Seven Ways to Put Jesus First - Part 2 - Putting Jesus first in your life

Seven Ways to put Jesus First in Your Life – Part 2

If you were here last week, you are part of the part one of the series we have been looking at series to kick off the new year. And it is simply about this; seven different ways that we can go about putting Jesus first in our lives. The heart of this series is how can we relook at our priorities, and how can we make various adjustments to different areas of our lives to get Jesus first. Here is the premise; I believe that if Jesus is first, then God takes care of the rest. Jesus said it like this: “When the root of the tree is good, then the whole tree is going to be good.” If we can get the first right, then God will take care of the rest. And one of those great life scriptures, I think it is such a great motto to live by, is that beautiful Matthew chapter six verse thirty three, remember that verse where it says: “But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given as well.” When we are putting Jesus first, God takes care of the rest. Last week we looked at the foundation step which really starts with our heart, of course. Is Jesus really your great passion in Life?

 God wants us to be an obedient people, but not obedient by law, not obedient because we have to, not obedient by fear, but obedient by passion and faith. You see, when you are in love with someone or something, it is just natural to obey. You are in love with your fishing rod; you naturally get up at four o’clock in the morning, to get your line in the water. You passion, your actions follow your passion. God has created us to have a relationship with Jesus, that would be about passion when you love Jesus, it is natural to follow Him. And obey and do what He has called us to do. That was last week, and if you missed it, you can catch it by downloading that episode. What I want to speak about today is deeply spiritual, it is all about dominoes. When last did you have a good old game of dominoes. I am not talking about trying to match the sixes and fours, I do not even know how to play dominoes, I do not even know how to play engineer. I am not interested in matching numbers that is my wife, she is the accountant, I am an engineer, I just want to stack them up, and then I want to topple them over. You have done that with your kids, maybe not with your kids, but maybe you have just done that. And you have bought these long trains of dominoes, I like to down the stairs, over this, around the circle.

 I love that feeling of knocking the first domino, and then gravity takes over, and there it goes. If we think about our lives for a moment, there reality is our lives consist of a whole string of habits that we do. Some them are the basic, boring ones like, you brush your teeth every morning. The reality is that even our character comes down to a set of habits. How do you respond when someone cuts in when you are in traffic, or you do not get your own way, some people manifest with anger, some people get kind, some get generous, it is all habits in our lives. When it comes to changing our lives, ultimately, God wants to change the various habits in our lives. Some are good, some are bad, some are missing. As soon as you start thinking about, this is a different habit, that sounds like new year’s resolutions and a lot of work, and lots of effort, and it probably is. But what if there was one habit? Like that first domino, if you could knock that first domino, then gravity does the rest.

 What if there is one habit and you say: “Let us work on this thing. Let us just start the year by working on this one habit.” Because I believe that there is a habit like this, there is this one habit, if we can get that right, like, knock that domino over, it would produce a knock on effect, and produce a whole lot of change in our lives, and a whole lot of different areas. I think that habit is one Jesus had in His life, and I think that it was such a simple habit that many of us might have been doing that habit for many years. But some of you might not have, and it is a simple habit of saying Jesus, I want to put you practically first in my day. When the sun comes up, and I ease my way out of bed, I want to very strategically put Jesus first. And what we are looking at this morning, it is a simple message and practical. But I hope it is going to inspire and challenge us to say: God, I want to work on just this one area, I have faith that it is going to have a knock on effect in many area of our lives. I want to read from the book of Mark, chapter one verses thirty two to thirty nine: “32 That EVENING  after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. ³³ The whole town gathered at the door, ³⁴ and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.”

 Let us think about that context for a moment. 4Jesus has been travelling around, and he gets to this village, and it says the whole town arrived. The Bible does not say how big the town was, but to be conservative, there was about two thousand or maybe three thousand people there. Everyone was there, gathered at Jesus’ door. And it said that Jesus drove out demons, and He healed the sick. Now, Jesus’ pattern of ministry was not over the crowd. Jesus seems to one by one deal with people, lay hands on them, fixing their eyes, raising them up. And it says that Jesus preached to them that night. If Jesus started ministering at sunset, by what time would he have been finished? I think Jesus would have ministered way beyond eight or ten at night. And here is the question. If that was me, and I had this long meeting, ministering sometimes in a rural area where you have this very long line of people. By the time you get to the end, you are grateful that it is Sunday night. “Thank you Lord, it’s Monday tomorrow, pastor’s day off.” Jesus did not do that. And the scripture carries on:

