A Dad Who Counts The Cost

7/26/2021

There were times in Jesus' ministry where he it seemed that he actually tried to talk people out of following him. At the very least, he wanted to make sure they counted the cost. Many of us are excited to move forward toward the places God is leading us, but we must first pause and be sure we've actually counted the cost.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Change The World With Me - 3:37
Luke 14v25 - 15:23
Luke 9v57 - 16:53
Join A Dad Tired Meet Up! - 24:41
Host A Dad Tired Meet Up! - 25:09
JOIN US! Give to the Dad Tired Ministry! - 26:24
James 1v2 - 28:20

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A DAD WHO COUNTS THE COST

Jerrad: In many ways today's episode is a follow-up to last week's episode and so if you haven't listened to that I highly recommend that you go back I implore you to go back and listen to that episode first as today's episode is kind of a part 2 to that [3:51] so again last week's episode was titled change the world with me again if you haven't listened to that go back now listen to that episode and then come and listen to this one after you've done that last week when I recorded the podcast I told you I was at a promise keepers conference in Dallas Texas I had been mixing it up with a lot of ministry guys I actually for so many emotions I had that last weekend but at breakfast I sat next to a guy who I didn't know and we quickly became friends just an amazing man of God was really encouraging to me but I told him as I mentioned to you guys last week like I'm in a constant state of ridiculously excited and at the same time ridiculously frustrated because of all the things I know God has for us as a Ministry that we have yet to step into and so I'm trying to learn patience but also I want to keep us moving forward I don't want to get stagnant and so I told him I was like man sometimes if I'm totally honest and I was actually both of us [4:43] were like getting teary-eyed during this breakfast as we were sharing with each other but I was kind of getting choked up and I was like dude sometimes I honestly just feel like there's a UPS near our house and like I just there's times if I'm totally honest I just want to like quit everything and just go apply for a job at UPS and just be by myself and because it's hard it's hard work and I get discouraged sometimes and I’m like am I the only one in this and I’ve told you before I'm just talking to a computer screen so I’m like is it just me am I the only one feeling this and doing this and and it can be lonely and discouraging sometimes and I don't feel that way all the time or even most of the time that you know most of the time God is encouraging me through the stories of all the things that have happened through DadTired but I was just sharing kind of an honest moment with him but all that to say I recorded the podcast last week in the hotel room I shared with you guys very honestly and raw I was scared as a recorded last week's episode [5:33] but the response I have felt and I've gotten from you guys this last week has been truly overwhelmingly positive and so encouraging I told you guys at the end of last week's episode to email me and I was just like I was telling you I'm talking to a computer in my hotel right now I'm staring at a this little microphone and some pillows that have surrounded myself with and so I said if you resonate with this just email me and so many of you have emailed me this week literally hundreds I'm trying to catch up if I haven't emailed you back man I promise I'm reading all of them it's just taking me a long time to try to catch up with all these emails but I I see them I'm encouraged by them thank you I promise I'm trying to catch up with all the emails but man I have just been overwhelmed by your guys's response and immediately I just went into my personality of just like dreaming I’m like all right man I feel like I kept saying this I even sent out an email this week [6:26] to you guys but I said I feel like I poked the giant or like a poked the bear I woke up the giant like so many of you guys have written me through email on social media platforms and all this at you you're sending me all these messages and saying Jerrad like I also agree man like there's a stirring inside of me I feel like God is putting something inside of me and I'm ready to go like let's go let's go do it and so I just started like I'm like alright man we got an army here we've got thousands of guys I suspected that that was true and yet and then I saw the emails and I saw the response I'm like dang dude like we have woke up the army and we are ready to go and so I just started going into I already had some dreams that I shared with you last week but I just started to go into high like alright let's go let's move let's move let's move like let's do all these things and I’m going to share some of the things that we have already started to kick into gear I'll share that at the end of this episode but all my dreams started to move forward all these things that I wanted to move forward in action and I was just praying I get up in the mornings and I pray and I try to spend time with the Lord before my kids and my wife everyone else gets up I try not to just be reactive all day I want to be with the Lord first and as I was praying [7:36] I was just trying to slow my spirit to the pace of Jesus and and this is man I highly encourage you to do this I sometimes I feel like I just get ahead of myself I'd most definitely have a personality where I'm just like go go go go go and so I was praying one morning and I even as I was praying I could just feel my spirit my soul just be like man just slow down to the pace of Jesus and it's so awesome when