Christianityworks Official Podcast

About Christianityworks Official Podcast

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.

Publisher

Berni Dymet

Category

religion & spirituality

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

1 Aug 2021

Latest episode

11 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

210 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   11 Oct 2026

   Staying on Purpose // Rekindling the Flame, Part 2

   Most of us have a sense that there's some plan for our lives, some purpose … or at least there's supposed to be. But the easiest thing in the world for us to do is to be drawn off purpose; to find ourselves living a life that deep down, we know wasn't the one that we were meant to be living. A Soldier for Christ I don't know if you have been able to join me last week on the programme but we have been chatting about getting back on purpose. You can always tell a Christ-follower who is struggling because that would be the Christ-follower who has been drawn off purpose. They have become overly reactive to their circumstances, chasing after what the world says is the right thing, rather than persevering through the tough times and doing what God has called them to do. I spent ten years as an officer in the Australian Army and at all levels of leadership, from junior to senior ranks, one of the key principles of war is the selection and maintenance of the aim, in other words – staying on purpose. In other words, knowing which hill it is we are about to capture. And when the bullets start flying and the shells start exploding around you, staying focussed on taking that one hill, which is the reason that we are out here getting shot at in the first place. It turns out that being a Christ-follower – which is what a disciple is – is exactly about the same thing. And there are far too many who have been drawn off purpose and so have ceased following Jesus. Now, that may seem a little harsh and direct, so humour me and let me unpack that with you. We are taking another look this week at the Apostle Paul's second letter to his young protégé, Timothy, because it's a letter all about maintaining our sense of purpose and focus, remembering what we are here for – despite the bullets that are flying around and the shells that are going off around us, despite our circumstances – be they a mundane grind, be they a challenge or be they wonderful. Whatever our circumstances are, the easiest thing to do, especially when the going gets tough, is to lose our sense of the purpose for which God made us – what our gift is. And so Paul who himself is chained up in prison, counsels Timothy through that. The two verses that stick out for me are these. Second Timothy chapter 1, verse 6: For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God which is within you through the laying on of my hands. And verse 14: Guard the good treasure entrusted to you with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us. As I said, it's the easiest thing in the world to forget the gift that God has placed within us – that one thing that you love doing; that one thing that you are better at than just about anyone else that you know – and to have the treasure stolen from us. God didn't give us that gift just to bless us. He entrusted this treasure into our care to be good stewards of it – to use it. But it can be hard to hang onto that gift, that purpose, that treasure when stuff is flying around through the air. So let's pick up what Paul has to say to Timothy about this very thing. Second Timothy chapter 2, beginning at verse 1: You then, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; and what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well. Share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ. No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier's aim is to please the enlisting officer. And in the case of an athlete, no one is crowned without competing according to the rules. It is the farmer who does the work who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in all things. Remember Jesus Christ raised from the dead, a descendant of David – that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself. See, whenever suffering comes, our first instinct is to compare that against what the world says equals success and figure, "Well, I must be failing God somehow." When we are hurting, we forget that over and over and over again, God's Word promises that we will suffer, that we will face trials, that He will discipline us. So Paul, on the very premise of that suffering uses three powerful, simple analogies about staying focused on our gifting and our purpose through the suffering. The first is the soldier who doesn't get entangled in the day to day affairs of this world but who instead stays focused on what the enlisting officer wants him to do. The second is the athlete who can't win the prize unless he actually competes according to the rules. And the third is the farmer who does the word who is then entitled to his first share of the reward. In each case it's the same thing: it's about staying focussed on the end game – through the suffering and the battle and the hard work and the training and the ploughing and the planting, in order to be who we were meant to be; to do what we were meant to do and ultimately, to reap the reward of having stayed the distance. Do you see the heavenly perspective – the eternal dimension? Paul is helping Timothy to take a step back and to see the bigger picture because when we are suffering our eyes are cast down to focus on the immediate. And then Paul goes on to speak of the power of that endurance – the powerful outcome in bringing people to God and ultimately, being accepted into the Kingdom of God with eternal life through Jesus Christ. Time and time again I see people giving up because it's tough. I see people pulled off purpose because it's all gotten just too hard. And the picture that the Lord has given me is when I am following Jesus down that dusty road, sometimes it's a lonely road – when it gets hard and I see other people pulling off to the left or to the right, parking on the side of the road, even turning around and turning back, I should keep going, following Jesus, even if I am completely alone, save for His presence. The saying is sure: if we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure with him, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself. Let me encourage you to take God's Word into your heart today. If it's all too hard; if every fibre of your being is screaming at you, saying, "Stop, turn back, give up, don't keep following Jesus. It's too hard; it's hurts too much …" You know what I am