Counting the Cost of Discipleship

In the Old Testament, the cost for our sin was blood sacrifice. A pastor talked about it this morning that in order to, the word just left in my brain, I guess redeem us, that's the word I was thinking of, for the, whatever. Blood sacrifice was required to wash away our sin, but it only rolled it forward a year, basically. So, we were redeemed for just one year. And that was the price for our sin. That was the system that was set up by God in the Old Testament. And then in the New Testament, Jesus paid the ultimate price, and he took on our debt and wiped the books clean for us. So, everything had a price, spiritually had a price, physically has a price. Everything costs something. Everything has a price. Discipleship is costly. [00:05:01] (57 seconds)  #SacrificeRedeems

The cost I am paying is that I don't get to live like everybody else. But the reward I get is that one day I get to live in heaven forever, and there's no pain, there's no sorrow. All of this is going to fade away, and we're going to live with Jesus forever, the one who saved us, the one who loves us unconditionally, the one who gave his life for us. We get to worship him forever. That is the reward. The cost is living for heaven. [00:12:14] (29 seconds)  #LivingForHeaven

Discipleship is costly. It takes time. It takes commitment. It takes working on yourself. It's not easy to die to self day in and day out. It's not easy to work on being selfless because, really, this flesh wants to think all about itself. Right? We don't want to think outward. We want to think inward. That's natural. But we have to get rid of the natural and live supernaturally, right? [00:12:44] (29 seconds)  #DiscipleshipDemands

I never want to offer something, me, Kirsten, without cost. I never want to live my life shallowly, because that's what it is when you do not pay the price. I never want to live my life at the bare minimum. Let it cost me something. That is the least that I can do. That's the least you and I can do in the light of his ultimate sacrifice and his unfailing and unconditional love. Let it cost me something. If it doesn't cost me something, it is meaningless. It's not worth anything. God, let it cost me something to worship you. Because, God, I want it to be true. I want it to be in your spirit worship and spirit and in truth, God. Oh, Lord, let it cost me something. [00:25:25] (44 seconds)  #AnointingRequiresCost

``There is a concept that Sister Raina Longstreet, I listened to a sermon by her one time. And she talks about it. She was talking about it all the time. And she calls it, Nevertheless and Even So. Even in the darkness and in the pit. Nevertheless, I will worship the one true God. If it costs me everything, good. Nevertheless, I'm going to worship and I'm going to give my all. I am at the end of my rope and everything seems hopeless. Even so, I will offer all that I have to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Nevertheless, let my soul, God, cry out to you. Even so, Lord, let me know that you are right there with me and that I will worship you with all that I have. Let it cost me something. Let it be costly, because he's worthy of everything that I can give. [00:26:37] (55 seconds)  #CountTheCost

In order to release the oil, you must pay a price. There must be a crushing, there must be a mixing, there must be some kind of agitation. David, he was anointed king, and then he still paid a price. Because he was anointed king as a shepherd in the field, then he stayed a shepherd in the field. Move on into the palace immediately and say, Saul, get out of here, it's my turn. He didn't do that. He kept living his life for God, and then he had to do some things. He had to be obedient. He had to wait on the Lord. He had to fight a giant, defeat a giant. He had to slay a bear and a lion to protect his sheep. He had to be in training for protecting Israel itself. And then finally, when it looks like he's going to end up in the palace, he's on the run for his life from the king. And even through all of that, he respected the anointing. He never lifted a hand against Saul. You'll see it a couple times over and over in his story that he never, ever lifted a hand against Saul. He respected the anointing. David paid the price. He waited. He prayed. He changed. He developed. He paid that price. [00:31:38] (83 seconds)  #ReadyForRevival

Jesus himself had to pay a price before he paid the ultimate price. In Luke 4, before he goes into the temple, he reads the verse from Isaiah. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of the sight to the blind. He set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord. Before he goes and reads that and says, this has been fulfilled in your eyes this day. He is in the wilderness and he's by himself and he has been fasting 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness. And the devil has come and tempted him three times. Jesus had to pay a price. He had to say, no, I'm not going to give in to this temptation. Jesus, the man, the flesh, had to pay that price and say, no, I only worship the one true God. [00:33:00] (50 seconds)

The anointing can only come through paying the price. There is no anointing without paying a price. And if someone says otherwise, they are lying to you. You have to go through things in order to have that anointing for your calling, for whatever God has for your life, to operate in the gifts of the Spirit, to do all these things. Whatever God has for you, you have to pay that price that God is asking you for. You have to learn to wait. You have to learn to be content. You have to learn to go through the crushing of life that produces the oil, the horrible things that we may suffer just because we live in a dark world. Sometimes you have to go through that to access this anointing. And God will use that testimony for you to be a greater reach in the world. And that anointing follows you. It's with you. [00:35:14] (49 seconds)