What makes you tick?

Some people are different, we say, and that's not meant as a compliment, but in reality everyone ticks differently. 

No two snowflakes are the same. No two people have the same DNA.
We have had different birds as pets. We loved them all but no two birds were the same.

We once had a budgie that chased our young sons around the house.
This budgie loved music, especially classical music and particularly symphonies by Beethoven. When he heard Beethoven's great Fifth Symphony on the stereo, he would start dancing wildly and wouldn't stop until the music finished.

Then we had a rainbow lorikeet, a small Australian parrot that is bigger than a budgie. These birds love to play. They especially love balloons. They can be very loving and sweet, but sometimes stubborn and grumpy.

When I was a child, we had a black Labrador. No dog is more gentle and loving.
I love dogs, but I've never been a cat person.

I had good friends who loved God, like me, but they didn't love dogs, they loved cats. They had four cats that they couldn't live without.

Dogs worship their masters. They want to serve. Cats can be very friendly, but they have a mind of their own.

A cat asked a dog why it couldn't climb. The dog asked the cat why the police didn't have cats on duty, only dogs.

If you have a pet cat, dog or parrot, you will know that each species has a different character. Not only that, but each individual cat, dog or parrot is a unique individual.

It is the same with people. Beware of stereotypes.
 
There are many Christians who see their preacher or pastor as a role model. That can be a good thing. There are preachers who are enthusiastic about street outreach. Many in the church go on the streets, pray for people, tell them about Jesus, win lost people for God.

But that's not for everyone.

Maybe you are a nurse. You are overwhelmed in the hospital, but you care for patients with cancer or Covid with love. You pray for the dying and let them know that you are praying for them. You do all this humbly and with wisdom so that you are not dismissed as a fanatic.

You come home exhausted after your work. Should you condemn yourself as a worldly failure because you don't evangelise on the street? Not at all. We all tick differently.

Maybe you're an introverted academic. You study Bible texts for hours on end.

William Carey studied the Bible and foreign languages. He wanted to win the world for Jesus, but he only led one person to conversion through his missionary work.

William Carey moved from England to India. He learnt Hindi and translated the Bible so that the Indians could read it in their own language. As an evangelist, William Carey was a failure, but as a missionary he was still a trailblazer.

You don't have to despise your unique qualities and talents if you tick differently from the other Christians around you.

The body is also made up of many different parts, not just one.

Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.

And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 1 Co 12:14–16 NIV

JUST DO IT

What do these people have in common? 

• Joseph, Ruth, Amos, Elijah, Esther, Joseph, Mary, Luke and Mary Magdalene.

God used their faith to change history. 

What else do they have in common?

• Not one was a priest or pastor. 

In the Bible, we see two kinds of faith heroes. 

• On one hand there were leaders, priests and kings, elders, apostles and pastors. 

Aaron was the first High Priest; Ezekiel was a prophet but also an officially ordained priest. Paul was a trained Pharisee before God made him an apostle.

• On the other hand there were people who changed history through prayer and bold faith but they were never in charge of anything. 
• Noah built an ark with the help of his three sons. He did not have a network of followers to gather the animals. The Holy Spirit brought the animals into the ark. 
• Amos was a farmer and land owner before God sent him to prophesy to Israel. 
• Ruth was a pagan widow before she married a Jew and became the grandmother of King David and an ancestor of Jesus the Messiah.
• Mary Magdalene was a woman possessed by seven demons until Jesus delivered her from the power of darkness. After Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene. 

When she and some other women were the first to announce the resurrection to the apostles, they did not believe but then Jesus Himself appeared to them and rebuked them for not believing the women. 

Does that mean Mary Magdalene was prophet or a pastor? No it does not. 

• It means that so-called ordinary believers outside the five fold ministry are called to play strategic roles in God’s plan to shape history.

That was in the Bible. What about later times? 

• Copernicus and Galileo both believed in Jesus and the Bible, but they made scientific discoveries that changed our understanding of God’s creation. They showed that the earth was not the centre of creation but rather that the earth orbited around the sun. 

These great scientists were persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church. 

• Martin Luther also rejected these scientific discoveries because they seemed to contradict the Bible.

These scientists used their faith and their God given intelligence to challenge the church, and not only the Roman Catholic hierarchy.

In every generation many ordained leaders of God’s people are right about some things but ignorant or mistaken about other things. 

• Again and again God raises up believers who are not official leaders and uses them to change the thinking of generations to come. 
• Sometimes the new ideas are quickly accepted by church leaders but not always. 

If God has given you an unusual gift or unique vision, it may not be appreciated by your local church or your pastor but if you believe your calling and gifting is from God, don’t be put off or intimidated. 

DO SOMETHING!