talking about! Take heart here from Paul's counsel: Share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier's aim is to please the enlisting officer. And in the case of an athlete, no one is crowned without competing according to the rules. It is the farmer who does the work who ought to have the first share of the crops. Remember, when Paul wrote this to Timothy, he was sitting in a prison, he was chained up; he was in the worst of all circumstances, he was waiting to be executed and still he says, "Look, forget about your circumstances – don't focus on them – remember what God made you to do."' Rekindle the gift that is within in you through the laying on of my hands. Guard the treasure that has been given to you through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. With everything he is, Paul is saying to Timothy and I believe God is saying to you and me – don't stop, don't give up, keep going and do the things that you know God has called you to do. A Firm Foundation You and I, we manage to find all kinds of ways to … to wander away from that plan and then to miss out on the joy and the fulfilment that lies in God's plans and God's purposes for our lives. And one of the ways that that gift grows cold and the treasure wastes away is that we allow the little foxes into our lives – and it's those little foxes that spoil the vine. Most of us have this idea that there are these really big sins and then there are small sins. The big sins are like sexual immorality, adultery, murder, theft – they are up there on our hierarchy as being amongst the real "biggies". But a bit of anger, or some arguing, or maybe this idea or that idea we get into our heads that doesn't quite fit with God's Word – hey, we all have that. They are the little sins. And as long as we keep away from the big ones, hey, who cares about the little ones? We may not ever have quite put it in those terms, but that's how most of us think and operate. But let me say this: the Bible knows nothing of this human hierarchy of sin. To God, sin is sin – it's missing the mark, it's missing the point for our lives. Now we can miss by a little way, or we can miss by a long way – but missing is missing, right? And so as Paul counsels Timothy about rekindling his gift and staying focussed on the purposes that God has set before him, he actually takes some time to deal with sins, many of which appear to be the little ones. Let's have a listen. Second Timothy chapter 2, beginning at verse 14: "Remind them of this," he says to Timothy, "and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but ruins those who are listening. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth. Avoid profane chatter, for it will lead people into more and more impiety, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, claiming that the resurrection has already taken place. They are upsetting the faith of some. But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Let everyone who calls on the name of the Lord turn away from wickedness." So here Paul is telling Timothy how to shepherd his flock. And the big thing he is on about is to warn them to stop wrangling over words - to avoid profane chatter. Well, what's the big deal here? Can't people have an opinion? Can't there be healthy debate? Smack bang here in Paul's exhortation for Timothy to stay focussed; to rekindle that gift that God has placed within him; to guard the treasure that God has entrusted to him, why would Paul seemingly go off on this tangent, telling Timothy to tell his flock to be careful about what they say and who they listen to? Because it's the little foxes that spoil the vine. Or to use Paul's analogy here, this loose talk will spread like gangrene. Yuck! Okay, what loose talk? It's talk about the most important thing of all – truth. What's true and what's not. It seems there were some people with some rather long and difficult to pronounce names wandering around spreading the lie that the resurrection of the believers had already taken place – which, when you think about it, seems a bit silly, because by definition, the people spreading the rumours had missed out. Right?! So what is Paul's point here to Timothy and why, 2000 years on, are we talking about this, when the main topic of our conversation over these weeks is staying focussed on the plan that God has for our lives? Well, the answer is really simple. I have seen so many people led astray by others who throw a red herring into the conversation about truth and then people go chasing after that red herring and before you know it, instead of being focussed on what God's calling them to be and to do, they're off on a tangent, miles from where God wants them to be. I know one man who spends his life being ultra critical of church structures. In his view, there shouldn't be any leaders – we are all equals and there shouldn't be a preacher, we should all just kind of sit around and chat together about the Word of God and debate it. So, when over coffee I have asked him to tell me where in God's Word he comes up with that, he kind of fluffs around and gets back to his theme and … You know, this guy hardly ever comes to church and hardly ever participates in any sense of community. Now it's really sad, because he is a clever guy and in many respects, he is a delightful human being with so much to offer the rest of us. What he should be doing is offering his gift, his ability, his unique contribution to the body of Christ. But instead, he is off on some theory that ain't in the Bible and he's missing out on what God has planned for him. Friend, we can pick holes in just about anything and let me tell you, church … church being full of a bunch of sinners on a journey, like you and me, is the easiest thing of all to pick holes in, let me tell you. But what happens when we do that is that, it's like gangrene –it ends up robbing us of life. The Good News of Jesus is pure and simple. God so loved the world that He sent His only Son so that whoever believes in Him won't perish but will have eternal life! That's the firm foundation here. The firm foundation is that God knows which one of us belongs to Him and which one of us doesn't. And when we belong to God because of our faith in Jesus Christ, we're not there to argue about this or that or pick holes in this or that – you know what I'm saying?! That takes us way, way, way off course. That's not how we rekindle the gift that God has put within us. That's not how we make an impact in other people's lives for Christ. That's not how rivers of living water flow out through our hearts. Let me encourage you today. If you are off on some "thing", if you have a bee in your bonnet about this thing or that