Scott McAlister

I woke up this morning about 2:30am and couldn’t go back to sleep…I just hate it when that happens.  So I tossed and turned for a while and then I started to pray.  I always figure if I pray the devil will get nervous and cause me to drift back off to sleep.  But praying didn’t help my sleep apnea.  Then it occurred to me that maybe it was God who had woke me up and maybe there was something that He wanted to say to me.  So I got up, got my Bible and started to read.  Sure enough it was God who wanted my attention.  Has God woke you up lately?

OK let’s finish up with this whole idea of what it means to be “fully engaged” in our walk with God mini blog series thing.  The title of this post is “Fully engaged–Part 3″.  I actually started this whole idea in the ”Sunday Reflections” September 8 post…just so you know.   Here we go:

7. My faith has called me to develope my spiritual gifts and talents.

 God created you with talents and when you accepted Christ as your savior He also blessed you with certain spiritual gifts…do you have any clue as to what they might be?  If not then I would encourage you to go to www.springwell.org and take the spiritual gift inventory…it is a great place to start.  I’m just saying you can’t develope what you don’t know you have.

8. I will take unpopular stands to defend my faith.

9. I will speak words of kindness to those in need of encouragement.

10. I talk about my faith with those who are not yet Christians yet.

So how did you do?  Were you a little discouraged with your score?  Would you like to make some improvements?  Here’s how: Take responsibility for your score…you’ve got to own it and then you have to take some steps. 

• Maybe you need to forgive someone.
• Maybe you need to start a daily devotion.
• Maybe you need to join a Growth Group.
• Maybe you need to invite a friend to church.

You simply need to pick a step and take responsibility for your own spiritual growth.  James 4:8, “Come close to God, and He will come close to you.”  You are as close to God right now as you have chosen to be.  Take a step and become fully engaged!

Today I am going to jump right in and take up where I left off in my last post.  Let’s look at several more statements that will help us evaluate whether or not we are fully engaged in our walk with God.  Psalm 26:2, “Examine me, oh Lord, and try me.  Test my mind and my heart.”  Remember we are going test ourselves using a scale from 0 to 10…0–being that I really stink at this and 10–being I am fully engaged with this statement.  Here we go:

2. Because of my faith, I have meaning and purpose in my life.

3. My faith gives me inner peace.

4. I am a person who is spiritually committed.

5. I spend time in worship everyday.

Remember worship is so much more than singing in church on Sunday mornings.  We worship God as we pray, read scripture, serve someone in need, etc…  So as you examine your heart how would you rate yourself on this one?

6. Because of my faith, I have forgiven people who have hurt me deeply.

Ooch…I guess we might should stop there for today.  So how did you do?  Are you as fully committed/fully engaged in your relationship as you thought?

Sunday was sweet!  We started a new series called “Fully Engaged”.  We talked about how to be fully engaged in our walk with God.  2 Chronicles 16:9, “The eyes of The Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed (Fully engaged) to Him.” 

So how are you doing?  Are you fully committed/fully engaged in your walk with God?  To help us answer that question, Sunday we did a little survey done by the Gallop organization to help us discover just where we stand.  We gave everyone a chance to grade themselves themselves on a scale from zero to ten on ten different statements.  Zero being I really stink at this one, to ten being I’m fully engaged on this one.  I thought this week it would be cool to go back over those statements one more time.

Here’s the first statement:

1. My faith is involved in every aspect of my life.

A lot of us like to think of our lives like a pie chart…for me of course its a pizza pie.  And so we divide our lives into little slices of the pie.  For example: There is a work slice, a relational slice, a recreational slice, a hobbies slice, etc…and a spiritual slice. 

But spiritually it doesn’t work like that.  And if you try to segment your spiritual life into one little area, you are going to miss out on God’s best, because God has no desire to be a little slice of your life…He wants to be the filling of the pie.  God longs to permeate and influence every area of your life…God demands complete devotion and committment.  So how are you doing?  Are you fully committed/fully engaged in your walk with God?  What score would give yourself?  0–I stink?  5–I could do better?  Maybe 10–I am fully committed?  Where do you stand?

If you remove the head coach, the team will flounder; break the fuel line on your car, and the car won’t run.  If you unplug the TV, and it won’t play.  Whether it’s leadership, cars, appliances, or life, connections are vital.  So I’m just asking, “Are you connected?”

Are you connected with your family?  Are you connected with the people you work with?  Are you connected with your neighbors?  And here’s the BIG ask, Are you connected with God?  If you aren’t really sure then I want to encourage you to join us Sunday as we talk about what it means to be “Fully Engaged” in our relationship with God.  Maybe you aren’t as engaged as you think!  You might be surprised…you don’t want to miss this Sunday as we begin our new series called “Fully Engaged”.  See you Sunday!

Sunday was another wow kind of day.  We baptized and participated in The Lord’s Supper.  Here are some of the highlights of as I look back on Sunday.

• I never get tired of baptizing people who have accepted Christ as their Savior
• I absolutely love baptizing people who I know personally and have been involved in their lives on a personal level
• I am thankful that Jesus asked us to remember Him through the sacrament of communion because I know that I have a tendency to forget.
•  Sometimes taking a spiritual inventory of my life can be painful.
• I am grateful that God loves me enough to convict me of my sin.
• I love celebrating the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus in community with others.

I think that most of us as followers of Jesus want to know that we are on the right path…we want to know that we are moving in the right direction with our spiritual formation.  Psalm 25:4 says “Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow.”  Yet I doubt that many of us would choose a narrow, rocky, uphill path.  But at times that’s exactly what our path will look and feel like…it will feel like a climb up Mt. Everest.

That’s the climb that Job found himself on.  Job is portrayed as a wealthy man of upright character who loves God.  Yet God allows satan to destroy all of Job’s flocks, take all his possessions, kill all his children, and destroy his health.  In spite of all of his loss he says, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave.  The Lord gave me what I had, and The Lord has taken it away.  Praise the name of The Lord.”   

What’s your typical response to the climb?

All I can say is wow!  Sunday was off the charts for me.  I took several weeks to study and prepare for two of our fall series and then topped it off with a week at the beach, so I was ready for Sunday…or so I thought!  Drew and my daughter Emily surprised me with Emily singing…not just singing with the team but singing a solo.  I thought that my heart was going to beat out of my chest!  I am so proud of both of my girls but it was so cool to share the stage with one of them on Sunday.  Thanks Drew and you go Emily!

It’s hard to believe that Easter is here.  It seems like yesterday it was Christmas…time seems to fly by as you get older.  But the truth is time does not fly by faster with age.  There are still 24 hours in a day just like there were 100 years ago.  Five minutes is still five minutes regardless of what day of the week it is.  My point is: We have to make the most of the time we have be given.  Don’t let this week pass you by without taking the time to reflect on the goodness of God.  Reflect on the fact that He sent His Son to die on the cross for our sin and then show up Sunday ready to worship.  Oh yea, don’t forget to bring a friend!  See ya.

I really stink at this blogging thing.  I do good for a while then before I know it it’s been a week since I’ve posted a blog.  Oh well, at least I try.  I want to share with you a quote I heard this week.  I’m not sure actually where it came from or who said but it is thought provoking…at least for me.  Here goes: “We are often educated beyond our obedience.”  So what do you think?  What do you think the author of this little quote meant by what he said?  He is speaking of Christians is my understanding.