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Speaker 1: the way we think of hate. He was not saying
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Speaker 1: despise them, treat them with cruelty, abandon them without love.
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Speaker 1: That would contradict everything else he taught. Instead, he was saying,
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Speaker 1: I must come first, even above the people you love
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Speaker 1: them most, because sometimes the people closest to us will
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Speaker 1: be the ones who try to pull us away from God.
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Speaker 1: Think about Abraham. God told him to leave his father's
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Speaker 1: household and go to a land he would show him
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Speaker 1: Genesis twelve one. Abraham had to leave everything familiar behind
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Speaker 1: in order to obey God. Think about Levi and the Levites.
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Speaker 1: In Exodus thirty two, when the Israelites worshiped the Golden Calf,
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Speaker 1: Moses stood at the entrance of the camp and called out,
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Speaker 1: whoever is for the Lord, come to me, and the
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Speaker 1: Levites came forward. Then Moses gave them an unthinkable command
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Speaker 1: to take their swords and put to death those who
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Speaker 1: refused to repent, even if they were their own brothers, sons,
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Speaker 1: or friends. Exodus thirty two, twenty seven. Think about Ruth.
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Speaker 1: When her husband died. She had every reason to return
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Speaker 1: to her own family, but instead she told Naomi, where
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Speaker 1: you go, I will go. Your people will be my people,
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Speaker 1: and your God my god. Ruth one sixteen. She chose God,
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Speaker 1: even if it meant leaving everything behind. And then, of course,
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Speaker 1: think about Jesus's own disciples. They left their fishing nets,
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Speaker 1: their tax booths, their families, their homes, because when Jesus calls,
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Speaker 1: everything else must become secondary. So what does this mean
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Speaker 1: for us to day? It means that Jesus is asking
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Speaker 1: you the same question he asked them. Am I your
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Speaker 1: first love? Are you willing to put me above your careers,
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Speaker 1: above your ambitions, above your comfort, above your relationships? Because
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Speaker 1: if Jesus is not first in your life, he is
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Speaker 1: not truly lord in your life. This verse is not
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Speaker 1: about hatred, It is about absolute devotion, and the real
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Speaker 1: question is do you love Jesus? More than anything else,
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Speaker 1: because that's what it means to be his disciple. Jesus
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Speaker 1: wasn't telling us to despise our families, to treat them
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Speaker 1: with cruelty, or to turn our backs on them without love.
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Speaker 1: That would contradict everything he taught about honoring our parents,
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Speaker 1: loving one another, and caring for our households. So what
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Speaker 1: did he mean when he said If any one comes
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Speaker 1: to me and does not hate father and mother, wife
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Speaker 1: and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even their own life,
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Speaker 1: such a person cannot be my disciple Luke, fourteen twenty six.
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Speaker 1: The key to understanding this verse is realizing that in
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Speaker 1: Biblical language, hate does not always mean hatred in the
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Speaker 1: way we think of it. In Western culture, hate is
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Speaker 1: an intense emotional rejection, a feeling of bitterness, disgust, or hostility.
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Speaker 1: But in the Bible, the word hate is often used
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Speaker 1: as a comparison of priorities. It's not about despising someone,
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Speaker 1: it's about choosing one thing over another. We see this
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Speaker 1: in Genesis twenty nine thirty to thirty one, when Jacob
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Speaker 1: married both Lea and Rachel. The passage says Jacob loved
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Speaker 1: Rachel more than Lea when the Lord saw that Lea
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Speaker 1: was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
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Speaker 1: Did Jacob truly hate Lea? Was he cruel to her?
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Speaker 1: Despising her presence? Number? He provided for her, had children
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Speaker 1: with her, and lived with her for many years. The
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Speaker 1: word hate here simply means that he loved Rachel more
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Speaker 1: than Lea. We see the same pattern in Malachi one
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Speaker 1: two to three, where God says Jacob I have loved,
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Speaker 1: but Esau I have hated. Does this mean God despised
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Speaker 1: Esau number Esau was still blessed, still became a great nation,
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Speaker 1: But God chose Jacob as the one through whom his
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Speaker 1: covenant would continue. This wasn't about hatred as rejection. It
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Speaker 1: was about preference and priority. Jesus was using this same
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Speaker 1: type of language in Luke fourteen twenty six. He wasn't
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Speaker 1: calling for emotional hatred toward our families. He was saying,
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Speaker 1: your love for me must be so great, so absolute,
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Speaker 1: so consuming, that in comparison, every other love seems small.
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Speaker 1: And this is what true discipleship requires, a love for
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Speaker 1: Jesus that is greater than our love for anything else.
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Speaker 1: Think about it this way. Imagine you were offered two
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Speaker 1: job opportunities. One pays thirty thousand dollars a year and
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Speaker 1: the other pays three hundred thousand dollars a year. You
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Speaker 1: would choose the second job right And if someone asked
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Speaker 1: we why did you reject the first job, you wouldn't
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Speaker 1: say I hated it. You would say I had a
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Speaker 1: greater opportunity. That's what Jesus is saying here. Following him
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Speaker 1: is the greatest calling, the highest pursuit, the most valuable treasure.
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Speaker 1: Every other love, every other priority, every other pursuit, it
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Speaker 1: must take second place. And if it doesn't, you are
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Speaker 1: not truly his disciple. This was a radical message then,
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Speaker 1: and it's a radical message now because today people don't
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Speaker 1: think of family as just an important part of life.
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Speaker 1: They see it as everything. For some, family approval is
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Speaker 1: more important than God's approval. For others, their spouse comes first,
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Speaker 1: their children come first, their relationships come first. For many,
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Speaker 1: choosing Jesus means losing the people they love most, and
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Speaker 1: that is exactly what Jesus was warning about, because sometimes
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Speaker 1: following him will create division. In Matthew ten thirty four
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Speaker 1: to thirty seven, Jesus said something just as shocking as
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Speaker 1: Luke fourteen twenty six, Do not suppose that I have
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Speaker 1: come to bring peace to the earth. I did not
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Speaker 1: come to bring peace but a sword. For I have
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Speaker 1: come to turn a man against his father, a daughter
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Speaker 1: against her mother, a daughter in law against her mother
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Speaker 1: in law. A man's enemies will be the members of
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Speaker 1: his own household. Anyone who loves their father or mother
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Speaker 1: more than me is not worthy of me. Any One
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Speaker 1: who loves their son or daughter more than me is
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Speaker 1: not worthy of me. Think about that. Jesus, the Prince
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Speaker 1: of Peace, said that following him would bring a sword
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Speaker 1: into families, not because he wants division, but because truth divides.