thing, take the bonnet off, let the bee out and get back to a firm foundation in Christ – by reading His Word, praying, learning, growing and serving, using your special gift and ability. For some people today it's time to get your life back on track. Set Apart for a Special Purpose On the one hand, the world is always shouting at us that we're special; that we deserve the best; that we should pamper ourselves and aspire to achieving this and aspire to achieving that. By and large, it's the advertising industry reaching into our desire for significance. You realise though, that what they're really doing is playing on our insecurities in order to get us to part with our hard earned cash, because, quite obviously, whatever it is that they are selling will help us to feel secure. Of course, it never does and so they try and sell us the next thing and the next thing and the next thing, which is how the whole system works. The result of this inexorable cycle is that most of us don't think we are anything special at all. And most of us have so much of the world's dirt sprayed all over us, that any specialness we may have had, ends up being obscured – hidden under this layer of muck. And yet, in each one of us there is something special. Let me say that again: in each one of us there is something special; something very special. Not because you or I happen to be super clever and we put it there. Paul tells us that he knows that in his flesh – in his human character – there is nothing good in there; he is rotten to the core. But the reason there is something special in us is because you and I are made in God's image and He has given each one of us a special gift or ability to use for His glory – if only we can find it amidst all the … the muck. And He made each one of us to be an absolutely perfect match, for what He has planned for us to do. Someone whose call in life is to work with kids is going to have a special mix of compassion and teacher and encourager in their makeup. And because that's how they've been wired, they are going to absolutely love working with children every day. Whereas, that would drive me absolutely bonkers! Now this is not just me saying this; it's in God's Word. God has brought us into His Kingdom through Jesus Christ, not just to bless us but to let our gifts and our abilities be blessings to other people. Have a listen – Ephesians chapter 2, beginning a verse 8: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is a gift from God – not the result of your works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus to do the good works, which God prepared beforehand for us to walk into. So God has done this … this amazing act of grace by saving us from the death that is certainly coming through our sin. It is a glorious act of mercy and anyone who has received that mercy, man, we should be dancing in the streets. It wasn't through our works, but it was a free gift from God so that none of us may boast. In fact, what He did was create us in Christ Jesus – we are what He made us to be and He created us with a purpose for the good works which He had already prepared beforehand for us to do. So who we are and what He has made us to be, fit like a hand in a glove. But then having been saved, as we saw earlier, we seem to want to kind of fall straight back into our own ways. It's like we have been led out of the mud, washed clean and then we want to race straight back and roll around in the mud again. We're pretty good at it, actually! And as Paul sets out to teach Timothy, when we do that, well, we are hampering God's plan for our lives. Have a listen to this sobering instruction from the old Apostle to his young protégé. Second Timothy chapter 2, beginning at verse 20: In a large house there are utensils not only of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for special use, some for ordinary. All who cleanse themselves of the things I have mentioned will become special utensils, dedicated and useful to the owner of the house, ready for every good work. So shun youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with stupid and senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, patient, correcting opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth and that they may escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. You know the picture that Paul wants to paint here for me? It's that picture of a special vessel – clean and pure in God's hands, made of gold and silver, being used by God to pour God's Spirit and God's love and God's mercy and God's grace into the life of another. I can't go past that picture. To be such a utensil in the hands of God is just the most awesome thing. But some … you see, some utensils are clean and so they are special utensils and others are not and so they are just for ordinary day to day use. And then again, Paul goes on to list what appears to be an excerpt from a "B" list of sins: youthful passions, stupid and senseless controversies and goes on and says, don't murder and commit adultery and steal. But sin is sin and all sin acts as a snare of the devil and so renders us unfit for use as a special vessel. God is looking, my friend, for men and women who are mature in Christ: those who pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace from a pure heart; those who are kind, correcting people with gentleness. That's the sort of person that God is looking for to be a special utensil in His mighty and powerful hands. Because if we are dirty on the inside, He can't use a dirty vessel to pour His love and mercy and power and grace and joy and peace out on someone else, can He? It's obvious! So here's the sobering thing that God wants to say to you and to me today: we may well have a dream; we may well be aware of the gift that God has placed within us; we may have a great hold on the purpose that He has for our lives but persistent sin is going to hamper that plan. It's going to hold us back from being a special vessel, set apart for a special purpose. And friend, only God can clean us through our faith in Jesus as He forgives us, as He wipes our slate clean and through the Holy Spirit whom He would place in each believer as He grows us and matures us to make us ever cleaner; ever more fit to be used for this special purpose as a special utensil in the hands of God. Some people today are missing out on living their dream. They're missing out on exercising their gifts and seeing it having an impact on other people's lives because they haven't cleansed themselves through faith in Jesus Christ and through cold, hard, brutal repentance, turning away from their sin and turning back towards God. And that – let me tell you – that is so sad!

