Certainly we thank God for this is the day that he has made. We ought to rejoice and be glad in it. Look at somebody and tell them it's good to be alive. It's good to be alert. It's good to be active. Come on, look at somebody you can stand talking to and say it's good to be alive. It's good to be alert. And it's good to be active. Come on, if it's in the Lord Jesus Christ you live, move, and have your being, give him praise. Give him praise. Give him praise. Give him praise. Come on, don't act like you're a stranger to him. Give him praise. Come on, act like you're glad to be here. Another day's journey, glad about it. Amen. Amen. Amen. Certainly, we thank god for his goodness, his grace, his mercy, his miracles, his message. Most of all, his divine presence manifest among us. The Bible declares, we have a two or three And I know it's one, it's me plus one more at least in here. Amen. Amen. So good to see all of you. I'm elated to see so many of our relative faces. He's upstairs. I can't see that for Amen. Amen. Good to have all of them called Trinity out of darkness into his marvelous light. Amen. Amen. Along with Cesar and Yara. Yowie. Yara. Y'all say it then. Amen. Amen. I'm so thankful that god is favoring us and blessing us. Amen. With souls. Now, that's how you really grow a church is conversion and baptism. Amen. And we're thankful that god is looking up on us in favor. Luke chapter 9. Shine on me. Shine on me. Let your light from the lighthouse shine on me. Shine on me. Shine on me. Let your light shine on me. Come on, let me hear you. Those of you from the old church. your life Can you give him a wave praise? Luke nine, verse fifty-seven. and it came to pass that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests. But the son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Amen. I want to talk about the cost of discipleship. Amen. The cost of discipleship. Look at a neighbor and say the cost of discipleship. Amen, it cost you something to follow the Lord. The cost of discipleship. To be a disciple or follower of Christ has a price most people don't consider. Jesus in this particular passage makes use of three men to denote the cost of discipleship. They serve as examples of the way in which the master replies to numerous offers of service made to him under different conditions. These men offer their followership of the Lord without careful consideration of the cost. Jesus reveals that Discipleship that is if you're going to be a true follower of his That he must be first in your life You must occupy the position of first place Christ must have first priority in the life of his followers in the text Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and His face is steadfastly set. He was fixed. He was determined in his course to Calvary. And on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus encountered three men. Notice, first of all, there's a man who approaches Jesus and says to Jesus, I will follow you wherever you go. This man is a man who represents unconsidered sacrifice. Let me hear you say unconsidered sacrifice. That this first man represents people who say a lot but do very little. say a lot mean very little. This man exhibits too ready enthusiasm. In other words, he had zeal, he was eager, he was forward to go follow Jesus Christ. He was hasty and rash. He did not count the cost of discipleship. Brothers and sisters, many people in the church today are just like this man, exhibit too ready enthusiasm without considering the cost of discipleship. ofttimes too ready, enthusiasm fails, or cannot stand the test of severe privation or the painful self-sacrifice which is the sure destiny of all who will faithfully follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters Jesus said it like this if you are going to follow him if he's going to be your Lord and Savior You have a cross to bear Look at somebody and say you have a cross to bear and and if you don't bear your cross There is no crown. We want the crown without the cross But there's a cross which is the emblem and symbol of suffering and shame You're gonna go through some stuff as a follower of jesus christ. You're gonna be talked about you're gonna be ridiculed Your name will be hanged on the wings of the morning people will lie on you. This is for you and and listen, if you are going to be a follower of Jesus Christ, it will cost you. Look at the person beside you and tell him following Jesus will cost you. Following Jesus may cost you to lose some friends. Following Jesus may cause you to be out with some family members. Following Jesus may cause you to lose a job. Following Jesus will cause you to suffer some things. Brothers and sisters, being a follower of Jesus, a disciple, will cost you. There are several things I see in the first man that warrants our interest. First of all, Notice the person of promise. From the gospel of Matthew, Matthew 8, 19, we discover that this man was a scribe. He was a part of Jesus's opposition. The group of leaders who saw their position endangered by Jesus's miracles and message. this man seems to have chosen against his own party he had great talent being a scribe this man studied the word of God his man was not just a man of wealth but he was a man of opposition he says to Jesus I will