We had the students write down their questions so we could answer them, here is my sermon
Introduction:
So here we are, with Christmas only 2 weeks away. We have made some changes around here. I hope you guys are enjoying them. We are going to continue on with the series based off of your questions. Sara spoke last week about God’s concept of sex. Now I get to answer some of your questions. Your questions that I get to answer are: How do I stay a Christian?, How is Hip-Hop Music bad?, and How do I convince my friends to come to church? I will try my best to answer your questions. If you guys have more questions then I want to encourage you to write them down and put them in the Question box.
How do I stay a Christian? How is Hip-Hop music bad?
What is a Christian?
The Miriam-Webster Dictionary defines a Christian as one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus. So a Christian is someone who says they believe in the teachings of Jesus, I think Webster has some partial truth here. I believe it takes more than just saying you believe in the teachings of Jesus, or saying you believe in Jesus. I believe it takes action to be a Christian. You can’t just say you’re a Christian, and live whatever kind of life you want. It takes faith. So a Christian is a person who is following Christ with his/hers life. Simply put, a Christian is a Christ-Follower. There is a big difference from being a Christian and being a Christ-follower. It takes faith to believe that there is a God that loves us so much that He sent His son to die on a cross for us. It takes hope that you’re going to go to heaven. It takes faith to stay a Christian. It takes a relationship.
What is faith?
Miriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines faith as firm belief in something for which there is no proof. Hebrews 11:1 says this “Now faith is being sure of what we hoped for and certain of what we do not see.” Faith starts with hope. We need to first off put our hope in heaven. What I mean by this is that our reason for being a Christian should be not what we can get out of being a Christian in this life, but what we get out of it in the next life, which is heaven. Heaven should excite us, and should be our reason for living on this earth so that when we die we get to spend eternity with our Father in heaven. Hope leads to faith. Faith simply put is this, when we are sure of what we do not see. We cannot see God, but we can see Him all around us in people, creation, and in our own lives. It is much more than just believing in God, it is acting on what we believe. It’s reading God’s word and then acting on it. You have power with your faith. We also need to know what we believe in order to stay a Christian.
What we believe:
I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, he died for our sins, was resurrected after three days, and is coming back again. I believe that the Bible is the Word of God, and that God’s spirit inspired mighty men to write it. I believe that the Holy Spirit is available to all believers. I believe that God created this earth. I believe that when Jesus returns that I’m going to go to heaven, and live eternally, and it’s going to be amazing. I believe this not because I have been told this, but because I have read God’s word and know that it says this. What do you believe? Why do you believe it? C.S. Lewis says this: “We are what we believe we are.” You need to find out what you believe in order to have faith in it. You need to study God’s word to find out what the truth is, and what the lies of the enemy and the world are. If you consider that there is a God, and that you need his help, and that this help comes through his son, then you have the most basic beliefs. Why do you believe this? Belief comes before faith. There is a difference between faith and beliefs. Beliefs are with the mind, but faith is with the heart. Belief is thinking these things, but faith is taking them to heart.
How do you get faith?
Paul says in Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” God’s Word is truth. You build your faith by getting truth into your heart. You can’t know God’s truth if you put the Bible on a bookshelf to gather dust. You need to read God’s word to stay a Christian, it allows you to know God intimately, and know what He says. How many of you are still doing SOAP? What about the rest of you? The next thing you need to build faith is prayer. Prayer is just talking to God like He is right there. Not just asking God for all these things, and to fix our problems. Prayer is also listening. We need to listen to God. Spend some quiet time with God, and see what He has to say. When we read God’s word, and talk to Him daily, we can live a life of love because His presence is going to be upon us. Just ask God for it, but be prepared for his answer.
Things that help us stay a Christian.
We need to read God’s word and talk to Him. We also need to know that when we endure the sufferings of this life that we are going to go to heaven. And from how the Bible describes heaven, it is going to be a wonderful place. But we must know that we are going to mess up, and most of the time, this is what keeps people from staying a Christian. People think that because they have sinned, and messed up that they can’t be a Christian anymore. This is not truth. God’s word says in 1 John 1:9, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness.” God is a forgiving and loving God. He wants us to pursue him. He wants a relationship with us. Just because you have messed up, doesn’t mean you can’t be a Christian anymore.
The other big reason is that people get bored with being a Christian. They get tired of reading their Bible and praying daily, get tired of coming to church, or they get too caught up with their own lives that Christianity is just boring compared to that. Let me tell you this, Christ is not boring. You are not a “Christian” if you are not following Christ with your life. Being a Christian does not have to be boring, it is us that makes it boring. We need to refocus our lives, and remember how we felt when we first became a Christian. We were excited and we thought we could do anything, but then we looked around and realized that nobody else is sharing in our excitement no more, that they too are living the boring Christian life. I want to tell you guys this, don’t look at other Christians and compare you lives with them. Look to what God has promised you for being a Christian, and that will make everything exciting. Look at the entire New Testament after the Gospel, they were excited to suffer for Jesus because they knew that when they died that all of this would be over, and they would get to go to heaven, and celebrate. Heaven is our prize, Jesus said that he is going to go prepare a place for us. I imagine that heaven is going to be so great that even our imaginations can’t compare anything to it. So if you think Christianity is boring then take your eyes off your lives, and imagine what heaven is going to be like, and be excited. When we set our eyes on heaven then all of this life will fall into place because this life won’t matter.
