WHAT IT REALLY MEANS TO BE A CHRISTIAN

1. What do you think it means to be a christian?

2. What is the christian faith?

DISCUSS
QUIZ TIME!


How many times does the word
christian/christians appear in the Bible?

a) Three times
b) Fifteen times
c) Thirty-five times
d) One hundred and seventy five times


How many times does the word
christian/christians appear in the Bible?

a) Three times
b) Fifteen times
c) Thirty-five times
d) One hundred and seventy five times


Does Jesus want more people to become
christians?
Did Jesus intend to start a new religion?
How many times does the word
disciple/disciples appear in the Bible?

a) Twelve times
b) Twenty-seven times
c) Eighty-six times
d) Two hundred and ninety-nine times


How many times does the word
disciple/disciples appear in the Bible?

a) Twelve times
b) Twenty-seven times
c) Eighty-six times
d) Two hundred and ninety-nine times



1. Whats the difference between a religion and a kingdom?
2. Whats the difference between a christian and a disciple?

DISCUSS
No one can see the kingdom of God
unless they are born again.
- Jesus (John 3:3)


1. What does it mean to be born again?
2. Why cant you see the kingdom otherwise?

DISCUSS
Religion seems primarily oriented to help
people who cant otherwise cope with life.

When that is true, religion is a crutch for
the weak-minded and insecure.

Religions primary currency is fear.
Its primary doctrine is sin.

Gods primary currency is freedom & choice.
His primary doctrine is love

Fear creates vulnerability for exploitation

Recipe for mass control:
1. Instill fear
2. Claim to possess sole solution to fear
3. Reward compliance
4. Disempower followers
5. Villainise critics

Religion deals in fear.
Yet one of Gods most recurring
commands to us is do not fear.

Real Christian faith then has nothing to do
with fear.

Youll know the truth and the truth will
set you free.
- Jesus (John 8:32)


1. How much is fear a feature of your faith/belief/religion?

2. Is it possible that religion is robbing you of faith
by substituting a distortion of God for a real view of who he is
in those areas of your life?

DISCUSS
RELIGION THE DEVILS BUSINESS PLAN?
Imagine you are Lucifers chief strategist.
You conned humans into giving you their authority ages ago.
Since then religion and superstition have ruled the planet
Humans gravitate towards selfishness and need harsh laws.
This is good for you.

Then God takes human form & overcomes the source of selfishness.
This is bad for you.

Worse, he leaves the keys to his whole way of life with us and
makes his Spirit available to each individual to show them how to
use those keys to open doorways to the life of heaven here.
Oh, and he takes back the power you stole of the first humans.

What do you do? What advice do you give Lucifer?
It better be good (in the most evil sense of the word).
DISCUSS
RELIGION AN IRONIC FORM OF BLASPHEMY

Those who can make you believe absurdities
can make you commit atrocities.
- Voltaire


With or without religion, good people will do
good and evil people will do evil,
but for good people to do evil, that takes
religion.
- Steven Weinberg (American Physicist)


Nothing proves the man-made character of religion
as obviously as the sick mind that designed hell,

unless it is the sorely limited mind
that has failed to describe heaven except
as a place of otherworldy comfort,
eternal tedium,
or continual relish in the torture of others.

Alastair Hitchens, God is not great.
Religion replaces justice with punishment
Focuses chiefly on what is wrong
Describes hell in great detail, heaven barely at all
Tells you what to think
Limits what you can do
Faith brings justice by revelation & reconciliation *
Focuses on action to make things right *
Describes eternity in detail, reveals heaven now *
Invites dialogue, shows you how to think *
Limits what you cant do *



CHRISTIAN vs DISCIPLE
BELIEF vs LIFESTYLE
TICKET HOLDERS vs BEING THE DOORWAY
HELL INSURANCE vs THE WAY OF LIFE

Christian Religion vs Real Christian Faith:

For God does not give us a spirit of fear,
but of love, power and a sound mind.
- 2 Timothy 1:7

I have come that they may have life, and
have it to the full.
- Jesus (John 10:10)

I found God on the corner of 1st and Amistad
Where the West was all but won
All alone, smoking his last cigarette
I said, "Where you been?" He said, "Ask anything

Where were you when everything was falling apart?
All my days were spent by the telephone that never rang
And all I needed was a call that never came
To the corner of 1st and Amistad






YOU FOUND ME THE FRAY
Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me
Lying on the floor surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait?
Where were you? Where were you?
Just a little late, you found me, you found me






YOU FOUND ME THE FRAY
But in the end everyone ends up alone
Losing her, the only one who's ever known
Who I am, who I'm not and who I wanna be
No way to know how long she will be next to me

Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me
Lying on the floor surround me, surround me
Why'd you have to wait?
Where were you? Where were you?
Just a little late, you found me, you found me!