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Speaker 1: If a husband chooses Christ and the wife rejects him,
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Speaker 1: division happens. If parents hold on to false religion but
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Speaker 1: the child finds Jesus. Division happens. If a person stands
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Speaker 1: for biblical truth in a world that celebrates sin, division happens.
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Speaker 1: And in that moment Jesus asks, who will you choose
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Speaker 1: your family, or me your comfort, or me your relationships
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Speaker 1: on me? This is what he meant in Luke fourteen
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Speaker 1: twenty six, not that we should despise our families, not
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Speaker 1: that we should treat them with hatred, but that if
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Speaker 1: we are forced to choose between them and Jesus, he
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Speaker 1: must come first. This is why in Luke nine fifty
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Speaker 1: nine to sixty two, when a man told Jesus, I
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Speaker 1: will follow you, but first let me go and bury
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Speaker 1: my father, Jesus responded, let the dead bury their own dead.
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Speaker 1: You go and proclaim the Kingdom of God. And when
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Speaker 1: another man said, I will follow you, Lord, but first
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Speaker 1: let me go back and say good bye to my family,
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Speaker 1: Jesus told him no one who puts a hand to
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Speaker 1: the plow and looks back is fit for service in
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Speaker 1: the Kingdom of God. Why was Jesus so harsh Because
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Speaker 1: there is no such thing as a part time disciple.
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Speaker 1: You don't get to follow Jesus on your terms. You
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Speaker 1: don't get to say say, Lord, i'll obey you, but
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Speaker 1: only if my family approves. You don't get to say, Lord,
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Speaker 1: I'll put you first unless it cost me relationships. He
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Speaker 1: must be first, not second, not tied for first first.
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Speaker 1: So what does this mean for us today? It means
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Speaker 1: we must ask ourselves, who or what have we placed
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Speaker 1: above Jesus. Is it a relationship? Are we more afraid
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Speaker 1: of losing a person than losing God's presence? Is it comfort?
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Speaker 1: Have we avoided hard obedience because it would cost us
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Speaker 1: too much? Is it approval? Have we watered down our
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Speaker 1: faith so that family, friends, or culture won't reject us?
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Speaker 1: Because if Jesus is not above everything, then he is
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Speaker 1: not truly Lord in your life. This is what it
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Speaker 1: means to hate in the biblical sense, to choose Jesus
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Speaker 1: over everything else, to say, Lord, even if my family
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Speaker 1: doesn't understand, I will follow you, to say, even if
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Speaker 1: I lose everything, I will not turn back, to say,
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Speaker 1: you are worth more to me than any one or
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Speaker 1: anything in this world. Because when Jesus calls us to
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Speaker 1: follow him, he is not asking for part of our hearts.
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Speaker 1: He is asking for all of it. Jesus never softened
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Speaker 1: the truth. He never sugarcoated what it meant to follow him.
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Speaker 1: He never lured people in with empty promises of comfort, wealth,
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Speaker 1: or an easy life. Instead, he did the exact opposite.
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Speaker 1: He warned them that discipleship would cost them everything. And
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Speaker 1: that's exactly why he said, if any one comes to
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Speaker 1: me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children,
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Speaker 1: brothers and sisters, yes, even their own life, such a
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Speaker 1: person cannot be my disciple Luke, fourteen twenty six. This
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Speaker 1: was not a casual invitation. This was a test, a challenge,
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Speaker 1: a dividing line that separated the admirers from the true followers.
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Speaker 1: Because following Jesus is not about simply believing in him,
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Speaker 1: It's about choosing him above all else. The people listening
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Speaker 1: to Jesus that day would have understood this cost better
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Speaker 1: than most of us. In their culture, family was everything.
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Speaker 1: Your family was your identity, your security, your community, and
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Speaker 1: your future. Walking away from your family meant walking away
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Speaker 1: from everything you had ever known. And yet Jesus was saying,
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Speaker 1: if I am not more important to you than your family,
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Speaker 1: you are not truly my disciple. This wasn't just a
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Speaker 1: hypothetical situation. Many of them would actually have to choose
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Speaker 1: between Jesus and their family. Many would be disowned, rejected,
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Speaker 1: and cut off for following him, and that reality hasn't
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Speaker 1: ranged Right now. In countries around the world, people who
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Speaker 1: leave Islam for Christ are considered dead by their families.
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Speaker 1: Some are beaten, imprisoned, or even killed for their faith.
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Speaker 1: Right now, in Hindu and Buddhist communities, new believers are
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Speaker 1: often cast out of their villages, abandoned by their families,
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Speaker 1: left with nothing Right now, even in Western culture, many
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Speaker 1: Christians have experienced the pain of losing relationships because they
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Speaker 1: chose to follow Jesus. Some have had to walk away
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Speaker 1: from romantic relationships, friendships, or even careers because those things
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Speaker 1: were pulling them away from God. And Jesus was making
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Speaker 1: it clear, if you are not willing to lose everything
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Speaker 1: for me, you are not truly mine. This is why,
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Speaker 1: just a few verses later, he said, whoever does not
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Speaker 1: carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple Luke,
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Speaker 1: fourteen twenty seven. And this was before the cross had
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Speaker 1: even become a symbol of Christianity. The people in the
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Speaker 1: crowd knew exactly what he meant. The cross was a
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Speaker 1: tool of execution. It was a symbol of suffering, humiliation,
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Speaker 1: and death, and Jesus was saying, if if you follow
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Speaker 1: me it will cost you something. You must be willing
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Speaker 1: to die to yourself. This was never meant to be
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Speaker 1: an easy decision. That's why in Luke fourteen twenty eight
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Speaker 1: to thirty, Jesus continued, suppose one of you wants to
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Speaker 1: build a tower, won't you first sit down and estimate
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Speaker 1: the cost to see if you have enough money to
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Speaker 1: complete it. For if you lay the foundation and are
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Speaker 1: not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will
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Speaker 1: ridicule you, saying this person began to build and wasn't
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Speaker 1: able to finish. In other words, don't start this journey
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Speaker 1: unless you are ready to finish it. Discipleship is not
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Speaker 1: a hobby. It's not something you try for a while
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Speaker 1: to see if it works for you. It's not a
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Speaker 1: side project or a week end commitment. It is everything.
