You are A Gift

You'd fill her afresh as you've refreshed her on holiday. Lord,

would you fill her afresh as she shares your word?

Thank you that Lord, she's dug into your word in

preparation for this morning. Our hearts open, our ears are

ready to hear. Speak to us, touch us in part

to us through her as she shares your word in

Jesus name.

Amen, Thank you, Good morning.

So today is the last in our series on gifts

this month, and the.

Title the Lord gave me is you are a Gift.

You may have heard this quote before, but the Lord

wanted me to start with this. How cool is it

that the same God who created the mountains, oceans, and

galaxies thought the world needed one of you? Stop and

think about that for a minute.

We quite rightly.

You can look in awe at mountains and think of

how phenomenal, all knowing, and all powerful is our creator.

Why not just because of the size of them, the

variety of sizes, the combination in different locations, but also

the detail the geology, the makeup of the rocks, the

makeup of the soil and soil science, hydro geology, the

groundwater and how it interacts with soil and rock. The

flora and fauna, the plant and animal life that will

survive there.

And obviously that's not.

Covering everything exhaustively, and I've only mentioned mountains. The same

God who not only created mountains but also created oceans

and galaxies, decided the world needed you to your significance.

Our individual significance is not based on our size, thankfully,

or the myriad of details that make us who we are,

but in the fact that God decided the world needed

you and also decided that you were worth saving. He

sent his beloved son Jesus to pay the ultimate price

with his agonizing death on the cross, to take the

punishment for your sins and mine, then rose again. This

was so that all who believe in him, not just

that he exists, but actually put their faith in and

surrender their lives to him, should live not only forever

with him after our time on earth is over, but

also receive His Holy Spirit by faith to enable.

Us to live with and for Him. Now.

So if you've ever questioned your self worth, remind yourself

of what Jesus did for you, what he chose to

do for you, as it's written in John three sixteen.

And I'm actually going to read from the Complete Jewish Bible,

John three sixteen.

For God so loved the world that he gave his.

Only and unique son, so that everyone who trusts in

him may have eternal life instead of being utterly destroyed.

The highest possible price was paid for you because God

decided that you were worth it, and He doesn't make mistakes.

If we're struggling to recognize and acknowledge our value, it's

important to remember not to value our own assessment of

ourselves above God's, to set more store by our own

opinion of ourselves than God's. It's important to accept what

God says about us, even if we don't feel it

or struggle to believe it.

He tells the truth Ephesians one four.

In the NIV, Ephesians one four says, for He chose

us in him before the creation of the world, to

be holy and blameless in his sight. It's so important

that we're chosen. To understand that we're chosen by God

who knows us completely and still loves us. Is this

Mike still on John?

It is okay, okay.

And the Living Bible is a modern paraphrase of the

Bible to help make it easier to understand you may

not have the exact version here, but Ephesians one four

in the Living Bible says, long ago, even before he

made the world, God chose us to be his very

own through what Christ would do for us. He decided

then to make us holy in his eyes, without a

single fault, we who stand before Him covered with his love.

The following are excerpts.

From something Joyce Smier, the American Christian author and speaker,

says in an article in her Amplified Bible, it's called

you have been chosen. Three of the strongest desires human

beings have are to be loved, to be accepted, and

to feel that we belong. We want to feel valuable.

We cannot be guaranteed of always getting that in our

dealings with people, but we can get it from God.

Even though God knows everything about us, and I do

mean everything, he still chooses us on purpose. God made

provision in Jesus for us to be holy, blameless, and consecrated,

set apart for him. We can live before Him in

love without reproach. This means we do not have to

feel guilty about all our weaknesses and faults. You and

I are no surprise to God, he knew exactly what

he was getting when he chose us. God has hope

for us, and he believes in us and is working

in us to help us to be all He has

planned for us. Like it says in Philippians two thirteen

in the class he amplified. I know you've got the

amplified on here, but I'm reading on the classic. From

the classic amplified Philippians two thirteen, it is God who

is all the while effectually at work in you, energizing

and creating in you the power and desire both to

will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction

and delight. It is God who is all the while

affectionately at work in you, energizing and creating in you

the power and desire both to will and to work

for his good pleasure and satisfaction and delight. God loves

us as we are, and loves us too much to

leave us as we are, So he works in us

as we learn to surrender to the Holy Spirit living

in us, and learn to surrender to the truth of

His word, so we can fulfill the potential that He

put in us. Forgiveness is a gift from the Lord

to us made possible by Jesus' death and resurrection. When

we repent of our sin. Every time we break the

law of love, love God, love others, and love ourselves,

we're forgiven and we can move on from it. There

may be consequences that we have to deal with, but

we don't need to get stuck there. So you are

a gift, a gift from God to the world around you. However,

if our sense of self worth is not based on

the truth of the Word of God, because of experiences,

because of wrong things that may have been spoken over us, etc.

