The Cost of Discipleship

Hi everyone!! This is Carrie again, and I'm so blessed to be able to share with you from the incredible things God has taught me and testify what He has done for my soul!

Today, I am going to be sharing with you about the the cost of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. The first passage I want to share is from John 15:18-19 - "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." Then in the next chapter, 16:1-4 - "I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you."
This is Jesus talking to his disciples, warning them that because they were his followers, they WOULD be persecuted. Jesus, though born into this world, was not OF this world. So are we, as his followers, not OF this world - and so the world hates us as it hated him.
We may fear that when our families or friends find out that we follow Jesus, that they will reject us.. the truth is, unless they come to know Christ themselves, they probably will. To which my question to you is, have you counted the cost?

Luke 18:18-30 - A rich young ruler comes to Jesus and asks him, Teacher, what must I do to be saved? Jesus asks if he has kept the ten commandments - Do not commit adultery, steal, kill..- The ruler says, I have kept all these from my youth! Jesus says, One thing do you still lack.. SELL ALL THAT YOU HAVE.. and come, follow me. The ruler walked away, sad, because he was extremely rich. THE COST WAS TOO HIGH FOR HIM.
After this, Jesus says to his disciples, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life."

With the cost, there is a promise. Though we may give up ALL to follow after Christ, we inherit eternity! When we choose to follow Christ, we have spiritual blessings in this life - the love of our Savior, the grace of God our Father who adopts us into His family, the promise that He will never leave us or forsake us, and so many more! - but also when we die, we will spend ETERNITY with God, our Father.

One other thing that helps me when trials or persecutions come, or even when things are happening that I don't understand, is to think of my Savior. He didn't just count the cost; he didn't just say, YES Lord, I will give up home and family and money to follow you! He paid the ultimate price with His very life. He suffered beyond anything we can imagine - he was betrayed, abandoned, and left to die. Yet even though he KNEW the cost, he said, 'Father, not my will, but THINE be done.'

May that be our prayer today. We know the cost, there is a price that comes with following after Christ - and may we embrace it fully and completely, joyfully! With the hope of our Savior, Christ Jesus, and the promise of eternity with God our Father - and that is greater than any fear, trial or persecution we may face in this lifetime.

I'm praying for you all, and I love you so much!! May God bless you with strength through the trials you will face, and I pray we will be able to see you all again someday!

Baptism

What is baptism? Does someone have to be baptized in order to go to heaven?

So what is baptism? The meaning of the word itself is to immerse in water. But what is the meaning of baptism itself? Jesus commanded his disciples to baptize anyone who believed in Him. So why is it so important?

First, I’d like to make it very clear that baptism does NOT get you to heaven. It does not save you from your sins. It does not give you favor with God that you did not have before.

Ephesians 2: 8-9 says that it is “by grace you are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves. Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Very clearly it says that God is not interested in your works. If you get baptized, it is not something that makes him any more likely to let you into heaven. He made it clear that you are saved ONLY by faith in Jesus Christ.

Baptism is a command: “repent and be baptized for[because of] the remission of sins.” (Acts…)

Galatians 3:26-27 says, “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.”

So, God makes you His child through faith in Christ Jesus, NOT through baptism. Then why get baptized? Baptism is something you do to show your faith to the world, by publicly uniting with Christ. You take off your old life by identifying with, or saying you have something to do with Christ’s death, shown by going under the water. You put on Christ by identifying with, or saying you have something to do with, Christ’s resurrection (when He came back to life), shown by coming out of the water.

Colossians 2:12 says, “For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with Him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.”

Baptism is an act of obedience that takes faith. You have to believe that by taking on Christ, God Himself will give you a new life to live. Baptism itself doesn’t give you new life, but by being baptized, you are telling the world that you are a follower of Christ, which means He WILL be leading you in a new life.

Romans 6:3-4 says “Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Jesus Christ in baptism, we joined Him in His death? For we died and were buried with Him by baptism. And just a Jesus Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.” 

Why do it? Jesus said that we are to take up our cross and follow Him. We are to seek to be like Him in every way. Believe it or not, Jesus Himself was baptized on this earth by John the Baptist. And the bible says that when He came up out of the water, God made it very clear to everyone around that Jesus was someone He was well pleased with.