you spend time with the Lord and when you spend time in the presence of God you’re reminded that God is never the kingdom of God is never at risk God is never frantic he's never moving forward at a frantic pace trying to figure out what he's going to do next like his pace is so calming his presence is so calming and so I was spending time with the Lord I was just in the calming presence of Jesus and I was like ok slow down yes there are things to come but just slow down for a minute and I highly recommend that you do that man to spend time with the Lord if you feel like your soul is a little bit frantic and you're you're at a pace that's unsustainable just slow down and be with the presence of God and so I actually one of the days I was just like you know what I’m gonna like I'm sending emails and I'm getting emails and I'm dreaming about all these next steps but I'm just going to take a break I'm going to pause and turn off the computer for minute and we have a shed in our backyard where it's just like a storage shed kind of like a second garage where we basically store all of our kids junk [9:02] you collect so much junk when you have kids like plastic and stuff anyways so we've got a storage shed full of just toys baby clothes and all kinds of stuff so my thought was I'm just going to go out there and I'm going to organize its really unorganized throughout the winter I just kept throwing stuff in there and I’m like alright now that the sun's out I'm just going to reorganize this so I open up the shed door and my plan was I'm going to bring everything out of it first and then put it all back in there reorganized and so I just start pulling all the stuff out of I’m taking everything out of the shed and I'm stacking it up and creating all these piles and I get about halfway done and I look at the shed and it still looks like pure chaos and then I look outside of the shed at all the piles that I have created and it it is also looks like chaos and in that moment I'm just like completely overwhelmed like have how many of you guys done that where you just like you start a project and you like you get into it all gung-ho you know I was like I went in there with all the energy in the world like I'm going to accomplish something today and I get halfway done and I'm like you know at this was a terrible idea [10:09] I should have never started this project and honestly I feel like the Holy Spirit just spoke to me even as I was just looking at the shed and I'm coming off of this kind of high of being so encouraged by this last week from you guys saying I'm in Jerrad let's go let's move forward I feel like the Holy Spirit just tied these two things and I just want to pause for a second because I’ve recognized of myself where I say things like God spoke to me or the Holy Spirit prompted me I've been recognizing in myself I'm telling you guys that a lot and maybe you're a newer Christian or maybe you're still checking out Christianity and what it's all about or maybe been around the church world a long time maybe your church doesn't say things like that often I remember when I was young man I had to be in my early teens and I was trying to figure out what it looks like to follow Jesus and I was trying to decipher like when do I know that God is speaking to me when is it just like I ate a weird lunch like I had too much Taco Bell like how do you distinguish what the spirit of what God is trying to speak to you and when it's just your own flesh and so actually I plan on doing a whole podcast episode on this because I think it's really important but when I was young when I was a young teenager I remember thinking to myself I'm just going to be obedient whenever I think God might be speaking to me I'm just going to step in quick with obedience because my thought was I want to train myself to know the voice of God and more importantly to obey the voice of God as quickly as I hear it and and one of the ways that you know [11:38] this is God speaking to you is what is the word of God say what is the reputation of God what is God's character how is he consistently spoken to people in the past and we know that because we read the scripture like it is this in line with God's character and God's reputation and his word and that's really when you know like okay I can trust this is the Spirit of God it's not just me it's certainly not the enemy because I learn who God is through his word I learn who he is through his reputation and through his character and I sense this is the Holy Spirit actually speaking to me I say all that as a side note because I want you guys as men of God to start to become attuned to the voice of God and to the spirit of God he is speaking to you or longing to speak to you often and so if you're in a church or maybe grew up in an environment where like you don't that's not really something you guys talk about a lot maybe you just like I want to get more Bible studies and head knowledge but the spirit of God is not something you talk about a lot listen you can [12:36] talk about the spirit of God and still be theologically sound I just want to like encourage you in that like a spirit of God is alive and he's at work and he's wanting to speak to you and that doesn't mean you have to set aside your theology in order to be Spirit-filled okay those aren’t two separate theological camps you can be theologically sound and be attuned to what the spirit of God is doing he's alive and he's active and so as a man of God practice listening to the spirit of God set time aside be quiet and allow God and His Spirit to speak to you and then be obedient when you feel like he is prompting you to do something I know that's a side tangent but I've been practicing I've been trying for years and