Number two, take up the cross. Well what would it mean to take up the cross? Well I need to forgive, because on the cross Jesus forgave. But I don't want to forgive, I want to shake my fist! Oh, so take up your cross, and forgive. Then follow Jesus. What did Jesus do? Jesus showed grace and mercy to people. Remember what they said, when He came past one town, and the disciples said: these guys have rejected us. We should call down fire! Give me the word Jesus, and we'll call fire down, and burn them all up! Oh, they were really full of 'Holy Ghost' fire, you know and this 'righteous' indignation. I notice when people get angry, they always say it's righteous anger. I doubt it, I haven't seen much of that really. [Laughter] Righteous anger's usually addressed to the poor, and fixing the grievances of the afflicted, not towards being angry about your own injustices. Anyway, that's an aside. So I've lost the track now [Laughter]
So what do you need to do? You see most people just flare up. Well it's a very, very simple thing. Instead of saying: I'm hurt, and it's all about me; why don't you just say: what could I do to help this situation? How could I build a bridge of peace into this relationship, and be a peace-maker; and what will it cost me to do it? I need to forgive. I need to go and ask what's my part in it, and say: I'm sorry. [Wails] But it's all about me, and they did this. I should be getting someone saying sorry to me! But they're not saying sorry to me. It's actually about letting it go. You may have only contributed ten percent. Just go and put your ten percent right. What about them? Don't worry about them, it's not about them. It's about you, doing your part, to make this a different situation; and in doing that, you follow Jesus; because when you follow Jesus, you'll have the peace of God in your heart. That's how you know you're following Him, your heart is at peace. Why? Because the spirit of God, the kingdom of heaven is righteousness, peace. As soon as the peace lifts, you're out of place. You've got to make a decision; deny self, take up the cross, do what Jesus would have done, okay?
Second example, quite easy, I've learned this, is when it comes to moving in the spirit, very, very simple. The moment you stop, and think about yourself, the movement of the spirit stops, just like that; and that should be a lesson, that if you want to flow with the Holy Spirit, stop thinking about yourself. I found one of the things that's helped me mostly, in ministering to people, is very simply this: begin to think how much God loves them, and agree with that. Begin to think about the person being of great value, and that God wants to help them, and I could just be a channel for that. As I orient my thinking that way, the spirit moves. It's not really hard is it, it's quite sort of simple stuff. Okay, follow Me.
So let's finish it up. We'll go back to that one in Luke 15, finish back up there again. The young man had a revelation; and when you're right down in the pigs, and your life's a mess, and everything's fallen apart, you're having a disaster, maybe 'give me' was the part that got you there. Maybe it's a financial ruin, and when you think about it was: give me, give me, give me; and you went to the store, and you got thi,s and got that and got something else. Then there you are, down there in ruin, and they're coming to the door to take away your stuff, and you're embarrassed and humiliated. You're right down there, and then he came to himself. Isn't that a good thing? What does that mean? It means he was actually out of his mind. We've got lots of crazy people - they're out of their mind. You know when you start to think according to the ways of God, you come to your senses, you come to your senses. Usually you come to your senses when you repent and acknowledge the truth, then your mind clears, the demons go, and you think: that was stupid of me. Anyone had that one before? That was stupid. Why did I do that? What came over me? [Laughs] What came over me? So he came to his senses. I'll give you the key thing. The first thing he did - and this is what we need to do - need to just recognise the condition. He said this: I'm perishing with hunger, my life is a mess. I need to recognise, the reason it's a mess, is because the way I'm looking at life is: give me, give me, give me. That's why I'm in this mess. It doesn't matter whether you're a Christian or not, I've seen plenty of Christians get into a mess, because they still had that same thinking. This is one in the house of God really, this young man here.