2. 

   4 Oct 2026

   The Gift that Lies Within You // Rekindling the Flame, Part 1

   God has a plan for our lives – he made us in a certain way, He gave us the gifts to do certain things, and He has already prepared those things for us to do.  Problem is, amidst the day-to-day grind of life … it's so easy to lose sight of all that.  And when we lose sight of it … we inevitably lose our way. A Different Perspective It's such a blessing for me to be able to join you again today at the beginning of a new series and I have 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; wouldn't be caught dead doing anything else rather than what I am doing right now. But even when we love doing what we are doing; even when we are serving God with all out heart, sometimes we get tired; sometimes we get rundown; sometimes so many things around us seem to be going wrong, that – well, we can lose our drive, or our determination or our direction or our sense of 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 the reality that pops up again and again for most of us. Have you noticed that? So that's why we are going to spend the next few weeks together 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 is 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. Tim has served with Paul all over the place – in Ephesus as a courier. They wrote a few 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. Why is this significant? Well, as you and I spend the next few 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 off the letter? Second 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 am 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. For this reason I want to 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 has been through so much in his life so far. He has been beaten, reviled, he has lost his position and status, he has had murder plots against him, riots, been run out of town, had to flee for his life! Unbelievable stuff!! And he starts with a statement, a feisty statement if you will, that 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 the lost and hurting world in which he lives. The easiest thing for us to do when we are travelling through difficult times is to lose our focus. But nowhere … not once in any of his letters do we see Paul do that. He is called by God to be an Apostle; one sent out to do the will and the work of God. As we are going to come to see, this whole tension between the trials and temptations and tribulations that we go through on the one hand, and the call of God in our lives on the other can throw us completely off course. That as it turns out, is what this letter to Timothy is all about. Because Paul wants something special for Timothy; his young protégé – there's a special place in Paul's heart for young 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. You see that? Paul wants Timothy to experience grace and mercy and peace from God and this letter is all about showing him how. Paul has been praying for him, even though he himself has been going through some really, really difficult times. Paul recalls the tough times they have been through in Christ's service together … the tears. And now he takes the opportunity to get Timothy focused on his purpose; focused on his mission. Rick Warren of Saddleback church in the U.S. is perhaps best known for his book and teaching series "The Purpose Driven Life". But this isn't something Rick somehow invented in the twenty first century. He discovered it right back here in the first century through Paul and others who wouldn't be shaken from the purpose that God had for their lives. And God has such a purpose, not just for Paul but for Timothy. So Paul reminds him of three things. First: the trouble that God has gone to, to hand a deep and powerful faith down to Timothy: I am 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 are going through tough times, we do well to remember what God has already done in our lives. The faith He has placed in our hearts. And secondly, in light of this faith, Paul calls Timothy to do something amazing, verse 6: For this reason, I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands. Friend, we each have a gift – something that God has given us, which we can do better than just about anyone else that we know. And how easy is it for that gift, that ability, that dream to become obscured by the cares of this world … the sheer grind of living life? You have such a gift; you have such a dream! And when you think about it, back in the first century, rekindling something wasn't that easy. When there were just smouldering embers there, it would require the careful gathering of dry kindling, placing it carefully over the few remaining embers; fanning the flame, seeing it catch to the kindling, placing larger pieces of wood on to it and then even larger, before it again became a raging fire. That's what Paul is talking about; that's what Paul is telling Timothy to do. This is what I believe God is calling us to do. Is it scary? Yes, sure it is. Is it difficult? Well, probably. We can only gather here, because of what Paul is saying, that Timothy was at risk of losing his way; at risk of losing the purpose that God had placed on his life. And Paul knows that what he is asking young Tim to do is a big ask. So the very next thing he says to Timothy. First Timothy chapter 1, verse 7: For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self discipline. Friend, over the coming weeks we are 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 called "success". And I believe with all that I am, that God doesn't want us to waste our lives. He wants us to fulfil the destiny that He set out for us before any of our days as yet existed. Don't be Ashamed It never ceases to amaze me how different God's plan for success is, from the world's plan for success. I mean, you and I, we know the world's plan all too well. We have it shoved into our faces and dangled under our noses at least a hundred times each day. You are successful if you're beautiful, if you are wealthy, if you have power and position, if you have a big house or a new shiny car – that's when you are successful. Just recently I visited 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. 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 very easy to start believing it. And that's where we can get our wires crossed; that's where we can start equating the blessing and favour of God with what the world says makes you successful. So then, when things aren't going so well in our lives; when we are travelling through trials and temptations and sometimes even torment, we can so easily come to the conclusion that, obviously, we must have failed God – obviously He is not pleased with us. Obviously I'm on the wrong path or in the wrong place. Obviously, right? So instead of pursuing that one gift that God has placed within us; that one call on our lives to go and to be what God made us to be and 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 with me that I was pursuing a career of genteel poverty. It's so easy to be ashamed when we are trying to live out our lives for God and things don't seem to be conforming to the world's ideas of success, to be pulled off course, to give up, to head off in another direction. Now, I remember a time – not that long ago – when here at the ministry of Christianityworks, we were doing things really tough financially. Most of the staff hadn't been paid for a few months and someone said to me, "Berni, maybe it's God telling you that you are in the wrong place; maybe you are meant to be going back to consulting and earning some serious money; maybe you are doing the wrong thing 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 for her. Just the day before she had been at the point of taking her own life and then she posted this blog – have a listen to this – she said: "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 crying, 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 me. I have never felt this good in my life. It is awesome!! Thank you all for your prayers and your words of encouragement and Yay! to God!!!" So, listen, go tell Ami that we are in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing. You see how easy it is to be misled – to be drawn away from God's greater purposes by mistaking a worldly idea of success for the real thing? Now, this is nothing new! And as 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 be ashamed. Second Timothy chapter 1, beginning at verse 8. Paul says, look: Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about your Lord or of me as a 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 purposes and grace. 