[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.
[00:00:28] Paul's life was a testimony to the power of God's grace to save and transform.
[00:00:39] On today's program, we'll see how that same grace is available to us today to save us and enable us to walk in the call God has for our lives.
[00:00:49] Now here is Part 3 of Cheryl's message titled, Enabling for Leadership.
[00:01:20] God's great, great mercy is inexhaustible, new every morning, and accessible to anybody who calls upon the Lord in truth.
[00:01:32] God knew the why and the what Paul needed to change the course of his life.
[00:01:40] So God, Jesus, met Paul on the road to Damascus, turned him completely around, talk about a 180, and called him not just to himself, but into leadership.
[00:01:55] And Paul's disqualifications were used by God for his divine purposes.
[00:02:04] Don't you love the way God turns things upside down?
[00:02:07] The very things that should have disqualified Paul were used by God for proof of the mission of Jesus.
[00:02:19] That Christ came into the world to save sinners.
[00:02:23] Or Paul could say, I was an expert in sin.
[00:02:26] I was a professional sinner.
[00:02:27] And to show the greatness and depth and breadth and height of the mercy of God.
[00:02:38] That's what Paul's life became proof of.
[00:02:41] Paul's life became proof that God can save anyone.
[00:02:48] If he can forgive and save a deluded Pharisee, persecutor of the church like Paul, the worst of the worst.
[00:02:58] I don't think Paul was on anyone's prayer list for salvation.
[00:03:03] I think he was on the prayer list for extermination.
[00:03:07] We realize that no one is out of the reach of God.
[00:03:12] Not one person.
[00:03:13] He's proof of Jesus' long suffering.
[00:03:18] That Jesus is willing to go the extra mile to save the lost.
[00:03:23] He is willing to wait.
[00:03:25] In fact, there's a scripture in Isaiah that says,
[00:03:27] God waits that he might be gracious.
[00:03:31] I mean, the fact that you lived until you got saved.
[00:03:37] You lived until you got saved.
[00:03:39] And then you really lived.
[00:03:40] But God did not take you out when you were a sinner.
[00:03:44] He kept showing patience and patience.
[00:03:48] Finally, he says to set a pattern for anyone who will believe.
[00:03:53] Paul says, I'm that pattern.
[00:03:56] I'm that example that people can look at and say that God is able to save to the uttermost.
[00:04:05] Hebrews 7.25.
[00:04:08] He's able to save to the uttermost all who come to him.
[00:04:13] But he is also to transform to the furthermost.
[00:04:18] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:04:19] And Paul said, that's what my testimony, that's what all my disqualifications point to.
[00:04:27] They point to a God who can do anything and amazing things.
[00:04:33] It wasn't just that Paul served a God that does miracles.
[00:04:37] Paul was the miracle.
[00:04:40] Paul came as the sign, as the miracle.
[00:04:44] His testimony was the miracle.
[00:04:47] We are dealing with God.
[00:04:50] Every other transformation or reclamation is limited.
[00:04:55] You can only repair an old car so many times.
[00:05:01] We had this Audi that we, I think we had it in the shop five times already.
[00:05:09] And, you know, it was, the icons were coming on again.
[00:05:13] It was a 2005 or 2006.
[00:05:16] I think it was the first year that they made the Q7.
[00:05:20] And Brian was like, Lord, how many times are we going to take this in?
[00:05:24] And it kept having the exact same problem.
[00:05:27] Brian's driving down the street, decides to get a cup of coffee.
[00:05:31] For some reason, it's six o'clock at night.
[00:05:34] Of course, I'm gone.
[00:05:35] And the tree falls, just out of nowhere, falls and totals the car.
[00:05:40] In fact, if I had been with Brian, I would be dead.
[00:05:43] Because it fell on the passenger side and over.
[00:05:46] And so it was like God saying, time for a new car.
[00:05:49] Just, you can't repair this thing anymore.
[00:05:52] You can't do it anymore.
[00:05:55] But when God works, when God works, you see, any other person who tries to fix or fix up,
[00:06:05] it's limited.
[00:06:06] You can only fix it so many times.
[00:06:09] But God is the king, the ultimate sovereign of all.
[00:06:15] His repairs are eternal repairs, forever fixed.
[00:06:22] God is eternal.
[00:06:24] Everything else, the fallen spirits, evil, death, mankind,
[00:06:32] all have a limited engagement.
[00:06:35] But God will outlast.
[00:06:42] God is immortal.
