Living Like Jesus
Series: Knowing Jesus
February 21, 2010
As some of you may or may not know… I’m a big fan of the TV series, “24”. In case you’re ignorant (like I was) about “24”, it’s a 1-hour drama that centers around Jack Bauer (played by Kiefer Sutherland), He’s an American intelligence agent for the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU). Bauer is America’s best and last hope against international terrorists, drug trafficking and just plain evil. Each episode covers 1-hour of real time, and an entire season’s story takes place in one 24 hour day.
Jack Bauer is the ‘new’ Chuck Norris. Here are a few facts about him…
• He never uses a bullet-proof vest. Instead, he relies on his mane of chest hair to stop any bullet that tries to penetrate his skin.
• If you wake up in the morning, it’s only because Jack Bauer spared your life.
• JB’s favorite color is sever, terror, alert red… his 2nd favorite color is violet… but only because it sounds like the word ‘violent’!
• J.B. lost his car keys once, and spent the next 3 hours torturing himself until he gave up the location.
• Superman wears J.B. pajamas
• J.B. doesn’t miss. If he didn’t hit you, it was because he was shooting at another terrorist 12 miles away.
• Killing J.B. doesn’t make him dead… it just makes him mad.
• When life gave J.B. lemons, he used them to kill terrorists, ‘cause he hates lemonade.
• J.B doesn’t sleep. The only rest he needs is when he’s knocked out, or is temporarily killed.
• J.B. could get off the ‘Lost’ island in 2 hours.
A lot of people would like to live a day in the life of Jack Bauer! Unfortunately that’ll probably never happen! But what CAN happen (and I want to challenge you to do today) is to live a day in the life of Jesus. In fact, I want to challenge you to live ALL of your days like Jesus Christ! In Mark 1:14-38, we’re given an example of 24 hr. segment in the life of Christ and I think it’s something we can all learn from, so that we can live the life of Jesus! Even though Jesus didn’t fight terrorists (per se), and stop an atomic bomb from going off… he did deal with some threats of a much more serious nature. READ
The 1st thing we need to do if we’re going to live the life of Jesus
1. Follow His Footsteps
The 1st thing that happens in this 24-hour period of time is the calling of Jesus’ disciples. The timing is interesting to me, because it’s right on the heels of John the Baptist being put into prison. It’s almost like John’s imprisonment was the ‘checkered flag’ for Jesus to take off! And that’s what he did! God had been counting down to this very moment all through history…(tick tock, tick tock) and now the time had finally come for the rule of God to begin on earth!
As Jesus leaps out of the starting blocks, he begins to tell people excitedly…“At last the time has come!”… “The Kingdom of God is near! Turn from your sins and believe this Good News!” –Mark 1:15 (NLT) The word Jesus used for ‘good news’ was actually a word that meant, “the good news of victory!” It was like a messenger coming back from the battlefront and announcing that the battle had been won! And that’s what Jesus is telling us! The battle with evil is won! Get excited!… and then get involved! Because the next thing he does is to begin recruiting volunteers who will not only help spread the message…but will live it out!
Jesus is on a mission! As He’s going along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he’s not taking some leisure walk at the beach… (La-de-daa… ). NO! He’s looking for these guys! He’d been watching, evaluating them for months. Now (with his decision made) he goes out searching for them, and He found them… where else? …fishing on the Sea of Galilee! See, fishermen are very predictable people! If you don’t know where they are… try the nearest lake or stream!
You ask, “Why was Jesus gathering these men together in the 1st place? What did he need them for? Couldn’t he do the job of proclaiming the kingdom himself?” Later in Mark 3:14,15, Mark answers that question for us. READ it with me… “Jesus chose twelve men and called them apostles. He wanted them to be with him, and he wanted to send them out to preach and to have the authority to force demons out of people”. – Mark 3:14,15 According to Mark 3, the reason Jesus chose these guys wasn’t so he could start an “All Boys Club”… but so they could watch his life, and then go out and duplicate what they saw Him do and say, in their own lives! By the way, that’s a pretty good definition of what it means to be a ‘disciple’ of Jesus Christ! “Watch what He did and said…and then learn to do and say the same thing in your life!”