I want to get even better at this for like I believe the spirit of God is at work and he's wanting to speak to me and so am I listening to what he has to say and am I being obedient to what he has to say often so I was cleaning the shed to go back to that I was cleaning the shed out I see these piles I feel overwhelmed like what did I get myself into I probably shouldn’t have started this I felt like the spirit of God again was prompting me and kind of almost giving me a parable which there are parables about this in the scripture and I just felt like man I probably should have counted the cost of what this was going to actually take before I got started and this is the point I'm trying to make today based on the response that you guys gave me the overwhelming response [13:59] you guys sent me so many emails I heard stories from you guys this week through emails and messages about how you too feel like the the Holy Spirit of God has been stirring something in you and I am convinced that the Holy Spirit is brewing something in the hearts of thousands if not tens of thousands of men from around the world I mean literally guys from New Zealand and Australia and Europe in Asia and Africa and all over the Americas were sending me emails and saying Jerrad God is brewing something in me this fired me up I got messages from guys saying I feel like I could run through a brick wall like yes I'm ready I'm in I'm all in and I just fully convinced that God is brewing something like he's on the verge of doing something in the hearts of thousands of men if not ten thousand tens of thousands of men from around the world you showed me like through your emails any responses you guys showed me how ready you are to be put in the game to step into the kingdom adventurers that God has for us but I say all that because before we step into this war which it's going to be a war it's going to be a battle before we step into that I just felt pressed by the Holy Spirit to do an evaluation an evaluation of ourselves [15:20] before we go all in and before we move forward I want you to listen to this passage from Luke 14 verse 25 says this large crowds were traveling with Jesus and turning to them Jesus said if anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother wife and children brothers and sisters yes even their own life such a person cannot be my disciple and whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple suppose one of you wants to build a tower won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it for if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it everyone who sees it will ridicule you saying this person began to build and wasn't able to finish or started to clean out their shed and wasn't able to finish that's my own translation I did that's not the actual scripture or suppose a king is about to go to war this is verse 31 suppose a king is about to go to war against another king won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with 20,000 if he is not able he will send a delegation while the other is still long a long way off and we'll ask for terms of peace in the same way listen to this in the same way those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples salt is good but if it loses its saltiness how can it be made salty again it is neither fit for the soil nor the manure pile it is thrown out whoever has ears let them hear or listen to this passage in Luke 9 verse 57 as they were going along the road someone said to him to Jesus Jesus I will follow you wherever you go and Jesus said to him foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head to another he said follow me so the first one the person was saying Jesus I'll go wherever you said go and Jesus said are you sure because animals have places to lay their head at night but me I don't I'm homeless are you sure you really want to get into this do you really know what you're saying when you say I want to follow you wherever you go and then Jesus said to someone else you follow me but that person responded and said Lord let me go and bury my father first let me go and bury my father [17:36] and Jesus said to him leave the dead to bury their own dead but as for you go and proclaim the kingdom of God yet another person said to Jesus I’ll follow you Lord but first let me just say farewell to those at my home verse 62 Jesus said to him no one who puts his hand to the plough And looks back is fit for the kingdom of God how many times throughout the scriptures did Jesus actually try to convince people not to follow him I just read you two messages but there's actually several passages in the gospels where Jesus is saying ah are you sure are you sure are you willing to sell everything give up everything to die to come follow me it's truly incredible how many times it seems as if Jesus is trying to talk people out of following him and so brothers I feel like I wouldn't be a good friend or I might even say I might not be christ-like if I invite you into this crazy adventure and trust me when I say I believe God has something incredible in store for us but it wouldn't be right for me to invite you into that without first trying to talk you out of it in the same way I think Jesus might try to talk you out of it for those of you who want to step into this calling and it seems like there are thousands of you who say I want to be all in for those of you that want to step into this calling God has for you that calling to lay down your life to give up the dumb things that we've been chasing after to start serving your family with everything you have the calling to be men who serve our churches well the calling to be the fathers to the fatherless in your community the calling to coach sports teams