A Different Perspective Official Podcast

What's Providence? Well, it's when God goes ahead of us and prepares the way. Pretty cool. But what if – I mean, just think about this – what if you and I could do that for other people?  What if you and I could be God's providence for them?
I was looking up in the dictionary the other day the word "providence" because I wanted to know exactly what the word meant. Like most people, I'd always thought that providence was God's provision, but literally, the meaning of the word is this:
Care and preparation that takes place in advance. Foresight, wisdom that goes ahead of you.
Isn't that cool? God's providence is Him going ahead of us, with all His wisdom and knowledge and love and grace, and preparing the way, smoothing the path so that by the time you and I walk into that place everything's ready. Ah, it's awesome! That's what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote:
We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works that God prepared beforehand for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)
Well, imagine just for a minute if we could do that for other people, if God used us to be His providence for someone else. What would the world look like then?
Over these last few weeks we've been looking at living the life that God always intended. Now, sometimes when I say that, people picture one long holiday, luxury and wealth and health and happiness, but that's not it. Life's for living, all the ups and downs, all the good times and the bad times. There's this rich fabric that we call "life", and you and I, we're people with gifts and talents and unless we exercise those in life, there's no satisfaction.
And no matter what our gifts and talents are, real satisfaction comes from serving other people. Whether you're an artist or a musician or a brain surgeon or a shop attendant or a mum or whatever. Isn't it about impacting other people's lives? When you're a parent and seeing your kids grow and become wonderful and mature adults who contribute to society, as they say, to give to other people.
This week we're looking at living a life of service; serving other people, practical ways of doing that, of making a difference just like Jesus did. When Jesus came and He said:
I didn't come to be served, I'm the Son of God, I came to serve you, I came to die for you, I came to give my life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28)
Yesterday, as a really practical way of doing that – of living a life of service, we looked at the fact that when we let people be – when we let them just be who they are with all their strengths and weaknesses, when we let people be – God sets us free. I don't think my day is meant to be ruined by other people's weaknesses. There's enough in me of my own that I have to deal with without putting up with someone else's. And so there are people who are quite different to me in my life and I value their strengths and I love them in their weaknesses.
And ninety-nine times out of one hundred those weaknesses just wash straight past, because God wants us to be mature and lacking in nothing. God wants us to have joy and peace and that comes when we lay down our lives and we say, "That person drives me nuts some days, but I love them and I'll serve them and I'll bless them."
Today, we're looking at going ahead of people, exceeding their expectations. And if we're going to live the life God always intended, what if God intended for us to be His providence in other people's lives? Remember, providence is when God goes ahead – when He sends His wisdom and His love and His mercy and His grace and His power ahead of us to get things ready – so by the time we walk into them they're exactly the way God meant for them to be.
What if God used you or me to be His providence in someone else's life? When we think about it, that's what we do for our kids. As mums and dads we have greater wisdom because of our years of experience, so we let them walk through things and experience consequences while being there for them. We think ahead for them. That's how they learn, that's how they grow in a safe, loving situation. We do that. We're programmed to do that as mums and dads.
What if we did that for other people too? What would that look like? What if we just compensated for their weaknesses before they happened? What if we covered up for them when they fail? What if we supported them when they fell over? What if we opened doors for them to other people? Pro-actively doing things that go ahead to help them? What a world, what a relationship!
Let me share a story with you. When God laid this whole radio thing on my heart I didn't know anyone in radio. I just had a call from God, "Oh God, where do I start?" The answer was, I started recording programs in a studio and not a single station had agreed to take them. We'd put down three or four months worth of programs. You had to have a few months worth done before any station would even talk to you.
One day Christianityworks, our ministry, was moving offices from office A to office B and I was carrying some really heavy boxes, down the corridor. I had recorded these few months of programs and I'm lugging this box down the hallway talking to God, "Lord, how are you going to get these programs out there? What's the plan, Lord? I have no idea!" Truly I didn't, and God spoke to me so clearly that day. He said, "Go and talk to the guy behind that glass partition."