follow you wherever you go. Isn't it something how the ministry of Jesus affects even those in opposition to him? That he's more powerful than his opposition? That's why people who oppose the Lord may not stay in opposition to the Lord. He's a scribe and he says to the Lord, I will follow you. We see the purpose, personal promise, but then notice promise to follow. He says, I will follow you. He made a personal promise to Jesus. Notice in the text, verse 57, that no one volunteered him. No one nominated him. He volunteered himself. He did not receive the two words of recruitment. Follow me from Jesus. He came on his own and made the promise to follow the Lord. Here is one in Israel who had been impressed by all that Jesus said and did in the course of Jesus's earthly ministry. And evidently he considered the miracles done by the Lord and decided that he would approach Jesus and promise to follow him. This man's promise was empty. His promise was empty because he was in pursuit of something other than the Savior. He was longing for something in his life, maybe fame, riches, power, and success. And let me pause parenthetically to say to us, as we have gathered here today, you need to make sure that your pursuit of the Lord is sincere. that you are not seeking the Lord to ascertain stuff, riches, fame, and positions because the Lord not only sees you, he sees straight through you. Help me preach if you can. He was not sincere in his approach and he made a promise to follow. Notice the point of following. He says, I follow you. with us wherever you go. Describe sound like Peter doing the upper room discourse. Peter said, Lord, I am ready to go with thee both into prison and to death. You know, a lot of us had that same verbiage. We had that same speech before pandemic. God, for you, I live and for you, I die. But when the pandemic, when the COVID, when the virus came, we went ducking and hiding and we almost had to get a tow truck to pull you back in church because you didn't mean what you said when you said, Lord, for you, I live and for you I die. This man he he was like Peter in that he says I'll go wherever you go. The word whithersoever is hoo-oh in Greek which means anywhere to say at every or whatever spot you go. In other words wherever Jesus went he agreed to follow. He said I'll go with you wherever you go. We say and sing the great hymn, I'll go where you want me to go. We sing the great hymn, I surrender all. We sing the hymn where he leads me, I will follow. It is easy to say and sing the lyrics of these hymns, but harder to do. What is interesting to me is the way Jesus responded to this man's enthusiasm. Jesus, he says, he's not eager in his response. He's not excited. They're embracing this man. He turns to this man and he turns this man off by revealing to him what following consists of. And come here. Let me help you understand that following the Lord doesn't mean prosperity. I wish I had a praying church. Following the Lord doesn't mean you're going to receive money and mansions and Mercedes's and Following the Lord Doesn't mean that you have a segue to a certain employment Jesus reveals that there's poverty in following in other words As the old street language, are you willing to break yourself? He says to the man, foxes have dens, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head. The point is clear. that if you wish to follow Jesus, if you desire to go wherever I go, then know what you are doing. Animals and birds can find a place to rest, can get away from danger and relax, can go to bed and lay themselves down and enjoy life, but I have nothing and nowhere to lay my own head. No bed upon which I can stretch out in peace. He says, if you wish to follow me, you will have no place to rest either. And if you come with me, you will share my restlessness and poverty Jesus revealed to the scribe that following him is not a walk in the park. Following him is not a sit down in a rose garden. Following him is not a smooth sail on the sea of life. Following him is not a circus. It's not a pageant or an extravaganza. Following him is not all about fame, followers, and fortune. Following him can lead to restlessness and poverty. In other words, Being a disciple of Christ is hard, difficult, and demanding. Jesus looked at this scribe, and he knew the measure of his enthusiasm. Brothers and sisters, whenever you're engaging with someone, don't you swell your head. on their too-ready enthusiasm. I wish I could help you. Even when it comes to a relationship, you know, it starts out high with a whole lot of empty promises in terms of what somebody is going to do. But don't you swell your head on too-ready enthusiasm. You know how it is when you finally get that employment, you start out excited and enthused about having a job, but about a money in. The job you used to love when you first got it seems like it has flipped and changed into something you hate. You dread getting up. You dread driving to work. You dread dealing with the folks on the job. You dread getting off after a long day of work. Too ready. Enthusiasm. You know how it is when you first joined the church? You thought you would go and get everybody in the community saved. Your excitement was so high that you ran and told everybody Makes me think about