Read Matthew 2.
Take a closer look at Matthew 2:13-14. FOLLOWING Christ requires an immediate response. Notice when the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said to "get up and go", Joseph didn't hesitate. Seemingly, he didn't ask any questions, he didn't hit the snooze button and wait until morning, he didn't take time to analyze the situation and make a "rational" decision, he didn't "pray about it"; he got up, in the middle of the night, and went immediately. God did not protect Joseph and Mary and their child without their cooperation. Protection required immediate obedience to God's directions, which in this case involved fleeing the country.
FOLLOWING Christ's baptism in Matthew 3, God immediately responded (3:16-17). When Christ called the first disciples to FOLLOW Him they dropped what they were doing and FOLLOWED Him immediately. How do we depend on others to respond immediately? (e.g. firefighters, policemen, etc.) Who depends on us to respond immediately? What hesitations do you have in FOLLOWING Christ? What things do we allow to distract us from an immediate response?
Understand this, God may allow some things into our lives that are hard to understand so that we can learn some valuable lessons and so that He can accomplish His purposes in unexpected ways. We still must respond immediately, without hesitation. Christ began His life as a refugee and stranger in another country. To our limited understanding, it would have been easier if God had removed Herod immediately, avoiding the escape to Egypt and all the difficulty involved with getting there. If Joseph thought this, it didn't affect his response. It's also important to know that even after one situation is resolved, there may be other problems to face. God's protection, guidance and care for His FOLLOWERS is always necessary because our spiritual enemy never ceases the attack.
Bailey the Buddhist: Buddhism is an Eastern religion which revolves primarily about suffering. Its founder is named Siddhartha Guatama (later called the "Buddha" - where we get Buddhism from). He was born nearly 600 years before Christ. At some point in his young life he decided to travel the country, and when he did he became troubled by all the suffering of the common people. He desperately wanted to do something about all the pain he saw, so he studied the Hindu scriptures under their priests, but decided that was not the way to help. Eventually he stopped praying to the Hindu "gods" and decided to become a homeless person and survive essentially by begging. During the years that followed, he dove completely into self-denial and meditation, and decided that this practice would lead to peace and help with suffering. He also believed that through self-denial and meditation, a person could eventually achieve a god-like state of "Nirvana". He then decided that his mission in life was to spread his message wherever he went, at which point he became known as the "enlightened one" or the "Buddha". Bailey is not alone. There are an estimated 613 million Buddhists worldwide; and 1 million in the United States.
What Bailey believes about Buddhism can be summed up in what are called the "Four Noble Truths"
- There is pain and suffering in the world.
- Attachment to people and things causes suffering.
- The suffering will stop when a person can rid him/her self of all desires.
- There is a path to the extinguishing of all desires.
Note: Buddha never considered himself to be a god, or a divine being of any type. He basically viewed himself as a person showing others "the way" to enlightenment. Bailey doesn't consider Buddha to be a god either.
Things to Remember:
Remember that Bailey is coming from an extremely different worldview, so totally avoid "Christianese" terms such as "new birth", or even "born again". Some good alternatives that they could better relate to would be terms like "endless freedom from suffering, guilt, and sin", and "gift of eternal good life without suffering". Also, focus on the uniqueness and unique claims of Jesus - especially His resurrection and teaching that He was the only way to God (John 14:6). Ultimately, you want to get the conversation to the point of sharing the gospel, so don't get too sidetracked with confusing Buddhist beliefs. Try to work your own gospel journey story, especially as it relates to your freedom from guilt and assurance of heaven in the midst of suffering.
Bottom line with a Buddhist: As always, remember that you are in a spiritual battle, so put on your spiritual armor (Ephesians 6) and pray without stopping!
In Matthew 16:24 Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and FOLLOW me.” In a world where our students are pulled in so many directions to FOLLOW this or to FOLLOW that, FOLLOWING Christ can be difficult. Our theme this year for TwentyEight is “FOLLOW”.
“TwentyEight” represents the 28 days of February, during which we will be encouraging our students to read one chapter of Matthew and pray every day. 28 Chapters. 28 Days. There will be daily blog messages to encourage this, students will be encouraged to memorize a weekly memory verse and attend all of our youth services. All of the youth messages in February will center around the book of Matthew, and we’ll be conducting a special “Underground” Bible study each week in Sunday School. We’re also partnering with other youth ministries in our section, and on Sunday night, February 28, we will be having a final celebratory Youth Service in South Sioux City, NE.
Now, Day 1. Read Matthew 1. I know, a list of names. Not the most exciting reading you've ever done, I'm sure. Don't skip over it! While Mark's Gospel was written for the Romans and Luke's Gospel for Theophilus and other Gentiles, Matthew's Gospel was written specifically for the Jewish believers. Therefore, it was very important for him to link Jesus to the prophecies of the coming Messiah in the Old Testament. Although Joseph was not Jesus' biological father, he was his legal father, and God had promised that the Messiah would be a decendant of Abraham and King David. By tracing Jesus' legal ancestry back to those two men, Matthew demonstrates to the Jews that Jesus had the proper family history to qualify as the Messiah. In the first three and a half chapters of Matthew, the phrase, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet," or some similar expression, occurs no less than five times!