 “35 Very early in the morning, while it was still DARK , Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. ³⁶ Simon and his companions went to look for him, ³⁷ and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” ³⁸ Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” ³⁹ So he travelled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.” Here is the challenge, I think he would have been up early the next morning, before sunrise, let us say before five in the morning, so that He can go and connect with His heavenly Father. For Jesus, it was such a priority, not to sleep in, but to start His day getting connected with His Father again. And I want to show just some of the fruit, some of the effect that that time had with Him. I believe Jesus knew He needed to connect with His Father, because that was His source of strength. Even physically, because out of that time, He said no, we are not staying here, we are moving on, we have another walk, how many miles to walk that day, we are going to another village. He was not taking a day off; He even seemed to find physical strength, connecting with His Father. But even more than that, Jesus drew all His emotional strength from the time He spent with His Father. You see, Jesus was about to make a very unpopular decision. Can you imagine, Peter said: “I am so glad to find you, the three thousand people are already waiting at the house, the crowd is there at the house, they are seated, they have already sang their songs, it is time for you to minister.” Jesus said “I am not ministering today, we are going there.” So, Jesus had to say: “Sorry, I am moving on.”

That is unpopular; to make unpopular decisions is an emotionally draining and a difficult thing. But Jesus found that strength in His relationship with His Father to make unpopular decisions. I believe Jesus used those times connecting with His Father to do just that, to help make decisions. I think He went to His Father with lots of options, but He came away with His Father with decisions already made. Have you ever had to wrestle trying to make decisions? I have to wrestle sometimes. Not to make good or bad, but to make good decisions. God did not face the good or bad, He had to face the decision; “Do I minister to all these people, or do I go to another village where they are not even expecting me?” Maybe there will be no crowd. Jesus went to His Father with options, and he came away with decisions. Jesus used those connecting times to hear His Father’s voice, to know what He should do. Jesus used that connecting time with His Father to have His purpose in life clarified.

 I love that it said after coming out that time, He said to Peter; “For this is why I have come.” One of the things that I have found is as you spend time with God, God can remind you; “This is why I have called you this is what I want you to focus on.” I go to God with my pen and paper, and that normally has to do with my to do list.Even for the day comes out of those times. The priority for today, He has His purpose. He has His purpose clarified, He has His priorities set. The result was that Jesus made an unpopular decision, but from a place of emotional strength, clear purpose and clear priorities. For Jesus, these seem to be crucial and as important times in His life. And here is the good news. We have exactly the same opportunity available to us as well. God has made a way for us on a daily basis, we can get to start our day in exactly the same way Jesus did also. I think that it is crucial that we have an Isaiah chapter nine verse six. We need a bit of Isaiah nine six in our lives every morning. What does that means? Have a look at this beautiful picture of Jesus: “For to us a child is born,  to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty  God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Every day, I believe, that we need to be reminded about this amazing gift that we have available, to us. We have been given a saviour; we have given an opportunity to have a relationship with our king Jesus. And we get to enjoy that day by day, and I believe it starts with our connecting time in the morning. “Oh Jesus. It is so good to get to know you.” And I love the fact that says and the government will be on His shoulders. I do not know if you are like me, but I think that you probably are. We come to Jesus when we first become born again. And we open up our hearts and say; “Jesus, please forgive my sins, I dedicate my life to you. I surrender, you are now my Lord and saviour, I give you the steering life of my life, here it is Jesus, I am going to follow you. But by eleven o’clock that morning, when the pressure is on, it is so easy to grab the steering wheel back. It is so easy to take the worry back, and the burden back, and start taking the decision process back. I love the fact that says the government is on His shoulders. I think that all of us, what I need every single day, is to say Jesus, I want to surrender completely to you. I want to hand over control of my life to you.

 Remember, Jesus taught us to pray, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It is about giving back, the weight of decisions be on Jesus and not on us. And I love the ministry we need I think on a daily basis He will be called wonderful, councillor, friends, we need the wonderful councillor to guide us day by day, nudging us and directing us. It says that He is the mighty God, we need to taste His strength day by day, everlasting Father, we need His love to embrace us day by day. It says He is the Prince of Peace; we need to unburden our hearts day by day. Here is the bottom line; I am convinced that the strategic habit of putting Jesus first, connecting with Jesus first. How can you sit in the front row, distracting me? What kind of church is this? Go away! As I was saying, I believe that habit of putting Jesus first, now some of you have done that for years. Some of you have kind of just do it, I have to get through the Bible every day. I want us to catch the vision this morning. Of how we can turn that time every morning into what Jesus found. Something that will strengthen, direct, clarify and inspire, and halp us to live our lives more strategically, fruitfully and effectively for God. What we are going to do now, is very quickly, I am going to run through a small check list. What is it going to take to be practical for you to start connecting with God every morning.

