Blocks Conference - Night 1 - Practicing The Way

New Song Church OKC

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.
Behold = to make a careful study of.
“Very few people today find Jesus interesting as a person or of vital relevance to the course of their actual lives.” - Dallas Willard
“We need to return to the idea that we have to put thought into God’s Kingdom and how it works. We accept that someone spends years becoming a dentist or even more years training to become a surgeon, but we do not accept that we need to spend years giving serious thought to the nature of the soul, the nature of God, who Jesus was, and how it all works. In early periods of the church, it was assumed you would devote your whole life to understanding the fullness and complexity of God’s Kingdom. Yet this rarely happens in churches today. Understanding anything important requires major effort. Understanding Jesus’ teaching is more important than learning algebra, which takes a great deal of effort, yet most Christians have never put the same amount of effort into understanding Jesus’ teaching that they’ve put into solving algebraic equations.” - Dallas Willard
Transformation is in the eye of the beholder of Jesus.
PRACTICING THE WAY OF JESUS
A people who practice the way of Jesus.
A people who routinely do what Jesus said was best.
A people who not only have faith in Jesus, but have the faith of Jesus.
A people who behold Jesus and learn how to live their life as He would live it if He were them.
A people who are being transformed into the image of Jesus.
A people who will not sip when there is a pool to plunge into.
How Do We Practice The Way of Jesus?
1.Enjoy Being with Jesus.
“I believe the most prevalent and tragic misunderstanding that afflicts contemporary western Christianity is that we make a vow to submit our life to Christ, but then spend 99 percent of our time excluding him from our awareness. We make him Lord over our life in theory, but we do not make him Lord over most of the moments that make up our life. The fact is, if we can’t discern God’s presence in our day to day lives, it’s unlikely that we’ll find him at a revival. We may find a lot of excitement, great speakers, superb music, and maybe even see signs and wonders, but unless a person learns to find God as much in the ordinary as in the exciting, the exciting will do nothing more than serve as a momentary distraction.” - Greg Boyd
How Do We Practice The Way of Jesus?
2. Apprentice Under Jesus.
An apprentice or a disciple is someone who has decided to be with another person in order to become capable of doing what that person does or to become what that person is.
Jesus is the expert on how to live in God’s Kingdom and how to advance the Kingdom here on earth.
“We are learning from Jesus to live my life as he would live my life if he were me. I am not necessarily learning to do everything he did, but I am learning how to do everything I do in the manner that he did all he did.” - Dallas Willard
How would Jesus live the life I have been given through the time, place, family, neighbors, talents and opportunities that are mine?
How To Apprentice Under Jesus:
Ask | Live In His Word | Decide
Do I really intend to be a lifelong student of Jesus?
Do I really intend to do and be all the high things I say I believe in?
Have I decided to do them?
When did I decide it?
How did I implement that decision?
How Do We Practice The Way of Jesus?
3. Walk as Jesus Walked
Stop trying and start training.
We can’t walk like Jesus walked unless we train as Jesus trained.
A Spiritual Discipline is an activity undertaken to make us capable of receiving more of God’s life and power.