You see our old office was in a shared office area where there were other ministries and that guy was a man called Nathan Brown. He was the Australian head of Michael Youssef's ministry, Leading the Way. Now traditional wisdom, worldly wisdom says, "Well that's kind of the competition. He's another radio ministry and they try and get their programs on radio stations." Now I don't see the world that way, didn't particularly know Nathan very well but God just impressed it on me to go and talk to him.
So I put the box in my car and came back in again and knocked on Nathan's door. And I sat down and I just shared my heart with him. Nathan was overjoyed. He said, "I would love to help you." And he opened doors for our ministry through his relationships with so many stations. Chances are you're listening to this program because Nathan was involved somewhere. Today, our programs are being heard in over 1200 radio stations around the globe.
Nathan was God's providence for this ministry and for me. This man had an open heart, a heart to serve, a heart of enthusiasm, a heart to share his wisdom and experience and relationships and to open doors. Now he looks at what God's done through that and the guy is just overjoyed at having been used by God to be a part of that. Isn't that a beautiful story?
It's hard sometimes to help people, it's difficult sometimes but God's love and God's wisdom is pro-active. That means God just doesn't sit around waiting for us to get our act sorted out. God goes ahead of us before we even think of things, and He does things for us so that when we walk into them we're blessed.
We know love by this, that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
Providence is pro-active and it's not always easy to do. And sometimes people don't appreciate it and sometimes people are difficult. But when God taps us on the shoulder and says, "Go help that one. Go open a door for that one. Go bless that one", you'd better go.
Because like Nathan, you know, it's just an awesome feeling when you get a sense that God touched you by His Spirit and called us into a place just to do something little that we could do. And then God uses that and multiplies it and blesses so many people when we do that. Come on! It's not always easy but are you living the life that God always intended? Come on!

Other people can frankly drive us nuts. But they are who they are – and here's a thought, when we let them be, God sets us free. Great theory – but how does it actually work?
Over the last three weeks or so we've been talking about living the life God always intended. We have one chance at this life, that's it. It's not a dress rehearsal. And what's so incredibly sad for me is to run into people, so many people, who aren't enjoying their lives. That's not to say we don't go through some rough patches. Obviously, we do, but by and large, life's there for living, for making a difference, for touching other people. There's incredible satisfaction in that.
So this week, we're kind of having a poke around in that, looking at what it means to live a life of serving other people. Today, we're going to explore one way, a practical thing that we can do to serve other people. It's so simple, it's so profound it will touch people so deeply, it's amazing. Here it is, just let them be. Let them be who they are. Let them be what God made them to be. And it turns out when we let them be, God sets us free.
We're all different, have you noticed? We're good and bad at different things. We like different things. I like this colour, you like that colour. You like that taste, I like this taste. You like those clothes, I like these clothes. So different. And sometimes we get annoyed by those differences. Maybe you've heard me talk about this in the past but it's a big issue.
One of the biggest things that ruin our lives is other people being who they are. Their differences grate and annoy and drive us nuts. You know what I mean. But the fact is, we're all different and the fact is, we always have to live with those sorts of people around us. God makes sure of it. God never puts us in a group where everybody is just completely the same. Let's face it, that would be boring to start with, but God wants steel to sharpen steel. God wants us to learn to humble ourselves and to get on with other people.
I had a recent experience. I was involved in a really large piece of work, a big complex project. And I was the key man doing the job and there were other people around me, helping me. It was a huge job. It took a lot of months to do. And what I'm good at is communicating, telling a story. I think in concepts and stories not detail but the job involved an enormous amount of detail and what I really appreciated were the people around me. They quickly understood the things that I was good at and also the fact that I wasn't good at ferreting out and sorting through a lot of the detail. And so they served me and they helped me with the things that I wasn't good at.
They could have criticised me, they could have complained, they could have attacked me. Instead, they helped me and when that happens, it so validates who we are. It's wonderful to work in an organisation like I do and to experience those things. The Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 12, figures it out. He said (my paraphrase):
We're all different. We all have different motivations and abilities. Some people are good communicators, others are good teachers, and others are good encouragers, others are good leaders, others are good at caring for other people and serving. Others are real givers and yet others are great at showing mercy. (Romans 12: 6-8)
But the flip side is, we all have weaknesses. Communicators like me, want to talk over people. Encouragers want to encourage so much that they end up running other people's lives for them. People who are good at caring and showing mercy, well, sometimes are not the best time managers. And on top of that, we all have our own foibles; we all have our own 'Achilles heel', the things that we do wrong. So when we have people around who are different what does it look like to live the life God always intended?
