A Different Perspective Official Podcast

The world is pretty clear in telling us what success looks like and since for most of us, our idea of success is more informed by our culture than God's Word – we're kind of immersed in it.  Living our lives for God though often means that in the world's eyes we look anything but successful – and some people are ashamed of that.
You know, it never ceases to amaze me how different Gods plan for success is from the world's plan for success. I mean you and I know the world's plan all too well. We have it shoved in our faces and dangled under our noses at least a hundred times a day. You're successful if you're beautiful, if you're wealthy, if you have power and position, if you have a big house and a shiny new car, that's when you're successful.
Just recently I visited the city of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, for only the second time in my life. And a good friend of mine, Ben, drove me around to show me the sights and one of the places he took me to was billionaire's row. A few streets with some of the most expensive houses in the country. Now they were lovely houses but they were absolutely massive, they were built to make a statement 'Look at me, look at what I can afford'.
And this image, this model of success is what we have dangled under our noses so many times each day that, well it's easy to start believing it. And that's where we can get our wires crossed. That's when we can start equating the blessing and the favour of God with what the world says makes you successful.
So then when things don't seem to be going well in our lives, when we're travelling through a trial or a temptation, sometimes even torment we can easily come to the conclusion that obviously God isn't pleased with us or we've failed God. Obviously something's wrong, I'm in the wrong place, I'm doing the wrong thing, I'm on the wrong path. Obviously, right?
And so instead of pursuing that one gift that God has placed within us, that one call on our lives to go and be what God made us to be and to do what God made us to do, it's so easy to be ashamed of that failure.
I remember when I decided to toss in my rather lucrative career as an international IT and management consultant to go into this full time ministry. One of my colleagues joked that I was pursuing a career of gentile poverty. It's so easy to be ashamed when we're trying to live our lives for God and things don't seem to be conforming to the worlds idea of what success is. And then what happens is we get pulled off course, we give up, we head off in another direction.
You know I remember a time not that long ago when here at Christianityworks we were doing things really tough financially and most of the staff hadn't been paid for a few months and someone said to me, "Berni, maybe it's God saying to you you're in the wrong place. Maybe you're meant to be going back to consulting and earning some serious money. Maybe you're doing the wrong thing in being in ministry."
This was the day after a young woman, Ami, who had come to my online blog at the point of suicide, had been pulled back from the brink because I was able to share the Word of God with her, because others who were visiting the blog encouraged her and prayed with her. And just the day before she'd been at the point of taking her own life. And then she posted these words on my blog:
Last night I had my first encounter with God. I could actually feel Him. Wow, seriously the best feeling ever. He kept me up practically all night and unlike last week where I was hiding my face in my pillow so my parents wouldn't hear me cry last night I was hiding my face in my pillow so that my laughter wouldn't wake them up. I kept bursting out in laughter and song and dance while lying in my bed. I'd been crying out to Him for so long to let me feel His love and His presence and He finally answered my prayer. I have never felt this good in my life, it is awesome. Thank you to all who prayed and for the words of encouragement and yay God.
So go and tell Ami we're in the wrong place here at Christianityworks doing the wrong thing. Do you see how easy it is to be misled, to be drawn away from God's greater purposes by mistaking a worldly idea of what success is for the real thing?
Now this is nothing new and the Apostle Paul was encouraging his protégé Timothy to rekindle the gift that God had placed within him. Paul takes the trouble to talk about this whole tension around success and how you and I can become ashamed. 2 Timothy chapter 1 beginning at verse 8. Paul says:
Do not be ashamed then Timothy of the testimony about our Lord or of me as his prisoner but join with me in suffering for the gospel relying on the power of God who saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own grace and purpose. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our saviour Christ Jesus who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher and for this reason I suffer as I do but I am not ashamed for I know the one in whom I've placed my trust and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him.
