Bold for Christ

Consider the Cost

Have you ever read that? Is there a cost to following Christ? There is. It comes in many different forms but there is always a cost. Look here.

"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 cannot 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 14:26-33

Wait what? I hate my own family? I hate my own life? What is that all about? First, no. God is not telling you to “hate” your Mother and Father. There is a whole commandment that tells you that you need to honor them. No, He is not telling you to “hate” yourself and your life. Yeshua said He came so that we may have life and have it more abundantly. So what is He saying? He is saying there is a cost.

When you do what you are told to do.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33

We are told to seek first, or put God first, before any and everything, and He will be with us, love us, meet our daily needs, and bless us. Yeshua, or Jesus in your translation, says this.

"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name because they do not know him who sent me.” John 15:18-21

What He is saying is this. There is a cost. We are not greater than Him. They hated Him. Why would they not hate us? And this is not all either. It is not just the world, strangers, but loved ones and family. Read this with me. Turn to Luke 12, starting at verse 51

“Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." Luke 12:51-53

This is why He is saying that anyone who puts his family before God is not worthy to be His disciple. Once you accept Yeshua, once you accept His sacrifice, you become a child of God and a member of a new family. The Family of God. Because your family rejects Jesus or Yeshua and rejects God and His Word, which you are now becoming part of and sharing, I hope you are sharing, they will reject and may even come to hate you.

This is what we will be talking about in this series entitled “Bold for Christ.” Are you? Did you count the cost? Around the world, people are being imprisoned, tortured, and even killed for their faith. Today the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian is still North Korea, where a 2021 “Law Against Reactionary Thinking” subjects Christians to arrest, confinement in labor camps, or even death. Even owning a Bible is a serious crime. Several other countries are also hostile to Christians, among them

1. North Korea

2. Afghanistan

3. Somalia

4. Libya

5. Pakistan

6. Eritrea

7. Yemen

8. Iran

9. Nigeria

10. India

Thankfully, since we founded this nation on Judao /Christian beliefs, formed our freedom around and because of God, and fashioned our laws after the Ten Commandments, This sort of thing is not happening here. Yet. However, it seems to be coming here. The world has hated and longed to change America into a secular, God-hating country, but we are thankfully not there yet. We are heading there, and although you may not get arrested, they are working on that, or be tortured and killed for the Bible and faith in Yeshua, there is most definitely a cost.

Bold for Christ. Losing a Job.

Bold for Christ. Losing loved ones.

Bold for Christ. Losing property.

Bold for Christ. Losing your freedom.

Bold for Christ. Losing your very life.

Join us for the next few weeks as we tackle these topics, and hopefully, make us all, more bold for Christ, no matter the cost. Remember who you are. You are a child of God. Look here in 1 Peter.

“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,” 1 Peter 3:13-15

Trials and tribulations are going to come. No matter where you live, a storm is coming if you wait long enough. Snowstorms and thunderstorms in the north. Tornadoes in the mid states. Hurricanes and typhoons. There is a storm brewing somewhere all the time. No matter how perfect the weather is the rest of the time, something will happen. We have created "safe places." Storm shelters, fortified homes, safe rooms in homes. Shelters outside for the community. ETC.

Life is the same way. It does not matter where you come from. Who you are. What you have in the bank. Saved or not. Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, or even Atheist, a storm is coming. Where is your "safe place?"

Mine?

"On God rests my salvation and my glory;

my mighty rock, my refuge is God." Psalm 62:7

We read this in the Word

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

A simpler way to say that is this. It ain't about you. When you fully get this. When you fully understand and accept who you are in Christ, You should find boldness. You should have no fear. It says that God will comfort us, and be our shelter and "safe place" during the storm, but why?

"so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."

Say "So that," What is the "So that" there for? "So that" is used before the clause which indicates the purpose. Why am I going through this? "So that." or because. Another way to say it is "Here is the reason." We started walking this way "so that" we could go to the destination. We read the Bible, "so that" we can learn from and hear from God.

Now that we can understand what this says, we can understand the total truth of the matter. The storm you are going through? It may not be for you, but "so that" YOU may be able to comfort someone else when they are going through a similar storm.

However, it is not if, but when, for you or not for you, a storm is coming. You may have to stand up and be bold. Look what happened in the boat with the disciples.

“And they went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, "Where is your faith?" And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, "Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?" Luke 8:24-25

What happened? A storm came and they forgot who they were. They forgot that Jesus, or Yeshua, was with them. They allowed themselves to be full of fear. We do not need to be full of fear. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul writes this.

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7

We were told plainly by God Himself, that we would not be left here alone. That He would be with us always. Yeshua, or Jesus, whenever you see Jesus, think Yeshua. That is His real name. He tells us that if you accept Him and His sacrifice for you. His blood for your blood. His suffering for your suffering. His death, that you may live. Then the Holy Spirit comes and adopts you into the family of God. He said this.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him; he dwells with you and will be in you." John 14: 15-17

He said He will ALWAYS be with us. In the very next verse, He said this.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet, in a little while, the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, is the one who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” John 14:18-21

You need to understand what Jesus is saying here. Read on some more starting at verse 25

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you."

You may forget who you are. You may forget who is with you always. Like Yeshua sleeping in the boat. But we are never alone. The one who can calm the storm and make the wind stop is right here with us. We have nothing to fear, so why not be bold?

Join us for the next few weeks and let us learn how to be Bold for Christ together. If you have not already done so, and if you truly want to have Yeshua come into your life and set you free from Hell, death, and the grave, having the ability to be bold, then say this prayer. Right now. Wherever you may be, say it in your own words, and do not doubt in your heart. God will hear you. He will send the Spirit of Life to you. Let us pray.

"Oh heavenly Father, Lord God. I am a sinner. I know this. I know there is nothing I can do to change that. But I know you can. I accept Yeshua’s sacrifice for me. I believed He rose from the dead. I repent my sins. Please send the Spirit of Adoption into my life. Help me to get to know the real you. Save me. Please. In the name of Yeshua, Amen!"

That's it. It is that simple. Now tell someone what you have just done. "That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead, You shall be saved." Romans 10:9. You need to find a Church that God leads you to and be Baptized the way Jesus said to be. You are now a Child of God. A New Creature. You "have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him."Colossians 3:10

The email, if you wish to contact me, is truthbygod1@gmail.com

May the comfort of the Holy Ghost, and the peace of our Lord Yeshua, be with you all. May God bless and be with you, always.

Until next time, be blessed, be a blessing, and Yeshua is Lord!