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Speaker 1: That's why in Luke fourteen thirty one to thirty three,
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Speaker 1: Jesus gave another example. Or suppose a king is about
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Speaker 1: to go to war against another king. Won't he first
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Speaker 1: sit down and consider whether he is able with ten
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Speaker 1: thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with
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Speaker 1: twenty thousand. If he is not able, he will send
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Speaker 1: a delegation while the other is still a long way off,
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Speaker 1: and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way,
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Speaker 1: those of you who do not give up everything you
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Speaker 1: have cannot be my disciples. This was not a call
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Speaker 1: for casual Christianity. This was a total surrender. Jesus was saying,
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Speaker 1: count the cost, because if you follow me, it will
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Speaker 1: cost you everything, and that is why so many people
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Speaker 1: walked away. In John six sixty six, after Jesus told
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Speaker 1: the crowd that they must eat his flesh and drink
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Speaker 1: his blood to have eternal life, many of his disciples
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Speaker 1: turned back and no longer followed him because they wanted
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Speaker 1: Jesus without the sacrifice. They wanted the miracles, the blessings,
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Speaker 1: the excitement. But when he told them what it would
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Speaker 1: truly cost, they walked away, And to day many people
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Speaker 1: still do the same. They want Jesus as a savior,
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Speaker 1: but not as lord. They want forgiveness but not obedience.
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Speaker 1: They want heaven but not the cross. But Jesus doesn't
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Speaker 1: offer half hearted discipleship. He doesn't say follow me when
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Speaker 1: it's convenient. He doesn't say obey me only when you
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Speaker 1: feel like it. He doesn't say love me but only
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Speaker 1: if your family approves. He says, if you love anything
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Speaker 1: more than me, you are not my disciple. And that
23:55
Speaker 1: is the cost of true discipleship. But here's the question,
23:58
Speaker 1: is it worth it. Jesus knew what he was asking,
24:02
Speaker 1: He knew the cost was high, and yet he also
24:05
Speaker 1: knew what we gain is infinitely greater. Than what we lose.
24:10
Speaker 1: That's why in Matthew nineteen twenty nine he gave this promise.
24:14
Speaker 1: Every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters,
24:18
Speaker 1: or father or mother or wife, or children or fields
24:22
Speaker 1: for my sake will receive a hundred times as much,
24:26
Speaker 1: and will inherit eternal life. That's why Paul said in
24:31
Speaker 1: Philippians three eight, I consider everything a loss because of
24:35
Speaker 1: the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for
24:39
Speaker 1: whose sake I have lost all things. That's why in
24:43
Speaker 1: Luke nine twenty four, Jesus said, whoever wants to save
24:47
Speaker 1: their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life
24:50
Speaker 1: for me will save it. Because what we lose for
24:54
Speaker 1: Jesus is nothing compared to what we gain in him.
24:58
Speaker 1: So to day you ask yourself, have you counted the cost?
25:02
Speaker 1: Have you chosen Jesus above everything else? Or have you
25:06
Speaker 1: been trying to follow him while still clinging to the
25:09
Speaker 1: things he has asked you to surrender? Because the truth
25:13
Speaker 1: is there is no such thing as a half way disciple.
25:18
Speaker 1: You cannot be devoted to Jesus and still be tied
25:21
Speaker 1: to the world. You cannot say he is Lord and
25:24
Speaker 1: let other things take first place. You cannot follow him
25:28
Speaker 1: without carrying a cross. So today he is asking you
25:32
Speaker 1: the same question he asked the crowd that day. Will
25:36
Speaker 1: you follow me even if it costs you everything? Because
25:39
Speaker 1: only those who say yes, only those who lay it
25:43
Speaker 1: all down, only those who refuse to turn back, are
25:46
Speaker 1: truly his disciples. Jesus didn't just talk about the cost
25:50
Speaker 1: of following him. He required it, and he wasn't asking
25:54
Speaker 1: for something new. Throughout the Bible, time and time again,
25:59
Speaker 1: God and called people to choose him over everything else,
26:04
Speaker 1: even their own families, and those who truly followed him
26:08
Speaker 1: had to make radical decisions, decisions that would change their
26:11
Speaker 1: lives forever. Think about Abraham. He was a man living
26:16
Speaker 1: in comfort, surrounded by his family in the land of Er.
26:21
Speaker 1: Then one day God called him to leave everything behind.
26:25
Speaker 1: Go from your country, your people, and your father's household
26:29
Speaker 1: to the land I will show you Genesis twelve one.
26:36
Speaker 1: That wasn't just a change of location. That was a
26:39
Speaker 1: complete severing of his old life. His identity was tied
26:43
Speaker 1: to his people, his household, his land. But God was
26:47
Speaker 1: calling him to something greater, and Abraham obeyed. He didn't
26:52
Speaker 1: ask for a road map. He didn't say, but my
26:54
Speaker 1: family will think I'm crazy. He didn't delay. By faith. Abraham,
27:00
Speaker 1: when called to go to a place he would later
27:02
Speaker 1: receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he
27:06
Speaker 1: did not know where he was going Hebrews eleven eight.
27:11
Speaker 1: Abraham chose God over security, God over familiarity, God over family,
27:18
Speaker 1: and because of that choice he became the father of
27:21
Speaker 1: many nations. Then there was Levi and the Levites. When
27:25
Speaker 1: Moses came down from Mount Sinai and found Israel worshiping
27:29
Speaker 1: the Golden Calf, he stood at the entrance to the
27:32
Speaker 1: camp and gave a command that no one expected. Whoever
27:37
Speaker 1: is for the Lord, come to me Exodus thirty two
27:40
Speaker 1: twenty six. And who responded the Levites. They chose God,
27:46
Speaker 1: even though it meant turning against their own people, even
27:49
Speaker 1: though it meant standing apart from the crowd, even though
27:53
Speaker 1: it meant picking up a sword against their own brothers, sons,
27:57
Speaker 1: and relatives. Then Moses said, this is what the Lord,
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Speaker 1: the God of Israel, says. Each man, strap a sword
28:04
Speaker 1: to his side, go back and forth through the camp
28:07
Speaker 1: from one end to the other, each killing his brother
28:10
Speaker 1: and friend and neighbor. The Levites did as Moses commanded,
28:16
Speaker 1: and that day about three thousand of the people died.
