Christianityworks Official Podcast

Berni Dymet
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There is such incredible power in God's Word! Power to change. Power to make an impact in this world. That's what Christianityworks is all about – in depth teaching straight out of God's Word. Join Berni Dymet as he opens God's Word to discover what God has to say into your life, today.

  1. 2d ago

    Choose Your King // On Solid Ground, Part 4

    When the storms of life hit, as they do, right, what we do is that instinctively we grab a life vest, we look for a lifeline here on earth, a worldly solution if you will … instead of turning to the One who can calm the storm. So, you have to ask yourself then, who exactly is the Lord of our lives?   Just Like the Rest Over these last few weeks we have been looking at what it means to get our feet back on solid ground in life. You know, when we are going through storms we are bobbing around like a tiny little boat floundering on an angry sea and sometimes we don't know which way to head – which way is up, which way is down. All we want to do is put our feet back on solid ground. And it turns out that you don't always find that solid ground exactly where you expect to find it. And we have been exploring this whole idea of getting our feet on solid ground through the story of a humble woman called Hannah who honoured God and turned to Him in the midst of her storm - and at completely the other end of the scale, a priest called Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas. They were evil guys and they got their just rewards and the nation of Israel who struggled with their God. If you've got a Bible, grab it and open it up. Over these last three weeks we have been looking at the first seven chapters of the Book of First Samuel. Now First Samuel appears about a third of the way through the Old Testament. We are going to finish off that series today with the crux of what this is all about. We are going to have a look at the decision that ultimately determines whether our feet are on solid ground or not. It's a decision between the obvious and the not so obvious. What is it that you and I can decide to do that will absolutely ensure that no matter what comes our way, our feet are on solid ground? Now the pivot of this whole story – the contrast of Hannah on the one hand and Hophni and Phinehas and their dad, Eli, on the other – happens, if you remember the verse – if you have been with us over these last few weeks – in First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30, where God says: Those who honour Me, I will honour but those who despise Me will be treated with contempt. We are going to pick up that story today. The priests are dead, they've got their just rewards, Hannah's son – she couldn't have a son remember, but she now has a son, he is grown up – Samuel is the judge and the prophet and the leader over all Israel. Now that's a really important concept – they didn't have a King. All the other nations had a King but Israel did not because Israel's system of government was a theocracy – that meant that God was their King. And God appointed judges and prophets to declare His Word over the people of Israel. So He administered justice – this was Samuel – he was a prophet who declared the will of God and God was the King to the people. Now that was unique among the nations and as we saw over the last few weeks, when they honoured God; when they obeyed Him, that nations' feet were on solid ground. Now the story takes an interesting twist. We are going to pick it up in chapter 8 of the Book of First Samuel. Here's how it goes: When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his first born son was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah and they were judges in Beer-sheba. Yet his sons didn't follow in his ways but turned aside after gain – they took bribes and perverted justice. Then all the elders of Israel came together and they came to Samuel at Ramah and they said to Samuel "You are old and your sons don't follow in your ways, appoint for us then, a King to govern over us like the other nations." But this displeased Samuel when they said "Give us a King to govern us. So Samuel prayed to the Lord and the Lord said to Samuel "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being King over them. Just as they have done to Me from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking Me, serving other gods so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice – only you shall solemnly warn them and show the ways of the King who shall reign over them." So Samuel reported all the words of God to the people who were asking him for a King. He said these will be the ways of the King who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horse men and to run before his chariots and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and some will plough his ground and reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and to make his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give them to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves and the best of your cattle and donkeys and put them to his work. He will take one tenth of your flocks and you shall be his slaves and in that day you will cry out because of your King whom you have chosen for yourselves but the Lord will not answer you in that day. But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel. They said "No, we are determined to have a King over us so that we may also be like the other nations and that our King may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles." Isn't that interesting? All this time you go right back to the slavery, when Israel was in slavery in Egypt and God released them through some major miracles and through the parting of the Red Sea and then into the Promised Land and they captured the Land, battle after battle. All this time it was a simple, simple principle that God honours those who honour Him. And God did and God won the battles for them and God delivered them. And now they reject their King, their God who is able and willing to bless them and to protect them. Why? Well, actually, first they blame Samuel's sons and no doubt there is something in that, but actually you find out the reason towards the end of that verse. Look again at the passage we have just read: verses 19 and 20 of chapter 8: But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel. They said "No, we are determined to have a King over us so that we also may be like other nations and that our King may govern us and go to battle and fight our battles for us." They wanted to be like all the other nations. Now, let's think about that. Israel is unique – God is their King, He promised them the Promised Land, He has the power to make it happen. Whenever they honour Him He does make it happen and yet they want to reject Him – why? So that they can be like all the other nations! Is that stupid or what? None of the other nations have an invincible god as their king so why do they want to be like the other nations? Because in the heat of the battle they want a king they can see – a king of flesh and blood! Their enemies have a king at the head of their army so they want one too and they are prepared to give up the perfect power of the King of Kings for a poor substitute so that they can have a king that they can see! How often do we do that? How often do we put our faith in things that we can see – in our investment portfolio to provide wealth is fine until the economy goes belly up, in our career, which is fine until our health fails, in other people, which is fine until they desert us or fail us? See when we hit a storm you know what we want to do? We want to reach out and put a life preserver on instead of go to the One who can stop the storm. We want something we can see and touch and feel, instead of putting our faith in the One whom we can't see. A favourite Scripture you hear people quote is Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 7 that says "We walk by faith and not by sight" and that's great until the storm hits, when we will definitely go for something that we can see and touch and feel, ahead of someone we can only see by faith – we'll pick that anytime. And that's the point – when we step off solid ground onto a stormy ocean.   What's the Problem? Yea, just like Israel, we want to be just like everyone else some days; just normal, everyday people who put our faith in things that we can touch and feel. It is something the Apostle Paul rejected – have a listen – Second Corinthians chapter 5, beginning at verse 1. He says: We know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, if indeed, when we have taken it off, we will not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing, is God, who has given us His Spirit as a guarantee so we are always confident, even though we know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. See, here Paul is talking about the struggle between the temporal and the eternal – between what we can see and what we can't see. And Paul is saying "Look, I have got a body; I've got a tent but one day that is going to pass away and my faith isn't in the "here and now" – my faith is in God – I walk by faith not by sight." It's about where he puts his confidence. Now, let me tell you how easy it is to appoint an earthly King, like what Israel was trying to do and to reject the King of Kings – even when we are out and about doing God's work. This ministry that I am involved in, Christianityworks, i