How do you do that, when people's weaknesses disrupt our peace and joy that God wants us to have? You know, you have a great time with God in the morning, Yes! Hallelujah! And then you deal with someone in the middle of the day and they drive you nuts and that peace has gone and that joy is gone. If we want to live the life that God always intended, we have to let people be. And when we let people be, God sets us free.
I have enough of my own faults without your faults ruining my day. In fact, if I let your faults and your weaknesses ruin my day then I'm adding your faults to mine. And if I let the next person's weaknesses rub me the wrong way, I'm adding those to my load. And the next person after that, I'm adding those to my load. I've got enough of my own to carry around I don't need to carry yours with me too… and the next persons and the next persons and the next persons.
My time with God in the morning is a powerful way of changing who I am and living the day for Christ, to be a blessing, to live a life of joy and peace. And when I pick up your load and the next person's load, it ruins my peace.
I've made a decision. I'm going to let you be who you are, will you let me be who I am? When that weakness that rubs us the wrong way comes at us just let it be, just turn the other cheek and let it be. When we let people be, God sets us free. The moment we stop trying to change people, complain about them, whinge about them, get angry about them, get hurt because they offended us, our lives change.
Why is it that God makes such a big thing about forgiveness? Jesus, when He was teaching His Disciples the Lord's Prayer said,
Forgive us as we forgive others. (Matthew 6:12)
Wake up! Let those others be! Accept them just the way they are. And you know something, that's a form of service. When we do that it puts them before us and people sense that, they notice that. When I say, "You know something, it's okay for you to not be a really good time manager, even though that rubs me the wrong way, because you know something, I'm not very good pastorally but you are and we need both of us on this team." When I say that, I'm validating who you are or who the next person is.
Get a revelation! You and I have enough weaknesses and failures of our own without letting our next person's weaknesses and failures ruin our day. Come on! I know people who are smart and clever and intelligent and good at what they do but they spend their whole time whingeing and complaining about other people. They're touchy, they're sensitive. When you are touchy and sensitive, you don't have joy, you don't have peace. You're setting yourself up in the centre of the universe and saying, "Because this person doesn't fit with my view of who they should be, I'm going to get offended."
Well, just as well Jesus didn't do that on the cross with you and me. If I sound like maybe I'm getting into your face today, maybe that's because it's time to do that. Living the life that God always intended is about living our lives with other people and for other people just the way Jesus lived His life for you and for me. And as we lay down our lives for them, our rights for them, our self-righteousness for them, God changes us, God sets us free. Doing this stuff costs us. It costs us our lives but the prize is life itself.
Bottom line … if we want to live the life God always intended we need to accept people just the way they are – willingly, kindly, gently, patiently, day after day, week after week. When we let people be, God sets us free.

There's nothing worse than going to a coffee shop for a good cuppa and getting bad service.  And it turns out that we're all in the service business one way or another.  How we serve others, makes a difference.
There's nothing worse than going somewhere, a shop or a cafe or a restaurant, even a ride in a taxi and you get bad service. There's this little cafe close to home where my wife, Jacqui and I, love going. We know the owner and we just get good coffee there. But there's one woman that works there that's so surly. She never smiles. She never says, "Hello." She never recognises us. We have the same coffee every time and each time she asks us, "What will you have?" instead of saying, "Just the usual?"
Now everyone's entitled to a bad day every now and then, and sometimes people are going through rough patches in their lives. But in this case, I've just come to the conclusion that this poor woman is in the wrong job. And you know, whatever we do and however we do it, we're all somehow in the service business – at work, at home. The thing that makes society and the economy go round, is the fact that we all do things for other people. What a shame to spend your life serving other people, while all the time they're looking at us thinking, "Boy isn't that one in the wrong job!"
