9/26/12
YouTube Video
What is a Christian? (expect= someone who believes in God/
Jesus, someone who goes to church, etc)
So you can tell a Christian because they act nice and go to church,
right? Not necessarily. Some people go to church just so other people
see them there. They want people to
think they are good. But, going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more
than being in a garage makes you a car.
Being a Christian means that you believe Jesus Christ died
for the forgiveness of your sins.
Trivia question: Who were the first people called
Christians?
25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
The people of this church in Antioch were the first to be
called Christians. It was also the start
of the worldwide spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After Jesus was crucified His message was
originally shared with the Jews, but not the Gentiles. It was shared sporadically with non-Jews
before Antioch, but the emphasis was clearly on spreading the Good News to the
Jews.
Antioch would have been a major city at the time connecting
Europe with Asia and it would have had a diverse population. They would have been of different races,
lifestyles, and even languages. What
they did have in common was a belief that Jesus Christ died for their
sins.
It can be hard for us to remember that we are saved not
because of what we do, but what Jesus did.
In the Gospel of Luke (23:40-43) when Jesus is being crucified we are
told about the two robbers that are crucified at the same time as Jesus. One of them accepts Jesus while on the cross
and Jesus tells him that the robber will be with Him in Paradise. We don’t know a lot about this robber, but he
does say that he deserves the punishment he is getting. So it seems fair that we can make the
assumption that he has lived a pretty bad life.
Yet when he decides to be a believer, he becomes a Heaven bound
Christian.
So Jesus makes it clear that the requirement is accepting
Him. It appears that is all it
takes. Which is great news for us, but
it can also be very difficult for us to deal with. The great news is we don’t have a set list of
things to accomplish. We don’t have a
big white board that is tallying our good deeds and our bad.
So what is the bad news?
Jerry Sandusky is a member of a Methodist church in Pennsylvania and a
believer in Jesus Christ. He also is the
monster in the recent Penn St scandal that included him doing disgusting things
to young boys. My human feelings say
that this vile man should not be allowed into Heaven. When I read the Bible it appears to me that
he is allowed into Heaven when he dies.
That kind of pisses me off. I
don’t think I would be happy to see him standing at the pearly gates.
So the bad news is that we may not be happy with who
receives God’s forgiveness. It doesn’t
seem fair does it? In all honesty
though, we don’t want fair. Romans 6:23
says “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord.” Has anyone in
here not sinned before? (No) So that means we all deserve a death in Hell. That is what fair would be. Without Jesus we all deserve Hell, not just
the non-believers and really bad and disgusting sinners.
So we should all be believers in Jesus Christ. I believe this and I hope you are all at this
point. If you aren’t please don’t hesitate
to ask the leaders questions about anything that is holding you back.
Accepting Jesus isn’t really what this song was about
though. The church in Antioch was the
first to be called Christians, not because they were the first believers, but
because they had a true desire to live like Jesus. This is where the song “Let’s Go” comes into
play. Although we can receive God’s
forgiveness at any time, none of us know when we are going to die. So there is no better time than right now to
start living a life more like Jesus, because each one of you can make a
difference in the world. There is
someone out there who needs you to show them the love of Jesus. The song said “the future’s what we make it
so let’s go.”
Small group questions/think about on your own
1.
Do you live your life as an example of Jesus
Christ? Think about things you could
improve on.
2.
Do you share with your friends that you are a
Christian? Do you share what it means to you?
3.
What can we do as a group to help make the
future better?
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