Once again it's my joy and privilege to come before you to worship the Lord and share what the Lord has laid in my heart this morning. This is my seventh visit ever since I became Primitive Baptist. In all seventh visit, I am here. That means a lot, because in all my visits, Elder Bradley and the co-preachers and the deacons all kindly invited me to come and preach for you. And also it's always a little bit nervous to me to preach before the outstanding preachers, Elder Bradley and Elder Tausman, and all the experienced, well-grown members in Christ Jesus. But nevertheless, thank God for this opportunity given me to share the Word of God. So let us turn our Bible to 2 Samuel 24, verse 24. 2 Samuel 24, 24. And the king said unto but I will surely buy it of thee at a price, neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God, of what which doeth cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor on the oxen for 50 shekels of silver. We are all familiar with this passage. One of the mistakes King David had done in his life was counting the soldiers of Judah and Israel. This was displeasing in the sight of God. Because he has done this, God sent his prophet, announced to him of the punishment. So he offered three things. One is either there should be a seven years famine in the country or three months fleeing before the enemies or three days of pestilence. Which one will be your choice? King David was very much distressed. He felt very bad about what he had done against God. And then he said, better not to fill in the hands of man, but rather I want to fill in the hands of God where there is a mercy. There was a big pestilence in Israel. 70,000 men died. That was a big loss. And then, after that, God sent an angel and stopped the pestilence. And now the Prophet said, OK, David, go and purchase a piece of land in the land of Aruna and offer sacrifice so that the pestilence will be stopped. And this was the land where Abraham sacrificed his only son Isaac. And this was the place where King Solomon built a magnificent temple in Israel. And this was the place where our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified on the cross of Calvary, shed his blood on the cross and paid ransom for the sins of his elect. So this place is a very significant place in the biblical time. So when David was instructed to purchase this by this land to offer sacrifice, he went to Aruna On knowing that King Aruna, King David is coming towards him, Aruna welcomed him and he wanted to offer his piece of land. He wanted to offer as a free gift because he is the King of Israel. But in response to the free offer, King David said, I don't want to serve God which cost me nothing. This was his answer. I don't want to serve God which cost me nothing. In the Christian life, salvation and discipleship are two sides of one coin. Salvation is a free gift of God. God the Father chosen us even before foundation of the world. His son Jesus Christ came into the world and ransomed and paid the price for his elect. And God the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of His elect and He quickens the hearts and saves, regenerates His people. And the trium God has part to play in the plan of salvation. But in this plan of salvation, man has nothing to do with all about grace of God. Because of the precious blood shed on the cross of Calvary, everything is free. Because man is totally dead in sin, He's incapable even to cooperate in the plan of salvation. He cannot respond to anything unless and until Holy Spirit works in the heart, he cannot respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so, because Christ has done all in the cross of Calvary, salvation is a free gift. On the other hand, discipleship is costly. So this morning I would like to draw your attention briefly on what it costs to be His disciples of Jesus Christ. First of all, it costs the money. He already mentioned that, I don't want to serve God which costs me nothing. So He paid a price to serve God. I praise and thank God for the ministry of Cincinnati Primitive Baptist Church. Already as Elder Bradley said, ever since I became a Primitive Baptist Church, this church stands with us, supporting financially, supporting the ministers, literatures, and child care centers, and becoming a powerful instrumental to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in the subcontinent of India. I thank God for that, not only to India, but also other parts of the countries where primitive Baptist ministries are being done. It costs our time. God expects us to spare our valuable time to serve God. I know people in the world, Christians in the world are very busy with various activities. their job, family things, many things, but in spite of all that God expects his people to spend his time. for preaching the gospel. That can be done in the homeland, that can be done in our neighboring country, or far countries like India, wherever the Lord leads. God expects us to spare our time for His ministry. Maybe the ministry may vary. You may not be called to preach the gospel to the non-Christians in India, but you can preach