28:20
Speaker 1: Then Moses said, you have been set apart to the
28:23
Speaker 1: Lord to day, for you were against your own sons
28:26
Speaker 1: and brothers, and He has blessed you this day. Exodus
28:30
Speaker 1: thirty two, twenty seven to twenty nine. This was not
28:34
Speaker 1: about personal revenge. This was about choosing holiness over human loyalty.
28:39
Speaker 1: It was about saying, I will not let my love
28:43
Speaker 1: for people keep me from my love for God. And
28:47
Speaker 1: because of their obedience, God set apart the tribe of
28:51
Speaker 1: Levi to be his priests forever. Then there's Ruth, a
28:55
Speaker 1: Moabite widow. She had every reason to return to her
28:58
Speaker 1: family after her husband died. That's what was expected, That's
29:03
Speaker 1: what Naomi, her mother in law, told her to do.
29:06
Speaker 1: Go back to your mother's home Ruth one eight and
29:09
Speaker 1: her sister in law did just that, But Ruth, she refused. Instead,
29:14
Speaker 1: she made a choice that changed history. Do not urge
29:18
Speaker 1: me to leave you or to turn back from you.
29:20
Speaker 1: Where you go, I will go, and where you stay,
29:24
Speaker 1: I will stay. Your people will be my people, and
29:27
Speaker 1: your God my god. Ruth one sixteen. She walked away
29:34
Speaker 1: from her old life. She walked away from her family,
29:37
Speaker 1: her culture, her gods. She chose Yahweh, and because of
29:41
Speaker 1: that choice she became part of the blood line of Jesus.
29:45
Speaker 1: And then, of course there were the disciples. They were fishermen,
29:48
Speaker 1: tax collectors, ordinary men with families, jobs and responsibilities. But
29:53
Speaker 1: the moment Jesus called them, they left everything. Come follow me,
29:58
Speaker 1: and I will send you out to fish for people.
30:01
Speaker 1: At once they left their nets and followed him Matthew
30:06
Speaker 1: four nineteen to twenty. No hesitation, No let me ask
30:11
Speaker 1: my family first, No, let me finish my work. They
30:15
Speaker 1: left immediately, because when Jesus calls, nothing can come before him.
30:20
Speaker 1: And this is what he meant. In Luke fourteen twenty six.
30:24
Speaker 1: It was never about hatred in the emotional sense. It
30:27
Speaker 1: was never about abandoning people without love. It was about
30:31
Speaker 1: recognizing that sometimes choosing God means losing people. Jesus himself
30:38
Speaker 1: experienced this in Mark three twenty one. His own family
30:42
Speaker 1: tried to stop his ministry. When his family heard about this,
30:46
Speaker 1: they went to take charge of him, for they said
30:49
Speaker 1: he is out of his mind. Imagine that his own
30:54
Speaker 1: family thought he had lost it. And in Luke eight,
30:57
Speaker 1: nineteen twenty one, when people told Jesus that his mother
31:01
Speaker 1: and brothers were waiting for him, his response was shocking,
31:05
Speaker 1: My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word
31:08
Speaker 1: and put it into practice. He wasn't rejecting his family,
31:13
Speaker 1: he was redefining family because in the Kingdom of God,
31:18
Speaker 1: obedience to the Father matters more than blood relationships. And
31:23
Speaker 1: this is the test of true discipleship. Who comes first
31:26
Speaker 1: in your life? What if your family doesn't support your faith.
31:31
Speaker 1: What if your parents tell you to compromise. What if
31:34
Speaker 1: your spouse doesn't believe? What if following Jesus means losing
31:38
Speaker 1: the people you love most, will you still follow? Because
31:42
Speaker 1: this is not just an ancient challenge. It is a
31:46
Speaker 1: real struggle to day. Right now, there are believers who
31:50
Speaker 1: have been disowned by their families because they chose Christ.
31:54
Speaker 1: Right now, there are people sitting in church alone because
31:57
Speaker 1: their spouse doesn't share their faith. Right now. There are
32:01
Speaker 1: students being ridiculed by their own parents for taking the
32:05
Speaker 1: Bible seriously. Right now, there are people wrestling with the
32:09
Speaker 1: hardest decision of their lives to hold onto their relationships
32:13
Speaker 1: or to hold onto Jesus and jesus message remains the same.
32:19
Speaker 1: Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me
32:22
Speaker 1: is not worthy of me. Any One who loves their
32:25
Speaker 1: son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
32:29
Speaker 1: Matthew ten thirty seven. This is not an easy teaching.
32:33
Speaker 1: It was never meant to be. But Jesus never called
32:37
Speaker 1: us to an easy path. He called us to the
32:40
Speaker 1: narrow one. And to day he is calling you. Maybe
32:44
Speaker 1: he's asking you to take a step of faith, even
32:46
Speaker 1: if it means standing alone. Maybe he's asking you to
32:50
Speaker 1: be bold, even if it means losing approval. Maybe he's
32:54
Speaker 1: asking you to trust him even if it costs you everything,
32:58
Speaker 1: because in the end will all stand before him, And
33:02
Speaker 1: on that day, the only thing that will matter is this,
33:05
Speaker 1: did we follow him no matter the cost? The people
33:09
Speaker 1: who chose God over their families, Abraham, Levi, Ruth, the Disciples,
33:15
Speaker 1: they weren't making reckless decisions. They weren't acting out of rebellion.
33:19
Speaker 1: They were making the only choice that truly matters, choosing
33:23
Speaker 1: God above all else. And that's exactly what Jesus was
33:28
Speaker 1: asking for in Luke fourteen twenty six, Because following him
33:32
Speaker 1: is not about adding him to your life. It's about
33:34
Speaker 1: making him your life. But let's be honest, most people
33:38
Speaker 1: don't want that kind of discipleship. They want a Jesus
33:41
Speaker 1: who fits neatly into their plans, a Jesus who is
33:45
Speaker 1: there when they need comfort, who blesses their work, who
33:49
Speaker 1: protects their family, who answers their prayers. But a Jesus
33:53
Speaker 1: who asks them to give up everything, a Jesus who
33:57
Speaker 1: demands to be first, even above their own families. That
34:01
Speaker 1: kind of Jesus many people walk away from. And yet
34:06
Speaker 1: that is the only Jesus that exists. The real Jesus
34:10
Speaker 1: is not just a teacher. He's not just a savior.
