Chapter 10: Witness Like a Jesus Freak

Chapter 9: Serve Like a Jesus Freak

Chapter 8: Rejoice Like a Jesus Freak

Chapter 7: Forgive Like a Jesus Freak

Chapter 6: Stand Like a Jesus Freak

Chapter 3: Worship Like a Jesus Freak

If you went into a prison today, do you think that you would hear any of the prisoners singing worship music? It really makes a person wonder if there were one or more prisoners sitting in a prison today worshipping God with all that they are if the earth would shake, if the doors would open, and if any chains would fall off. That must have been some worship! I bet no one was sleeping.

More to come ...

Because of Him,

Terry

Chapter 5: Love Like a Jesus Freak

Chapter 4: Study Like a Jesus Freak

Chapter 2: Pray Like a Jesus Freak

I am sitting here trying to get caught up on this study and the first thing that I read about is Matthew 18:19-20. For the June and July issues of the Hus Youth Group Newsletter I have been talking about prayer. In June I talked about how to pray and July I talked about how I applied it.

Prayer is a very powerful tool that too often gets overlooked. Can you possibly imagine how that soldier felt when he told his grandmother about the bomb that did not go off only to find out that she had been praying for him at the same time?

So often we are lead to believe that prayer has to be done in a specific way. I once met a man who said told me that he did not know how to pray. Then one day he prayed with a group of us. Needless to say he does know how to pray, he just did not know it because he thought it had to been done in a specific way.

When all else fails and we need help, Jesus teaches us how we can pray in Matthew 6:5-13. I know this may seem hard to believe, but God already knows what you are going to pray. So why pray you ask? Because God wants to hear it from you. There are many times that I cry out to God, just as David did in 2 Samuel 22:7; "But in my distress I cried out to the Lord; yes, I called to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry reached his ears." When we are in pain God wants to hear it. He loves you and wants to help. Just ask Him. When you are happy, let God know that too. Then he can rejoice with you!

The book then suggests that we should pray for those who are persecuted. How does one do that? The book gives several organizations along with websites that I will also place here for your convenience:

• Jesus Freaks - www.jesusfreaks.net
• The Voice of the Martyrs - www.persecution.net
• Open Doors International - www.gospelcom.net
• Crying Voice in the Wilderness--Christian Martyrs -www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/7730/Christian_martyrs/
• Religious Prisoners Congressional Task Force - www.house.gov/pitts
• Advocates International - www.advocatesinternational.org
• Freedom House Center for Religious Freedom - www.freedomhouse.org
• International Justice Mission - www.ijm.org
• International Missionary Center - www.missionary.net

There is also a group of people that have never heard of Jesus. Most of them are located in the 10/40 window, an area that stretches from 10 degrees north to 40 degress north of the equator. This area that runs from West Africa to East Asia is ministered to by:

• Jesus Freaks - www.jesusfreaks.net
• Healing Nations - www.healingnations.org
• AD2000 - www.ad2000.org
• YWAM - www.ywam.org
• The Caleb Project - www.calebproject.org
• Gospel For Asia - www.gfa.org

You certainly not know the names of all of the people that need prayer, but God does. Why not ask God to "please take care of the perscuted Christians in the world. Also, please bring someone to those who do not yet know you. Lord I do not know their names, but I know you already do." Remember what Jesus told us in Matthew 25:40, "...I tell you the truth, anything that you did for even the least of my people here, you also did for me."

Prayers will be answered. Take the example that the book uses of Mr. George Mueller. He was a troublemaker for sure, that is until he met Jesus. That is when it was put on his heart to take care of the "street urchins." Mr. Mueller opened several orphanages taking care of over 100,000 orphans and doing it all with prayer. There were no fundraising campaigns. During this time he also recorded 50,000 answered prayers!

• Who are some friends you are praying for? Consider keeping a journal of the prayers you pray for them and a record of God's answers to those prayers.
• Who in your life is your closest confidant? How do you speak to him/her? Practice writing a prayer as if you were talking to your trusted friend.
• What percentage of your prayer time is spent with personal requests? Requests for others? How much in praise for who God is? How much in thanksgiving for all He has done? Looking at these percentages, how would you adjust your time in prayer?