    24 min

  2. May 31

    Pushing God Away // On Solid Ground, Part 3

    It's so easy to look at God and come to the conclusion, well I want that part of Him – but not that part. And definitely not that bit. It seems that all too often, we want Him on our terms rather than His. But God just doesn't work that way.   Take it Back Have you ever wanted something in life – I mean really, really, really wanted it and then when you finally get it, you just want to give it back? I think we have all experienced that at some point and you know, I think that for some people, it can be the case with God. I know people, lots of people, who hunger to be close to God. I know there are people listening today – maybe you are one of them – and all their lives they have wanted God – whatever that means. But can I tell you something? Even something really good – I mean really, really good like God, well, it can be a shock to the system and the reason is that we have these idealised, unrealistic notions of what that good thing will be like. Take the young woman who wants more than anything else, to be married and she meets her knight in shining armour, she marries him and a year later she is wondering, "What happened to all my ideas of romance 24/7?" Today on the programme we are going to take a look at some people who got God and couldn't wait to give Him back. Now over these last few weeks we have been working our way through the story of Hannah and Eli and his sons in the Book of First Samuel. And the crux of it is that Hannah honours God but Eli and his sons don't and the turning point of the whole story comes in the verse First Samuel – if you have a Bible, grab it, open it up here in First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30. God says: I will honour those who honour Me but those who despise Me, will be treated with contempt. And we have seen how the central reality of that verse has played itself out in the lives of Hannah, who was blessed when she couldn't have a son and she honoured God and God gave her a son Samuel and the opposite is Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas who didn't honour God and were greatly punished, in fact they lost their lives because of that. This story plays its self out in the storms of life. I mean Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, they were the priests; they should have been bringing God's people close to God yet they were living life of Riley, as we saw last week on the programme. And God had them killed. They're job was to bring people close to God and yet they were not honouring Him. Instead they had led Israel to a place of defeat. We saw last week in First Samuel chapter 4 where the Philistines attacked, Israel thinks "Oh well, God is always on our side – we will go to battle" and they had a huge defeat – thirty thousand of their soldiers were killed. The Ark of the Covenant, the presence of God itself, was captured by the Philistines. See the Ark of the Covenant was where God actually sat in the midst of His people. You see that in the journey through the Exodus – forty years in the Tent of the Meeting and later on in the temple. The Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies; it is the very presence of God. And strangely, you know, when the Philistines are close to capturing the Ark they kind of realise, with a sense of foreboding, what this is about. It says in First Samuel that: When they learned that the Ark of the Lord had entered the camp of the Israelites, the Philistines were afraid. "A god has come into their camp" they said "we are in trouble. Nothing like that has ever happened before. Woe to us. Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods?" And so it goes on … Well, it turns out that they should have followed their instincts. Today we are going to look and see what happens to the Philistines and to the Israelites when the presence of God comes close to them. Let's have a look at it. If you've got a Bible, open it up at First Samuel chapter 5, we are going to begin the story at verse 1. After the Philistines had captured the Ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the Ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, their god, who had fallen flat on his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. They took Dagon and put him back in his place. The following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold – only his body remained. That is why to this very day, neither the priests of Dagon or any of the others who enter Dagon's temple in Ashdod, step on the threshold. The Lord's hand was heavy upon the people of Ashdod and its vicinity. He brought devastation upon them and afflicted them with tumours. When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening they said "The Ark of the God of Israel mustn't stay here with us because His hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god." So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and ask them "What are we going to do with this Ark of the God of Israel?" And they answered "Have the Ark of the God of Israel moved to Gath." So they moved the Ark of the God of Israel but after they had moved it, the Lord's hand was against that city, throwing it into great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumours so they sent the Ark of God on to Ekron. As the Ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out "They have brought that Ark of the God of Israel around to kill us and our people." So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said "Send that Ark of the God of Israel away. Let it go back to its own place or it will kill us and our people," for death had filled the city with panic and God's hand was very heavy upon it. Those who did not die were afflicted with tumours and the outcry of the city went up to heaven. Do you see? The Philistines looked like they had won and yet they take the presence of God; the Ark of the Covenant, they put it in their temple next to their god and Dagon falls down, face down in front of the God of Israel. And the second time his head and his hands are cut off and then wherever they took the Ark of the Covenant, the impact of God, as a captive in their midst, was devastating – they got tumours, we will see later, there were plagues of mice. They had captured God – in human terms, they had won but you know what they had forgotten, in fact they had never realised it in the first place? God is not subject to people – God is not someone you can capture and stick in your temple. He is not someone you can tame and subdue. Why are we talking about this stuff today? Because you and I, deep down, we try and tame and subdue God – we try and swing Him around to our way of thinking; to meet our needs. We put Him in the temple of our choice; we put Him in the town and the city of our choice. You know what happens when we try to do that? We discover exactly what the Philistines discovered – we discover that God is not someone you can push around. "Well, I'll just take this God and He'll bless me whenever I want Him to." Ok, we can't see Him! Our present circumstances perhaps, appear much more powerful than Him but if we want to have our feet on solid ground, amidst the storms of life, (that's what we have been talking about over these last few weeks) we look at this maelstrom of the storm; the battle between the Philistines and the Israelites – thirty thousand Israelites killed because they didn't honour their God. Who appeared to win? Who should have been, according to our simple human expectations, on solid ground? The Philistines – they won the war. They captured Israel's God but who they captured was the God who created the entire universe – not some idol; not some tin pot little god. They captured God and He wrought destruction upon them because they tried to subdue God. So much so they couldn't wait to get rid of Him. Do you get it? When we try to take God by force – force of argument, force of opinion, force of anything – anything that doesn't recognise Him for who He is – watch out! There are so many people playing "church". There are so many people playing at being Christians; playing at religion, putting God here, putting God there. That's not what it is about. As Dagon found out, the only way you honour God is when you bow down before Him because of who He is – the sovereign God, above every name and every power and every authority in heaven and earth. That's what Hannah discovered; that's what Eli discovered; that's what Israel discovered and that's what the Philistines discovered, the hard way. You can't have God on your own terms. You can only have Him on His terms.   We Don't Want Him Well, the Philistines finally came to their senses. They realised they couldn't have God on their terms. They had a choice – you either accept God on His terms or you get rid of Him. So they decided to send Him back from whence He came. Now, let's have a look at how they did that. We are going to pick this up in First Samuel – grab your Bible – First Samuel chapter 6, beginning at verse 1 – it's a great story. When the Ark of the Lord had been with the Philistines for seven months, they called for the priests and the diviners and they said "What are we going to do with this Ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place." They answered "If you return the Ark of the God of Israel, don't send it away empty, but by all means, send a guilt offering to Him then you will be healed and you will know why His hand has not been lifted from you." The Philistines ask "What guilt offering should we send Him?" and they replied "Five gold tumours and five gold rats, according to the number of Philistine rulers because the same plague has struck both you and your rulers. Make models of the tumours and of the rats that are destr