34:14
Speaker 1: He is lord, and lordship means he must come first,
34:18
Speaker 1: not second, not tied for first first. And this is
34:21
Speaker 1: where many people fail the test of discipleship because they
34:26
Speaker 1: don't reject Jesus outright. They don't curse him, deny him,
34:31
Speaker 1: or turn to another religion. They simply love something else more.
34:36
Speaker 1: And for many that something else is family. How many
34:40
Speaker 1: people have compromised their faith because they didn't want to
34:43
Speaker 1: disappoint their parents. How many people have stayed in an
34:47
Speaker 1: unequally yoked relationship because they loved a person more than
34:51
Speaker 1: they loved obedience to Christ. How many people have been
34:55
Speaker 1: silent about truth because they didn't want to create conflict
34:58
Speaker 1: with a spouse as sibl or a close friend. And
35:02
Speaker 1: yet Jesus words stand. Any one who loves their father
35:06
Speaker 1: or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
35:09
Speaker 1: Any One who loves their son or daughter more than
35:11
Speaker 1: me is not worthy of me. Matthew ten thirty seven.
35:18
Speaker 1: This is where the rubber meets the road. Because we
35:21
Speaker 1: all say we love Jesus, we sing songs about it,
35:25
Speaker 1: we post Bible verses, we call ourselves Christians. But do
35:29
Speaker 1: we love him more than anything else? Because if we don't,
35:33
Speaker 1: then he is not truly Lord in our lives. Think
35:36
Speaker 1: about it. If Jesus asks you to step out in faith,
35:40
Speaker 1: but your parents think your being foolish, who do you
35:43
Speaker 1: listen to? If Jesus calls you to a deeper level
35:46
Speaker 1: of obedience but your friends call you extreme, who do
35:50
Speaker 1: you obey? If following Jesus causes division in your relationships
35:55
Speaker 1: and you are forced to choose between keeping the peace
35:58
Speaker 1: or standing with Christ, who do you choose. This is
36:02
Speaker 1: what it means to put Jesus above everything. It is
36:06
Speaker 1: not a sentimental feeling. It is not just saying Jesus,
36:10
Speaker 1: I love you. It is not attending church, reading the Bible,
36:14
Speaker 1: or calling yourself a believer. It is choosing him, choosing
36:19
Speaker 1: him over your comfort, choosing him over your reputation, choosing
36:24
Speaker 1: him over your own dreams, choosing him even when it
36:27
Speaker 1: costs you something. Because real love is revealed in sacrifice.
36:32
Speaker 1: That's why in John twenty one point fifteen, after Peter
36:35
Speaker 1: had denied Jesus three times, Jesus didn't ask him Peter,
36:41
Speaker 1: do you believe in me? He asked in Peter, do
36:44
Speaker 1: you love me? And when Peter said yes, Jesus responded,
36:48
Speaker 1: then feed my sheep. In other words, then prove it.
36:53
Speaker 1: Because real love is not just a feeling, it is action.
36:57
Speaker 1: That's why Jesus said, if you love me, keep my
36:59
Speaker 1: commands John fourteen fifteen, Not if you love me, say
37:04
Speaker 1: nice things about me. Not if you love me, go
37:07
Speaker 1: to church when it's convenient. Not if you love me,
37:10
Speaker 1: be a good person. If you love me, obey me.
37:13
Speaker 1: And that obedience will cost you. For some, It may
37:16
Speaker 1: cost a job for others, It may cost friendships for some,
37:21
Speaker 1: it may even cost family relationships. And Jesus is asking
37:25
Speaker 1: am I worth it to you? Because this is the
37:28
Speaker 1: choice every believer must make, not just once every day.
37:33
Speaker 1: Will you choose him over your comfort? Will you choose
37:36
Speaker 1: him over your own plans? Will you choose him over
37:39
Speaker 1: the approval of people? Because if the answer is no,
37:42
Speaker 1: then he is not really first in your life. And
37:46
Speaker 1: this is what makes true discipleships so rare. Jesus himself
37:51
Speaker 1: said it in Matthew seven thirteen to fourteen. Enter through
37:55
Speaker 1: the narrow gate. For wide is the gate, and broad
37:58
Speaker 1: is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter
38:02
Speaker 1: through it. But small is the gate, and narrow the
38:06
Speaker 1: road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
38:10
Speaker 1: Many want salvation, few want the cross, many want forgiveness,
38:14
Speaker 1: few want obedience. Many want Jesus as savior, few want
38:18
Speaker 1: him as Lord. And yet the only ones who truly
38:21
Speaker 1: belong to him are the ones who love him more
38:24
Speaker 1: than anything else. So the question today is this, does
38:29
Speaker 1: Jesus have your whole heart? Because he doesn't accept second place.
38:34
Speaker 1: He won't share his throne with your career, he won't
38:37
Speaker 1: take a back seat to your relationships. He won't let
38:40
Speaker 1: anything else compete for his place in your life. He
38:44
Speaker 1: demands everything, and the only way to truly follow him
38:48
Speaker 1: is to give him everything, because that's what he gave
38:52
Speaker 1: for us. He gave up the riches of heaven, he
38:55
Speaker 1: gave up the honor he deserved, he gave up his
38:58
Speaker 1: life for us. And now he is looking at you
39:01
Speaker 1: asking the same question he asked Peter. Do you love
39:04
Speaker 1: me more than these? And what you do next will
39:07
Speaker 1: be your real answer. If Jesus calls us to love
39:10
Speaker 1: him more than anything, even more than our own families,
39:14
Speaker 1: does that mean we should neglect them? Does loving Jesus
39:18
Speaker 1: mean walking away from our parents, ignoring our spouses, or
39:23
Speaker 1: abandoning our children. Some have misunderstood his words in Luke
39:28
Speaker 1: fourteen twenty six and taken them to an extreme. There
39:32
Speaker 1: have been people who cut off their families, completely, refuse
39:37
Speaker 1: to care for their loved ones, or isolate themselves in
39:40
Speaker 1: the name of following Jesus. But is that really what
39:45
Speaker 1: Jesus was asking for? Absolutely not, Because the same Jesus
39:50
Speaker 1: who said, if any one comes to me and does
39:53
Speaker 1: not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters,
39:57
Speaker 1: such a person cannot be my deci people Luke fourteen
40:01
Speaker 1: twenty six is the same Jesus who also said honor
40:06
Speaker 1: your father and mother Matthew fifteen four. Husbands, love your wives,
40:13
Speaker 1: just as Christ loved the church Ephesians five twenty five.