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:16-17 (ESV)

If your gift is from God, God will bless HIS gift in your life if YOU step out in faith. All pioneers have been misunderstood by other believers. Every man or woman of God has been criticised by leaders who followed conventional thinking.

FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD.

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. James 2:26 (ESV) 

Parts of the Body of Christ are barely alive because the leaders follow conventional wisdom and the people follow the leaders rather than listening to the Holy Spirit. 

If God shows you a way to go which your church will not accept, don’t talk about it, just do it. 

Don’t start a fight in your church. Just go and do what God shows you to do. 

God has a Special Place just for You.

Captain Dale Black was a pilot who died in a plane crash.

The plane broke apart ... Only Dale survived, somehow...

“Suddenly I was thrown into the air and hovered over my shattered body...

Two angel escorts accompanied me, dressed in seamless white robes woven from silver threads.''
After God sent him back to his body and his earthly life, he told what had happened to him. He tried to describe what he had experienced and seen in heaven.

Each house was custom-made and unique and yet all together looked very harmonious. Some had three or four floors, others were even higher. "No two houses were alike.

Burke, John. This is what heaven is like: near-death experiences, God's promises, and the extraordinary future that awaits you (English Edition) . Kindle Edition.

Just before his death on the cross, Jesus wanted to encourage his disciples.
 
 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. John 14:2

The House of the Heavenly Father is the City of God in heaven. If you trust Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, you have a new and eternal citizenship. Your home is God's heaven. God has prepared a house for you, your own house.

Have you ever been to a church service and it started to get boring.
Then you start to wonder whether heaven will be just one endless church service. A depressing thought.

But if heaven is just one long church service, why will we need houses?

In God's heaven everything is indescribably beautiful, the trees, the flowers, the music and also the houses.

In Heaven we will worship God with lovely songs.

The apostle Paul was stoned to death. Then he stood up and walked away, not only alive but miraculously healed.

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago--whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows--such a one was caught up to the third heaven. 2 Cor 12:2 (NKJV)
 

From the context of the passage we understand that Paul was most likely telling about his own experience.


… he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. 2 Cor 12:4
 
A well-known preacher in our time also had the privilege of looking into God's heaven.

Was it in a vision, a dream or did he leave his body like the pilot after the plane crash? I don't know. God has different ways to bless his children.

Many people who have somehow visited heaven tell about the overwhelmingly beautiful music.

This preacher told how a large crowd sang worship songs in heaven. The songs were in perfect harmony, but as he listened  he found that everyone was singing their favourite music.
You could distinguish all kinds of musical styles and traditions, but the harmony was perfect.

Once I was in a wonderfully blessed meeting in Germany. The presence of God was amazing. Some people saw a heavenly white cloud in the room. I could feel it but not see it. Later, this heavenly cloud was clearly visible in digital photos.

Two men started to play the guitar in the style of 1960's rock music and we sang together and felt God's blessing. 

I started singing, but my song was in classical style, someone said like a Jewish cantor, but my song fitted perfectly with the harmony and rhythm of the rock song.

When you experience oppressive conformism in church, it's not from God.

Paul explained how God distributes different gifts to his children.

If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body?
And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? 1 Cor 12:15-16 (NKJV)

God created you unique. You are you.

DARE TO BE YOURSELF FOR GOD

David was a shepherd boy when Saul was the King of Israel. 

David loved God with all his heart but Saul was insecure about himself and about his faith in God.

• The Israelites wanted to have a king like the other nations. When they demanded a king, God was not happy but God gave them what they wanted. 

• The Israelites demanded a king because they were unsure of their faith in God and insecure about their God given identity.

• We often put preachers on a pedestal for the same reason.

• When God gave them Saul to be their king, Saul was anointed and his leadership was blessed in the beginning but in the end he too was insecure about his identity and so he became a tyrant.

• The same thing can happen when you put a preacher on a pedestal instead of putting your full trust in God and daring to become who God designed you to be.

Be careful what you desire and believe for. 

God might answer your urgent prayers but the thing you pray for might not be a blessing in the end. 

• Consider your motives. It can be dangerous to want to be like other people and to have what other people have.

God wants to give you His best but He does not want you to be like other people.

• He wants you to be YOU because He designed you to be you, just as He made David to be David.

When David decided to do battle with Goliath, King Saul offered to give David his own armour but it did not fit. David went to fight Goliath without armour, armed only with a sling and a few stones.

If God has called you to preach the gospel, don’t start competing with other people for the pulpit of your church. 

If God has called you, God will give you a pulpit. Jesus often preached in private homes, on hillsides or in fishing boats. 

Be like Jesus. Don’t play politics with church leaders to become one of them. 

