If you look around at the world there are many Christians who seem to be living in this area of “dead faith”. They believe that Jesus is their Savior. The real issue is you wouldn’t be able to tell from looking at their lives that they are Christians. We as a culture are in a place where becoming practical atheists while professing to be Christians seems to be the normal way to do life. This is something we as the youth must start to change so we can get back to the original intent of what we are all about.

There are many stances on how we as Christians should live. If we really want to get down to the core of what we are about we are supposed to be different. Somewhere along our lineage we have implanted in our mind that Christians are supposed to stay contained to their Christian friends, their Christian church, their Christian t-shirts and sayings, but Jesus was never contained. We live in a society of cookie cutter Christians who all look the same as everyone else. While we should make every effort to live differently in this world most Christians look exactly the same as the rest of the world. We must stop living like this because it conveys the message that we really don’t care about God, so as Nietzsche suggested we live like “God is dead”.

When we look at the life of Jesus Christ who we know was sent as God incarnate to save us from our sins there was nothing ordinary about His life. He didn’t just go to the places everyone else went and he didn’t do the things that the typical “good Jewish person” would have done. This doesn’t mean that Jesus did anything wrong but that the culture had gotten it all wrong. The Pharisees had lead the people into a very legalistic culture and if we look at our present day culture there are not many differences. There is a problem with Christianity when we are the ones who are legislating our religion, persecuting minority groups, and living like non-believers when we should be living like Christ.

The great thing is we still have a chance to make changes that will positively effect our generation. We are stuck in a cycle we must get out from under. Superchick sums it up well in their song Hero when they say:

Now it’s our time to pick a side.
So don’t keep walking by not wanting to intervene,
Cause you just want to exist and never be seen.
So let’s wake up, change the world
Our time is now

It is time for a revolution of our generation that isn’t afraid to love those who others won’t love. It is our time to make a change instead of allowing it to continue on the current path. Instead of living in our Christian circle we need to break out. We need to flood the world with a love they have never seen before, something no one ever gives. We need to spend less time on legislating religion and more time on actually taking time to love the people around us.

Christ spent most of His time hanging out with those people who were living in sin. He was the ultimate example of what we should look like. Be willing to do life with those who are far from God and just be different. We were not called to be like everyone else, but to be the ones willing to stand for the oppressed, the persecuted, the underprivileged, and the ones who have no voice to offer. We should not sit in our houses with all of our stuff and look down on those who are not like us.

The things of this world will fade and at the end of our lives it will not matter what people here say about us. The only opinion that will matter is that of our Heavenly King. Begin to look internally and see how your life is doing. Are you living out an untamed faith that is fully on fire for God? On the flip side of that are you living like God may as well be dead because you say what you believe but never act it out? Take some time to see where you are and look for our upcoming blogs about how we can make a difference to show the world our God is alive. Let us be different for the cause of Christ!

Dive Deep,

KC

For those of you who know someone or maybe you have recently come into the faith we rejoice with you!  We would love to encourage you along in the journey, so just drop us an e-mail at kyle@divedeepministries.org and let us know. It is truly amazing to be part of God’s big plan.  As a new Christian things can be pretty scary at the beginning of the journey.  We as Christians usually guide a person to the journey and  then say have a great day. This is something in  need of change.

As someone new to the faith you may begin to see some things you need to change but aren’t sure how.  There is not a formula or a set of steps which will work for everyone, but we do know God can help us though anything.  The biggest thing to do is to begin pressing into God.  You can do this by getting involved with your local youth group or church but even that is not enough.  Begin to read the word every day even if it is just a little piece.  A good place to start is in 1st Corinthians or the other writings of Paul.  Paul does a great job of communicating what life should look like as a Christian.

There is a tendency sometimes for believers to think they need to “renew” their salvation like they would a parking meeter.  After you have accepted Jesus as your Savior you don’t have to recommit every time you hear the message of salvation.  God has saved you and you can’t get away from Him now.  Now we aren’t saying recommitting is a bad thing but do it out of God’s spirit prompts and not out of guilt or shame for doing something wrong.  Unless you turn your back on God there is no need to recommit and even when you mess up God always loves you.

Along the journey of faith there is always a possibility to start back into your old tendencies. When this happens God has given you grace and freedom from it all. You just have to ask Him to help and restore you.  There is no amount of stuff that can get you farther along in the journey.  Even following all the rules won’t bring you closer to God. The only way to draw closer to God is to press into His love.

As a new Christian know that sometimes life will be hard like we talked about a few weeks ago, but God promises never to leave us.  He is always present and wants a deep relationship with us. In this deeper relationship with God you begin to find the true meaning of life.  To live an unhindered  life with the God of the universe on your side is an amazing experience.  Begin now to trade the things of this world for things God would have for you.