40:18
Speaker 1: Anyone who does not provide for their relatives has denied
40:22
Speaker 1: the faith and is worse than an unbeliever Onese Timothy
40:26
Speaker 1: five eight. So how do we reconcile these? How do
40:31
Speaker 1: we put Jesus above everything while still loving, honoring, and
40:35
Speaker 1: caring for our families? Because Jesus never called us to
40:39
Speaker 1: abandon people, He called us to love them correctly. From
40:44
Speaker 1: the very beginning, God designed family as a gift, a responsibility,
40:48
Speaker 1: and a reflection of his love. He created marriage in
40:52
Speaker 1: the garden, calling husbands and wives to become one flesh
40:56
Speaker 1: Genesis two twenty four. He established the commandment to honor
41:01
Speaker 1: parents as part of his moral law Exodus twenty twelve.
41:06
Speaker 1: He designed the family as a place of teaching, nurturing,
41:09
Speaker 1: and passing down faith Deuteronomy six six through seven, and
41:15
Speaker 1: Jesus never contradicted this. In fact, in Mark seven nine
41:18
Speaker 1: to thirteen, he rebuked the Pharisees for using religious excuses
41:23
Speaker 1: to avoid caring for their parents. They had created a
41:27
Speaker 1: loophole where people could say, sorry, I can't help my
41:31
Speaker 1: parents financially because I've dedicated my money to God. And
41:37
Speaker 1: Jesus was furious. He told them, you nullify the word
41:40
Speaker 1: of God by your tradition. In other words, if your
41:45
Speaker 1: version of following God causes you to neglect your family,
41:49
Speaker 1: your doing it wrong. Following Christ should never be an
41:52
Speaker 1: excuse for selfishness. It should never make us cold, distant,
41:57
Speaker 1: or unloving toward our families. But here's where we must
42:01
Speaker 1: be careful. Loving family cannot come before loving Jesus. The
42:06
Speaker 1: problem is not loving family. The problem is elevating family
42:11
Speaker 1: above Christ. And this happens more often than we realize.
42:16
Speaker 1: How many people have compromised their faith because they didn't
42:19
Speaker 1: want to disappoint their parents. How many people have rejected
42:23
Speaker 1: God's call because it would create tension at home. How
42:27
Speaker 1: many people have chosen the approval of family over the
42:31
Speaker 1: obedience of Christ. Jesus was not telling us to neglect
42:35
Speaker 1: our families. He was telling us to put Him first,
42:40
Speaker 1: even when it's hard. Look at Abraham. God gave him
42:45
Speaker 1: a son, Isaac. This child was his joy, his promise,
42:49
Speaker 1: his future. But then God tested him. Take your son
42:54
Speaker 1: your only son whom you love, Isaac, and sacrifice him
42:57
Speaker 1: as a burnt offering on a mountain. I will show
42:59
Speaker 1: you Genesis twenty two two. Imagine the heartbreak, Imagine the confusion.
43:05
Speaker 1: But Abraham obeyed. He didn't argue, he didn't try to bargain.
43:10
Speaker 1: He trusted God more than he clung to his own son.
43:14
Speaker 1: And what happened, God stopped him. He provided a ram instead.
43:18
Speaker 1: He never intended for Isaac to die. He was testing
43:22
Speaker 1: Abraham's heart. Would Abraham love the gift more than the giver?
43:27
Speaker 1: Would he hold on to family more tightly than he
43:30
Speaker 1: held on to God. This is what Jesus was saying
43:33
Speaker 1: in Luke fourteen twenty six. Your love for Jesus must
43:38
Speaker 1: be greater than your love for anything else, even family.
43:42
Speaker 1: Jesus didn't just command this, he lived it. In Matthew
43:47
Speaker 1: twelve forty six to fifty, when Jesus was teaching a crowd,
43:50
Speaker 1: someone told him, your mother and brothers are outside wanting
43:55
Speaker 1: to speak to you. His response, who is my mother
43:59
Speaker 1: and who are my brothers? Then he pointed to his
44:01
Speaker 1: disciples and said, here are my mother and my brothers.
44:06
Speaker 1: For whoever does the will of my father in heaven
44:09
Speaker 1: is my brother and sister and mother. He wasn't rejecting
44:13
Speaker 1: his family, He was redefining family because in the Kingdom
44:17
Speaker 1: of God, obedience to the Father matters more than blood relationships.
44:23
Speaker 1: And in Luke nine fifty nine to sixty two, when
44:26
Speaker 1: a man said, I will follow you, but first let
44:29
Speaker 1: me go and bury my father, Jesus told him let
44:33
Speaker 1: the dead bury their own dead, but you go and
44:35
Speaker 1: proclaim the Kingdom of God. Why because this man wasn't
44:40
Speaker 1: just talking about a funeral. He was delaying his obedience.
44:44
Speaker 1: His father was likely still alive, and he was saying,
44:47
Speaker 1: I'll follow you later when it's convenient. And Jesus was saying,
44:52
Speaker 1: I must come first, even above your family obligations. So
44:57
Speaker 1: how do we get this right? How do we follow
45:00
Speaker 1: Jesus without neglecting the people He's given us to love? One,
45:06
Speaker 1: make Jesus your first. Love your spouse, children, parents, and
45:10
Speaker 1: friends cannot take the place of God. Love them deeply,
45:13
Speaker 1: but do not let them pull you away from him. Two,
45:16
Speaker 1: love your family the way Jesus taught, sacrifice for them,
45:21
Speaker 1: Serve them, show them grace, lead them toward Christ. But
45:25
Speaker 1: never let them keep you from obeying him. Three, be
45:29
Speaker 1: willing to lose relationships for Christ. If your family rejects
45:33
Speaker 1: your faith, stand firm. If they pressure you to compromise,
45:37
Speaker 1: don't give in. If following Jesus cost you relationships, trust
45:42
Speaker 1: that he is worth it. Four. Pray for those who
45:46
Speaker 1: don't understand. Many people reject faith because they don't understand it.
