Transformative Journey: Practicing the Way of Jesus

"Vision is looking out into the future and seeing the future before it happens. One person put it this way, that vision is a conviction of what could and should be. So you got to look out ahead and see and have vision. To have transformation physically, you got to set some goals. To have transformation spiritually, to have our character transformed, we need vision. You are a married couple, and maybe your marriage is kind of in neutral or even struggling. You need a vision for your marriage. What does a good marriage look like for you and your spouse? You got to have a vision. You got to come together and say, what is a good marriage going to look like for both of us? And then you pursue that vision." [00:02:45] (48 seconds)


"Scott Sauls, I read this quote by him last week, and I've been meditating on it. He said, the closer you get to Jesus, the more likely you are to become the very best version of yourself. The closer you and I are walking with Jesus, the better husband, father, grandfather, wife, mom, person, friend, we're all going to ultimately be as we walk with Jesus." [00:05:16] (30 seconds)


"In the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah the prophet was prophesying during the time when Israel and Judah were getting ready, to be sent into captivity in Babylon. And he's prophesying to them to repent because they were breaking covenant with God in worshiping other idols and other gods and all these things that God said, don't do that. Don't have other gods before me. Let me be your one and only God. And they continued to break that covenant. And God is, through Jeremiah, telling them, come back to me. Repent. It says in Jeremiah 6, 16, thus says Yahweh, stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it. And you will find rest for your souls. That last line is pretty key." [00:06:26] (56 seconds)


"Jesus said, I'm the way. The truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, but through me. The way is Jesus. The way is a person. He's not one of possible ways. He said exclusively, I am the way. And I love that about Jesus. He took the guesswork out of, how do I get to God? How do I know God? He said, you want to know God? Look at me. When you've seen me, you've seen the Father. If you want to come to the Father, you've got to come through me. So he's the exclusive way. He's the way. He's the way. He's the exclusive Savior. But what I love about Jesus is he's also the all-inclusive Savior. Come one, come all. No matter where you've been, what you've done, come to him, the exclusive Savior." [00:08:06] (48 seconds)


"Salvation is more than just forgiveness. It's not a get out of jail free card. Salvation is transformation from the inside out. We believe, and that is the starting point, we're saved by faith. Alone, and that's the starting point, but we were saved unto good works. We were saved to do good works, not saved by good works, but unto good works, to live a life that's transformed. Romans 8, the Apostle Paul says that we were predestined to be transformed into the image of Jesus. That means we learn how to think, act, and speak like Jesus. I want that. I want to learn to think like Jesus, speak like Jesus, and act like Jesus. So that invitation is to be with Him, become like Him, and then do what He did." [00:12:56] (54 seconds)

"There is an ache in each one of our hearts. Every human heart has a longing for peace, a longing for inner tranquility, a longing for rest. And I know myself that I don't rest very easy. That's not something that comes natural for me. Some of you, maybe you're at that place in life where you're not thinking about the future. You're not worried about tomorrow. You're not restless. But for the rest of us, restlessness is something we all struggle with. And Jesus says, come to me and you'll find rest. That longing that's in each one of our heart is, we're longing for Eden. We're longing for paradise." [00:14:01] (47 seconds)


"Following Jesus is the very best thing any of us can do. It's not easy. It goes against most of our intuitions because we're selfish by nature to be unselfish, to be others-centered versus self-centered. To have that transformation in our life, it takes work. But it's worth it. It's worth it. Practicing the way is worth it. So how do we practice the way? How do we practice the way? We arrange our lives around the same priorities and practices that marked the life of Jesus. You want to go into this new year right. You want to practice the way. You want to see transformation. Arrange your life. Arrange your day. Arrange your week around what were the priorities of Jesus and what were the practices of Jesus." [00:20:00] (59 seconds)


"Jesus said, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. That's important. There's two meanings to the word yoke. One, it would have been a visual illustration for his audience. You would have two oxen would be yoked together. And then they would have a stronger power to plow a field, to work a field, so that you'd put them together. You would yoke them together. But in the day of Jesus, to take on the yoke of your rabbi meant a lot more than just that visual illustration. It means walking with your rabbi. But there were thousands of rabbis during the time of Jesus. But Jesus is saying, listen, take my yoke. And what is his yoke? The yoke of a rabbi was their teaching, was their interpretation of Scripture. It was their interpretation of life. It was their very way of life. And you would follow in the dust of your rabbi." [00:21:38] (64 seconds)


"Serving marked the life of Jesus. He said the Son of Man didn't come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples in the upper room and said, hey, I've given you the example, do likewise. Jesus practiced rest, or what we will call Sabbath. And Jesus said that the command to take a day of rest was not for God, it was for us. It was out of God's love. He knows that we can work too hard and that we can be so busy that we don't stop and rest. It's a principle and a practice of Jesus. Prayer, obviously, was a practice of Jesus. He prayed." [00:27:09] (46 seconds)


"Fasting. Fasting. Jesus fasted. He fasted from food for 40 days. Now, Jesus said, when you fast in the Sermon on the Mount, assuming that people fast. Can I let you in on a little secret? I suck at fasting. I'm terrible at fasting. But for some people, fasting food, maybe for health reasons, you can't do that. But you can fast social media. It's probably a good idea. Fast from TV. Whatever it is, you can fast from something, and it's a willingly giving up something to say, Lord, I'm hungry for you. Lord, I want to hunger for you, not all these other things. Because I think sometimes we've been offered this amazing banquet table of the choicest foods, and we get hungry, and we settle for a Snickers. And then we get to the banquet table, and we're not hungry." [00:28:24] (62 seconds)