In Jesus’ day, a person who wanted to be a ‘disciple’ would look for their own teacher. It was like looking in the Yellow Pages for a tutor for our kids. It was a big commitment, so they wanted to make sure their credentials were up to snuff! But unlike the other Rabbi’s of his day, Jesus handpicked his OWN disciples. See, the reality is, we don’t pick Jesus… He picks us! Notice Jesus doesn’t say, “Oh, Oh!!! Pick me! Pick me! I’ll promise you a wonderful life and you’ll never have another problem or trial! ” NO! He says, “Come! Follow me!” Lit. “Get behind me!”. In otherwords, Jesus is saying, “I don’t follow you… you follow me!” No conditions, no negotiations… just follow! A disciple ‘follows’ Jesus, he never leads him! Some people have that all mixed up in their heads! If we’re not careful, it’s easy to begin to believe that Jesus exists to follow us! To satisfy our demands and provide our wants. But when Jesus said to “Follow me” he used a special grk. word that meant we were to “embrace Him as the center and essence of our life”! That’s still his call today. At the point you start to think you’re the leader, you’re in trouble! Like the bumper sticker says, “If Jesus is your co-pilot… move over!”
Now being asked to follow anybody can be a scary thing! We’ve been betrayed in relationships, we’ve trusted people who turned out to be untrustworthy (politicians, corporations even church leaders). So ‘following’ isn’t exactly something we do without a lot of hesitation and cynicism.
But still, Jesus invites us to follow Him. He wants to be the leader of our lives. Is He trustworthy? I believe He is! He’s been faithful in my life! He’s never betrayed, misled, manipulated or used me. As a result of His leadership in my life, I’ve gotten stronger not weaker, my life has gotten fuller not emptier… and I know I wouldn’t be the person I am today without Him! He’s been a perfect leader, even though I haven’t been a perfect follower! In fact, for over 2,000 years He’s been the leader to millions… and they’d pretty much say the same thing! Being a disciple means being a follower. Nothing more, nothing less. What He says… I do! Where He goes… I go! No questions asked.
The call to follow Jesus is a call to “go without a net”. When Jesus called Peter and Andrew, only one thing stood between them and total commitment. Did you see what it was? It was their nets!!! If they were going to follow Jesus, they’d have to drop their nets. As fishermen, their nets represented security, income, comfort …survival! Vs.18 is one of the most intense verses in the entire bible. Jesus challenged them to follow him and they had a choice to make. Without a 2nd thought, the bible says that they, “…immediately left their nets and followed him.” Like students being let out of school, they just dropped their nets and took off! Zebedee (their father) is probably stunned! Write this down… “Disciples are ‘netless’ believers”. A ‘net’ is anything that inhibits my total commitment to follow Christ” (REPEAT) Let me give you a few examples of some ‘nets’ that can entangle your life…
• PEOPLE can be nets. You can be more afraid of what your friends think about you than what Jesus thinks about you. If that’s the case Jesus says, “You’re not worthy to be my disciple”.
• THINGS can be nets. Possessions can become symbols of our significance. (Our car, a house, our body.) To the point that we’re spending so much time pursuing ‘things’ that we don’t have any time left to pursue Jesus.
• PLANS can be nets. It’s so easy to have our own plans and dreams that have nothing to do with what Christ wants us to do.
• ATTITUDES can be nets. If we have an attitude of pride, or… we’re always critical and judgmental of others we can’t follow Christ, because those are things He wants us to leave behind.
• MONEY can be a net. You can get so entangled in the ‘money net’, that you love your money more than you love God. And since you can only choose one… many people choose money!
• SIN can be a net. You could have a secret sin this morning that trips you up every time you get ready to really commit yourself to following Jesus. You take a few steps towards Him but your feet get all tangled up again and you end up falling on your face, too ashamed to get up. If you have unconfessed, unrepentent sin in your life…that’s a net! It’s inhibiting you from making a total commitment to follow Christ!
• A CAREER can be a net. Not one of the disciples left their business because it was going badly; they left behind well-paying jobs to follow Christ.
I know too many men who turned down Christ’s invitation to follow him because of their careers, only to regret it years later. Earning money and achieving was more important.
Now, a ‘net’ isn’t necessarily always a bad thing, but if it stands between you and Him… you can never become His disciple. So, ask yourself this morning, “What kinds of things am I holding in my hands that could be considered ‘nets’? Things I need to let go of before I can really follow Christ?
