Here is a curious little application I have seen to demonstrate a nice passage of scripture. First, a picture:
What is this? It is Noah's Ark! In 1974, Pastor Greene as God’s Ark of Safety church received a vision in a dream repeatedly. It was an ark. He was convinced (as am I) that our days now are approaching the days of Noah (Matthew 24:38-39). Of course, what we are seeing here is what happens when a some Charismatic pastors have a dream (not a vision dream, but a night time dream!).
Our verse for today is Luke 14:25-30:
Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 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. “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? “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.'
Have you counted the cost of being a Christian? Are you living like a Christian?
I was in Frostburg, MD this weekend where I was staying at a hotel about a mile from this curious ark. I had first seen it a few years back when we laughed at it as we were walking by. Now, for clarification, I don’t know this pastor, so I can not say one thing or another about his ministry, but I can comment on this ark. Look at our verse and replace “tower” with “ark”. Do you see my point? This pastor claims it was God that gave him this vision for the ark. I think that if God did, He would have also provided the means to build it so that this man is not laughed at for being a direct fulfillment of this very verse!
Now, are you a Christian? On what do you base that? Are you working in the body of Christ? Do you live a life trying your hardest to avoid all sin? We are commanded to be holy, separate, devoted for God, not to live as the world does, not to participate in the sin, nor even the promotion of sin. What kind of movies do you watch? What about your music and close friends? I bring all these up not on a legalistic way, but a Holy way! If Jesus Christ would not approve of material for Himself, we don’t have the right to watch it for our own entertainment because we are purchased by His precious blood, we are his blond-slaves. Let us count the cost and live like it.
Jesus told us the cost: We will be persecuted, we will be hated, we will be ridiculed, we will desire to live like the old way at times, we will have more challenges, and it will not be easy! But for those who persevere, the Crown of Glory awaits us. How glorious that day will be.
