Being a Disciple of Jesus

Devotional

Day 1: The free gift of salvation requires a costly transformation.

Many are drawn to the forgiveness and hope found in Christ, embracing the free gift of eternal life. Yet, this new life is not meant to be a passive state of receiving blessings. It initiates a process of profound change, where one’s old ways of thinking and living are reshaped. This transformation, while freely given, demands a wholehearted commitment to follow Jesus. It is a journey that costs everything, yet offers everything in return. [28:17]

“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:9-10 ESV)

Reflection: As you consider the free gift of salvation, what is one area of your life where you sense Jesus inviting you into a deeper, more costly transformation?

Day 2: A disciple is a lifelong learner who follows Jesus closely.

Being a disciple is far more than acquiring information; it is about adopting a new way of life. It involves a constant, attentive following of Jesus, learning not only His teachings but also His manner of living. This close companionship shapes both the mind and behavior, moving beyond a weekly routine to a daily pursuit. The heart of a true disciple grows increasingly hungry and thirsty for God’s Word and His presence. [31:57]

“Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’” (Matthew 16:24 ESV)

Reflection: Where in your daily routine could you create more intentional space to simply ‘follow’ and learn from Jesus, rather than just learning about Him?

Day 3: A genuine disciple reproduces faith in others.

The call to follow Jesus is inherently a call to lead others to Him. A defining mark of a mature disciple is the reproduction of their faith in the life of another person. This is the mission given to every believer, to make disciples as they go about their ordinary lives. It is through this multiplication that the church grows and God’s kingdom expands across generations and nations. [41:35]

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV)

Reflection: Who has God placed in your life—a family member, friend, or colleague—that you could begin intentionally investing in and sharing your faith with?

Day 4: Following Christ requires loving Him above all else.

Jesus makes it clear that discipleship demands our highest allegiance. Our love for Him must surpass our deepest earthly affections, including family and our own life. This does not mean harboring contempt for others, but rather holding our love for Christ in a category of its own, above all else. This supreme loyalty is the foundation upon which a faithful following is built, even when it is difficult. [01:00:47]

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37 ESV)

Reflection: What relationship or personal desire most often competes with your love for and obedience to Christ?

Day 5: Discipleship begins with counting the cost.

Jesus invites us to thoughtfully consider the commitment we are making before we choose to follow Him. He illustrates this with the wisdom of calculating the expense of a project or the strength needed for a battle. The cost is real and encompasses every part of our lives—our relationships, our resources, and our very selves. This honest evaluation ensures we are prepared to finish the journey we begin with Him. [01:06:00]

“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?” (Luke 14:28 ESV)

Reflection: As you evaluate your walk with Christ, what is one specific ‘cost’ you have encountered or are currently facing because of your faith?

Sermon Summary

Salvation stands as a free gift, yet genuine discipleship demands a costly commitment. Conversion marks the first requirement: a heartfelt confession that Jesus is Lord and belief in the resurrection bring new, spiritual birth. True discipleship reshapes both thinking and behavior; it moves beyond attendance or religious identity into a life intentionally patterned after the Teacher, lived out in daily habits and prayer. Growth expresses itself as hunger for Scripture, obedience expressed through baptism, and a visible change that points others to Christ.

Discipleship also carries a vocational mandate: every believer participates in the Great Commission by making disciples in ordinary places—work, neighborhood, and routine errands. The mandate redefines “go” as living with the purpose of reproducing Christ-likeness in others, not merely inviting people to services. The church functions as the primary vehicle for teaching and equipping, while parents retain primary responsibility for discipling children.

Counting the cost forms a third non-negotiable aspect. Following Jesus requires a readiness to love him above family, possessions, and personal safety; “hate” in that context means to prefer Christ supremely, not to despise others. Jesus’ teachings call for deliberate calculation—like a builder planning a tower or a king considering war—so that commitment does not begin and then falter. Costs appear both in potential persecution and in everyday sacrifices: altered desires, ethical stances that clash with cultural norms, and the surrender of comforts.

Discipleship culminates in reproduction: those transformed by Christ should seek to reproduce that transformation in others. The process remains lifelong, involving periods of advance, retreat, learning, and return. Evaluation of one’s status as a disciple provides a practical next step—identify where belief, obedience, and disciple-making intersect, then ask what single action will move growth forward. The promise that accompanies this call remains firm: Jesus’ presence and empowerment endure as the foundation for both the cost and the joy of following him.

