REVOLUTIONARY HABIT #3

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The third revolutionary habit is WAITING ON JESUS to lead out with orders and opportunities. Waiting on Jesus is not inactivity. Waiting on Jesus is being active and attentive in the following ways:

FIRST-As you wait there is the action of readying yourself. Your responsibility is not to be in charge, but to be ready for the King's orders.

SECOND-As you wait there is the action of relating to Jesus and to others-the first two habits. Your responsibility is to continue these relationships within your support team-the "one anothers" in your life. It's the doing of life together, not sitting around and explaining it.

THIRD-As you wait there is the action of resting. Your responsibility is to be anxious for nothing, but to rest in your relationship with Jesus and with others. Now, keep in mind that Jesus may not have direct orders for you today. Don't be in a hurry to the point of being stressed. Following Jesus is all about rest. Jesus calls His disciples into His rest-confident, peaceful, everything-is-going-to-be-OK rest.

FOURTH-As you wait there is the action of resisting. Your responsibility is to resist all distractions, temptations, and detours that you have stirred up for yourself or that come from the enemy of the King. This resisting is a vital discipline of the for the disciple of Jesus and the Kingdom.

We are not to wait on Jesus for us to do His will. It's just understood that we are to do that. Neither are we waiting to be responsive to Him or to do what He would do.

However, we ARE waiting for Jesus to show up in our lives. We ARE waiting for Jesus to give us answers to our heart's cry-an impression, a peace, a desire or a thought. We ARE to wait to bring restoration to those God brings us. We ARE to wait for God to bring people into our lives for us to walk with in fellowship and support.

WAITING ON JESUS TO LEAD OUT is demonstrating a ruthless trust in Him to come through on our behalf with opportunities and orders for us to follow.

Isaiah 40 is brought to mind regarding who God is and waiting on Him--12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales? 13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, Or as His counselor, has informed Him? 14 With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge And informed Him of the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales.

21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. 23 He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. 25 To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?'' says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing. 27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, My way is hidden from the LORD, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God'? 28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable,. 29 He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. 30 Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, 31 Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

Then I am drawn to Acts 1 where Jesus gave orders to wait in Jerusalem for next steps! Jesus spent 40 days with the disciples, just hanging out with them and He spent that time teaching them about the Kingdom. "He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.'" In essence, the disciples were still hung up on the physical, political motif of the Kingdom and Jesus is expanding on His former words to them that He has already brought the Kingdom. Now, they must wait for the permanent, abiding presence of God through His Spirit to empower their Kingdom living.

The same is true for us today. We are to pray for Jesus to lead out and we are to follow Him. So we are praying and waiting for Jesus to lead the way.

Think of it this way: #1-Jesus is calling you today. All requires of you is to be interested, believe in Him and follow in His steps. #2-Jesus believes those He calls are good enough. In other words, He believes you can do it. #3-Jesus believes you can be like Him-to perpetuate His His lifestyle in you. #4-Jesus empowers you by His presence as 2-3 of us gather together in His name.

It's all about the simplicity and purity of devotion to Jesus and following Him. Three habits. Walking with Jesus. Walking with others. Waiting on Jesus to lead out with orders and opportunities.

REVOLUTIONARY HABIT #2

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There are three revolutionary habits in learning how to follow the teachings and principles of Jesus. Yesterday we referenced the first one-WALKING WITH JESUS. Today, we examine the second one-WALKING WITH OTHERS.

As always, Jesus is our example of this habit. When He began His ministry, He chose three to come alongside Him-to be with Him. He continued to spend most of His time with these three. This small group expanded to 12, then the 72 and then the 120. In fact, at one point there are up to 500 who were fairly close disciples of Jesus. I'm sure most everyone who followed Jesus felt close to Him, yet He walked most of His time with a few.

The disciples were sent most of the time in teams of two. Sometimes there were more, but you just don't see them traveling or living alone.

