Now turn to the book of Luke, chapter 14. The book of Luke, chapter 14, and as you get that, I want you to hold your finger there, and then I'll turn you to another portion of scripture that we'll read first. Also get Matthew, chapter 22. Luke, chapter 14. And then turn to the book of Matthew. We'll read Matthew first. Matthew, chapter 22. Verse 36. The Bible says we'll read in your hearing verse 34 through verse 39, then we'll preach what God has laid on our heart this morning. Look at verse 34. When the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, They were gathered together. Well, he's fixin' to put the Pharisees in silence, too, amen? The Bible says on occasions in the scripture, when they ask the Lord a question, and he got done talking, the Bible says, there's no man ask him any more questions from that day forth. The Lord God Almighty has a way of just shutting man's mouth. Nothing to say, no excuses. When people stand before God, I've heard people say, well, when I stand before the Lord, I've got a few things to say to him. You won't be wanting to say anything when you hear him talk. You'd be real good, just close your mouth, as the Bible said, that whatsoever things the law saith, saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God. Be good to you, just close your mouth and listen to what the Lord God has to say and obey it. So he had put them to silence, and the Pharisees came, and the Bible says, and one of them was a lawyer. asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. I'm particularly interested in that phrase saying that the Bible says the first commandment, the commandment that God above every single, you say, well preacher, I've stopped lying, I'm obeying that. Well there's a greater commandment than not lying. Greater commandment than not fornicating, than not stealing, than not murdering. Greater commandment than not honor, just honoring your mother and father. The greatest commandment is God has commanded every individual to love him with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, another portion of scripture says, with all your strength. That's the first commandment. Second's name, if you keep that commandment, you will keep the second. Second commandment is love your neighbors yourself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. And if you keep the first commandment, you'll keep the second, and you'll have no trouble keeping the 10 after that, because we know that we love him if we keep his commandments. So with that in mind about loving the Lord, we'll read another portion of scripture here after we pray. Let's pray. Father, I ask you to take the word of God, speak to our hearts through it, move in the heart of saints and sinners, get all the glory, Do your lovely name. Do that this morning, God, in my heart, that would help me preach exactly what you'd have me to say. In the name of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, we ask it, amen. Turn to the book of Luke, chapter 14 now. Luke, chapter 14. We realize, God has commanded us to love the Lord thy God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, with all of our might. Look in the book of Luke chapter 14, let's read verse 25 now. The Bible says in verse 25, there went great multitudes with him. A lot of people following his preaching, the miracles he had done, great multitudes are following the Lord, and he turned and said unto them, I want you to get the picture in your mind, here the Lord is, He's done miracles as we can read. He's preached great messages that has stirred the heart of men. He has fed multitudes by a few fish and a few loaves of bread. They've seen the Lord do great things and people are starting to gather to him and follow him. And as the Lord is walking, people are following him and as they're following, he turns around and he says something to this whole crowd that's following him. Look at what the Lord said. He said to them, if any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Won't you think about the Lord's words here. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Wow, that's some hard verses. Probably some of the misunderstood verses and probably all the word of God. But as the Lord is looking at this crowd that's following him, this is what he's gonna say to them. He says, you are coming after me, and you are all following me at this moment, and where I am, that's where you want to be, but I want you to understand something. It's not gonna be an easy thing to follow me. And if you do not love me with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, if you love your mother more than you love me, or you love your father on equal grounds, or just a little bit less than you love me, or you love your wife or your children, or you love your own life and your own ambitions and your own ways, and you love me also, but yet your love for me and your love for other things are kind of similar on the same ground, or just a little less than you love me, you won't keep following me. Your love for me, the love that you have for me compared to the love for your family, your own life, your mother, your wife, your children, of everything else that you love, that