Heralds Digest

  “ And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? ” Luke 14 : 27 - 28 KJV Without a consistent refresher course on the cost of discipleship, the commitment of every disciple to cross-bearing will become dull along the way. Starting a good race is good, but finishing the race is better; and that’s the cause or prognosis of the enemy’s craze. Although the call cost is captured vividly in “ If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple (Luke 14 : 26 )”, the detail of the requirements varies from one disciple to another disciple. For example, the call cost for Joseph’s call to follow his dream and the fulfillment of God’s purpose for his existence resulted in his separation from family and Father for h...

  “ Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”” Luke 14 : 15 NKJV Everyone knows that there is no such thing as an inconvenient invitation. Inconveniences are mere excuses used to discharge ‘inconsequential’ invitations. And like all excuses provided in Christ’s parables on the Master’s special invitation to the kingdom of God, people scorn and ignore the Lord’s invitation through life’s challenges, opportunities and relationships because these invitations or apparent discomforts are considered inconsequential, unintelligent, and somehow insulting. Unfortunately, life’s major purposes and destinies are ignored for the pursuits of mundane stuff because of their temporal offers of pleasures, recognition, and carnal satisfaction or rotten bread in the kingdom of this world. Little wonder Jesus is acknowledging all respondents to His ‘inconsequential’ invitation with “ Blessed i...

  ” …and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused .’“ Luke‬ ‭14‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ ‘Come unto me, and I will give you rest ’ is no doubt an incredible invitation to the kingdom and a guarantee of salvation from sin and worldly stress. But when hope of believers get readily deferred, future invitations from the Lord can easily become incredulous invitations. The hopeless experience of many believers is succinctly captured by the parable of the Lord on the invited guests to the great banquet. ‘Come, for all things are now ready’…But they all with one accord began to make excuses. Apparently, the invited guests all gave those excuses because of their bottled up offenses and hopelessness in the readiness of the Master. Likewise, it is very dangerous for believers...