[00:06:44] He is not subject to weakness or the follies of men.
[00:06:47] He can do what he wants when he wants.
[00:06:52] That's why Paul is saying, Timothy, the one who qualified you,
[00:06:55] is the king, eternal, immortal, invisible.
[00:06:59] To God, who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever.
[00:07:02] This is the one who is working through you.
[00:07:06] He is invisible.
[00:07:09] He works in unseen ways and unseen realms to bring about his plan and his will.
[00:07:18] He is the only wise God.
[00:07:23] He knows what men can only guess at.
[00:07:27] This is the God who knows the consistency, the power, placement, age, and name of every star.
[00:07:35] Not movie stars in the galaxy.
[00:07:38] But he knows the other two.
[00:07:39] He knows the DNA of every living thing.
[00:07:43] He knows the weight of every mountain.
[00:07:46] He knows the volume of every body of water.
[00:07:49] He knows the size of the universe.
[00:07:51] He knows every hair on the head of every person and animal.
[00:07:56] He knows when a sparrow falls to the ground.
[00:08:00] He alone carries all this information within him.
[00:08:06] But he uses this information in wisdom, not just to go, I know more than you do.
[00:08:14] No.
[00:08:15] No.
[00:08:16] Wisdom is the right application of knowledge to God, who alone is wise.
[00:08:22] He is the only one trustworthy with so much information.
[00:08:28] Because only he knows how to use it wisely.
[00:08:32] Therefore, God alone deserves the honor and the glory as he works through us.
[00:08:38] It is not us working for God, but God working through us.
[00:08:47] Think of it, that thrill of enabling grace when the great king, the eternal God, the immortal
[00:08:55] Lord, the one who works in unseen realms, the all-knowing, all-wise God says,
[00:09:04] I want to work through you.
[00:09:07] I want to speak through you.
[00:09:09] I want to do amazing things through you.
[00:09:14] So Paul says, the prophecy that was given to you, Timothy, I want you to remember what
[00:09:23] God said about you.
[00:09:27] And by Timothy remembering what God spoke through the voice of others from God, Timothy would
[00:09:38] be enabled.
[00:09:40] Why?
[00:09:41] Why?
[00:09:42] Prophecy reminds us that our identity is hidden in Christ.
[00:09:47] It reminds us of who we are in Christ, who we are to God, God's plans for us, so that
[00:09:57] we are not daunted by opposition or setbacks, our own inadequacies.
[00:10:02] We are who God says we are.
[00:10:08] It doesn't matter who your neighbor thinks you are.
[00:10:11] Who does God say you are?
[00:10:14] Have you been prophesied over?
[00:10:17] Has someone prayed for you and told you and reminded you who you are?
[00:10:22] Maybe even said things like, remember when the angel of the Lord came to Gideon and says,
[00:10:29] oh, great warrior of God.
[00:10:32] Gideon's like, is there somebody else in the room?
[00:10:39] God will speak over you who he intends you to be, the trajectory he has for you.
[00:10:47] Prayer is so vital that we are prayed for.
[00:10:53] I'm surprised that every Sunday morning when they say the pastors are up front for prayer,
[00:10:58] that it's not packed out.
[00:11:01] You know why I think it's not packed out?
[00:11:03] Because we've stopped believing that God has a word for us.
[00:11:06] Because we no longer believe that we need prayer, but we need to have each other pray over us
[00:11:20] and speak God's word.
[00:11:23] No wonder Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14, 39,
[00:11:27] therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy.
[00:11:32] Seek to speak the word of God over people.
[00:11:38] This is a gift we are to exercise liberally toward one another.
[00:11:44] The purpose and the need of leaders.
[00:11:46] Let me say this.
[00:11:47] The church has enemies, seen and unseen.
[00:11:52] When I was growing up the other day, my brother Chuck and I were talking.
[00:11:55] We're talking about how mom and dad would pray over us.
[00:11:59] And at the same time, we both said,
[00:12:02] protect them from the enemy seen and unseen.
[00:12:06] That was a phrase they used in every single prayer they ever prayed for us as their children.
[00:12:13] Why?
[00:12:14] Because we have enemies that we can see and enemies we can't see.
[00:12:20] Disrupting, condemning, slandering, deconstructing, and seducing or seeking to seduce us.
[00:12:29] So leaders need to fight the good warfare.
[00:12:33] Good warfare takes strategy, obedience to commands, vigilance.
