The Cost of Discipleship: Choose Jesus Above All

Jul 12, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Great and Small Standing Before the Throne

The Bible paints a sobering scene: all humanity—famous or forgotten—will stand equally before God’s judgment. Status, wealth, and earthly achievements dissolve in that moment. What remains is the soul’s posture toward Christ. This truth strips away illusions of control, urging urgency. Tomorrow isn’t promised, but today’s choices echo eternally. Live with the end in sight, for every breath is a gift to steward. [32:54]

“I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books.”
(Revelation 20:12, NLT)

Reflection: What earthly priority or relationship feels most urgent to you right now? How might aligning it with eternity change your choices today?

Day 2: When Love for Family Feels Like Hate Compared to Christ

Jesus’ harsh words about “hating” family reveal a radical truth: devotion to Him must dwarf every other loyalty. This isn’t contempt for relationships but a reordering of love’s hierarchy. Like a coach weeding out halfhearted athletes, Christ tests where we’ve placed our deepest allegiance. Idols hide in good things—marriages, children, traditions—when they eclipse His supremacy. [40:22]

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.”
(Luke 14:26, NLT)

Reflection: Which relationship or responsibility tempts you to compromise wholehearted obedience? What practical step could reaffirm Christ’s first place?

Day 3: Excuses as Tools of Incompetence in God’s Banquet

The parable of the rejected feast exposes how excuses masquerade as reason. New oxen, land inspections, and marital obligations seem legitimate—until the King’s invitation hangs in the balance. God sees through our delay tactics. What we prioritize reveals what we worship. Turkeys settle for scratching dirt; eagles adjust to soar higher. Eternal RSVPs demand immediate yeses. [52:12]

“But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I now have five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’”
(Luke 14:18-19, NLT)

Reflection: What “reasonable excuse” have you used to delay obedience? How would trusting God’s provision silence that excuse?

Day 4: Losing Everything but Gaining Christ: The Ethiopian’s Choice

The Ethiopian man’s story mirrors Paul’s “counting all as loss”—losing family, status, and comfort for Christ. True discipleship costs everything but gives infinitely more. Possessions perish, jobs fade, and human approval proves fickle. Yet surrender to Jesus anchors joy that outlasts persecution. His “well done” outweighs the world’s applause. [01:02:26]

“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.”
(Philippians 3:8, NLT)

Reflection: What comfort or security are you clinging to that Christ might be asking you to release? What fear holds you back?

Day 5: Walking with a Limp but Leaning on the Lord

Pastor Darryl’s MS diagnosis reframed suffering: temporary trials refine eternal perspective. Like Jacob wrestling God, our limps become reminders of dependence. Hardships test whether we love the Giver more than His gifts. Maturity isn’t avoiding pain but letting it drive us deeper into Christ’s sufficiency. The cross precedes the crown. [01:05:46]

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.”
(James 1:2-3, NLT)

Reflection: Where are you resisting God’s refining work in your struggles? How might embracing weakness strengthen your reliance on Him?

Sermon Summary

Jesus brings a tough conversation because life is short, tomorrow is not promised, and every person, great and small, will stand before a holy God. Christ does not leave anybody with a “hope so” salvation when Scripture says eternal life can be known. The call of Jesus presses for a real answer, not family plans, church membership, or somebody else’s faith standing in the gap.

Jesus turns to the large crowds in Luke 14 and says something hard: if anyone comes to Him and does not “hate” father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even life itself, that person cannot be His disciple. The word does not call for sinful hatred of family, but it does make the contrast plain. Love for Christ must be so vastly superior that no other relationship can even be confused with first place. A spouse, children, family, work, and friends may be loved deeply, but none of them can become God.

The cross becomes whatever God puts His finger on and says must be laid down in order to follow Him. Jesus does not ask for part time love. Christ calls for the kind of desperation a baby has for its mother, the kind that runs to God first when life hits square between the eyes. Whatever gets run to first under pressure is being revealed as god, whether bottle, blunt, lover, spouse, job, or comfort.

The banquet story exposes excuses. The field, the oxen, and the new marriage all sound reasonable, but Jesus shows how possessions, professions, and passions can choke out the invitation of God. Excuses become tools that build roads to nowhere, while real disciples make adjustments. Turkeys make excuses, eagles make adjustments.

Jesus warns that family, social groups, sports, civic organizations, and even church work can become idols when they take the place only Christ deserves. The idolatry of family and friends becomes clear when God says one thing and human loyalty gets the final word. The question is not whether those things are bad; the question is whether they have been elevated above Jesus.

Christ calls for full price discipleship, not discount Christianity. The Ethiopian believer who lost family, work, and comfort, and the brother suffering with multiple sclerosis, both show that Jesus is worth more than ease. The true disciple stays with Christ when the crowd thins, because if Jesus has not left, there is nowhere better to go.

