DO WE UNDERSTAND THE COSTS, OF FOLLOWING JESUS ?

[JaiDW]

The Spirit of the Lord will bring the revelation that things are not always going to be awesome and that God does ask us to make some choices that are hard.

I hope were still talking about young Christians its like child raising do you tell your one yr old baby every single thing they need to know in a crash course of 6-12 weeks...AND expect them to walk it out. 

I think the Lord understands thay babes in Christ dont know it all. He will teach them and they will grow and mature it might be slow.

Just like watching children grow and mature.

Your older in the Lord so God requires more from you. Just like parent would require more from thier 10 yr old than they would the 5yrs old.

I think thats could be what ur observing.

I honestly like that God sets it up that way He is gentle 

[Dakila777]

20 hours ago, SINNERSAVED said:

When I was a new believer ,many , many years ago, it never really came to me, ,when I accepted Jesus as my savior, what was the cost, and now I know as I am, learning day by day that ,the cost, is going to be a life changing and devastating cost, if we hold on , and follow Jesus, it will take us to make decisions that would be of incredible challenges ,and that it would effect me and everyone around me,

so many people today come to Jesus, and say or commit them selves to Him ,and all that was done on the cross, but I am still trying to understand ? how we accept the savior and all that he gives us, prior to really knowing the cost  , , so is it right to come to Jesus before we know the cost, or should we teach or learn of Jesus prior to knowing how to be saved, ?

I ask this question because, I see many in church when I was attending, that come to Jesus and be saved, and people would come up or say a repentive line and they say you are saved, so is this truly how it should be , or should we teach people prior to coming to Jesus, for many that say they want Jesus , then go into there normal lives and you see many sinning today, and it seems they are okay with that, so am I missing something, ?

how did paul and the old church bring believers to god, was it ,they would teach about it first, or learn after they accepted ? I believe it to be teaching them first, so they knew what they were getting into , I could use some advise on this, for we all see this,? thank you in advance for your responses,

 

Because the evangelism that was done to me went badly—I was driven away from Jesus instead of being brought close to him—I've learned to be very careful and very understanding in my own evangelism efforts, and I act only when there is a clear leading of the Spirit.

And because my own acceptance of Christ had never been properly explained to me, much less its real cost, I've come to prefer telling someone the true cost of following Jesus in the beginning—in general terms, of course—before I ask him whether he wants to accept Jesus as his Savior or not.

I'm not after numbers here; I'm not here to "sell" salvation; what I want is to find those who can be true followers of the Lord. Besides, the blessings of God only come to those who are truly devoted to him, and people need to know about that, before they decide. They need to know that they cannot expect blessings if they will only return to their sinful ways after being saved.

Nevertheless, even after being informed of the real cost before the decision was made, a new believer will still find that hearing about it is much different from experiencing it.

It is easy to say, "I will give all to Jesus." Doing it is another matter entirely.

Still, I prefer honesty in the beginning. That's how Jesus had done it. He was very clear about the cost of following him.

"Then Jesus told his disciples, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?" (Matthew 16:24-26 [ESV])

"Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:37-39 [ESV])

"Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:25-33 [ESV])

[SINNERSAVED]

3 hours ago, Dakila777 said:

 

Because the evangelism that was done to me went badly—I was driven away from Jesus instead of being brought close to him—I've learned to be very careful and very understanding in my own evangelism efforts, and I act only when there is a clear leading of the Spirit.

And because my own acceptance of Christ had never been properly explained to me, much less its real cost, I've come to prefer telling someone the true cost of following Jesus in the beginning—in general terms, of course—before I ask him whether he wants to accept Jesus as his Savior or not.

I'm not after numbers here; I'm not here to "sell" salvation; what I want is to find those who can be true followers of the Lord. Besides, the blessings of God only come to those who are truly devoted to him, and people need to know about that, before they decide. They need to know that they cannot expect blessings if they will only return to their sinful ways after being saved.

Nevertheless, even after being informed of the real cost before the decision was made, a new believer will still find that hearing about it is much different from experiencing it.

It is easy to say, "I will give all to Jesus." Doing it is another matter entirely.

Still, I prefer honesty in the beginning. That's how Jesus had done it. He was very clear about the cost of following him.

"Then Jesus told his disciples, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?" (Matthew 16:24-26 [ESV])

"Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:37-39 [ESV])

"Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:25-33 [ESV])

THAT WAS A EXCELLENT RESPONSE,  and thank you for he scripture you added , blessings to you and keep doing what you do, for the kingdom is at hand and the harvests is plentiful

and the workers are few, so blessings to you , and continue to fight the good fight, thank you for your advise, it is much appreciated.

[AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken]

I wonder how many of us have actually been able to accomplish the Scripture highlighted in bold ? 

[other one]

5 minutes ago, AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken said:

I wonder how many of us have actually been able to accomplish the Scripture highlighted in bold ? 

I think one would have to come to a conclusion of exactly what that bold part says and who it was/is intended for.

[AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken]

12 minutes ago, other one said:

I think one would have to come to a conclusion of exactly what that bold part says and who it was/is intended for.

Aha ! Exactly.

 

[AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken]

Some may have you to believe that if you love your Father, Mother, or siblings, children, or wife ( husbands, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. are in this context apparently okay ) that you are not a Christian. I would ask them by what Spirit do they teach this ? 

Was not His NEW commandment to " Love one another, as I have loved you " ?

He laid down His life, suffered on the cross for sins He did not commit. He did this out of obedience and love. I think the key word here is " more ".

Can I place my faith or hope for salvation in any of these folks ? No ! Can I place my faith or hope for salvation in any of you ? No ! Should you place your faith and hope in me ? Absolutely not !

( sorry, done editing now. have a 3 month-old baby to take care of, and at my age, it's a challenge ! LOL )

[Pamelasv]

I was just hearing or reading something the other day, that Jesus said, 'Go and MAKE DISCIPLES....' Not just get them saved.  IMO, churches should stress the importance of reading God's Word, and many churches do not.  It is how we grow!  I wish somebody would have explained that to me.  I was in church group once, and there was an argument in which one said we do not need the pastors teaching us when we have God's Word.   Something then stood out at me later in Romans 3:20 '..a teacher of the immature.'  It is totally the job of the church to do this.  Something else stuck out at me recently, especially after hearing so much about 'wordly christians.'  It tells us to 'encourage one another day after day as long as it is still called 'Today,' so that none of you will be hardened by the decietfullness of sin.' Hebrews 3:13.  

 

 

[Dakila777]

4 hours ago, AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken said:

Some may have you to believe that if you love your Father, Mother, or siblings, children, or wife ( husbands, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. are in this context apparently okay ) that you are not a Christian. I would ask them by what Spirit do they teach this ? 

Was not His NEW commandment to " Love one another, as I have loved you " ?

He laid down His life, suffered on the cross for sins He did not commit. He did this out of obedience and love. I think the key word here is " more ".

Can I place my faith or hope for salvation in any of these folks ? No ! Can I place my faith or hope for salvation in any of you ? No ! Should you place your faith and hope in me ? Absolutely not !

( sorry, done editing now. have a 3 month-old baby to take care of, and at my age, it's a challenge ! LOL )

Yup :thumbsup:

God is a jealous God. He wants to be the Number One in our lives. It doesn't mean that we should not love other people. But it means that we should love God above them all