See Paul suffered in order to bring the good news of Jesus to a lost and hurting world and before him, Jesus suffered. Jesus became an abject failure so that you and I might have eternal life. You and I, we're not here to be successful in the world's eyes, we're not here to get all the glory. The one place that I have discovered real fulfilment and real joy and real satisfaction and real life is in taking that one thing that God has given me, that gift and ability to be a story teller for Him and using it the way I am right now.
There's an alternative, a clear alternative to chasing after the world's brand of success. There is a true way, not a way that crosses the wire and equates worldly success with Godly success but a narrow road and oft times difficult road, a road full of trials and temptations that every Christ follower is called to take and that way is a way that Paul shared with Timothy as he was travelling through his own trials. 2 Timothy chapter 1 beginning at verse 13. Paul said:
Hold onto the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted in you with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us. You're aware that all who are in Asia have turned away from me including Phygelus and Hermogenes.
May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain? When he arrived in Rome he eagerly searched for me and found me, may the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day and you know very well how much service he rendered me in Ephesus.
See everyone's deserted Paul in his trials and his afflictions except one man. Everyone's gone their different way and in the face of that what does Paul do? Does Paul take the easy road? Does Paul deny Christ? Does Paul chase after the mob? Does he base his actions on the opinion polls? No.
He writes to his dear friend Timothy and says, "Their opinions aren't worth anything. Stick to Gods Word, stick to the sound teaching of Jesus and guard this treasure, this gospel that's been entrusted to you with the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you." Paul is not swayed by the worldly template of success, by the opinions of men. He knows he was called to be an apostle, he knows he was called to be one sent out to take the good news of Jesus to the world.
He knows that Timothy had been called to be a pastor and a teacher. One called to grow people in their faith in their relationship with God. And Paul's not ashamed of the chains, of being in prison. He's not thrown off course by some imposter called success. He counts as nothing what he left behind, his seat on the ruling Sanhedrin, the potential to grow a mega following as a leading Rabbi in the Pharisee sect and he presses on to follow his calling and to exercise his gifts.
And here's the thing, 2,000 years on we're still talking about him. 2,000 years on God is still ministering to us through the Apostle Paul.

Ask anyone you like what their purpose is in life … and no doubt we'll get quite a variety of different answers.  But let's take a look at that question from a different perspective. What's God's purpose for your life?  That might just have a few people stumped.
It's such a blessing for me to be able to join you again today, not just for the beginning of a new week but at the beginning of a new series of messages. I've called this series "Rekindling The Flame" because I don't know about you, but sometimes I get tired.
I mean I love doing what I do, I absolutely love it but even when we love doing what we're doing, even when we're serving God with all our hearts sometimes we get tired, sometimes we get run down. Sometimes so many things around us seem to be going wrong that well we lose our drive, our sense of direction, our determination, our purpose in life. Have you ever found that?
Just this morning I was sitting praying feeling as though I was getting close to running on empty and asking the Lord to fill me afresh which He did but this reality of being drained by life, by service, by all the things that we go through is a reality that pops up again and again for the most of us. Have you noticed?
So that's why we're going to spend the next few weeks on the program in God's Word, letting Him speak to us, letting Him into the deepest and darkest places in our hearts to rekindle the flame and there's no better place to be doing that than the Apostle Paul's second letter to his young protégé Timothy.
So let's have a look at how Paul opens up his letter to young Tim. See Tim has served with Paul all over the place, in Ephesus as a courier, they wrote a few of the letters in the New Testament together. So Paul was obviously Timothy's mentor and as any mentor has for his protégé Paul had a special place in his heart for Tim.
So why is this significant? Well as you and I spend the next couple of weeks in this letter my prayer is that in this fatherly warmth that we discover from Paul to Timothy we too will experience the fatherly warmth from our Father God who is speaking to us through Paul's powerful words.
So how does Paul kick this letter off? 2 Timothy chapter 1 beginning at verse 1:
Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus. To Timothy my beloved child grace, mercy and peace from God the father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am grateful to God whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. Recalling your tears I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy.
