08/12/2019
“THE COST OF FOLLOWING JESUS”
(I am not only teaching theory but true to life experience.)
(LUKE 9:57-62) As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man (MESSIAH) has no place to lay his head.” Jesus said to another man, “Follow me.” But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
The Lord did not promise anyone to be rich, to be famous and to have a happy life. There is always a “COST” of following the LORD JESUS.
(MATTHEW 5:12), Jesus said; “People persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Again He said in (JOHN 15:20), “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.”
When I followed Jesus, I remembered an Idiom or Slang, “Face the music” which nobody in this generation understand. It means to accept the consequences, especially of one’s own action.
Before the Martial Law, in 1960 I was a night club singer in Manila and while I was singing on different night clubs with different orchestras, I used to compose songs which I sold to Vicor Recording. The recording company wanted to record my own compositions so to promote me to be exposed to the public before making recordings, I appeared on television shows and was published on Magazines. But when God called me to serve HIM I immediately followed JESUS leaving the entertainment world which I should have the chance to be on the movie industry. But God has his own plan for my life. I never dreamed I can write sermons for my website which God uses for my worldwide ministry. All the glory belongs to God alone.
It was a drastic change in my life because when I become a Pastor, my wife and our children suffered severe poverty. There were times we don’t know where to get food for the next day. I had been misunderstood by my fellow workers in the Lord. I had been persecuted not only by the unbelievers but persecuted by fellow Christians even until now.
At that time I was working in the farm to support my family, many times the devil enticed me to go back to the entertainment world. But I remembered what the Lord said in Luke 9:57-62, the cost of following Jesus. So I burned all the musical accompaniments which cost me a fortune. I can’t sing in an orchestra without those pieces, but a suit-case full of my musical arrangements, I burned all so not to go back to the world. I preferred and chooses to live in poverty in the midst of persecutions to follow Jesus.
Following Jesus Christ is not a joke. Storms of life my family and I still encounters until now. It will not end while we are still living in this world. Sufferings will only end when we get to heaven with the Lord.
To those who read this message, don’t ever believe that material things and money are true blessings from God. “JESUS IS THE BLESSING”. Satan can make anyone rich and to be famous by preaching sugar coated gospel and through ill-gotten gains or by dis-honest means.
For 44 years of serving the Lord, now, God provided me just enough to enjoy. I am not rich neither I am poor. I no longer worry for our daily bread. The lord is faithful to His promise. (HEBREWS 13:5) Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
“TO FOLLOW JESUS IS NOT A JOKE. THERE IS A PRICE TO PAY.”
Pastor Bobby Cabonce
Website: www.thereisnoothername.com