the gospel to your land, homeland. So Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, 15, I want to spend and be spent for your souls. So to Apostle Paul, loving God, preaching the gospel and salvation of the soul was his major priority he had in his life. And that's why he spent all his life for this cause. And thirdly, God expects us to use our gifts and talents for the glory of God and edification of the souls in the church. Church is the body of Christ. Every members have a part to play in the body. In a human body, all members work together harmoniously. And because of that, the body is healthy and the body is working. If one member is not functioning, one organ is not functioning, then the body becomes weak. In the same way, in the body of Jesus Christ, in the church, God has placed us with various gifts and talents. And these talents varies and each one has a gift. No one can say I don't have any talents or gifts. Matthew chapter 25, Jesus Christ talks about the parable of talent. The kingdom of God For the kingdom of heaven is as mean travelling into far country who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. And we all familiar with this parable. So this master delivered his talents to three people. One received five talents. another one received two talents, third one received one. The man who received five, he traded and earned with another five talents. The one who received two, the same way he traded and earned another two. The one who got one, he buried it. When the master came and came, the one who received the five and two, they multiplied and gave. Master said, well done, faithful, good and faithful servant. Because you are faithful in the small things, you will be in charge of many things. And God applauded them, appreciated them. But the one who buried was cursed and he was casted into the fire. So God blessed his people, endowed with different kinds of talents to be used for the growth of his church, growth of his body. And finally, discipleship costs our human affections, human relationships. This we found in Mark chapter 10. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the Gospels, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers and children and lands with the persecutions and in the world to come eternal life. So in order to follow Jesus Christ, people have to pay price for the human relationships. This may not be difficult in United States, but countries like India following Jesus Christ is very difficult thing. In one of our churches, placed called Angiam, there is a woman named Sister Joyce. When we started the church there in 2002, 2001, we had only 16 converts. We baptized with 16 people, constituted church, Under a tree, we didn't have any facilities to worship. By the mercy of God, we got the facilities, now we got the building. Later on, the sixteen converts faithfully witnessing Jesus Christ among the non-Christian neighbors. Among the converts, I want to bring one testimony, Sister Joyce. We named her as Joyce before her name was different. She got converted, but her husband was not. He used to be a drunkard, and he was a truck driver, and a very bad man. On hearing that this lady got converted, he was not happy on her. He told her not to go to church, but he could not stop her. She wanted to convince her that Jesus Christ is the true God and she tried her level best to bring to the church. In the beginning, she failed. So, Secretly without knowing her she got baptized in our church and regularly attending the church. And she got two boys, both of them are studying in engineering college. Later on these boys also influenced with the gospel of Jesus and they also started coming. This man got angry, you fellow You have got converted to this religion. Now you have changed my sense also. How dare you are?' Many times she was severely beaten up. And our preacher said sometimes she had injuries. She had injury because of severe beating. And in spite of all such beatings, not one time, many times over 8 years she was suffering like this. But many times she thought of leaving Him, but Still she had a faith in God, one day God will convert him. She was praying for her husband over and over again, continuously praying. The church was praying for him. She was patiently waiting for his conversion. Then she decided, even if this man kills me, nothing will stop me from following Jesus Christ. Finally, one day, God worked in his heart. How long I beaten this woman? How long I persecuted her? But in spite of all such persecution, still she is patiently following. Then there must be something, there must be some truth in it. So he secretly started reading the Bible. God worked in his heart. Finally, he asked apologies, forgiveness from his wife. Please forgive me for all the tortures I have done during the past years. Now I also want to follow the God whom you are following. Because your life is So, example and Christian way, if anyone in your place, they would have left me and they would have remarried another man, but you were faithfully serving me. So all these things touched his heart. He started coming to church. Later