Least of these

Scott made me aware of this video the other day and I want to make you aware of it as well. We often forget that there are people who live like this. I have a three year old daughter and watching this video brings me to tears thinking about my own daughter and what if this was her. But if I understand His kingdom, it should bring me to tears to see a little one living a life like this. So today you have a choice, do you watch this video and say that is really sad and do nothing about it or do you watch this video and try and figure out a way to make a difference.

Shane Claiborne in "Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers" says this,

"Prayer is not so much about convincing God to do what we want God to do as it is about convincing ourselves to do what God wants us to do."

So here are a few ideas:
Sponsor a child through one of these organizations.

World Vision

Compassion

Save the Children

Maybe you would even think about volunteering at a local boys or girls club or being a mentor at a local elementary school.

How will you invest in His kingdom? In a day of not having a good return on our investments in the stock market, this is an investment that works!

Kyle

Be a Blessing Machine

In Genesis 12, God tells Abram as part of their partnership, "...all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

If you know the Biblical story, you know this is the point at which God entrusts his plan to bless the whole earth to a single person.
Pretty risky on God's part, right? What if Abram doesn't succeed?

At the very least, this highlights the fact that God is a risk-taker. He'll apparently roll the dice on just about anyone. What's more, God seems to trust us more than we trust ourselves...because behind it, God knows God's own ability to transform a person into a blessing machine.

So if you've ever been blessed, it is the result of God's partnership with one man.

God's risk paid off.

As friends of Jesus, we now we stand in the same line of that promise God made to Abram. We are to carry on the work of blessing-machine-ness. It's the point and purpose of our lives. Here's what it means to bless someone:
To do something good with no expectation of a return.

So your job today: be a blessing machine.
Leave a comment if you'd like to share your story of blessing another person.
--Scott

A Total Surrender

I don't know if you are like me, but I really don't like being denied. If there is somewhere I want to go or something I want to have, I don't like to hear the word, NO! Guys, if you can think back to the first time you asked a girl out on a date, the fear of being denied was there (I am thankful I never herd no...hope you believe that).

We are now in day two in the Lent Season. We are encouraging you to give up something until Easter Sunday to remind yourself of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. If you have already messed up, don't give up! Get back on track and do the best that you can. This is a very tangible thing to do, a way to help us in our journey with Christ. Today, I want you to think about your life as a whole. If you have decided to follow Christ or when you do, there comes a moment when you say my life is no longer my own. There comes a point when you surrender your plans, your future, your past, your life! Oswald Chambers wrote this in "The Place of Help" in 1935:

'Submission does not mean that I submit to the power of God because I must. A stoic submits without passion, that is slavery; a saint sees God's will and submits to it with a passionate love, and in his daily life exhibits his love to God to Whom he has submitted.'

Jesus said in Luke 9:

"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himselfand take up his cross daily and follow me.For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.What profit is there for one to gain the whole worldyet lose or forfeit himself?"

So today, be reminded that your surrender to God is not just denying yourself certain things, but a surrender with passionate love to the one who gave it all. That following Christ isn't just about making sure you don't do certain things and you do certain things. That denying yourself is a daily thing and is sometimes even hard. But after you experience the life he gives when you give it all away, you understand that it is good. May your life reflect the one who gave himself completely for you.

Ash Wednesday

Today is meant to be a reminder of our mortality.

That's not something we really like, especially in our culture. We abhor aging and death. In fact, we'd rather not talk about it.

There are any number of products we can use, buy, try that attempt to keep us from realizing "the thousands natural shocks flesh is heir to", to quote Shakespeare.

As a culture, we've managed to convince ourselves that if we do things like
detox,
tighten our abs,
buy a juicer,
then we just might actually be able to avoid our mortality.

Doing those things may make us healthier (a very good thing), but they won't keep away the inevitable. We have to confront death in order to live life.

So tonight @ 7PM, we'll receive ashes on our foreheads with the words "from dust you came, to dust you will return." It will be a reminder that our lives are here for a brief moment. And that if our moment is to count in any real way, we need to be caught up in Something bigger than us. And in doing that, we'll again put our hope in the God who raises the dead.

Here are some sobering words from William Law in his 18th Century classic: A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life . Try this tonight as you go to sleep:

Represent to your imagination that your bed is your grave; that all things are ready for your interment; that you are to have no more to do with this world; and that it will be owing to God's great mercy if you ever see the light of the sun again...Then commit yourself to sleep as one that is to have no more opportunities of doing good, but is to awake among spirits that are separate from the body and waiting for the judgment of the great last day.

Such solemn resignation of yourself into the hands of God every evening, and parting with all the world as if you were never to see it any more--and all this in the silence and darkness of night--is a practice that will soon have excellent effects upon your spirit. For this time of the night is exceeding proper for such prayers and meditations. The likeness which sleep and darkness have to death will contribute very much to make about it more deep and affecting.

The purpose of Lent

Live on Wednesday, Feb 25

On Wednesday, Feb 25, our daily blog will be live.


Check back then for short daily content by our pastors, Kyle Rainbolt & Scott Marshall.

Tools available to you during Lent

Daily Scripture Readings. To have the daily scripture sent to your phone as a cell phone text message, send a text to 40404 with the message: follow stltrinity You'll receive the daily scripture each day by text message. Please note: Your standard text message rates will apply! If there is a Scripture that grabs you, but you can't remember it, you can see all the previous daily Scriptures compiled anytime here.

Ash Wednesday service. Wednesday, February 25 from 7:00-7:45 in the Sanctuary.

Stop-doing/Start-doing tool. A simple way to deepen your own relationship with God.

Sermon Series: Losing My Religion. Scott Marshall and Kyle Rainbolt will be exploring why so many people like Jesus...but don't like the church. While we're examining our personal lives, we'll be examining our corporate life as the Body of Christ. Ghandi said it like this:

"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

We'll be asking the question: Is he right about us today?

This daily blog.

Stop Doing/Start Doing Tool

Stop Doing Something

During Lent (the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday), many people find it helpful to give something up.

Sweets

TV

Going to bed late

Maybe even something much more destructive

Maybe something very enjoyable

The purpose is twofold:

1 - It often reveals how something we consider small and trivial has snaked its way into the fiber of our soul and begun to control us.

2 - To remember Jesus' sacrifice. It may seem trite to give up sweets when comparing it to the fact that Jesus gave up his life, but it is a spiritual discipline. Giving it up hopefully prepares you to be willing to give your entire life up to God.

Start Doing

Each Friday, do something good for someone who crosses your path. Your goal: be a blessing machine.

Buy their coffee or lunch.

Let them cut in front of you in traffic.

Get their mail.

Pay for their gas.

Do an errand for them.

Here's the catch. Don't do it for someone already a part of the Trinity family or in your family.

Every Friday, bless someone.