your love for me is gonna have to be far greater than anything else and it's gonna seem like you hate your family. You hate your mother. You hate your father. You hate your children. It's not that the Lord asked me to look at my wife and just say, I sure hate her. That's not what the Lord's saying. Not that I would look at my children as they were singing this morning. I look at them, boy, I sure hate that crowd. That's not what the Lord say. The Lord is saying that your love for Him compared for your love for everything else and your own life also, that your love is so great that when you look at everything else, it would seem as if you hated your family, your own life, your own ways, because to be the Lord's disciple, if you're gonna follow him, it's not gonna be easy to follow the Lord. It's gonna be real inconvenient at times to follow the Lord. It's gonna be really sometimes shake up your world of comfort if you're gonna choose to be the Lord's disciple. Now here it is, you can be saved this morning on your way to heaven, you can be a child of God, but yet not be a disciple of Jesus Christ. just because you're saved. A disciple is one who follows Christ, who allows what Christ's desire is for his life. See, the Bible says you must love your own life also. Pick up your cross. You know what a cross is a symbol of? Suffering. The cross is a symbol that I am dying. I have laid my life down that God's life may live through me and what this eternal life and Jesus Christ that is living in me, whatever his will is for my life, that's what I want to do. Now if I said right now to you, how many of you would want to be where the Lord is? Most of you would say yes. You know what the Lord said? He said, if you want to be with me, there's a portion of scripture we may get to this morning. He said, I want you to know if you follow me that the foxes have holes The fowls of the air have nest, but the Son of Man hath nowhere to lay his head. Because if you're gonna follow me, it's not gonna be a life of ease and comfort to follow the Lord. So as we read the other portions of scripture, we're looking at desiring and wanting to be the Lord's disciple. Look at the next verse, verse 27. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Sometimes living for God's gonna be sometimes a life of suffering. It's gonna mean a life of persecution. Whosoever liveth godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. If you're going to live for the Lord, it means that you have chosen that no matter what the cost... See, you know what happened? Do you want to know why the children of Israel did not go into Canaan? Why they wandered around in the wilderness for 40 years? The Lord had promised him victory. Sent the spies in, 12 spies. The 10 came back, even report. Joshua and Caleb gave a good report. They said, man, let us go up at once. God has given us a land. The others said, hey, didn't you see the giants and the fenced walls? And we're not able to. to defeat these people, Joshua and Caleb said, man, God said he's gonna give us victory, the Lord's gonna fight for us, let's go up right now at this moment, let's waste no time, let's go possess the land. See, the other spies saw how great the giants were. Joshua and Caleb were convinced how great God was. Big difference. You wanna know what the statement was of all the men of Israel as their heart was discouraged? Here was their one problem. What about our little ones? Our children? We go up there and fight. What's going to happen to our kids? Our kids can't make it. You know what the problem was? They loved their children more than they loved the commandment of God to go forward in victory. They put their children before the Lord. The Lord done promised them victory. Instead of looking at the Lord and said, God's done told us we can inhabit the land. God's gonna give us victory. God said he's gonna fight for us. Moses done told us that God's delivered it into our hand. Joshua and Caleb come back, said let's go up at once. But we cannot because we're worried about our children. You know what kept them from the promised land? They loved their children more than they loved the Lord. And can I remind you that God would have taken better care of their children than they could of themselves. It always pays to follow the Lord. So here's what happened. He said in verse 28, for which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? lest happily after he hath laid the foundation is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him. He said, look, if you're gonna build a tower, you're gonna start this thing ever, it's gonna be out in the middle of everybody's gonna see it, you count the cost, make sure you can finish it. Because if you can't go through with this when it's just halfway done, everybody's gonna walk by an unfinished tower all the days of your life and say, yeah, let me tell you about Stephen, he built that tower, but he couldn't, yeah, that's his work, he couldn't finish it. What happens, everybody mocks him because they're not able to finish the work. Verse 29, then verse 30, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with 10,000 to meet him that cometh against him with 20,000? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage and desireth conditions of peace, so likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, He cannot be my disciple. You know what the Lord is telling them here? He said, if you're gonna follow me, you better count the cost. It's gonna cost you something to serve the Lord. Most people in church, they want to be a Christian, they want to have a Bible, they want to be part of a church, they want to be part of a choir, they want to be part of ministry somehow, but just as long as it don't cost them too much. As long as it does not inconvenience their life too much at all. As long as it's not an inconvenience to them. Do you know what the word convenient means? It means personally suitable. It's favorable to one's comfort and ease. The word inconvenient is just opposite of that. Not personally suitable. Not favorable to one's comfort or ease. Most people are looking for a comfortable and convenient Christianity. Now the Lord said, if you're gonna be my disciple, you come follow me, pick up your cross, and when you pick up your cross, the Bible gives us another phrase here that I wanna look at in the book of Matthew, if you'll look in Matthew chapter 16, that goes along with this. My question this morning is, yes, you may be saved, yes, you may know the Lord, yes, your sins may be forgiven, but I want you to ask a question this morning, am I truly the Lord's disciple? Am I truly a follower of Jesus Christ? Look in the book of Matthew, if you would. Chapter 16, look at verse 24. And then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, Take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever loses his life for my sake shall find it. You know what the Lord said a life of discipleship is? It's gonna be a life of denial, denying one's self. Listen, when God saved you, There's some people, I could tell you about my own life and I can give you testimonies of other people's lives. Before you got saved and took Christ as your Savior, some of you had your own life's dreams, your own life's ambition, what you wanted to do, how you wanted to spend the rest of your life, and what you were going to do with your life. You know what happens when you get saved? It ought to be, Lord, I had all these plans, but I love you more than I love my own life and my own self. And Lord, I want for my life what you want for my life. If what I wanted to do is not in your will, that doesn't matter to me anymore. I love you more than my own ambitions and my own dreams. You know, here's a good type. Remember the woman, the Samaritan woman that came to the, she was at the well, Jacob's well? She brought her pot, her water pot. She had a personal agenda for that day. She brought her water pot to get water. She came to draw when all the other women were not there because the life she lived was so disdainful in the eyes of other women, she came when no other women would be there to draw. And when Jesus got done with her and she met the Messiah, and she said, and she received him as a Messiah, the Bible says when she left, she left her water pot. Her agenda for that day really had no more meaning. She had a different agenda to go back to the city and saying, come see a man that told me all things ever I did. She said, well Lord, I tell you what, I'm gonna go tell everybody that I've met the Messiah, but first I had something I was doing when I come here, and so now I've gotta fill my water pot up, I gotta go back home, take care of my own life also. When I'm done taking care of my life, then I'll do what you want me to do. That's the average Christian today. But she left her water pot and said, I've got a story to tell about a man that I just met who is the Messiah. And she said, come see a man that told me all things that ever I did. And the whole city come out to hear him. And the city believed on him and God changed the city because of a woman who was willing to lose her life and love the Lord more than her own life. To be a disciple. To be a disciple, there's certain things that you're not gonna be able to do. See, to be a disciple, there's certain ways that you're not gonna be able to dress. To be a disciple, there's certain places that you're not able to go. I want to know this morning, if you were literally following Jesus Christ right now, would you dress the same way you're dressed this morning? Or would you say, ooh, I'm fixing to be around Jesus and I don't want him to see me like this? Or would you, throughout your day, dress the same way that you always dress? Would you hang around the same crowd you're always hanging around? Would you go to the same places that you go to? If you were walking with Jesus and you passed one of these places, would you say, Jesus, just hang on a second, I've gotta go there. Would you go to that place if you were walking with the Lord, or would you just pass right on by it? Because you realize that he's not honored and glorified by it. So we see that the Lord said that you are gonna have to deny yourself, deny your life. Some of you gave up dream. Listen, there may be a certain job that you have. If you're gonna be the Lord's disciple, you can't work that