[00:00:09] Welcome to Gracious Words.
[00:00:11] Gracious Words is taken from the weekly women's Bible study taught by Cheryl Brodersen at Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California.
[00:00:33] On today's program, we'll continue our study in leadership.
[00:00:37] God's ways are not our ways.
[00:00:39] He doesn't choose leaders based on qualifications, experience, or education.
[00:00:44] God is looking for those who are faithful and whose hearts are willing to serve Him.
[00:00:49] Here is Part 2 of Cheryl's message titled, Enabling for Leadership.
[00:01:19] By the time, I was five years old because my dad kept being transferred from church to church.
[00:01:27] He usually had to work two jobs other than the pastorate to feed his family.
[00:01:31] He worked construction, boat cleaning, mobile home cleaning, butcher, gardener.
[00:01:37] In fact, the country club golf course on Santa Ana Avenue, I don't know how many of you know where that is,
[00:01:45] that huge golf course between Santa Ana and Newport Boulevard.
[00:01:49] He used to mow it with a hand mower.
[00:01:51] He was the man out there mowing the lawn.
[00:01:57] He didn't even golf.
[00:01:58] Somebody gave him a set of golf clubs.
[00:02:01] He never even golfed.
[00:02:06] This was who he was.
[00:02:10] And he didn't even really want his kids mixed up with hippies.
[00:02:13] But when God said yes, he said, all right, Lord, not my will, but yours be done.
[00:02:23] He didn't even know who the Beatles were.
[00:02:28] Even when my brother said, these are the Beatles, he's like, Bucks?
[00:02:32] I mean, he did not know the Beatles.
[00:02:37] He never even listened to a Beatles song in his entire life.
[00:02:41] He wouldn't have even recognized one if he heard it.
[00:02:45] But this thing he did, he said, yes, yes, whatever, Lord.
[00:02:51] I'm yours.
[00:02:52] Do whatever you want.
[00:02:55] See, the call is about what God wants to do.
[00:02:58] And it is a call to partnership with God, to simply be used and enabled by God to serve with God.
[00:03:07] It is not our work, but his.
[00:03:13] So we begin in verse 12 with God's enabling grace.
[00:03:17] I love this scripture.
[00:03:18] And I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me in the ministry.
[00:03:31] Who enabled Paul?
[00:03:33] The Lord.
[00:03:34] How was Paul able to be in the ministry?
[00:03:37] The Lord.
[00:03:39] What qualification did he bring?
[00:03:42] Faithful, holding on to the Lord.
[00:03:44] Ultimately, leadership is all about the call of God, what God wants to do.
[00:03:50] And simply saying yes and then following orders.
[00:03:53] Jesus does the rest.
[00:03:56] Those who refuse the call of God, know, find someone else, will never feel or sense the power of enabling grace.
[00:04:07] There is nothing like doing something by enabling grace.
[00:04:15] Nothing like it.
[00:04:16] I still remember the thrill of having my training wheels taken off my bike.
[00:04:23] Because I had never ridden on two wheels before.
[00:04:26] It had always been those four.
[00:04:27] As they call them in England, stabilizers.
[00:04:30] And I remember my dad was holding, because it was banana seat.
[00:04:33] Remember the banana seats with the bars in the back?
[00:04:36] He was holding on to it.
[00:04:37] He was running along with me.
[00:04:39] He said, you're doing so good.
[00:04:40] You're doing so good.
[00:04:40] And I'm like, am I still doing good, Dad?
[00:04:42] Am I still doing good, Dad?
[00:04:47] And I hear this voice, way to go.
[00:04:50] And I'm like, and it dawned on me, I don't know how to ride a bike.
[00:04:56] And that's when I crashed into the telephone pole.
[00:04:59] But there was that elation of doing it.
[00:05:03] Like, I'm actually pedaling and I'm not falling over.
[00:05:08] Again, tell the telephone pole.
[00:05:09] But there is this ecstasy, this divinity that is poured into us that is the power of God.
[00:05:22] In 1 Corinthians, the very last chapter, Paul said, you're always looking for evidence that
[00:05:28] God is working in your midst.
[00:05:31] But I'm telling you that God wants to be mighty in you.
[00:05:36] You see, we're always looking like, is God working?
[00:05:40] Is he working?
[00:05:41] And God says, I want to work.
