"Busted" Series

I must say that I love student ministry. I especially love preaching and teaching the Word of God in a way that can be easily understood by students. I know that when students can grasp what's being said, then so can I! We just finished up a three-week series called "Busted!". We took a look at (1) how temptations can be so easy to give in to, (2) hidden things aren't so hidden, and (3) could you be busted for being a follower of Jesus? It was some good times. I really enjoyed preparing and putting these together. The last topic was near and dear to my heart. I truly believe that I hold in my heart the spiritual gifts of teaching and evangelism. As I said before, I love to study and present the Word of God. I also love to share the wonderful news that though we've blown it (many times), God is still reaching out to us and calling us to have a relationship with Him.

I really got to thinking about the topic that we went over last night: could you be busted for being a follower of Jesus Christ? For some reason, I have not been able to get this out of mind. Here where I live (in the southeastern United States - Sweet Home Alabama), it is very common for someone to be called a "Christian". But does the term "Christian" mean today what it meant in the first century? I really think not. We can see from the Scripture that the term "Christian" was meant to be very derogatory. It was meant to be an insult, but somehow we've taken it to be one of our favorite "labels" that we place upon ourselves.

What are the qualifications of being a "Christian" in today's world? Go to church. Get baptized. Walk down front and say a prayer. These are some of the things that we talked about last night. These things are all good, but they in no way make a person a disciple of Jesus Christ. I found a video on YouTube that says it so much better than I could. Take a moment to watch it, and then answer the question: could you be busted for being a follower of Jesus Christ?