Have You Measured the Cost?

As a teenager, you're constantly being asked to make choices — about who your friends are, what you stand for, and who you're becoming. This sermon is a challenge to take your faith seriously, not as something you inherited from your parents but as something you own for yourself. Counting the cost means asking the hard question: Is Jesus actually first in my life, or is He just one of many things competing for my attention?

1. Jesus said following Him has to come before everything else — even family. Does that feel extreme to you? What do you think He actually meant?
2. If your friends looked at your life this week, would they be able to tell that Jesus is important to you? Why or why not?
3. Moses was hiding in the desert doing someone else's work when God showed up. Is there anything in your life you feel like you're avoiding that God might be calling you toward?
4. What's one thing that feels like it would 'cost' you something if you really committed to following Jesus more fully?
5. What does it mean to you personally that salvation is a free gift — but discipleship is a daily decision?

Your twenties and thirties are full of enormous decisions — career paths, relationships, where to live, who to be. This sermon lands right in the middle of all that, because Jesus is essentially asking: have you actually thought through what it means to build your life around Me? This isn't about adding Jesus to your already full life — it's about letting Him become the foundation everything else is built on. That's a cost worth calculating.

1. You're making a lot of big life decisions right now — career, relationships, direction. How does 'counting the cost' of discipleship relate to the other costs you're weighing up in life?
2. Jesus turns to the crowd and challenges their motives. What do you think your real motives are for following Jesus — and are you comfortable being honest about that?
3. Moses was 80 years old, working in obscurity, when God called him. How does that challenge the pressure you might feel to have your life 'figured out' by a certain age?
4. What would it look like practically for Jesus to be genuinely first in your life — not just in theory, but in your schedule, your finances, and your relationships?
5. Peter says to 'be holy in all you do.' What's one specific area of your daily life where that feels like the biggest challenge right now?

Families are built one decision at a time — and the decisions you make about faith, priorities, and values at home are quietly shaping the people your kids are becoming. This sermon is an invitation to ask honestly: is our family actually building on Jesus, or just around Him? Counting the cost as a family means being intentional about what you put first, and having the courage to build something that will last.

1. Jesus talks about a builder who doesn't finish what he starts. Are there any areas of your family's spiritual life that feel 'half-built' right now — things you started but haven't followed through on?
2. How do you talk about faith in your home? Is it something your kids see lived out daily, or mostly something that happens at church?
3. The passage in Luke 14 about family relationships is challenging — how do you balance loving your family deeply while also keeping Jesus as the ultimate priority?
4. Moses took off his sandals as an act of vulnerability before God. What would it look like for your family to practise that kind of humility and openness to God together?
5. What is one practical thing you could do this week as a family to 'count the cost' and recommit to building your home around Jesus?

Living as a single person in a world that often defines success by relationship status can be its own kind of pressure. But this sermon is a reminder that your life is already a complete project — one that God is deeply invested in. Counting the cost of discipleship isn't about waiting until life looks a certain way before you go all in. It's about saying yes to Jesus fully, right now, exactly where you are.

1. Do you ever find yourself treating faith as something to 'get serious about' later — after you've got a partner, a career, or a more stable life? What do you think holds you back?
2. Moses was alone in the desert when God showed up with his life's mission. How does that speak to where you are right now in your own journey?
3. Salvation is described as a free gift, but discipleship costs everything. Does that tension feel freeing or daunting to you, and why?
4. What does holiness look like in your daily, individual life — not in theory, but in the specific decisions you're making this week?
5. Who in your community helps you stay accountable to counting the cost and staying committed? If that person doesn't exist, what would it take to find them?

Men are often wired to calculate risk before making a move — and that's exactly the instinct Jesus is honouring here. He's not asking you to leap blindly; He's asking you to sit down, count the cost, and then commit fully. Half-hearted leadership — in your home, your work, your church — leaves things unfinished. This sermon is a challenge to be the kind of man who finishes what he starts, because he built it on the right foundation.

1. The builder analogy in Luke 14 is directly aimed at people who start things they don't finish. Where in your life do you think you've laid foundations without counting the full cost?
2. Jesus says following Him must take priority over everything — including family. As a husband, father, or son, how do you hold that tension in a healthy, godly way?
3. Moses was in a season of obscurity and apparent failure when God appeared to him. Have you ever felt like you were in a similar season? What did you learn from it?
4. What does it look like for you personally to 'take off your sandals' — to come before God in vulnerability rather than just competence?
5. How are you actively passing on a faith worth counting the cost for to the next generation — whether that's your kids, your mates, or someone younger you're investing in?

There's something powerful about a woman who knows who she is and what she's building her life on. This sermon is an invitation to press past the surface level of faith and ask yourself honestly: am I fully in, or am I holding something back? Being called to holiness isn't a burden — it's a dignity. God set you apart, not to make your life harder, but to make it richer, deeper, and more purposeful than you might have imagined.

1. 1 Peter 1:15–16 calls us to be holy 'in all you do.' What does that phrase mean to you in the context of your actual, everyday life right now?
2. Jesus turns to the crowd and asks a challenging question about their real commitment. If Jesus asked you today, 'Are you really all in?' — what would your honest answer be?
3. Moses encountered God in an unexpected place while doing ordinary work. Where have you recently experienced God showing up in the middle of your everyday routine?
4. Counting the cost can feel scary because it implies sacrifice. What's something you sense God might be asking you to surrender or re-prioritise in this season of your life?
5. How do you support and encourage other women around you to go deeper in their faith, not just wider — to build something that lasts?

You have something that no sermon can manufacture: a lifetime of evidence that God is faithful. This message about counting the cost lands differently when you've already lived through the costs — and discovered firsthand that Jesus is worth every one of them. Your role in the community isn't just to receive; it's to testify. The wisdom you carry about what it means to follow Jesus through the long haul is one of the most valuable gifts you can offer the generations coming behind you.

1. Looking back over your life of faith, what has following Jesus cost you — and how has that shaped who you are today?
2. Moses had an encounter with God that reoriented the rest of his life. Can you point to a moment like that in your own story? What came out of it?
3. Peter's call to holiness was written to ordinary people in difficult times. How has your understanding of holiness changed or deepened over the decades?
4. Salvation is a free gift, but discipleship is costly — how has living that tension over a long life of faith shaped your relationship with God?
5. What is the most important thing you want the younger generations in this church to understand about what it truly means to count the cost and follow Jesus?
6. How are you continuing to 'build' even now — what does an unfinished tower look like in your season of life, and what are you still trusting God for?