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Dear Saddleback Family, 

Use the Message Action Plan below to help put the things you learned this weekend into practice. If you missed last weekend's message, click  here  to watch it online.

The Entitlement Cure:
God's Plan of Success in Doing Hard Things the Right Way
John Townsend
February 27-28, 2016

1. Entitlement - Two Basic Attitudes Combined:
2. • I am exempt from responsibility
   • I am owed special treatment

   ". . . Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought . . ." Romans 12:3 (NIV)

3. God's Solution: Doing life the hard way

4. Definition: The habit of doing what is best, rather than what is comfortable, to achieve a worthwhile outcome.

   "Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame" Isaiah 50:7 (NIV)

   Action Plan:   What is one area in your life that you do because it is comfortable, but doesn't provide the results it used to when you first started? Start working on that area using the habit busters below.

5. Habit #1: Change "I deserve" to "I am responsible"

6. "So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty'" Luke 17:10 (NIV)

   Action Plan:   Write down how "I deserve" has impacted your one area to make you more comfortable.  Now write down how "I am responsible" would make your habit more productive for serving Christ.  Will you change how you approach this area?

7. Habit #2: Do the hard things first

8. "Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise" Proverbs 6:6 (NIV)

   Action Plan:   Evaluate your one area in your life that you are exploring and write down the steps you have taken to work in this area.  Now, write down the steps you know you need to do, but you haven't.  Start doing whatever you have been avoiding and see how God will bless this area of your life.

9. Habit #3: Keep inconvenient commitments

10. Be a person ". . . who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind" Psalms 15:4b (NIVUK)

    Action Plan:   Reflect on any past commitments or promises that you made in your area of focus. Have you broken any commitments or promises? If so, do your best to make amends of the situation and make a commitment to choose the path of integrity instead of the path of convenience.

11. Habit #4:  Engage in service

    "Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28 (NIV)

    Action Plan:  Ask yourself if you are serving others while you are working in the one area that you are evaluating.  Make a list of ways that you can be serving in this arena and choose one or two to start trying.

    Takeaway: This week, I will choose 2 of the 5 Habits and start living the hard way, because that is God's way.