    24 min

  3. May 24

    If You Can't Change the People // On Solid Ground, Part 2

    We tend to see the world from where we are. It's only natural. We want everyone and everything else to fit in with us. But God, well, He doesn't quite see it that way.   A Boy Called Sam Last week on the programme we spent some time talking about the fact that when the storms of life hit and they inevitably do, what we need is some solid ground beneath our feet. It's a scary place to be, out on that stormy ocean – we are not made for that. We are made for solid ground. And we began looking at the story of some people: a woman called Hannah and her son Samuel and some priests – Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas. Hannah, now here was a woman who honoured God and He honoured her – the priests, on the other hand, although they should have known better, they didn't honour God. And as we will see on the programme this week, they reaped their just reward. And the reason we are looking at this story of these people, is that when we are in the midst of the storm, as we so often are, we lose our bearings. We so often lose sight of those things that really matter and for me, as I have spent time in that story, it has clarified some things for me – it's brought them into sharp focus and my hunch is that as you and I spend some time together today, well, maybe you will find that too. So let's just recap briefly on this story of Hannah. Hannah married a man called Elkanah and he had two wives: Peninnah and Hannah. And Hannah didn't have children and Peninnah did, so Peninnah would taunt Hannah and there was a lot of pain around that, so Hannah goes to God – she pours out her heart to Him in the temple and she gets God's peace. It is what always happens when we do that. Eli, on the other hand, is the priest that is at the temple at the time when Hannah comes to pour her heart out and he mistakes what Hannah is doing – he thinks she is drunk. And the priest Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas, they are bad dudes – they are plundering the sacrifices, they are not honouring God and there is a real contrast between these two – between Hannah and her family and Eli and his - this nobody Hannah and this priest Eli. See that's what we so often miss in life – God is hidden; He is invisible – we forget about Him – we go on living our lives, wondering why things are going from bad to worse. And in the middle of this story (last week we stumbled across this verse) when God was pronouncing His judgement on Eli and his family – you can read this if you have a Bible, grab it, open it up at First Samuel chapter 2 and verse 30. God said: Those who honour Me, I will honour but those who despise Me shall be treated with contempt. And that's kind of the pivot on which this whole story turns and this week on the programme we are going to look at how things turned out for Hannah and for Eli. There was a sharp contrast to their approach to God and there is a sharp contrast in how things turn out for them. It tells us a lot about God; it clarifies the confusion in the midst of our storm when we can't see God, necessarily. When that happens we know how to put our feet on solid ground. Well let's start today with Hannah – this pain of being childless and the taunts of the other wife. Childless couples the world over, know how painful this is. So she goes to God – let's have a look at it again in First Samuel chapter 1, beginning at verse 9 and she pours her heart out. Once they had finished eating and drinking at Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord's temple. In the bitterness of her soul, Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord as she made a vow saying "O Lord Almighty, if You will only look upon Your servant's misery and remember me and not forget Your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life and no razor will ever be used on his head." Then she went on her way, ate something and her face was no longer downcast. Let's take a look to see what happened next. First Samuel chapter 1, verse 19: Straight after this, early the next morning they rise, they worship before the Lord and then they go back their home in Ramah. Elkanah lay with his wife Hannah and the Lord remembered her so in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named his Samuel, saying "Because I asked the Lord for him." When the man Elkanah went up with his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfil his vow, Hannah didn't go – she said to her husband "After the boy is weaned I will take him up and present him before the Lord and he will live there always." "Do what seems best to you," Elkanah, her husband told her, "Stay here until you have weaned him, only may the Lord make good His Word." So the woman stayed at home, nursed her son until she had weaned him. After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three year old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli and she said to him "As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I ask of Him so now I give him to the Lord for his whole life – he will be given over to the Lord and she worshipped the Lord there." See, Hannah had this terrible pain – she came to God with this impossible prayer – it was a humble and heartfelt prayer and God honours that. See we so underestimate the power of humble prayer; prayer from the heart; prayer that just lays it out before God the way we see it and feel it. God honours that! When He honours her with the impossible, she honours God back and gives her son over to God to serve at the temple for the rest of his life. Now that's easy to gloss over that, but can you imagine? I mean, she wanted her son more than anything and now she gives him up to honour God. God honours that – her incredible heart was to honour God, so she does. She honours Him by giving up the one thing that she desired most – her son. And what's more, she gives over her most precious to be under the wicked Eli and his sons. Now figure that out! It's not exactly a great strategic choice – this young, impressionable child, but see, God honours those who honour Him. And God honours her and protects young Samuel, and we will see, raises young Samuel up and makes him strong. See, the more we honour God, the more He honours us. Look at this - First Samuel chapter 3, verse 7: Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord. The Word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. And verse 19: The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up and He let none of His Words fall to the ground and all of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba recognised that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh and there He revealed Himself to Samuel through His Word. And the word of Samuel came to all of Israel." You see, God honoured her in her storm! Young Samuel went on to become the chief priest, the prophet, the judge of all of Israel. Why? Because this nobody; this woman Hannah, honoured her God, so simply by pouring her heart out to Him, by trusting Him. I want you to notice how insignificant that may have appeared to her at the time. She had this big hairy giant; this huge storm; the pain of being childless, the taunts of Peninnah, it was impossible but for God nothing is impossible. God honours those who honour Him! She honoured God in her naivety – giving young Sam over to Eli. And even there in that impossible situation, God honoured her and He honoured young Sam. So simple – it's so powerful.   The Contrast Continues I guess intuitively, we understand that the things we say and do, the way we think and behave – well, they have consequences. There is a link between cause and effect. We kind of know that but how easy is it to delude ourselves in this area; to make excuse for ourselves? To live out our own selfish desires and pretend that, well, really, that cause and effect stuff applies to other people but not to me! You know what I am talking about. We deny it, we deny it, we deny it and all along the warning signs grow – the storm clouds start to gather over the horizon. But sometimes it's not till that first clap of thunder that we take any notice and then, so often, it's too late. The storm has gathered momentum and all we can do is brace ourselves for when it hits. We are going to spend some time in that space today with a man called Eli because he was in exactly that situation and he left it too late. Let's make no mistake, there is a definite link in God's economy between cause and effect, especially as it turns out, in our relationship with God. We have been working our way, in this series, through the story of Hannah, this woman who honoured God and Eli, the priest, a man with his sons who did the exact opposite – even though he should have known better. And right now I want to look at how things turn out for Eli and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas. These were men who were priests – their job was to be shepherding Israel, bringing them close to their God. Instead Hophni and Phinehas were plundering the sacrifices of God's people, they were sleeping with prostitutes – they were doing anything but honouring God. Look at how God reacts to that. If you have got a Bible, open it at First Samuel chapter 3, verse 1. The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the Word of the Lord was rare. There were not many visions. One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord. Remember Samuel is Hannah's son. He was in the temple where the Ark of God was. Then the Lord called "Samuel" a