45:51
Speaker 1: Love them, be patient, show them Christ through your life,
45:56
Speaker 1: because the truth is sometimes choosing Jesus will cost you relationships.
46:02
Speaker 1: Jesus said, do not suppose that I have come to
46:05
Speaker 1: bring peace. I have come to turn a man against
46:08
Speaker 1: his father, a daughter against her mother. Matthew ten thirty
46:12
Speaker 1: four to thirty five. This is the reality of following him.
46:16
Speaker 1: But in the end it is always worth it, because
46:20
Speaker 1: no relationship, no approval, no earthly love can compare to
46:24
Speaker 1: the love of Christ, and those who truly love Him
46:28
Speaker 1: will never regret putting him first. For some, the idea
46:32
Speaker 1: of choosing Jesus over family is just a theory, a
46:36
Speaker 1: difficult teaching, a challenging verse. For others, it is real
46:40
Speaker 1: life right now. In some parts of the world, choosing
46:43
Speaker 1: Christ is a death sentence. A young woman in the
46:46
Speaker 1: Middle East secretly reads her Bible at night, knowing that
46:50
Speaker 1: if her family discovers her faith, they will disown her
46:54
Speaker 1: or worse. A teenage boy in India comes home from
46:57
Speaker 1: a church service to find his parents have locked him out,
47:01
Speaker 1: shouting that he is no longer their son. A man
47:04
Speaker 1: in China leads a small underground Bible study, knowing that
47:08
Speaker 1: if he is caught, he could lose his job, his home,
47:12
Speaker 1: or his freedom. For them, the cost of following Jesus
47:16
Speaker 1: is not hypothetical. It is everything, and yet they still
47:20
Speaker 1: choose him. This is what Jesus meant when he said,
47:23
Speaker 1: if any one comes to me and does not hate
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Speaker 1: father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes,
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Speaker 1: even their own life, such a person cannot be my
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Speaker 1: disciple Luke, fourteen twenty six. This wasn't about emotional hatred.
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Speaker 1: It wasn't about abandoning people carelessly. It was about allegiance,
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Speaker 1: who comes first. That's what this verse means for us
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Speaker 1: to day, because even if we don't live in a
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Speaker 1: place where following Jesus costs us our safety, it will
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Speaker 1: still cost us something. Maybe you've already felt it. Maybe
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Speaker 1: your family doesn't to stand your faith, Maybe your friends
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Speaker 1: mock you for taking Jesus seriously. Maybe you feel isolated
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Speaker 1: in your own home because no one else follows Christ,
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Speaker 1: and maybe deep down you've wondered is it really worth it.
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Speaker 1: Jesus knew that question would come. That's why in Luke
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Speaker 1: fourteen twenty eight to thirty he said, suppose one of
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Speaker 1: you wants to build a tower, won't you first sit
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Speaker 1: down and estimate the cost to see if you have
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Speaker 1: enough money to complete it. For if you lay the
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Speaker 1: foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who
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Speaker 1: sees it will ridicule you, saying this person began to
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Speaker 1: build and wasn't able to finish. In other words, count
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Speaker 1: the cost. That discipleship isn't a quick decision. It's not
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Speaker 1: something you try for a while and then quit when
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Speaker 1: it gets hard. It is a life long surrender, and
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Speaker 1: Jesus is warning us it will cost you. It may
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Speaker 1: cost you relationships. Some will walk away from you, some
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Speaker 1: will pressure you to compromise. Some will resent you simply
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Speaker 1: because your life convicts them. Brother will betray brother to death,
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Speaker 1: and a father his child. Children will rebel against their
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Speaker 1: parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate
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Speaker 1: you because of me, But the one who stands firm
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Speaker 1: to the end, will be saved Mark thirteen twelve to thirteen.
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Speaker 1: It may cost you opportunities. Some careers will be closed
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Speaker 1: to you because you refuse to compromise your faith. Some
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Speaker 1: promotions will pass you by because you won't conform. Some
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Speaker 1: circles of influence will shut you out because you stand
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Speaker 1: for truth. What good is it for someone to gain
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Speaker 1: the whole world yet forfeit their soul Mark eight thirty six.
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Speaker 1: It may cost you comfort. God may call you to
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Speaker 1: leave every thing familiar. He may ask you to take
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Speaker 1: a risk that doesn't make sense. He may ask you
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Speaker 1: to step into a place where you have no security
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Speaker 1: except for him. Foxes have dens and birds have nests,
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Speaker 1: but the son of Man has no place to lay
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Speaker 1: his head Luke, nine fifty eight. And it may cost
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Speaker 1: you approval because we live in a world where people
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Speaker 1: love the idea of Jesus, but they reject his lordship.
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Speaker 1: They love his kindness but not his commands. They love
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Speaker 1: his forgiveness but not his holiness. And if you stand
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Speaker 1: for the real Jesus, not the watered down, comfortable version,
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Speaker 1: people will hate you for it. If the world hates you,
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Speaker 1: keep in mind that it hated me first. If you
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Speaker 1: belong to the world, it would love you as its own.
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Speaker 1: As it is, you do not belong to the world,
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Speaker 1: but I have chosen you out of the world. That
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Speaker 1: is why the world hates you John eighteen to nineteen.
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Speaker 1: But here is the truth. Jesus wants you to know.
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Speaker 1: It will all be worth it, because everything you lose
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Speaker 1: for Him is nothing compared to what you gain in him.
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Speaker 1: That's why in Matthew nineteen twenty nine he promised every
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Speaker 1: one who has left houses or brothers or sisters, or
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Speaker 1: father or mother or wife, or children or fields for
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Speaker 1: my sake will receive a hundred times as much and
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Speaker 1: will inherit eternal life. That's why in Romans eight eighteen,
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Speaker 1: Paul could say, I consider that our present sufferings are
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Speaker 1: not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed
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Speaker 1: in us. That's why in Philippians three eight he declared,
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Speaker 1: I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth
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Speaker 1: of knowing Christ, Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I
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Speaker 1: have lost all things. Because when you choose Jesus above
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Speaker 1: everything else, you gain everything that truly matters. So what
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Speaker 1: does this verse mean for us today, it means we
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Speaker 1: must ask ourselves, have we truly counted the cost? Are
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Speaker 1: we willing to lose anything for him? Are we willing
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Speaker 1: to stand for truth even when it cost us relationships?