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; this good news, that's why 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 have put my trust, and I am absolutely sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. 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 that you and I might have eternal life. We are not here to be successful in the world's eyes. We are not here to get 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's given me – the ability to tell a story for Him and using that gift in the way that 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 that equates worldly success with godly success, but a narrow road; an often 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. Second Timothy chapter 1, beginning at verse 13. Paul said, look: 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 to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us. You are 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 has 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 in Ephesus. See, everyone has deserted Paul in his trials and his afflictions, except one man. Everyone has gone a different way and in the face of all that, what does Paul do? Does he take the easy road? Does he chase after the mob? Does he go after public opinion? Does he renounce Christ? Does he base his actions on the opinion polls? No! He writes to his dear friend Timothy and says, "Look, their opinions aren't worth anything. Stick to God's Words; stick to the sound teaching of Jesus and guard the good treasure that has been entrusted to you with the help and the power and the grace and the mercy of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you." Paul isn't swayed by opinions; Paul isn't swayed by being locked up in jail and deserted and all the trials he has gone through, he knows he was called to be an Apostle; he knows he was called to be sent out to take the Good News of Jesus to a lost and hurting world. He knows that Timothy was called to be a pastor and a teacher – one called to grow people in their faith and their relationship with God. And Paul is not ashamed of the fact that he is locked up. He is not ashamed of the fact that he wears chains for Christ's sake. And he is not thrown off course by some imposter called 'success'. He counts as nothing what he's left behind – his seat on the ruling Sanhedrin, the potential to grow a mega following as a leading Rabbi in the sect of the Pharisees. And he presses on to follow his calling to exercise his gifts as an Apostle. And here's the thing: two thousand years on, we are still talking about Paul. Two thousand years on, God is still ministering to us through Paul. The Dream that Died I want to finish up today by telling you about a woman with a dream; with a special gift that she had been nurturing. When she walks out onto the stage the audience just sneered at her. The judges rolled their eyes. She was forty eight years old by her own admission, never been married, never been kissed, she was unemployed and still looking, her hair was a mess, her bushy eyebrows reminded me powerfully of a forest, she was frumpy as best, her dress looked like something my mother used to wear, back in the sixties. She had been singing since she was twelve years old, she told us and she had always wanted to sing in front of a large audience. After she pranced out on the stage and did a weird little jig – she was really quite eccentric, you know. One of the judges ask her what she dreamed of becoming. "A professional singer", she answered. The judges and the audience were incredulous. "And why hasn't it worked out for you so far?" one of the judges ask her. They all poked fun at her; they were brutal, but she stood her ground. Again, one of the judges enquired, "What are you going to be singing for us tonight?" "'I Dreamed A Dream'", from Le Miserables", she said. And on her thumbs up, the audio technician pressed the button and music began to play. She opened her mouth and began to sing and we were all utterly gobsmacked. She sang with the voice of an angel. She sang with the power and the poise and the presence of a diva, who graced the greatest opera stages of the world all her life. Words fail me in describing her performance that night. She brought the house down. Her name of course, is Susan Boyle – the show was "Britain's Got Talent" in 2009. And within just a few weeks, just over a hundred million people had watched this video clip on U-tube – a hundred million!! Now I have watched that video – it's just seven minutes and seven seconds long. I have watched it on line several times now and not once have I finished with a dry eye. The world wanted to judge this book by its cover. But before she walked out on the stage she told the interviewer, "I am going to make this audience rock." No one believed her! NO ONE believed her until she opened her mouth to sing these words from the stunning musical, "Le Miserables". I can only write them; I can't sing them to you the way she did. But let the lyrics do their work in your heart anyway. She sang: I dreamed a dream in time gone by When hope was high And life was worth living I dreamed that love would never die I dreamed that God would be forgiving. Then I was young and unafraid And dreams were made and used and wasted. There was no ransom to be paid No song unsung, no wine untasted. But the tigers came at night With their voices soft as thunder As they tear your hope apart And they turn your dream to shame. I had a dream my life would be So different from this hell I'm living So different now from what it seemed Now life has killed the dream I dreamed. Those beautiful words touch us so deeply inside somewhere because they are the story of many a life. We start off with dreams about who we will be and what we will do and … And when we are young, they tend to be bold dreams; noble dreams, altruistic dreams; dreams that find their roots somewhere deep down in our DNA – dreams about living a life that somehow, we are meant to be living. Friend, that dream comes from God because God made us to be who we are. God made us to do the things that He prepared for us beforehand to do. And, you see, this is why Paul goes to young Timothy. Timothy is ministering in a church – it's a tough gig. It's full of trials, it's full of grind, it's full of challenges. And the easiest thing in the world would be for Timothy to forget the gift that God gave him – to forget the call that God placed on his life. To wander off and say, "This is just too hard. I'm out of here – I can't deal with these people." And so Paul writes to him to remind him to rekindle the gift that God had placed within him through the laying on of Paul's hands. Friend, you have a gift. No doubt you have a dream. No doubt, it may be buried under years of neglect, it may be buried under layers of muck, but God has placed a gift in you. God has given you the ability to do something that you can do better than just about anybody else that you know. And, can I ask you something? Why do you think God put that gift in you? Why do you think God made you a certain way? Let me tell you. Because His plan was always for you to use the gift that He had given you. Not just for yourself but for other people. For you to give that gift away; to touch other people with the love of Christ.