Over the last few weeks we've been looking at what it means to live the life that God always intended. We're born, we eat, we sleep, we go to work and then we die and that's life. It's like that for all of us. And sure, there's routine and there's drudgery, like that woman in the coffee shop. I mean, I don't think she wakes up every morning thinking, "Wow, it's back to the coffee shop again! I just can't wait until Berni and Jacqui come down so I can get their skim flat whites and their one muffin that they cut in half to share."
I think it's really sad. Life is for living and living has so much to do with serving other people. Just think about the economy again. We all make money by doing specialised things that other people can't do. We do it for them, so we get paid and that's how we make money. And other people do things for us that we can't do, so they get paid and that's how they make money.
It turns out, how much we enjoy serving others, has a lot to do with what we get out of life, whether it's a paid job or a stay at home parent bringing up kids or whatever. There's this important principle that says, "It's not so much of what I pour into my life that gives me satisfaction, but it's what I pour out of my life, what I give, what I sacrifice."
Now, a lot of people aren't good at giving or serving. And in a sense, you know, just quietly between you and me, we can all be a bit selfish sometimes, can't we? But when we serve other people, it makes such an incredible difference, not just in their lives, which is wonderful, enough but in our lives.
I want to tell you about a startling piece of service that I received recently; in fact, it started a few months ago. For the last quarter of a century I've been using the same, pre-electric shave lotion. Now Berni's not much into lotions and potions, I have to tell you, but this lotion just makes the horrible job of shaving every morning a bit more pleasant. And I went to a few of the big department stores that normally stock this thing and they were completely out.
Now you know department stores these days, they have hardly any staff on, particularly during the week and it's pretty hard sometimes to get any service, let alone good service. But this woman, Margaret, she said, "Well there's none there and we normally have some. Mr Dymet I'll investigate it for you and give me your phone number and I'll call you back."
"Yeah, right." Who's been called back by someone who works in a department store lately? Doesn't happen very often does it? It turned out there was some new packaging and so this stuff wasn't available for a few months but the miracle is, within two days she actually called me back to tell me. Well that was the last I heard and she said it will be available in a few months time and that was it.
But just the other day, four months later, my phone rings, "Mr Dymet it's Margaret here, from the department store. Those things you were after, they've just come in. Now we haven't got many and they're half the price they used to be, so would you like me to set a couple of bottles aside for you? That should keep you going for a couple of years."
Can you believe that? I was completely gob-smacked! It is so rare these days to get that sort of service out of anyone.
I keep telling people about it. And it's like that right across life – at work, at school, at home – people are rushing around, they're just in it for themselves. People don't much want to serve one another anymore. So when we serve them, really serve them, exceed their expectations, go the extra mile, it stands out from the crowd. It speaks volumes about what we think of them. It touches them and they tell other people, just like I just told you about Margaret. Margaret's story has now gone around eighty countries across the world because she went the extra mile.
My kind of service is not working in a shop or a café. I spent seventeen years as a consultant in the Information Technology industry and some days were really hard. But the satisfaction came from helping clients through really difficult projects, getting to the end knowing that I'd played a small part and I'd brought the things I know I could bring and work with other people with unique skills and help to guide the project to successful conclusion.
Come on! Jesus said:
 I'm the Son of God and I came not to be served but to serve. (Matthew 20:28)
Jesus always turns our selfishness upside down; it's why a lot of people got upset with Him when He was wandering around Galilee and Judea. Jesus has this way putting His finger on something and going right to the nub of it. He is the Son of God, He had every right to come to be served and not to serve and He said, "No, no actually I didn't come to be served, I came to serve you, to give my life as a ransom for many." We know He did, what an amazing concept!!
But what about us giving our lives, to serve other people? It's going to cost something. It means that I'm not the centre of the universe anymore; it means that some days it won't be convenient; it means that some days it will hurt; it means that some days people may not appreciate or even notice that we're serving them. But Jesus is saying:
Be like me. I gave my life up for you. I gave up my rights for you. I gave up all the glory that I'm entitled, for you to let some men beat me and spit on me, nail me on the cross so that you could have eternal life.