It can be placed in lies or half truths without

us even realizing it sometimes, So I'm just.

Going to briefly explore.

One example, is your sense of worth based on your age.

If you live in a culture where older age is.

Not valued, your sense of your own worth may reduce

as you get older. I know someone who, when they

turned eighty said, that's it. I'm a second class citizen.

Now I thought that was sad and shocking as well

as wrong, and challenged it. Proverbs twenty verse twenty nine.

Proverbs twenty verse twenty nine, and I'm reading from the

SV says the glory of young men is their strength.

But the splendor of old men is.

Their gray hair. Hallelujah.

The amplified ads representing wisdom and experience, I would add,

the wisdom and experience is still there even if the

hair is dyed. Here the Bible makes it clear that

older people are seen as having valuable life experience and

wisdom to share with younger generations. They can serve in

different ways. The New Testament mentions the role of older

women in teaching younger women, so it's not just about men.

For example, when I went to the Central African Republic

with Wickliffe Bible translators for a year in my mid twenties,

because I didn't have a home church so behind me

praying for me. I had no home church. Wickliffe connected

me with a lady in Kent who was a faithful

prayer partner in her nineties. She needed home care to

support her with activities of daily living, but she supported

me on the mission field in and I look forward

to meeting her in Heaven to say thank you. Some

people value youth, but depending on the context, that can

mean a lack of experience, which can impact confidence. God's

word to Jeremiah in the book of Jeremiah chapter one,

verses five to eight addresses this. I'm reading from the NIV.

So Jeremiah chapter one, verses five to eight. Before I

formed you in the womb, I knew you before you

were born. I set you apart, I appointed you verse

six a last sovereign lord. I said, I do not

know how to speak. I am too young. But the

Lord said to me, do not say I am too young.

You must go to everyone I send you to and

say whatever I command you.

Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you,

declares the Lord. Verse seven.

But the Lord said to me, do not say I

am too young. Go wherever I send you. I am

with you. I've deliberately not quoted the parts that were

specific to Jeremiah because it's easier to personalize it for us.

It's good to personalize God's word where appropriate when we

read it, because if it wasn't relevant to us, it

would just be an interesting history book. But God's word

is all relevant to us. No, just the prophet Jeremiah,

who made the contribution that he did to God's eternal

word was not chosen because of his great skill as

an orator or any other natural gifts, his looks, or

his charismatic personality. He was chosen before he was born.

Chose him because Jeremiah was his divine choice. It is

God who gives us and calls us to do whatever

He calls us to do, or to say, or even

think so. To say or even think that my gifts

on my call or my calling, and by implication I

am superior or inferior to anyone else, means that I

am judging God's decisions. That's never a smart thing to do.

Jesus paid the same price for each one of us.

Just to be clear, our value is not in our

gifts and calling. We have intrinsic value because God made

us and deemed us worth saving, but because of the

culture that we live in, because of our human nature.

I think it can be to equate the two. The

point is you are a gift. Your age doesn't add

or detract from this truth. My second point is you

are a gift where God has placed you. We are

all in unique positions of influence because of the unique

relationships that we have with different people in different places.

It's both a privilege and a responsibility. Looking at briefly

in the first chapter of the Book of John, John

the Baptist has been preaching in the wilderness and also

baptizing in the Jordan River at Bethany. In Verses thirty

two to thirty three, he said he'd seen the Spirit

descending it as a dove out of heaven and remain

on Jesus, and John recognized God's voice, telling him that

Jesus would baptize in the Holy Spirit. So John one

versi is thirty five to thirty seven. The next day,

John was standing with two of his disciples when he

saw Jesus passing by. He said, look the Lamb of God.

The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus.

Verse forty Andrew Simon, Peter's brother, was one of the

two who heard John and followed him. He first found

his own brother, Simon and told him, we have found

the Messiah, which has translated the Christ, and he brought

Simon to Jesus.

So here we see.

The impact of John the Baptist's influence. His disciples obviously

respected him enough to follow him to be his disciples.

So when John said something that he'd clearly seen in

the spirit and not with his natural eyes, essentially reiterating

something he'd said the previous day. The disciples acted on

it and followed Jesus. Then Andrew, because of his relationship

with his brother, Simon, then brought him to Jesus. He

utilized his position of influence with his brother to bring

him to Jesus. This completely changed the direction of Simon's life. Simon,

who Jesus renamed Cephas or Peter, was a fisherman who

went on to become a great leader in the early Church.