[00:05:43] I want to make you the miracle.
[00:05:46] I want to work through you so you can say it's not me.
[00:05:52] It's God's enabling grace.
[00:05:54] And you can testify to other people, you can do this because it's what God does, not what
[00:06:00] I'm conjuring up.
[00:06:02] There are those who will always live in their comforts and their expertise and only what comes
[00:06:10] naturally.
[00:06:11] But God is calling us way beyond ourselves, way beyond what we feel comfortable doing to
[00:06:19] a place that we can only do what we do by the enabling grace of God.
[00:06:27] This is the grace that God talked about in 2 Corinthians 12, 9.
[00:06:31] That grace that is sufficient for all things and even manifested in our weakness.
[00:06:39] It gets stronger the weaker we are.
[00:06:43] It gets better the worse that we are.
[00:06:50] There is nothing like God's enabling grace.
[00:06:53] I asked you to pray for the conference I spoke at, the Ablaze conference, the one that was
[00:07:00] like with all of the music from the Jesus movement.
[00:07:06] I asked you to pray.
[00:07:08] I didn't want to speak at it.
[00:07:10] I kept praying for COVID, even though I've been inoculated, just a really good excuse not
[00:07:15] to go.
[00:07:16] I told God all the reasons that I wasn't the right person to speak at this.
[00:07:22] Greg Laurie went before me.
[00:07:24] He is polished.
[00:07:26] He's professional.
[00:07:27] He's packaged.
[00:07:29] And me, he had notes.
[00:07:32] He's so good.
[00:07:33] Oh, give me.
[00:07:34] He's so dynamic.
[00:07:36] And I'm sitting there and all I'm getting is more and more intimidated.
[00:07:39] Like, why?
[00:07:40] Why me?
[00:07:41] And I'm asking God for something.
[00:07:43] Like, Father, give me anything.
[00:07:46] I got one phrase.
[00:07:48] Hong Kong flu.
[00:07:50] That's all I got.
[00:07:53] I'm like, show me.
[00:07:54] Is there a story I can tell?
[00:07:57] Father, it's going to be me.
[00:07:59] Give me something.
[00:08:00] Hong Kong flu.
[00:08:01] It's like, seriously.
[00:08:04] Give me something.
[00:08:06] Hong Kong flu.
[00:08:09] Next thing I knew, this girl said, I get up there.
[00:08:18] And this man's introducing me.
[00:08:20] And he's like, I've heard that you do a podcast.
[00:08:26] I'm like, yeah.
[00:08:28] I heard that you.
[00:08:30] And you know, I'm supposed to see something like, yes.
[00:08:32] It's on.
[00:08:32] And I'm like, yeah.
[00:08:34] Up in front of everyone.
[00:08:35] Yeah.
[00:08:36] I heard you read your Bible every day.
[00:08:39] Yeah.
[00:08:41] Heard you do a women's Bible study.
[00:08:42] I'm like, I'm smiling because that's what I do when I'm nervous.
[00:08:49] Yeah.
[00:08:50] And he goes, and you have something to share.
[00:08:53] Yes.
[00:08:58] You know what?
[00:08:59] During the 60s, we didn't have COVID.
[00:09:02] We had a Hong Kong flu.
[00:09:05] We didn't have global warming.
[00:09:06] We had the ozone.
[00:09:08] We didn't have Afghanistan.
[00:09:11] We had Vietnam.
[00:09:12] Oh my goodness.
[00:09:14] All of a sudden it just started flowing.
[00:09:15] And like in the 60s, they were so scary.
[00:09:18] We have people hijacking.
[00:09:20] Now we have terrorists hijacking.
[00:09:21] We have the same thing, but God broke through.
[00:09:24] And he began to speak and meet people and give us these wonderful transforming testimonies.
[00:09:30] And I was mesmerized by what Jesus could do.
[00:09:33] And our father wants to do the same thing.
[00:09:36] So then I prayed and I got off the stage.
[00:09:38] Five minutes.
[00:09:43] And when I got down, the lady who had gone, she gave me a high five.
[00:09:48] She even grabbed my hand and said, thank you.
[00:09:51] Thank you.
[00:09:51] Because I got him back on track.
[00:09:53] With the timing.
[00:09:59] Do you want to feel the Lord working through you?
[00:10:03] Then say yes and follow orders.