WALKING WITH OTHERS provides a level of personal support that we all need. There are, at least, four benefits: FIRST-Strength to do whatever may come in life. There's something about knowing you are not alone that empowers whatever you try to do. Without others in your life you are weakened and at your lowest.

SECOND-Encouragement is easily drained, yet within a few trusted friends you will find yourself fueled by the others who are doing life with you. Without others you can easily become discouraged and distracted.

THIRD-A learning dynamic presents itself within a smaller setting. When you are walking with others, it's so much easier to get it-your seeing and hearing seem to be better. Without others it seems difficult to have ears to hear and eyes to see, so you just don't "get it".

FOURTH-Finally and most importantly, walking with others is a sure place where Jesus will show up. Without others you tend to forget how real and present Jesus is.

The experience of the early followers of Jesus is recorded in Acts 2: So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

The results of gathering together in the name of Jesus were many: 1. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; 2. and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. 3. And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; 4. and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Radically valuing people over possessions! 5. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, 6. and breaking bread from house to house, 7. they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 8. praising God and 8. having favor with all the people. 9. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. Acts 2:41-47

WALKING WITH OTHERS is one of those disciplines of life that produces great results for you and those with whom you are walking. Jesus said, "I will build my church"; what He is looking for is for His followers to BE THE CHURCH. This is the Kingdom way of living your life fully.

Living fully requires that you walk with Jesus. When you walk with Jesus, you are the walking solution to people's needs everywhere. And, the only way to faithfully walk with Jesus is to WALK TOGETHER!

Here's the action plan: 1. DO walking with Jesus 2. DO walking with others a. Pray for Jesus to bring someone into your life/mind. b. Be open to whomever He brings to you. c. Hang out together and look for Jesus to show up.

You know, I can hear my voice echoing these three habits back to me when I say them. I have said them over and over before as many of you know. But this is an easy-say and hard-to-do situation. So I ask you, are you walking with Jesus and are you walking with others? That's the test whether or not you've heard these three habits enough yet.

REVOLUTIONARY HABIT #1

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As a Jesus revolutionary it's vital to embrace three basic habits. It has been said that to develop a habit, you must do it for 3 weeks. If you do it everyday for 6 weeks, you'll own it as a part of your person and character.

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

I heard it another way: "A trail through the mountains, if used, becomes a path in a short time, but, if unused, becomes blocked by grass in an equally short time. Now your heart is blocked by grass."

The first habit in the Jesus revolution is WALKING WITH JESUS. As a friend of mine said, "It's like the announcement that is made on every flight. 'Put your oxygen mask on first and then help those around you.'" Walking with Jesus is just like that. You must put on your oxygen mask-your personal relationship with Jesus. That's what comes first-always.

Walking with Jesus is being aware of His constant presence in your life. It's being with Him, hanging out with Him and in a constant dependence on His strength and His lead. In a very real sense, walking with Jesus is learning to count on Him in your everyday life.

Walking with Jesus is in response to God's great love for you. Oswald Chambers said, "No love of the natural heart is safe unless the human heart has been satisfied by God first." Embrace God's love for you and respond to it by practicing walking with Jesus at your side every day.

The there are five cautions in walking with Jesus. FIRST-Don't walk ahead of Him. SECOND-Don't walk away from Him. THIRD-Don't walk out of step with Him. FOURTH-Don't walk too far behind Him. WALK WITH JESUS EVERY DAY.

Here are three steps that will help you walk with Jesus. I. Breathe in. This means take in some Scripture, especially from the words of Jesus, Himself. II. Breathe out. This means talking to Jesus about your desires-your heart. III. Hold your breath. This means to take note of your relationship long enough to take the time to listen.

