PREPARED BY MARGUERITE COOK.
Title.—The Cost of Discipleship.—Luke 14:25-35.
Golden Text.—Whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it.—Matt. 16:25.
Golden Text for Beginners.—Be ye kind one to another.—Eph. 4:32.
Truth.—If we would belong to Jesus, we must deny ourselves.
1. Jesus spoke to a great crowd that followed him and told them that if they wanted to be his disciples they must love him better than all else in the world.
2. He said if they would be his disciples they must be willing to take up their cross and follow him.
3. He meant that they must be willing to do hard things for his sake.
4. He said if a man wanted to build a tower he would first see if he had money enough to build it all.
5. If the man began to build and could not finish it people would laugh at him.
6. Jesus wanted to teach them that they should be patient and finish whatever they began.
7. If we want to be friends of Jesus we must love him best of all and obey his words, no matter how hard we may find it to do so.
8. The love of Jesus in our heart helps us to be good and makes it easy for us to obey him and do hard things for his sake.
9. Salt is useful to keep food good and to make it taste pleasant to us.
10. If the salt loses its taste and strength it is useless and is thrown out.
11. So it is with our love for Jesus; if it is not strong and true it will be of no use to us or anyone else.
12. The true love of Jesus in our hearts grows stronger day by day and makes us useful and helpful to those around us.