I'm reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and now I'm sure lives in you. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self discipline.
What a fabulous start. Remember Paul's been through so much in his life, he's been beaten, reviled, he's lost his position and status. He's had a murder plot against him or two, riots, been run out of town, he had to flee for his life. Unbelievable stuff and he starts out with a statement, a feisty statement if you will of his central purpose in life. To be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus.
Why does he do what he does? To bring the life that comes only through faith in Jesus out into a lost and hurting world. The easiest thing in the world when you're travelling through difficult times is to lose your focus but nowhere, not once in any of his letters do we see that of Paul. He is called by God to be an apostle, one sent out to do the will and the work of God and as we're going to come to see this whole tension between trials and temptations and tribulations that we go through on the one hand and the call of God on our lives on the other can throw us completely off course.
That is, as it turns out, is what this letter to Timothy is all about because Paul wants something special for Timothy. He wants a special blessing for this young man:
To Timothy my beloved child grace, mercy and peace from God the father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Do you see that? Paul wants Tim to experience grace and mercy and peace and this letter is all about showing him how. Paul's been praying for him even though he himself is going through some really, really difficult times. And Paul recalls the tough times they'd been through together in Christ's service – the tears. And now he takes the opportunity to get Timothy focused on his purpose, focused on his mission.
Rick Warren of Saddleback Church is perhaps best known for his book and teaching series "The Purpose Driven Life". But this isn't something that Rick somehow invented in the 21st century, he discovers it right back here in the 1st century through Paul and others who would not be shaken from the purpose that God had for their lives. And God had such a purpose, not just for Paul but for Timothy.
So Paul reminds him of three things. First the trouble that God's gone to … to hand a deep powerful faith down to Timothy. Have a listen to this:
I'm reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now I am sure lives in you.
When we go through tough times we do well to remember the amazing things that God has already done in our lives. The faith that He's placed in our hearts. Do you ever go through tough times and then all of a sudden God reminds you, "Look at the trouble I took to bless you. Look at the trouble took to get you here. Look at how I've protected you over all this time."
It is an awesome thing friend, to look back and see the things that God has done in our past, and so we're going through some tough times and we remember those and they give us strength. "I'm reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that came from your grandmother to your mother to you."
Secondly in light of this faith Paul calls Timothy to do something amazing:
For this reason (he says) I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands.
We each have a gift, something that God's given us that we can do better than just about anyone else we know. And how easy is it for that gift, that ability, that dream to become obscured by the cares of this world, by the sheer grind of living out our lives day after day after day. Friend you have such a gift, you have such a dream and when you think about it back there in the 1st century rekindling something wasn't easy.
When there were just smouldering embers left there lying in the fireplace it would require a careful gathering of dry kindling, placing it delicately over the few remaining embers then fanning the flames, seeing the flames catch to the kindling, placing slightly larger pieces of wood onto it then even larger pieces before it again became a raging fire.
This is what Paul is calling Timothy to do, to rekindle the gift within. This is what I believe God is calling us to do. Is it hard? Is it scary sometimes? Yeah sure it is. We can only gather here because of what Paul is saying to Timothy that young Tim was at risk of losing his way, at risk of losing the purpose of God placed on his life, at risk of forgetting the dream. That's what Paul writes and says:
I remind you because of all the trouble Gods gone to to rekindle the gift within.
And Paul knows that what he's asking Timothy to do is hard so the very next thing he says is:
God didn't give you a spirit of cowardice but a spirit of power and of love and of self discipline.
Friend, over the coming weeks we're going to be chatting about rekindling the flame in your heart because I believe that many, many people have been drawn away from the purposes of God for their lives by this imposter of the world called success. And I believe with all that I am that God wants us not to waste our lives. He wants us to fulfil the destiny and the plans and the purposes that He set out for us before any of our days yet existed.

