By Chad West & Chuck Slocum 

If being good and going to church and all that kind of stuff doesn’t get you into heaven, and only accepting Jesus sacrifice for you does, that changes things.  It means that being a Christian doesn’t mean that you’re a member of the choir or a deacon or a member of a certain denomination or anything like that.  It means that you follow Jesus.

Well, what does that mean?  One of the things that it means is that our lives are now about him—our jobs, our families, our friendships—everything.  It also means that we have a story; a story of how Jesus changed our lives.  Jesus said to one new follower, “Now go and tell the people what the Lord has done for you.”  With salvation comes a responsibility to tell people about this Jesus who changes lives.

Often, we get so bogged down in the religion and marketing of a church that we almost totally ignore why we exist.  When we do that, we’re kind of like a new car with no gas, attractive but useless.  Even worse, we become, as Jesus said, like freshly painted tombs—nice on the outside, but full of dead things within.  If our lives as followers of Jesus aren’t about Jesus then they’re about us, and that just doesn’t work.  Telling people “what the Lord has done for you,” your life-changing experience with Jesus, your story, can be the turning point in someone else’s life.  Our mission is telling people about Jesus with our lives and with words.  Anything and everything else falls short.

Posted by General at 05:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By Chuck Slocum & Chad West

We went to Timberfest wanting to get an idea of how we could speak to the community about Jesus.  We were surprised to find that it was the church that needs to hear about Jesus as much as anyone else.  When asked, “Is there a specific time in your life when you can say you gave your life to Jesus,” many people would respond with, “Well, I go to church.”

Satan uses this lie to convince a lot of people that they’re good to go with God as long as they warm that pew on Sunday.  This isn’t a new problem.  A young, rich guy came to Jesus and claimed that he had to be heaven-bound because he kept all the commandments.  Jesus showed him that God’s standards were a lot higher than he imagined, and that he could never meet them on his own.  This is why the Bible calls Jesus the stumbling block.  He gets in the way of our arrogance—our belief we can work our way to God—with his simple gift of love.

There’s no other name by which we can be saved.  That’s why Jesus is called the Cornerstone—everything relies on him.  God became a man and lived among us, dying for our sins, in our place.  Trusting in Jesus, and that sacrifice, is the only way you can truly answer the “Do you know Jesus” question.  Jesus said, “Whoever trusts in Me will not perish, but have ever-lasting life.”  Just believing that God exists doesn’t cut it, going to church doesn’t do it, coming from a Christian family won’t help one bit, and trying to be good doesn’t even come close to solving the problem of our sin.  Only by accepting Jesus’ sacrifice for you and me will you find the Way.

Posted by General at 05:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

by Chuck Slocum & Chad West 

It can be dangerous to grow up religious.  Don't get me wrong, our faith in Jesus is what makes everything else in our lives worthwhile.  But, there can be a dramatic difference in faith in Jesus and religion.  Let us explain.

Growing up in the Bible-Belt, most of us have had exposure to religion in one way or another.  So, many of us have a concept, or even a belief, in God.  We may pray, we may go to church, we may even believe that God loves us and has this great plan for our lives.  It’s even possible that we had some tremendous event happen in our lives where we became thankful and aware of God’s presence.  But, sadly, that’s not knowing God.  It looks good, but it’s not the real thing.

That’s where Jesus comes in.  He takes the focus off of what we have or haven’t done and places it on what He did.  Trusting in His death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins is the doorway to knowing God.  We’re incapable of pleasing God on our own, and Jesus perfect sacrifice is the only one God will accept.  God wants a relationship with his much-loved children, and so He provided a Way; a free gift.  That’s the only real thing.

Posted by General at 05:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)