Your hustle is hope in that when our hustle factor is high we are displaying the hope we have Christ Christ when our hustle factor is low it is because we are drinking the cool aid the world is giving out and not believing in the power of Jesus Christ. When we are functioning at a high level, chasing leads, searching for opportunities, praying and petitioning and thanking God, peace comes. This reveals a high hustle factor. A low hustle factor is when we are scared to share the gospel, too lazy to get out of bed, too busy playing Angry birds, and not chasing down leads.

We are going to look at several passages from 1 and 2 Samuel and evaluate David’s Hustle Factor so we can improve on our own Hustle Factor. I had a Ministry Coach 8 years ago who would ask the pastors in our group what our Hustle Factor was. Bruce is a great coach. Thanks Bruce for all you taught us. Well,  On Sunday we looked at David’s hustle factor and how it correlated to his hope or his sin. High hustle factor high success low hustle factor low success. What’s your hustle factor telling others about Jesus Christ. Your fruit will reveal your Hustle factor? On a 1 to 10 scale. Where are you? First half of David’s life his hustle factor was high. The latter was low and it effected him as a soldier to being a father. It also affects our effectiveness in sharing the gospel. Take a Look at some snap shots from king David’s life and his Hustle Factors:

Hustle Factor  10
1 Samuel 17 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” ³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, ³⁵ I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. ³⁶ Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, ^(AK)for he has defied the armies of the living God.” ³⁷ And David said, ^(AL)“The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, ^(AM)and the Lord be with you!”

Hustle Factor  10
1 Samuel 27 23 Now they told David, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against ^(A)Keilah and are robbing the threshing floors.” ² Therefore David ^(B)inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the Lord said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.” ³ But David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” ⁴ Then David ^(C)inquired of the Lord again. And the Lord answered him, “Arise, go down to Keilah, ^(D)for I will give the Philistines into your hand.” ⁵ And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their livestock and struck them with a great blow. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

Hustle Factor  8
2 Samuel 5² In times past, when Saul was king over us, ^(C)it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord said to you, ^(D)‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince^[a] over Israel.’” ³ So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, ^(E)and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron ^(F)before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. ⁴ David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and ^(G)he reigned forty years. ^5 (H)At Hebron he reigned over Judah ^(I)seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

Hustle Factor  10
2 Samuel 8 ^(A)After this David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and David took ^(B)Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines. ^2 (C)And he defeated Moab and he measured them with a line, making them lie down on the ground. Two lines he measured to be put to death, and one full line to be spared. And the Moabites ^(D)became servants to David and ^(E)brought tribute. ³ David also defeated ^(F)Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of ^(G)Zobah, as he went to restore his power at the river Euphrates. ^4 (H)And David took from him 1,700 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. And David ^(I)hamstrung all the chariot horses but left enough for 100 chariots. ^5 (J)And when the ^(K)Syrians of Damascus came to help ^(L)Hadadezer king of ^(M)Zobah, David struck down 22,000 men of the Syrians. ⁶ Then David put garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Syrians ^(N)became servants to David and brought tribute. ^(O)And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. ⁷ And David took ^(P)the shields of gold that were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ And from Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took very much bronze.

Hustle Factor  9
2 Samuel 9 And David said, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may ^(A)show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” ² Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was ^(B)Ziba, and they called him to David. And the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “I am your servant.” ³ And the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show ^(C)the kindness of God to him?” Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of ^(D)Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.” ⁴ The king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of ^(E)Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.” ⁵ Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar. ⁶ And ^(F)Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage.

Hustle Factor  10
2 Samuel 10 ¹⁸ And the Syrians fled before Israel, and David killed of the Syrians the men of 700 chariots, and 40,000 horsemen, and wounded ^(P)Shobach the commander of their army, so that he died there. ¹⁹ And when all the kings who were servants of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel ^(Q)and became subject to them. So the Syrians were afraid to save the Ammonites anymore.

Hustle Factor  2
2 Samuel 11 11 ^(A)(B)In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged ^(C)Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. ² It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on ^(D)the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. ³ And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this ^(E)Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of ^(F)Uriah the Hittite?”

David’s Hustle Factor continues to fall:
2 Samuel 12 Nathan rebukes David after parable. David doesn’t even realize the obvious. The parable is about him and his own sin.
2 Samuel 13 David’s son Amnon rapes his sister Tamar. David’s failure leads to the harm of a daughter and the missed opportunity of parental discipline.
2 Samuel 13 Tamar’s brother Absolam murders Amnon and David once again fails in parenting discipline 101.
2 Samuel 13 Absolam runs away to Geshur for 3 years and not once does David seek out his son as he did with a family member of Saul to bring restoration.
2 Samuel 14 ²⁸ So Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem, without coming into the king’s presence. Even with his son living down the street David hustle factor to bring restoration is low.
2 Samuel 15 Absolam’s conspiracy to take the thrown. David runs away. The warrior king who defeated tens of thousands runs from his own son.

As you can see in the latter part of David’s life his Hustle factor was low and it effected his leadership and parenting because your hustle number is not static it can change.  The great news is God kept his promise to David and He had a son named Solomon who became a great king and God fulfilled his promise of bringing a savior to the world from the line of David. That savior is Jesus and only He can empower you to change your Hustle Factor.

Although your Hustle Factor effects everything in your life let’s look at it from a gospel perspective. How can we increase our Hustle Factor in sharing the Gospel from a 1 to a 10:

Get in touch with why you started doing what you do. Everything we do is to glorify God. How is Jesus being reflected from what you are doing?

Set an inspiring goal. In a month I want to share the gospel to 1 person a month, a week a day. Begin by praying for that pre-ordained opportunity.

Picture it differently. You may be afraid of what people think if you tell them about Jesus. . Did you know over 80% of the people who are invited to come to church by a friend will come. Don’t picture them thinking your crazy. Picture them thanking you for caring so much.

Find a fun project for you. Have a dinner with friends who don’t know Jesus. Go to Busch-gardens and pray for an opportunity to share Jesus. It doesn’t have to be in a dark parking lot at night. That just so happens what it is like most of the time I share Jesus. LOL More intriguing that way and fun. LOL

A Group For Me

Click the link to go to the small group blog

One of the questions I get often is how have I incorporated small groups in my church planting?  It’s a great question. I have viewed church planting the same way I view church planting. I can look back and see that every church we have started is a large group and every ministry component and team in them is a smaller group. Each large group is dependent on the small groups that make it up and the future growth is determined by both sharing a vision that God is a sending God who desires us to be a sent people.

I have put together a blog that breaks down my thoughts and methodology on developing a Small Group network in your church and a list of resources I’ve used A Group For Me

I have also included a graphic on the site that visually demonstrates how your small groups interconnect and continue to multiply beyond the large group experiences.

Set your clocks ahead an hour before you go to bed.

We will not have a 9:15 service tomorrow.

Will see you all at 10:15 AM Sunday!

We are gearing up for our new series Restoration. Restoration is one of our church values. We will be looking at it first. We will examine our three remaining values, Truth, Love and Grace, later this year.

Keep your eyes open. Be looking for us around our city this month. Let us know when you

See one of us on the street corner waving and beep your horn, take a picture of one of our banners, signs, a billboard and post it online. Take the mailer or door hanger you receive and share it with a neighbor, friend or family member. Put one of our bumper magnets on your car and be sure not to tick anyone off with your driving.

Help us to get the word out! Kaleomark is changing lives to change a city to glorify God. Friend us on Facebook, Tweet @kaleomark. Better yet join us this Sunday!