FIRST COUNT THE COST OF YOUR DECISIONS

9/29/91

FIRST COUNT THE COST OF YOUR DECISIONS
LUKE 14: 26 - 33
(PAGE 1528 COME ALIVE BIBLE)
JESUS CHRIST prudently appealed to His would-be followers to
first count the cost of following Him. Conversely, I would urge
people to count the cost of not following Him.
Our text unfolds into three parts, each of which is a challenge.
I. COUNT THE COST (Vss. 28 - 30)
Jesus made these comments when His popularity was at its height.
He did so in order that none of them, and surely none of us,
would publicly assert superficial loyalty to Him because it is
the "in thing." He hid no cost involved in discipleship.
The practicality of planning for the future is seen in the
experience of the Swiss watch-making industry. In the mid-70's
they had 95% of the world's watch business. They produced a
technology called a quartz watch. They thought little of it, so
little that they displayed it at the world's fair without
protecting it with proper patents. A group of Japanese
industrialists realized its potential and capitalized on it.
Thus, Seiko and Texas Instruments now have 95% of the world's
watch-making market and the Swiss only 5%. They didn't plan
ahead and the Japanese did. Christ noted that an unfinished
building indicates improper prior planning.

Christ used the principal of proper prior planning to reveal how
vital it is in the spiritual world. Construction is the
illustrative point. Before starting to build, count the cost. Do
a cost analysis. What is it going to cost?
There is a general and a specific application of this teaching.
First, in general it mean ...

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