[00:10:08] Secondly, God's qualifications are so different than men.
[00:10:12] God is not looking for expertise, experience, or education.
[00:10:16] God is looking for faithfulness.
[00:10:19] Will you say yes?
[00:10:20] Will you just do what he says?
[00:10:21] He's looking for loyalty.
[00:10:23] Second Chronicles 16.9.
[00:10:25] For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf
[00:10:32] of those whose heart is loyal to him.
[00:10:35] Did you catch that?
[00:10:37] What's the prerequisite for God to work?
[00:10:39] Are you loyal to him?
[00:10:41] Is he your only God?
[00:10:43] Is he who you look to in trouble and hard times?
[00:10:49] Those who look to God, God will manifest himself.
[00:10:54] Just show up.
[00:10:56] Just show up.
[00:10:58] Just attend.
[00:11:00] God is the one who counts as worthy.
[00:11:03] He qualifies.
[00:11:03] He equips.
[00:11:04] He enables.
[00:11:05] He places.
[00:11:07] He's the one who counts as worthy.
[00:11:08] Thirdly, Paul, by all accounts, should never have been placed in leadership.
[00:11:13] Imagine his job application for pastor, church planter, and evangelist.
[00:11:18] Former occupation?
[00:11:20] Blasphemer.
[00:11:22] Persecutor.
[00:11:24] Insolent man.
[00:11:25] Seriously, would you buy a used car from this man?
[00:11:29] Paul had worked against the church in every way possible.
[00:11:36] And he even was deluded enough to think he was pleasing God and that this is what God wanted
[00:11:43] him to do.
[00:11:43] You know, it's one thing if he was knowing, I'm working against the church and I'm working
[00:11:51] against Jesus and I'm working against God.
[00:11:54] I can see like coming to his senses, but he was so deluded, he thought, God wants me to
[00:11:59] do this.
[00:12:00] That's a strong delusion.
[00:12:03] And yet, God saved him.
[00:12:08] When he had an encounter with Jesus, Acts chapter 9, he obtained mercy.
[00:12:15] Don't you love how great God's mercy is?
[00:12:18] In Psalm 36, 57 and other Psalms, it says that God's mercy is higher than the sky.
[00:12:26] It reaches above the clouds.
[00:12:29] So great is his mercy for those who fear him.
[00:12:33] God's great, great mercy is inexhaustible, new every morning and accessible to anybody
[00:12:41] who calls upon the Lord in truth.
[00:12:45] God knew the why and the what Paul needed to change the course of his life.
[00:12:54] God, Jesus met Paul on the road to Damascus, turned him completely around, talk about a 180, and
[00:13:03] called him not just to himself, but into leadership.
[00:13:09] And Paul's disqualifications were used by God for his divine purposes.
[00:13:17] Don't you love the way God turns things upside down?
[00:13:21] The very things that should have disqualified Paul were used by God for proof of the mission
[00:13:31] of Jesus.
[00:13:33] That Christ came into the world to save sinners.
[00:13:37] And Paul could say, I was an expert in sin.
[00:13:39] And I was a professional sinner.
[00:13:42] And to show the greatness and depths and breadth and height of the mercy of God.
[00:13:51] That's what Paul's life became proof of.
[00:13:55] Paul's life became proof that God can save anyone.
[00:14:02] If he can forgive and save a deluded Pharisee, persecutor of the church like Paul, the worst
[00:14:11] of the worst.
[00:14:12] I don't think Paul was on anyone's prayer list for salvation.
[00:14:16] I think he was on the prayer list for extermination.
[00:14:21] We realize that no one is out of the reach of God, not one person.
[00:14:27] He's proof of Jesus' long suffering, that Jesus is willing to go the extra mile to save the
[00:14:36] lost.
[00:14:37] He is willing to wait.
[00:14:39] In fact, there's a scripture in Isaiah that says, God waits that he might be gracious.
[00:14:45] I mean, the fact that you lived until you got saved.
[00:14:50] You've lived until you got saved, and then you really lived.
[00:14:54] But God did not take you out when you were a sinner.
[00:14:58] He kept showing patience and patience.
[00:15:02] Finally, he says to set a pattern for anyone who will believe.
[00:15:06] Paul says, I'm that pattern.
[00:15:10] I'm that example that people can look at and say that God is able to save to the uttermost.