    24 min

  4. May 17

    It Starts in a Storm // On Solid Ground, Part 1

    When the storms in life strike, as they inevitably do, it feels as though we're caught in a small boat out on a stormy ocean. At that point, what we really need is some solid ground beneath our feet. And fortunately, God knows that only too well.   Dealt a Cruel Blow You know you can always tell when we are starting a new series – I am excited. I love to get onto a new series in God's Word and that's what we are doing today. We are starting a series called "On Solid Ground" to listen to what God has to say into one of the central dilemmas of our lives and that dilemma is this: dealing with the storms of life. I remember when I was a young boy – I was about four or five years old. My mother and my sister and I sailed in a ship from Australia to Europe. Now that was a four week sail through the Suez Canal and back again. It's a long way and I remember, even to this day, there were some huge storms along the way. I remember they had ropes in the corridors on the ship to hang onto. I have never forgotten those storms and remember, this was a large cruise ship and yet it seemed to get tossed around in those storms. I was sea sick; I was very afraid as a young kid, even though I was on this big cruise liner. I remember going out onto the deck and seeing the huge waves and the winds and the ship was pitching around in this fearsome ocean and for me, there is nothing as frightening as an angry sea and a violent storm – the ground as it were, moving under your feet. For some people life seems to be a constant storm. The ground under their feet is never solid – there is always some fear and some uncertainty and they can never quite figure out why. What is going on – why is my life always like this? Now many of these people believe in God and yet life seems to be one endless storm. What we really want to have is solid ground under our feet. When you are in a storm the question is – how? That's what we are going to be exploring in this series called "On Solid Ground" starting right here and right now. Now if you have a Bible, I'd like you to grab it because we are going to be spending most of our time in the first eight chapters in a Book called First Samuel, in the Old Testament. We are going to discover the truth that we kind of know or we should know and yet it gets lost in the world that we live in. See this is a 'me' centred world where so often we find ourselves going to God asking Him for things for me, for me, for me and little by little, instead of God being God we expect Him to start being like a performing dog – to do tricks on our command. It may seem harsh but you get God the wrong way around and it spells dog. Am I expecting God to start dancing to my tune or am I dancing to His? It's a good question. That's what we are going to be exploring in this story and it begins in the storm. It's a story about a woman called Hannah and it turns out that she is going through some incredibly tough times in her life but she has the Creator/creature relationship the right was up. Open you Bible – let's go to First Samuel – it's the ninth book of the Old Testament. It's kind of just over a third; between a third and a half way in. We are going to start at the first verse of the first chapter of First Samuel. There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah, son of Jeroham the son of Elihu the son of Tohu the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives; one was called Hannah, the other Peninnah. And Peninnah had children but Hannah had none. Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh where Hophni and Phinehas the two sons of Eli, were the priests of the Lord. Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters but to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her and the Lord had closed her womb. And because the Lord had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year – whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord her rival provoked her until she wept and wouldn't eat. Elkanah, her husband would say "Hannah why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you down hearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?" Pretty tough! Anybody who has ever gone childless or had someone in their family who has gone childless will know the incredible pain of a couple who would like to have a child and yet they can't conceive. Can you imagine this going on year after year after year and in between these annual trips, as well? And of course, there were two wives – now the Bible doesn't talk about the fact that there were two wives – obviously the author doesn't feel a need to comment – praise God that has gone away. But never the less, poor old Hannah had a pretty tough time – a real storm, year after year, the pain of being childless and she had lots of choices in that space. She could have been angry; she could have lashed out; she could have withdrawn. And her husband is pretty useless; typical male – "What's the matter, why are you crying? You've got me!" So what does Hannah do? Let's look at First Samuel chapter 1, beginning at verse 9: Once they had finished eating and drinking at Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the door post of the Lord's temple. In the bitterness of her soul, Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord and she made a vow saying "O Lord Almighty, if You will only look upon Your servants misery and remember me and don't forget Your servant but give her a son then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life and no razor will ever be used on his head." As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her "How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine." "Not so my lord" Hannah replied, "I'm a woman whose deeply troubled. I haven't been drinking wine or beer. I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Don't take your servant for a weak woman – I have been praying here about the great anguish and grief that I have." And Eli answered "Go in peace. May God of Israel grant you what you have asked Him." She said, "May your servant find favour in your eyes." Then she went her way and ate something and her face was no longer downcast. Turns out she does have a son, calls him Samuel, gives him over to God as soon as he is weaned and he comes and serves as a priest in this temple under Eli, whom we discover later is one bad dude. He is the priest; he is supposed to be the go between, between God and His people and yet he and his sons have no respect for God. We will look at them later and also we will see Samuel's fate. At the start of the programme I talked about this "me, me, me" thing – always asking God for stuff; kind of turning things the wrong way round, instead of us being made in God's image, we try to remake Him in ours. And yet here is this story – this story that begins in a storm – this story that begins with Hannah in a storm and she is asking God for something. Did you notice she doesn't lash out or whine or complain? She humbles herself before God and asks her sovereign God; pours her heart out to Him. Eli, this scoundrel, with as much spiritual insight as my pet cat, thinks she is drunk and feeds her with platitudes – "May the Lord give you what you ask for." Yet here is a simple woman at the bottom of the heap, pouring her heart out to her God. And notice what it says after she does that, in verse 18 of chapter 1: "Then she went her way and ate something and her face was no longer downcast." See Hannah's feet were on solid ground – even before her prayer is answered – a seemingly impossible prayer. You know what that tells me? She trusted her God – no matter what His answer would be – she trusted Him; she let it go; she stopped worrying and God answered her prayer. I'm not saying "Let's all be like Hannah" – we are clearly not, our storms are different to hers but what we discover in this story is that when we put God in His rightful place – God – He honours that. We are going to have a look at her understanding of her God again next.   Chalk and Cheese What comes next in this story is Hannah's prayer of thanksgiving. She is in this storm; she asks God for the impossible; she has got the taunts of the other wife and she comes to God in a prayer of humility; pouring out her soul and God answers her with a son and she gives that son back to God for the rest of his life. Now listen to what she prays and how she rejoices. We are now at chapter 2 of First Samuel, beginning at verse 1: Then Hannah prayed and said 'My heart rejoices in the Lord, in the Lord my horn is lifted high, my mouth boasts over my enemies for I delight in Your deliverance. There is no one holy like the Lord. There is no one besides You. There is no rock like our God. Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance for the Lord is a God who knows and by Him deeds are weighed. The bows of warriors are broken but those who stumble are armed with strength.' And this prayer goes on and on ... read it for yourself in First Samuel chapter 2. And you know what it's all about? The power and the sovereignty of God! It's about a Hannah who went to God with this in her heart – God is above all things. Not this attitude of "Let's reform God in my image. Let's turn Him into a performing poodle." You know how I know that? Because when she poured out her heart to God she offered her son back to Him and she honoured that promise when God delivered her son. There is a challenge there for each one of us about how we go to God – how we see Him – as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords or som

