Page 9 - The Gate and the Way

eternal life, you must surrender all and take up your cross and follow Christ. Christ
enumerated those things all disciples must count as loss in order to obtain life.

Luke 14:33
“So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own
possessions.”

Luke 14:26-27
"If 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. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My
disciple.”

Mark 10:29-30
Yahshua said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or
sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's
sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age,
houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with
persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.”

If you commit to “follow” Christ, you will find that there is a great cost in doing so.
Christ never sought to hide this cost from those who approached Him.

Luke 9:57-62
As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, "I will follow You
wherever You go." And Yahshua said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of
the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." And He said to
another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my
father." But He said to him, "Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you,
go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God." Another also said, "I will follow
You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home." But Yahshua said
to him, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the
kingdom of God."

Is it not evident in each of these encounters that the cost arose when the issue was
following Christ? Let us be very practical and define what it is to follow Christ. How did
the disciples of Christ follow Him when He was accomplishing His earthly ministry? Did
they not hear His voice and do whatever He commanded them to do? Christian discipleship
always begins with an initial invitation.

Matthew 4:18-22
Now as Yahshua was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who
was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were
fishermen. And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."
Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there He saw
two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with
Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. Immediately they left