That's God. That's Jesus. And when we live that life of service, we end up bringing Jesus to people. We end up touching them with His love. And the crazy thing is, we try and cling onto our lives, our comforts and our rights and life's hollow, it's empty. Those who try and save their lives will lose them but when we pour ourselves out for others – lose our rights and comforts and entitlements – and all of a sudden life becomes richer and more meaningful and real. Those who lose their lives for Jesus' sake will gain them (Luke 17:33).
The rest of this week on the program, we'll look at some really practical ways that we can serve others, that not only blesses them in the most amazing way, but in doing, that blesses us. In taking the risk and stepping out saying, "Jesus, I'm prepared to lay down my life for You. I'm prepared not to have the last say in an argument. I'm prepared not to win. I'm prepared to lose for You. I'm prepared to be no-one for You. I'm prepared to lose my reputation for You" – take that sort of a step, that sort of life and all of a sudden we're living the life that God always intended.

No man is an island … actually, it's true of women too.  But sometimes, it seems like the rest of the world is pretty much ready to desert us.  And when we feel all alone, we wonder if we still have anything useful that we can do.  So … do we give up, or do we keep going?
You know there are parts of the Bible that I'm prone to skimming over. For instance the genealogies. They're so long and boring and dry, particularly the one that goes on for pages and pages at the beginning of 1 Chronicles in the Old Testament. Who has time to read that? But one man did, a guy by the name of Bruce Wilkinson and he stumbles across the prayer of Jabez, one of the most powerful prayers in the Bible and of course he wrote the book, "The Prayer of Jabez".
And that's how often it is with those bits we'd rather just skim over. The introductions to Paul's letters or epistles in the New Testament, we always want to skim over those. But there is such a richness and power in those, we do so at our own peril. And finally the bits that I used to be prone to skimming over were some of the personal notes at the end of Paul's letters.
He'd write all the rich, meaty theological stuff that you and I can apply to our lives and then almost like a p.s. at the end of a letter he kind of writes to say, "Say gidday to Fred and tell Betty to come and visit me soon and give my regards to all my friends in wherever it is." You know, all that stuff. But just the other day as we were exploring what it means to rekindle the amazing gift that God has placed within each one of us, we read this in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16:
That all Scripture is useful for teaching, reproof, correction and training so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient and equipped for every good work.
So as we draw to the end of Paul's letter and we get to that personal bit I'm going to resist the temptation to skip over that bit because as is always the case there are some gems hidden in there that the Holy Spirit wants us to take and write on our hearts.
Paul sets out his purpose of his letter to his young protégé Timothy way back in chapter 1. Timothy's going through some terribly tough times so Paul reminds him of all that trouble that God's gone to, to get him to this point in his life. And he writes, 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 6:
For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands.
And verse 14:
Guard the good treasure entrusted to you with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.
This letter is about rekindling the gift that God has put into each one of us and using it for the glory of God. Why? Not only because doing that is so incredibly satisfying and fulfilling, which it is, but because the time is short and people are going to a Christ-less eternity as we saw yesterday on the program. And I pray that you, like me, have been powerfully encouraged and motivated to rekindle the gift that God has placed within you over these past weeks as we've let God's Word transform us.
So, here we are drawing to the end of the letter, and we get to this personal bit. What does the Holy Spirit have to say to us through this if indeed every Scripture is inspired by God and is useful in our lives? Well let's have a bit of a read about what Paul has to say on the personal front, 2 Timothy chapter 4 beginning at verse 9. He says to Timothy:
Do your best to come to me soon for Demas in love with this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica, Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia, only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you for he is useful in my ministry.
I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books and above all the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm, the Lord will pay him back for his deeds. You also must be aware of him for he is strongly opposed to the message.
At my first defence no one came to support me but all deserted me, may it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lions mouth, the Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom, to him be the glory for ever and ever, amen.
That's quite a devastating story, isn't it? All these people who've done Paul harm and deserted him and left him, remember at this point after many years of ministry in Jesus name across the known world it's pretty much the end of his career. Paul is now on death row in a Roman dungeon. He's escaped execution and all that stuff and the lions a few times. He's been through court hearing after court hearing, he's served the Lord so faithfully and through so many trials and tribulations and now this, everyone's deserted him.
