Friday 12/31/04 - Luke 9

Praise and prayer report:

Praise the Lord! Our personal friends who are living or visiting Sri Lanka and Thailand are safe. Dan wrote us and told us that he was really trying to get one of those hotels near the shore for his honeymoon but could not. He ended up in the middle of Sri Lanka, which saved his and his new bride’s life.

Rose was scheduled to go to the Phi Phi Islands (Thailand) where the tidal wave struck and wiped out everything. However, they were too tired the day before so her travel agent postponed it and this saved her life.

Ashok and Jen made it to India from Sri Lanka safely before the earthquake struck.

Thanks everyone for praying for them. Thank you Lord for hearing our prayers. Of course we must keep praying for the great need in Asia right now. We need to pray for the recovery efforts in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Thailand.

I believe God is calling GCC to step up our prayer life in the New Year. I believe our church will be getting involved in these areas. We have already been to Thailand and Cambodia. I am praying God will open doors to Sri Lanka. We will be blessed to send one of our own to Indonesia.

If our church is a mission minded church…if we want to be a kingdom advancing church we must pray for the places God has sent us and will send us.

Devotional:

The Cost of Following Jesus
57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

59 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good bye to my family." 62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

No matter which way we cut it the Christian life has a cost. It cost Jesus his life. It cost the Father his son. We were bought at the price of Christ’s blood. Why are we surprised when we are asked to count the cost? Two men came and said they wanted to follow Jesus. They had good intentions but warm and fussy intentions are not enough.

Are you willing to surrender to Jesus and pay the cost? God will give us the boldness and the strengthen us but are we willing? One man came and said I will follow and Jesus said are you sure because if you follow me you will have no place to sleep. You might be like a homeless man living out of your suitcase for God’s kingdom.

Jesus was saying, “Will you follow me if you don’t know where your next meal is coming from? Will you follow even if your salary is almost nothing? Will you follow even if you don’t have a place to call home?”

The second man came and said I will follow after I bury my father. Sounds good on the surface, but what he really meant was Jesus I will follow after my father dies and I figure out my inheritance. He wanted to make sure he got his life in order and his inheritance taken care of. We want to follow Jesus in our time. Jesus said follow now, not later.

Jesus is the commander; when he says go, it is time to go. Is Jesus calling you to action? Are you telling Jesus to wait? This will not work. God will not tolerate this. Who’s time table are you following? Trust and obey today. Follow Him when he calls not when you want to!

The New Year is coming. Let us count to cost and follow Jesus with great joy. The cost is great but the good news is Jesus the source of our strength and power. The cost is great but the good news is Jesus is worth it. He is worthy to be live and die for. Christ in me is to live and to die is gain. Amen.

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