[00:12:39] This is good warfare, not bad warfare.
[00:12:42] This is not terrorism.
[00:12:44] This is not psychological intimidation.
[00:12:46] This is not slander.
[00:12:48] This is not with the weapons of men.
[00:12:53] This is with the weapons of God that are mighty.
[00:12:59] You see, good warfare requires the right enemies, not friendly fire.
[00:13:08] It requires the right battlefield, the right cause, and of course, the right weapons.
[00:13:14] Our enemy is the devil and the forces of the evil, not flesh and blood.
[00:13:24] But we are not to fight against those who teach the word and seek to evangelize the lost.
[00:13:30] As Paul said, no one speaking by the spirit of God will work against Jesus.
[00:13:36] Maybe you remember John who said,
[00:13:38] Lord, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, but they weren't part of our tribe.
[00:13:42] So we forbid them.
[00:13:44] We rebuke them.
[00:13:45] And Jesus said, John, don't do that.
[00:13:48] You don't realize what spirit you're of.
[00:13:52] Those who are not against us are with us.
[00:13:56] Our battlefield is not in the church or even against the lost.
[00:14:05] This is where we come to be prepared, to be built up, to be prayed over, to be enabled,
[00:14:14] to receive the right information, the right guidance, the right commands.
[00:14:23] Nor is the world our battlefield.
[00:14:26] That's our mission field.
[00:14:28] But we must fight against the hordes of demonic powers in order to see the lost come to faith.
[00:14:41] Our cause is Jesus and to make Jesus known who he is, what he's done, and what he can do.
[00:14:51] The manifest transformative power of Jesus.
[00:14:57] And we must use the weapons of faith and a good conscience.
[00:15:02] This is what Paul says.
[00:15:03] Faith, our belief in God.
[00:15:07] Notice the absence of hostile weapons.
[00:15:13] In Luke chapter 22, verse 32, when Jesus is warning Peter, he says,
[00:15:21] Peter, actually he says, Simon, Simon,
[00:15:24] Satan has asked for you that he might sift you like wheat.
[00:15:28] But I have prayed for you that your faith would not fail.
[00:15:34] Your faith.
[00:15:36] Simon, if you hold on to your faith in me, Satan has no power.
[00:15:43] We read in Ephesians chapter 6 that the shield of faith is 100% effective
[00:15:53] in the quenching of every fiery dart of the enemy.
[00:15:59] Oh, we don't realize how powerful our faith is.
[00:16:02] Simply that hold on to Jesus keeps us from the tactics, the wiles of the devil,
[00:16:12] and allows us to stand and stand and withstand.
[00:16:17] Then when you read all the armament in Ephesians 6, what is the activity that is given?
[00:16:24] We arm up so we can do what?
[00:16:27] Well, stand, yeah, but what else?
[00:16:30] I didn't realize there were two.
[00:16:32] To pray.
[00:16:33] To pray.
[00:16:34] To pray with all saints.
[00:16:37] To pray.
[00:16:39] That's the activity.
[00:16:41] Not cutting off heads.
[00:16:44] Praying.
[00:16:46] Then a good conscience.
[00:16:47] It's the barefoot on the holy ground.
[00:16:50] It is nothing stands between me and God.
[00:16:56] Again, in 2 Corinthians 10, 4 through 6,
[00:16:59] our weapons are used internally as well as externally
[00:17:03] to pull down strongholds in our heart and the hearts of others.
[00:17:07] You see, until those strongholds are pulled down in our own hearts,
[00:17:12] we cannot point to the strongholds in others.
[00:17:15] To cast down, defeat arguments against the Lord
[00:17:18] or any high thing that separates us from God,
[00:17:22] any priorities that are in opposition to God being the priority of our life,
[00:17:28] any idols that we might bring every thought under the authority of Jesus Christ.
[00:17:34] And only after our obedience to Jesus is accomplished,
[00:17:39] according to 2 Corinthians 10, verse 6,
[00:17:45] are we effective for service and ready to punish all disobedience.
[00:17:51] Only when our own hearts and minds are in alignment with God,
[00:17:56] being faithful and saying yes to God, that good conscience,
[00:18:00] I am right with God.
[00:18:02] When faith and a good conscience are rejected,
[00:18:06] there will be shipwreck.
[00:18:07] Like Hymenaeus and Alexander were examples of this shipwreck.
[00:18:13] Note how Paul deals with the opposition.
[00:18:16] He doesn't start a campaign against them.
