What does it mean to follow Jesus?
The term "follower of Jesus" is a common phrase, but have you ever considered the significance of being a disciple or a student of the teacher from Nazareth? In essence, it involves restructuring your life to think, speak, and act like Him. Our desire is that by adopting His lifestyle, both our individual lives and the communities we are a part of will undergo a profound transformation.
Reaching People For Jesus.
Building Our Lives On Jesus.
Meet Jesus.
If you've never fully committed your life to Jesus, you can do that right now. There are some key things to believe:
THE PROBLEM
Your sin separates you from God.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
GOD'S SOLUTION
The cross demonstrated God's love for you.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
THE GIFT
You can receive the gift of eternal life through Jesus.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
YOUR RESPONSE
Make Jesus the Lord of your life and believe.
If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9
HOW TO PRAY
Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and need Your forgiveness. I believe that You died on the cross for my sins and then rose from the dead. I want to turn from my sin and confess you as the Lord and Savior of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
What does it mean to practice The Way Of Jesus?
Following Jesus is a lifelong pursuit, not limited to Sundays, but a way of life within a community centered around his teachings. Living the "way of Jesus" means adopting his lifestyle and applying his teachings to all aspects of life. We believe this transformation is possible even in the chaos of the digital age and demanding work schedules in the Bakken region. Through teaching, practice, community, and the Holy Spirit, we can authentically change and grow as disciples of Jesus.
Things Jesus did…
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“I’m a Christian, but I don’t feel like I’m any different than I used to be.”
“I want to follow God, but I still do many of the things I don’t want to do.”
Believe it or not, becoming like Jesus is not automatic. Follow the link to hear a helpful message about how we make space for the Spirit of God to change us to become more like Jesus.
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The American experience and western culture in general are rooted in radical individualism. We are trained to look out for our own interest above all others, constantly pushing to get what we want or “deserve” and pursue our own desires over those of others. Yet, the way of Jesus and our experience show us that while looking out for our own interests and living in extreme independence—while it may be easier in the short term—leads to unhappiness in the long term. For better or worse, we need each other.
In Romans 12, Paul paints pictures of the people of God as inextricably intertwined: both as a family of brothers and sisters, as well as a body with many parts, all of which need one another. That said, if you keep reading the New Testament, and honestly if you pursue any relationship beyond the surface level, you will discover depth and community to be challenging. To stick with Community for the long haul, it becomes essential to learn to do three things:
Forgive each other for not being God. We bring high expectations to our Community at times, don’t we? We want our wounds healed, to be bound up, to be pursued, to be seen, known, to be loved unconditionally. And these are not bad things to want! But we are all human, and we all fail each other at times. When that happens—when, not if—we have to make the hard choice to love each other anyway.
Listen in love. Give relational space for each others’ stories, joys, and hurts. Share the deep stuff of your person, not just the facts of your life. Rejoice in one another’s successes, and grieve one another’s sorrows.
Stay. This may sound simple, but anyone who has been in relationship with anyone else long term (whether your Freedom Church Community, a best friend, your children, or your spouse) can tell you that sometimes, simply sticking it out is the hardest part.
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We live in the age of ideology. By “ideology” we mean any set of beliefs that
1) takes part of the truth and makes it the whole and
2) takes a good thing and makes it ultimate.
Whether from the right or the left, the ideologies of our world have become for many a new type of religion, each with its own type of doctrine, dogma, and heresy. While the ideologies of our day are new, the temptation to mix the way of Jesus and what the New Testament calls “the way of the world” is as ancient as time. Further still, we’re living in a time of unprecedented deconstruction. In the face of this temptation and moment, the invitation of Jesus is to “demolish strongholds” of the mind and to instead take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ , to fight for orthodoxy. And while it must be said that deconstruction can be good, deconstruction is not the end goal. We must push past the impulse to deconstruct orthodoxy, and move into a type of reconstruction that is not based on the ideologies of the day but is informed by the life and teachings of Jesus as they come to us in the scriptures.
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Coming Soon.
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Coming Soon.
