Count the Cost: What Following Christ Really Requires

On Sunday evening, September 26, 2026, missionary Bro. Ward, who has served in Japan since 1991 and planted churches in the Kobe area, filled the pulpit during a singspiration night and a farewell fellowship for the Appleton family. After a brief update on the church plant in Kato City, he brought a message from Luke 14:25-35 on counting the cost of following Christ. He began by noting that Jesus was not discouraging anyone from being saved; He was calling people to weigh the true cost, because there is a price whether we follow Him or not. Bro. Ward illustrated total surrender with missionary John G. Paton, who told a ship captain warning him about cannibals that he had already died to self before leaving. His first point was to count the cost of not receiving Christ. Using the rich young ruler in Luke 18 and Matthew 16:24-26, he warned that clinging to riches or sin at the expense of one’s soul is a terrible bargain, and that the fearful are named first among the lost in Revelation 21:8. Second, Christians must count the cost of not living for Christ. Drawing on 2 Corinthians 5:10 and 1 Corinthians 3:9-15, he explained that believers will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, where works of gold, silver, and precious stones will be rewarded and wood, hay, and stubble will burn, leaving some saved yet with little reward. Third, we must count the cost of not giving to and praying for missions, since from Romans 10 people cannot hear without a preacher and cannot preach unless sent, and God promises to supply the needs of faithful givers in Philippians 4:19. Finally, he considered the cost of not going where God sends, contrasting Caleb and Joshua with the ten fearful spies in Numbers 13. God does not call us to calculate whether we are able, but to obey, and He enables those He calls. Bro. Ward closed by urging believers to give themselves fully to Christ and invited anyone who was unsaved to settle it that night.