Jesus once said – I am the light of the world. None of us much have a problem with that. Of course He is. But He also said something else – to His disciples. He said – You are the light of the world. Now, when you think about it, that's mildly problematic. That'd require some serious miracle, eh?
For many years, I walked in complete and utter darkness. It didn't feel dark. Back then, I'd have said everything was fine. I didn't need religion. I didn't need God. I was successful. I had plenty of money. A comfortable home – big too, nice suburb – a successful IT company that was growing.
No, I'd never have described it as darkness. Deep down though, I knew that something wasn't quite right. I rarely thought about that, I tried to ignore that nagging feeling – something's not quite right – I would never have admitted it to myself, let alone anybody else. But that was it.
I certainly wouldn't have described it as darkness. But the longer I ignored it, the darker it became. You may have heard me once before tell the story of how I almost took my own life. That's how dark it got. And all the time, on the surface, to other people – I looked as though I had it all together and I looked as though I was at least moderately successful.
I think the thing that made it even worse – is that I called that darkness light. And it wasn't until I was on the brink that I came to the realisation of how terribly dark that darkness really was.
Jesus nailed that reality when He said this – Matt 6:20:
The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.
How does He know all this stuff, I wondered when I first read that. That isn't some piece of trite theology to me. It so perfectly described my predicament; that I marvelled at it. My problem was my unhealthy vision. I was looking at things, life – everything, the wrong way. I was looking at the world through the prism of self – selfish didn't begin to describe me.
And that's how many people are. We've been sold the line that it's all about me for so long, that we've actually swallowed this stuff hook line and sinker. It's why many families are dysfunctional. It's why marriages are falling apart. It's why so many people are so dissatisfied with their lot in life. Whether they realise it or not they're walking in darkness.
And then Jesus walks into your life – He is the light of the world, He said so Himself – and I don't know if you relate to this, when we see ourselves and our circumstances and our relationships and our jobs – when we see all of those things in His light, they look completely different.
We see things for what they are. We see our bad motives and intentions for what they are.
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.' – John 8:12.
And that's how I've felt ever since I gave my life over to Him. Now of course, there are many times when we want to hide in our darkness. When our sin is so bad, we just want to hide it. And there are times when we still delude ourselves – even though we think we're walking in the light:
Whoever says, 'I am in the light,' while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. 1 John 2:9
But fundamentally Jesus shines a fresh, clear, warm, bright light into our lives and we see things the way they really are. I for one am sick of deluding myself. I'm sick of playing games. If I'm getting something wrong, I want to know, so I can set it right.
All our staff here at the ministry of Christianityworks know that I don't want them to just sit there and whisper if I'm making an idiot of myself. For goodness sakes, tell me so I can fix it. Right? And the more we open ourselves up in that way to the light, the more exposed we are to the light to Jesus – the more He transforms us and the freer we become.
Do you really want to walk in darkness? Or do you want to be filled with light? The light that makes your heart glow with love for someone who's doing it tough. The light that makes you want to honour God with all your being. The light that just transforms your life and brings you a freedom and a joy that you just can't begin to describe?
And when we're in the business of letting Jesus transform our lives that way, everything changes, because all of a sudden, that light that Jesus shines into our life, shines out through our lives into the lives of others.
That's why He said to all those people listening to Him:
You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (Matt 5:14–16)
The goodness that people see in how we speak and what we do and how we react to difficult circumstances, starts to influence them. Of course, one of the things that often happens to start with is that people who are living in the darkness, will shy away from the light.
Have you ever had someone make fun of you because you stood up against the pack and did something that was good and decent and honourable and right, even when no one else was doing it? That's what that's about. People accustomed to darkness, selfishness, evil intentions, manipulation … all that stuff, will often shun the light.
You know how it feels when you're just waking up in the morning and someone opens the blinds and the bright sunlight streams in – we recoil, we put our hands over our eyes, because we're not used to the light.
