10: Passionately Committed to Jesus
Matthew 28:18-20 NKJ
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been
given to Me in heaven and on earth. GO THEREFORE AND MAKE
DISCIPLES of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all things I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Believer vs. Disciple:
BELIEVER: Believes in Jesus as Savior but lives to please
themselves
DISCIPLE: Believes in Jesus as Lord and lives to please God
BELIEVER: Exalts their opinions, feelings and thoughts above the
Word of God
DISCIPLE: Exalts the Word of God above their opinions, feelings and
thoughts
BELIEVER: Thinks of church as a place they go to hear what God’s
Word says
DISCIPLE: Thinks of church as a place they learn to do what God’s
Word says
BELIEVER: Are accountable only to themselves
DISCIPLE: Are accountable to everyone
BELIEVER: Serves God based on convenience
DISCIPLE: Serves God based on conviction
BELIEVER: Seeks to know God through religion
DISCIPLE: Seeks to know God through relationship
BELIEVER: Follows God as long as everything is going well
DISCIPLE: Follows God regardless of the circumstances
BELIEVER: Chooses their own path and asks God to bless it
DISCIPLE: Asks God to choose the path and follows His direction
BELIEVER: Are full of pride if they’re doing well and self-pity if they’re
not
DISCIPLE: Are full of gratitude because God’s love never fails
BELIEVER: Follows the example of the world that seeks to go higher
DISCIPLE: Follows the example of Jesus that seeks to go lower
Luke 14:25-33 NKJ
Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them,
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife
and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, HE
CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE. And whoever does not BEAR HIS
CROSS AND COME AFTER ME cannot be My disciple. For which of
you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the
cost, whether he has enough to finish it—lest, after he has laid the
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 finish’? Or what
king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first
and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who
comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is
still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of
peace. SO LIKEWISE, WHOEVER OF YOU DOES NOT FORSAKE
ALL THAT HE HAS CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE.”
1 Quality of a Disciple: Passionately Committed to Jesus
PASSION: a strong or extravagant feeling toward something, an
emotion that motivates you beyond average living
Passionately Committed to Jesus:
- PLEASING GOD takes precedence over pleasing PEOPLE.
Luke 14:26 NKJ
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife
and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he
cannot be My disciple.” - FOLLOW HIM regardless of the COST.
Luke 14:27 NKJ
“And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be
My disciple.”
Luke 14:33 NKJ
“So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot
be My disciple.”
Matthew 19:29 NKJ
“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or
mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive
a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.” - Everything you do in life becomes EXTRAORDINARY.
Romans 12:1-2 MSG
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your
everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and
walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.
Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for
him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it
without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be
changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from
you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always
dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out
of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
1 Peter 2:9-10 NKJ
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him
who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once
were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not
obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.