[00:18:18] He does not cancel them.
[00:18:20] He does not go to war with them.
[00:18:23] Rather, Paul simply stops praying and fighting for them.
[00:18:27] He releases them to Satan.
[00:18:29] He doesn't do this so that they will die or be destroyed or even lost,
[00:18:34] but so they will learn not to blaspheme,
[00:18:38] not to speak against Jesus.
[00:18:41] Remember, Paul used to be a blasphemer,
[00:18:44] but he was saved by the grace of God.
[00:18:48] Hymenaeus and Alexander need to feel the reality of Satan.
[00:18:52] One woman that I talked to,
[00:18:55] whose daughter committed suicide,
[00:18:57] said to me,
[00:18:59] I wish I had told her about Satan.
[00:19:02] I kept everything about Satan away from her.
[00:19:06] She was unprepared for evil when it showed up.
[00:19:11] One of the reasons I watch true crime,
[00:19:16] I justify it,
[00:19:19] because there is evil.
[00:19:22] There is true evil.
[00:19:24] These men needed to feel what it was to be vulnerable to Satan
[00:19:28] so that they would run to Jesus.
[00:19:31] They needed to feel the heat of hell scorching the bottom of their feet.
[00:19:37] When one of my children was in a pattern and a path that was leading to destruction,
[00:19:41] and I couldn't dissuade her with words,
[00:19:43] and all of my actions were counterproductive,
[00:19:46] I prayed.
[00:19:47] And one of my prayers was that the bottom of her feet
[00:19:50] would be scorched by the reality of Satan and hell
[00:19:56] so that she would hate it,
[00:19:59] that she would know the reality of it
[00:20:01] and run to Jesus.
[00:20:04] Interestingly enough,
[00:20:06] the devil was unmasked.
[00:20:09] She came back home,
[00:20:10] and I remember she,
[00:20:11] I would wake up in the middle of the night
[00:20:13] and every single light in the house would be on,
[00:20:16] every light.
[00:20:17] All the lights in her bedroom,
[00:20:19] she had three.
[00:20:20] The lights in the bathroom,
[00:20:21] the lights in all the hallways,
[00:20:22] all the lights downstairs.
[00:20:24] She told me that every time the lights went out,
[00:20:27] she saw Satan in the corner of her room laughing at her.
[00:20:29] She would go to a party in different places,
[00:20:32] and she said,
[00:20:33] Mom, I saw the devil,
[00:20:35] and he wanted me,
[00:20:37] and he was laughing at me.
[00:20:41] When she received Jesus,
[00:20:44] when she turned her life all the way back to Jesus,
[00:20:48] I mean, she ran into the arms of Jesus.
[00:20:53] She didn't need the external lights
[00:20:55] because Jesus became that light.
[00:21:01] Sometimes there is the need
[00:21:04] for those who are blaspheming,
[00:21:08] who are deconstructing their faith,
[00:21:10] to remember there is a devil.
[00:21:14] There is evil,
[00:21:16] and there are men who are possessed of evil.
[00:21:19] I talked to a woman one time
[00:21:21] who had been a psychologist
[00:21:24] at the prison where Manson was,
[00:21:27] and she was told to go into Manson's room
[00:21:30] and talk to him,
[00:21:31] and she said she had never felt
[00:21:34] the true presence of evil
[00:21:35] as when he walked into that room.
[00:21:41] Are you constantly telling God
[00:21:43] all the reasons that you can't?
[00:21:46] Are you afraid of the opposition?
[00:21:49] Oh, friends,
[00:21:51] I want you to feel the power,
[00:21:54] the thrill,
[00:21:54] the glory of enabling grace,
[00:21:56] and as long as you stay in your comforts
[00:22:00] and you tell God no,
[00:22:03] or you say next year,
[00:22:06] next month,
[00:22:07] you put it off,
[00:22:08] you will not know
[00:22:10] that enabling grace
[00:22:12] that God is holding out to you
[00:22:14] and wants you to know
[00:22:16] and operate in.
[00:22:19] All you need
[00:22:21] is a willing heart.
[00:22:23] Years ago,
[00:22:24] there was a woman named Jenny Mitchell.
[00:22:26] She was a missionary.
[00:22:28] She went all over the world.
[00:22:29] She had a daughter
[00:22:30] who was serving in Africa,
[00:22:32] and the place she was serving in Africa
[00:22:35] was a dangerous place.
