Luke 9:23-26 - We Need God's Blessings

Today, before we look at our lesson on discipleship in Luke 9, I again want to ask for your prayers. This coming Saturday the 11th, I will be leaving for a Southeast Asian country.   Would you be willing to join me in this great ministry of prayer so that the multitudes in this Asian country can hear the Truth of God’s Word and find out who Jesus really is? Please let me know by sending me an email at: [email protected]  Also, if you would like to financially support this great opportunity, please go to my website: https://www.pmiministries.org/ Under the donate button you will see a place there to do that: (Mission Travel Support). Thanks in advance for all your prayers and support!   In Luke 9:1-11, Jesus is sending out His disciples to minister. In verses 12-17, Jesus is feeding the five thousand men with their families. Now, in verses 18-36, Jesus is teaching. He first teaches His disciples about His person (vv. 18-20). Secondly in verses 21-22, Jesus is teaching about His suffering, His sacrificial death, and His resurrection. Now in verses 23-26, Jesus is teaching them about discipleship.   A “disciple” is one who has disciplined himself to follow another. Sometimes when we ask someone about their discipleship experience, they will respond that they have attended a 12-week discipleship course and memorized a few Bible verses about it. And they think that they have become a disciple of Jesus. But my friend, it is far more than that! Let me list the basic characteristics and evidence of those who are a true disciple of Jesus Christ found in Ephesians 2:8-9; and 4:11-17).   1) They have experienced a genuine salvation by being born again by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). 2) They are established in God’s Word, by listening, reading, studying, memorizing, and meditating in it daily (Ephesians 4:13-14). 3) They are established in the fellowship of believers (Ephesians 4:15). Connected to and regularly attending a local church, Sunday school class, and small accountability group. 4) They are established in the structure of the local church (Ephesians 4:16). Exercising their spiritual gifts in a specific ministry. 5) They are established in the ministry of Christ (Ephesians 4:17). Leading others to Christ and discipling them.   This morning as I was meditating on this passage in Luke 9, I couldn’t help but think about how America does not need a “golden age” of prosperity, but that more than anything else, we need “God’s blessings”. When our forefathers wrote the Declaration of Independence and said “that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, I’m convinced that they didn’t intend for that to mean we have the right to pursue the feeling and emotion of being happy by having personal pleasure or things!  They knew the Biblical meaning of “happiness”, which is “blessedness”. It was to be blessed by God by knowing and obeying His principles found in His Word.   They knew that Jesus taught the “Beatitudes” about true “blessedness”. The first three, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”…, Blessed are they that mourn…,” and “Blessed are the meek…,” give us God’s promises of heaven, comfort, and enjoyment of our time on earth. To be “meek” means that we have yielded the ownership of our life and possessions to the Lord.   I believe that that Oswald Chambers has summarized true discipleship with this statement: “The only right we have, is the right to give up the right to ourselves”. Jesus made it clear! If you want to find your life, if you want to be truly blessed by God and enjoy His creation, you must give up your life for His sake and the Gospel.   That is why we pray, why we sing, and why we put on our currency and coins, “God bless America”!   God bless!