3. 

   27 Sept 2026

   Laying Hold of Your New Life // Reaping the Harvest of Righteousness, Part 4

   Jesus talked rather a lot about slavery on the one hand, and freedom on the other. If you're a slave, freedom is a big deal. Now He was talking to you and me – still is.  Because this whole freedom thing isn't a theory lesson, He wants us to live it. Freedom! Free At Last Now, I want to share something with you today. Yours truly, I have to tell you, I am not stupid. I might be short and slightly dumpy; I may have more grey hair than that of the original colour; it may be that I can't draw a picture for nuts; there are lots of things I can't do; lots of things I'm not great at and lots of things I'm just not. But God has blessed me with a pretty nimble mind, so I'm not stupid. Now the point of me telling you that is not to boast. The point is: even though I am a bit of a bright spark, I spent the first thirty six years of my life in slavery. And here's the thing: I never realised it! That's the point. We can be as smart as smart can be; we can be as clever as clever can be on the one hand, but completely miss the whole point of life, on the other. Do you get it? I mean, I kind of realised that something wasn't quite right. I kind of realised that I didn't have the joy and contentment in life that I was so looking for in everything I tried. But I simply had no idea that the reason for that was because I was a slave … a slave to self; a slave to sin. Now, this idea of slavery may seem a little harsh or extreme. It may seem that I am somewhat overstating the case when I say that I was a slave to sin. After all, slavery is a brutal thing. Let's just stop and think for a moment what it means to be a slave. A slave is someone who has no rights. His or her master can abuse them; they have to do what their masters tell them to do; they have no freedoms; they can't come and go as they please. And if we look at slavery down through the ages, slaves are the most oppressed of all people. Somehow, innately, we know that men and women and children have been born to be free. It doesn't mean we can do anything we like. Obviously, we need laws but good laws, not oppressive laws. So, human spirit is meant to be free, albeit in the right and proper constraints of the society. So, when someone becomes a slave, it's just wrong. Interesting that the Bible, which was written over a period of a couple of thousand years – the last Books being completed in the First Century AD. The Bible doesn't take issue with slavery – neither does it endorse slavery. It just kind of accepts it as a fact of life. Now, I have some ideas as to why that might be but that's for another time. But God's Word does link sin with the concept of slavery, over and over and over again, in the New Testament especially. Let's have a listen to what Jesus said on this. John chapter 8, beginning a verse 28: So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him." As he was saying these things, many believed. Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and we have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, 'You will be made free'?" Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." Now this is a really interesting exchange and I can really, really put myself in the shoes of the people who took umbrage with Jesus about this whole slavery thing. Jesus is explaining that in order for people to be saved and have a relationship with God, they had to believe in Him. That's radical! All the other messiahs out there and there were lots of people claiming to be the promised Messiah around Jesus time. They all pointed at this or that or someone else. Jesus pointed at Himself. "Believe in me!" He was directly claiming to be God in the flesh – outrageously radical – which is one of the reasons the religious leaders had Him crucified. But it says here in verse 30 that: "… many believed". But then the bit that people took umbrage with: Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word you truly are my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. Now, when someone talks to you and me about freedom these days, the first thing we think about, probably, is not slavery, because most of us aren't slaves. Although I have no doubt that of the millions of people listening to this message around the globe, right now, some in fact, are slaves. Most of us aren't and so if someone comes and talks to us about freedom, slavery is not front of mind. But it was back in the first century because there were lots of slaves. The words about being made free, intentionally pointed to freedom from slavery. People knew what He was talking about and that how it was taken. And this is where the Jews who believed in Him had a problem. They answered Him, "We are descendants of Abraham, we have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, "You will be made free"? And that's where Jesus hits them between the eyes. Jesus answered them, "Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household. The son has a place there forever. So if the son makes you free, you will be free indeed." Friend, sin is slavery. Let me say that again: sin is slavery. It is a yoke of oppression. It robs us of freedom and of life. When we are wrapped up in our own selves and in our own selfish desires; when we are trying to get the world to bow down to us, rather than us loving and serving those around us, friend, we lose our lives. And Jesus came to set the captives free – that's why righteousness is so important. Righteousness is the opposite of sin. As we saw last week on the programme, righteousness is not just an attribute of God; it's something that God gives to us as a free gift, when we believe in Jesus. We become the righteousness of God. Now we are going to live life either in sin or in righteousness. We are! It's one or the other and once we have a right standing with God (that's what "righteousness" means); once we have become righteous because we believe in Jesus, we are meant to live that out. It's like the criminal who has served his time in prison and he is released and he steps out of that gate