Let's TALK about HOW WE LIVE as CHRISTIANS…
REAL VOICE
THERE are SO MANY VOICES that TELL US HOW TO LIVE…whether DIRECTLY or INDIRECTLY…everything INFLUENCES our LIVES…MOVIES tell us how to LIVE. TV SHOWS…OUR FRIENDS…THE INTERNET…LISTENING TO MUSIC can INFLUENCE how WE LIVE...COCA-COLA even has a good theme for LIFE…have you seen the Polar Bear commercials: “GIVE.LIVE.LOVE”. If COCA-COLA has a theme for life and a polar bear to show them how to live, certainly Christians have a way of life...maybe not a polar bear...but a PERSON...the PERSON of JESUS CHRIST! For Christians, the WORD of GOD is to BE THE MAIN VOICE in TEACHING US HOW TO “LIVE”. WHY? BECAUSE the “LIFE” of JESUS is found in the PAGES of SCRIPTURE!
REALLY LIVED
NO ONE “LIVED” a BETTER LIFE THAN JESUS CHRIST. NO ONE LOVED more…NO ONE was MORE JOYFUL and THANKFUL…NO one PRAYED MORE! NO ONE GAVE MORE…NO ONE LIVED MORE ABUNDANTLY THAN JESUS CHRIST! HE is EVERYTHING GOD is and EVERYTHING WE ARE TO BE! DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS SO AMAZING JESUS’ LIFE? HE LIVED IN ORDER TO DIE! HE CAME to “DIE”. He CAME to be CRUCIFIED. TONIGHT, I WANT TO suggest the ANSWER to our TOPIC: “HOW DO I LIVE?” is this: LIVE A CRUCIFIED LIFE. THAT’S HOW JESUS LIVED! 1 JOHN 2:6 says this: “The one who says he belongs to Christ should live the same kind of life Christ lived. (NLV)
REALLY CRUCIFIED
WHAT KIND OF LIFE DID HE LIVE? A CRUCIFIED LIFE. HIS CRUCIFIED LIFE SAVES OUR LIVES. OUR CRUCIFIED LIFE CAN TRANSFORM our FAMILIES, our CHURCHES, our COUNTRY, our WORLD. GALATIANS 2:20 will SHOW US 3 WAYS TO LIVE A CRUCIFIED LIFE...
I. TO DIE
THE FIRST THING WE MUST DO TO ‘LIVE” IS “DIE”. I don’t want to confuse anyone, so let me explain. Look at the very FIRST part of GALATIANS 2:20
ILLUSTRATION
Question for you...do you like Burger King?
• Burger King is HOME of the “WHOPPER”! Who knows the INGREDIENTS to the WHOPPER? grilled quarter-pound (113.4 g) beef patty, sesame seed bun, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, and sliced onion.
• Burger King is HOME of the BURGER KING
• Burger King is HOME of the SLOGAN “HAVE IT YOUR WAY!”
EXPLANATION
You see, a lot of times, Christians can get caught up in living “BURGER KING” CHRISTIANITY instead of “BIBLICAL” CHRISTIANITY.
• “BURGER KING” CHRISTIANITY SAYS “I am KING”.
• “BIBLICAL” CHRISTIANITY SAYS, “JESUS is KING!”
• “BURGER KING” Christianity is “HAVING IT YOUR WAY”.
• “BIBLICAL” CHRISTIANITY is “HAVING IT JESUS’ WAY”.
THE WAY
JESUS’ WAY is the CROSS. The CROSS calls us to COME and DIE. When Jesus called His disciples and said, “COME, FOLLOW ME”, He was saying, “COME and DIE”…DIE to “HAVING LIFE YOUR WAY” and START “HAVING IT MY WAY”! Just like one of my favorite SONGS: “THE WONDERFUL CROSS”. LOOK at one of the LYRICS –(MEDIA SHOUT)--:
O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all
ILLUSTRATION
When a PATIENT is on the OPERATING TABLE in a SURGERY ROOM and “DIES”, the DOCTOR will ANNOUNCE the TIME of death. Let me show a MOVIE clip from the TV SERIES “LOST” to explain what I am talking about—(SHOW the CLIP)—Sometimes, we JUST WILL NOT LET A “SIN” or “OUR OWN WAY of DOING THINGS DIE”. WE KEEP TRY to keep them ALIVE the JACK did in the CLIP. WE need to “CALL IT”. We need to “CALL IT RIGHT NOW”! Right now, as you are ready this blog, what time is it? ome of us need to LET “OUR OWN WAY DIE”…we need to CALL out a SIN in our LIFE that we are letting LIVE and WE need to LET it DIE…cheating, lying, cuzzing, gossiping, lack of serving others, lack of loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, body of strength…I want to give all of us a time of silent prayer right now to announce the time of death of a SIN and SELF. LET’S PRAY. If you prayed those PRAYERS you have “CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST”. Remember, a person on a CROSS faces ONLY 1 DIRECTION…there is NO LOOKING BACK to the OLD “WAY of LIFE”. May each of you TRULY have JESUS “LIVE IN YOU” and FACE the DIRECTION of CHRIST…which brings us to our NEXT POINT→
II. CHRIST “LIVES IN ME”
LOOK AT THE SECOND PART OF GALATIANS 2:20
A. FLU “IN” YOU
Have any of you ever had the FLU? WHEN YOU HAVE THE “FLU” you have a NASTY VIRUS “LIVING IN YOU”…IT TAKES OVER YOU ENTIRE BODY…IT AFFECTS the way you THINK, FEEL, EAT, and SLEEP. You end up looking like this PUMPKIN—(MEDIA SHOUT)— you are either on the COUCH all day or hunched over in your bed. The “VIRUS” “INSIDE” YOU EFFECTS HOW YOU “LIVE” on that DAY or that WEEK!