job. You cannot be the Lord's disciple. Say, well, I'm just a truck driver. I don't drink, but I'm gonna drive a Budweiser truck. Sorry, you're not the Lord's disciple. You are not the Lord's disciple. So I could start naming things and jobs that is not in the will of God for a child of God to be doing. If you're choosing to be the Lord's disciple, it's gonna be hating your own life. Hating what you, listen, you're not your own anymore. If you're saved, you've been bought with the price of the blood of Jesus Christ. It's not up to you how to live your life anymore. We ought to desire, all right, Lord, what do you want from my life? What's your will for my life? I wanna show you something before we read another passage of scripture. Why don't you turn your Bible to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter five. 2 Corinthians chapter five. The hardest thing for a Christian to do is to hate their own life also. their own agenda, their own dreams, their own desires, their own ways that they have schemed in their life to do and get along to finally say, if I'm gonna be a disciple of Christ, I cannot do what I'm doing, I cannot continue the way that I want to go in my life, I don't know how it's all gonna work out, but I'm just gonna have to trust him, because the life of being a disciple is going to cost you something. And most people don't wanna do anything if it's gonna cost them too much. Think about all the people in the Lord's day that left everything. See, you're gonna have to count the cost. Some Christians count the cost, and they say that's too much of a cost for me to follow the Lord. I mean, I wanna be saved. When Jesus comes around, I'll hear him preach. When he comes around, I'll be with that crowd, but whenever he leaves, he's gonna have to go on his own, and I'll go back to my life, and I'll fit my schedule around him when it's convenient to see him, but it's just gonna cost me too much to follow him. I can't do it. So before we look at the book of 2 Corinthians, hold your place there, I do wanna show you that, but another portion of scripture just come to my mind if you look at Matthew chapter four. I wanna show you something. In the book of Matthew chapter four, are you truly the Lord's disciple? In the book of Matthew chapter four, these passages of scripture have greatly convicted my heart as a pastor of this church, even studying this and looking at this. Look at verse 17. Matthew 4, 17. From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. Here was their life. They were in their father's business. They have fished all their life. I'm sure that it was the desire and dream of their father that my sons work with me in this business. When I die and pass on, my boys would take over the family business. I'm sure the mother was depending upon that. Here was their life all planned out. Their life was already set. This was their occupation. Now is anything wrong with catching fish? I like catching fish. We caught 65 just a couple weeks ago. And when it was time to leave and we had to come home, my boys were not wanting to come home. See, I'm thinking, I've got 65 fish to clean. They're thinking, Dad's gonna clean most of the fish. We'll just catch, catch, catch fish, and catch fish, and we'll just catch fish. I'm catching fish thinking, man, that's a whole lot of work ahead of catching all that. lot of cleaning going on. And so, man, they're catching those big old brim. You can't even get your hand around taking them off. And the more I'm catching, the more I'm wanting to catch. But finally, time run out. Nothing's wrong with catching fish. Nothing is wrong. That is an honorable profession, catching fish. People need to eat it and selling it. But they have their whole life ahead of them. It's all planned out. They're going to be fishermen, take over their father's business. Look what happens. They were fishers. And he said unto them, here's what Christ said, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. Verse 20 is an amazing verse to me. And they straightway left their nets and followed him. They just left everything. They didn't say, now Lord, we've gotta prepare, we've gotta go tell our families what we're gonna do. Peter didn't say, Lord, I've got a wife at home and before I make this kind of decision, this is gonna affect my whole family. Before I decide to follow you, I better go check it out with a wife. I better check, I better make sure that my dad's alright with me leaving the business and he's okay with this. The Bible says right there at that moment, they looked at the Messiah, Christ said, follow me. They were casting their net, they straightway at that moment just left everything and they followed him. They left their work, their business, made a decision to follow the Lord. Sometimes you would say, man, what a reckless decision. That was not a reckless decision at all. That was a decision that when Christ says, you follow me, they were willing to give up their own life, their own plans, everything. Now, it may be when God saves you that he allows you to keep doing things that you are doing. It may be what you're doing's not out of the will of God and he allows you to do that, but