YOU FOUND ME THE FRAY
The early morning, the city breaks
And I've been calling for years and years and years and years
And you never left me no messages
You never sent me no letters
You got some kind of nerve taking all I want!
YOU FOUND ME THE FRAY
YOU FOUND ME THE FRAY
Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me
Lying on the floor, where were you? Where were you?
Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me
Lying on the floor surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait?
Where were you?
Where were you?
Just a little late, you found me, you found me.
Why'd you have to wait to find me, to find me?
Hurray for a child
That makes it through
If there's any way
Because the answer lies in you

They're laid to rest
Before they've known just what to do
Their souls are lost
Because they could never find

What's this life for
WHATS THIS LIFE FOR CREED
I see your soul, it's kind of gray
You see my heart, you look away
You see my wrist, I know your pain
I know your purpose on your plane
Don't say a last prayer

Because you could never find

What's this life for
WHATS THIS LIFE FOR CREED
But they ain't here anymore
Don't have to settle the score
Cause we all live
Under the reign of one king

But they ain't here anymore,
Don't have to settle no God damn score
'Cause we all live
Uunder the reign of one king
WHATS THIS LIFE FOR CREED

1. How does religion answer these questions?
2. How did Jesus answer these questions?
3. How do you answer these questions?

DISCUSS
The kingdom of God is not a matter of
talk but power.
- 1 Corinthians 4:20

In this world you will have trouble.
But take heart!
I have overcome the world.
- John 16:33

That which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked at and our hands
have touched - this we proclaim.
- 1 John 1:1


Jesus is life. We are meant to be like him in this world.
Real Christians are people who walk this world knowing they are a living
doorway through which the life of heaven pours into this realm.
Real Christians arent hiding from the harsh realities of life or seeking
solstice behind the closed doors of their church.
Real Christians have overcome this world.
They have found how to live.
The see the reality of another kingdom.
It has been revealed to them and now supersedes this reality.
They have seen through the Matrix and are no longer bound by its rules.
They are people of a living faith, who cannot be contained by religion.
They shine like stars in this world.
That is who we are called to be.

CONSIDER
Ultimately a real Christian is
a disciple of Gods kingdom

- someone who follows Jesus
and becomes a catalyst
for heaven in this realm.
So after all these one night stands
You've ended up with heart in hand
A child alone
On your own
Retreating

Regretful for the things you're not
And all dreams you haven't got
Without a home
A heart of stone lies bleeding

And for all the roads you followed
And for all you did not find
And for all the things you had to leave behind

BELIEVE - SAVATAGE
I am the way
I am the light
I am the dark inside the night

I hear your hopes
I feel your dreams
And in the dark I hear your screams

Don't turn away
Just take my hand
And when you make your final stand

I'll be right there
I'll never leave
All I ask of you is believe

BELIEVE - SAVATAGE
Your childhood eyes were so intense
While bartering your innocence
For bits of string
And grown-up wings
You needed

But when you had to add them up
You found that they were not enough
To get you in
And pay for sins repeated

And for all the years you borrowed
And for all the tears you cried
And for all the fears you had to keep inside
BELIEVE - SAVATAGE
I am the way
I am the light
I am the dark inside the night

I hear your hopes
I feel your dreams
And in the dark I hear your screams

Don't turn away
Just take my hand
And when you make your final stand

I'll be right there
I'll never leave
All I ask of you is believe

BELIEVE - SAVATAGE
I never wanted to know, never wanted to see
I wasted my time till time wasted me

Never wanted to go, always wanted to stay
'Cause the person I am are the parts that I play

So I plot and I plan. I hope and I scheme
To the lure of a night filled with unfinished dreams

And I'm holding on tight to a world gone astray
As they charge me for years I can't pay
BELIEVE - SAVATAGE
I am the way
I am the light
I am the dark inside the night

I hear your hopes
I feel your dreams
And in the dark I hear your screams

Don't turn away
Just take my hand
And when you make your final stand

I'll be right there
I'll never leave
All I ask of you is believe

BELIEVE - SAVATAGE

Jesus is life. We are meant to be like him in this world.
Real Christians are people who walk this world knowing they are a living
doorway through which the life of heaven pours into this realm.
Real Christians arent hiding from the harsh realities of life or seeking
solstice behind the closed doors of their church.
Real Christians have overcome this world.
They have found how to live.
The see the reality of another kingdom.
It has been revealed to them and now supersedes this reality.
They have seen through the Matrix and are no longer bound by its rules.
They are people of a living faith, who cannot be contained by religion.
They shine like stars in this world.
That is who we are called to be.

CONSIDER