Micah Moreno Podcast

Do you struggle with Materialism? Do you consider this to be something the Church shouldn’t talk about? Well, I would have to disagree. We are in the middle of a society that is caught up in making everything and almost everyone “consumable”. Through the lens of Psalm 37, we can see that all this material comes from the human heart fretting and insecure. Do not Fret! Trust, Delight, Commit, and Refrain. These are the materials of a Disciple. This episode we look at what it looks like to materialize the kingdom vs. going only for the stuff that we are filling in it’s place. Be encouraged! This is a sermon that seeks to teach you what to look for when we are caught up in the glitters and glitz of materialism

Putting Sexuality on the Hot Seat in this latest sermon. How do we see what God has called us to in our sexuality as an imposition or an invitation to a life following after Jesus?

We all have boundary issues. Why? Becasue we are human and we find meaning by being in realtionships.

What difference does it make if you are over protective or too accesable?

Learn more in this episode.

Key Verse for this sermon: Psalm 146 and Titus 3:1-3 What is at the heart of God? Well, we see it pretty clear in Psalm 146 Key thought, be engaged in the public square but informed by the heart of the Father.

Hello, YOU ARE LISTENING TO THE MICAH MORENO PODCAST THE SHOW WHERE YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO HARNESS AN AUTHENTIC FAITH, DEVELOP DEEPENING RELATIONSHIPS, AND RECOGNIZE SUCCESSFUL SELF LEADERSHIP. I AM YOUR HOST, MICAH MORENO. This is Episode Two and we are talking about Entanglements, Entitlements, and Escapes and why I believe that todays church’s are full of people who are not recognizeing nor avoiding them. I want to thank those of you who have subscribed in the last couple weeks since I launched this podcast. I just have to tell you that doing something like this for me has taken a lot of prayer, soul searching, and needed confirmation from God that I finally feel I have received. I have blogged for years off and on, My wife Jessica and I had a side project that was video based, and it just didn’t seem to have the life giving momentum that we felt was in step with God’s will. It takes a lot to put anything out there for, well anyone to listen to. I believe that many people don’t do what they can be doing becuase the get entangled in the areas of should and *shouldn’t * or want and not want. I may talk more about CAN, SHOULD, WANT in a later episode when we talk about priorities and the task master we call, Time. But today I want to talk about Entangelments, why they are the worst distractions for faith Entitlements, how that lead away from the cross of Christ and ruin relationships. And Escapes, how that short-circut God’s growth in you and don’t develop self leadership. We can see this in no other place better than in God’s word, 2 Samuel 11 2 Samuel 11 New International Version (NIV) David and Bathsheba *11 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. 2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” 6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.”* Now, you are probably familar with this basics of this narrative and so I will assume that you probably have understood that David eventually seeks to fool Uriah, but Uriah a man of integrity doesn’t fall for the schemes of Bethsheba and David and so David has the man killed. Eventually the baby is lost and The prophet Nathan confronts the King and we see the result of that in written in Psalm 51. What we see first is that David, doesn’t do what is usually called upon to do as king, to go and expand the territory of his Kingdom. We can assume that this was because David was sitting, not standing, but sitting comfortably in his entitlement of roles and rule. Today, when we become entitled as people of faith we too have couched ourself in a seat of self security and a insulation of personal pride. I stated the Entitlment is the way that leads away from the Cross. Meaning to be come to a place of emptying ourselves so that God is magnified and his peace, power, and praise rules in all areas of our lives. Entitlement is the opposite of what the cross was enabled to do by sacrifice and serventhood. Jesus, the Son of God, had every right, reason, and rule of the father to be entitled to praise and honor. Yet, we have a risen messiah who placed himself on the cross. Such a testimony of selflessness and obedience. David, was couched in the role of a king and was neglecting his role yet propped it up with his rule or his authority to put him in the place that sprung to life destruction and ultimately death. For us, we too can come to a place in our faith where we may feel we are entitiled to certain levels of respect, or roles in life (i,m a deacon, im a ministry leader, im a mature Christian, Im a manager or vp in my business) and with that role couched before the reality of servant we stand to walk ourselves away from the foot of the Cross when it comes to being available and pursposful in God’s plans for us. David, was not where he was supposed to be. He was were entanglements and escapes live. That is on the otherside of living into ways of entitlement. We have to be very aware how our entitlements usher us to places where entanglements and escapes spring to life. For David, his escape became fixated on Bethsheba and in our modern day lens, it is easy to see that entitlement of his authority of King silences the frame of mind or motives of Bethsheba. I’m not seeking to point out anything other that Bethsheba was bathing in a very open place where it was very likely that she knew the risk of being seen. But isn’t that like an escape? It brings us to an off ramp of the long trek of development to our emotional and spiritual maturity. These escapes are like billboards that flash with promise, allure, and the hope they will alleviate the symptoms of what it takes to arrive after a long haul in the same direction of