• Go where God leads you and say what God gives you to say.
• When we read the Gospels, we see a lot of the teaching of Jesus was in the context of personal interaction with people along the way. 
• If we anxiously strive for promotion in church, we may miss a lot of these opportunities.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 (NLT) 

• The world is tired of preachers who copy other preachers. 

• The world is tired of Christians who play church to get promotion to a pulpit.

Be different. Be yourself. You are unique.

(Jesus) said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Mark 16:15 (NIV)

How can you go into all the world for Jesus if you are busy in church trying to be promoted in ministry? 

What if you are not gifted to be a preacher?

You might be a good musician. 

God might want to use you to play at the front on Sundays, or He might want you to play somewhere else instead. 

There are so many elderly people in institutions who need to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. 

They might not want to listen to Billy Graham but they will listen to beautiful Christian songs. 

There are so many older people just waiting to die without any hope. A few songs and a few words from you can restore the faith to many who have lost hope.

What if you are a gardener or a handyman. (I am not.) 

Deeds often speak louder than words. Simple kindness and practical help bring many to faith.

Has God given you a nice house or apartment? Do you like entertaining guests? 

You could invite a few Christian friends and not yet Christians to meet each other. Pray that God will reveal Jesus through your hospitality and your Christian friends.

Do you like cooking? 

My wife met a lonely older woman on a bus. The woman lived alone and was troubled by poor health. My wife made a pot of soup and took it to this lady’s home.

NO ONE IS ORDINARY

There is no such thing as an ordinary Christian or an ordinary person. 

In the beginning God created Adam and Eve to be like Himself, special representatives of God on earth, immortal spiritual beings created to be like God Himself, created in the image and likeness of God.

How can a perfect and glorious immortal spiritual being be ordinary? 

We know that Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and they lost their immortal glory. Every man and woman since then has been born full of faults and defects.

Imagine an artistic masterpiece, a painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Suppose it is lost, damaged by fire, torn and covered with dirt. 

It might start to look ordinary. But it is not ordinary. 

Supposing an artistic genius were to find the damaged art work. He gets to work and cleans it, repairs the canvass and fully restores the masterpiece.

• It is clearly not ordinary and it never was ordinary.

You and I are the damaged art works of the greatest of all creative masters, God.

You and I were so badly damaged, that we were fit only for destruction. But Jesus died on the cross and opened the way for you and me to be restored.

Jn 3:16 (NKJV)  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 

When you allow God to change your heart and you place your entire life in the loving hands of Jesus, something extraordinary happens.

2Co 5:17 (NKJV)  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 

If you are a new creation of God, you cannot be ordinary. 

• Who would dare say an original masterpiece of Leonardo da Vinci was an ordinary painting?

If you have been guilty of thinking you are just an ordinary Christian, it is time to repent! Change your mind. 

• Open your heart and let God show you who He is and who You really are.

You are enormously precious and wonderful because you are created in the image of God who is glorious beyond human imagination. 

I don’t want you to become proud. You did not make yourself but you were created by God.

You are special but so is every other believer special. And the people around you who have not yet believed are also special beyond measure, even though they are badly damaged because they were also created in the image of God.

We need to change our thinking and the way we speak about ourselves and about other people.

James 3:9-11 (NIV)  With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.

• Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 

Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 

God does not like everything about you and me BUT he is working to restore us day by day. 

He is not happy about everything in our lives but He loves His children and that is what we are if we belong to Jesus by trusting Him.

If you belong to Jesus through faith, God not only loves you but He likes what He has done in your life. He likes the real you inside. You are special and God created you with a special purpose in mind. No one else on earth is quite like you. 

God does not despise or hate people. 

• He even sees bad people as His lost children. 

• He longs to restore them and bring them home. 

If you seek to know the heart of God and you search with all your heart, He will show you His heart and He will show you how He sees you. 

• He will show you wonderful things that will transform your life. 
• God will change you into a world changer.

GOD MADE YOU UNIQUE..DISCOVER YOUR DESTINY

1Co 4:7 (NKJV)  For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

THIS TEXT TEACHES US NOT TO BE PROUD. 

You and I must not claim the credit for what God has called us to do because with the calling, 

• God also gives the inspiration, the wisdom, the faith, the love, the knowledge, the strength and the skill to fulfil HIS purpose in His way.

However, there are other lessons hidden in this text.

Firstly, we do differ from one another. Some of the differences are by God’s design.

• God did not call Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederick Handel to be preachers, but to write some of the most glorious music ever heard on this earth.

• God did not call Billy Graham or Reinhard Bonnke to teach theology in a Bible college, but to preach to great crowds to bring millions of lost men and women into the Kingdom of Heaven.

If God has gifted you to transform the lives of children, He may not have given you the gift of preaching to crowds of adults. 

One of the saddest things in churches is the low value we put on children and children’s ministry.

• Samuel was a child when he heard the voice of God and became a prophet.

