This is an article I wrote this year. Enjoy. Chris Dobson
The Cost of following Christ and leaving your old life behind.
Your life before you knew Christ was like a fast moving train headed to destruction. However when Christ became the driver of the train he slowed it down and as he put on the brakes your life started to change.
Before I knew Jesus Christ life was about myself. Even after I knew Christ it was about myself but not as much.
I’m sharing this with you today because we all need Christ. However why do we need him? What’s the point of making a decision for Jesus today?
With all the information being bombarded at us in this age and all the options and opportunities why should we even believe in God let alone Jesus the Christ?
After reading the Bible over and over through the last 20 years I started to see something. Lots of unanswered questions started to become answered.
Since most of us can relate to life being about ourselves I would like to talk about something that is about us.
Ponder this. Who wants to die never to be existent again? I know I don’t. Even animals and insects want to live!
Not only do people want to live but we want our children to live also. Animals also want their children to live and so do even the insects. In our existence and throughout all of life, life is valuable.
Not only do we and creation want to continue to exist but also the universe creates new stars.
So my question is where this will in all of creation comes from to want to exist?
Throughout all of our history we have heard so many stories in many cultures about history. Man over the eons have made up some of the greatest stories.
Regardless of man making up the stories and showing off his amazing talented gift of story telling the will in creation to want to exist is quite real.
So in front of us we have life and then we have the reasons for it. The fact that it is here and why it’s here many people claim to have the answers however we all agree on the one thing that life wants to stay alive and reproduce.
Without this will to stay alive and reproduce there is no purpose. Even the universe will agree that it needs to reproduce and stay alive for it to have a purpose.
When I read the Bible it is full of stories, wisdom, understanding and many other things. However it also fulfils the longing to want to stay alive and have a purpose.
When Jesus came into the world he ultimately came to answer this question of our need to wanting to stay alive and have a purpose.
When Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through him he was referring to our longing to wanting to stay alive.
God himself comes into his own creation and answers the old age question that we all desperately wanted to hear which was that we can continue to live on.
Since the beginning of the world there has been many beliefs about how we might live on in many cultures and stories.
However most don’t believe that we can live on and just invest into the moment.
The story of the Bible is quite simply actually. Throughout it God explains through people that if they obey him and love his teachings they will live on. Throughout the Bible many people representing him told these stories until God himself entered the world and told the promise first hand through his Son Jesus Christ.
Regardless of how people interpret the New Testament Jesus comes with a strong message. That message is, is that God raised him from the dead and allows him to live on. However Jesus uses that witness to explain to us that those who trust in him and follow him will also be raised to life and live on.
To the person who doesn’t want to believe in Christs existence, and his witness of living on through him, and the power that raised him from the dead will raise us also, is blinded by Gods ability to believe.
To that person there is no need to live on or live on under the conditions set out by God.
All the way throughout the Bible God explains that he requires faith because he is a God that is moved by faith.
When many people say they have no faith or want it their not really saying that. People who don’t acknowledge Jesus Christ as God still live lives of faith. Everyone has to have a certain amount of faith to live in this world. People who have jobs have faith that their jobs will be there when they arrive each day. They have faith that their children are alive at school even though they can’t see.
They have faith that if they engage in sex they may have children. We all have faith that the sun will rise and go down each day.
Throughout each day we all believers and non-believers have faith and use it heavily throughout each day.
So why don’t we want to have faith in God? Why don’t we want to have faith in Jesus or his resurrection? Should we be having faith in other religions and beliefs?
The fact is many do and they use their faith to turn away from the God of faith.
The subject heading of this talk was leaving your lives behind the follow Christ.
Any one truly understanding of this will require faith.
To live a holy life, repent of ones sins, be a loving and forgiving person and share Jesus and his message of eternal life with others requires a lot of faith.
This is one of the main reasons why people don’t except Jesus Christ and live a life full of faith to please him, because the more we accept him the more faith is needed to be transformed and become a new creation.
