check out Luke9:57-62
- Be Committed. The old saying is true: You get out what you put in. Show up. When you miss a group meeting, others can’t benefit from what God is teaching you. But don’t just attend. Merely showing up to meetings doesn’t lead to growing up in the faith. Study. Ponder. Wrestle. Then come prepared to participate.
- Be Authentic. It’s always tempting to try to make ourselves look better—more spiritual, more solid, etc.—than we really are. But no one benefits from that kind of dishonesty. You don’t need to share your deepest secrets, but be a truthteller even when the truth is hard or ugly. Often one member’s transparency and vulnerability can set the tone for an entire group. Be that person!
- Be Trustworthy. Help make the group a safe place. Adapt the “Vegas philosophy”: What’s said in the group stays in the group. Don’t blab the secrets of others. There’s no quicker way to kill a group.
- Be Realistic. Groups aren’t heaven on earth. You won’t “click” with everyone. Some nights the discussions will drag—or you’ll come away with more questions than you had when you showed up. That’s okay. Remember discipleship is a lifelong process, not an eight- or thirty-week program. Hang in there. Long journeys take a lot of little steps.
- Be Prayerful. Jesus said, “Apart from me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Without the presence of Christ, your group will be a mere meeting. But if, in a spirit of faith and surrender, you summon and submit to the infinite power of God
Matthew 10:37
"If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.
Matthew 10
32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’[c]
37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
The Cost of Following Jesus luke 9
57 As they were walking along, someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
58 But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.”
59 He said to another person, “Come, follow me.”
The man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”
60 But Jesus told him, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead![l] Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.”
61 Another said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.”
62 But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”
Yes, I have been one. The greatest challenge is death.