Also note the types of people mentioned in Jesus' family line. Judah. Rahab. David. Manasseh. Several have major failures in their past, yet they represent the broad range of people who put their faith in God and become part of His family. They also serve as examples of how God can work his highest purposes through anyone - regardless of their background and failures - who ultimately submits to FOLLOWING Him.
Andy the Atheist: Andy does not have a "god belief." This is important to remember, because it's not that Andy doesn't believe in God, because that statement opens the possibility that God or a supreme being exists. Andy's worldview is driven by pure rationality, reason, and the scientific method. The result of this is that Andy, like most atheists, believes the theory of evolution to be true and rejects the possibility of the spiritual world and an afterlife. Andy's not alone. Most surveys show that around 15% of Americans call themselves atheist.
Things to Remember:
The first thing you need to ask an atheist is "do you really seek to discover the truth - even if it costs you your reputation, and even your friends?" If the answer is no, then realize that he/she is not willing to go where the evidence leads; you won't be having an honest intellectual dialogue, but your conversation may still have a spiritual impact.
Don't talk about sin with an atheist. In their worldview, morality is generally dependent on the situation and neutral, so there is no reference point in their minds for a concept of breaking God's universal laws.
Don't get dragged into arguments about what God did or didn't do. Focus on the evidence that Christ existed, died on the cross, and came back from the dead. As well, your personal testimony can be a powerful tool, because it's very difficult to "disprove" the real and lasting change that Christ has brought to your life.
Bottom line with an atheist: (and anyone else, for that matter) You cannot argue someone to faith in Christ, but you can (and should) live such a Christlike life that those around you sense something different, which opens the door for you to explain the "evidence."
Salt has several properties and benefits that make Jesus' metaphor particularly relevant to his followers.
Salt seasons and flavors food, just as Christians should enhance the people and community around them.
Salt is a preservative, just as Christians and the church should resiste corruption and decay, preserving a godly influence on the culture.
Salt has healing properties, just as Christ's followers must help bring healing to people who are hurting physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Salt creates thirst, just as Christians should create spiritual thirst, giving people a desire to know more about God and influencing many to follow Christ.
In Jesus' time, people used small clay lamps that burned olive oil drawn up by a wick. As Christians, we should be like these simple lamps, providing light in the spiritually dark conditions of the world around us.
Alisha the Agnostic: Alisha calls herself an agnostic because she believes there is no proof for the existence of God, so you could say that Alisha doesn't believe or disbelieve in God. In other words, in Alisha's mind, God could exist, but no one can currently prove that.
Things to Remember:
Don't argue over whether or not God can be "proven", because that usually puts you on the defensive, and the bottom line is you can't really "prove" God in the scientific method sense. You can't win a game by only playing defense.
Focus on the observable evidence of God that is built into creation like how "fine tuned" the universe is to support life, otherwise we wouldn't even exist. This fine tuning simply could not have happened by accident. For example, the earth is the perfect distance from the sun. If it were just a few miles closer, we'd all burn up. A few miles further out, and we'd all freeze to death!
Try to work what is called "Pascal's Wager" into the conversation, which goes something like this: It makes more sense to believe in God than to not believe. If you believe, and God does exist, you will be rewarded in the afterlife (heaven). If you do not believe, and God does exist, you will be punished for your disbelief (hell). If He does not exist, you have lost nothing either way.
If they ask questions like: "how do you know which God?", focus on the claims of Christ as being the only way and proving it by coming back from the dead. Remember to bring this up as a conversation starter, and not as an intimidating threat.
Bottom line with an agnostic: You cannot argue someone to faith in Christ, but you can (and should) live such a Christlike life that those around you sense something different, which opens the door for you to explain the "evidence."
Imagine for a moment that Jesus has a Facebook account. How many friend requests would He receive each day? Would we ignore His requests for the latest applications, causes, or green patches? And would we be excited every time he tags us in one of His photos? How many friends would we have in common? To how many of our friends would we send a friend suggestion to connect them with Jesus?
Let’s face it. We all use or have used social media to contact new and old friends. We invite them to school events, parties, and youth group activities. On Facebook you can join thousands of groups and give to thousands of causes. And without ever leaving your home you can learn a lot about a person or even a group of people simply by paying close attention to someone’s social media page. Our culture is changing all the time and despite what some may think the gospel is relevant yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Look at Romans 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” You and I need to share the GOSPEL with confidence and assurance that God in His sovereignty will call others in spite of cultural differences because the GOSPEL is powerful and is for everyone. Want to know what to share? Try this:
God created us to be with Him.
Our sins separate us from God.
Sins cannot be removed by good deeds.
Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again.
Everyone who trusts in Him alone has eternal life.
Life that’s eternal means we’ll be with Jesus forever.
What are some things on Facebook or MySpace that you can use to spark a spiritual conversation with your friends? What are some other tools you can use to share the gospel with your friends online?