1.      It is going to take some time, obviously. And sadly, this is the hurdle that most people trip over. Oh Brent, that is easy for you, you are the pastor, if you knew the schedule I face. Well, all of us live busy lives. Here is the difference; busy people live their lives at the mercy of the demands of their time. Fruitful and effective people have learnt to take control of their time, and actually prioritise their time rather than to just be dragged around by demands. What I am talking about, this is not a huge investment of time, fifteen to twenty minutes per day is what it is going to take. That means taking out your cell phone, adjusting the alarm clock function to twenty minutes earlier in the morning. So, that is going to mean, is that you will have to go sleep twenty minutes earlier the night before. So, if you are the eleven o’clock person to get up at six in the morning, I could encourage you to go to sleep at half past ten, and wake up at half past five in the morning. Investment starts with the investment of time. You might say; “You do not understand, I am a night person. Well, that is awesome, because Jesus would spend whole night in prayer to His Father.

2.       So, I will encourage the night people, do both. Start the day with Jesus, and you can spend the whole night praying also if you want. I believe so passionately what we do with the first, determines what God does with the rest. The best way to kick off your day is to start it off with your time with Jesus. So, time is a step of faith. Faith means taking an action step believing that our action step is going to open a door for the supernatural. And who knows, by getting that twenty minutes earlier, God might bless you with a lot more effective sleep. You might actually sleep better, be more energetic and enthused, and encouraged by the morning.

3.      You need a good spot. At home, I am very privileged, I have a balcony next to our bedroom, I am the only one who uses it, it has a small table and chair, overlooks the golf course and it is just my happy place. And that is where I sit every morning, connecting with God. But it is not always the case. My boys, they are the twelve and ten, they are at the stage where they can look after themselves and get themselves ready. But I have been through the one, two, three and four year old stage, where kids have no regard for what time it is in the morning to get out of bed, and they have a huge list of demands, and they expect them to be fulfilled straight away. So, I understand that sometimes it is not so easy to find a good spot, but I want you to try, nonetheless. I know what it is like to travel, and we have been sleeping in one tiny room, and I need to connect with God because I have to preach, eventually I find myself on the toilet with the shower door closed, Jesus, I need to connect with you. So, what I am saying, you need to be creative, but find a place. A place that you can be alone. Find a place where you can get away from distractions. That is the time to switch off the cell phone, or just ignore the cell phone; it’s the time to just be alone with God, and a cup of coffee.

4.      You need a good Bible. You think that all Bibles are good. All Bibles were good. Maybe if you like King James Bible, with the thees and thous, and I encourage you to get a Bible that you can read and understand well. I like the NIV, but get a Bible that is easy to read. And a Bible that is easy for you to make notes. I like to read Bible with a pen in my hand. I love to underline stuff, make a mark, make a note. This is a gentle word to our Afrikaans brothers and sisters. In many Afrikaans families, you have this huge Bible that is a family heirloom, it gets handed down from generation to generation. That is not the kind of Bible you should be using here. Do not buy a four thousand Rand Bible, buy a forty Rand Bible. You need a Bible that you can scratch, and mark and adjust and write in. This is such a precious tool for connecting with God. If you are the newer generation, then you can do that on your phone. There are great apps, the You Version Bible, there are other Bible study apps, I use my phone a lot for reading and making notes and you can do it straight off your phone if you are part of that generation.

5.      You need a plan. You need a reading plan to get through, here is a few options. Someone once said if you do not plan, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. And many Christians without any sense of plan; “Where should we read today God?” Then drift back to the same old  favourite passages. I want to suggest one of three options. Option number one, I have an Alpha Bible in a year, and this is my third year that I am reading through this. What it does, is it breaks down the Bible  to the Psalm for the day, Old Testament for the day, New Testament for the day, and it keeps me accountable because I know how difficult it is to catch up if I fall behind, which is another incentive not to fall behind. So, it keeps me current and makes sure that I read daily. There also are starter packs with book marks that has the same reading plan. You may get them from the church, free of charge. My wife, option two, is a book at a time kind of a person. She is not a big reader, she likes little chunks to work through at a time. So what she does is chose a book, and slowly read through the book. And when she has finished with that book, she would go to the table of contents and write the date he completed that book. If you are a young believer, chose the New Testament, chose a book at a time, read a passage every day and work your way through little by little making sure you get through everything. Option three is a devotional. There are lots of different types, Faith for daily Living; they are in the starter pack also. What it does is it gives you a Bible reading and someone else’s devotional insights into that text. It gives you some ideas, it inspires you, and it is a great way to start, and for some people, this is what they do every day, I would encourage you to not make this your for ever strategy. This is like eating someone else’s pre-digested understanding. As you grow for you to dig into the scriptures for you to study and meditate for yourself.