The 2nd step towards living like Jesus is to learn to…
2. Talk His Talk
The 2nd thing Jesus begins to do in this 24 hour period of time we’re looking at… is he begins to teach. When it comes to communicating God’s Words… there was no one better or more effective than Jesus Christ Himself… Jesus was an amazing communicator! The bible tells us in Mark 1:21 that after choosing his disciples, He walked into the local Jewish synagogue and began to teach. But it also tells us the reactions that the crowd had to his teaching…”they were amazed”! Ya see, Jesus wasn’t your ‘run-of-the-mill’, average, boring preacher…He was AMAZING!
In Mark 11:8 after teaching the people, he tells us that “…the people were so enthusiastic about Jesus’ teaching”. Another version translates Mark 11:18… ”the people were SPELLBOUND by His teaching”.-NRSV People had never heard a person speak like this. There’s never been a greater communicator (before or since) than Jesus Christ! I want to speak to you this morning about ‘talking like Jesus talked’. See, the ‘words’ you use everyday, have incredible power! I once said 2 simple words…(I DO!) and it changed my life radically! (for the better I might add!). Jesus spoke the words that changed the world. And so if we’ll learn to talk like Jesus talked, and ‘speak’ like Jesus spoke… everyday… we can change our world!
When Jesus spoke he made no distinction between his own words and God’s. Mark’s amazed at the comprehension, the scope of his knowledge, the insight into humanity and life…that Jesus had. He didn’t teach like the scribes.
They were used to hearing: "Now, Hillel says this, and Gamaliel adds this, while other authorities contend..." No! Jesus didn’t reference any authority other than himself! Yet his words were so insightful, so true to the experience & the inner convictions of the men and women there… that they nodded their heads, "Of course! That’s it!" They knew what he said was true! His words had that ‘ring’ of self-authenticating truth that corresponds to the inner conviction every one of us has! They were amazed that Jesus knew the secrets of the human heart. That’s important, because it means we ought to measure every teaching by what Jesus said about the subject. “Truth” is what you find in the teachings of Christ. Our psychology and sciences are only correct when they agree with Him. I don’t know about you, but as I read through the Scriptures, and see the things that Jesus said, I’m absolutely dumbfounded at the amazing wisdom and insight he had! That’s why in a day when ‘mans wisdom’ is promoted…we desperately need the insights of Jesus over the world!
As Jesus was teaching, all the sudden, there was a loud shout and commotion from the back of the congregation. A man possessed by an evil spirit began to yell…in vs.23 “Jesus of Nazareth! What do you want with us? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are—God’s Holy One!” (tell me that wouldn’t spice up a church service!) There’s no doubt in my mind that the unclean spirit in this man was reacting to the teaching of Jesus. He couldn’t stand it! The insight Jesus was sharing that morning was so piercing, so revealing…that the demon was lit. “tortured with truth!’ Have you ever been “tortured with the truth”? I have! Jack B. used a cattle prod once to get information…but they had it easy compared to when God is working on you! The bible says in Heb.4:12 that, “…the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
God’s Words are a ‘two-edged’ sword. In otherwords, it cuts both ways. If you accept it, you get in on it’s benefits…
but if you reject it… you experience it’s penalties. They’re ‘powerful and active’. ! Word ‘active’ in grk. N.T. means… ‘stinging’. Do we have anyone hear today who is allergic to bee stings? I am! I get one bee or wasp sting…and my head swells up like a basketball! The word here for ‘sting’ can be used in two different ways depending on the context…
1. ‘Stinging’ like a ‘snake bite, or a bee’… would sting….OR…
2. ‘Stinging’ like ‘powerful medicine’… when you take the medicine, there’s a little bit of a burn, but it eventually brings healing.
According to this vs. God’s ‘words’ are like that… they’re living & ‘stinging’. When our lives are out of sinc with God’s words, as we read or hear it, it ‘stings’ us… because we realize we’re doing something wrong. Our conscious’s are pricked, and we know it! We can try to avoid it, or rationalize it away… but if we’re really honest about it… we know! How many of you have ever been stung a little from the words Jesus spoke? I have! It’s a convicting sting. However, if we need help, (we hurt, or others hurt…) we read the words of Jesus , and it’s like strong medicine… with the ability to comfort and heal us! When you speak God’s truth with love and compassion, don’t be surprised if sometimes there’s a reaction. But don’t worry, if it really is God speaking through you…that’s to be expected! Eventually it will bring healing! Don’t take it personally…eventually just like in the case of the demoniac, Jesus will silence Satan… and the truth will change lives!