the calling to adopt the calling to start discipling other men around you the calling to share your faith with co-workers the calling to be bold for Christ in the culture that hates him hates his ways hates his people the calling to confess sin the calling to repent and be free these callings brothers are going to come at a high price bro your marriage will most definitely come under attack the sins that you thought you had a handle on are going to come flying back in your face there’s going to be an attack against you and your family your kids theres going to be an attack at your work everything that you thought would give you hope security and satisfaction is going to be shaken [19:59] and so like Jesus I feel like I need to ask you are you sure are you sure you want to follow Jesus into this calling because the truth is man it's going to require real men this mission is not for weak it is not for weak boys it's for humble but brave men of God who are willing to give it all up for the sake of Christ for the sake of his kingdom and for the sake of generations of children that are going to come after us and so if you're listening to this right now you've heard all that's at stake you’ve counted the cost and you still say Jerrad I've heard it all I've heard I’ve heard the words of Jesus I know this is going to require me to sacrifice it all to follow him yes I'm still willing to step in and to move into the areas that God is calling me to move into if that's you and you still say Jerrad I'm in but I want you to do three things right now first the number one thing I want you to do is I want you to pray right now I want you to ask the Holy Spirit to give you wisdom on your personal next steps that he has for you if you truly are counting the cost and you say I know that I'm stepping into a war that this battle isn't against flesh and blood that my marriage might come under attack that my kids my family my work my surroundings everything might come under attack but I'm still in for the sake of God's glory and his kingdom and for the sake of generations that come after me I'm all in to what God is calling me into if that's you I want you to right now pray Holy Spirit would you give me wisdom on what you want me to do next I have visions for this ministry and the ways that I want you to come along side of me so that we can move forward and move this army of men from around the world that are going to step into crazy Kingdom adventurers but the truth is there's also the spirit of God [21:50] that has a very specific call for your life and I want you to ask the Holy Spirit for his wisdom for you personally what does it look like for you personally and your family to be all in I don't know if it means man your church what it looks like for you to step in your church to start discipling men at your church to start small groups I don't know if it means adopting or becoming a foster parent but it could be something as you know it's as personal as you personally confessing sin that you've been holding onto you for a long time like where do you need to die where do you need to give up where do you need to surrender in order to be all in and the only way that you can do that man is to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal that to you to show you God where are you calling me personally and so even right now man just pause for a second ask the Holy Spirit Holy Spirit what do you have for me what does it look like for me to personally give up my own life my own ways my own selfishness to count the cost to follow you Lord what would you have for me and for my family would you pray that prayer the second thing I want you to do is I want you to be part of other guys who are near you who can push you in the direction that God is calling you to be here's the reality dude it is impossible to do this alone and it's really really dangerous to try to do this alone the enemy would want nothing more than for you to be isolated to try to go into war by yourself I tell this to the guys who sign up for the family leadership program all the time I'm so grateful you're here I this to them on day one I'm so grateful you’re here but also know that as you step into this the enemy is going to attack you and so you're pumped up and you're excited to jump in and to dive into our family leadership program and put in all the work but I promise you things are going to start being attacked all around you and so I'm just reminding you guys of that too man like if you're saying I'm all in I'm stoked [23:59] dude like I'm so excited for us to be all in to raise up this army I really feel like God is brewing something but to do that alone would be foolish and dangerous and so we need each other and so the very first thing that we've done even from the time I recorded that episode last week to this week we've already created a map and we're starting to show where guys are near you all around the world and so if you want to be part of a group if you feel like I want other DadTired guys who like-minded other guys who have listened to this who agree who are the same mindset I want to life with them and I want to see how God can start to use us together as men to change our communities then we’ve got to find each other and so there's two ways to do this number one if you just want to find guys near you go to dadtired.com/joinmeetup all 1 word joinmeetup dadtired.com/joinmeetup I’ll put it in the show notes because I know I’ve given you a lot to remember so if you just want to find other guys near you go to dadtired.com/joinmeetup [24:59] we already have a hundred guys this week move who’ve volunteered to lead something in neighborhoods around the world and so if you want to find guys near you