6.      A Notebook. What do you need a notebook for? There is a supernatural, powerful principal that happens when you take a pen and paper and you actually start writing down. You can use pen and paper, or fingers and keyboard, whatever works for you. But I find sometimes when you take a verse, and you write it down, and you write down some thoughts about it, it is as if God begins to stir and challenge, and He begins to take it apart, and suddenly, you look back and you see that wow, this verse really has made a difference. So, what I want to encourage you to do, it as you are reading, doing your daily reading, use the pen, and you underline any verse that stands out to you, and when you come to the end of your reading, you look back at all the underlined bits, and you chose that one verse that really stood out for you. Take that verse and write it down. any thoughts that may occur to you. You will be amazed at how it challenges and inspires you.

A prayer strategy. Some of you are one of those natural prayers where you can pray for hours, you could pray through the whole community list, you can pray for every nation that has been persecuted, and you can just keep on going. But the other ninety nine percent of us are not like that. More distractions, the pastors kids. So, to all of you who are like me, I want to suggest some kind of prayer strategy to keep you focused. By default, I am a preacher. I love God’s word, I can start praying, and as I start praying, I think of a verse, and next thing I think of another sermon outline. So, I need to keep focused, and my strategy is to use the prayer Jesus taught His disciples in Matthew chapter six verses nine to thirteen: “⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ¹⁰ your kingdom come, your will be done,  on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us today our daily bread. ¹² And forgive us our debts,  as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³ And lead us not into temptation,^[a] but deliver us from the evil one.^[b]” That is a simple prayer, and all of you have memorize it somewhere along the line, you have said it in high school every Friday, so it is in there somewhere. This might sound corny, but sometimes corny is good, because you remember corny stuff. But for me, always remember some prayers that comes out. One, start with praise, Thanking God, thank Him for your family, your home, your job, for all the things He has done. Remember the benefits that God has given us, just thank God. Then it says your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That is about planning. That is when you bring your plans for the day and say God, Your will, what do you want me to do here. I want to submit my day to you. What should I do, those decisions, it is all about Your plans. Next one, give us each day our daily bread. That is about provision, please Lord, I need you to fill my heart with love, for my family, for the church, God I need your provision, God I need a new job, whatever you need. Pray for it and ask. Next thing; forgive us our debts as we forgive those who sin against us. That is about purification, saying God please, purify my heart, I lost it yesterday, I blew it. Lastly, it is about protection, my family, the church. And then finish off with some praise at the end. That might sound corny, but for me, that helps me to stay the course to pray through those things I need to pray for.

7.      Consistency. It is no good without consistency. Consistency is what turns a good intention into a great habit. I remember being so inspired by a man called Dudley Daniel, he was the guy who started the new covenant ministries, an apostolic team that we are a part of as we work together, he is in his seventies now, I remember speaking to him once he only ever remembers two days when he did not start his day with Jesus. And both times he was in hospital, unconscious. No wonder God used him so mightily, The Bible says that if you will be faithful in the little things, then you will be in the big things also. And this is one of these areas where you can be so very faithful with the little, and God can use us in the great things. Maybe some of you have been connecting with God on a regular basis, I want to finish with a new vision, but it is only for me, this is my heart, and my desire when I connect with God every day, I am a great believer in Christian meditation. When you hear about meditation, you think it is a bad thing, eastern meditation, cross your legs and sit in an uncomfortable position, make your mind clear and hum. The Bible speaks about meditating. Just as much as where eastern meditation speaks about emptying your mind, biblical meditation is about filling your mind and focusing on the Word of God. I believe that as we learn the discipline and art of learning to meditate on God’s word, is a powerful thing that takes place inside of us. My favourite Psalm, Psalm one verses one to four says: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the council of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the law, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.”