    24 min

  5. May 10

    The Top 3 Obstacles to Destiny // Discover Your Destiny, Part 4

    We each have a God–given destiny. A plan that God has for our lives, which fits perfectly with who He made us to be. The problem is that many people aren't living out that destiny – because there are some obstacles in their way. So let's find out what they are, and how to get around them – so that you can live out your destiny.   Putting First Things First Most people these days live hectic lives, just scraping through each day. Personally, my list of things to do is as long as my arm and then some. There are some personal things I have to do; things to do with writing and recording and producing this radio-programme; there's an organisation to run; people to meet with; this project; that project; a new idea over here, another one over there; hundreds of e-mails each day ... Welcome to my world. Now don't get me wrong; I'm not complaining and none of those things are terribly bad at all, but the point is that with so many more things to do than I can possibly fit into my day, or my week or even my year, my process for deciding what I do is absolutely critical. Chances are, the same is true for you. One of the big mistakes I used to make is that I'd sit down in the morning, which (given that I'm a morning person) is my most lucid and productive time, and just start answering e-mails. After a while, I realised I wasn't getting anything else done because by putting my E-mails first, I was putting other people's priorities first. I was in fact dancing to their tune instead of sorting out for myself what the most important things were on my agenda, and doing those things first. There's a well-known principle or framework that you read in a lot of management books, that sets out the difference between what's urgent and what's important, and what you discover is that almost nothing that's urgent is important, and almost nothing that's important is urgent. And yet most of us react to urgent things, or at least the things that other people say are urgent, and so we spend most of our time doing urgent things, instead of the important things – day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. And before you know it, your life is kind of slipping away, doing a whole bunch of things, which, in the scheme of things, sure, they make you busy, but how important are they? Do you see my point here? How are you spending your life, and are the things you're spending your time on important and worthwhile? I guess I'm asking those questions for you to ask them of yourself, and answer them. Come on! Be brutally honest. For instance, making sure I have some time with my beautiful wife Jacqui is important. Making sure I encourage her and give her a hug and a kiss, and spend some unhurried time with her in the morning over breakfast is really important, but it's not urgent. It's not as urgent say as the e-mail that comes in from a radio-station somewhere around the world that says they weren't able to download tonight's radio-programme from our FTP server. And yet what I used to do (because remember, mornings are my most productive time) is get up early and spend no time at all with Jacqui over breakfast, and just work furiously through that time, and by the time she comes home from work and I come home from work, we're both tired and there you go. We haven't spent any time together. Do you see how easily this stuff happens in people's lives? The urgent trumps the important in so many people's lives, and before you know it, your life is falling apart. Things are in a mess. Marriages are falling apart, all because we allow the urgent to crowd out the important. It's scary, isn't it? So what about you? What about your life? Are you letting the myriad of urgent things crowd out the important things like spending time with people, managing your finances properly, nurturing your children, developing relationships with your co-workers? See, all those things are incredibly important, and in many-a person's life, they're being cast aside simply because we're too busy doing the urgent stuff. 'I don't have time to exercise!' Well, if you don't make time for exercise (which is important), let me tell you you'll certainly be making time for sickness (which will be urgent), and actually, that's how it works. Doing the important things generally over time reduces the number of urgent things that you need to do because if the important things go undone, that leads to crises and those crises increase the number of urgent things requiring an immediate response. I don't know what your destiny is, but this is what I do know: It doesn't lie in a myriad of things that other people tell you are urgent; it lies in the things that, in your heart of hearts, you know are important. If you or I went to God, this God who handcrafted us, who designed us in His heart – blueprinted our DNA, if we went to Him and said: 'Lord, what's the most important thing that I have to do with my life', what do you think He'd answer? What would He put at the very top of our to-do list? Well, actually, we already know. A clever young lawyer once asked Him a very similar question. The lawyer sort of said (and this is my paraphrase): Well, Jesus, you and I both know that in the Law of Moses handed down over all those years, there are 613 commandments and prohibitions. That's kind of a lot. I mean that's a lot day-to-day to remember to do, so how would you sum up the Law? I mean, if I'm trying to prioritise these things in my life, which one of all those commandments is the most important one? You can read the exact words in Matthew 22 and Mark 12, and if I had to paraphrase Jesus' reply in kind of here-and-now speak, it'd run something like this: Look, I know you have a lot of things to do. There are lots of rules: Do this, do that ... They're all good things, but you can sum up the whole Law in just two commandments – to love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. That's the most important one, and the second one is just like it: Love the people around you as much as you love yourself. That's the whole Law in a nutshell. Do you know something? The most important thing that I do almost every day, the thing that I do before anything else, is that I spend an hour or so alone with Jesus praying; reading the Bible; asking Him questions, and that's what sets the course for my whole day – day after day, month after month, year after year. Actually, it sets the course for my whole life. It is quite simply the single-most important thing that I do, and it's through that time with Him that I've discovered my destiny.   A Lifelong Journey If I were to ask you, "What's your destiny? What were you put on this earth to achieve – to do? What impact are you meant to have on this planet of over seven billion people? What's the point of your life, and is it heading in the right direction", I wonder how you'd answer those questions. I ask those questions of people rather a lot, and I can tell you the number of people who have a clear sense of destiny and purpose and direction – well you know, it's less than five per cent – maybe one in twenty; maybe. Now I'm not saying that we should each have our lives completely mapped out because things happen along the way. There are twists and turns in life that are totally unexpected. Little things can change the whole course of a life. We can't map out our whole lives in the minutest detail and say. "Yep. That's what I'm going to do, that's where it's going", and yet deep-down, we need to have some sense of a destiny. Another way of putting it would be to have a sense of direction for our lives. Where's your life headed? And that destiny is invariably tied up with two things: Our dreams, and our skills and abilities. If you're one of the majority – one of those people who hasn't quite yet cottoned on to the direction for your life, where it's meant to be headed – then this is for you. Can you remember the dreams that you had for your life when you were young? Can you? There were some back there that were never going to fly. I mean, if you're short and slightly dumpy, and you were dreaming of becoming a famous basketball-player, well, that was obviously never going to happen. But so often, there's a dream in people's hearts that's been there for a very long time. Here's a conversation that I've had so many times with people about this whole question of destiny. We get to talking about the direction in which their life is heading, and the person says to me something like: 'But you know, I'm sure there's meant to be something else, something more, something that I don't know, something I'm meant to be doing, but I don't know what it is'. Does that sound vaguely familiar? So I ask them then, "If you had no constraints, if money wasn't an issue, if you could be anything or do anything that you wanted, what would that be?' And the answer invariably comes back along these lines: 'Oh, well! Anything I want? Well you know, I've always dreamed of" ... and then, they tell me the answer. They tell me about their destiny. It's already there; it's already been woven somehow by God into their DNA. Now of course, there's a risk that this is a short dumpy basketball-player kind of dream, and so then I follow up with my second question: 'What are the things you're really good at?' Most people can tell you that, and what I've found is that there is almost always, in 90% of cases, a wonderful fit between their dream and their natural skills and gifting. You know something? We've just discovered their destiny. We've just discovered what they're meant to be doing with their lives, and the tragedy (I mean, the absolute tragedy) is that deep down they probably already knew that. So what's held them back? The constraints we put on our lives. Remember my first question? 'If you had no constraints, if money wasn't an issue, if you could be anything or do anythi