Jesus gave us the Lord's Prayer to help us in praying. Here is another tool you can use to pray called ACTS:

• Adoration
• Confession
• Thanksgiving
• Supplication (asking God for our needs and the needs of others)

Just as God answered the prayers of the Apostle Paul, of Mr. Mueller, and of Ivan Moiseyev (you will have to read the end of the chapter to find out who Ivan is), he will also answer yours. Will He answer them them the way that you want Him to? Sometimes, but not always. Will He answer you quickly? God will answer you in His time. Remember, God's timing is perfect. Just remember what it says in Proverbs 3:5-6; "Trust the Lord with all your heart, and don't depend on your own understanding. Remember the Lord in all you do, and he will give you success." When Elijah depended on the Lord and trusted Him without question, God protected him from King Ahab.

Because of Him,

Terry

Chapter 1: Believe Like a Jesus Freak

The first part of this chapter talks about being fake. That is all the further that I got before I realized how easy it is to be that way without even thinking about it. Have you ever been somewhere when you are with friends and you completely disregard another friend you see in passing because they do not fit in to the group that you are currently with?

In our culture, Chrisianity is the target of many television, movies, jokes, etc. It is worse depending on where you live.

More to come ...

Pastor Terry

Introduction to "Live Like a Jesus Freak"

In the introduction to this book the authors reference Hebrews 12:1-2, "We have around us many people whose lives tell us what faith means. So let us run the race that is before us and never give up. We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way and the sin that so easily holds us back. Let us look only to Jesus, the One who began our gaith and who makes it perfect. He suffered death on the cross. But he accepted the shame as if it were nothing because of the joy that God put before him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God's throne." I would add to that Hebrews 12:3, "THink about Jesus' example. He held on whole wicked people were doing evil things to him. So do not get tired and stop trying." These verses come from the section of Hebrews that tell us to follow Jesus' example.

When was the last time that you heard someone say that life is easy. To be honest life is hard. What can we do to counter the hardships of life? Not much, but if we put our trust in God and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we will be preparing for a wonderful life in Heaven. God loves us so much that he gave us hope through the death of His Son Jesus. By doing this our negative thoughts can become positive. This can be hard to understand living in a country where you can get just about anything that you want, especially when you look at Third World countries where people are starving. If they accept Jesus, where is their hope? For all intents and purposes they are planning for their future. A future that goes beyond this earthly home and in to God's Kingdom.

In Paul's letter to the Ephesians he tells how we should live, "You were taught to leave your old self--to stop living the evil way you lived before. That old self becomes worse, because people are fooled by the evil things they want to do. But you were taught to be made new in your hearts, to become a new person. That new person is made to be like God--made to be truly good and holy."

As I have been reading the book it has been easy reading. That's were the "easy" part ends. Just as it says in the introduction the ideas contained in this book, just like Jesus' teachings are not easy to do. Many times it is easier to go Satan's way of instant gratification. The book references Matthew 16:25-26. I always like to reference the scripture around the verses that are referenced. In this case I went back to Matthew 16:21 and went on through verse 28. It is in this section that Jesus tells his followers that he must die, "From that time on Jesus began telling his followers that he must go to Jerusalem, where the older leaders, the leading priests, and the teachers of the law would make him suffer many things. He told them he must be killed and then be raised from the dead on the third day. Peter took Jesus aside and told him not to talk like that. He said, "God save you from those things, Lord! Those things will never happen to you!" Then Jesus said to Peter, "Go away from me, Satan! You are not helping me! You don't care about the things of God, but only about the things people think are important." Then Jesus said to his followers, "If people want to follow me, they must give up the thing they want. They must be willing even to give up their lives to follow me. Those who want to save their lives will give up true lifer, and those who give up their lives for me will have true life. It is worth nothing for them to have the whole world if they lose their souls. They could never pay enough to buy back their souls. The Son of Man will come again with his Father's glory and with his angels. At that time, he will reward them for what they have done. I tell you the truth, some people standing here will see the Son of Man coming with his kingdom before they die.""

That passage also goes along way in explaining why those I talked about earlier in the Third World countries are able to give their lives to Christ.

Because of Him,

Terry

A Word Before We Start

Jesus freak
n. Slang
A member of a movement among young Christians adapting traditional evangelicalism to pop culture.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

So much for the dictionary'a definition for Jesus Freak. The book "Live Like a Jesus Freak" is more detailed. Two pages before the Table of Contents they give a definition of "freak". Then on page 13 there is an explanation of where the term "Jesus Freak" came from.

What do you think a Jesus Freak is? Are you a Jesus Freak?

Because of Him,

Terry