[00:15:19] Hebrews 7.25.
[00:15:22] He's able to save to the uttermost all who come to him, but he is also to transform to
[00:15:30] the furthermost.
[00:15:32] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:15:33] And Paul said, that's what my testimony, that's what all my disqualifications point to.
[00:15:41] They point to a God who can do anything and amazing things.
[00:15:46] It wasn't just that Paul served a God that does miracles.
[00:15:51] Paul was the miracle.
[00:15:54] Paul came as the sign, as the miracle.
[00:15:58] His testimony was the miracle.
[00:16:01] We are dealing with God.
[00:16:05] Every other transformation or reclamation is limited.
[00:16:09] You can only repair an old car so many times.
[00:16:14] We had this Audi that we, I think we had it in the shop five times already.
[00:16:22] And, you know, we were, it was, the icons were coming on again.
[00:16:26] It was a 2005 or 2006.
[00:16:30] I think it was the first year that they made the Q7.
[00:16:34] And Brian was like, Lord, how many times are we going to take this in?
[00:16:38] And it kept having the exact same problem.
[00:16:41] Brian's driving down the street, decides to get a cup of coffee.
[00:16:45] For some reason, it's six o'clock at night.
[00:16:47] Of course, I'm gone.
[00:16:48] And the tree falls, just out of nowhere falls and totals the car.
[00:16:54] In fact, if I had been with Brian, I would be dead because it fell on the passenger side and over.
[00:17:00] And so it was like God saying, time for a new car.
[00:17:03] Just, you can't repair this thing anymore.
[00:17:05] You can't do it anymore.
[00:17:08] But when God works, when God works, you see, any other person who tries to fix or fix up, it's limited.
[00:17:20] You can only fix it so many times.
[00:17:22] But God is the king, the ultimate sovereign of all.
[00:17:28] His repairs are eternal repairs.
[00:17:32] Forever fixed.
[00:17:33] God is eternal.
[00:17:36] Everything else, the fallen spirits, evil, death, mankind, all have a limited engagement.
[00:17:48] But God will outlast.
[00:17:52] Outlast.
[00:17:53] God is immortal.
[00:17:55] He is not subject to weakness or the follies of men.
[00:17:59] He can do what he wants when he wants.
[00:18:02] That's why Paul is saying, Timothy, the one who qualified you, is the king.
[00:18:08] Eternal, immortal, invisible.
[00:18:10] To God, who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever.
[00:18:14] This is the one who is working through you.
[00:18:18] He is invisible.
[00:18:20] He works in unseen ways and unseen realms to bring about his plan and his will.
[00:18:28] He is the only wise God.
[00:18:34] He knows what men can only guess at.
[00:18:38] This is the God who knows the consistency, the power, placement, age, and name of every star.
[00:18:46] Not movie stars in the galaxy.
[00:18:48] But he knows the other two.
[00:18:50] He knows the DNA of every living thing.
[00:18:53] He knows the weight of every mountain.
[00:18:56] He knows the volume of every body of water.
[00:19:00] He knows the size of the universe.
[00:19:02] He knows every hair on the head of every person and animal.
[00:19:07] He knows when a sparrow falls to the ground.
[00:19:10] He alone carries all this information within him.
[00:19:17] But he uses this information in wisdom, not just to go, I know more than you do.
[00:19:25] No.
[00:19:26] Wisdom is the right application of knowledge to God who alone is wise.
[00:19:32] He is the only one trustworthy with so much information because only he knows how to use it wisely.
[00:19:43] Therefore, God alone deserves the honor and the glory as he works through us.
[00:19:50] It is not us working for God, but God working through us.
[00:19:58] Think of it, the thrill of enabling grace.
[00:20:02] When the great king, the eternal God, the immortal Lord, the one who works in unseen realms,
[00:20:09] the all-knowing, all-wise God says, I want to work through you.
[00:20:17] I want to speak to you.
[00:20:20] I want to do amazing things through you.
[00:20:24] So Paul says, the prophecy that was given to you, Timothy, I want you to remember what God said about you.
[00:20:38] And by Timothy remembering what God spoke through the voice of others from God,
[00:20:47] Timothy would be enabled.
[00:20:50] Why?
[00:20:52] Prophecy reminds us that our identity is hidden in Christ.