here's a question. If he called you away from that, would you be willing to follow? If there's certain things you're not willing to give up, you love that more than you love the Lord. Some of you wish God would call you away from your job. You'd rather be done with it. I wish he'd call me today, I'd drop that thing in a heartbeat. He can have it! But I'm talking about something that you love, something that you have planned, your dreams and you enjoy. If God called you away from that, are you willing to say, if the Lord pulls me away from that, then so be the will of God. I love the Lord more than I love my job. Money. I love the Lord more. See, we have counting the calls to being a disciple. We see here then God calling to be a disciple where you answer the call. And then we see you're gonna have to make a choice. They were confronted with a choice. Do I follow the Lord or do I not follow the Lord? I could read you a passage of scripture where people said, Lord, I'll follow you. And the Lord said, the foxes have hole, the fowls here have nest. Son of man hath nowhere to lay his head, and the man didn't follow. Then the Lord called another man to follow. My father's died. I gotta go home and bury my father first. Let the dead bury their dead. Come and follow me. I've got something for you to do. They begin to make excuses of things. It's never going to be always convenient to serve God. I want you to think about this. I thought about how inconvenient it must have been. I could almost say the poor wives, the poor wife of Peter. All of a sudden, when he finally does it, he follows the Lord and he comes home, he says, well, I quit the business. I'm not doing the business anymore. I'm not fishing anymore. You're doing, you did what? Well, the Lord came by and said, follow me and I don't know. He's got some things for me to do. I may have to leave and he wants me to go with him preaching all these villages. See, they didn't have the convenience of a cell phone. Pull a cell phone out. Jesus would have never got anything done if every 12 men with him had a cell phone. Wouldn't have been done. Nothing would have been done. That would have been no sleeping. Jesus has been praying himself. They'd all been on the phone. Yeah, Jesus over there praying, sweetheart. I don't know how long we're going to be here. He's praying. I hear him moaning, yeah. I mean, the wives would have kept him up with a cell phone. How many things it could have been. Think about how, I thought about what it would have been like to be Peter, and the Bible called him, the Lord, they went into Gethsemane to pray. The Lord said, let's get up, let's go. They would go to this village and that village preaching, and the next village, and the Lord just took, and they didn't have no way of just calling, saying, sweetheart, I thought I was coming home, but it's gonna be another four or five days. Imagine what it would have been like to be the family of the first apostles, following the Lord. We are inconvenienced nothing in this day of what it really was to be a disciple in the Lord's day. I'm afraid none of us would probably be disciples in the Lord's day. I don't know if we could have handled it, if we could have took it. Why, it's gonna cost you something. Most Christians don't wanna do much of anything that's gonna cost them too much of their personal agenda and their personal convenience and their personal comforts. That's why the gospel is not being spread like it needs to be in our day. Not willing, not willing to do what it's gonna take to call. So we see that they straightway, and they followed the Lord. Going on from thence, he saw two other brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them, and they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. Man, those are amazing scriptures to me. I put myself there, and I say, if the Lord Jesus would have passed by and said, right now, come. You don't have time to prepare. You don't have time to go straighten it all out, but I want you to follow me. By the way, He is God. He is the Creator. He is the Savior of the world. He's the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and he has a right to demand you to do whatever he wants you to do. You're not your own anymore. You're bought with a price. Glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are the Lord's. We belong to him. I see not only the call, but I see the choosing to be the Lord's disciple. And then there's a passage of scripture that Peter says, Lord, we've left everything. We've left all. What are we gonna get? And the Lord said, you're gonna receive a hundredfold in this life and in the life to come. Brothers, sister, listen, if you're a woman and you're in this church and you're saved, and if you're a man in this church and you're saved, if you're a man, you are my brother. We're brothers. If you're a woman, you're a sister. If you're an older man, you're a father. If you're an older woman, you are a mother. And God said, in this family, in this lifetime, there may be some things that you're forsaking literal family to go do, but he said, I'm gonna bless you a hundredfold, not only in this life, but also in the next eternal life. There's a compensation for serving God. There is a payment that God gives for being the Lord's disciple. I want you to see in the book of 2 Corinthians, look at it, chapter five. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, look at verse 20. I want to pull one verse out of here. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, and so God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God. You know what an ambassador is? An ambassador is a minister of high rank who permanently is sent by his sovereign to permanently represent his sovereign and his country. You know, an ambassador is one. See, the Bible says we are in the ambassadors of Christ. I am supposed to be standing before you this morning as Christ would stand before you. I'm to speak to you as Christ would speak to you. I am in the person of Christ's stead, being a representative of Jesus Christ. Now listen to me. Every one of you, from the front row to the back, are an ambassador of Jesus Christ. You represent a heavenly country. You represent a heavenly savior, the king of kings and the lord of lords. I want you to think about an ambassador for a minute. I wrote some things down, I thought about an ambassador. An ambassador, we are ambassadors of the king of kings, the lord of lords, the almighty God, the prince of peace. He's the God who is holy, holy, holy. And if you're gonna be his ambassador, you're gonna have to live holy. He is a holy God. And I thought about an ambassador. An ambassador is one, could you imagine this morning, If the ambassador of the United States of America, what if you saw an ambassador of America and the ambassador of America stands in the place, he represents America by his conduct, his actions, his words, his speech, the things he does. Whatever he does is a reflection of America. And could you imagine an ambassador going to a political meeting to represent America and he goes in with this Hawaiian shirt on, butt down, a medallion around, a pair of shorts and a pair of flip-flops, you know, and he just kind of goes, hey, you know, what's up? Yo, man, I come down with America, you know what I'm saying? I mean, could you imagine the shame that it would be? We would look at that and say, what, he's representing America? Look how he's dressed! Look at his actions, how he's talking. It's as if he has a no-care attitude. Whenever we are representing our, I think if we were going to represent America, buddy, I would dress the best I could. I would conduct myself the best I could. I would guard my tongue and my speech, my actions, because everything that I'm doing is a reflection on who I am representing. You're representing the Lord Jesus Christ. You are an ambassador of Jesus Christ. I thought about it, I tried to look it up this morning, I can read it to you, but many of you have seen and heard the tomb of the unknown soldier, the changing of the guard. Have any of y'all ever seen that in person or on TV or by tape, changing of the guard? If you've never seen that, you need to see that. The unknown soldier, soldiers that have died in action. In Washington, there are men that guard that tomb 24 hours a day. and they do it in honor. I mean discipline, respectful. Nothing else is in their mind, but they're guarding the tomb of the unknown soldier, of men that have died in action. They have respect for a soldier, soldiers they don't even know. And what they do is every day, to do this, they take a pledge. They don't guard the tomb for life, but they do take a pledge for life. They pledge, you know, most of us couldn't do it because you couldn't have no bigger than a 32 waist. I couldn't be that. I couldn't guard the, I like to eat too much. It'd cost me too much to guard that tomb. Amen? But these men took oaths of life. They don't drink, they don't smoke, they don't cuss, they don't go to certain, they take a whole pledge of moral things in their life because they are a reflection of the discipline of a soldier who guards a tomb. They are respectful and they take this oath for life of their conduct that they must live by. and they stand out there and they march, nothing else is on their mind, they got one thing, guarding this tomb. And when they change the guard, oh man, I mean, it is an incredible thing to see. The respect and the reverence they have in the discipline of changing the guards out from one soldier, passing the gun, inspecting it and all they do for the next one, and they march perfectly, step by step. There's not a step out, they line up, it is one of the most impressive things that you'll ever see if you've never seen HR to see it. But here's what I thought about. There was a hurricane that Isabella come through, and these men in the middle of that hurricane, the rain and the wind, saw pictures of where they're just still marching. And the rains pour down, everybody's inside for safety. People died in that hurricane, and they are still dedicated to guarding this tomb. Because of discipline, it must be guarded. And I thought, if men have that much discipline to throw their own life away, of pleasures, things they would like to do, just to be part of being one of these soldiers, have their name on a list, and serve for