Jesus’ authority was verified in vs.25 when it says that when Jesus cast the evil spirit out of the man… they responded, “What’s happening here? This man is teaching something new, and with authority. He even gives commands to evil spirits, and they obey him.” And the news about Jesus spread quickly everywhere in the area of Galilee. –Mark 1:25-28 NCV. That evil spirit didn’t have a chance! Films like, “The Exorcist” show little girls possessed by evil spirits and what the priests have to go through to get rid of them. But that’s not the case with Jesus! Just 7 words… and it’s gone! It doesn’t want to go, so it shakes the man and crys out… but it’s no contest! He’s overwhelmed by a superior power! That’s a good thing to remember… because when you speak God’s Word with authority and conviction… it’s the truth of God sets men free… not drugs, not psychiatric methods…but God’s authoritative truth. After this vs.27 tells us that… 27 Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened. “What sort of new teaching is this?” they asked excitedly. “It has such authority! Even evil spirits obey his orders!” Wow! Now that’s authority! Even Satan sits up and begins to fly right when we begin to speak the words of Jesus!
This situation was so remarkable that Mark tells us in vs.28, "…at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee." Not in a few days or weeks… “at once, quickly”. In otherwords, within hours the news of Jesus’ power spread like a flame through the area. All you and I need to know is that when we speak God’s truth with conviction and authority, it has the power to change lives! To the point that by evening people were bringing the sick and demon-possessed into the city to be healed by Jesus.
The 3rd thing I want you to notice about living the life of Jesus is that not only do we have to talk His talk… but we need to…
3. Walk His Walk
As we continue in this 24 hour day in the life of Jesus… you’ll notice that He didn’t just teach in the synagogue and then just go home… No! Instead, in vs. 29, he immediately puts his words into action! Mark tells us that…” …as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. –Mark 1:29 (NKJ)
The minute he entered their home, they realized something was wrong. Here it was, the Sabbath and usually every Jewish home had a huge dinner prepared. But when they walk in the door, instead of smelling the sweet aromas of dinner cooking, Peter’s apologizing… “Uh, Jesus, I’m sorry the meal isn’t prepared, but my wife’s really busy at the moment caring for her mother…she has a very bad fever.” And this isn’t just any old fever, Luke in his book calls it a ‘great fever’. This lady was on her death bed! As soon as Jesus hears this, he didn’t waste any time… here was a need He could meet… and so he walks into her room… goes over to her bed and lifts her up!
Now, if you’ve ever had a bad fever, you know that after it’s gone, it takes a little while for you to regain your strength… but not this lady! Immediately she gets up, goes into the kitchen, and starts preparing the Sabbath meal! Wow! Just that quick, the fever was over! We’ve all been there haven’t we? We’ve had a problem we couldn’t solve, or maybe we were hurting, (either physically, or emotionally)… when all the sudden Jesus walks into our lives and lifts us up! He heals us of something we couldn’t heal ourselves of. Very few people who come to Jesus are looking for truth; they’re looking for relief!
So Jesus strategy was to meet the felt need, (whether it was leprosy, or blindness, a mother-in-law who was sick)… And then after the need was met, people were always anxious to know the truth about this man who just helped them with a problem they couldn’t solve. Now, what’s great about this story is that as a result of Jesus meeting her need, (out of gratitude) Peter’s mother-in-law begins to meet others needs! Maybe she couldn’t preach or heal like Jesus … but using her gift of service… she did what she could do. Like Aunt Bee in Andy Griffith show, she’s buzzing around, feeding Jesus and his dozen hungry disciples. It was a great time of joy around the table that day! That’s the model… Jesus heals us, and out of gratitude we go out and heal others!