Key Takeaways

1. Salvation is free; discipleship costs Salvation arrives by faith and justifies before God, but active following involves real sacrifice. Discipleship requires choices that reorder loyalties and reshape daily living, not merely theological assent. Expect transformation that both denies old patterns and grants new desires aligned with Christ. The cost proves real but yields a deeper, more enduring life in him. [28:36]
2. A disciple must be born again New birth changes identity and enables genuine learning from Christ. Spiritual life begins with believing in Jesus’ lordship and resurrection, and this inward conversion produces outward confession and obedience. Without this rebirth, religious activity remains performance, not transformation. Baptism often follows as the visible step of that inward change. [33:45]
3. Make disciples as you go “Go” means live with intentionality everywhere one travels, making disciples in day-to-day contexts. Disciple-making happens in kitchens, offices, and hair salons through words, prayers, and modeled life, not only in formal mission trips. The church equips believers to reproduce Christ-likeness and to pass faith to others. Every believer shares responsibility to teach and baptize new followers. [43:38]
4. Count the cost before following Serious commitment requires sober calculation of consequences for family, possessions, and personal safety. Jesus uses images of bearing a cross, building a tower, and waging war to insist on forethought and resolve. Counting the cost does not deter faith but clarifies the depth of allegiance required. This clarity protects against shallow commitment that abandons the path when trials come. [53:24]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[27:37] - Free-membership parable: cost revealed
[29:47] - Defining a disciple: learner and follower
[33:45] - Born again: the first requirement
[38:16] - Hunger for God; growing in Jesus
[41:50] - The Great Commission explained
[46:39] - Baptism and the church's role
[53:24] - Count the cost: Luke 14
[57:54] - “Hate” means love Christ most
[63:25] - Illustrations: tower and war
[68:03] - Persecution and present sacrifice
[72:32] - Evaluate your discipleship; next steps

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading: Luke 14:25-33 (ESV)
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “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 is not able to 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.”

Observation questions

What two illustrations does Jesus use to explain the importance of counting the cost?
According to the passage, what specific relationships and things must a person be willing to "hate" to be a disciple?
What does the passage say will happen to someone who starts to build a tower but cannot finish it?
What is the ultimate requirement Jesus gives at the end of this passage for being his disciple?

Interpretation questions

Jesus uses the strong word "hate" in relation to family and one's own life. In the context of the entire Bible's teaching on loving others, what do you think he truly means by this?
The idea of "bearing his own cross" was a vivid image for people living under Roman rule. What would that phrase have communicated to them about the potential consequences of following Jesus?
How do the two illustrations of building a tower and a king going to war work together to emphasize different aspects of counting the cost?
Why is it important to calculate the cost of discipleship *before* making a commitment, rather than being surprised by it later?

Application questions

Salvation is a free gift, but active following involves real sacrifice that reorders loyalties and reshapes daily living [28:36]. What is one loyalty or daily habit in your life that has been or needs to be reordered because of your commitment to Christ?
Being a disciple means patterning your life after the Teacher so that it impacts the way you think and the way you behave [31:57]. Can you identify one recent situation where your behavior was clearly different from what it would have been before following Jesus? What thought from Christ prompted that action?
The command to "go" in the Great Commission means to live with intentionality everywhere, making disciples in day-to-day contexts like kitchens, offices, and hair salons [43:38]. Who are the 2-3 people in your ordinary circles that God might be calling you to invest in spiritually? What is one practical step you could take this week to engage with them?
Counting the cost requires a sober calculation of consequences for family, possessions, and personal safety [53:24]. Which of these areas feels most costly or risky for you to surrender to Jesus right now? What would it look like to trust Him with that specific area?
A genuine disciple is hungry and thirsty for God's Word [39:34]. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your current hunger for Scripture? What is one thing you could do to move that number one point higher?
Discipleship is a lifelong process involving periods of advance, retreat, learning, and return [12:32]. Where are you in that process currently? Are you in a season of advance, learning, or feeling a need to return?
Jesus changes your desires to his desires and your wants to his will [10:43]. What is one desire you have now that you know is from Him, that you didn't have before you started following Him? How does that encourage you?