God's people, the very ones who should have stood by his side, the very people who should have been there for him have either deserted him on mass or as in the case of Alexander the coppersmith, have done him great harm. Can I tell you something? There is nothing, absolutely nothing that is more damaging than when the people who are close to you, the people you should have been able to trust, the people who should be caring for you and standing with you in your distress, God's people after all, desert you and betray you.
Our immediate response to that is, "This shouldn't be happening!" And when it does it ranks right up there as our number one excuse for not exercising the amazing gift that God has given us for His glory. It's our top excuse as we conclude that well if all those other Christians in my Church can't get their act together, why should I?
Have you ever had that thought running through your head, as though because others lose the plot it must therefore be fine and dandy in God's eyes for us to lose the plot as well? For us to put our gifts and abilities on ice and let countless people head off to a Christ-less eternity. Let me ask you, is that what Paul did? No! He relied on the Lord and even when he's locked up, chained to a Roman guard, this is what he does, he uses the opportunity to tell the Romans about Jesus. We read about it in Philippians chapter 1 beginning at verse 12. He writes to the Philippians:
I want you to know beloved that what has happened to me has actually helped us spread the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ and most of these brothers and sisters having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear.
Don't you love that? Would the time appear favourable there, chained up in a prison? Probably not and yet Paul used his gifts and his abilities to turn that around for good and bring Jesus to his jailers for goodness sake.
I want to encourage you today not to let anything, any disappointment, any adversity, any betrayal stop you from taking your gift, your unique ability back out of the locker and putting it to work right where you are for the glory of God. Don't wait for a better time, don't wait for the storm to clear, don't wait for God to put you in a much better place. Start using your unique gifting right now to be as Christ to a world that desperately needs a saviour whether they realise it or not.
Because in all likelihood there's someone close to you, someone that God has deliberately put in your proximity space who needs to hear about this amazing Jesus through your unique ability to tell them, through your gift of service or your gift of encouragement or whatever it is that is your gift, your shtick in life. And one day you'll meet them on the other side of eternity and you'll have all eternity to rejoice in Christ with them. That's the plan and it's a fantastic plan.
It's a plan where God wants to use us just where we are, just the way He's made us, in exactly the circumstances we find ourselves in, in order to tell people about the saving love of Jesus. Remember Jesus didn't turn back from the Cross because the time wasn't good; Jesus went to the Cross because He knew that's the one thing we needed of Him.
Friend, use your gift, tell people about that Jesus.

For anyone who believes in this Jesus, one of the things that God wants us to do is to keep on shining His light into this world.  Sometimes we look at our circumstances – the conditions around us and things seem far from favourable.  So do we stop, or do we keep shining the light of Christ into this world?
Over these last few weeks we've been chatting about rekindling the gift that God's put within us. And you know the exciting thing about that? When we use our gifts, I mean when we take the things that we've been given in our make up and put them to work, it is just so incredibly satisfying. I know myself, one of the things I really enjoy doing is playing the piano.
In my young years I practised hard, all the scales and arpeggios, sat the exams practical and theory. But when I moved away from my parent's home I went years, maybe twenty years without playing the piano much at all. Eventually my mother gave me the grand piano we had out in the music room and when it arrived at my home I started playing again. These days it sits in my study where I pray, where I write my books, where I prepare these radio messages and a few times each day I'll go and play for ten minutes or so and it is such a delight and a joy to do that.
I mean, that's just one small, almost trivial example. But as we've been chatting over these last few weeks I know I've been emphasising the fact that our God-given gift is meant to be a blessing to other people. I'm blessed through your gift, the things that you can do that I can't do and hopefully you're blessed through mine. That's how it's supposed to work and it does.
But there's something so incredibly special about the enjoyment, the fulfilment that we get when we use our gift and we see the impact in other people's lives. All my life I was looking for fulfilment in things I could get and I didn't realise that fulfilment comes when we take the things we have and give them away to bless other people.
About eighteen months ago a young teenager from a broken home contacted me in response to one of these radio messages that she heard on her local station. She's only thirteen at the time and going through a really terrible time at home but she also had a hunger for God. And so she asked me some questions and I was able to share a few things with her and within weeks she gave her life to Jesus and she was filled with His Holy Spirit and she had a joy and an excitement in her that she had never experienced.