A lot of people say things like, “I don’t want to come to God, because it would look like I’m using Him. I’ll wait until things get better, before I come to Him for help!” Guess what… things will only get worse without God in your life! NOBODY comes to God because they were primarily looking for truth…(shock you?) …you know what we were looking for? RELIEF! We needed help! We messed up and we needed a way out! There’s no shame in coming to God this morning because of a crises in your life. In fact, how do you know God didn’t allow that crises in the 1st place to get you to come to the table? See, as long as I think I have to get my act together, before I come to Jesus… I’ll never come to Jesus! So many times, God will knock the props out from under our lives in order to get our attention!
As a result of this miracle, something amazing happened. In Jewish culture, you couldn’t do much until the Sabbath was over and the Sabbath was over at sundown. At a minute past sundown…(like shoppers lining up outside of Walmart on ‘Black Monday’)… the whole city showed up at Peter’s door! Why? So they and their loved ones could be healed! According to vs. 34, Jesus didn’t just heal one kind of disease… Jesus healed many who had various diseases.” In otherwords, Jesus’ healing powers weren’t limited to just ‘fevers’… he could heal anything…even demonic possession. You name it, He could heal it! Allergies, Alzheimer’s, psychosis, ADD, backpain, baldness, cancer, cataracts, cardiac arrest, diabetes, deformities, depression, eyes, eczema, fibrosis, hepatitis, heart disease, kidney disease…and list goes on and on. I think you get the picture!
What that tells me is that if we want to walk like Jesus walked and do what Jesus did…we need to have all kinds of ministries to meet the needs of all kinds of people. Jesus didn’t plan to heal all those people. It was a totally spontaneous event. He healed one woman… and the next thing He knows, the whole towns showing up! That’s the way ministry is! When you’re obedient to do what God puts in front of you… He opens up amazing opportunities for more! So when a person asks me, “How do you do the kind of good works God wants me to do?” My answer is simple… “However the Spirit leads.” As you go throughout each of your 24 hour days, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, (the same Spirit that healed Peter’s mother-in-law) is going to prompt you on how and when to do the things he wants you to do. And not only that… He’ll empower you to do them! When disciples were sent out later, they came back and reported that they were able to do the same things they saw Jesus do! Amazing!
Lastly, if I want to learn how to live like Jesus lived, I need to learn how to…
4. Practice His Presence
Jack Bauer has his hands full tracking down a nuclear missile before it detonates on U.S soil. Every minute of the show is packed with action. But your name doesn’t have to be ‘Jack Bauer’ in order to be busy this morning. How many of you here today would say you lead busy lives? Yea, the fact is… most of you would be glad to have Jack Baur’s schedule! In these last vs., Jesus shows us how he coped with the frantic pace of life. In Mark 1, he preaches all morning. In the afternoon, he heals Peter’s mother in law. And just when it looks like he can kick back and relax, someone comes to the house and says, "Lord, I saw what you did in church this morning for that demon possessed man! Can you do the same thing for my kid?" And then someone else comes over and says, "Lord, is it true that you can heal diseases? My wife’s been sick for a long time… can you help her?" It’s non-stop!
Pretty soon, the whole town was standing outside the door. Because Jesus loved them, he healed everyone he touched. And because more and more kept showing up, he healed them late into the night. At the end of a long day, he finally crawls into bed and the minute his head hits the pillow…he’s out! The disciples assumed that after a day like that, he’d probably ‘sleep in’ the next morning… so when they went in to wake him up… they were surprised to find that he wasn’t there! They looked high and low… but without result. They couldn’t figure out where he would have gone, and they were getting a little concerned… when one of the disciples finally found him.
You know what he was doing? Praying! “There’s work to do Jesus… why are you wasting time praying?” Yet Jesus recognized a need in his fast paced life to retreat to a quiet, lonely place for reflection, meditation, prayer and communion with God. Listen, because that’s the key to dealing with the busyness of life! Now think about this for a minute, Jesus was the most productive man that ever walked the face of the earth. He got more done, and had a greater impact in 3 years… than most of us will accomplish in a lifetime! How did He do it? The answer is found in vs.35 of Mark 1… “Early the next morning, while it was still dark, Jesus woke and left the house. He went to a lonely place, where he prayed.”