• Mary was a young teenager when she conceived the Son of God.

• In Mozambique, Heidi Baker adopts abandoned children and raises them up to preach the Good News of Jesus to hostile Muslims and witchcraft workers. 

  • Little boys and girls open blind eyes and deaf ears and whole villages come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Children’s ministry can be a place of training for preachers to adults. However, we should not only see children in this way.

• I often hear people speak of children as “the church of tomorrow.” I hate this saying. 

  • Although it is partly true, it poisons the church with unbelief concerning the potential of children to be heroes of faith right now.

• In churches where these thoughts are accepted, the adults are often spiritual underachievers as well. God save our children from becoming mediocre unbelieving believers!

Another reason for differences between believers is simply that only some believers have learned the secret of receiving in order to give.

“For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive?”

Lk 7:47 (NKJV)  Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little."

• The first thing we all need to receive is forgiveness for our sins. 

  • If we have a revelation of the wonderful goodness of God, we will see more and more how much we need His forgiveness and how great is His mercy and grace.

Some of us strive to be good but we are really trying to cover our weaknesses and faults.

• Paul wrote:

2Co 12:9 (NLT)  Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

I love to hear preachers talk about their weaknesses and faults and how God has helped them overcome them. Unfortunately, few preaches dare to be so transparent.

There are other believers who depend on their knowledge and abilities instead of opening themselves to the wisdom and direction of God. 

• If you empty yourself and receive revelation, wisdom and direction from God, He will also use your knowledge and talents but your own ability must never be your starting point or the thing you rely on.

The Apostle Paul and John Wesley were both brilliant scholars but they laid down their lives to learn from the Holy Spirit. 

• God redirected their thinking and used their minds for His Kingdom.

1Co 1:21 (NKJV)  For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

• We must also not go to the other extreme by despising intellect. 

  • We would not have bibles and study resources without highly educated believers. 

  • We also need believing doctors, teachers, writers and politicians.

Why You Are Not Like Other People

For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 1Co 4:7 (NKJV)  

This text teaches us not to be proud.

You and I must not claim the credit for what God has called us to do because with the calling, 

• God also gives the inspiration, the wisdom, the faith, the love, the knowledge, the strength and the skill to fulfil His purpose in His way.

However, there are other lessons hidden in this text.

Firstly, we do differ from one another. Some of the differences are by God’s design.

• God did not call Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederick Handel to be preachers but to write some of the most glorious music ever heard on this earth.

• God did not call Billy Graham or Reinhard Bonnke to teach theology in a Bible college but to preach to great crowds to bring millions of lost men and women into the Kingdom of Heaven.

If God has gifted you to transform the lives of children, He may not have given you the gift of preaching to crowds of adults. 

One of the saddest things in churches is the low value we put on children and children’s ministry.

• Samuel was a child when he heard the voice of God and became a prophet.

• Mary was a young teenager when she conceived the Son of God.

• In Mozambique, Heidi Baker adopts abandoned children and raises them up to preach the Good News of Jesus to hostile Muslims and witchcraft workers. 

  • Little boys and girls open blind eyes and deaf ears and whole villages come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Children’s ministry can be a place of training for preachers to adults we should not only see children in this way.

• I often hear people speak of children as “the church of tomorrow.” I hate this saying. 

  • Although it is partly true, it poisons the church with unbelief concerning the potential of children to be heroes of faith right now.

• In churches where these thoughts are accepted, the adults are often spiritual underachievers as well. God save our children from becoming mediocre unbelieving believers!

Another reason for differences between believers is simply that only some believers have learned the secret of receiving in order to give.

“For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive?”

Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." Lk 7:47 (NKJV)  

• The first thing we all need to receive is forgiveness for our sins. 

  • If we have a revelation of the wonderful goodness of God, we will see more and more how much we need His forgiveness and how great is His mercy and grace.

Some of us strive to be good but we are really trying to cover our weaknesses and faults.

• Paul wrote:

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 2Co 12:9 (NLT)  

I love to hear preachers talk about their weaknesses and faults and how God has helped them overcome them. Unfortunately, few preaches dare to be so transparent.

There are other believers who depend on their knowledge and abilities instead of opening themselves to the wisdom and direction of God. 

• If you empty yourself and receive revelation, wisdom and direction from God, He will also use your knowledge and talents but your own ability must never be your starting point or the thing you rely on.

The Apostle Paul and John Wesley were both brilliant scholars but they laid down their lives to learn from the Holy Spirit. 

• God redirected their thinking and used their minds for His Kingdom.

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 1Co 1:21 (NKJV) 

• We must also not go to the other extreme by despising intellect. 

  • We would not have bibles and study resources without highly educated believers. 

  • We also need believing doctors, teachers, writers and politicians.