God wants us to live forever and sent Jesus into the world to explain to us the option is available but he is not just going to hand it to us on a silver platter. Many Christians think if they go to Church and be a good person that is their ticket to this great promise of eternal life.
All they have to do is be a part of the church social club and bingo…they have their ticket.
When Jesus made a way for us to live forever it was made under the conditions that we accept the way he made as a free gift. When we accept the way we don’t have to do anything to pay for the way he made but we do have to accept the conditions to receive eternal life.
This may sound like we have to do things to receive salvation.
The way I would explain it is like this. Just imagine you’re in a building and it has started to burn. There are people still inside the building. The supervisor said you must go and get them and provides free fire proof clothing and a map of the building and the exit point to lead the others to safety.
In this situation he has provided for you a free map, clothes and safe passage through the building and the most important of all the exit point that allows you and your fellow work colleagues to pass through. He has done all the hard work for you but the conditions are you must put on the clothes, take the map and save your friends and come out the exit. Is he asking you to work of being saved through the conditions? No he isn’t…he is asking you to be like him and show you what it is to be like him so you can call yourself one of his trained staff. However from a biblical point of view we become like his children.
If we don’t follow Christ, live Holy lives and save people from hell, how can we really call ourselves children of God?
Wanting to go to heaven without following Christ and living a life of faith means we want to become children of God by force and not by faith.
So there is a cost of following Christ and leaving your life behind.
If you don’t share Christ with people then you probably don’t really know him. If you don’t read your Bible regularly then you probably don’t really know him. If you still live most of your life in sin and don’t follow the way the New Testament said to live you probably don’t really know him.
We know Jesus Christ if we do his will and follow his ways. Putting the New Testament in our minds helps us like the man outside the front of the burning building. It shows us how to become children of God and take the next step of receiving his free grace. But we have to take it and our lives are proof whether we have received it or rejected it.
It’s well worth it…because we get to live on with God forever!
AMEN!!
The Cost of following Christ and leaving your old life behind.
Your life before you knew Christ was like a fast moving train headed to destruction. However when Christ became the driver of the train he slowed it down and as he put on the brakes your life started to change.
Before I knew Jesus Christ life was about myself. Even after I knew Christ it was about myself but not as much.
I’m sharing this with you today because we all need Christ. However why do we need him? What’s the point of making a decision for Jesus today?
With all the information being bombarded at us in this age and all the options and opportunities why should we even believe in God let alone Jesus the Christ?
After reading the Bible over and over through the last 20 years I started to see something. Lots of unanswered questions started to become answered.
Since most of us can relate to life being about ourselves I would like to talk about something that is about us.
Ponder this. Who wants to die never to be existent again? I know I don’t. Even animals and insects want to live!
Not only do people want to live but we want our children to live also. Animals also want their children to live and so do even the insects. In our existence and throughout all of life, life is valuable.
Not only do we and creation want to continue to exist but also the universe creates new stars.
So my question is where this will in all of creation comes from to want to exist?
Throughout all of our history we have heard so many stories in many cultures about history. Man over the eons have made up some of the greatest stories.
Regardless of man making up the stories and showing off his amazing talented gift of story telling the will in creation to want to exist is quite real.
So in front of us we have life and then we have the reasons for it. The fact that it is here and why it’s here many people claim to have the answers however we all agree on the one thing that life wants to stay alive and reproduce.
Without this will to stay alive and reproduce there is no purpose. Even the universe will agree that it needs to reproduce and stay alive for it to have a purpose.
When I read the Bible it is full of stories, wisdom, understanding and many other things. However it also fulfils the longing to want to stay alive and have a purpose.
When Jesus came into the world he ultimately came to answer this question of our need to wanting to stay alive and have a purpose.
When Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through him he was referring to our longing to wanting to stay alive.
God himself comes into his own creation and answers the old age question that we all desperately wanted to hear which was that we can continue to live on.
