The first is the MYSTERY – that experience we have all had when the Holy Spirit begins to whisper – “I have created you for so much more.”

The second is the MOMENT when a person responds to the Mystery with two very important internal questions –“I think I am created for more… but Is it worth it & and Is it possible?”

Then the third part of the experience dawns with the MOVEMENT that occurs in a person’s life through the work of the Holy Sprit and the help of the people of God – the Church.

We spent time talking, dreaming, hoping, and praying about what SOUL CITY CHURCH can do in the process of movement. We are passionate about helping people take the moments when their hearts are tender towards God, or when the bottom falls out in life, or when they experience a renewed desire to become more dependent on Jesus, or when they look at their life and desire for more…

So many of us have those moments – those holy discontents – but we don’t know how to respond to the mystery of the Sprit and take movement – To actually step onto the path of Spiritual Transformation. This is one of the primary values and passions of Soul City Church – helping people take the moments when the Spirit of God whispers and actually experience movement.

What does the process look like for you when you experience Mystery, Moment, & Movement? What do you dream about when it comes to a church that is dedicated to doing whatever they can to help people take movement in becoming all of who God created them to be?

Soul City Sundays have been a rich time of community, worship, prayer, and spiritual development.  We have decided to focus for the next four weeks on the journey of Transformation and what it means for us to love God with all of our  HEART, SOUL MIND, & STRENGTH.  This past week we kicked things off with focusing on our hearts.

God deeply cares about the state of our heart because He knows that it is the heart that houses LOVE… and LOVE is the acid test of our real relationship with Jesus.  So searching the condition of our heart is essential to our transformational journey.  Yet we tend to shy away from it.  If we are physically sick we try and figure out what’s wrong – we go to a Dr., we take Medicine; we change a behavior so that we can remedy the problem.  But for so many when there is a heart problem, they simply don’t know what to what to do or where to turn.  The Bible says that the way to assess the heart is by searching it….

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Psalm 139:23 – 24

“As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.”
Proverbs 27:19

The state of our heart is a reflection of the state of our life and is often that very reflection that shows up in our emotional and relational lives.  One of the very best books I have read on this topic is by  Pete Scezzaro - “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality” He says quite plainly

It is impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.

:: You have probably seen many times – the man that can quote the entire book of Romans by heart and yet has remained emotionally dead to his family most of his life.

:: The woman who gets up every morning to spend time with Jesus and then goes and gets ready and progresses through her day with a spirit of duty and obligation to others and has never truly felt alive.

This is not what God intended – he intended that our Heart never stops growing and reflecting His love. But over time – many of us learn to PROJECT that which we actually REJECT in our lives and it has a direct impact in our emotional & relational life.

:: We don’t know how to express healthy emotion so we reject that about ourselves – push it down – bury it in our hearts and project a reflection of “Everything is OK”

:: We don’t know how to deal with the anger that we have towards an experience in our childhood so we reject the healthy processing and we push it down – but it ends up projecting in our life through a short fuse, or an impatient spirit.

:: We have a person that we know we need to forgive and instead of moving towards them we hold on and bury our contempt in our hearts and reject the work that God might be doing and therefore we project a judgmental spirit.

So what might it be in your life?  Do you…

:: Reject healthy Sorrow and Loss therefore you are unable to Project Brokenness and Repentance?

:: Reject Humility and therefore it is causing you to Project Pride?

:: Reject Joy and Excitement about life therefore it is causing you to Project a Bored and Complacent spirit.

:: Reject Peace and it is causing me to Project Impatience & Fear.

:: Reject Discipline and it is causing you to lack focus and purpose.

This past Sunday our Soul City Sunday Agenda was fairly simple:

• Connect
• Make Pizza
• Connect
• Eat Pizza
• Connect
• Pray
• Play Monopoly (Jeanne won, but almost lost her faith and friends in the process!)

In the midst of all the Dreaming, Praying, Planning, Team Building, Fund Raising, Location Scouting, and Blogging, we figured that the best thing we could to do together was…EAT.         This simple idea is more than merely a human impulse, it is something Divine.

Again and again, throughout the pages of scripture we see FOOD.  From the Feasts of the Old Testament, to the Feeding of the 5000, to the Last Supper, to the Shared Meals of the first church, to the Great Wedding Banquet – food plays a prevalent role in the pages of scripture and has a profound affect in the story of our lives.

Sometimes, it’s the simplest things, like good food shared together that can help us experience life as rich and full as God intended it.  We experienced this first hand (and mouth) this past week at Soul City Sunday.  And if I have anything to do with it…we’ll be experiencing it again Very Soon!

//What are some of the ways you’ve shared Intentional Meals with others?  Was it a “Church” thing, friend thing, or a neighborhood thing?  Why don’t we do this more?//

Last night was simply amazing.  And amazingly Simple.  First off, there were almost as many kids as adults – scampering around the house laughing, playing, and occasionally working through their “Do I really have to share” issues.  All of us, kids included, shared an amazing meal together – compliments of Heather Wittaker.

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After all nine kids were tucked into their beds (we can fit a pack and play almost anywhere!) we went around the circle and each read aloud, slowly and deliberately the Sermon on the Mount – all 3 chapters of it. We shared how God was speaking to us personally through it and how He was speaking into the reality of Soul City Church.  And then we worshipped.

The sound of our 13 voices was pure, strong, and sincere. I (Jeanne) fought off goose bumps the entire time as the spirit of God continually affirmed His vision of this church. After we worshipped people went around the circle and shared where they needed prayer and then another member of the circle committed to carrying that need with them throughout the coming week. We spent some time praying together and once we were done we lingered around for another hour or so laughing, connecting, and enjoying our friendships.

It was a powerful night.  Powerfully Simple.  There is always plenty of room for things like Production, Design, Structure, and even Complexity.  We appreciate and engage regularly with each of those things.  But there are times to just keep it Simple.  To let the things that God has used for 1000’s of years be used again in a new and fresh and transformational way.

We’d love to hear about some of the “Simple” things you or your church are doing or have recently done.  What did you do?  What did you NOT do to do it.  What did God do through it?