Well I was praying for her the other day so I sent her a quick email to find out how she was going. She came straight back to tell me that she was powering on with God, that her whole life had been changed. Now look, I just had a small part to play in what God was doing but the joy and the sense of satisfaction that I gained from knowing that God had used me, me of all people, this fifty-two year old man who's never met this young teenager, who isn't what you'd call made to be involved in youth ministry, it still makes me smile.
Does that make sense? It's so easy to forget that we have to use it and when we do even though it can be really hard work, using our God-given gift is so fulfilling. And to emphasis this the Apostle Paul is writing to his young protégé Timothy encouraging him to rekindle the gift that Gods put within him has this to say. 2 Timothy chapter 2 beginning at verse 4:
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and in view of his appearing and his kingdom I solemnly urge you proclaim the message. Be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable, convince, rebuke, encourage with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine but have itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.
As for you always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of a evangelist, carry out your ministry to the full. As for me I am already being poured out as a libation and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith, from now on there is a reserve for me, the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will give to me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
And right here Paul is giving Timothy and us focus on the big picture. One day soon Jesus is coming back to judge the living and the dead. Time is short and because of that I solemnly urge you to keep telling people about Jesus irrespective of whether the time appears to be favourable or not. Be persistent, keep telling people, convince, rebuke, encourage with the utmost patience, whatever it takes.
Now Timothy's gift, the one that he was being called to rekindle was the gift of teaching and preaching. Praise God, not everyone in his family is a preacher and a teacher but do you see how this applies equally to each one of us irrespective of what our particular gifting happens to be. If you're an encourager it applies equally to you, if you're a giver it applies to you too, if you're a compassionate pastoral person it applies equally to you.
There is great joy and satisfaction in exercising our gifts, sure there is but what we want to do is we want to pull back and take a breather when the time appears to be unfavourable. "No!", says Paul, the time is short. I mean Paul was at the end of his life here, the sense of satisfaction he has running the race and fighting the good fight, Paul was at the end, Timothy was still in the main thrust of it and he was saying to Timothy, "People are dying, people are going to a Christ-less eternity."
Jesus is planning on coming back some time soon to judge the living and the dead. God has put each one of us where He's put us with whatever gift that He's given to us in order to make a difference in this world. In order to bring people to know Jesus, in order to see them growing, to see them realise their giftings and start using those. And we need to be doing that because the time is coming when people won't put up with sound teaching, they'll have itching ears, they'll accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, they'll turn away from listening to the truth and wandering away to some myth.
Isn't that the truth? It's something that we see all the time, people chasing after this and chasing after that. People trying to pull alongside so called guru's who tell them what they want to hear. Jesus never told people what they wanted to hear. Now He was very sensitive to where someone was at and where they were coming from but He didn't dress it up, He didn't put any spin on His message because truth is truth.
There is a heaven, there is a hell and many, many are heading the wrong way however enticing that way may seem to appear to them right now. Have you ever watched the news and heard some so- called Christian leader tickling people's ears with the sort of stuff they want to hear? Just the other evening I saw a Christian denominational leader standing side by side with a Buddhist monk and a Jewish leader and leaders of other religions proclaiming that there was more that binds them together than pulls them apart.
That's not what Jesus said, that's not the truth. The thing that puts Christianity out on it's own is that it is based on the truth that Jesus is the only way, that no one will come to the Father except through Him and this is the reason that we need to continue living out our giftings, each one of us, for the glory of God.
I know that there are those listening who've turned back; I know that there are those listening who've lost sight of their gifting, their one particular God given gift all together. And today I believe that God is speaking especially to you through His Word. I believe that today God is calling you back to the plans and the purposes that He has for you.
And before you tell me that it's all too hard, that there's too much weighing against you let me say this. Inevitably when we've seen amazing breakthroughs in the lives of people here at Christianityworks – young Ami who recently was pulled back from the brink of suicide – the time for proclaiming Christ was not favourable at all, we just went and did it and you know what we discovered, we discovered that Gods grace was more than sufficient for us.