LIVING LIKE JESUS: ELEVEN ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS
FOR GROWING AN AUTHENTIC FAITH
Forgiving Love: Authentic disciples embrace both GodÕs holiness and love.
Conforming to Christ: Authentic disciples live like Jesus (I Peter 1.5, 20-21; Ephesians 5.25; Romans 12.2; Philippians 2.5)
Renewing Marriage and Family: Authentic disciples keep the marriage covenant and put children before career.
Immersed in Prayer: Authentic disciples nurture daily spiritual renewal and live in the power of the spirit.
Authentic Disciples--strive to make The Church a little picture of what heaven will be like (Revelation 7.9; Ephesians 2.15,16) Prayer for revival, recovery of Biblical theology in preaching, new structures (old wine in new wine skins)
Authentic Christians--have body, soul and mind like Jesus (John 3 and 4) They mourn Church divisions and embrace all who confess Jesus as Lord (The Empty Tomb, 1999); the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem (alethos enesta, Christos aneste)
Authentic Christians--must confess Jesus as Lord in the bedroom, boardroom and ballot box. (Wilberforce was converted by WesleyÕs preaching; in 1787 he began a crusade against slavery; he prayed three hours daily; Christian owned ships carried 1000,000 slaves to America).
Authentic Christians--have a special concern for the poor. They treasure creation and worship the creator. They tend the garden without worshiping it.
Authentic Christians--embrace servanthood (the cross--Isaiah 40-53); descending into greatness (C.S. LewisÕs book, Mere Christianity, p. 190).
James Strauss
Professor Emeritus
Lincoln Christian Seminary
Lincoln, IL 62656