You see, I meditate on His word day and night. Biblical meditation is like treasure hunting. When you were a kid, you used to go Easter egg hunting. If you had loving parents, they would not hide the eggs so that you never find them, they hide the eggs so that you would find them. Our heavenly father has got treasures laid up for us in His word. And sometimes you would just read over them as you scan them, and you would miss some of the rich treasures that God has for us. I believe that God designed His word in such a way that just beneath the surface, you would scratch a little bit, ponder a little bit, think about His deep and rich treasures. And when we discover, here is an easter egg, there is that sense of delight, it is the same thing when you meditate on God’s word. That is my favourite part of preparing and preaching, is as you are pondering and meditating on God’s word, suddenly it is like the lights come on. Suddenly you see something in \god’s word, you might have read it a thousand times, but this time, the lights come on. And when the light comes on it is like faith rises up inside you  and you say God, that is amazing. That is biblical meditation. And that is what God wants us to do, I believe on a daily basis as we come to His word. Biblical meditation is like a cow that chews the cud. You go and do your reading it is like a cow that fills itself with grass and eats, eats, eats, and then it goes and finds its favourite spot under the tree. And as it sits under the tree, it begins to chew the cud. You see its jaw going as it regurges and chews through that grass and somehow that green stuff becomes white milk, I do not know how it does it, it happens.

 The same thing with God’s word. We can read, read, read, we fill ourselves, but as we sit pondering and meditating. We underline some scripture as we read, we wrote down that verse so that we can memorize it, and now we begin to ponder on it. And think why did you say that, God? And as you probe and think and ponder. All of us can meditate, but in a negative way, it is called worry. When you worry, you lie in bed at night and your mind is filled with those dreadful thoughts of what probably maybe going to happen one day, and you run those scenarios around in your mind, and what comes out is stress. It is the same process, but just reformat what you think about. Instead of those worrying thoughts, pop in the word of God. And as you run the wheels of your mind, chewing the cud, what comes out is not stress and worry, but life abundant. When we meditate, we meditate day and night. I want you to choose a spot. One good spot as you fall asleep at night, kiss the wife, turn off the light, time for sleep. Now, I am a pastor, I do not count sleep, I pray for sheep. And even better, is to actually, as you are falling asleep, now, you meditate on the verse you wrote down this morning. And you can throw it around in your mind. You might be driving on your way to work, wherever you can find a spot, you can train yourself that is my spot to meditate on that verse I wrote down this morning. There is a profound fruitfulness from biblical meditation. When you are meditating, it positions us for God’s blessing. He is like a tree, planted by streams of water.

 If we can get this habit and place, we meet with God on a daily basis, we meditate on God’s word, it is like taking our lives and planting it by streams of water, and we can draw from the life of God’s spirit. It makes us fruitful. That tree produces fruit for every season. As we are pondering, we are allowing the Holy Spirit to speak and minister. And the Holy Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience. It produces the fruitfulness into acts in our lives. And it says its leaves do not wither. The Bibles speaks about leaves, it is always for healing. And there is a spiritual health that comes. You cannot be pondering on fear and dread and bitterness and pondering on God’s word at the same time. As we ponder on His word, it brings healing, not just to our lives, but we can bring healing to others also. And I love the fact that says whatever he does, prospers. This is my prosperity message. For prosperity, I need to meditate on God’s word. As you meditate, if you are struggling with your finances, why do you not go find what Jesus said about finances and learn to meditate on it. If you are struggling with your health. Why do you not find what Jesus says about healing and learn to meditate on that. If you are struggling in your marriage, find out what God says about marriage, and meditate on it. As you ponder and meditate, it brings healing and fruitfulness and prosperity. And lastly, it says not so the wicked, they will be like chaff, they will be blown away. Those who have learnt to meditate on God’s word; it says they are like a tree anchored. It becomes a stability and strength to our lives as we have learnt to build ourselves. Not on our ideas and our thoughts, but on the solidness of God’s word. I believe, if you can knock this domino, we can set up this one habit in our lives, I believe it will have a knock on effect as our relationship with Jesus grows and develops, I believe you will see the fruit of that, not just only your relationship with God, but your relationship with others, with work, with your family, with your health. I believe one domino can set the rest tumbling also. So, here is my challenge. There are five more weeks to the series. Take a Bible and a pen, and start a habit. I want to challenge you for the remainder of this series to give yourself very intentionally to pursuing this one habit. And I am going to hold you accountable. And I trust that by the end of this series, those who faithfully taken God’s word, living it out, I believe you will see the fruit of that by the end of this series.