{"id":9790,"date":"2026-07-05T13:08:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T17:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/?p=9790"},"modified":"2026-07-05T13:08:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T17:08:52","slug":"counting-the-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/?p=9790","title":{"rendered":"COUNTING THE COST"},"content":{"rendered":"

COUNTING THE COST<\/u><\/b><\/h1>\n

Luke 14: 25-35<\/b><\/h2>\n

by Rev. Richard Jones<\/b><\/h2>\n

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Bold Demands<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Luke 14:25-27 (ESV) <\/b>
\n25 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,
\n26 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0\u201cIf 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.<\/span>
\n27 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Matthew 22:37-38 (ESV) <\/b>
\n37 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And he said to him, \u201cYou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.<\/span>
\n38 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0This is the great and first commandment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Matthew 10:37-39 (ESV) <\/b>
\n37 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Whoever 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.<\/span>
\n38 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.<\/span>
\n39 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sober Calculation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Luke 14:28-33 (ESV) <\/b>
\n28 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?<\/span>
\n29 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,<\/span>
\n30 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0saying, \u2018This man began to build and was not able to finish.\u2019<\/span>
\n31 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Or 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?<\/span>
\n32 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.<\/span>
\n33 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.<\/span><\/p>\n

Matthew 10:39 (ESV) <\/b>
\n39 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Matthew 13:44-46 (ESV) <\/b>
\n44 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0\u201cThe kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.<\/span> <\/span>
\n45 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0\u201cAgain, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls,<\/span>
\n46 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mark 10:29-30 (ESV) <\/b>
\n29 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Jesus said, \u201cTruly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel,<\/span>
\n30 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Meaningful Salt<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Luke 14:34-35 (ESV) <\/b>
\n34 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0\u201cSalt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?<\/span>
\n35 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Luke 15:1 (ESV) <\/b>
\n1 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.<\/span><\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV) <\/b>
\n14 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COUNTING THE COST Luke 14: 25-35 by Rev. Richard Jones     Bold Demands Luke 14:25-27 (ESV) 25 \u00a0Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 \u00a0\u201cIf anyone comes to me and does not hate … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,24,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-messages","category-sermon-series","category-sermons-by-rev-jones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9790"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9790"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9792,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9790\/revisions\/9792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}