    24 min

  6. May 3

    Getting the Most Out of Life // Discover Your Destiny, Part 3

    We all have some sense that there is some destiny to fulfil with our lives and yet so many people struggle to lay hold of that, to really start living the life that they know would be fulfilling their destiny. That's what I think it means to actually live our lives to the full. That's what I think it means to get the most out of life.   Living Life to the Full (1) So can I ask you something? Are you really living the life to the full? I mean really. The worst possible outcome to my life and I think to yours too, is to get to the end of it one day and to look back and think to ourselves 'I think I missed out, I don't think I lived the life I was meant to live, I don't' think I've fulfilled my destiny. If only I could go back and live it again and do it properly this time.' Don't you agree? Wouldn't that be just the most tragic outcome to our lives here on earth? It seems to me that we can be alive and kicking but not really living life. We can be alive but for all and intense and purposes be dead. So I guess when I talk about discovering your destiny is what I'm really talking about is being who you were always meant to be and living the life you were always meant to live. Getting the most out of life, is that something you want? I certainly do, and I hope you do as well. And so today we're going to take a look at a man who in a very real sense managed to get a second chance and whatever you may think of his story, his name is Lazarus, the question is, what does it say about your life here and now and the possibility of a second chance? It's a powerful story the story of Lazarus. It's about a real man who died and whom Jesus we're told brought back to life again. Now there are two parts to the story, we'll look at the first half right now and the second part after a short break on the program so let's have a bit of a read. Johns Gospel chapter 11 is where you'll find the story of Lazarus. Now a man named Lazarus was sick, he was from Bethany the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Now this Mary who's brother Lazarus now lay sick was the same one who had previously poured perfume on Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sister's sent word to Jesus, 'Lord, the one you love Lazarus is sick'. When he heard this Jesus said, 'The sickness won't end in death. No, it's for God's glory so that God's son may be glorified though it. Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick he stayed where he was for two more days and then he said to his disciples, 'Well ok, lets get up and go to Judea'. 'But Jesus,' they said, 'a short while ago Jews there tried to stone you and here you're going back?' And Jesus answered them, Isn't there 12 hours of daylight in a day? A man who walks by day won't stumble for he sees the worlds light, its when he walks by night that he stumbles for he has no light.' After he said these things he went on to tell them, 'Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep but I'm going there to wake him up again'. And his disciples replied, 'But if he sleeps he'll get better.' But Jesus had been speaking of his death and the disciples thought that he was just asleep. So then he told them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I'm glad I wasn't there so that you may believe. But let us go to him right now'." The last couple of programs we've dealt with an issue, well, so many of us don't really want to deal with head on – sin. I mean in our world sin is something of a four-letter word. The stuff in our lives we know is wrong that robs us of life itself, when I look back on my life as a wealth apparently successful businessman on the outside people envied me. I seemed to have it all together and I seemed to have it all, but on the inside I was dying. I was dead and empty and hollow just like a shell, truly. I describe myself as a dead man walking. And so many people are living their lives that way today, truly they are! Are the things you're doing wrong robbing you of the life you were meant to be having? Are you a bit like this Lazarus alive sort of but not really? Sure physically alive but spiritually through the things you are doing with your life not really having a life at all? You know something, it doesn't matter how much we deny it and try and put a respectable face to it, or sell it as a feature of our freedom to do whatever we want, sin does that to all of us. It makes us dead on the inside. At this point someone might be saying, "Come on Bernie, what an old fashioned point of view." If you're in that camp I encourage you to do something, take a look, a good hard look at the way you are living your life and ask yourself am I really being the me I was meant to be? Am I really living the life I was meant to live? Do I have this sense that I'm fulfilling my destiny? See to me, it's a tragedy when people can't answer those questions with a clear assurance that yes they are being the person they were meant to be. Yes they do have a deep sense that they're fulfilling their destiny that God has for them because that's what God wants for your life, he wants a new life. Let's look at new life; let's look at how things unfold in this story of Lazarus. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him and Mary stayed at home. "Lord, Martha said to him, if you'd been here, if you'd only been hear earlier Lazarus wouldn't' have died!' and Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.' But Martha answer, 'I know he'll rise again in the resurrection on that last day.' Jesus said to her 'I am the resurrection and the life, who ever believes in me will live even though he dies and who ever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?' And she said, 'Yes lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who has come into this world.' And after she said this she went back and called her sister Mary, 'The teacher Jesus is here.' she said, 'he's asking for you.' when Mary heard this she quickly got up and went out to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered their village but was still in the place where Martha had met him, when the Jews who had been with Mary in the house comforting her noticed how quickly she got up and went out they followed her thinking that she was going to the tomb to mourn there for Lazarus. When Mary reached Jesus and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, 'Lord if only you had been here my brother wouldn't' have died.' And when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit was troubled. 'Where have you laid him?' 'Come and see Lord.' And Jesus wept. And the Jews said, 'See Jesus loved Lazarus!" But some of them said, 'Couldn't he who opened the eyes of the blind come and kept this man from dying?' See here's the thing, nobody was expecting Jesus to come along and raise Lazarus from the dead. And when we look at our lives and when we see our dead things can be on the inside and we look at God and say, 'God, why didn't you show up earlier?' And we can't imagine how God could possibly breath life into our situation, we can believe he could have done something back then like the people with Lazarus, he could have stopped him from dying. We can believe that one day we will rise again and have eternal life, but it can be so hard so hard to believe that Jesus could come and breath a new life today, here and now. Let me ask you, what do you believe?   Living life to the full (2) Well let's get back to the Lazarus story because there is so much more in it about living our lives to the full, remember that everyone wanted Jesus to have fixed the problem before Lazarus died, but Jesus had said to his disciples he had a different plan. A plan that people around him didn't really understand, so no one could see it. Jesus was saying to Martha, Lazarus' sister. He said, "Your brother will rise again." But Martha said, "Look, I know he'll rise again on the resurrection on the last day" so she doesn't get it. She's happy to believe in pie in the sky when you die but not so much about steak on the plate while you wait if that makes sense. Lets pick up the story and lets read the simple story, its in John's gospel chapter 11 and it begins verse 38: Jesus was deeply moved when he came to the tomb, it was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 'Take away the stone', he said. 'But Lord,' said Martha the sister of Lazarus said, 'by this time a bad odour will be there, I mean he's been dead for four days!' And Jesus said, 'Didn't I tell you that if you believed you would see the Glory of God?'" I love that! If you believe you will see the glory of God! So they took away the stone and Jesus stood up and said, 'Father I thank you that you have heard me, I always knew that you would but I'm saying this for the benefit of the people around that they might believe that you have sent me.' And when he had said this Jesus said in a loud voice 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth was around his face, and Jesus said to them, 'Take off the grave clothes and let him go.' " Jesus was deeply moved … I mean he loved Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha; he cared for them! Lazarus was a good friend, that's why Jesus wept for him. So it's not some publicity stunt, but it's a tender encounter when people were thinking well, what's Jesus up to? He can't do this I mean Lazarus is dead he's going to smell, he's on the nose, his flesh is already rotting! I reckon we have to be very, very careful indeed about telling God what he can and can't do. About putting God in a little box of our expectations, imagining somehow that he could somehow never bring Lazarus back to life, imagining somehow he could never really bring life back into us! You see, all these people – Mary, Martha, the disciples all the others – they'd seen Jesus do amazing things, do amazing miracles, yet they couldn't