That's a challenge for us to consider. How do we

see our position of influence within our families and also

within our circle of friends and acquaintances. How do you

think God sees it? And a separate question, how will

we use opposition of influence within these circles. Just a

little reminder, you are a gift strategically placed by the Lord.

Even if, for whatever reason, you believe that the Lord

wants to make changes in your life that would involve,

for example, moving away or a different job, thereby changing

your sphere of influence, that's fine, continue to pray into

those moves, but I strongly encourage you not to disregard

your current position of influence, as the Lord can still

speak through you, show love for you, etc.

As long as you're there.

Chuck Colson is a name that some of you will

recognize and others won't. He was an American attorney and

political advisor to President Richard Nixon in nineteen sixty nine

to seventy before he was caught up in the Watergates

scandal of the early nineteen seventies. I won't go into that,

but he spent seven months in prison as a result.

His downfall led to his conversion, although he was widely

mocked when he announced his faith in Christ. The following

true story is based.

On an interview with him.

One beautiful evening in Florida, a group of wealthy guests

gathered at a party overlooking a bay full of expensive yachts.

The hostess had asked Chuck Coulson to tell his story.

As you can imagine, he was well known to them.

Colson spoke to a skeptical and uncomfortable audience, who, he

said later in an interview, didn't want to appear to

be affected by his story.

When Colson took questions.

From the audience, most people asked about Nixon or Watergate,

until finally one man spoke up and said, mister Coulson,

as you can see, all of us here live a.

Very good life.

None of us, of course, would have any experiences like

yours going from the White House to prison. What would

you say to people like us who have no problems

in life? Colson replied, well, you may not have had them,

yet you will. If there's anybody here who has really

had a life without problems, I'd sure like to talk

to him afterwards, because everybody has their share of problems.

And if you don't now, you will when you're lying

on your deathbed, and all of these things will have

no meaning to you because you know your life is

about to end. Colson said the impact on his audience

was like letting air out of bellows. There wasn't a sound.

Nobody applauded. The hostess rose and announced, you make yourself comfortable,

and mister Colson will stay and answer questions. A steady

stream of people came to Chuck and his wife, telling

them things like my son is on drugs and I

can't find him, and my husband's got four mistresses. I

don't know how to deal with it. They told a divorce,

family problems, civil suits. No one accepted my invitation to

explain how life can become problem free, Colson wrote, no

one lived such a life. The attitude was pure facade.

Colson was speaking to an audience very successful people, many

of whom would never admit their need of Christ, but

he knew their need because he'd been there himself. His

position in this case, his fame and previous occupation, clearly

a very successful man prior to his imprisonment, put him

in a unique position to have the ear of these

people and the opportunity to influence them. I'm not suggesting

that we need to have had the same experiences as

someone in order to be able to speak into someone's life. Love,

in my opinion, is a universal language that can transcend

these kinds of barriers, and how we express love will

obviously vary depending on the situation what's appropriate. However, whatever

our sphere of influence, it's an opportunity that's both a

privilege and a responsibility, and one that we need to

manage prayerfully, with wisdom, as the Holy Spirit leads us.

You may feel like you have nothing to offer. That's

a broad statement, so I'm going to make it more specific.

You may recognize your value, your gifts in certain situations,

but in others feel overwhelmed and out of your depth,

like you've got nothing to bring, nothing to give. In

Genesis one, verse one, Genesis one, verse one, it says

in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The amplified says created by forming from nothing, the heavens

and the earth. It goes on to say that the

earth was without form and empty.

It's quite hard for us to get our heads.

Around the concept of what nothing looks like. I'd say

that there's nothing in front of me right now if

I move the microway. But God said created the air

that we breathe, so it's exactly the right composition for

us to live. It's mostly nitrogen, about twenty percent oxygen,

with small amounts of argon, carbon dioxide, and various trace

gases and potentially water vapor. But God started with literally

nothing and clearly recognizes the importance of detail when it's needed.

My point is starting with nothing is not an obstacle

for God, but rather an opportunity. Bring him your nothing

by faith and watch what he will do. We also

need to remember and hold on to God's promise that's

repeated many times in different ways throughout the Bible. For example,

in Matthew twenty eight twenty I Am with you always here,

it goes on to say even to the end of

the age. In other words, this promise will hold true

for all believers until Jesus comes back to Earth, which

he will. Many things may seem uncertain in this life,

but Jesus will come again, He's promised.

So you are a gift.

It's important to anchor our sense of worth on what

God says about us, and certainly not on our age.