Sermon Clips

Maybe you're one of those people that likes to work out, get tone, get better, get physically feel better, and you happen to be driving down the road and you see this this gym, this huge enormous gym that says free membership for life. You're thinking, great, this is perfect. So you you go in and and you start working out, but as you work out, you begin to find out that at this gym for it to remain free that you have to come five days a week, and that you can't just kind of work out. You really have to work out hard, and they're going to be watching you. [00:27:23] (46 seconds) #FreeIsntFree

There are some costs we must pay today to be a Christian. And let me be just truthful to you truthful to you in my own experience and and that is I get so much more in return for the things I give up for Jesus. It is amazing. He changes your desires to his desires and your wants to to his his will, and you begin to see how much Jesus loves you. And what you think you're giving up, spoiler alert, you're not. He's just walking with you and watching over you. But there is a cost. You still have to be willing to pay. [01:09:00] (51 seconds) #MoreThanYouGiveUp

Again, in the middle of this whole whole speech that Jesus is giving to this large crowd of people, he's raised the stakes personally to everyone that you need to bear your own cross. And again, for these Jewish people who had seen thousands and thousands and thousands of people crucified, they knew exactly what the cross meant. There's a cost. Are you willing to forsake yourself, your wants, your desires to follow Jesus? Are you willing? [01:05:11] (41 seconds) #BearYourCross

And so let me, if I may, just go back to I said I'd go back to my story a little bit, and some of heard this before. But I was saved at the age of 25 and I didn't I didn't know very much. I I I grew up in a Catholic home, so I had some basic concepts about Jesus and sin and and all that stuff. But, you know, I I got saved at 25. I didn't start becoming a disciple. Okay? I I was I believe I was saved. I trusted Jesus as my savior, but I hadn't moved into this area of being a disciple of Jesus. I I we kinda went to church every once in a while. [00:43:59] (44 seconds) #SavedButGrowing

Being being able to share with Jesus somebody that doesn't know Jesus or and seeing them accept Jesus, or somebody that's accepted Jesus and seeing them learn more and learn more and take steps of faith and realize that God is working in every aspect of their life, and how much God loves them, and they have this begin to have this closer relationship with God. Friends, there is nothing else like that as a pastor. Man, there is nothing else that I'd like to see but more. And when I see it, it's just, man, so fulfilling. So fulfilling. And that's not just for pastors. It's for you. It's for every believer. That's why our church for the last two years now has tried to focus in on discipleship. Okay? This this is critically important as a church. [00:49:51] (52 seconds) #BelieveAndConfess

But without this step of believing, okay, without this heart change within the the person, you cannot be a disciple. You can't. It just doesn't work. You can come to church. You can you can take seminary classes. You you can meet with other Christians and talk, but that does not mean you're a disciple of Jesus. Not until that point in your life when you can confess him as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you have salvation in him. You are a born again Christian in him. [00:35:36] (41 seconds) #DiscipleshipForAll

Evaluate your status as a disciple of Jesus. Meaning, where where are you? Are you thinking about Jesus and and not yet quite there to believe in him? Now you understand now that things are gonna cost me. Okay? That's good. Wait. Maybe you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you never really even thought about the costs. Maybe you were living a a life there that you didn't even have to pay anything because you didn't know anything about what Jesus teaches because you really haven't been following him yet. May maybe you're getting ready and starting to follow, learning more and more, and maybe you are maybe you're a little scared, but maybe you're supposed to step out and say, hey, maybe I can teach somebody and disciple somebody. This this is what I mean by evaluate your status as a disciple of Jesus. Everybody is on a different place than a different plane. Okay? And there's nothing wrong with that. And ask God to show you what would help you grow the most. What is your next step? What is your action step to grow closer to Jesus to being a disciple making disciple. [01:11:16] (80 seconds)

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Being a Disciple of Jesus

Devotional

Day 1: The free gift of salvation requires a costly transformation.

Day 2: A disciple is a lifelong learner who follows Jesus closely.

Day 3: A genuine disciple reproduces faith in others.

Day 4: Following Christ requires loving Him above all else.

Day 5: Discipleship begins with counting the cost.

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Chatbot

Being a Disciple of Jesus

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