14 August 2011
Pride
Aug/19/11
Pride is a big deal to God. Proverbs 16:5 has these strong words, “the Lord detests all the proud of heart.” Given how important pride is to God, we do well to examine ourselves regularly. It creeps naturally into our humanoid hearts. Here are J. Oswald Sanders test questions for examining ourselves:
How do we react when someone else is selected for honor, praise, or position?
In our honest ‘face in the mirror’ moments, do we admit problems and weaknesses?
Do we resent criticism or weigh its validity without self defense?
And how do we respond to praise? With a puffed up chest? Or with humble acknowledgement that God made us, and gives us everything we’ve got.
Remember, the only one deserving praise is God himself.
Podcast
How do we react when someone else is selected for honor, praise, or position?
In our honest ‘face in the mirror’ moments, do we admit problems and weaknesses?
Do we resent criticism or weigh its validity without self defense?
And how do we respond to praise? With a puffed up chest? Or with humble acknowledgement that God made us, and gives us everything we’ve got.
Remember, the only one deserving praise is God himself.
Podcast
Final Failure
Aug/18/11
Final failure: there’s no such thing. Unless you deny Jesus with your last breath. Onlookers watching Saul punish and abuse Christ followers would never imagine that there was Kingdom hope for him. Peter must have been captivated by Jesus’ intense gaze after Peter denied he even knew his friend. He must have thought his faith walk was over. Peter denied his three year traveling companion, the person he vowed to back for ever. Surely that was Peter’s last chance, his final failure. Or consider Moses’ future leadership possibilities after his second murder? Certainly he was disqualified from being leader, judge, and example for an entire nation.
Scripture is punctuated by those who failed in small and gargantuan ways. Yet God’s heart for forgiveness dwarfs any sin, no matter its magnitude.
Podcast
Scripture is punctuated by those who failed in small and gargantuan ways. Yet God’s heart for forgiveness dwarfs any sin, no matter its magnitude.
Podcast
Hudson Taylor
Aug/17/11
Hudson Taylor, the founder of China Inland Mission faced crushing obstacles throughout his life and ministry. He defined three phases of any great task undertaken for God: Impossible, Difficult, and Done.
Our first sewing project in Mozambique began with challenges I never imagined. With committed partners and God’s steady intervention, training progressed. Widows worked hard and would not give up. They learned to sew. Attending the graduation the myriads of frustration disappeared. The impossible beginning was now a resounding, DONE. Difficult absolutely. One of our graduates can neither read nor write. But she’s now a certified tailor.
Seeing these graduates pleasure at the added gift of their own machine was celebrated Africa style: singing and dancing. From impossible, to difficult, now done.
Podcast
Our first sewing project in Mozambique began with challenges I never imagined. With committed partners and God’s steady intervention, training progressed. Widows worked hard and would not give up. They learned to sew. Attending the graduation the myriads of frustration disappeared. The impossible beginning was now a resounding, DONE. Difficult absolutely. One of our graduates can neither read nor write. But she’s now a certified tailor.
Seeing these graduates pleasure at the added gift of their own machine was celebrated Africa style: singing and dancing. From impossible, to difficult, now done.
Podcast
Scope Creep #2
Aug/16/11
Scope creep keeps us from excellence. We start doing a good thing. And then we’re called on to do one more thing. There’s no one else, apparently, available for the task. And it needs to happen.
Soon we’re spread too thin, fatigued. We were fired up, now we’re burned out. What happened? One simple phrase prevents scope creep from taking us down, tells us how to get it right. “This one thing I do.” Paul knew what his assignment was and what it was not. Jesus could say, “it is finished’ not because all earths problems were solved, but because his task was done.
What’s yours, my friend? Don’t let scope creep keep you from doing the one thing you are called to do.
Podcast
Soon we’re spread too thin, fatigued. We were fired up, now we’re burned out. What happened? One simple phrase prevents scope creep from taking us down, tells us how to get it right. “This one thing I do.” Paul knew what his assignment was and what it was not. Jesus could say, “it is finished’ not because all earths problems were solved, but because his task was done.
What’s yours, my friend? Don’t let scope creep keep you from doing the one thing you are called to do.
Podcast
Scope Creep
Aug/15/11
Any ministry focused on helping the poor has endless opportunity. With our mission to help widows we serve a small niche. In Africa we train them to sew on Singer treadle machines. I’ve been approached to help dig wells, expand our program to married women and men, and myriads of opportunities and needs beyond listing. While considering options I heard the phrase, scope creep.
We start with a goal. The target broadens. Wells and training for all are good things. I applaud whoever does these good deeds. But I politely decline to focus on widows. Scope creep could deplete our limited resources to help widows, divert our attention from an often invisible group as we expand and improve our projects.
Its not our work, it’s God’s. And He’s keeping us focused on His assignment.
Podcast
We start with a goal. The target broadens. Wells and training for all are good things. I applaud whoever does these good deeds. But I politely decline to focus on widows. Scope creep could deplete our limited resources to help widows, divert our attention from an often invisible group as we expand and improve our projects.
Its not our work, it’s God’s. And He’s keeping us focused on His assignment.
Podcast