What does it mean to be a Christian?

This is a question I get quite a bit so I want to break it down in a simple answer that you can understand. I will break down all the “church” words too. Just as in BMX the church has certain words they use too that many times we don’t know what they mean. If we go up and tell someone we made our main or we transferred out in our first moto or someone got pimped in a turn they would have no idea what we are talking about unless we explain it to them. That is what I hope to do in the process of explaining what it means to be a Christian.

The Moto Board…

So before we get started lets break down a couple terms that you may have heard and may not know what they mean.

  • Christian
  • Salvation or saved
  • Born again
  • Making Jesus Lord

Jesus said you must be born again; you must repent and be saved and all of these refer to becoming a Christian, or someone who follows the teaching of Jesus. Jesus was saying that when we chose to become a Christian, or follow Him and His teachings, we are “saved” from the penalty of our sin.

When Jesus said we must be “born again” He was referring to the fact that once we become a Christian we are basically re-born spiritually.

When we chose to follow Jesus’ teachings and live our lives for Him that is what is referred to as “making Jesus Lord” because we chose to live a life that mimics Jesus’

Moto 1…

Admit! You have to admit you are a sinner. What is a sinner or better yet what is sin? Sin is doing something that God doesn’t want you to do. It's violating the law of God. Like the Ten Commandments, always put God first, thou shall not kill, steal, lie, disobey parents, and stuff like that, that’s what sin is. We all sin at times. Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God". Even though we don’t want to we sometimes still do. The Bible says that if you are even angry against a brother then you are guilty of murder (Matthew 5:20-21, I John 3:15). God not only will judge our actions but also our intentions too. So the first step is admitting you are guilty of breaking God's Law and that you have sinned.

Moto 2…

Believe! You must believe that God sent His son Jesus (who is God in the flesh), to die for you and He rose again. Not just believe that Jesus was here on earth but that He died in your place for your sins and was raised again three days later. Jesus was perfect, unlike us, and He was sinless. You broke the law and Jesus paid the fine in His blood. Then He defeated death.

You may say “I believe in God”. That’s a good beginning too but unfortunately it says in the book of James that even the demons believe and tremble. The demons believe? They are not in Heaven are they? Nope they are sure not up there. They are in the other place…the opposite from heaven…hell. So if they believe in God and aren’t in heaven just believing is not enough. That’s why you have to do all the ABC’s.

Moto 3…

Confess and Repent! Repent is a military term that means to about face. In other words we turn around and go the other way. So we need to repent from sin. You are either running to sin or away from sin. So if we repent then we should be turning away from sin.

In the Bible we are told of Joseph who worked in the king’s castle. The king’s wife was flirting with Joseph and he told her no. She kept trying to get him to give in to her but he wouldn’t, in fact he ran from her. He ran so fast that he ran out of his shirt. That is like running from sin. She was trying to get him to do something he knew wasn’t right and he left the situation. That’s what we are supposed to do in those situations. RUN from sin!!

Semi’s…

You may be thinking, “You don’t understand though, I go to church every time it’s open.” That’s good. Church is a good place to be because at least you can learn a few things but going to church does not make you a Christian. It makes you as much of a Christian as going to McDonald’s makes you a hamburger. Make sense?…

The Main…

I like decision maker jumps. You know the ones, half table and half double, you half to make a choice of which one to take to get across the jump. You chose either the table or the double. It’s difficult to do both. That’s what we have to here a decision, heaven or hell. We can choose to follow Jesus or not and it’s as simple as the ABC’s.

"Dear Lord, I don't understand it all, but as best as I know how, right now I ask you to forgive me of all my sins and save my soul. I ask Jesus Christ to come into my heart and life right now as my Lord. Thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross for my sins and for raising Him from the dead to prove He was who he said He was, your Son, Amen."

If you prayed this prayer, we can help you find a church, and grow in knowledge of God.



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