The Cost of True Discipleship

Leading The Way Radio Podcast

Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef

Michael Youssef, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Sermons, Bible Study, Theology, Health & Fitness, Jesus, Mental Health, Preaching, Bible, Spirituality, Religion, Holy Spirit, Ltw, Leading The Way

4.9 • 620 Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2026

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this sobering message, Dr. Michael Youssef proclaims the uncompromising Truth of God’s Word: salvation is by grace alone through faith alone—but discipleship demands surrender. From Matthew 8 and Luke 9, Jesus, the divine Son of Man, confronts those who claim to follow Him yet cling to comfort, wealth, or divided loyalty. Scripture is clear and inerrant—no one can serve Christ on his own terms. The call to “take up your cross” means repentance, obedience, and daily identification with His suffering. Many admire Jesus, but few submit to His Lordship. This message calls believers to examine their hearts, intercede for the lost, and place everything in the hands of the Savior who alone is worthy. If today’s teaching stirred a question, burden, or need for prayer, you don’t have to walk through it alone. 🙏 Pastoral Care & Prayer Teams Our trained prayer partners and pastoral care team are available to pray with you and offer Biblical support. https://ltw.org/care 💬 Receive personal answers to your faith questions—anytime, day or night—at: https://myfaithassistant.com If you’ve been blessed by this podcast, please consider a tax-deductible donation to help extend this ministry—so another person can be encouraged, prayed for, and pointed to Christ. ❤️ Support Leading The Way: https://www.ltw.org/donate

Transcript

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0:00.0	Listen, you cannot earn your salvation. You can never buy your salvation with all the trillions of dollars.
0:09.2	Salvation is a gift of God. It's by faith alone, by grace alone. Once you are saved, we cannot serve God on the cheap.
0:18.1	And Jesus said, deny yourself. Take your cross. What does that mean? Take up your cross.
0:23.6	Identify with Jesus. Identify with his suffering. And follow me every day.
0:32.1	Thank you for making time in your day for leading the way with Dr. Michael Yousaf.
0:39.2	You know, the Bible tells us about the multitudes traveling far and wide just to get a glimpse of Jesus. And yet, even after
0:46.3	watching healings and seeing miracles and hearing life-changing teaching, many of these people
0:52.4	just settled into mediocrity.
0:55.1	Today, on leading the way, Dr. Youssef reveals specifically what happened when Jesus
1:00.8	asked his followers to suffer for the kingdom.
1:05.2	Listen with me to this powerful message from the pages of Matthew by Dr. Michael Youssef.
1:16.2	Matthew chapter 8 verses 18 to 22.
1:25.0	Same thing found in Luke chapter 9 versus 57 to 62. It has to do with Jesus saying let the dead bury their, and then also saying that no one puts his
1:30.4	hand on a plow and looks back is fit for the service in the kingdom of God. And what Jesus is saying
1:37.0	to those three people, two in Matthew, and then Luke adds a third one, is that the reason people
1:43.0	run away from the truth is because the truth exposes a sin
1:49.3	in their life, a sin that they are unwilling to give up. In John chapter 3, verse 19,
1:57.4	John tells us, light has come into the world, but men love darkness instead of light. Why? Because their deeds were evil. Well, all of our deeds were evil before we came to Christ, right?
2:08.9	Everyone who does evil, that is the continuously do evil, hates the light. And they would not come into the light for fear that their deeds would be exposed.
2:21.0	So what is Jesus doing here in Matthew 8, 18 to 22, is that he revealing the things to these people
2:29.8	that are keeping them from being thoroughly converted to Christ. Here in Matthew chapter 8,
2:37.6	we see two different people with two different barriers that are keeping them from being God's
	...

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