Luke 14:25-33

25 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them,

26 "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.

27 "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

28 "For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?

29 "Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,

30 saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'

31 "Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

32 "Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

33 "So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

1.	Who was going along with Jesus?

a.	Large crowds

2.	In 25-33 What 3 specifically stated qualifications does He give them for being His disciple?

a.	V.26 Come to Him and hate father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, own life

b.	V. 27 Carry his own cross and come after me.

c.	V.33 Give up all his own possessions.

3.	How do you feel about this, what's your gut reaction to these demands? How can Jesus ask for this kind of commitment? Isn't that a little bit unreasonable? Isn't it hard! Who could commit to this?

a.	Not many people would buy into this.

4.	What is He emphasizing in each?

a.	Family (closest we have) relationships can't come between us–even w/ self–no relationship on earth is as important as a following me.

b.	Avoiding suffering and preservation of own life can't come between us–no comfort in this life–or even this life itself is as important as following me

c.	Possessions can't come between us–no possession is as important as following me

5.	What are these three qualifications for?

a.	Being a disciple

6.	What are the two elements of discipleship?

a.	Follow and

b.	Jesus

7.	Why then do these three things define a disciple? What is the core issue of discipleship that these have in common which explains why they would describe a disciple?

a.	They are a description of Jesus, and discipleship is following Jesus.

8.	Why don't we usually see Jesus here?

a.	We see ourselves and we get scared?

b.	Why? We think we could do it and that we should.

c.	Why does he use such harsh language?

i.	It's appropriate for describing Him

ii.	It should tell us that we can't do this.

9.	What element of discipleship is missing when we see ourselves?

a.	The Jesus, the relationship.

10.	How has Jesus fulfilled these qualifications?

a.	Left heaven

b.	Went to cross

11.	How reasonable are these qualifications?

a.	Totally unreasonable for Him

b.	Totally reasonable for me because they are already accomplished in Him. They are impossible requirements that show me my need of the One who has already done them, and thus they free me to actually let go of my earthly attachments and receive Jesus life.

12.	How do you feel about his demonstration of commitment to you?

13.	Are you willing to let Jesus do these things for you?

14.	Who in the context was not put off by these qualifications?

15.

16.	What two comparisons does He use to support his qualifications?

a.	One of them calculating the cost of building a tower before building

b.	A king considering the strength of one's military forces before going to meet another king in battle.

17.

18.	How can Jesus ask for this kind of commitment? Isn't that a little bit unreasonable? Isn't it hard! Who could commit to this?

19.	What does he mean by hate? own life?

20.	What does he mean by forsake all?

21.	What does carry cross mean?

22.	What does disciple mean in the context? No one can be my disciple . . . ? What is so important about following Jesus? Where is Jesus going that I need to go more than being w/ family, staying alive, or holding onto my possessions?