a little while, that they can say that they were one of the soldiers that guarded the tomb of the unknown soldier. You know what happens? We as God's people, that Christ has given so much for, we are his ambassadors standing in his stead. And how dedicated are we? How willing are we? Some people would not even ever even, there'll be some Christians that would not take that oath. I'm saying to you that to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, it's gonna cost you something. It's not gonna be easy. It's gonna take you some dedication. See, some people, well, I'll go to church when it's convenient. I'll go, oh man, visitation, oh, it's too hot. Tell me about it, I was on it yesterday, it was hot. Sweating. I repented four or five times, but got right about being on visitation, it was so hot. I can't, oh, it's gonna inconvenience me. You know what amazing? People will inconvenience themselves for their job. They love their money. They love and they want the respect of their boss. So they will put themselves out of the way for their job. They will inconvenience themselves for their wife, because they have to live with her that night. Amen, oh, buddy, I'm telling you what, I better do it. It ain't gonna be pretty when I get home. We tuck our tail, man, we just, okay, yes, ma'am. And there's some that inconvenience themselves, but they will kill themselves because they want to prove their love to their children to show up at a ball game, or show up at a recital, or show up at something, and I think that's all great. But when we'll give all this effort to inconvenience our lives for money, wives, children, but we're not about to inconvenience ourself for the Savior. You know what the problem is? It costs us too much. We love other things more than we love Him. And because we do, it calls too much, it's too inconvenient, it doesn't fit my schedule. It's amazing how we can work things into our schedule that we love, pleasure. I really ain't got time to do that, but I'll see if I can work that out. Man, we'll flip-flop, take days off from work, do whatever for pleasure. We ain't about to take a day off doing things spiritual. We're not about to inconvenience ourselves for the glory of God. We pretty much chose, I'm glad to be saved, I'm gonna do what I can when it's convenient, but I don't wanna do anything that's gonna cost me and inconvenience me too much. There's a difference between just being saved and choosing to be his disciple. I wonder how many of us really this morning wanna be his disciple. There's great payment for being his disciple, but as an ambassador, we guard our word, our conduct, the way we dress, the choice of our activities, the places we go. Whenever an ambassador speaks, listen to me, when an ambassador speaks, he's speaking on the behalf of who he's representing. And he has to spend enough time and understand where the country or his sovereign stands so when he answers for a country and he answers for his sovereign he's representing, he'll answer exactly like they would. I wonder if we spend enough time with him, be able to answer like he would. Be able to speak like he would speak. Make the very choices that he would make. See, you're gonna have to, if you're gonna be the Lord's disciple, you're gonna have to learn to deny family, friends, and flesh. Pleasures, places, personal plans, and personal ambitions and agendas. One last passage of scripture and we'll be done. Look at Matthew chapter 10 if you would. Matthew chapter 10. Look at verse 34. Here's what the Lord said, hard words, But he said, think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. Weren't that strange words for Jesus Christ? We think, man, I thought he'd come to die on the cross to bring peace. He said, what I came, this is the sword of the spirit, he came to bring his word. He said, I came to give a sword. You know what's gonna happen if you follow the word of God? Some people aren't gonna like you. If you follow the word of God, some family's not gonna like you. If you follow what the Lord, if you follow what this Bible says, people are gonna mock you. They're gonna talk about you. They're gonna lie against you. They're gonna laugh at you. See, what happens, he said, look, he said, I have come to send a sword, for I am come to set a man at variance against his father. Wait a minute, isn't God for peace? Doesn't he want a father and son to get along? Sure he does. But what he's saying, what's gonna happen, he said, whenever I give you my word and my commandments, if you choose to follow them, some of your fathers are not gonna like it. How many boys have gotten saved, come home and told their dad and he's all drunk and he mocked them about getting saved? It ain't gonna last. How many times have somebody come home and the Bible says, God, I want you to know, daddy, I just got saved and somebody witnessed me, they gave me a Bible and the dad take the Bible away and throw it away in the trash or burn it or say, you're not going to that church and you're not gonna be a Christian, you're not reading that Bible in this house. What's gonna happen God's ways is gonna set a man at variance with his father sometime. The next portion of