and he either continues in his criminal ways – which many do, and they end up back behind bars which, frankly, has always struck me as sheer lunacy but it shows you how powerful sin is in people's lives – OR following his release, he mends his ways; and he lives out his new life of freedom and gets the benefits of all that. He is not in prison anymore; he can live out his new life. The new man, set free. Well, you and I have been set free if we believe in Jesus, through faith. Question is: how are we going to live that out? The Power of Change Now, blind Freddy can see that being forgiven and having a right standing with God is only part of the equation – it's only the beginning. It's like a prisoner being set free at the end of his sentence. He steps out of the prison gate. It's a huge step, but it's only the first one of the rest of his life of freedom. Freedom is something to be lived out and so it is for anyone who has taken the first step of believing in Jesus: believing what He did for us on that cross; believing that He rose from the dead to give us a new life; believing that He has placed His Holy Spirit inside us so that we can live that new life of freedom. Jesus said this, listen very carefully. John chapter 8, verses 34 to 36: Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." And the Apostle Paul, some decades on, restates it so that we won't miss it. Galatians chapter 5, verse 1: For freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. In other words: the reason that we have been set free is in order to be free, to live out our new lives of freedom. For freedom Christ has set us free. God hasn't set us free through this great and mighty act of love – the sacrifice of His Son – in order for us to submit again to the yoke of slavery which sin places on us. He set us free so that we can be free from sin, free indeed! You and I both know – we chatted about this earlier – that a prisoner who has served his sentence, steps out of that prison gate a free man but he can return to his life of crime and many of them do and eventually he finds himself back behind bars. Or we can live out this new life as a free man, a free woman, without breaking the law; without turning against God for the rest of our days. I have never been incarcerated but I'd have thought it would be a horrible thing. I'd have thought that one night, let alone a year or two or twenty would be more than enough to convince anyone not to reoffend. But many, many do and the majority of people in prison today are in fact, re-offenders. Incredible. Mad, you might say. But think about it: it's exactly what many a believer in Christ does. We believe – we take the first step of freedom – we believe in Jesus, but then we go on living just like before, only to discover that this new found freedom in Christ, isn't what it was cracked up to be because we are submitting back to that cruel yoke of slavery which is sin. Now, in part, that is because sin is so deeply engrained in our flesh. And the Apostle Paul has this exact same problem. Romans chapter 7, beginning at verse 15: I do not understand my own actions. Because I do not do what I want, I do the very thing that I hate. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want, that is what I do. So I find this to be a law that whenever I want to do this good, evil lies close at hand. I delight in the law of God in my inmost being, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. That's the problem we all face. "Man, this 'sin' thing is so strong in me. I'm so weak, how am I ever going to live it out, this righteousness of God? How am I ever going to reap the harvest, the blessing; the fruit of righteousness? I just can't do it!" And therein lies the whole point: you and I can't do … we can't do it on our own; we simply can't. I can't and you can't, we need the blessing of God; we need the power of God. The question is: where do you get it? The question is: will He give me the power; will He give you the power? What would you say if I told you we already have the power? Have a listen to this promise from God's Word. Second Peter chapter 1, verses 2 to 4: May grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in this world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature. Need something to be godly? I do! You do too, actually. Well, God has already given us that – past tense. It is a done deal! Don't you like that? God has already given us everything needed for life. In other words, He has given us our lives back; real life, abundant life because we are now righteousness through faith in Jesus and we have a right standing with Him. But not just what's needed for life but also for godliness. He's given us everything we need to escape from the corruption of this world and become – wait for it – participants of the divine nature; to be one with God; to know God so deeply; for the image of God to be so bright and so vibrant and so powerful in us. Get it? We already have everything we need Just like Jesus prayed for us in John chapter 17, that we would become one with Him, the way Him and His Father are one. We have to work at that. The closer we get to Jesus, the more we change; the more we love Him and experience His love in return, the more our behaviour changes. And that's why we stand firm; that's why our lives are changed: For this reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness and goodness with knowledge and knowledge with self-control and self-control with endurance and endurance with godliness and godliness with mutual affection and mutual affection with love. If these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter chapter 1:5-8) Friend, God has already given you and me so much in Jesus. Wake up!! Stop grumbling. Stop living under this deception that we can't beat sin in our lives. It's already beaten on the cross! We already have a new life through the empty tomb. We already have the power of the Spirit – the very same one who raised Jesus from the dead. Read it. Ephesians chapter 1: We have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing through Christ in heavenly