Whether we see that positively or not. You are a

gift where God has placed you. Let's ask the Lord

to help us to use our influence well. But before

we do that, I believe that the Lord is saying

that at least two people who are either listening right

now in the room online or will listen to the

podcast later, have started to give up on life in

different ways.

The Lord wants you to receive the truth that you

are a gift.

You are His gift, uniquely placed to influence people who

are harder to reach than many. Your influence may be

personal and or it may be professional. So often you

feeling inadequate, even like you have impostor syndrome.

What am I doing here?

I believe the Lord is saying, I have placed you strategically,

and I have plans and purposes for your life, whilst

they may not be that clear to you at the moment.

Don't allow that lack of clarity to lead you to

think that your life is without meaning. You are a gift,

my pressure and chosen gift to the people around you.

In Two Corinthians three eighteen two Corinthians three eighteen, in

the amplified, it says, and we all with unveiled face,

continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,

are progressively being transformed into his image, from one degree

of glory to even more glory, which comes from the Lord,

who is the spirit.

The Lord is.

Saying, I am changing you from glory to glory. It's

a process and doesn't always feel like a pleasant one,

but I'm in charge of it, so it's going to

be okay. Before closing, I believe the Lord wants us

to briefly consider the gift of others in our lives.

I appreciate not everyone in our lives necessarily feels like

a gift, but anyway, Proverbs twenty seven, verse seventeen. Proverbs

twenty seven, verse seventeen in the Amplified Bible says, as

iron sharpens iron, so one man and sharpens and influences

another through discussion. As iron sharpens iron, so one man

sharpens and influences another through discussion. Obviously, people aren't always

a positive influence on each other, but.

Let's start positively.

There's a guy that we used to know, and there's

a phrase that I still associate with him.

That's lovely.

He would say it that often that I still associate

it with him. What a positive thing to associate with someone.

Then there's someone I.

Used to work with who is affectionately known as moaning Mini.

Guess why she complained so much That well lovely lady

in particular used to say to her something along the

lines of come on, moaning Minnie. But her manner was

unmistakably warm as well as sound to earth, so she'd

get away with trying to help her to reset. What

do people associate with you and with me? It's worth

considering as our habits, not only our behavioral habits, but

also our habits in speech form part of our influence,

not just what we say when we speak directly into

a situation or about a situation. There's someone in my

life who has a particular behavior that I find challenging.

I'm learning not to moan and just let it go

by reminding myself that in the scheme of things, it's

not that important. I also find it helpful to remind

myself of this person's good qualities. Just because I find

a particular behavior irritating isn't an excuse to be blind

to their positive characteristics and what these can teach me.

There's a time to address behaviors and a time to

let them go. And it's also worth understanding from the

Lord whether you're the one who is best placed to

address them, or whether it's someone else or a matter

for prayer to leave in the Lord's hands. I want

to close with an excerpt from the well known book

by Cory ten Boom, The Hiding Place. This Dutch Christian

lady and her family were heavily involved in helping Jews

during the Nazi occupation of Holland in World War II,

until someone betrayed them. I'm starting at the point where

Cory and her sister Betsy have been taken to a

concentration camp and assigned to a barracks designed to hold

four hundred, but with a population of fourteen hundred female prisoners.

She says, here there was not even a common language,

and among exhausted, ill fed people, quarrels irrupted constantly. There

was one raging now as the women sleeping nearest the

windows slammed them shut against the cold. But once scores

of voices demanded that they be raised again, brawls were

starting up, or starting all up and down that side

of the room in the dark. I felt Betsy's hand

clasp mine, Lord Jesus, she said, aloud, send your peace

into this room. There's been too little praying here. The

very walls know it. But where you come, Lord, the

spirit of strife cannot exist. The change was gradual, but distinct.

One by one, the angry sounds let up. In fact,

a couple of people made different comments, and it ended

with a ripple of laughter going round the room. Cory said,

I knew there was one more circumstance for which I

could give thanks. Betsy had come to barracks twenty eight.

Such was the gift and influence of Betsy on Cory,

and the power of them in prayer, inviting Jesus into

the situation. Sometimes the best way to influence people or

a situation is to invite Jesus into it by faith

in prayer. The important thing is to understand from Him

what our role is in a given situation, and then

do the best we can buy faith and trust him

with all that we're not, and to make good any

mistakes we make. Let's pray, Lord, thank you that in

your eyes we are all a gift, chosen and precious

to you to have influence where you've placed us. Help us,

Father God, to use our influence well by teaching us

more and more to lean on and learn from the

Holy Spirit and from your word, because we ask it

for your glory in Jesus' name.

Amen.