Are you good for it?

[Bishop W.C. Maddox D.D.]

Are you good for it?
Lu 14:25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turne4 and said unto thern,
26If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and
sisters, ye4 and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost whether he
have sufficient finish it?
29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock
him,
30 Saying This man began to buil4 and was not able to finish.
3l Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he
be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way o{ he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of
peace.
33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

Every now and then when someone gives something of value to you and they expect a good return from it they will ask you....."are you good for it" whether they expect you to make an increase, whether they expect you to have good maintenance over it, or whether they expect for you to give it back in the condition it was in when you recieved it, they want to know, are you good for it. Can you be trusted, are you accountable, will you be a good steward over what is given you. The Lord says.....Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Are we being faithful over what God has blessed us with? Are we good for it? Jesus said...." Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;” but are we......good for it? Pau1 says inZTi2:12 .......If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us. God has something for each one of us,.....however God wants to know, if we are good for it. Are we good for it when God calls us to salvation. Are we good for it when God calls us to share the Gospel? Are we good for it when someone needs a kind word? Are we good for it when someone needs some tough love? Are we good for it when God calls us to do something that goes totally against what makes sense to the rest of the world? Are we good for walking with Jesus, instead of walking with the world? God wants to know, if you are good for it. Were you good for it when God got you out of that gang or off of those drugs, or off the street corner. Were you good for it when God got you a roof over your head, or when God stayed that hand that was abusing you? God wants to know, are you good for it.
God knew......that we didn't count the cost when we took those drinks, or when we were in the club
God knew......that we didn't count the cost when we were gangbanging, or in that illicit relationship
God knew......that we didn't count the cost when we smoked that blunt, or when we hit that pipe.
God knows that every now and then, that we don't count the cost.......but by the grace of God, “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” In our text we see Jesus talking to the multitudes and He is telling them about the cost of salvation. Someone might ask, why is Jesus telling them about the cost of salvation. The Apostle Paul tells us in 2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and we find that these false teachers will rise up in the church.......2Pe2:l says..... But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. God knew that some of those itching ears would look to false teachers who teach that the gift of salvation is a ticket to easy street. God knew that there would be false prophets who would preach another gospel who would tell you that there are no struggles when you follow God, or that temptation for a believer is impossible. These false teachers will take your focus off of God and place it on everything else but God and leave Jesus on the side, however God says that we have a cross to bare.......God says that when we come to Christ, there is a cost involved, in verse 26 we find that the cost might be losing our family the cost might be losing our life. We see in verse 27 that the costs might be the loss of our worldly comforts, the loss of being served and becoming, the servant. We also see in verse 33 that the cost may be the loss of all your worldly posessions, and the question remains. Are you good for it? We find out how to answer this question in luke 14:28 we find that first we need to have an intention, then we need to sit down, then we need to count the costs....and then we need to make a decision, in other words, we need to slowdown, then get the lowdown, before we enter the throw down. In yet other words we need to know what our goal is, then we need to know the actions that we need to take, in order that we acheive the goal .We also need to know the price that we might have to pay for our actions........notice in the King James language it does not say count, it says counteth and in the King James language when you come across a verb ending in "eth" it means that whatever action that the word is describing is a continuous action. So by understanding this we find that in our walk with God we must continuously count the cost of our actions, so no matter how long we've been walking with God, we're still counting up the cost to what we have set out to do. Also Jesus says in our verse....."For which of you" , which lets us know that this is personal and also that not everybody, wants to build a tower, for the unsaved this tower represents, salvation. For those of us who are saved, this tower represents service to the Lord. There are a lot of people looking for the salvation of God without having to labor in a vocation for God and some do not want to work out our salvation in fear and trembling. As Global Christian Leaders we need to know what our our tower is, in other words, what has God called you to do? Are we good for it?.....Are you good for it if God called you to witness. Are we good for it when God calls us to help others. Are we good for it if God calls us to preach, teach, evangelize or look after His flock? Notice.....Jesus said "For which of you intending to build a tower," this lets us know that before we sit down.....before we count the cost and before we make a decision, we need to have a vision, and that vision gives us a focus for our intention.......there can be no intention to do something if there is no focal point of that intention, you can't go from point A to point B until you know what point B is. So when you have an intention you have to have a :
destination,
an anticipation
and a realization,
in other words you cannot intend to build a tower until you have a vision of the tower, which is the destination, and when you have a vision of the tower which is your destination, then you begin to anticipate what it will take in order to build the tower, and when you have the anticipation of what it takes to get to the destination, then you will have a realization as to where you stand......... right now. When you identify the goal that God has set for your future, then you realize where you are in your present, and then you will begin to understand what it will take, to get to your destination,. David said...."I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord, his destination was the house of the Lord, his realization was that he was not there yet, so his anticipation was the journey, from where he was when he heard the invitation to his destination of arriving at the house of the Lord. But after hearing the invitation in the realization of his present situation, he had to have an anticipation on getting to his Destination, so in order to navigate the joumey, David had to count the cost. When we count the cost, we begin to realize, that on our own we are not " good for it", we realize that without Jesus, we have insufficient funds. When we look at our text we find that Jesus is talking about starting a project that if we count the cost it will be sure to be completed before we start the work. If we count the costs, we realize that although we're not good for it, there is one, who is good for it, we realize that there is one who is faithful to complete the work that He had begun, we realize that there is one who said...."it is finished" and by Him, through the Holy Spirit as leaders, you will find that Yes, you are good for it!
May God Bless You and Yours,
Bishop W.C. Maddox
Mesarim Tabernacle
Global Christian Leadership Association
http://www.kingdombuildersamerica.com
http://www.globalchristianleadershipassociation.com/
http://www.bishopwcmaddox.wordpress.com