But my friend, the more that the Light of the World transforms you – by the wondrous miracle of His Holy Spirit dwelling in you, the more you yield every part of your life to the Spirit of God. The more His light will shine through your life into the lives of the other people around you.
And so one of the greatest miracles of Jesus in our lives, one of the Great God Miracle Makeovers that you and I experience, is that all of a sudden, one day, we find ourselves being the light of the world in other people's lives. We may not feel as though we are; we may not even notice that we are; but we are. And then their lives start to change; because they're influenced by our goodness and at some point, they want what we have. They want … Jesus. My friend you are the light of the world.
So don't just sit there, get out there and be that light. Don't hide the light under a basket – but get it out there, so it will shine into the lives of others.
Whenever something I've said or done, touches someone deeply, I truly feel like a bystander. That's not some sense of false modesty. That's actually how I feel. It's a sense of privilege at having been there to shine the light of the world, into their lives.
In this series – God's Miracle Makeover for You – we've chatted about the amazing transformation that God is in the business of bringing into our lives – scrubbing the muck of, cleaning the windows, so that we become totally different people. Even though we still have the same body, and the same character and the same gifts and abilities.
As I think back to those of God's people who have been the light of my world, I know that none of them feel as though they've done anything special. And yet, each of them rejoice in the amazing part that God's given them to play in my life, as they were there to shine the light of Jesus into my darkness.
The greatest transformation of all, is the sort that makes us vessels in the hands of God, to bring newness of life and transformation into other people's lives around us. And my prayer for you today is that as you hear God's Word, you will truly become the light of the world, in your little part of the patch where you live. May you be blessed as you live out your amazing relationship with Jesus – and shine His light into a lost and hurting world.

Imagine for a moment, you're an apple tree. Yeah, I know, I know – just humour me. You're an apple tree. You grow tall and strong – you look very impressive.   But in all your years in the orchard, you've never yielded a single apple. How do you feel? How does the owner of the orchard feel?
The whole point of an apple tree is that it bears … Well, you know – apples, right? The whole point of a fig tree is that it bears figs. You don't need me to tell you that.
And the whole point of my life and your life, is that – with our rots planted deep in the good soil of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with the Spirit of God flowing through us, is that our lives too should bear fruit. Good fruit.
But what if we don't bear fruit? Jesus once told this story to His disciples – Luke 13:6–9:
 'A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the good soil? ' He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'
So, the owner of the vineyard wanted to cut it down. But the worker, the worker said … let's give it one more chance. Let's aerate the soil, fertilise it, water it, and see what happens.
Now the first question I have is this – what was a fig tree doing in a vineyard? Have you ever wondered that? All the other plants in the vineyard were grapevines, right – that's why it's called a vineyard. And yet the owner of the vineyard figured, well – I've given this tree more space than all the rest of the plants. It's taking up valuable real estate and yet, it's not yielding any fruit. What a waste – get rid of it and stick another one there in its place – one that will give me some figs.
After all, that's what fig trees are supposed to do, just like the grapevines are meant to yield grapes, for winemaking.
Have you ever felt like a fig tree in a vineyard? The odd one out? You look different, you feel different to everybody else. Perhaps people consider you a bit odd or eccentric, and so all too often, the others seem to poke fun at you, they shun you because you're different. Have you ever been in that situation?
I have, many a time, and I can tell you that your natural reaction is to want to crawl down your rabbit hole and shrivel up and die. Your natural reaction is to want to give up bearing fruit, because quite obviously, any fruit that you can bear is worthless, compared to all these other people from whom you are different.
But that's not the owner's expectations. If you're a fig tree, he expects you to grow figs. If you're a grapevine … grapes. If you're an apple tree … apples. Plum tree … plums. Just because we're different to everybody else, doesn't mean that we shouldn't be bearing the unique fruit that God made us to bear. The evidence that a fig tree is healthy and functioning as it was always intended, is that each year, in due season, it bears a bountiful harvest of figs.