places. Believe that. It's God's promise. It's the power to change. Just believe! A Transformed Life Well, we are almost at the end of another series and it's amazing how quickly time flies. Now, over these last few weeks we have been talking about reaping a harvest … reaping the harvest of righteousness. As I have said on a few occasions now, in this series, I used to think that righteousness was a bunch of rules I had to live by: do this and God will smile upon my life; do that, WHACK, He'll punish me. That was my view of this word 'righteousness' which, let's face it, is not used so much these days anymore. But that's not what God had in mind when He had the Apostle Paul write these words in his letter to the church at Philippi. Philippians chapter 1, beginning at verse 9: And this is my prayer: that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ, you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. It's not a matter of rules, it's about love, see? And that's what I had to get out of my system. And to tell you the truth, my hunch is, even after a decade and a half of walking with Jesus, even after almost a decade of teaching God's Word on air as I am doing right now, my hunch is I am still getting this misconception of a ruled based God out of my system. I know we all have to live by rules, the law for starters. Obviously, we all have to live by some rules. But by and large we don't mind that; we get it, ninety nine times out of a hundred that in order to live in a society, there have to be some boundaries set that organise the place and make sure everyone is kind of looked after and kept safe. But on the fringes of those rules – let's be honest – there are some rough edges. This is the place where arguments happen: on the fringes; on the borders; in the disputed territories. I mean, disputes between neighbours, what are they about? The fence line; the noise – they are about things either on the boundary or things that cross over the boundary that one party thinks, "Well, that's fine" and the other one thinks, "No, it's not". It's the same in the home or at work. Disputes happen when someone breaks some rules that we have in our heads, whether they are valid or not. The more we think about it, the more rules are a big deal in this world. The ones that are written down called laws, the ones that are unspoken but accepted and then the ones that you and I carry around as our own personal set of rules. So it's easy to imagine that God is this rule-bound God. After all that's what the Old Testament is about – the whole Old Testament story of God, loving and engaging His chosen people, Israel, and their universal inability to keep His law; His rules given through Moses. The whole of the Old Testament screams out at you that this whole rule thing just doesn't work. And there is a reason for that. Have a listen to what the Apostle Paul writes: My friends, you have died to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another; to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are discharged from the law; dead to that which held us captive so that we are slaves, not on to the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit. See, there it is. All that rules really do is point out where we are going wrong. There is no power in the law to change our hearts. We work at it and we work at it and we are still not pure and holy and perfect, the way God is. So the law holds us captive but Jesus died and rose again and those of us, who believe in Him, in effect, die and rise again. We die to sin, we die to the law and we are raised up into a new life. Born again! No longer under the burden of law, but a new life; a transformed life, living in love and forgiveness; living as one with God because He put His Holy Spirit in us – a new law in the Spirit, the law of life rather than of death. How is this possible? Because all my sins, past, present and future, have been paid for by Jesus on the cross – yours too. So when you and I fail God, as we do almost every day, no longer are we condemned under the law. We go to God, we admit our mistakes, we turn away from them and we ask Him for His forgiveness through Jesus, and then we get on with life. We died to that whole ruled-based thing and now there is a whole new life ahead of us – that's the whole point. Not to mope around like nothing has changed; not to whinge and complain about things; not to live as though we are still condemned men and women, but to live a new, vibrant life. Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17: If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. Everything old has passed away and, see, everything has become new. Hello! Wake up! This is fantastic news and the thing that changes now is our hearts. Once we are not condemned anymore; once we are free; once we are enjoying Jesus and the presence of His Spirit, man, we want to do His will; we want to live out righteousness. God's ways become a whole bunch easier, because instead of pulling against them, we are so delighted with this new life, we just want to live it out with Him for His glory and that's why we want to do it His way. That's exactly what Paul writes in his New Testament letter to the church at Philippi. Philippians chapter 2, beginning at verse 12: Therefore my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. We obey God which we should, not because we are rule-bound to do so; not because we are dragged into that place, kicking and screaming, but because He is at work in us, enabling us, not just to do what is right, but to want to do what is right. That's huge! This is the Gospel of grace and of love and of mercy, all made possible by Jesus dying for you and me, so our sins could be forgiven and rising again from the dead that we may have a brand new life in the Spirit – the Holy Spirit – whom He sends to dwell in each one of us, each person who puts their faith in Jesus. You know, you stand back and you think about what God has done, and you think, "That is just awesome." I mean, if that isn't good news, tell me what is!

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