dadtired.com/joinmeetup if you go to the map and you don't see any guys near you and you want to start one lead one then go to dadtired.com/hostmeetup so there's two different ones either join a meetup or host a meetup if you want to host a meetup dadtired.com/hostmeetup and all we're asking you right now is just to make yourself available the host that doesn’t mean you have to put on a big event are or you have to like get your church building to approve everything it could be as simple as like hey let's just meet at a restaurant let's have dinner with five other DadTired guys and let's just talk about what it looks like for us as men to start to lead in our communities I'm not asking you for anything crazy you're just basically being the point person so that guys can reach out to you and you can organize something and we'll help you organize it could be where you guys are talking about the podcast it could be a once-a-month meeting where you just you go through a book or you just you answer some questions that we give you it doesn't have to be super complicated don't overcomplicate it the goal is that we’re just doing life together so you can invite guys from your church you can invite guys from your community you can invite friends or if you don't have any hopefully you can just find other DadTired guys again if [26:14] you want to join 1 dadtired.com/joinmeetup if you want to host one dadtired.com/hostmeetup alright that's the second thing I want you to do and the third thing I want you to consider giving man last week when we went into when I recorded last week's podcast I told you we were getting less than $1,000 a month from 28 guys since I recorded that episode we now have 76 guys who are partnering with us every month that's insane dude we started with 28 guys last week and this week as I record this episode right now we have 76 guys who said I'm committing my time and my money to see this mission move forward and so dude as I talked to our board we’ve had other guys come alongside we’ve had a guy named Chace I don't think he'd be mad at me for calling out his name here but Chace he's just a DadTired listener like dude I’ve been fundraising for a while I'm a missionary let me help you figure out how to help sustain this ministry so he's come along he’s put in a bunch of his time and effort into this and we’ve had a ton of you guys volunteer your time but we were just praying together as a group and talking about alright what would it look like to have a hundred monthly partners a hundred guys that say Jerrad I’m all into this I'm willing to give my time and money to see this mission move forward and so right now we're at 76 I would love for you if you if you're all in I would love for you and I'm believing that we can get a hundred monthly partners it's going to take a lot of resources to continue to mobilize us to move forward we need more people we need more resources we need more meetup leaders [27:41] we need a lot of guys who are in so if you want to be part of it we want a hundred guys 100 monthly Partners to join us if you want to be part of that go to dadtired.com/give if you're in you know what's coming you’ve counted the cost you are swimming upstream you are swimming against a culture that has become hostile towards the things of God and so for you listening man I want to just read the scripture really as kind of a blessing over you as you step into as you begin to step into what is going to be a really crazy and potentially really hard time would you listen to this this comes from James chapter 1 verse 2 count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing if any of you lacks wisdom let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given to him pray with me guys Jesus even right now I want to slow my pace to your pace I'm thinking about all the thousands of guys who are listening to this episode right now Lord it gives me goosebumps to think right at this very moment your spirit is at work all over the globe the thousands of guys who are listening to this right now and you are stirring something in their spirit and God I’m thinking about the generations that are going to be changed the families that will be changed the kids that will be changed the communities that are going to be changed because of the work that you're doing and the thousands of men listening to us right now [29:29] but Lord before we go out before we step foot outside of our house and our normal routine God I pray that your spirit would convict us to truly count the cost Lord it is easier for all of us to just live in the mundane to be comfortable and yet Lord you're calling us to something much deeper much more scary and much more crazy Kingdom adventure for your glory and so God would your spirit even right now as I pray begin to draw men to yourself God to rise up God to convict man to repent of their sin and to rise up to be the men you’ve called them to be to step into this adventure that you’d have for them Lord for the men listening I pray that you would give them clarity and wisdom on what it looks like for next steps God that they would be bold and courageous and humble God that they’d confess sin and that they pray with their wife they pray with their kids that they’d invite their wife and their kids into this adventure God would we count the cost and at the end of counting the cost would the men listening to this right now say I hear it all I hear all the dangers I hear all the things I'm going to have to give up and God I'm still all in because I believe in your goodness in your glory in your redemption story of this world God would we be brave men who say that we’re all in it's in your name we pray amen [31:04]

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