The Outward Focused Life » Communication

Ask… Seek… Knock… Our Way Forward

Steve Sjogren — Mon, 24 May 2010 00:48:53 +0000

I was able to speak this morning to the gathered Coastland Church at the Brandon AMC Theaters. We have been looking at the Sermon on the Mount for the past number of weeks. Specifically we have been looking into the things that cause us to come into alignment with the Kingdom of God. Jesus projects the standard of the Kingdom to us when he speaks of prayer – that as we see the Father rightly we will be able to “ask… seek… and knock” to make progress. We are to “keep on asking… keep on seeking… and keep on knocking.” That’s difficult if not impossible unless we see the Father accurately. If we don’t see the Father as he really is we will lose heart in connecting with him. Human nature tends to see the Father as more or less an exaggerated version of one of us. We tend to think of the Father as an exaggerated, big version of one of us. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Father is nothing much like us at all. He is perfect. Repeatedly the Scriptures tell us, “God is not a man…” What we consider to be perhaps unreasonable he has set in motion as the norm of the Kingdom. Life goes forward as we bring our every need to him – as we, again, “ask… seek… knock” our way through life. He delights in us bringing our needs to him. There is something about that connection that makes the heart of God excited. We humble ourselves over and over again by realizing he is able to do for us what we can never accomplish. “Ask… seek… knock.”

Getting A Heart For People

Steve Sjogren — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:37:44 +0000

How are you doing with your heart? Specifically, how are you doing in the realm of outreach and your attitude toward others?
After doing outreach for many years now I can attest to the vital importance of having a heart that is ignited toward others. It is human nature that our hearts have a tendency to grow cold toward others. There is something about the mere passing of time that requires that we “re up” in our commitment to others. We need to honestly ask how we feel about others on a regular basis.
For my part I notice that it is incredibly refreshing to go out and about in my larger community for the express reason of looking into the eyes of others. It is rather easy to connect with people when we take the time to just pick up on their pain and struggle.
I encourage you – take some time to watch people sometime soon. You will be renewed in your passion for others.

Go Out Anyway

Steve Sjogren — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:34:50 +0000

Just Show Up!
When it comes to doing outreach projects with teams a lot can go right… and wrong. After doing team-oriented outreaches for decades now I realize a lot can go haywire when you step out to serve the community with a number of people. Today I was scheduled to go out with a number of folks. We are approaching the end of the year so people are a bit busier than usual. However today we had a number who were to have been present at this outing no matter what. When all things came together we had a grand total of just me and another guy present. Two of us! We made a last minute adjustment to our focus and we went out just the same.
All went well in spite of the low numbers. We spoke with a number of interesting people who were out in the retail areas of town. It seemed a good time was had by all. All and all we made progress today.
When times are down a bit it is still time to go out and make connections. No matter what, today is the day for us to connect with the community. God will show up day after day as long as we show up.

It Only Takes A Little

Steve Sjogren — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:18:32 +0000

It only takes a little bit of life to make a difference. Sometimes we talk ourselves out of attempting something significant for God because we think it takes a great thing to make a dent in life. Nothing could be further from reality. God delights in taking something rather small, anointing it and blessing it to become a great thing.
God is looking for hearty people who are willing to step out of their ruts and risk with him. He is interested in setting up adventures with those who will risk the way forward.
Most of what we do is small stuff. That is the way life is set up. It is best that we give up on the notion of major accomplishments being the goal in life. What is left is the many things we can do that are small but significant in God’s hands.

Great Connections

Steve Sjogren — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:26:00 +0000

Just got back from several days of conferencing in southern California. It has been a while since I last was in a highly charged conference atmosphere. There is nothing quite like getting on the scene when people are firing on all eight cylinders with their right brain. It is very stimulating to say the least.

I came back charged up with new book writing ideas as well as a plethora of ideas for PDFs. Bottom line on this trip comes down to two things:
It was well spent / well invested time, AND I need to go on trips like this regularly. Creativity requires others who are moving in the same vein.