In simple terms, DO WHAT HE SAYS. No matter what He says to do and say, you just do it. I heard it in a funny way several years ago: "If you pray for a Cadillac and God sends a jackass, ride it." It's signing off as king of your kingdom and making Jesus the King of all Kings. This reminds me of the bumper sticker that says: "Want to hear God laugh? Tell Him your plans." To walk with Jesus is to be willing to let Him call the plays of your life.

You know, what Jesus wants more than anything else is a personal relationship with you. And, once Jesus resides in your heart of hearts by simply walking together, you will find yourself living a revolutionary life. The revolutionary life that Jesus offers is completely satisfying to you and most attractive to everyone else. It's like a light. It's like a fountain.

THE EMBERS COVENANT

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Many years ago four couples gathered together to see if we could come into agreement with one another around the life and teachings of Jesus that we were learning. We didn't know where to begin in our relationship, so we brainstormed the primary things we felt we could agree upon.

In our day of praying, eating, studying and enjoying our fellowship together we determined there were, at least, six agreements we could make together. As we discussed these agreements, we decided the best way to experience these agreements as commitments was to covenant to pray them back to God and see what happens. In a sense, we were asking God to respond to the prayers of our hearts and lead out. We were ready and willing to follow wherever Jesus might lead.

As I began to unpack the six agreements of the covenant, they seemed to naturally and easily unfold into an acrostic. I admit that I have always used acrostics and other memory devices to teach and to remember important things. So, in this case the six agreements seemed to emerge into the acrostic, E-M-B-E-R-S. Here they are as we have been discussing over the past six days:

· E-Embrace the life and teachings of Jesus as a lifestyle. · M-Mentor and encourage one another. · B-Believe that God raises up leaders. · E-Encourage the youth of our world. · R-Restore those God brings your way. · S-Serve everyone, everywhere.

We began to call it the Embers Covenant. It was a collection of agreements that we could hold as true and viable. These agreements weren't magical or super-spiritual, but they were very powerful and satisfying to each of us. We wanted to not only enter into these six agreements; we wanted to make these agreements covenants-promises to one another. Since those early days together nearly eight years ago, these are the fellowship agreements that have kept us together and moving.

We began praying these six agreements of the Embers Covenant back to God. We committed to pray for certain periods of time together. Our first few times to pray the Embers Covenant we decided to pray for a period of 45 days. We called it the 45 Day Prayer Covenant and things began to happen.

As we prayed these agreements we communicated with one another each day to report what was happening. Wow! Every day someone reported what we called a "Jesus sighting" and we were all encouraged and empowered by the experience. We were each praying that we would have the wisdom and courage to embrace the life and teachings of Jesus as a lifestyle, to mentor and encourage one another, to believe God raises up leaders, to encourage the youth of our world, to restore those God brought our way and to serve everyone, everywhere.

We each had a very real sense of following Jesus and encouraging others to do the same. What was most surprising to us was that as we prayed for God to bring hurting people our way for us to help-the addicted, abused, broken and the poor-people began to show up nearly every day! This became so exciting to us and strangely enough, this was the beginning of what we experienced as the Jesus movement in our midst.

This motivated us not to promote Jesus and what we were learning about following Him, but we determined to pray and allow Jesus to attract people to us. It was amazing who showed up and asked us for help or who showed up and asked what we were doing together. We were truly operating under the principle of attraction, not promotion. This was the most refreshing experience to me, since I had spent my entire life being a promoter of ideas, books, tapes, seminar/workshops, buying property and building buildings. Now, to pray together with a few who were in agreement in the name of Jesus and wait on Jesus to lead out with orders and opportunities; this was the thrill of my life!

We then found out how to mold the 45 Day Prayer Covenant into a more flexible way of doing life together with others. When someone brought us a problem, we quickly suggested two things. First-We don't have the answer to your problem; Jesus does. Second-Since Jesus has the answers, then we invited that person to enter into a 15 Day or 30 Day Prayer Covenant with us. The result every time was that Jesus showed up in a powerful way and the answers were clear! It was just further proof to me that prayer doesn't need proof; it needs practice!

