It was early this morning I had a dream. In my dream we were in a Sunday morning service here at Joy Fellowship. The only difference was in my dream there were some additional columns in the room. I was preaching the message and there were a few guests who had come for the 1st time. One of the guest was a young lady who was probably in her early to mid 20s. She was a lovely young lady, well dressed and had a nice smile….but she would not stay seated during service. She was wandering all over the sanctuary. Different members would try to help calm her and speak to her but she was being rather disruptive to the point that I just paused preaching. I remember she came up to the front and spoke to me briefly. She apologized for her disruption but said she was not able to control her body. She also mentioned to me she was in a lifestyle that she knew was not pleasing to God and she wanted to be free. I remember I smiled at her and said if you want to be free you know what you have to do……..She paused and said yes I know I have to fast. Then she said to me I also have Saunders Syndrome ( Scottish physician William Saunders (1743-1817) who first wrote about the condition of shakes and confusion that comes with excessive alcohol consumption) and then I woke up. As I was waking up the Lord put this scripture in my heart: Luke 14:28
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?
This was around 4am when I woke up from the dream. I went back to sleep and as I was waking up again around 6:45 the Lord gave me several other scriptures about counting the cost to be a disciple of Jesus. You see salvation is a free gift, but it is not cheap. We live in a day and time that the words of Jesus surrounding the cost and effort it takes to serve the Lord are not preached because we want to hear about the options, features and benefits. We do not want to hear about the cost. We have been trained by our commercial retail to seek out the cheap alternative for the appearance of the authentic without paying the price for the real thing. I saw a reel on Linkedin a few days ago and the young lady making the reel said something to the effect of: People are no longer impressed with you because of your designer handbag, your fashion shoes, your luxury sports automobile or your vacation villa. All of these can be cheap knockoffs, short term leased or credit card financed……She went on to say the things that cannot be counterfeited is what you have studied, learned, mastered in knowledge because there is no substitute for the time it takes to do the work necessary to master a subject or skill.
This morning I want to talk to you about cost. This morning I want to talk to you about the answer to this question asked by Jesus in Mark 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Some of you today are comfortable coming to church and being a part of worship but you have never really counted the cost for serving Jesus and making him Lord of your life.
I want to go back to the first scripture the Lord put in my heart this morning: Turn with me in your bibles to Luke 14. Jesus is invited to go on the Sabbath day to eat at the house of one of the Chief Pharisees. The Bible says while he was their they watched him.
***Jesus begins this passage of scripture healing a man on the sabbath day. The man had edema most likely caused by heart failure.
** I want to pause right here and preach to you for a minute. The bible tells us here in Luke chapter 14 that there was a certain man that came to Jesus that had dropsy, edema. It was most likely caused by a condition of the heart. My friends Jesus wants to heal your heart. Stop looking at your legs and start looking at your heart. Are you confused, dizzy, feeling faint and without strength. It is very likey a heart condition.
Ezekiel 36:26
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
31 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
**My friends, Jesus is in the house today to heal your heart. You see in Luke 14, the people saw a man with fluid on his legs. Jesus saw a heart that needed to be healed. Many times we bring Jesus our life’s challenges and ask him for solutions…Jesus looks back at us and says you want me to fix these things in your life………give me your heart.
**Point #1 of the message today: Jesus is here to heal your heart.
Last Sunday night my Uncle Uriel preached from Luke Chapter 4:18 where Jesus read from the book of Isaiah
Luke 4:18
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
****Back to Luke 14
Jesus heals the man and then explained to the lawyers and Pharisees that it is okay to heal on the Sabbath day.
After healing the man, Jesus takes advantage of the fact he was a this dinner party and did some people watching:
7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them.
8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;
9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.
10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.