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Speaker 1: Are we willing to obey even when it's inconvenient? Are
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Speaker 1: we willing to love him more than everything else in
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Speaker 1: our lives? Because that is the mark of a true disciple.
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Speaker 1: And if you've been struggling with this, if you've felt
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Speaker 1: the weight of rejection, if you've lost people because of
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Speaker 1: your faith, if you've wondered whether following Jesus is really
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Speaker 1: worth it, let this be your reminder. Yes, it is
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Speaker 1: worth it. Because in the end, when you stand before Jesus,
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Speaker 1: when you see him face to face, when you hear
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Speaker 1: him say well done, good and faithful servant, every sacrifice,
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Speaker 1: every loss, every moment of struggle will fade away, and
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Speaker 1: in that moment you will know choosing him was the
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Speaker 1: greatest decision you ever made. The weight of this message
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Speaker 1: is real. Jesus is calling us to love him above
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Speaker 1: all else, to surrender not just part of our hearts,
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Speaker 1: not just the convenient pieces of our lives, but everything.
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Speaker 1: This is the moment of decision because following Jesus is
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Speaker 1: not about adding him to your life. It's about making
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Speaker 1: him your life. It's about declaring that no relationship, no approval,
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Speaker 1: no comfort, no earthly love will ever come before him.
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Speaker 1: So wherever you are right now, pause, let everything else
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Speaker 1: fade away. This is not just a prayer. This is surrender.
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Speaker 1: Let's pray. Father. I come before you with nothing held back.
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Speaker 1: I confess, Lord, there have been moments when I have
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Speaker 1: put other things before you. There have been times when
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Speaker 1: I have wanted the approval of people more than your approval,
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Speaker 1: times when I have compromised, when I have stayed silent,
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Speaker 1: when I have chosen comfort over obedience. But to day
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Speaker 1: I lay it all down. I surrender my heart, my relationships,
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Speaker 1: my dreams, my fears, everything I have, everything I am Lord.
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Speaker 1: I choose you above my family, above my comfort, above
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Speaker 1: my ambitions, above my own life, Because what do I
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Speaker 1: have if I don't have you. Your word says whoever
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Speaker 1: wants to save their life will lose it, But whoever
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Speaker 1: loses their life for me will find it Matthew sixteen
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Speaker 1: twenty five. So to day I choose to lose my life,
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Speaker 1: take my plans. I trust yours more take my fears.
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Speaker 1: I know you are greater. Take my relationships. You alone
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Speaker 1: are my foundation. Jesus, you are my first love. When
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Speaker 1: the world pulls me in a thousand directions, remind me
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Speaker 1: that you are the only way. When my family does
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Speaker 1: not understand. Give me strength to stand firm. When my
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Speaker 1: faith costs me something, Help me to count the cost
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Speaker 1: and still say yes, because you are worth it. Lord.
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Speaker 1: I pray for my family, for those closest to me,
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Speaker 1: I pray that they would not just know about you,
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Speaker 1: but truly know you. That they would not just admire you,
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Speaker 1: but surrender to you. That they would not just be religious,
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Speaker 1: but be transformed. Where there is resistance, break down the
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Speaker 1: walls where there is doubt, Bring revelation where there is fear,
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Speaker 1: Bring peace where there is sin, bring conviction. And where
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Speaker 1: I have failed to lead them in faith, change me first.
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Speaker 1: Make me a living testimony of what it looks like
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Speaker 1: to put you first. Let my life be a light
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Speaker 1: that draws others to you. And Lord, If following you
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Speaker 1: cost me relationships, if it cost me opportunities, if it
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Speaker 1: cost me everything, I will not turn back. Because you
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Speaker 1: are worth more than anything this world can offer. I
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Speaker 1: fix my eyes on you, Jesus, You who left Heaven's
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Speaker 1: throne for me, You who gave up everything so I
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Speaker 1: could be free, You who bore my sin, my shame,
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Speaker 1: my punishment, so that I could have eternal life. And
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Speaker 1: now I give my life back to you. I am
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Speaker 1: yours fully, completely forever in Jesus name. Amen. If you
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Speaker 1: just prayed that prayer, this is not the end. This
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Speaker 1: is the beginning, because following Jesus is not just about
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Speaker 1: a one time moment. It is a daily decision. And
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Speaker 1: some of you, you know what he is asking you
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Speaker 1: to surrender. Maybe it's a toxic relationship. Maybe it's fear
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Speaker 1: of what others will think. Maybe it's a sin you've
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Speaker 1: been holding on to. Maybe it's the approval of family
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Speaker 1: that you've made an idol in your heart. Whatever it is,
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Speaker 1: to day is the day to lay it down, because
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Speaker 1: when you stand before Jesus, nothing else will matter, not
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Speaker 1: what people thought of you, not what you lost along
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Speaker 1: the way, not what it cost you to follow him.
57:08
Speaker 1: The only thing that will matter is this, did you
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Speaker 1: truly love him above everything else? So if this message
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Speaker 1: has spoken to you, don't keep it to yourself. Someone
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Speaker 1: in your life needs to hear this truth. Someone is
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Speaker 1: struggling with fear, with doubt, with the cost of following Jesus.
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Speaker 1: Share this message, Send this to someone who needs it.
57:29
Speaker 1: Let God use you to help someone else step into
57:32
Speaker 1: full surrender. And if this has opened your eyes, if
57:36
Speaker 1: this has challenged you, let us know in the comments.
57:39
Speaker 1: We read everyone. We have created in depth explanation videos
57:44
Speaker 1: for every book of the Bible to help you go
57:47
Speaker 1: deeper in your faith. Check out our other videos. We've
57:51
Speaker 1: covered powerful topics that will transform the way you see
57:54
Speaker 1: God's word. If you'd like this video to be turned
57:57
Speaker 1: into an ebook, let us know in the comments. And
58:00
Speaker 1: if this message has changed your perspective, like and share
58:04
Speaker 1: it so more people can understand the true cost of
58:08
Speaker 1: following Jesus. Because at the end of the day, Jesus
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Speaker 1: is either Lord of all or not Lord at all.
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Speaker 1: And for those who choose him, those who surrender fully
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Speaker 1: those who refuse to turn back, an eternal reward is waiting.
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Speaker 1: So stay strong, stay faithful, and never stop saying yes
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Speaker 1: to Jesus. Stay blessed,