But who is the worker in this story, this parable? Who encourages the owner of the vineyard to give the fig tree another chance? Well, that's Jesus. He is – the Bible tells us – our intercessor – He pleads our case with the Father. Hebrews 7:25:
Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
Jesus came and sacrificed for you, and for me, so He has a heart to perform miracles in our lives, miracles that transform us and get us back to where we should be, bearing fruit for Him. In other words when it comes to the wrath and the punishment of God – Jesus stands in our stead, in our place, He shields us from the coming judgement, because He's already died to pay for our sins.
He wants to see our lives transformed so that we end up bearing fruit. The fig tree, figs, the apple tree apples. The grapevine, grapes. The olive tree, olives. Our own, unique brand of fruit.
And not just any fruit, but good fruit. Jesus again – Matt 7:15–20:
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.
The plan of Jesus for your life is that as you come to the end of it, both you and He will be able to look back together at the bountiful harvest of fruits that your life has born in due season, season after season after season. Because the fruit, the good fruit, is the evidence of a healthy relationship with Jesus.
That's why in that first parable, Jesus the gardener, said to God the Father, the owner of the vineyard – hang on a minute. Leave it alone for another year so I dig around it, and feed it. And in a very real sense, that's what we're doing right now. We're having our hardened ground, our hardened heart's turned over, the barriers broken down, so that the Word of God can penetrate and feed us.
Are you being fed right now? Do you hear the call of Jesus – the gardener who's on your side when it comes to your ultimate judgement and destruction because we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Can you hear this Jesus speaking to you and saying – this tree is you? This gardener is me. And my plan is to feed you and water you so that you will bear much fruit. He wants to give you a helping hand.
So – how does He do that exactly? How? Well, we're told later by Paul in His letter to the Galatians as he speaks about the fruit of the Spirit – Galatians 5:16–26:
Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to one other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.
So the long and the short of it is, that instead of putting our roots down in bad soil – the things of this world, all that rubbish that Paul lists there that's so obviously bad, instead of that … put your roots down in Good soil and drink in the Holy Spirit. Drink in the Word of God to feed you. And when you do that you are going to produce the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – not because you worked hard at it.
Not because you had to struggle to deliver goodness, but because you have the very goodness of God flowing through your trunk, your limbs, your leaves … and yes, your fruit.
Do you expect a good tree planted in bad soil to produce good fruit? Or do you expect a bad tree, planted in good or bad soil, to produce fruit? Of course not.
My friend when you take the Word of God seriously, when you let it into your heart, the Holy Spirit takes it and performs a miraculous transformation on the inside, and then – let me tell you, you simply won't be able to help it. You'll be bearing good fruit not through your hard work, but because it comes naturally.
All the time, the Spirit and the Word of God working in you and through you. Is that a miracle, or what? Is that something you want, or not?

Have you ever blown it? I mean completely blown your relationship with God. It was all going along just fine and then you went out there and sinned like … like you wouldn't believe. And the whole God thing, the whole Jesus thing – seems to be completely blown out of the water.
I've certainly been there. At that point where God seemed a million miles away, not because He'd up and left, but because I'd blown it. That sick feeling in your stomach when you wake up in the morning and you remember how through your thoughts or your actions or your deeds, you've turned your back on God again. Again!  Why did I do that??!!
You remember Jesus hanging there on the Cross, and you feel so ashamed that you treated HIM, in this way. Perhaps you stole something. Perhaps you … you had a terrible argument with your wife or husband and told them it was all over in a fit of rage.
Perhaps it was sexual immorality. And you feel so dirty.