scripture said, and the daughter against her mother. There's gonna be some daughters that get saved and want to raise their kids for the Lord. I can tell you right now, I've had people talk to me and said, preacher. God has saved us, and there's certain things that we don't let our children watch anymore, but when they go to my mama's house, or they go to my wife's mother's house, they go to my mother-in-law, or my mother, they have a TV, and they're trying to let our kids watch anything, and I tell them, they're not watching that, and if you're gonna let them watch that, I'm sorry, I love you, I want you to spend time with them, but they're not gonna be able to go to your house anymore if you don't abide by my wishes as a parent. And boy, the mom and mother-in-law gets mad. Can't you say amen? Some of you have experienced that. I'm sorry, you cannot abide, I do not want my children seeing that. And if you're gonna insist that they do see that, you just won't be able to have them at your house. That simple. It's not being mean. You wanna see them, go along with it. Don't show them things that I don't want them to watch. Don't allow them to do that. So what's gonna happen, sometimes a daughter has gotten saved and went to her mom and said, Mom, the Lord just called my husband to the mission field and we're going to a foreign field. Oh boy. Oh man, there's some others. Are you that crazy man? You should have never married him as he lost his mind. I can't believe that you're gonna follow that boob where he's going, you know? I can't believe you're gonna let him do that, take my grandchildren away from me, and boy does a mama get mad. If you're gonna be the Lord's disciple, it's gonna cost you some relationships. It's going to, if you're gonna follow God. You cannot love the Lord and appease this world at the same time. You cannot. And so he said, they're gonna be set at variance. And then he says, he that loveth father, excuse me, I don't wanna miss that. And then he says, I'm coming to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. I say this, thank God for good mother-in-laws and good daughter-in-laws, but sometimes you don't need the gospel to mess that up. Some people just have trouble with that without the gospel. Amen? Some of you mamas saying, let's talk about them sons-in-laws. Some say, listen, I don't need the gospel to be upset with him. Matter of fact is, sometime, the mother-in-law with the daughter-in-law, when you choose to serve God and follow your heart, see there's some women, they don't want to listen to the Bible, and the Bible says, for a wife, submit herself to her husband. And then now, When family decides to follow the Lord, some people look at you and say, ooh, that angers me that you do that. It's gonna cause a variance. And then he said this, he that loveth father or mother more than me. Now the Lord's explaining and expounding on the first portion of scripture we read that if you don't hate your father and hate your mother, if you love anything more than you love him, It is a God in your life, and you will never be the Lord's disciple. He said, if you love father and mother more than me, he's not worthy of me, and he that loveth... He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. It's talking about losing your life, your agendas, your personal plans, what you want to do. You're willing to set that aside because you love the Lord's will more than you love your own will. Is that not what Christ said? Father, not my will, but thine be done. That should be what we ought to do in our lives as Christian, as Christians. So do you love the Lord more? You realize how many women, I'm done, how many women God has called their husband to preach. She even professes to be saved. I've heard stories. And here's what the woman says. I did not marry a preacher. If you're gonna preach, we're gonna have problems. You've heard the testimonies. You've heard of women, man wanting to serve God. You realize, lady, listen to me, I don't know if there's anybody here that has a heart like that. You could be married to a drunk. You could be married to a drug addict, an adulterer, one that abuses your children, but you have a man that wants to surrender his life for God. Why would you not get behind him and get on board and serve God instead of standing against him? The gospel, the Bible says that a man's enemies, his foes shall be that of his own household. The gospel is gonna bring division inside of a home. I could tell you certain people when they, see for me, when God saved me, my family wasn't in a certain religion that if I went contrary to that, they'd just cut me off like I'm dead. There's certain people in this world, when their children or their family receives Christ, you know what they do? The Jews do that. They count them as dead. Other religions do it, they count them but don't want anything to do with them. It's gonna cost you something to follow the Lord. The reason our day, the name of Christ is so destroyed is because Christians live their life any way they want to in the name of Jesus Christ. And it has caused so much confusion in the world we live in of what Christ really demands out of a believer.