[00:22:36] In fact,
[00:22:37] she said that
[00:22:38] when she would go get her food,
[00:22:40] she had to have them
[00:22:42] shoo the flies off of the cut of meat
[00:22:45] so she could see
[00:22:46] what cut of meat she was getting.
[00:22:49] The water had to be strained
[00:22:51] and boiled
[00:22:52] and distilled
[00:22:53] before they could drink it,
[00:22:54] and she just got tired.
[00:22:56] She couldn't do it.
[00:22:57] She said,
[00:22:57] Lord,
[00:22:57] I don't even like this people.
[00:22:58] I don't like this place.
[00:23:00] I hate everything.
[00:23:01] I don't even want to be a missionary.
[00:23:03] And one day
[00:23:04] when she was sitting
[00:23:05] with her mother, Jenny,
[00:23:06] she just poured out her heart
[00:23:07] and says,
[00:23:07] I'm done.
[00:23:08] I don't want this.
[00:23:10] I know everyone's a missionary
[00:23:11] in this family,
[00:23:12] but not me.
[00:23:13] I'm tired.
[00:23:14] I'm sick.
[00:23:14] I don't want to do this anymore.
[00:23:16] And her mother,
[00:23:17] instead of saying,
[00:23:18] oh, what's wrong with you?
[00:23:20] You should be so happy.
[00:23:21] You're a missionary.
[00:23:22] What a call.
[00:23:22] She said,
[00:23:23] oh, dearest,
[00:23:26] there's nothing wrong with you
[00:23:27] that a willing heart won't fix.
[00:23:30] The daughter thought,
[00:23:30] I don't need a willing heart.
[00:23:32] I need a plane ticket.
[00:23:35] I need to get out of here.
[00:23:38] And her mother grabbed her hand
[00:23:39] and said,
[00:23:40] Father,
[00:23:41] give her a willing heart.
[00:23:43] That was it.
[00:23:43] In Jesus' name,
[00:23:45] amen.
[00:23:48] The next day,
[00:23:49] she said,
[00:23:49] all right, Lord,
[00:23:50] I'll just say yes to you.
[00:23:52] All of a sudden,
[00:23:53] she began to love the people,
[00:23:56] even love the place
[00:23:57] and all the idiosyncrasies,
[00:24:00] everything that she hated
[00:24:02] the week before,
[00:24:03] the month before,
[00:24:04] she began to embrace.
[00:24:06] And she ended up living
[00:24:07] the rest of her life in Africa
[00:24:10] and dying there
[00:24:11] and asking to be buried there
[00:24:13] because she so loved it
[00:24:15] and it all was just due
[00:24:17] to a willing heart.
[00:24:19] That's all God needs
[00:24:20] is a willing heart.
[00:24:22] One that will say yes.
[00:24:23] He'll do the rest.
[00:24:25] He'll give you the enabling grace.
[00:24:26] He'll do everything that you want.
[00:24:29] God met Paul on the road to Damascus
[00:24:31] and completely changed his life.
[00:24:34] God called Paul not only unto himself,
[00:24:36] but into leadership and service.
[00:24:38] Through Paul's life,
[00:24:40] we can see the depth and ability
[00:24:42] of God's unfailing mercy
[00:24:44] and transforming grace.
[00:24:46] What does God want to do in your life?
[00:24:48] What is He calling you to?
[00:24:51] Now, what is holding you back?
[00:24:53] Pray and ask God
[00:24:54] for His enabling grace.
[00:24:56] God is looking for a willing heart,
[00:24:58] one that will say yes
[00:25:00] and He'll do the rest.
[00:25:02] We hope you have been blessed
[00:25:04] by today's Bible study.
[00:25:05] For more information
[00:25:06] about the Gracious Words radio program
[00:25:08] and the teaching ministry
[00:25:09] of Cheryl Broderson,
[00:25:10] please visit our website
[00:25:12] at graciouswords.com.
[00:25:14] Coming up next time
[00:25:15] on the Gracious Words program,
[00:25:17] we'll look at the power of prayer
[00:25:18] as we continue our series,
[00:25:20] Letters to Lead, Live, and Love By
[00:25:23] in the first epistle to Timothy
[00:25:24] with Cheryl Broderson.
[00:25:26] We do hope you make plans to join us.
[00:25:29] Again, for more information,
[00:25:30] please visit our website
[00:25:31] at graciouswords.com.
[00:25:52] This program is sponsored by
[00:25:54] Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California.
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