Winning Ways - from Hillcrest Baptist Church, Austin, Texas  Contact Tom Goodman, Pastor
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“Depending on God . . . Delighting in Him”
Hillcrest Church Office
November 5, 2003


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Here is this week's WINNING WAYS . . . .



“Depending on God . . . Delighting in Him”
by Tom Goodman

Wow, what a great response from the first week in our series, “The God-Oriented Life.”  I’m looking forward to the way God will honor us as we honor him (1 Samuel 2:30).  This Sunday we’ll look at how an active prayer life honors God.  Our prayers reveal how much we depend on God and delight in Him.

I’m convicted by the dependence and delight of the woman in the following story, as told by Mark Buchanan after he visited a service in Uganda:

Every Sunday evening, about 100 Christians from the neighboring area would gather to worship.  They met under a tin-roof lean-to that was set at the edge of a cornfield.  They sat, when they did sit, on rough wood benches.  The floor was dirt.  The instruments were old.  Some of the guitars didn't have all the strings.  But they could worship!  They made hell run for shelter when they got loose.
One Sunday evening, the pastor asked if anyone had anything to share.  A tall, willowy woman came to the front.  She was plain-featured, but she was beautiful.  “Oh, brothers and sisters, I love Jesus so much,” she started.
“Tell us, sister!  Tell us!” the worshippers shouted back.
“Oh,” she said, “he is so good to me.  I praise him all the time for how good he is to me.  For three months, I prayed to the Lord for shoes.  And look!”  And at that the woman cocked up her leg so that we could see one foot.  One very ordinary shoe covered it.  “He gave me shoes.  Hallelujah, he is so good.”  And the Ugandans clapped and yelled and shouted back, Hallelujah!
I didn't.  I was devastated.  I sat there hollowed out, hammered down.  In all my life I had not once prayed for shoes.  And in all my life I had not once thanked God for the many, many shoes I had.
I have to admit that, when it comes to depending on God and delighting in Him, I’m not where she’s at yet. . . .

. . . But I want to get there.  How about you?

See you at 8:15 or 10:45!
Tom

P.S.  Did you catch the article about Kara Kemerling in the October 31 edition of the Austin Chronicle?  Kara is from our church, the daughter of David and Laurie Kemerling, and a Journeyman with the International Mission Board.  In the article she explains why she’s in Bolivia:  “I do believe that everyone needs God.  Not like they need gravy to go with their mashed potatoes, but like they need bread and water.”  Now, that’s a quote worth passing around!  You can find the article online at www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2003-10-31/pols_feature.html.

The Mark Buchanan story is from his article “Trapped in the Cult of the Next Thing,” Christianity Today, September 6, 1999.  It has been archived, but you can access it for a fee at www.ctlibrary.com/ct/1999/sept6/9ta062.html.



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