    24 min

  7. Apr 26

    Becoming Who God Made You To Be // Discover Your Destiny, Part 2

    Have you ever looked at yourself in a photo and cringed, or seen yourself in a video and thought – Yich – do I really look that bad? Other people don't seem to have a problem with how you look, but somehow you always do. And it's not just you by the way … we all do it. Today, we're going to discover how you and I can be truly happy with who you are.   Being Happy with Who I Am As I look around at people, big, small, black, white, young, old … what I see is an awful lot of people who aren't happy with their lot in life. And as you talk to them, what it often comes down to is not that they're not happy with their lot and the things that are going on – although that's sometimes part of it – but something much deeper going on. Because more often than not, they're not happy with who they are. In our last program, we chatted about the fact, that often, that's because we feel we don't measure up to what the world expects of us but today, I'd like to go even deeper than that again. Let me ask you, forgetting everything that goes on around you, when you're alone in a quiet room, completely alone, do you like who you are? Are you excited about who you are … your potential? Do you enjoy your own company? Or are you one of these people who can't stand to see themselves in a photograph or in a mirror? Every now and then I think to myself, "it's time to get right in your face about something", and today's one of those days. I mean, I don't mean to shove anything down your throat, that's never my intention but I don't know, I just feel that today it's time to really challenge you about how you see yourself. I'm someone who for many, many years, in fact the first 36 years of my life, appeared to be so confident on the outside. I have to tell you, everyone who ever met me thought to themselves, "this guy is so confident". But on the inside, which after all is where we live and where we feel and where we laugh and where we cry, I wasn't happy with who I was. People would never have guessed it, because in my confidence I used to roll over the top of them. I'm not talking about the things that we do but who we actually are. As a woman by the name of Joyce Meyer says, "It's not our do that I'm talking about but our who." I didn't like my "who", I didn't like myself and you know the more I tried to pump myself up in my own eyes and in the eyes of others, somehow the lower I sank in my own estimation. But the very day, the very instant that I gave my life to Jesus back in 1995, from that moment onward I knew I was okay. I've thought a lot about this and I thought why did it happen like that? It's one of those things that changed in an instant for me, why? This is such a deep thing. My own self image had been plaguing me for years and years. How could it change in an instant? So far as I can see, there's only one answer because on that day I felt accepted and I felt loved in a whole new way, at a whole different level. Different people believe different things. Oh – whatever you believe – let me ask you this? Does your belief system, does your faith – whatever that is – make you feel loved and accepted? Does it bring healing to that deep, nagging suspicion that you're not good enough? Does it bring you into a place where you are truly happy and content with who you are? I never used to be able to look at myself in a photo without cringing. I recently had a photo shoot, something I have to do from time to time, to get some images to use on websites and in the back of my books, that sort of thing. And when the photos came back, I looked at them and I was really happy with what I saw. I'm never going to win a beauty competition, you understand – that's because I'm just a pretty ordinary looking kind of man. But as I looked at those photos, I smiled, because I realised that I now like myself. I didn't become Mr Perfect overnight and all my faults and all my failures and all my weaknesses didn't disappear in an instant, it's not how it works. Sometimes I make mistakes – I don't like that. So I get up and learn, and work on my weaknesses. But fundamentally, these days, I'm really happy with who I am … and indeed with who I'm not. So change in me didn't happen overnight but the thing that did happen is that I knew that God had accepted me just as I was and that even though I could see all the things I'd done wrong, that I was completely forgiven. He came to me and said, "Now, that you have a new beginning let me help you to change." That's the thing, I thought if God sees me that way maybe it's time for me to see me that way and still today there are some things that I'm really good at and others that I'm just not and I may never be. Some of the things that come naturally to you, I'll never be able to do it's unconditional love that brought me to a point with all my heart, I'm delighted to be who I am. I often say to my wife, Jacqui, "I'm so glad I'm me, I never want to be anyone else." That is a gift from God because I never liked me before. Let me get in your face and ask you a question, is it time for you to ask yourself do I see myself the way God does? Do I love me in the right way, not proud and arrogant but in a humble delight in who he made me to be? Because how can you and I possibly ever be the me we were meant to be and live the life we were created to live, if we don't like who we are. When we compare ourselves to other people and think – Wow, I wish I was like him, or I wish I was like her … we're completely missing the point. Completely. I will never be a basketball player, because I'm too short. I will never be a surgeon, because I don't have the skill in my hands. I will never be a pop star, because I can't sing. But what I can be, is the best me that I can possibly be. And you know something – that's just fine with me. And the reason it's fine with me is that I was handcrafted by God and the love that He's shown me is the unconditional love of Jesus … Jesus His one and only Son, who died so that I might be forgiven. We can't truly be happy with who we are, until we know beyond any shadow of doubt that Jesus died to pay for all our shortcomings and failings and because the price is fully paid, we can now stand before God completely forgiven, completely whole, completely loved. And if you've ever stood in that place – with your faith in Jesus … Jesus alone – you will know that the acceptance of God is what makes you whole. The love and acceptance of God – is what sets us free to see ourselves through His eyes.   Discovering My Gift I think we all have a sense of wanting to fulfil our destiny, doing the things we're meant to do, achieving the things we're meant to achieve and being the person we're meant to be. But the more I talk to people the more I discover how many aren't happy with who they are. I spent a good many years of my life comparing myself with other people, here's how it goes. Here's what we do when we compare ourselves with other people: all we see, are their good points: 'he's athletic and good looking, and she's really intelligent, and he's caring, and she's so perceptive about people, boy he's got such great hand-eye co-ordination, that couple over there everyone seems to like them. He is such a good cook, she has her house so tidy, they have such well behaved kids.' You see what's going on here right? We construct some super human unreality which is a pastiche of the very best points of everyone we know and then when we don't live up to that unreality, all of a sudden we come to the conclusion that …, "Ah, I'm a failure". Never mind that everybody we know is good a some things and not at others, never mind that each one of those people has weaknesses as well as strengths. We tend to construct an unrealistic image of who we should be and then we spend a lifetime, fuelled by the advertising industry - with all these images of success - we spend a lifetime trying to live up to something that no-one can ever be or live up to. Hello! The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. The family next door always seem perfect compared to our family.That job that your friend has – that's the perfect job, … look at mine. I'll never have a job like that. I'll never have a husband as good as hers, or a wife as good as his, my children will never grow up to be like their kids, my house will never look as nice as … Are you getting the picture here?! I wonder if we did a stock take of our strengths and weaknesses maybe sit down with a few people who really know us well whether we would look at that and go, "That's not a bad plus and minus ledger, you know, okay there are some things here I'm not very good at but actually there's one or two things here, oh, that's really my gig, that's my shtick, that's what I do." The Apostle Paul in Romans, chapter 12:3-8 wrote this he said, By the grace given to me let me say this to you, don't think of yourself more highly than you should but instead look at yourself with sober judgement in accordance with the measure of faith that God's given you. Just as each one of us has a body with many members these members don't all have the same function and so in Jesus, we who are many form one body, each member belongs to the other. We have different gifts according to the grace given to us, if your gift is in prophesying, then do that in proportion with the faith that God has given you. If it's in serving then for goodness sake go and serve. If your gift is teaching go and teach. If your gift is encouragement go and encourage people, if it's contributing to the needs of others giving well for goodness sake give generously and if it's leadership then lead diligently and if it's showing mercy then go and do it cheerfully. Isn't that beautiful? I love this passage and I come back to it often because what it says is, "Look! You can go and think of yourselves either too highly or too lowly". There is nothin

