“Why I decided to be a Gangsta for Jesus!”
It is important to know why you belong to any group or club or association. If you really understand why you are a member, then you can serve better, you can fully enjoy the benefits of your membership, and you will be excited about getting others to become members! We all want to belong to something or somewhere! God has put something in us that gives us a desire to want to belong to somewhere or something!
Studies have shown that young people join gangs because they feel a sense of belonging and family that they do not get at home! The sad part is the enemy tricks them into thinking that by joining a gang they will get the real love, peace, comfort, a sense of belonging and joy that God intended for families to have, but instead membership in gangs always lead to death, turmoil, destruction, incarceration and rejection! Brothers and Sisters please do not fall for these weak tricks of the enemy, he will rob you of your future, your heritage, your birth rights that God has given you! He is a thief and a liar!
Watch out for him and know his tricks!
True Gangsters are willing to die or give their lives for the cause of the gang! They must do whatever the leader of the gang tells them to do, there are hundreds of thousands of young people who have thrown their lived away to be part of a gang! They are messed up and confined behind prison walls because they decided to belong to a gang without ever thinking of the costs or the consequences!
If you join a gang, you should at least know why you are joining. It would make good sense to know what are the benefits of joining a gang or group? What are the risks of joining? What are the consequences of joining? If you are going to risk your life to be part of that gang, then you should be sure to know something about the gang before you join!
Let me provoke you with a few thoughts…
Why do you want to be a Christian?
Some of you might be thinking
“I like the way they look…”
My best friends are Christians.
My parents or grand parents are Christians.
I like the benefit of everlasting life!
I like the fact that you get another chance!
I was sick of feeling guilty!
See I was made to be a Christian! My maker created me to be a Christian! I was labeled one before I was ever born! I have got Christ in my DNA! I have his stamp all over me! I am made in His image and likeness!
Well lets turn and see what the word of God says..
Turn with me to St. John 1:1-4
John 1:1-4
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
I want to draw your attention to a little know fact. That you have the cross as part of your make up and design. It is as if the creator has already, signed you with the cross, and we just need to be filled with the Holy Ghost so we can be delivered! Stevie Wonder would has just said “signed, sealed, and delivered, baby I am yours!”
Most of us are unaware, that God has his stamp on us! We belong to him! When someone makes a product or manufactures something they usually put a trade mark or stamp on it so that others will know who made it. The stamp or mark is also useful in case for some reason the product needs to be returned to the manufacture for any reason, it might become broken, it might malfunction, some of the parts might wear out, some unknown defect might show up down the road, and the product will need to be recalled so the manufacture can make repairs.
Most of us are not aware, but God has put his stamp on us! There is a protein in the body called laminin.
Laminin is a glycoprotein component of connective tissue basement membrane that promotes cell adhesion in the body.
In other words Laminin is like the glue that holds the body together! If all the Laminin were to be removed from your body, you would dissipate, the cells that make up your body would no longer be connected, and would just float off into nowhere! Poof! We would be gone … just like that!
Laminin is refer to as the basement protein, the sheets of protein that form the substrate of all internal organs. It is also referred to as the basement membrane. It is the cell adhesion molecule.
Laminin is formed into three separate chains, A1, B1 and B2. This gives it 6 separate ends that are useful in hold things together. Louie Giglio does a wonderful series on it on utube.
Now I must warn you that any sane reasonable person who comes into this knowledge will be responsible for what you do with it. Right now you might have a little more mercy, you can say I am still waiting on a revelation, but once you receive it! you are responsible for what you know!
Laminin when you look at the structure of laminin, you will find it is in the shape of a cross. The A1 strand is the center, and the B1 and B2 strand form a shape of the cross. Wow, when we think that the stuff that holds us together is in the shape of the cross of our lord! How cool is that? To think that the glue that God uses to hold us together is in the shape of a cross!
Man that means if I decide to be a gangsta for Jesus, I do not need a tattoo, I do not need a bullet hole in my head, I do not need a mark to identify me as being a part of him! He already has his mark on me and in me! Glory be to God!
Now, I have decided I want to be a gangsta for Jesus! I want to be a Christian, and I am willing to lay down my life for Him! I have counted the costs and it is well worth it! I have considered the benefits! I have weighed the risks! My mind is made up!
Thank God we belong to His family! Turn to your neighbor and encourage them, welcome them to the family of GOD! Tell them neighbor, welcome to God’s family, here is where you will find true peace, love, joy, comfort, and an everlasting sense of belonging! God wants to be your permanent friend! He wants to share secrets with you, protect you, and give you gifts! Hallelujah!
That alone is reason enough to become a gangsta for Jesus!
There was a time in my life when I was just doing everything on my own, and then I discovered that I needed help! I realized that life had too many choices, there were to many traps, too many issues for me to live my life all by myself. There was too much pressure, to many groups to join! I also realized that if I just did whatever I wanted to, whenever I wanted to, with whoever I wanted to, however I wanted to, with whatever I wanted to, I would find myself quickly in sin! Things would get pretty ugly, very quick, and often sin would become a trap for me! What looked like fun at first would now become a burden, destroying my joy, peace, comfort, health, everything that was good about life now seemed to be destroyed!
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Now this has been one of the most misused and understood words in the bible! People have used this as a license for sin… well everybody sins… the bible says so! I can’t help it I was born in sin!
The word of God showed me that no matter whom I was, I had sinned! And that I had fallen short of God’s glory! Man, this word ministered to me and let me know I needed help! Now the devil will trick you and try to make you think, well I am not that bad of a person, I just do little sins, well I stopped sinning on my own so why do I need God? Why do I need to be a Christian? Maybe I can make it on my own, without God, without God’s word!