Key Takeaways

1. Salvation must be known now [35:14] John’s word gives certainty, not religious guessing. Eternal life is not built on church attendance, family connection, or being a decent person, but on the finished work of Jesus Christ received by faith. A soul should not leave eternity as a question mark when God has spoken clearly enough for a person to know. [35:14]
2. Jesus will not take second place [42:11] Christ does not compete with spouse, children, family, or any other good gift. A good thing becomes an idol when it takes the weight only God can carry. Love for people becomes healthier, not weaker, when Jesus holds first place. [42:11]
3. Pressure reveals the real god [44:07] The first place a heart runs when life hits hard tells the truth about its worship. Bottles, substances, relationships, and even family rescue plans can become counterfeit saviors. God calls His people to build the relationship before the emergency, so peace is already rooted when trouble comes. [44:07]
4. Excuses keep disciples low [53:48] The banquet excuses sounded normal, but they still rejected the invitation. Possessions, professions, and passions can quietly train a soul to tell God “later” while giving everything else first claim. Eagles make adjustments because obedience usually costs rearranging something. [53:48]
5. Full price discipleship is worth it [01:07:07] Discount Christianity wants Jesus’ benefits without Jesus’ lordship. The cross of Christ answers every attempt to bargain, because He already paid the highest price. A disciple does not ask how little can be given, but whether Christ has received the best.

## [67:07]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[32:54] - Life Is Not Promised
[35:35] - Tough Conversations With Jesus
[39:23] - Luke 14 and the Cost
[40:22] - Loving Jesus Above Family
[43:32] - Carrying the Cross
[44:07] - What Pressure Reveals
[47:36] - No Part Time Love
[49:40] - The Banquet Invitation
[52:12] - Hard Choices and Excuses
[54:32] - Possessions, Professions, Passions
[59:00] - Family and Friends as Idols
[62:01] - Losing Everything and Following Jesus
[64:26] - Suffering With Eternal Perspective
[66:44] - Disciple or Groupie in the Crowd

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Luke 14:25-27 (NLT)
A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.”

Luke 14:15-24 (NLT)
(The Parable of the Great Banquet)

1 John 5:13 (NLT)
“I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.”

Observation Questions

In Luke 14:26, Jesus says disciples must “hate” family and even their own life. What does this not mean, based on the sermon’s explanation? [40:22]
What three categories of excuses did the people in the banquet parable (Luke 14:15-24) use to reject the invitation, and how do they relate to discipleship? [52:55]
According to 1 John 5:13, what kind of assurance does Scripture give believers about salvation?
How does the sermon describe the difference between “turkeys” and “eagles” in responding to God’s call? [53:48]

Interpretation Questions

Why does Jesus use such strong language about “hating” family in Luke 14:26? How does this contrast with cultural ideas of balancing priorities?
The banquet host in Luke 14:21-23 invites the marginalized after the first guests reject him. What does this reveal about God’s priorities versus human excuses?
The sermon says, “Pressure reveals the real god” when life gets hard. How does this connect to Jesus’ warning about carrying the cross (Luke 14:27)? [44:07]
How does 1 John 5:13 challenge the idea of “hope so” salvation, and why is this certainty important for discipleship?

Application Questions

What relationships, possessions, or passions in your life feel like they compete with your love for Christ? How could you practically reorder these to reflect His supremacy? [42:11]
When facing a crisis, what is your “first reaction” (e.g., calling a friend, distraction, worry)? What step could you take this week to run to God first instead? [44:07]
Identify one “excuse” you’ve used to delay obedience (e.g., “I’m too busy,” “I’ll do it later”). What specific adjustment could you make to prioritize that area? [54:32]
The sermon asks, “Are you a true disciple or a groupie in the crowd?” What habits or choices in your life right now would confirm your answer? [01:06:44]
How would your daily life look different if you lived with the certainty of salvation described in 1 John 5:13?
The Ethiopian believer and Pastor Darryl Harris suffered greatly but stayed faithful. What hardship or sacrifice have you avoided because it felt “too costly” for following Jesus? How might God be calling you to trust Him in that area? [01:02:01]

Sermon Clips

65s

#GiveJesusYourBest

“Have I been given Jesus partiality? Have I given Jesus the leftovers? Or have I given Jesus the very best that I have? And if you have not, guess what, you're still breathing. You still have the opportunity to say, lord, I wanted to give you the very best I got. And secondly, if you're here and you never did in your life, then you really are ready to pay the price of your life. Let's bow our heads. Father, write down the my voice. Lord, right now all of us are hearing this message I pray is is testing every one of us with our level of commitment to you right now. Father, have we given you everything? Or we trying to keep something in reserve? Like we can't trust you? Lord, we can trust you with everything. So the day right now, Lord, let us rear it all.”

45s

#WhoYouRunToFirst

“What takes first, you know how you know it's first place in your life. When life hits you square between the eyes, you get a precious problem. Who or what. The first thing you run. That's right, there you go. If you run to the bottle, that's your battle. If you got a blunt, laces something, that's your God. If your God, if you. I just need to release attention. I need to call so and so. I know he at home. That's your God. If your word my spouse can fix this for me. That's your God. Our first reaction should be like a baby, A newborn baby. Mom, you know what you got a newborn baby. That baby want mom.”

