How Do We Avoid This? ::: Praying Through Hosea 13:6

When I fed them, they were satisfied, when they were satisfied they became proud, then they forgot me.

~Hosea 13:6

Father,

I know our tendency is to become prideful and self sufficient. I don't want to ask for more of you only to get it and be satisfied...I constantly want to want more of you. What do I do? How do I chase after you daily? As a deer thirst for the water...I want my soul to long after you. I've tasted and seen your goodness but my soul is so thirsty for more of you...if you will fill me, I will overflow...

It's in your Holy and Powerful name...

Amen

Pride Kills Everything It Touches

We live in the kind of world where basketball players pound their chest when they dunk on someone, where baseball players remain in the batter's box to watch their work as the ball flies into the seat and football players choreograph celebrations for touchdowns (not to mention sacks, interceptions and even tackle someone or catching the ball). So much of what we are inundated with every single day is man boasting about how great he is and relying on his own ability or talent to answer the question of who's great...

Now, I've never dunked on anyone, so I don't know how that feels...it's been a long time since I've hit a ball over a fence...and aside from an annual flag football game we play every year again out students (which we always dominate...prideful statement) it's been a long time since I've scored a touchdown. However, I see the evidence of pride in my own life almost daily. I lean on my own strengths and abilities way to much. I find myself unwilling to lean on the mighty hand of God.

A quick keyword search on http://www.biblegateway.com/ shows 63 occurrences of the word pride. James 1:10 says, But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. I like this because the first part of the book of James starts out with, "consider it pure joy when you suffer persecution..." another concept that is foreign to our western evangelical mindset.

How about this mindset to combat what we see, 1 Peter 5:5-6 says this,
Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

I find it incredibly encouraging to know that instead of relying so heavily on my own ability to be a good husband, good daddy, good son, good brother, good employee, good pastor, etc...I can rely on the strength of Almighty God.

This is why I love the words of The Apostle Paul in Galatians 6:4, where he says, May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

ZS

The Challenge Has Been Issued...

Sometimes it takes someone else to look you in the eye and challenge you to do something that you know you should already be doing for it to truly sink in...maybe it's the competitive nature...whatever. The reality is, my pastor has challenged me to be more faithful in my blogging. The reason this is a good challenge for me is because this has become a form of journaling for me, which I'm a firm believer in. I think journaling is a discipline that everybody should chase after. It's good to have time to be alone with your thoughts and record them so you can go back and read them and maybe avoid pitfalls in the future or be encouraged by and be uplifted in the future. Job even mentions in his torment, "...oh that my words were written..." He knew that it would be important for others to know the path that he had walked down.

So, to you Pastor Trent, thanks for the challenge...

Off to work now...

ZS

God's Mission...God's Method

We will be finishing up this sermon series this weekend with a talk on leadership as we try to challenge our people to embrace the role in which God has placed them. To be voices in their homes, work place and when they are out in the community.

I just wanted to take a couple of minutes to reflect on this series because I feel like in a lot of ways it's been foundational for our church. It seems a little strange to say something we are doing 2+ years into the life of our church is foundational because it seems like the foudational stuff should have already been done. This is a perfect reminder to me that God's timing is always perfect. It's so amazing to be able to sit and watch God's people respond...sometimes you can almost see the light coming on. This is how I know that the timing of this has been perfect and ordained by God.

Here's a quick recap of the series, if for nothing else than for me to remember where we've been:

1. An Adventure Begins - Acts 1:1-11
2. The Central Message - Acts 2: 14-41
3. A Devoted People - Acts 2: 42-47
4. Committed To Worship - Acts 2:42-47 and Psalm 95
5. Committed To Mission - Acts 8:1-8, 11:19-26, and Romans 1:14-17
6. Committed To Service - Acts 4:32-35, and Isaiah 58:6-9
7. Committed To Community - Acts 2:42-47 and Ephesians 2: 11-22
8. Committed To Maturity - 1 Thess. 1:4 - 2:12 and Psalm 119: 9-16
9. It takes Courage - Acts 4:23-31 and Acts 3:1 - 4:22
10. It Takes Leaders - Acts 6:1-7:13

Church planting continues to be hard, but I continue to be encouraged with the people that God is giving us to walk this road with. And I know that if we will simply remain faithful to what He is asking of us then He will be faithful to do the rest...seems to be a Scriptural stance, so I'll take it...

ZS

Morphoo:: continued...

I'm back in Dallas now but I wanted to continue what I started on the session that Josh Loveless did at LeadNow+Orlando on Morphoo: A Holistic Blueprint for Spiritual Formation.

I'll pick up on the second part (to see the first part see the post below):

Inviting Jesus into my GIFTS AND TALENTS ::

...do I know my spiritual gifts and/or my core strengths?