There are hundreds of thousands of people who have not yet tasted true life and freedom in Christ Jesus.  Continue to seek them out and love them where they are.  Allow them to see you as different and pray God opens the door to sharing the best thing that has ever happened to any of us.  Live with them and not above them.  Love them through everything even when they don’t want to be.  Let’s begin to remix the typical Christian and discover new things God will have for us.

I’ll be taking a few weeks off from blogging myself to transition into some new beginnings for me, but we have some great things in store. We will have some cool people doing some guest blogging for us, and we will launch our new series ‘Remix’ in September. There are some pretty cool things we believe God wants to do with us and excited we get to do this together.

In all you do always remember to Dive Deep!

KC

The “turn or burn” approach takes the path that we all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. This statement is quite true. Although this approach has truth in it you can attract more bees with honey than with tar. After hearing this message people are made to feel like God is angry at them and if they don’t accept Christ they will burn in hell for eternity. The whole concept of hell has been skewed by cartoons of a red horned devil with a pitch fork. Hell as a place is not the bad part of not believing in Christ, but it is eternal separation from God and being enslaved to the most evil person that will hurt our souls more than any physical torture could ever hurt.

In the “come and live” approach we begin to invite people into a life that is much better than they have right now. We know that Christ loves each and every one of us and never wants to see us to live a life away from Him. The thought of someone going to hell because they did not believe in Him as their Savior pains Him. When we suffer the Bible says that He suffers with us. Instead of using that suffering to pull people to Christ God wants us to share the love and grace that he has poured out on us to everyone. God does not send people to hell.  He does not want nor wish for that to happen. He wishes for all that he created to be in eternal fellowship with Him.

To fully understand how to share the “come and live” Gospel with others we must understand as a community what it means for us to be loved unconditionally. In everything that we have done Christ loves us. In our shame, our guilt, our successes, and everything that we will ever do Christ’s love is endless. If we want to look at what love is we have to turn to 1st Cor. 13:4 which says:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

This verse is used in alot of different instances, but it truly is the most perfect form of love that we can find. Christ wants us to love everyone like this so our message should not be one that goes against this.

“Come and Live” is an approach that inspires us and allows us to use the love that God has given us. While we know what the ultimate reality is everyone wants to know what it is like to be loved. If we have been shown the ultimate love,it would make sense that we would share it with everyone no matter who they are.

Over the next week continue to pray for those who are lost. Begin to show love to those around you, and ask God to show you more love so that you can give it away. Look for others that are wanting to reach out to those that are lost and join them in this. Let us become a community that loves on everyone no matter who they are. God loves us, and sharing the message of salvation is the ultimate expression of that love. We have to do it in a way that is pleasing to God.

Dive Deep,

KC

As we learn how to dive more into worship though prayer, acts of service, and spending time with our God, it would be good of us to talk about why we need to worship. God created us for a purpose, and this week Philip Roland, one of our staff members, was gracious enough to write out some thoughts and ideas on this subject.

You came and bled and died
Gave all you had in life
All for love, all for love
Your life destroyed the grave
Brought grace to those in need
All for love, all for love

Christ died for love. All that Jesus did, he did for love, because everything he did was done according to the will of God (”For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” -John 6:38). God is love personified–-the very definition of love (“God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” -1 John 4:16). Everything he does is loving and everything about him is loving, from his grace to his mercy to, yes, even his anger (for his anger at us when we sin is derived from his desire for holiness and the knowledge that we suffer when we separate ourselves from him with our sin), and this is because it is his nature to love. As a result, when we say that Jesus died for love, it is not simply a statement of Christ’s love for us, but an affirmation of God’s character and his status as the source of all true love.

Because of this, the fact that Christ died for us while also dying to serve the Father’s will is not contradictory as some people believe (and my affinity for John Piper is about to be made pretty evident here with what I’m about to say). He died first and foremost for the glory of God, and we do benefit from this–obviously we are to gain directly from Christ’s death and resurrection giving us the opportunity to have our sins forgiven and our lives begin anew. In addition to this, however, at a deeper level we are also fulfilled because the Father was glorified through Christ’s sacrifice, and when God is glorified, our ultimate purpose (to glorify God) is fulfilled–-our lives are enriched as a result. The world is only at the right place when God is in his correct position as supreme over all creation. We ourselves are only truly fulfilled when God is glorified, for we were created for God’s glory. When we use our lives to bring glory to God, it naturally draws us closer to him and further fills our lives with his presence, and certainly, what does having an abundant life (John 10:10b) mean if not to have a life filled with God’s presence and Spirit?

We were made for his glory and we find ourselves empty and hollowed out within when we use our lives to pursue other things. This is why when you go into a time of worship with the right motivations–-to lift up and glorify God above all else–-that you often come out of that time with a sense of fulfillment. Your soul knows that you are living out your purpose, and you are made complete because of it. It is for this same reason that if you enter a time of worship seeking this feeling rather than looking to put God first that you will leave dissatisfied. As soon as you begin to pursue this fulfillment as your main concern it becomes unavailable. It only exists as a by-product of placing God at the center of everything. To chase after an emotional high in a time of worship puts the focus on something other than God and renders that sense of wholeness unobtainable.