B. CHRIST “IN” YOU
When “CHRIST LIVES IN US”…HE AFFECTS EVERYTHING in a POSITIVE WAY…HOW WE THINK, TALK, ACT, PRAY, READ, PLAY, LOVE, LAUGH, ENCOURAGE, ETC! SIN NO LONGER CONTROLS OUR “WAYS”…JESUS DOES! LOOK AT GALATIANS 5:24(NIV)
The SIGNS THAT YOU HAVE THE FLU are:
• Body aches, especially joints and throat
• Coughing and sneezing
• Extreme coldness and fever
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Irritated watering eyes
The SIGNS that “CHRIST LIVES IN YOU” are:
• YOU MAKE SIGNIFICANT TIME TO PRAY
• YOU MAKE SIGNIFICANT TIME TO MEDITATE on the WORD of GOD
• YOU REALIZE your LIFE is NOT about YOU…IT’S ABOUT GOD and OTHER PEOPLE
• YOU FIND WAYS to HELP others WITHOUT them having to ASK YOU
• YOU COMPLAIN LESS and PRAISE GOD MORE
• YOU TRUST GOD even if life does not go the way you expected it to
• THAT’S JUST A SHORT LIST
III. LIVE “IN” CHRIST
CHRIST LIVES “IN” US…WE ALSO “LIVE IN CHRIST”…LOOK at the LAST part of GALATIANS 2:20
A. ALL ABOUT THE CROSS
WE LIVE BY FAITH “IN” THE ONE WHO LOVED US AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR US! IN OTHER WORDS, our life IS ALL ABOUT THE CROSS of CHRIST! LOOK AT GALATIANS 6:14-18.
B. ALL ABOUT GOD and OTHERS (LOVING and GIVING)
WHEN WE “LIVE IN CHRIST” WE DO FOR GOD and OTHERS what HE DID for us on the CROSS: HE LOVED US AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR US! In those 2 WORDS, that’s how WE ARE TO LIVE THIS CHRISTIAN LIFE…(1) LOVING and (GIVING)! COCA-COLA HAD IT RIGHT THE WHOLE TIME: GIVE.LIVE.LOVE!
CONCLUSION
A. PAUL
PAUL SAYS IN GALATIANS 5:6b,14 “THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS IS FAITH EXPRESSING ITSELF IN LOVE…LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF”…
I LOVE C.S. LEWIS’ QUOTE IN MERE CHRISTIANITY:
“Do not waste your time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.”
B. PRACTICAL
Here is how you can LOVE someone. It's not a "magical formula" but it is designed to make us "intentional" about loving someone...remember, if you aim for nothing, you will hit nothing! Here is--> it's called the "7 times 3 times" rule (7x3x).
Love someone 7 times.
Tell them the Gospel of Jesus 3 times.
There is no telling how the Spirit of the Holy Christ will work on someone with the 7 times 3 times rule...remember, every time we love someone and witness to them about Jesus, we are the 2nd witness. The Holy Spirit is the 1st Witness in their lives...whispering to them about the Lord and Savior...then you come in and "incarnate--(flesh out)" what the Spirit has been telling them.
How do you love someone 7 times?
1. Invite them to lunch and pay for it
2. Invite them to church
3. Take them to a movie
4. Text them an encouraging text message or write them an encouraging letter
5. Tell them something you like about them
6. Pray for them
7. Play video games if you are a guy; go shopping with them if you a girl!
* Think of some more ways you can love them!
How do I tell them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ 3 times?
When you are loving them in one of the 7 ways, ask them if they worry about stuff. First, find a point of connection. While you are pigging out on Chick file, ask them if they worry about stuff. Tell them you do and then tell them how Jesus helps you overcome your worries. Let that be a bridge to begin talking about Christ. Another way is this: ask them what they get most excited about...tell them how Jesus loves when we live life abundantly and how we can use our talents for His glory...find out if they have received Christ as their Lord and Savior...tell them what it means to live with Jesus as Lord and with Jesus as Savior...it's a "Come, Follow Me" relationship. Pray with them...God save you and the people you love 7x3x!
Here is how you can LOVE someone. It's not a "magical formula" but it is designed to make us "intentional" about loving someone...remember, if you aim for nothing, you will hit nothing! Here is--> it's called the "7 times 3 times" rule (7x3x).
Love someone 7 times.
Tell them the Gospel of Jesus 3 times.
There is no telling how the Spirit of the Holy Christ will work on someone with the 7 times 3 times rule...remember, every time we love someone and witness to them about Jesus, we are the 2nd witness. The Holy Spirit is the 1st Witness in their lives...whispering to them about the Lord and Savior...then you come in and "incarnate--(flesh out)" what the Spirit has been telling them.
How do you love someone 7 times?
1. Invite them to lunch and pay for it
2. Invite them to church
3. Take them to a movie
4. Text them an encouraging text message or write them an encouraging letter
5. Tell them something you like about them
6. Pray for them
7. Play video games if you are a guy; go shopping with them if you a girl!
* Think of some more ways you can love them!
How do I tell them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ 3 times?
When you are loving them in one of the 7 ways, ask them if they worry about stuff. First, find a point of connection. While you are pigging out on Chick file, ask them if they worry about stuff. Tell them you do and then tell them how Jesus helps you overcome your worries. Let that be a bridge to begin talking about Christ. Another way is this: ask them what they get most excited about...tell them how Jesus loves when we live life abundantly and how we can use our talents for His glory...find out if they have received Christ as their Lord and Savior...tell them what it means to live with Jesus as Lord and with Jesus as Savior...it's a "Come, Follow Me" relationship. Pray with them...God save you and the people you love 7x3x!
