Denise Pickett, Year 2, Sermon 1

Word of God today, the Gospel of Luke, chapter 14, verses 25 to 33. Hear these words now: 'Large crowds were traveling with him. He turned and said to them, "Whoever comes to me and does not hate their own father and mother, wife and children, yes, and even their own life, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, "This fellow began to build and was not able to finish." Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions." This is the word of God.

I began to think about this message, what it was saying to me, and then what God would say to us. There are several things that kept coming. Then late one night, all of a sudden, a song popped up. You'll probably think, 'What does that have to do with church?' The song goes something like this: 'Might help you win a school to learn through things you never never be like I before E except after C, Y plus two makes four. Now I'm going to teach you, teach you, teach all about or gotta sit to sack that take a seat. All I do is repeat back ABC. It's even see has 12 a simple...' Something like that. Come on, just a little bit. Let me just a little bit. A good teacher, you haven't seen it out. Come on, come on, come on, let it show what it's all about. Reading, writing, arithmetic, the branches of knowledge. This is without the roots of the heavy date, girl, your education in cooking. And as I began to look at the text and go back to the text and pick out all the little things, I said to myself, 'Well, what does that have to do with the call?' And I went back to the foundation, because that's what the painting was doing: taking me back to the beginning, to a foundation. So I thought about what Jesus was doing. Jesus has been on the same path. You can have your Bibles, turn to Luke chapter 14, verse 1. 'Large crowds were traveling with him. He turned and said, "Whoever comes to me and does not be offered..."' I was wondering why he was so stern, why he was speaking in those terms. He was speaking today what I want to think. Come on, they understood why they got to follow him. There be given, but some little ones something must point about. I can see him right now on the road to Jerusalem, and all of a sudden he gets stood here, crumbling and complaining in the background. I could just imagine them saying, 'Why have you taken us to fish fries? We're taking a shorter route.' I could just hear them saying, 'Well, you know, we haven't eaten all day, and he still has us on the road.' I could just be tempted to imagine Jesus, and he hears me on his way to death, and they still don't get it. They don't understand. He has come, he healed the woman with the issue of blood, he raised Lazarus from the dead. He said, 'I found here still complaining and complaining.' So he gets to a point where he's had enough, and he says what he did. He's not saying to hate your father or children. He's saying, 'If you're getting in the way of you following me and living the way you ought to, you've got to make a decision, because I need to be first. I need to be the priority in life.' Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things shall be added. Relationships are important.

So I think I can get with Jesus with a little singing. And then you know what he does? He lays it out. He doesn't just stop there. He gives them an example. I had to teach young kids the song for good one, and then we'll go to their teachers in the house. The bombs and exams enough. Both recognize one of the things that I did was I took them to pasta, and they have these books. There's a lady for the youngest child, 'Guinea cognate,' where you practice writing your alphabet. The first that is it. So I said to her, 'I want you to practice writing letters.' And so as I go back to the book, I'm cooking, and she's doing Luke. And all of a sudden, now here she's done skip a few of the letters and a few of the words. She's mechanical in kitchen aid. And it goes so she accesses to make sure. And then she was a nation. We want to forget the songs that we used to sing. You want to forget not only the songs you sing, but you see our parents taught us to read and practice every day. See, if we'll practice our relationship with Jesus Christ, somewhere over the line, something's what happening. And we become afraid of something. Then all of a sudden, we start to worry. All of a sudden, we don't know where the gas is, the place where we got to. So how about you? Believing in this relationship with Jesus Christ by ABC, 123 becomes an stage. It's a process.

I think I can make it simple. Some of us are making it hard because we compare who Christ is, and then we stop and think about ourselves. 'How do you do this? We can do that.' And then we get in trouble. We start the provenances tax loss every morning. Everybody tries to figure out, 'What do I need to do to get it together?' I take Jesus. Jesus is my thing. Jesus, you know who Jesus is to you? He gives you no good. Well, baby, he is your world, your protection, your little catnip. He picks you up when you're down. He is the one who is also in the middle of the night with nobody on. We are kind of like the truth, hope, and the one who gets us. God never turns it all. Scripture says, 'Look to the hills, which come your help. No way your help comes from.' And so what Jesus does is he's trying to make it plain and clear, because he understood the day. So the next scripture goes on and says to us all along, 'Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.' It takes a lot. This little girl was thinking, 'This is too much for me.' But would you get foundation? The wings don't understand what this is, but this is what being a disciple of Jesus Christ is all about. It's not too much. If I could love you, even wait and see what I like about this text. It is taking them back to the beginning and saying, 'I'm playing at this foundation.' So we talked about building a tower. When it talks about building a house, what is he said? Let's go to that text. 'For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?' This train is going to cost a little something. We may not like what it's going to cost us, but we'll be all right. What is the cost? And then what that's about? He talks about cheap grace. So on your bulletin today, I kind of get out of it. You can read about teaching. Cheap grace is the fresh equal skill. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance. Cheap grace is asking effectiveness, but we don't want to give that. The power discipline, church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace without the cycle, grace without the course, cheap grace without the side. What does it mean to give the side of Jesus? What does it mean to follow Jesus Christ? To call no I... I to wear because we take very disciple of Jesus Christ. Jesus we can take or... Oh, we just, I'm just wear it. Now that is much more than that. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is loving your sister and brother, loving God with your whole heart, loving even in the midst of trials and tribulations. That's not to let them off the hook, but that's just to say that I'm following God. I'm serious about my relationship. Now I'm going to make it to the end. Let's hope we don't stop there. Every day that God gives us an opportunity to do them, it's an opportunity to keep on striving for that part. So I pray that as you go about your day, we look to Jesus. Well done, sir.