Picking Up Where Devin Left Off...

Those of you who were able to see/speak with Jimmy yesterday morning were able to hear some valuable teaching about six essentials to Christian living.

from Dictionary.com:
essential, adj. - absolutely necessary; indispensable

Six Essentials to Christian Living
1. Pray for your lost friends. Pray in front of your lost friends for their needs. Pray in front of your lost friends for their salvation.

2. Your testimony consists of three parts: your life before you realized your need for Christ as Savior and Lord, how you became a Christian, and then your life after you became a Christian. Use your testimony as a gauge to see where God is working. In other words, after giving your testimony (which means you first have to give your testimony!), ask if anything like that has happened to them, and eventually ask them if they would like to see that happen in their lives. If they say, "no" then God has not yet opened the door. (This does not mean that he will not open it at a later time!)

3. Share the gospel as much as possible. This may mean inviting your friends into your home or someplace other than church for a Bible study. (note: if you feel led to do this and want help, just tap Devin or me.)

4. Cast your vision for those around you and find people to walk along-side you with that vision. Casting your vision means envisioning how God can move in your community (whether that's your school, your circle of friends, your neighborhood, or your youth group!).

5. Live out Mt. 22:37-40: love God with your heart, soul, and mind & love your neighbor as yourself. The whole Old Testament (yes, all those pages) boil down to those two things!

Matthew 22:34-40:
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

6. Disciple others to live out Mt. 22:37-40--yes, you don't have to be out of junior high or high school to teach others about Jesus!

There they are, six things all of us need to be doing this week!