1. Follow Me! Luke 9: 57-62

2.  Jesus lays out the demands of truly and faithfully following Him in no uncertain terms:  Followers of Jesus have no earthly security.  Followers of Jesus have no earthy ties.  Followers of Jesus have no earthly distractions. There is a cost…

3.  Jesus acknowledges that following Him won’t be easy.  Jesus had no “home”  He borrowed a coin to tell a story.  He borrowed a donkey to ride into Jerusalem.  He was buried in a borrowed tomb.  Our only security is in God’s faithfulness. No earthly security…

4.  Lk 14:26 - The claims of His Kingdom come before anything and anyone else.  Pressed into a choice, we must choose Him…and leave “it” behind. Our preferences, our needs, and our desires must be submitted to Him and to His call upon our lives. No earthly ties…

5.  Jesus is saying, “The Master has called. Count the cost, then don’t look back. Stick to the task at hand.”  Lk 14:28 - “Which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down & calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation & is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him saying, ‘This man began to build & was not able to finish.’” No earthly distractions…

6.  “The Christian landscape is strewn w/the wreckage of derelict, half-built towers – the ruins of those who began to build & were unable to finish. Thousands of people still ignore Christ’s warning & undertake to follow Him without first pausing to reflect on the cost of doing so. The result is the great scandal of Christendom today...We have allowed ourselves to become somewhat involved; enough to be respectable but not enough to be uncomfortable.” ~John Stott~

7.  It will cost you EVERYTHING!  Jesus said to the first man, “Count the cost.”  To the second man, He said, “Leave it behind.”  And to the third, He demanded, “Don’t look back.” So what will it cost?

8.  Simple answer – we can’t…unless we hear Jesus ask us to.  Lk 5:27+ “…and He noticed a tax collector named Levi, sitting in the tax office, & said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he left everything behind…and began to follow Him.”  Mt 4:19+ “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they immediately left the nets and followed Him.” How can anyone do it?

9.  Have you heard  Jesus say to you  Follow Me!  What has been your response? The challenge…

10.  “It is the spirit who gives life; the flesh has no benefits whatsoever; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”  ~Jesus in Jn 6:63~  “…for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also…” Be blessed…