We must realize that even though God has given us all specific gifts and abilities that we are to use to pursue the specific purpose he has for our lives, that above all else we were made for his glory! Christ died for love and we are to live for love. It is by doing so–-by living our lives in such a way that we die to ourselves and raise God high–-that we will change our world for the better! By chasing the light of God’s glory in all that we do, we will spread the love of God throughout the world. Where we go he will go, and as he is glorified we will be made fully alive.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

Dive Deep,

Philip

Serving others is something that Jesus illustrated quite well to His disciples and set up a model for us to follow. John 13:1 explains the big idea behind serving when it says:

“…Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love”

After saying this Jesus began to wash his disciple’s feet, a task that was usually done by a servant. As His last lesson to the disciples He showed them what it truly meant to serve. We are called to have a sense of selfless service which requires humility. Jesus wasn’t washing their feet because he was required to but because he wanted to. The Creator of the Universe humbled himself to be as low as a servant to present the best model for serving others.

Selfless service is something that is hard for most of us to do, because we still believe that the world revolves around us. Our days are about what we can do for ourselves, about what we can do to get ahead at work, about what other people can do for us in our life, and about the stuff that shows off what we are like to everyone else. Until we grasp the concept of humility we can never truly serve others in the spirit that Christ demonstrated. The first step to being humble comes out of surrender and bowing down to Christ before all other things.

We tend to be afraid to serve because if we do we may feel no one will exalt us for the work we did. We never did anything to get where we are, and we tend to become ungrateful because of our self-centeredness. It becomes scary when we ask God to show us some way to serve and what He asks may put us in the background. The only way we can truly serve in a way that is pleasing to God is to bow down to His will first and trust that He will take care of us.

There is a major difference between serving and doing acts of service. Many times the things we do have good intentions, but not the right heart intent. We begin to serve people and expect them to recognize we did something. Jesus is the only reason we are here and his opinion matters above all others. Self serving people end up living a life full of treasure on this earth but miss the point John 13 is talking about. Christ is more pleased with us when we serve with the right motives to please Him rather than to please others. We  must become content with our recognition in Christ.

Humility is a hard thing to practice because it goes against the grain of what the world tells us. We are not of this world but created for a specific purpose by God. We have to be in the world but not of the world. We should be the people going against the grain when the rest of the world says fight for yourselves.  We should be fighting for others. When the world tells us to learn things to get ahead of others in ways that cut others down then we should be uplifting others first. Humility and contentment come hand in hand, and if we can begin to practice those things we will be able to serve out of selflessness, not selfishness.

This week we want to encourage you to start to bow down to our Creator in things that you know are keeping you from living a full life of worship though service. Even if this is not your pathway as the body of Christ we should be living this out in our lives in reverence for our God. Try actually bowing on your knees when you are praying or worshiping. It may feel awkward at first but as you get used to it you will find it may help you connect better. Pray for a spirit of humility and contentment thoughout this week. These are qualities that Christ believes are required for us to have as Christians to be set apart but not self apart. Take the step in living a life of selflessness not selfishness.

Dive Deep,

KC

Dive Deep Ministries was founded at the beginning of 2009 by a few students who were tired of seeing a generation continue to forget their spiritual roots. We have been given numerous things at our disposal for advancing the kingdom, and we want to use those to the best of our ability.  This includes things like Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and the like to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ to more people than we can do at a local level. We don’t want to be super spiritual, but we want to go after issues that everyone has and talk about things that are relevant to our culture.

We are founded on the principles of a few key verses. 1 Timothy 4:12 gives us a look at one of the reasons that we do what we do, even though we are younger than alot of people. The verse says:

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”

Mathew 28:19-20 also gives us direction and purpose. It says:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We may not belong to the same denomination or share the same political beliefs, but what we do share is a love of Our Savior and a desire to learn more about Him.

Dive Deep is not a church or affiliated with a specific denomination. We do, however, believe a few core principles about our faith. We believe that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh and lived among us, was crucified on the cross so that everyone could be redeemed though Him and live forever in eternal salvation, and that he rose again on the third day. We believe that salvation is open to anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord and commits to follow Him all the days of their life. The only absolute truth is the Word of God, and it holds no conflict with it’s text.

It is our desire to expand the ministry reach of Dive Deep. Over the summer we will be launching some new and exciting things. There will be some changes along the way, but our mission will stay the same.

Next week, we will be starting a series called Living Sacrifices. We will take some time to unpack the idea of worship. We hope that this series will help you find your pathway of worshiping the Father in your daily life.

Have a great week!

Dive Deep,

KC