DISCIPLESHIP 5 TRANSFORMED RELATIONSHIPS & HABITS

INTRODUCTION Six Areas of Transformation: Mind & Character Relationships & Habits Service & Influence

TRANSFORMED RELATIONSHIPS JOHN 13: 34 – 35 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another".

A NEW COMMAND "Jesus reveals a new standard in his New Commandment. He commands us to love others until it shatters defenses, brings down strongholds, tears apart barriers, and even slips through the firewalls of culture. This is the revolution that Jesus calls his disciples to, and it requires sacrificial living”. Bill Hull

EXERCISE: Close your eyes, picture someone you find difficult to love...see them as Gods precious child...ask God right now to melt your heart towards them...

AS I HAVE LOVED YOU… Jesus accepts you & I, just as we are. "Because Jesus loves his disciples, then and now, he also calls them to love much. He calls us to embrace our limitations and to let God be strong in loving through us". Bill Hull

BY THIS ALL MEN WIL KNOW…. Until we learn to love, sacrificially and unconditionally, people will not see Jesus in us. Ask God to give us the same Compassion that Jesus had for people throughout His ministry. Can people see Christ in you; because of the way you love? Do people instinctively know you are a God-follower because of your love for others?

TRANSFORMED HABITS We could do nothing better as a disciple of Jesus than to arrange the pattern and rhythm of our lives around His ways, and His patterns. His life was one of humility, obedience, sacrifice and submission.

SOLITUDE & PRAYER 35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitar y place, where he prayed. Mark 1: 35 See also Luke 6: 12

SUBMISSION “I tell you the truth, 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

HUMILITY 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Philippians 2: 5 - 8

OBEDIENCE & SACRIFICE “He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:

FELLOWSHIP 14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. Luke 22: 14

WORSHIP “A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4: 23

CONCLUSION What are the rhythms of your life? If we are true Disciples of Christ, we should constantly be growing, developing, learning and becoming more mature. In short we should be transforming in all the different areas of our lives.