realizing where our commitments and faith seeks to bring us to. In relationships, this is where cheating comes in, these off ramps bypass the work that needs to be done to develop connection with a spouse. So the escapes disquise themselves as alternatives that ditch our rationale and prey on our emotional impulses. Yet, they erode trust, they stifle integrity, and they usually, unless you are a phycopath, they elicit shame in the areas of development that you were seeking to manifest in your life. Escapes, when they become addictions, they stall your growth. You learn to only put in so much effort, or actually only in a certain direction to acheive a result that triggers a dopamine hit or some level of euphoira. What we actually do when we take the off road of escapes, is we are actually developing new neuro pathways in our brain to fire off in a pattern that bypasses delayed gratification, like studying hard for a test, or taking a relationship slow before the first kiss. It takes a great deal more work to abandon these routes and to redirect them in patterns that not only is healthier or sustainable, but also brings into a place that God is honored and we can identify how God reveals his goodness to us when we dare not take the off ramp to escape. The onramp for many, especially men in sexual addiction is one that usually is underdeveloped or difficult to find in getting back on track emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. For David, there was a consequences to this escape, a controversy, a child, and a reason for David to be accountable before God. This produces the ENTANGLEMENT. Entanglements are usually described for compromising situations. In the dictionary it is also used for a barrier usually laced with barb-wire. These are so damaging to the opportunities, outcomes, and outpourings of a deepening faith because they seek to gum of the whole plan that was intended to take shape. For us, it may be the inability to trust another for the hurt that entitlement and the lies of escapes produced in a relationship. Or the loss of credibility in your job market becuase your reputation seems to march into the room to kick the interviewer in the shins before you give them that winning smile. We find that the messyness of life often is the collatoral damage of our or others entitlements and escapes running amuck in our hearts or in our lives. When entanglements abound, I want to be reminded of what Paul writes in 1 Cor, No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. The key is here is to look at the opportunity that God seeks for you to not be in that entanglement, like a child out of wedlock, an affair, a loss of integrity in your vocation or career. Yet, you may have already moved into temptation and it gave way to escape. So now what? What do I do if I find myself to be the like David, full of rags and filth when I look in the mirror. My encouragement to you is to see that God’s faithfulness doesn’t stop for those who he has rescued from temption successfully. Like the prodigal son who was lost in a distant country, as soon as we turn from our entanglement, and it may be just your own heart, the circumstances may take time to change. But at that moment, when we no longer seek to escape, seek to hold up our entitlements When we bring them into a place of abandoned intimacy with the father, another word for that is devotion. When we are devoted to God. To be found loved in our frailty. Found understood in our desire to hide Found set apart from all that wants to choke the life out of us. We stand to take new steps of change that God will bless. Will respond, and will honor as we honor him. David was so loved by God that he couldn’t let his son, his servant remain in darkness. So he sent Nathan. I trust that he has or will send your own Nathan to have the opprotunity of God’s grace, the outpouring of redemption for whatever escape you found yourself in. And an outcome that you are also found worthy to be a man or woman after God’s heart as you are confident he understands and holds yours. So let’s review: Entitlement is not the way to the Cross, servanthood is, it is what is going to keep you from places where escapes will tempt you. Escapes seek to off ramp you from the plans are meant to mature you and manifest success -Even down to how our neurons work, it is harder to rewrite the pathways of escape than doing the longer, harder, work in the first place to reach your goals and see the fruit take shape in your life. God will provide a way out for you, as his word says if you cry out to him in those moments of temptation. Are you too entitled to ask God for help? Entangelements are the outcomes that require real honest willingess to deal with them. So deal with them for the sake of the ones you love, for your ministry, for your own soul because you realize that you are a son or daughter of God that can’t stand to have you sidelined in the darkness of shame and guilt for how you expressed your dependency of his grace and the work of the Savior. I pray that this has been helpful for you and I want you to do three things for me. first consider identifying what are your entitlements, escapes and entangements. Then acknowledge them before God, with your pastor, with a trusted loved one. Bring it in the light so you can no longer be disengaged with the what God’s people in the world are needing to be up to. Then third, if you like this podcast, I’d ask you subscribe and give it a share on your social networks. My goal is this ministry can reach those who need encouragment to have a faith that is authentic is a very disengenous time, relationships that are thriving, and leading their lives in successful ways that God had intended all along. I will have a follow up, or show notes for your to read over and chew on at Micahmoreno.com. So look for that. Thank you for being in this with me, I pray you were equipped, empowered, and enlisted to live the life God has in store for you. Untill Next time Keep Looking up!