on, he asked, I want to be baptized. I baptized him. Finally, the Lord put a great desire in his heart to study the Bible. Then he became a useful servant of God in the local church. So like these three men yesterday ordained to serve in the church, this man was chosen by the local church to serve as a deacon. And his name is, we named him as Paul Christopher. You can remember brother Paul Christopher and Joyce in your prayers. Now because this family is effectively witnessing Christ in the hard community, we wanted to start a child care center in their village. The name of the village is Karuppampatti. The local church is Angiyam. Then for the past two years effectively this whole family is teaching the Hindu children the gospel of Jesus Christ and running this child care center effectively. So it is following Jesus Christ sometimes costs our beloved ones. It costs the family. And finally, one more testimony I want to share with you for the glory of God. I don't know whether I have shared this testimony or not before. Many years ago, there was a village in my area. We wanted to start a tutoring center. Generally, in the villages wherever we have a church and tutoring centers, practically no Christian at all. If at all there are Christians, they are only in the city area and town areas, not in the rural. So I was looking for a young man who can be served in the center. And somebody said, there is a man named Nagarajan. He is very much interested in doing social work in our village. So I visited his village. and asked him, would you like to serve among the children by taking tutoring to the school-going children? He said, what are you doing? Who are you? Where are you coming? All these questions. Knowing that I am a preacher, He said, okay, tutoring our children is fine with me, but don't expect me to become a Christian. I will never become a Christian. Then I said, no, I will never ask you to become a Christian. But all about what I will do is, simply I will teach the Bible every month during our staff meeting and we will pray. That's all I will do. I will never ask you to convert Christian. Then if it is fine. Then he started serving in the community as a tutoring teacher, very good teacher, sincere teacher. And every month we still meet with our all staff members, preachers, monthly meeting, whole day teaching the Bible and pray for one another. So this man attended this meeting sincerely, but he used to be very quiet. But after one year he listened, then he himself asked me to get a New Testament. Then we gave a New Testament, he started studying and later on he started studying the Bible. But one day he said, brother, sir, what can I do to become a Christian? Then I praised God. God is still working in him. And I took a lot of time with him. He got baptized and joined in the church. But his father is a Hindu priest. He got very angry at him. He said, you cannot be a Christian. If you want to be a Christian, forget your father and mother. If you want your parents, forget Jesus. I am a priest. I am teaching in the whole community. How can you be?" He said, Dad, Mom, I cannot forget Jesus. He is the true God. Then he said, then you have to leave my family. Then he has chosen to leave the family. He left the family and lived with me. And he was my first Timothy in the ministry. And he learned the Bible a lot. He grown in the knowledge of Jesus. And finally he became a very good preacher. And he was placed as a preacher in a church called Thinnapati. We ordained him. Then later on, when he was ready, I took place of his father for his marriage. I arranged his marriage and he married. They were happily lived. But one day, because of his brain tumor, he died. But he is with the Lord. He took a bold step to follow Jesus Christ, leaving his family and brothers. So following Jesus Christ is costly. Salvation is a free gift of God, but discipleship is costly. It costs money, it costs our time, it costs our talent, it costs our family, it costs our human relationships. So our forefathers of the primitive Baptists paid price in order to follow Jesus Christ, in order to follow the truth in the life. So I can share testimonies like this, several testimonies. Even right now, one of our preachers, he comes from a Pentecostal background, he is separated from his wife for the sake of faith. They are living in one roof, but wife is attending a Pentecostal Church, he is preaching the doctrines of grace. It's a very, very difficult time. He has two children, boy and girl. Boy is attending Primitive Baptist Church, girl is attending Pentecostal Church, but he is pretty strong in following the doctrines of grace. So friends, let us consider ourselves So what are the costs we need to pay in order to follow Jesus Christ? Have we spared our time? Have we spared our talents to serve God in the church for the edification and the growth of church? And even though perhaps we may not have difficulties in the families, but maybe other problems we may have, whatever. So may God help us too. be an effective discipleship for the glory of God and expansion of the kingdom of God. Thank you very much.