Costi Hinn Gives 20 Ways We Are Glory Hogs

1. Believing ministry success is due to something other than God's blessing

2. Over-relying on man-centered factors as essential to success

3. Lack of gratitude for others

4. "Key-man syndrome:" we can't survive without "him"

5. Prayerlessness

6. Manipulating people because we don't trust God

7. Viewing staff and leaders as "ours"

8. Falsely attributing things to God that we manipulated to happen

9. Ignoring the gifts of others given by the Spirit

10. Using others to build your platform

11. Partiality to the rich

12. False humility

13. Viewing your gifts above other gifts

14. Pompous language

15. Hiding the sins of leaders because you don't trust God's process

16. Making pastor's wives "First Lady"

17. Using church funds however you want without reporting

18. Keeping smarter men out of the elder/deacon room because they make us insecure

19. Unteachable spirit

20. Shunning those who innocently and/or genuinely question us out of love

 

*Costi Hinn serves as the Pastor of Preaching & Teaching at Shepherd's House Bible Church in Chandler, AZ. He is a graduate of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the author of several books including, More Than a Healer (Zondervan, 2021), God, Greed, and the (Prosperity) Gospel (Zondervan, 2019), and Defining Deception (SCS Press, 2018).

 

God Weeps With the People of Uvalde Texas

We do not grieve as though without hope. One day, everything sad “will become untrue.” And because we do not weep as the world weeps.

How do we process and speak of the horrific events at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, as yet another evil attack on vulnerable children; evil so shocking, it’s impossible to fathom; and, at the same time, a story horrifyingly familiar.  

We struggle with so many raw emotions and uncomfortable questions. How could anyone be capable of such evil? How long until something like this happens again? 

Why does this keep happening? What is plaguing young men in our culture, who are far more likely to commit acts of evil like this? Younger generations seemingly are being conditioned to think that these events are normal occurrences, and that retreating to political corners and blaming others is the normal way to respond to them.

But, what hasn’t changed is that God has called us - His people - to be part of His redemptive work in the world in this time and this place. While the temptation to “just do something” at times like this is strong; it also quite often misleading. Thank God for the vast resources He has given us in Scripture, and how they apply even to times as confusing as these.  

First, the psalms of lament and the imprecatory psalms offer godly direction for our rage and sorrow. Not just once or twice, but repeatedly, God invites His people to weep before Him for the sorrows of the world AND to be angry at the injustices we experience. 

Second, God also gives us something to do at times like this: “Mourn with those who mourn.” May He give strength to His people in Uvalde, Texas, to be the Church there and to each of us where He has planted us.

And we can do this work, because of what we learn from the shortest verse in the Bible. In one of the most poignant moments in Scripture, we read that “Jesus wept" when joined in with a dead man’s sisters in their mourning for their loss. 

What makes this so astonishing is that Jesus knows that He will raise Lazarus to life again, and, by doing so, he is going to end the family’s suffering, even turn it into a party. Yet, He is not aloof or dismissive of their grief. Instead, He weeps with them—for the pain of a fallen world, for the unnaturalness of death, for the hopelessness people feel in the face of tragedy. Because Christ—who had the power of life and death at His command—can weep with those who weep, we can do the same.  

And finally, we have the gift of knowing that one day, death itself will be cast into Hell. So, we do not grieve as though without hope. One day, everything sad “will become untrue.” And because we do not weep as the world weeps, the Church has so much to offer when the world does weep. Like now.  

 

from John Stonestreet and Timothy Padgett
https://breakpoint.org/god-weeps-with-the-people-of-uvalde/?hss_channel=fbp-983273471714695

Authentic, Gospel Men Are Gentle and Humble

The Bible tells us that the heart is the center of our very being, our essence; it is who we are, our character, our disposition, aspirations, affections, what we love. The heart of Jesus should be our model and pattern of life. 

Dane Ortlund points out in his book Gentle and Lowly, (which was WACMM’s Men’s Book of 2020), that there’s only one place in all the Gospels where Jesus specifically describes his heart. It’s a brief, but stunningly profound statement: “I am gentle and lowly in heart.” (Matt 11:29).  

He tells us right there his heart is one of gentleness and humility – kindness and tenderness. He does NOT say he is “wild at heart.” Yet Matt 11:29 is the most ignored verse in ministries to men. If it were at center of our speaking, teaching, and discipling men and their local congregations, authentic manhood would be seen and experienced.

Why are gentleness and humility the linchpin of understanding what it means to be a man of God – to be like Jesus. Why should we strive to be men who are have and in live in light of those attributes?

We are new creations in Christ with new hearts with new desires for him, the things of God and the people of God, Consequently, we want to be like him in every possible way. 

Yet gentleness and humility are rare today. Men, even many in churches, think they’re supposed to be macho, even dangerous. Taking their cues from the crazed culture, they mimic its values and behaviors of being combative, harsh, aggressive, judgmental, independent and self-indulgent. The world, the flesh and Satan hate gentleness and humility because it is Jesus’ heart – the heart we’ve been given. If you are not under preaching and teaching that continually reminds you of Jesus’ heart and his gospel, find a church or ministry that does. 

When people saw Jesus, he was ignored or rejected. But many were attracted to him by his gentleness and humility, which was as rare then as it is today. When others see you marked by his gentleness and lowliness, they will take notice. Many will realize that what your heart is beautifully exuding is missing in the world and in their own lives. 

Gentleness is so important to God that he requires it of pastors of his Church (1 Timothy 3:2): An elder (pastor) must be gentle but “not a bully."

In Titus 1:7, God says an elder must also be “lowly” (not arrogant) and “gentle” (not a bully).  So to be in the pulpit, to be in church ministry, ministry to men, only those with the heart of Jesus are qualified.

So clearly what the SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) needs and every denomination and every church, and every men’s ministry are servant leaders who are not bullies, abusers, harsh, arrogant, platform celebrities, secular-styled motivators, or self-promoters but men of gentleness and kindness – who have the heart of Jesus that willingly, sacrificially give their lives to others for the sake of the gospel. 

So brothers as we boldly go out, let us be the radically different men we actually are in Christ. The world and Satan are no match for men who are authentically blood-bought, gentle, lowly, Spirit-empowered, gospel men.

Dave Brown
WACMM