Hello, YOU ARE LISTENING TO THE MORENOVATIONAL PODCAST THE PLACE WHERE YOU ARE INSPIRED AND EQUIPPED TO LOVE, GROW, AND SERVE IN THE WORLD YOU LIVE IN WHILE FOLLOWING AFTER CHRIST. I AM YOUR HOST, MICAH MORENO. This is Episode One, you have to start somewhere. Today, I am going to be talking about Connections and Communications, Why they matter so much if you are going to be successful in anything. I also am going to give you a snapshot of my story and why time spent as a faithful subscriber will touch on areas that you need to be cheered on if you seek to discover a life of leadership, successful relationships, and a unshakable faith. Connections and communications matter so much because they are the goals and the means for meaningful relationships in your life. As a pastor of a growing church and ministry, I have learned in the last 15 years of pastoral ministry that so much of God being able to do anything in life depends on how you value safe connection verses safe disconnection & How to communicate empathy verses communicating apathy. It was clear to early in my career that if you are going to succeed in any direction, there needed to be known strengths, whether natural or learned, and known weaknessess. natural or through experiences of setback or trauma. When Strength finders by Tom Rath came out about 11 years ago, I was an early adopter to the whole idea of these natural strengths and developed strenghts. Wouldn’t you know it, my top strength was Connectivity. This explained how important it was that the people in my world were part of the cerebral map in my mind with a thin red yarn connecting them to different subgroups and at least 2-3 facts about them. I thought I was odd for this, but I have since realized that this was part of the reason I have empathy and compassion for people, I see where faith, life, and choices intersect. How the connections of God’s wisdom and people’s decisions or ability to devote themselves to them came to manifest in the worlds they would invite me into as a spiritual care giver. But why connection? what is it’s purpose in your life goals, your reason for accomplishing a life that truly reflects one of success and enrichment? Perhaps looking at what we are most comfortable with can shed light on the importance with connection. In his book, Keep your Love on, Pastor Danny Silk explains that the goal of every relationship is either safe connection or safe disconnection. Safe connection or safe disconnection. Whether you realize it or not. In your relationships, the way you speak, the tone of your voice, your body language, the content, all direct the relationship, whether be it a spouse or co-worker, into a direction of safe connection or disconnect. Safe is relative to the person who is providing the input at the moment. I have encountered couples who reach a point in their relationship where they come to the teteering edge of a real breakthrough of intimacy and vulnerability or they chose to reinforce the disconnection by keeping faults of the other person on the forefront or other excuses to not do the important work to break down the walls to reach a place of intimacy. This distance is in every relationship or type of relationship you encounter with each day. How you interact with person taking your Pumpkin Spice Latte to the frequency of deep conversations you have with a family member. The world is filled with superficial or tender connections or apathetic to hostile disconnects. At times I have been able to offer counsel to people in a realtionship who have convinced themselves that the disconnect in their relationship was normal. As if you’re ideal of a relationship is holding hands while each of you stand on either side of a wall that three inches shorter than your combined tallest reach, only pressing your finger tips together. Sure you have a connection, but it is exhausting to keep yourself over extended to enjoy the entire person who is either kept behind the wall by their own choices or it is a group effort. All the while saying to the world, to God, and to yourselves, this is working, this is good enough, and a wall shorter or more permeable is too risky. But the kind of connections that we really want to be looking to build comes about first not settling for superficial or unsustainable relationships second, not being satisfied for a level of distance the we are encouraged to maintain by leveraging