    24 min

  8. Apr 19

    The Roadblock Between You and Your Destiny // Discover Your Destiny, Part 1

    In this electronic age in which we live, identity theft is the big new crime. If someone can steal your identity – well, they can own everything you own. But what if you and I aren't really sure of our identity in the first place? What if you and I woke up one day and simply didn't know who we were? Then what would we have?   Lost Without a Passport I remember once a few years back being at the airport in Christchurch, New Zealand. My international flight from Australia was late in getting in, and I had to race to make a last domestic connection that night to my final destination – Wellington, New Zealand's capital. And in the rush, I left my passport lying in one of those luggage trolleys at the international terminal – something I didn't realise until I was checking in on the domestic flight at the next terminal. Oh, panic attack! Can you imagine losing your passport while you're overseas? No passport, no identity. Now what? How could I tell people that it was me? I couldn't leave the country; I couldn't stay there ... It turns out that our identity is very important. I've never forgotten that, and in a very real sense, the same is true in life. We need to know the answer to that all-important question: Who am I? Other people need to know who we are. It's so basic; it's so fundamental, and yet so many people don't have a deep sense of who they really are. It's a problem deep-down, and it's not something we talk about much, but it's there, and as I talk to people, I think it goes something like this. Often we live life day to day without really thinking. We just go along and do the things we've always been doing: We go to work or we go to school or we look after the children, whatever it is, but bubbling away deep inside somewhere is a sense of: What's this all about? Why am I doing this? What's the point? The reality is this. We just have one life to live here on earth. It's not a dress rehearsal. We can't hit the rewind button and play it over again. When today's gone, it's gone; that's it, and every year, every week, every day, every moment that you and I have lived up to this point is gone. We can never get it back. The only thing left in our time here on earth is the time between right now and when we breathe our last breath. It's a sobering thought, and at the same time, most people have some sort of sense of destiny. Whether or not they believe in Jesus or some god even, they believe in things that are meant to be. How often have you heard someone say, "Well, it was just meant to be", or "If it's meant to be, it'll happen?" Whether it's karma or whether it's "que sera sera", whatever will be will be, we all have some sense of a future and a destiny to be fulfilled. It's as though there's some intelligent design or destiny that we just can't quite put our fingers on. I believe that that's there because in each one of us, God has made us in His image – each one of us, and when we look at the time we have left in the context of some sort of sense of destiny, a profound question of life emerges. Am I being the 'me' that I was actually meant to be? Am I living the destiny that I'm supposed to be living? They're huge questions. It's not about having things; it's more about being. The turning-point of my life was when I was reading a book, and the author asked this question. He said: 'Do you want to be, or do you want to have?' and I realised very clearly that I was one of those people who wanted to have, and having things is not being. Having is about the next car; the next sound system; the next pair of shoes, but being is a profound sense of joy and contentment; being really happy with who we are and what we're doing, and how we're living, and enjoying the relationships that we're having. When I realised that, it was so incredibly unsettling for me because I tried to do stuff my way, and it was turning out to be empty. Let me ask you something. As you contemplate the remaining time you have left here on planet earth, when you ask yourself the question, "Am I being the 'me' I was meant to be? Am I living out the destiny that I was meant to live?" What's the answer? Yes, or no? If your answer is "yes", then you're talking about some profound sense of joy and peace and contentment – the sort of stuff I was talking about just before, but if the answer is "no", then probably there's this nagging sense that you're missing out on something. Is this all there is? Surely there has to be something more than this. You know, in my experience, most people (by far the majority) are in the 'no' category. They have a sense that there should be – that there is – some destiny for their lives, but they also have a nagging suspicion that they're not really living it out. That's why we're kicking off a brand new series of programmes over these coming few weeks called "Discover Your Destiny" – to … I don't know … help us unscramble that, and maybe get a solid foundation of life sorted out in our hearts, get our lives on track, to live them out to the full so that when we're on death's doorstep, we can look back at our lives with a deep sense of satisfaction, and say to ourselves, "You know what? I've lived it to the full. I became the 'me' I was meant to be, and now I'm ready for my eternity with God." The starting-point of all that is an understanding of who we're meant to be. It's knowing where we come from and who we are, and what a tragedy it is for so many people who live their lives without knowing those things about themselves; without having a sense of what their lives are all about; without having, in effect, a really good handle on who they are – their identity. We live in a world that wants to tell us who we should be. We live in a world shaped by commerce and sales targets and advertising, that tells us: 'You're this, and if you're not, you're not successful, and if you're not successful, if you buy this, then you will be, and then you'll be happy. Then you'll have a sense of who you are, and where you're going'. Hey, I lived out that life for a good many years. I mean, I lived it out par excellence, and so successful was it that it drove me to the point of suicide. God's take is completely different. God tells us that we're made in His image – you and I. He tells us that not only did He make us who we are, but He also made every day of our lives to fit with who we are. More about that a little bit later, but right now, all I'm really trying to do is put my finger on the problem; that nagging thing that just doesn't seem to want to go away; that sense that so many of us have that we're missing out on something – something that we just can't quite explain. Surely there must be more to life than this, this drudgery. Surely there has to be something that sets my heart on fire; that inspires me; that lets me be the me I was meant to be; that lets me live out the destiny for my life. Do you really know who you are, who you were made to be, what you're meant to be doing, or is your life a bit like a cork bobbing around in an ocean, completely at the mercy of the elements – sunny one day, stormy the next, but just drifting – kind of drifting?   The Perennial Pollution Problem I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but living an average, normal, everyday life creates dirt. I mean, just eating and drinking and living – the most basic things – create waste: Carbon dioxide we all breathe out with every breath (and of course if we didn't get rid of it, it would poison us), perspiration, and we excrete waste. If we kept all of those things inside us, you know, they'd kill us in a pretty short time. On a global scale, we call this pollution; it's a perennial problem. It's just the way it is. For so many years, I have to tell you, I listened to these Christians talking about this word sin, thinking, "Oh, go on, get a life. I don't need this guilt trip. I don't need to go to confession or to be absolved or any of that stuff. I mean, I'm basically ok. I haven't killed anyone; I haven't robbed a bank ... please just leave me alone." The notion of sin had no place in my reckoning. "This is a dog-eat-dog world, and hey, there's plenty of dog to go around. I will tread on whoever I want to; I will do whatever I want to, as long as I don't break the law. I'm right, Jack." That was kind of my attitude because, in today's psyche, hey, anything goes, but this anything-goes thing doesn't always work so well because it's all about me, and for you it's all about you; and when I spend on me, me, me, that's great, but real satisfaction comes when we give of ourselves, of who we are and what we have. It's not until we give sacrificially to someone in need that we really get satisfaction in life, and that's where we really discover who we are and what life is all about. For many, many years I kidded myself that I was ok, but it didn't work. Just living my life created waste and mess and dirt and pollution, and here's the rub: When we live the I-am-the-centre-of-the-universe, me-me-me philosophy, we want everything to flow in, and that stuff includes the waste and the mess and the dirt, and it stays inside with everything flowing in, and ultimately it poisons our system. It ruins our lives. Do you get it? The word "sin", as it's used in the Bible, literally means to miss the mark. Like an archer aiming at a target, his aim doesn't have to be off by much for him to miss the target altogether. That's the idea of sin. It's missing the mark or, as we might say these days, missing the point. Can you imagine getting to the end of your life, on your deathbed, looking back and thinking to yourself, "You know, the way I lived my life, I didn't love people the way I should have loved them. I didn't serve people the way I should have served them. I didn't make the difference that I could have made. I haven't left behind a lasting legacy of good at all. You know something? I think my life missed the

    24 min
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There is such incredible power in God's Word! Power to change. Power to make an impact in this world. That's what Christianityworks is all about – in depth teaching straight out of God's Word. Join Berni Dymet as he opens God's Word to discover what God has to say into your life, today.

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