The Way Back - Get Your Christian Life Back On TrackSample

## The Curse of The Casual Christian Two thousand years ago, in a backwater Roman province, a ragtag group of powerless and poorly educated fishermen committed themselves to a movement they called “The Way.” When they began, they didn’t have a game plan. In fact, they were pretty lost. In the aftermath of what had to have been one of the most remarkable moments on Earth – Jesus ascending into Heaven 40 days after His resurrection – the dumbfounded disciples actually had to be told by two angels to brush the confetti of their shoulders, quit standing around on this dusty hill and get to work. And get to work they did! Within short order their movement which, at the time, was seen as a dangerous cult and persecuted, began to grow and thrive. Within a remarkably short time, it grew to become the world’s most influential religious faith—a force for centuries in culture, politics, education, literature, science, philanthropy and the arts.  Against impossible odds, a bunch of nobodies astonished the world! But that was then. This is now. Two thousand years later, American Christianity is retreating on all fronts. The statistics are sobering: ·           While roughly 80% of Americans claim to be “Christian,” only 20% attend church on a weekly basis ·           A “regular” church attender now only shows up 19 times in a year. ·           40% of church-going Christians rarely or never open the Bible. ·           Only 10% of regular church attenders tithe 10% ·            37% of Christians don’t think prayer is essential. No question about it - The Way has lost its way. What happened?! Think back on our geometry example from yesterday. Standing a few feet from the origination point, our modern Christian beliefs don’t seem all that different than those of the Early Church, right? But do modern Christians remind you of Peter and Martha and John and Stephen and Paul and Phoebe? Does your own faith remind you of them ? So what do we do? We do something about it! Let’s find the way back to the same radically trusting faith that the Early Church had! It’s out there waiting for us. Are you ready? PRAYER: Heavenly Father, when I compare my faith life to the faith life of your earliest followers, there is wide gulf – and I’m not ok with it anymore. I need guidance and I need courage to take the path that you walked, and that they walked. My head and heart are ready for the journey, now please help me move my feet. Amen.