There are many examples of people in the bible who received Jesus as their personal Savior and then were baptized. God wants not only to save you from sin and hell but to help you to live a new life by following Christ. But His requirement is that you surrender, He wishes that you do it in such a way that the world knows about it. Jesus did it for you when He died on the cross and rose from the dead, and now, He’s asking you to go public with your faith. Don’t keep it a secret! Tell others you are following Jesus through baptism.

Choose that you are going to leave your old life behind and follow Christ. Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” Following Christ means leaving your old life behind –the constant, nagging desire to be like everyone around you, the need to be accepted by your peers- leave it all behind.

Even if fear is threatening to hold you back, realize that Christ never calls you to do anything alone! He promised to help you by His Spirit to live out your Christian life. He promised to teach you, if you become His student. Don’t say no to His command to go public with your faith through baptism.

Being a Christian is Dangerous....Do I have to tell others I am one?

Hello to all of you in Russia! I miss you all so much! So our topic for today is, “Being a Christian is dangerous. Do I have to tell others I am one?”

First of all, I want acknowledge the fact that, yes, being a Christian is dangerous. Even Jesus said so. In Matthew 10, Jesus was sending out His disciples to preach the Gospel, and in verse 16 He told them this:

“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.”

He also said, “All nations will hate you because you are My followers.” (Verse 22)

Secondly, If you are a Christian, you will always have this choice: Live for God or live for this world. If you live for God, the world will hate you. If you live for the world, your life will be full of regrets, guilt, and conflict from inside your heart and also from outside.

But Jesus said something very important. He said, “If you love your father or mother more than you love Me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.”

There is a reward for those who are willing to tell people they are a Christian. There is a reward for those who tell others about Jesus. Do you know what that reward is? Jesus said He will honor you in front of God!

Jesus said, “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33)

In the dictionary, deny means “to refuse to acknowledge.” It means that if you don’t talk about Jesus while you are alive here on this earth, then Jesus won’t talk about you when you get to heaven. You will enter heavens gates and there will be silence. No cheers, no excitement. Why? Because you were too ashamed to talk about Him here on this earth.

My dear friends, Jesus loves you so much! He loved you long before you were even born. He was God in the flesh who took your punishment for sin. He is the one who rose from the dead, proving that sin and death has no power over Him. He did all this for you. And now, He’s asking you to be willing to tell others that He has saved you! My prayer is that the love Jesus has for you would give you the courage to speak up for Him. He is a hero that we should be talking about! I love you all… God bless you. 

Live by Faith and Honor your parents

Hey good morning – its Mr. Sputo - well at least it is morning here. I hope that you have had a great summer. I am so glad to see that you are trying to live by faith and follow Jesus.
Jesus wants you to honor your parents. So today I want to talk about how do you have your own faith while honoring your parents?

For some of you, your faith is not the same as your parents and your family.  For this reason, it is VERY important how you live.

The reason why I said this so carefully is because People will judge us more by our actions than our words.
So in the same way, your parents and your family are more likely to respect your faith by how you live rather than by what you say.

That’s why it is very important that you obey Jesus' commands to love and honor your parents.
Jesus wants you to be the best child in your family  – so that when your parents see your great love and honor they will know that this goodness comes from the one true God.  
The LORD wants you to obey your parents in everything – well almost everything
– THE  ONLY  TIME you should not obey your parents is if your parents tell you to do something that breaks God’s law.

For example – now I am not saying this would happen – but suppose your parents tell you to kill someone or to tell a lie or to steal something.
We know from the bible that the LORD does NOT want you to kill, lie or steal.  
These things are evil and we should not do them – even if it means that your parents might get angry at you for not doing them – but deep down in their hearts they will respect you because they know that these things are wrong and that you did the right thing.
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The same is true of your families’ traditions.
Some of the traditons that you grew up with might break God’s laws.
If you are not sure if they do – ask us here at APJ and we’ll help you to understand what the bible says about it.
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Even when your parents see that you are their best child, there is a chance that they will reject you.
If this happens, it will be very difficult for you, but you must remember, that they are NOT rejecting you.   They are really rejecting Jesus who is in you!
This is nothing new. People have been rejecting Jesus since the beginning in of time.  That is why they crucified Him!  
But you must pray for strength and courage to continue to love and honor your parents.Because you love and want to honor your parents, one of the most important things that you must do is to pray for your parents – pray every day that the LORD would open your families’ eyes to see and believe in Jesus.
And remember that Jesus said that He will never leave you nor forsake you.