74s

#NoMoreExcuses

“They all kept making excuses. They all kept making excuses. Matter of fact, I hear some of these excused by excuses. Some of y' all got excuses before y' all even know what the people. Well, you know, I'm normally sick around the middle July. Well, we're going to do it a bit. We trying to have a baby. Well, is she crazy or not? Well, we get time when we come up with excuses. God learned this. We make excuses of things we don't want to do, but commitment to things we want to do. Yet some of you have heard this phrase, excuses are tools of incompetence that they'll bring to nowhere. And those who use them selflessly accomplish anything. We have to get out of the excuse mode. People who make excuses all the time, they don't achieve anything. It's people who make adjustments. Turkeys make excuses. Eagles make adjustments.”

68s

#DesperateForGod

“Guess what? That he was desperate. God wants us to be desperate for him. Because then he can show us money on how to have and we won't know it was him. You going to know it was not anybody. Anybody before. Ain't nobody do it. Nobody can get you out of what you in. What a loving God. Not if he gets you out. And then you say, thank you, I'mma catch with you later. My crew over here, I'll give you out. I'll call you the next time get an emergency. And some of us live our lives like that. We from one emergency to the next emergency now going to God. And here's the thing, don't wait till it hit. You build a relationship with God in advance. That's where the peace comes. God will give you a peace that passes. Understanding me when you already have a relationship, people around you won't even understand. Sometimes your family ain't going to understand you. Your spouse ain't going to understand. Cuz you keep running to God first. But God's the most different.”

54s

#HeartChoicesMatter

“Let me make it plain for you guys and then I'm going give you some real life illustrations. First is this despite being called to be a disciple, you got to make some heart choices when you want to be a cy. It's not going to be easy. God's going to matter. You know, God's going to test you and the thing that you love the most, God will test to see if you love something more than him. He's going to put his finger on it. Some of y'. I get that picture but yeah, you don't like the man like you pray y' all take him out. But what about that person who you can't do without? God made this thing on that relationship. Let me just see if you will put them before me or not.”

80s

#MatureInChrist

“What they said was Jesus look we just, we want the loving Jesus. We want the Jesus that just does everything for us. He loves us and heals us and does miracles for us. And you take the bread and you manufact the bread and you take the fish and the logs and you make a whole Captain Bees family pack out of it. Us and all those things. We, we like that Jesus. But we don't like Jesus Listen and we don't like when the pastor speaks something happen Jesus, he has expectations of us. That's when you find out really where you're walking with the Lord. See the immature turn in pressure. The mature lead into the pressure. The mature says what I'm going go back to. I'm going back to my old life getting undocumented there See if you have within always going back and starting word one. You ain't never really understood who Jesus is. When you have an encounter with the true and the living God. Yes, it changes how you see everything. Yes, you begin to get everything lens of okay, how does Jesus see this? What does Jesus feel about this? And that's what we want to mature in as believers and change city that we take our off of the worldly gospels and begin looking at things through the lens of Christ.”

77s

#StayConnectedToGod

“Then his fiance, they were supposed to be married. She hit the lottery. The lottery means the. The visa lottery. There's a lottery. You got to stop the US to get to the US and they, they gave her the lottery. So now she left and went to America. And because had not got married yet, he couldn't come. So he had to toil there while she was there. For seven years he went through hardship. Finally she came back. They got married. But in his wife ceremony, his family would come. Finally a sister came and realized, you guys, we aren't what they told you were. We had no family contact. He came here. He's been here now for years. He went to Planet Church. He said, because there's so many egos here. I didn't realize. He said, we like 30 or 40,000 people. Wow, I did not know that. But his thing was this. I went through a lot. There was nothing to correct me with easy patience. There was nothing. And I said to myself, man, we can't get somebody in the church if they think it's going to rain. This is a man lost everything but stay connected to the Lord.”

66s

#CostOfFollowingJesus

“I met A gentleman. He's from Ethiopia and he wanted to plant a church. I said, that's what I do. So we sat down, we had lunch together, and I said, so tell me a story. He said, well, basically my father was part of the Coptic church in Ethiopia. And so he was a Coptic priest and I served alongside my father. He said, the one day I heard the true living gospel of Jesus and the Savior because the Coptics are basically like Catholic in that they worship Mary. He said, I heard the gospel and I realized this is what I've been missing. F word of life to Jesus. And I told my dad, he disowned me. He said, out of my church. Not only that, my whole family disowned me. He said I wasn't having a good job, a fucking wife. I couldn't find work because their police are so tight. Like, he's not one of us. Cost him everything.”

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The Cost of Discipleship: Choose Jesus Above All

Devotional

Day 1: Great and Small Standing Before the Throne

Day 2: When Love for Family Feels Like Hate Compared to Christ

Day 3: Excuses as Tools of Incompetence in God’s Banquet

Day 4: Losing Everything but Gaining Christ: The Ethiopian’s Choice

Day 5: Walking with a Limp but Leaning on the Lord

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

The Cost of Discipleship: Choose Jesus Above All

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