I said to myself, you silly fool, you need help! Turn to your neighbor and tell them, “you need help!” No matter what I did, I would still be a sinner! Even if I stopped, there was no way I could erase all the sins I had already committed! Now I think this is very clear to all of us, and most of us have arrived at this point in our lives we know we are sinners and we need help! Let us look closer at this scripture, at what the word of God is saying to us, not only does it say we are sinners, but it also says we have fallen short of his Glory! This word used in the Greek for short is hoos-ter-eh’-o ( Hustereo) which means to lack in excellence or want, to be left behind in the race, to fail to reach the goal, to be inferior in power, to fail to become a partaker! Now this should be a revelation to somebody, not only have we all sinned, but we also have
We lacked the Glory that God wants us to have!
We lack the excellence that we could have!
We are being left behind in the race of life!
We have failed to reach the goal that God has set for us!
We are living our lives inferior in power because we lack the Glory of God!
We have failed to become a partaker in the Glory of God!
We have failed to be a partaker in God’s Glory!
So then my brothers and sisters, being a sinner is just part of the reason why you should choose to be a Christian, when you consider the Glory of God and being able to belong and partake in that Glory! You’ve got the most powerful and compelling reason in the universe to want to become a Christian!
I want to be a gangster for JESUS!
Now, to belong to some groups it costs a lot. Some groups want you to give up your integrity, money, future, your virginity, your honesty, your love, and sometimes even your life! I have decided I want to be a Christian, because it increases my integrity, does not cost me money, it will actually help me to have more money, it will not take away my future, instead it gives me a future, it teaches me my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, it teaches me to walk in truth and love, and I get all this for FREE!
1 Corinthians 6:20
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
My membership is free because I have already been bought with a price! The price for me being a Christian has already been paid! Tell somebody, my dues have been paid up for eternity and u can’t kick me out for non payment.. “nanny, nanny nan nan”. My life membership in the family of God has been bought and paid! For me it is free! Jesus Paid it all!
My balance owed is zero!
I have a statement right here in the word of God that says it is paid in full!
Glory hallelujah!
The most important bill I will ever get has been paid in full!
It is marked debt free!
Lord Jesus, the good part is I didn’t even know he was going to pay it!
Jesus paid it for me, without me even asking him!
Good gracious, what a gift!
My debt has been paid! I am free from debt to sin!
All of my sins have been paid for!
So when someone tried to bring up your past… tell them
Look …. Jesus paid for that! You can’t charge me with that any more, it has already been paid for! Look here I got the receipt ….right here it says, bought with a price!
Paid in full! It’s mine!
Now that’s real love, when someone will pay off your debts without you asking them to and then set you free from debt without making you feel guilty or even asking them to pay you back! The world might loan you the money to let you join the club, but then they expect you to pay it back with interest! They will forever remind you, now you owe me! Remember what I did for you! I need to collect on the debt you owe me!
God takes all your sins and puts them in chapter 7 bankruptcy! He says, I’ll take all the calls, the world can no longer make you feel guilty for these sins, just have them call me, and I’ll tell them you are free, your sins have been forgiven! Your debts have been forgiven; your heart has been wiped clean! You have a fresh start! God loves you!
When I realized God really loves me, then I knew I wanted to be a Christian! Here is someone who loves me enough to pay off my debts, without me even knowing, and He is willing to give me a fresh start! What Love! Glory be to God, and here he has given me a receipt saying paid in full!
The word then says Glorify God in our body and spirit which belong to him!
Man if you join a gang or something, then they expect you to put marks on your body to let everyone know you belong to that gang! You might even be required to wear certain colors or clothing to make sure you are indentified with the gang you belong to. The gang might also have certain language and hand signs it uses to make sure you are constantly aware that you belong to the gang physically and spiritually! In a sense you are required to worship the leader of the gang, and in most cases give your life for the leader if necessary!
God says if you become a Christian all he wants is for you to have the Glory of God in your body and in your spirit! Where the presence of God is there is power, there is healing, there is freedom, but most of all there is love! God loves me so much that he would share his Glory with me in my body and my spirit! Wow! What love!
The cost of the gift from GOD!
When I give a gift to someone it is limited in it value no matter how much money or time might invest in the gift! Because I am limited, I have a certain amount of money, I have a certain amount of time, my resources have limitations on them, so what ever I give to anyone has the same limitations that I have. I can not give you a million dollars if I only have a few thousand. I can not give you 500 years of friend ship if I only live to be 100. I am a finite being, I have limits! But God, who has no limits! But God, who is infinite! But God, who has all knowledge, all understanding, unlimited in His mercy!
But God who is unlimited in His grace! But God who was, who is, and who shall forever be! When God gives a gift, He is able to give a gift of infinite value with no limits because He is an infinite God with no limits!
This price of the gift of salvation is so valuable because of what it cost God to give us the gift!
Colossians 1:12-29
12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself;
c) The cost of the gift of salvation is priceless because of the sacrifices made to give us the gift, and because of the giver of the gift! I want to be a Christian just to get these kind of gifts! When you consider who the gift is coming from, Him by whom all things were made and for whom all things were made in heaven, in earth, visible and invisible! Dominions, powers, thrones, principalities, powers!
He gives me something, the world wants something
The physical sacrifices made for me
The mental sacrifices made for me
The spiritual sacrifices made for me
The blood is priceless…
I want to be a gangsta for Jesus!
I want to be armed with His Word and dangerous towards His enemies!
Lord sign me up!
I know whom I belong to!
I know who made me!
I know what my purpose is!
I know what my rights are!
Glory be to God!