...what spiritual gifts and/or core strengths are not being used?

...what am I passionate about?

...am I deeply passionate about the things I'm giving my time to?

...am I using my time and talents to invest into the lives of people or mostly for selfish gain?

Inviting Jesus into my FINANCIAL LIFE ::

...am I being obedient to the tithe?

...how am I allowing the Spirit to influence the allocation of the other 90%?

...what am I doing about paying down debt or staying out of further debt?

...do I need to create a budget or change the one I have?

...am I consistently paying my bills on time?

...do I know my currenct credit score and do I need help seeing it repaired?

Inviting Jesus into my RELATIONAL LIFE ::

...what needs to change in my relationship with my spouse?

...what needs to change in my relationship with my children?

...what needs to change in my relationship with my mom?

...what needs to change in my relationship with my dad?

...what needs to change in my relationship with my brother and sister?

...what needs to change in my dating relationship? (if you answered the one about your spouse you shouldn't need to answer this one...again we are talking about spiritual formations)

...what needs to change about the 1-3 closest relationships in my life?

...what needs to change about the 4-10 good frineds in my life?

...what needs to change about my relationship with everyone else?

...am I putting myself in environments that will open up relationships with people that are far from God? (the third place)

...is there anyone that I should be pursuing to mentor me?

...is there anyone that I should be pursuing to mentor?

Inviting Jesus into my PHYSICAL LIFE ::

...what are the things on my pending personal "to do" list?

...how might I need to change my eating patterns?

...how might I need to change my exercise plan?

Inviting Jesus into my EMOTIONAL LIFE ::

...how do I need to further my journey of understanding the value of my heart and emotions?

...where is my identity as a person coming from?

...am I pursuing the answer to the question, "why do I do what I do?"

...what root issues have I discovered in my life?

...what fears are holding me back in who I'm becoming and what I'm doing with my life?

As you read this I want you to think along the lines of personal formations or disciplship. Are we willing to answer these questions honestly or will we continue to throw up the smoke screen of "having it all together"?

To catch the first part of this read the post below.

That's all I have for now...

ZS

Morphoo: A message from Orlando

So, I'm in Orlando this week for our LeadNow+Fusion Conference. I emceed today for Josh Loveless. He's the 20 something's pastor for the Status Community at Discovery Church here in Orlando. He was talking about the importance of spiritual formations and this idea of Morphoo which is the Greek word Paul used in Galatians when talking about how our Jesus should be a constantly growing presence in our lives. Here are some thoughts he shared with us that he said he and his leadership team have been running through.

Inviting Jesus into my SPIRITUAL PRACTICES ::
...what should I be doing about serving locally?
...what should I be doing about serving globally?
...what should I be doing about studying scripture?
...what should I be doing about solitude?
...what should I be doing about fasting?
...what should I be doing about journaling?
...what should I be doing about prayer?
...what should I be doing about giving?
...what should I be doing about evangelism?
...what should I be doing about book reading?

I'll add more later...
ZS

What happens if God doesn't move?

We live in such a results oriented society. I remember when I was playing basketball in high school, there was this kid that truly truly with all of his heart wanted to be a basketball player. He worked hard, he practiced hard, he listened, he studied plays, he stayed late...at the end of the day there was really only one problem...no talent (as it turns out, this is a huge problem). He would stumble and fall all over the court trying to play the part of a player. One day while running full court, full speed strimmages, he threw up the wildest shot you've ever seen and it went in...he went crazy, like it was the first shot he ever made...because, well...it was. My coach came unglued on him for not being in the right place on the offensive set we were running. He said, "but coach, I made the shot!" Coach told him that he was less concerned with the results and more concerned with being in your place and doing what you are supposed to be doing.
I started thinking the other day about how we view our ministries. We are always wanting to tell people about the incredible things that we've been seeing God do in our churches. But, what happens if God doesn't show up in your midst every time you open your doors and dramatically draw people in your community to Himself just week after week? What if you serve your people and your community faithfully without ever really seeing a great move of God? Are you in the wrong place? Maybe God didn't really call you where you are? Maybe you've made a mistake?
Or perhaps you are exactly where God wants you to be and you are doing exactly what God wants you to do. This issue of faithfulness has become more and more on the for front of my mind lately. All God really ever calls us to is to faithfully serve Him. You will always see what appear to be "greener pastures". This is why very few people stay where they are, they see greener pastures ahead (yea, that's a cash reference). The point being, when we are measuring what we do in the Kingdom by the stardards around us then our bench mark is flawed. The lesson that I've learned is simply faithfully serve both God and people and allow Him to do whatever he wants with that fruit...plain and simple.
Just a random thought today...
ZS