11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
***So what is Jesus teaching us here:
Matthew 23:11-12
11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
***Point #2 of the message: God assigns position, recognition and reward in the kingdom of God.
***As we continue in Chapter 14 of Luke’s gospel Jesus begins to deal with another condition of man’s heart and that is who we seek to be in relationship with and why. Who are you trying to impress? Who do you want to invite you to their party? Hear the words of Jesus in verses 12-14:
12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
***In verse 15 there was a man who spoke out with a typical deflection and religious response to the words of Jesus that were likely piercing through his heart. We do this when the Holy Spirit begins to move in our lives and identifying all the areas that we have not surrendered to him. We deflect, change the subject and try to say or do something religious. Listen to this man’s response…. Jesus is saying, when you have a dinner at your house, invite those who could never invite you to their house. He blurts out:
15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.
***Jesus says. Oh, you want to talk about eating bread in the Kingdom of God. Yes, lets do that. I have some things to share about that topic for sure:
Luke 14:16-24
16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.
**Point #1 of the message today: Jesus is here to heal your heart.
***Point #2 of the message: God assigns position, recognition and reward in the kingdom of God.
***Point #3 of the message: Our response to God’s invitation will determine our participation in his kingdom.
Revelation 12:11
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Mark 10:17-22
17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
***Point #4 of the Message: The thing that is most important to you is the very thing that Jesus ask you to lay down and follow him.
*** As I was preparing this part of the message today the Lord brought to my mind the words of the Hymn: Turn your Eyes upon Jesus, wrote by Helen H. Lemmel in 1918.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in His wonderful face And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace
The Inspiration: Lilias Trotter
In 1901, an exceptionally talented British artist named Lilias Trotter gave up a wealthy lifestyle and a promising art career to serve as a missionary in North Africa. While reflecting on a dandelion flower during her morning prayers, she wrote a small ministry leaflet titled Focussed.
In it, she used the science of optics to explain spiritual focus:
“How do we bring things to a focus in the world of optics? Not by looking at the things to be dropped, but by looking at the one point to be brought out… turn full your soul's vision to Jesus and look and look at Him, and a strange dimness will come over all that is apart from Him.”, as noted by Hymn History: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.
The Songwriter: Helen Lemmel
Years later, around 1918, the leaflet found its way to Helen Howarth Lemmel, a gifted singer and vocal teacher who had taught at the Moody Bible Institute. When Helen read Trotter's words about a "strange dimness," she was deeply struck. [1, 2, 3]
Helen later recalled that the chorus immediately began singing in her soul: [1]
“I stood still and singing in my soul and spirit was the chorus, with no one conscious moment of putting word to word to make rhyme or note to note to make melody.”, as noted by A Story & A Song* | Lilias Trotter.
A Testimony Through Heartache
While the hymn was published in 1922, its message became a personal anchor for Helen in the years that followed. She suffered from permanent vision loss and was subsequently abandoned by her husband. [1, 2]
Despite living out her final years in poverty and physical blindness, Helen's spiritual sight remained vibrant. She continued to compose hymns by picking out notes on a small plastic keyboard by her bed until she passed away in 1961 at the age of 97.
Mark 8:35-38
35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.
36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
**Point #1 of the message today: Jesus is here to heal your heart.
***Point #2 of the message: God assigns position, recognition and reward in the kingdom of God.
***Point #3 of the message: Our response to God’s invitation will determine our participation in his kingdom.
***Point #4 of the Message: The thing that is most important to you is the very thing that Jesus ask you to lay down and follow him.
*** In Closing I want finish Chapter 14 of Luke:
25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
26 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.
27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
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?
***Can I ask you this question this morning? Have you decided to follow Jesus? Have you counted the cost on what that means……Or are you like the rich, young ruler that went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
***You see the rich, young ruler was happy doing all the religious things that people could see. Certainly Jesus could also see how good of a life he was living and would affirm him in his position in the kingdom of God….But Jesus love him enough to tell him the truth. Look at it again: Mark 10:21
21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
***What is the one thing that you lack today? What is the thing that you are holding on to the tightest that the Lord is saying……It is time to let go?
29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
34 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.