[00:20:58] It reminds us of who we are in Christ, who we are to God, God's plans for us,
[00:21:07] so that we are not daunted by opposition or setbacks, our own inadequacies.
[00:21:14] We are who God says we are.
[00:21:19] It doesn't matter who your neighbor thinks you are.
[00:21:21] Who does God say you are?
[00:21:25] Have you been prophesied over?
[00:21:27] Has someone prayed for you and told you and reminded you who you are?
[00:21:33] Maybe even said things like,
[00:21:36] Remember when the angel of the Lord came to Gideon and says,
[00:21:39] Oh, great warrior of God.
[00:21:43] Gideon's like,
[00:21:44] Is there somebody else in the room?
[00:21:47] God will speak over you who he intends you to be,
[00:21:52] the trajectory he has for you.
[00:21:56] Prayer is so vital that we are prayed for.
[00:22:00] Or I'm surprised that every Sunday morning when they say,
[00:22:04] The pastors are up front for prayer,
[00:22:06] that it's not packed out.
[00:22:09] You know why I think it's not packed out?
[00:22:11] Because we've stopped believing that God has a word for us.
[00:22:14] Because we no longer believe that we need prayer.
[00:22:19] But we need to have each other pray over us and speak God's word.
[00:22:27] No wonder Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14, 39,
[00:22:31] Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy.
[00:22:36] Seek to speak the word of God over people.
[00:22:41] This is a gift we are to exercise liberally toward one another.
[00:22:48] The purpose and the need of leaders.
[00:22:50] Let me say this.
[00:22:51] The church has enemies, seen and unseen.
[00:22:56] When I was growing up the other day,
[00:22:58] my brother Chuck and I were talking,
[00:23:00] we were talking about how mom and dad would pray over us.
[00:23:03] And at the same time, we both said,
[00:23:05] Protect them from the enemy seen and unseen.
[00:23:10] That was a phrase they used in every single prayer
[00:23:14] they ever prayed for us as their children.
[00:23:17] Why?
[00:23:18] Because we have enemies that we can see
[00:23:22] and enemies we can't see.
[00:23:24] Disrupting, condemning, slandering, deconstructing,
[00:23:29] and seducing or seeking to seduce us.
[00:23:33] So leaders need to fight the good warfare.
[00:23:37] Good warfare takes strategy,
[00:23:40] obedience to commands, vigilance.
[00:23:43] This is good warfare, not bad warfare.
[00:23:46] This is not terrorism.
[00:23:48] This is not psychological intimidation.
[00:23:51] This is not slander.
[00:23:52] This is not with the weapons of men.
[00:23:58] This is with the weapons of God that are mighty.
[00:24:03] You see, good warfare requires the right enemies,
[00:24:08] not friendly fire.
[00:24:09] It requires the right battlefield,
[00:24:13] the right cause,
[00:24:14] and of course, the right weapons.
[00:24:16] Our enemy is the devil
[00:24:19] and the forces of the evil,
[00:24:21] not flesh and blood.
[00:24:25] Do you want to do great things for God?
[00:24:28] Do you want God to use your life to further His kingdom?
[00:24:32] Answer the call.
[00:24:33] Partner with Him and let your life be used for His will and glory.
[00:24:38] Receive His enabling grace and see His plan and purposes unfold
[00:24:43] and become a reality.
[00:24:45] Even as God greatly used Paul to minister His gospel,
[00:24:49] He wants to use you.
[00:24:50] It is God who will enable you and equip you with His power for service.
[00:24:55] May God help us to become sensitive to His voice
[00:24:58] and ready to answer the call He places before us.
[00:25:02] We hope you have been blessed by today's Bible study.
[00:25:05] For more information about the Gracious Words radio program
[00:25:08] and the teaching ministry of Cheryl Broderson,
[00:25:11] please visit our website at graciouswords.com.
[00:25:14] Coming up next time on the Gracious Words program,
[00:25:17] we'll look at God's enabling grace
[00:25:19] as we continue our series,
[00:25:21] Letters to Lead, Live, and Love By,
[00:25:23] in the first epistle to Timothy with Cheryl Broderson.
[00:25:26] We do hope you make plans to join us.
[00:25:28] Again, for more information,
[00:25:30] please visit our website at graciouswords.com.
[00:25:52] This program is sponsored by Calvary Chapel,
[00:25:55] Costa Mesa, California.
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