Try it out. Gather a few followers of Jesus together with you and enter into the Embers Covenant with one another. Then, fill in the details of your requests in each agreement area and pray them together with your little group. Prayer is simply about being in agreement together about whatever you are requesting in the name of Jesus. Jesus promises to show up when two or three gather in the name of Jesus. Now, if you knew Jesus was going to show up somewhere, wouldn't you go there as quickly as possible? Gather a little group of two or three or more and make these agreements together; enjoy the presence and power of Jesus in your life ASAP.

SERVE EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE

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Once you have committed to the first five agreements, you are ready to step into action-authentic action. There is a fundamental principle that is completed in the sixth agreement. The sixth universal agreement I believe that any follower of Jesus from any cultural background can embrace in order to walk together in unity, no matter the lesser disagreements, is to SERVE EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE.

There are three occasions when Jesus talks about the most important commandment ever given to man. What's interesting is Jesus is unable to give just one commandment, but consistently shares two as equally important. Let's examine each instance. Matthew records the first: "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' "This is the great and foremost commandment. "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'" (Matthew 22:36-40)


Jesus sums up with an astounding observation about these two commandments: "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." You just don't get any better than this. Jesus is saying these two inseparable commandments are the foundation-the underpinning-of the entire Law and the Prophets. The Law and the Prophets amount to the whole truth God has given. It's all about loving God and loving your neighbor!

Mark records the second instance: "What commandment is the foremost of all?" Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.' "The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these." The scribe said to Him, "Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." (Mark 12:29-34)


Note the summary response Jesus makes in this instance: When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." In other words, if you embrace these two commandments, you are practicing the very things that bring you near to the presence of God-the Kingdom of God!


Luke records the third instance: And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." (Luke 10:25-28)


So, if you get into loving God and loving your neighbor, you are at the core of all God's truth and you are near to the Kingdom of God. Now, Jesus adds one more observation: And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE." This time Jesus says if you embrace these two commandments, you will know what it means to really live!


In all of these teachings Jesus presents His most basic truth. There are two directions a follower of Jesus comes to understand. The first is vertical-to love God with all of your heart. The second is horizontal-to love your neighbor as yourself.


Here's the way it works. You cannot have one without the other. John wrote some terrific thoughts on this in his little letter called I John. He wrote: Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. And then he said: Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. We love because he first loved us. If we say we love God yet hate a brother or sister, we are liars. For if we do not love a fellow believer, whom we have seen, we cannot love God, whom we have not seen. And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love one another.


Once Jesus has transformed your heart, you will know your next move automatically. Your love focus will be on God through Jesus first and then you will have a whole new desire to love others. It's the natural context for your life and that context is in relationship to others.


Two things automatically overflow out of your relationship with God's love. FIRST-you will tend to radiate that love that is within you. A new sense of peace, joy and hope and a new heart of love for others will emanate from you. You won't have to do anything to get this sense of radiation; it's the evidence of being transformed inside out. This is a personal thing and only you may know it.


SECOND-you will tend to resonate with others. This is the horizontal or social dimension of being transformed by the love of God. To radiate will be an internal experience; to resonate is an external expression of your heart. To resonate will require that you make some decisions. There are only two kinds of pains in life-the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. You get to choose which pain to endure.


When I was in total control of my life without following Jesus, I used to think resonating the love of God to others took a technique or some unique methodology. But now that I am simply following Jesus and allowing Him to lead out with His orders and His opportunities, I have found that resonating God's love is so much easier than I had ever imagined. It all happens in the context of serving people-serving everyone, everywhere. Now this kind of service isn't directed by your agenda, but by theirs.


So, here's how it works best. To serve everyone, everywhere, simply ask the question, "What can I do to help?" If you practice asking this question and mean it, you will be activated immediately. At the moment you get an answer from anyone, anywhere, you will find yourself serving everyone, everywhere! Think it over!