Since the beginning of the world there has been many beliefs about how we might live on in many cultures and stories.
However most don’t believe that we can live on and just invest into the moment.
The story of the Bible is quite simply actually. Throughout it God explains through people that if they obey him and love his teachings they will live on. Throughout the Bible many people representing him told these stories until God himself entered the world and told the promise first hand through his Son Jesus Christ.
Regardless of how people interpret the New Testament Jesus comes with a strong message. That message is, is that God raised him from the dead and allows him to live on. However Jesus uses that witness to explain to us that those who trust in him and follow him will also be raised to life and live on.
To the person who doesn’t want to believe in Christs existence, and his witness of living on through him, and the power that raised him from the dead will raise us also, is blinded by Gods ability to believe.
To that person there is no need to live on or live on under the conditions set out by God.
All the way throughout the Bible God explains that he requires faith because he is a God that is moved by faith.
When many people say they have no faith or want it their not really saying that. People who don’t acknowledge Jesus Christ as God still live lives of faith. Everyone has to have a certain amount of faith to live in this world. People who have jobs have faith that their jobs will be there when they arrive each day. They have faith that their children are alive at school even though they can’t see.
They have faith that if they engage in sex they may have children. We all have faith that the sun will rise and go down each day.
Throughout each day we all believers and non-believers have faith and use it heavily throughout each day.
So why don’t we want to have faith in God? Why don’t we want to have faith in Jesus or his resurrection? Should we be having faith in other religions and beliefs?
The fact is many do and they use their faith to turn away from the God of faith.
The subject heading of this talk was leaving your lives behind the follow Christ.
Any one truly understanding of this will require faith.
To live a holy life, repent of ones sins, be a loving and forgiving person and share Jesus and his message of eternal life with others requires a lot of faith.
This is one of the main reasons why people don’t except Jesus Christ and live a life full of faith to please him, because the more we accept him the more faith is needed to be transformed and become a new creation.
God wants us to live forever and sent Jesus into the world to explain to us the option is available but he is not just going to hand it to us on a silver platter. Many Christians think if they go to Church and be a good person that is their ticket to this great promise of eternal life.
All they have to do is be a part of the church social club and bingo…they have their ticket.
When Jesus made a way for us to live forever it was made under the conditions that we accept the way he made as a free gift. When we accept the way we don’t have to do anything to pay for the way he made but we do have to accept the conditions to receive eternal life.
This may sound like we have to do things to receive salvation.
The way I would explain it is like this. Just imagine you’re in a building and it has started to burn. There are people still inside the building. The supervisor said you must go and get them and provides free fire proof clothing and a map of the building and the exit point to lead the others to safety.
In this situation he has provided for you a free map, clothes and safe passage through the building and the most important of all the exit point that allows you and your fellow work colleagues to pass through. He has done all the hard work for you but the conditions are you must put on the clothes, take the map and save your friends and come out the exit. Is he asking you to work of being saved through the conditions? No he isn’t…he is asking you to be like him and show you what it is to be like him so you can call yourself one of his trained staff. However from a biblical point of view we become like his children.
If we don’t follow Christ, live Holy lives and save people from hell, how can we really call ourselves children of God?
Wanting to go to heaven without following Christ and living a life of faith means we want to become children of God by force and not by faith.
So there is a cost of following Christ and leaving your life behind.
If you don’t share Christ with people then you probably don’t really know him. If you don’t read your Bible regularly then you probably don’t really know him. If you still live most of your life in sin and don’t follow the way the New Testament said to live you probably don’t really know him.
We know Jesus Christ if we do his will and follow his ways. Putting the New Testament in our minds helps us like the man outside the front of the burning building. It shows us how to become children of God and take the next step of receiving his free grace. But we have to take it and our lives are proof whether we have received it or rejected it.
It’s well worth it…because we get to live on with God forever!
AMEN!!
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