Jesus could have slept in that morning, but He doesn’t. Why not? I’ll tell you why not… because God’s power flows primarily to people who pray. (Did you hear that? Let me repeat… ) If you’re wondering why you don’t sense the power of God working in your life… it can probably can be traced back to your prayer life (or lack of it!). Jesus realized that without God’s power He was dead in the water… so He went to that ‘quiet and solitary place’ in order to recharge his spiritual batteries. Over and over during His ministry Jesus said that ‘on His own’, He could do nothing, but that the power He had… came directly from His relationship to His Heavenly Father. In John 5:19 he states… “I assure you, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. “ –John 5:19 (NLT) Now if Jesus needed God’s power in his life…what about you? See, the power to live the Christian life and do anything of any significance comes as a result of the time we spend with God.
Prayer really is the power source for every effective person, and every effective church. For example… there’s a marked difference between a church that merely ‘prays’… and a church that is DEVOTED to prayer!
• A Church that prays… prays when there are problems… A church devoted to prayer…prays when there are opportunities.
• A church that prays…announces a prayer meeting and some show up… a church devoted to prayer announces a prayer meeting and the church shows up!
• A church that prays…asks God to bless what it’s doing.
A church devoted to prayer…asks God to help them do what He is blessing.
• A church that prays…thinks it’s too busy to pray
A church devoted to prayer knows it’s too busy NOT to pray!
• A church that prays…frustrated by a lack of funds cuts back on ministry. A church devoted to prayer , prays through a financial shortage and receives funds miraculously!
• A church that prays… uses God.
A church devoted to prayer is used by God!
See the difference? The bible tells us in Col.4:2 to “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Why are we told to be watchful and thankful? Because when we DEVOTE ourselves to prayer… watch out! … because God is going to move in a powerful way in our lives! If you’re a busy person this morning, one of the toughest battles you struggle with is what to say ‘yes’ to, and what to say ‘no’ to… It’d be easy if some things were clearly bad and some things were clearly good. But what do you do when the choices are all good? In vs. 37,38 we find the disciples searching for Jesus… “Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” Why do you think they’re looking for him? Most likely because they have some more people that need to be healed! Jesus was faced with a tough choice between 2 “good” things. Either stay in Capernaum and help people, or move on to a nearby village and help people. But He says ‘no’ to staying, in order to say ‘yes’ to moving on the next village. How did he know which choice to make? Through prayer. By spending time with His Father, Jesus gained clarity about what he was supposed to do next.
Listen, the reason some of you are burning out this morning is because the word ’no’ isn’t in your vocabulary! If somebody asks you to do something, you’re like "Yeah, I’ll do it." And then when the time comes to carry it out, you’re saying to yourself, "Why the heck did I agree to do this? I don’t have time! I’m already way too busy!" Jesus knew when to say ‘no’. The disciples are pressuring Him, “Hey Lord. Everyone’s looking for you! Let’s get back to the village." How many of you know that ‘everyone’ doesn’t always have the best plan for your life? Jesus responds, "No. I’m not going back. God’s got other plans for me." God’s will was for Jesus to branch out and preach in other villages. And in order to be faithful to God’s plan for his life, he had to turn down some good opportunities in other directions. How many of you know that saying ’yes’ to God…sometimes means saying ’no’ to people? In fact, many times, saying “no” to people… makes it possible to say “yes” to God! The bible says that when he was done praying… He said… “Let’s go!” and “He traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.” –Mark 1:39 Empowered, Enlightened, and Encouraged…from his time with God… Jesus was ready for a new day! He boldly launched out to carry out the purpose of His life. See, when we say, “AMEN” at the end of our prayer, it doesn’t mean ‘I’m done”, it doesn’t mean we’re hanging up the phone…and disconnecting with God… NO! It means it’s time for action! “Amen” is an action verb! It’s time to get on with God’s agenda! Have you ever wondered how Jesus always said the right thing in the right way, at the right time for the right reason? How did He know how to encourage people He encountered day after day? How he was always focused, but never frazzled? It’s because morning after morning, He was with His Father listening. His Father knew who He was going to see that day. So, He gave Him what he needed to know, to help people along the way.
Do you want to live like Jesus lived? If you’re truly His disciple you do! How do you do that? 1. Follow in His footsteps. 2. Learn to talk the talk and walk the walk…4. Practice His presence. We need to spend time with God in the morning so we have the strength and wisdom to help that person, or deal with that situation later this afternoon!
Pray…