each connection for self driven motives. We all have been there when susie started a network marketing business, suddenly out of the blue they want to catch up, and share something amazing with you. How inauthentic and hurtful. But we must develop through God’s word with the example of the body of believers, Christ followers the desire to grow in being comfortable with connections. To realize that our deepest longing is to be known and to know another. In the mindset of the follower of Christ, we can come to a deep point of identity and purpose when we encounter God for the first time or the most recent moment. It orientates us to hunger for this in other relationships as well. So how to we accomplish this? After we have decided that being connected it the preferred place in the world, rather than a dim lit loft with screen friends, with your screen name and your screen life. We look at the nedd to have communication that fosters connection, rather than maintains distance. As a husband, I am put to the test each day with the opportunties to communicate with a result at the end of the day that fosters and draws myself to my wife, or I reinforce the distance or the disconnect that was present the day before. I get in trouble when I offer counterfit communication. Counterfit, meaning that we offer two things in our communication, fake or the real deal. Ever been in a place where people offer a “yes” or “see you there” and it was false? We are so quick to give eachother counterfits when a person who seeks to live their life of integrity, with success, with a reputation that opens doors, will always strive to nod their heads and shake theirs hands with others because it means something true. Also, in communication you have to ask yourself, are you seeking to be understood? or are you seeking to understand. As you have needs like the rest of us, I believe you would find it to the advantage of the realtionship, and yourself, if you could move more into a place of listening, rather than maintaining an apathetic ear. You may respond off the bat with, I am not apathetic. Well, if we look at some of the other words that go along with apathetic, we would read, unconcerned, unmoved, uninvolved, disinterested, unemotional, emotionless, dispassionate, lukewarm. We are so saturated with communication from the outlets we plugin to all day. But why are these one directional sources of information getting more of our response that those who are placed in our lives for deep meaning and purpose. You have these people who are your family, your friends, your co-workers, classmates, and then the people who you are called to serve and live in your community, ask yourself do they see or receive a disintrested version of you? a unconcerned stance with their needs and feelings? Or are we stepping up to the call to lead our selves and others to a place of empathetic exchanges and deep meaningful connections. Try this, when you go about your day, for an hour. How often are you really paying attention those who should be getting the best out of you, but are perhaps receiving superficial, self motivated, or emotionless presence. I wonder what you would find your connections to start realizing if you didn’t settle for the status quo. I have two huskies, siberian, hairy, lovable, and in fact, one is a puppy, and the 1st turne 2 yesterday. I recently read the point that dogs do whatever they can to give their humans the best of themselves. However, it seems that we as human give our worst to those we love. It’s my hope that you can see that your world stands to open up if you learn to expand the depth of safe connection and close in the desire for disconnection. Also if you can put on empathy as a means for both persons in the relationship to reap the rewards that come from being attentive to opportunities and how to partner together to overcoe differences. OUTRO: I hope this have been motivational for you, but I can’t be the only one pushing you forward onward and upward, the hope is that you can take these ideas to those you are in relationship with and in your time of prayer with God. Until next time, I encourage you to subscribe to this podcast and to our website at morenovational.org. You can chat with me at [email protected] I’d be happy to hear how you are fostering connection with God, others, and abandoning counterfit forms of communication. untill then, Keep looking up!