little trinity joy when she went to school. She went and told her teachers that she was getting baptized She said I got saved someday And they had got excited with her During the course of the week Something happened to little trinity Mama would often remind her now you just got saved and you already misbehaving enthusiasm. And Jesus knew the measure of this man's insincerity and and he he knew that this man didn't have a true commitment. He had not bargained for being without a house or without were financially suitable. They had wealth. And you know, when you have money, you're harder to convince. Come here, rich young ruler. Went to Jesus and said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus knew that where a man's treasure is, that's where his heart is also. He says, go sell what you have and give to the poor. The Bible puts emphasis on the fact that the man had much wealth. Because of that wealth, he dropped his head and walked away sorrowful. because he felt the price was too high to pay. Jesus saw this man and he discovered that this man had too ready enthusiasm. He had an unconsidered sacrifice. But then here's another man that approaches Jesus with unacceptable service. Because in verses 59 and 60, he said unto another being Jesus, now makes this true word appeal. Follow me. That's what Jesus said. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the gospel of the kingdom of God. When I read verse 59, it seemed to me that this man had a valid plea, that he had a valid petition for delaying following Jesus. It seems that Jesus was insensitive toward this man's circumstance. This man claimed to have a dying or dead father. He needed to bury. The burial of the person's father was a sacred duty. And in Genesis chapter 25, verse 9, Isaac and Ishmael buried their father Abraham. And was it wrong? for this man to have a petition, a plea? Was it wrong for this man to say to Jesus, let me go and bury my father first? Now, here it is when I peruse the pericope, when I look at the text, He revealed two things to me. Can I share them with you? First of all, this man's petition had personal priority. He said, suffer me first to go bury my father. Now there are two words that denote personal priority. Me first. The problem is not burying the relative, his father, rather the problem here is the me first attitude that the man have. You will never make a good disciple of Christ if you insist of me first instead of Christ first. I think I ought to say that again. You will never make a good disciple of Jesus Christ if you insist of me first instead of Christ first. Y'all didn't get it. Let me say it again. You will never make a good disciple of Christ if you insist of me first instead of Christ first. The Bible tells us that Christ is to be first regardless of what circumstance is going on in your life and what's happening in your life Christ first Jesus said you want me to add to your life seek first the kingdom and his righteousness that means that the rulership of God, the rulership of Christ has to be priority in your life. Jesus tells his disciples in Luke 14, 26, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brother and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Jesus said, in essence, that following him must come first, must come before every responsibility we have. But not only was this man a man of personal priority, this man was a man who had no respect for providential priority. See, a lot of us, we say we revere God. until he tells us what to do. See a lot of us say we have him first until something else comes up on the agenda. I'm preaching better than y'all saying amen. See, a lot of us say we love it more than we love our own lives and we love our wives and our husbands and our children and whatever we possess. Until it's time to give up something. Then it becomes evident that we had more speech than sincerity. Let something happen to Lil Junior. And you turn completely angry with God. Because it was easier for you to say, you love the Lord more than you love Lil Junior. When something happened to Lil Junior, you turn completely against God. You can find strength to put your clothes on to come to church. You can find strength to sing the Lord's song. When something happened to mama, you thought mama oughta been healed and God decided to take mama on. And now that mama is gone. You got a problem with church but nowhere else. And your problem is not with the building. Your problem is with God. Because you didn't have your priorities in order. I'm preaching better than y'all saying amen. He had no respect for providential priority. Verse 60, and told him to go preach the gospel. This man had received a new assignment. He had received something that others had not received. This man had life pulsing and palpitating in him. And in other words, he was called to go to the living. I'll never forget when we were in Jackson and Doar had Little Trinity. And the next day, we went down on a Monday the next day was Tuesday Bible study night and I told her I said well I know you're down here but babe I got to go she said where you going you're gonna leave me down here by myself I said well you're not really down here by yourself you got the good Lord and Trinity and she began to cry while we were in the