I had a message on Facebook recently from a woman in the UK, who lives on the street, who found herself in such a place.  This is what she wrote to me:
Hi Berni. Can I ask a real serious question? The Word says all sorts about NOT being sexually active if you're professing to be a CHRISTIAN, right? Well to put a long story short all my Government Support cheques have been stopped. And so in desperation two nights ago I went out on 'THE Game' to earn some money because I'm in so much debt. I've now got a real huge dose of the guilt's for degrading myself in this way. I feel repulsed at my own reflection and no matter how many times I shower I just CANNOT get to feel clean. All that and the fact that each time I think of what I am I physically get sick and vomit. Thing is each time since all I've been drawn to reading in Scripture are those that condemn me for my actions. I recall on one of your radio shows that you say there's no sin that's unforgivable but this MUST come close, right? Is there ANYTHING I can do to make things right with GOD or have I blown it totally, now?
This isn't a made-up story. This is a real life situation this woman suffered. I said to her:
What makes you think that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is not sufficient for you .  He died so that every sin of yours and mine could be forgiven. Including this one. Then I shared with her John 8:1–11:
Then each of them went home, while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again".
So I said to this women … be blessed as you are washed clean by the blood of the lamb.  Go and sin no more.
And what I wrote there to this woman applies equally to you and me. We are forgiven when we turn back to Jesus – so my suggestion? Keep short accounts with the Lord. Don't tarry about outside, come into the holy of holies, into His Presence and cast yourself completely on His mercy. That's the whole point of the cross. But … we need something more than forgiveness.
We need the power to turn way from repeating this sin, over and over again. One of the things that seems to happen, is we get stuck in one sin – it may be sexual immorality, it may be anger or fear or whatever our particular favourite brand of sin is – and we get stuck in it. So we go to God and ask Him to forgive us through Christ, and then we turn around and we end up going out and doing exactly the same thing again.
And so King David who, after committing adultery and murder and being held to account by one of God's prophets, casts Himself on the mercy of God, but He asks for something more than just forgiveness.  Have a listen, Psalm 51:1–12:
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.  For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.  Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.  Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit
So He goes to God, and He admits His sin fully. He'd taken another man's wife and then, effectively had that man murdered, so he could keep her as his. Come on, it doesn't get much worse than that, eh? He admits his transgressions, and like that woman who wrote to me on Facebook, his sin is ever before him. The gap between who God is and who David is, now that He's done this massive thing, is so big. So David asks two things of God.
Firstly – Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. In other words God please forgive me.  You and I have been there plenty of times, and – as I said – no matter how large the sin, no matter how bad or ugly or brutal the sin, we should never shy away from going to God and asking Him to forgive us through the sacrifice of Jesus on that Cross.
But secondly, David realises that He needs help cleaning up his act, cleaning himself on the inside, so that he doesn't end up going there again. So he asks this of God:
Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Create in me a clean heart O God and put a new and right spirit within me.
In other words, David here is asking for an amazing miracle on the inside. He's asking God to change His heart, to clean up the mess. He's asking the Holy Spirit – the new and right Spirit that he talks about – to perform a powerful miracle and give him a new heart.
This is so important. I've heard people say – we can choose not to sin. Sure, in theory, that might be correct. But if it was true in practice, we wouldn't need Jesus, the Cross, the empty tomb, or the Holy Spirit. There are some sins that you and I fall into time and time again, because, try as we do to clean up our act in our own strength – we can't.
Well, let me tell you straight to your face, YOU CAN'T. You and I don't have the power to do that. Only God has that power through the Presence of His Spirit in us. And this creation of a new heart is a miracle. Really. It is, in my view, one of the most powerful miracles that God ever performs – and He performs this one miracle in the hearts of people around the globe who ask Him for it, over and over again.
This is a Miracle Makeover from the inside out, and let's face it, when we have a change of heart, by the power and the mercy of God, doing what our heart desires – honouring God – is the most natural thing in the world.
Why do so many of us try to clean up our act in our own strength? What's the matter with us that we don't get it?
Create in me a new heart oh God, and put a new and right spirit in me.
Now that's what I call … a miracle.