Accountability Partners:
A very helpful idea for Christians, and for anyone, is to have an accountability partner, a person that you can go to for prayer and encouragement when you don’t want to be a Christian anymore. We are told to do this in the Bible. 1 Thessalonians 5:11: Therefore encourage one another and build each other up…” You need someone who can challenge you to read your Bible and pray daily. Someone that will ask you the tough questions and that you will be honest with. You need to find someone who won’t judge you, but will not be easy on you either. It needs to be someone that has the same beliefs as you. Pretty much they need to be a Christian. After you find an accountability partner, you need to find a mentor.
Mentor:
A leader that will encourage you and challenge you. Someone you can look up to because of their faith in God. I’m going to tell you now, that if you’re looking for a perfect mentor, you’re not going to find one because nobody is perfect. The crew are great people to ask to have as your mentor. They will help you out, and answer your questions, and if they don’t have the answer, they will find it for you. You and Your accountability partner should find someone that can help you both. We have so much pride, guys especially, that we want to make this journey on our own. We need someone around us to help us. We can’t do this on our own. We need God’s help and the help of others.
Lifestyle Change
This does not mean you have to give up everything in your life, but it means changing your life. We should check everything in our life. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (Message): “On the other hand, don't be gullible. Check out everything, and keep only what's good. Throw out anything tainted with evil.” God says to test everything in your life, music, sermons, movies, and see if it is good and lines up with the Word of God. Get rid of anything that is evil. God doesn’t say that you must only listen to worship music and hymns or watch only television ministers or Christian movies. God has given us music. He intended it for good, but the devil turned it for evil. Early music was all about God, and you didn’t hear music with cussing, about sex, or murder. If you look at modern music anymore, almost every song has some cuss words in it, is about sex, drugs, murder, or something else that doesn’t glorify God. How is Hip-Hop music bad? Hip-hop music is not bad, the lyrics or the artist is bad. When you listen to a song or watch a movie, ask yourself these questions, Are the lyrics glorifying God, Are the lyrics good and won’t cause me to hinder my faith, or are the lyrics bad, and they will hinder my faith? The second thing that I like to do is to check out the artist, Check and see how many of their songs are bad, most of the songs are bad then you probably shouldn’t be listening to any of their songs. If you like a certain genre or type of music, but you don’t know any bands that are Christians, and that they glorify God, talk to one of the crew members, Darrin and I are huge music people, and we know about a lot of bands. So if you want, you can talk to us, any of the crew, and we will help you make a decision. Whatever you do, DON’T GIVE THE EXCUSE THAT YOU ONLY LISTEN TO THE MUSIC AND NOT THE LYRICS. That is a lie of the enemy. Just because you don’t listen to them, your brain is, and it is and will affect you, and your walk with God. It’s not just music that affects us, EVERYTHING WE DO AND LISTEN TO! Just remember this, God has given us the pleasures of this earth. He wants us to enjoy these things. God gave us these things to remind us about how much greater heaven will be, but the enemy is a pervert. He perverts the things that God has created for good and made it evil.
How do I stay a Christian and How is Hip-Hop music bad?
You stay a Christian by faith. You get faith by reading God’s word, coming to church, and listening to what the person talking is saying, taking notes on what they say to find out if it is truth. Pray daily, but don’t just ask God for things, listen to what he has to say. Next find an accountability partner and a mentor to help you on your journey and encourage you to have perseverance in your Christian walk. Next you need to check everything in your life, music, movies, friends, influence, even the sermons you hear. Check everything and see if is hindering your from your faith, or to see if what your being told lines up with the word of God. I also want to add this, it is a quote from the movie “Facing the Giants”: “Praise God when you win and when you lose.” This means when you mess up, or you fail at something, or your life is not going good then praise God, and when you are living life to the fullest, and giving God your all, and everything is going good, Praise God! Paul says in Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Paul says to rejoice always in all circumstances. So the second question was this: How is Hip-Hop music bad? The truth is, it’s not bad, what is bad about it, lyrics, and most likely the artist. Check them out or get with a crew member.
How do I convince my friends to come to church?
First off let me tell you this, it is not your responsibility to save your friends. It is, however, your responsibility to plant seeds and invite them. God cannot save your friends if he doesn’t have the opportunity to. To get your friends to church, you need to live your life in such a way that they will know that your different, and want to be different to. If you are saying you’re a Christian, but living your life exactly like your rebellious friends then why should they want to come to church. You can’t convince your friends to come to church. They have that choice just like you have that choice. Don’t pressure them into coming, but make them envious of your changed life. That way when they see that you’re different, you can tell them why you’re different, and invite them to church. Let God’s love and power do the rest.
Conclusion
I just want to conclude with this, I want to encourage you guys this week to use your imagination, and think what heaven will be like. Read God’s word about heaven, and if you don’t know where to look, ASK. We need to set our minds on things above like Paul says in Colossians 3:1-2, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Set your mind and hope in heaven where your creator is sitting waiting for you.
Remember that God created everything for our pleasure, but it is how we use them that either glorifies God or doesn’t. So Hip-Hop music is not bad, but the lyrics are what will kill you.
When you live your life in such a way that it is different from everyone else’s life your friends will want to come to see what makes you so different. When you live a life that is so focused on your Creator and spending time with Him, then you will live a life that reflects that. You will live a life of love, and your friends desperately want to be loved.