hospital and then I said oh lord and uh just at that time she was crying a nurse came in and I got shamed for nothing because I didn't want the nurse to think that I was mistreating her because she just had my baby Crying and I said something and did something to make her cry and and and the nurse finally went out and I said well, baby You know how I feel about God's business. He told me that if I take care of his business I He'll take care of my business. And God just brought you through a surgery. He just brought you through a delivery that could have took your life. Ain't God good? Brothers and sisters, when you make him priority of your life, God'll do the supernatural. He said, bid me first. to go bury my father. Some theologians and scholars say that this man's father was not even on his sickbed. But what he wanted the Lord to do was to delay obedience and delayed obedience is disobedience. But let me leave you with the third man that Jesus said, follow me. And the man said, let me first go and bid them farewell. In other words, let me have one last get-together. Let me have one last shindig. Let me have one last party. And Jesus said that a man that grabs is not fit for the kingdom of God. In other words, Orientals took pledge and took pride in their fields. And a man that had crooked roads was ashamed of his field. So what Jesus was saying, that if you are going to please me, You need to live your life as a straight road. You don't need to grab a hold of the plow and keep on looking back because if you look back, you're going to think back. If you think back, you're going to start living back and if you live back, you're going to become a your eyes on the prize. Shake your neighbor's hand and tell your neighbor, you need to keep a hold of the plow and keep on looking straight. You need to keep your eyes on the lord Jesus Christ and if you keep your eyes on the lord Jesus Christ, you're Ain't God alright? I thank God that Jesus kept his eyes on the prize. He had his face set toward Jerusalem as he was making his way to Jerusalem. He knew what was ahead. He knew he would be arrested. He knew he would be lied on. He knew he would be beaten. He knew he would be marched from Judgment Hall. From Judgment Hall to Judgment Hall. But he kept his face towards Calvary. If you're glad, you ought to help me close this sermon union style. Look at your neighbor and said, neighbor, he had me in mind. He had you in mind, but he kept going all the way. He was marched up to Villa De La Rosa. He was hanged on an old rugged cross. He died on that cross. Didn't he die? But dying is not all he did. He was buried in a borrowed tomb. But early Sunday morning, he got up Help me say God up. God up. God up. God up. Set up. Stood up. Spoke up. And said all power is in my hand. Ain't he alright? Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Have you tried him? Won't he make a way? The doors of the church is open. This is a sacred time. You can make God a personal promise and keep it. You can promise God, I'll give my life to you. and I'll serve you till I die. If you haven't given your life to Jesus Christ and accepted Him to be your personal Savior, the doors of the church is open. You can come. Come give your life to Jesus Christ and make Him your personal Savior. As the choir Sing softly. Consider giving your life to Jesus Christ. The door are open. Come on, give your life to Jesus. Make him your personal savior. Don't put off for tomorrow. If tomorrow is not promised, you can do it today. And you might be one who have made him a person of promise, but you didn't keep it like I did before. Backslid on God. Somebody told me God is married to the backslider. Meaning, He don't leave us, we leave Him. That door is open, you can come back. You can come back right now and rededicate your life to the Lord. Come accept Him to be your personal Savior. Come and rededicate your life to the Lord. And then you might be looking for a church house. And if God have laid New Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church on your heart, that door is open. You can come. Come on. Come on. Door is open. Lord, the door is open. Door is open. Come give your life. Come rededicate your life. Come make this your church house. Door is open. Yes, Lord, door is open. Let us stand. No weapon formed against you is able to prosper. that is within you than he that is in the world. When life is heavy, know that there's an incessant invitation that the Lord extends. Come unto me, all ye that are extremely weary and burdened, and I'll give you rest. You're more than a conqueror. through Christ, Jesus, your Lord. Know that there's power in you, that able to do exceeding, abundantly above all you could ever ask or think, according to the power that has already been deposited. God wants to do great things through your life. Look at your neighbor and say, let him. We have been indulged and engaged in worship to be edified and enlist in his service. We go to serve. We go to serve that as the God's blessings are being spoken over you and you are dismissed to serve. Father, may your grace, the love of Jesus Christ, and the communing of the Holy Spirit, rest, rule, and abide with us now, henceforth, and forever. In every heart, say amen. Amen. Go to serve. Go to serve.