[0:00] I want to invite you to open a Bible tonight to the book of 2 Timothy and chapter 1 tonight. 2 Timothy and chapter 1 in the Word of God together this evening. 2 Timothy and chapter 1.
[0:11] I'd like to read just a few verses of Scripture together this evening. And 2 Timothy and chapter 1. Once you've found your place, do you mind standing with me for just a moment? And I think it'd be good to stretch our legs at least once for the next three hours.
[0:26] And you're with me. Okay, I'm making sure you're there. All right. 2 Timothy chapter 1. I want to say very quickly as well, Brother Weaver, Mrs. Weaver, thank you so very much for your faithfulness to the Lord.
[0:38] My wife, Brother Weaver, was her pastor her senior year of high school. And so they go way back. And so he likes me just because he likes her. And I get it.
[0:48] I'm just, you know, I'm a carry on. I get it. But all kidding aside, thank you for your faithfulness. And we're thankful for West Coast Baptist College. I had the privilege to serve the Lord there on staff for 16 months.
[0:59] Get my master's degree there. Nothing but great things that God did in my heart and life there. And so thank you so much for the privilege to be here tonight. 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 1.
[1:10] Verse 1.
[1:41] Verse 1.
[2:12] Tonight, I'd like to call your attention.
[2:24] And what's had me interested all day is found in verse number 5 of this passage of Scripture, where Paul is writing to his young son in the faith, Timothy.
[2:35] And he says, When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee. The unfeigned faith that is in thee.
[2:46] Tonight, I'd like to take a few minutes and I'd like to preach on this thought tonight. A faith that will make a difference. A faith that will make a difference.
[2:58] Father, for the next few moments, help me tonight to say that which would please and glorify your son. Lord, thank you for this wonderful church. Thank you for their pastor.
[3:09] Thank you for every person involved in the work of God here. Lord, it's obvious that your blessing here, your heart for the heart for missions and the passion and the love for souls.
[3:22] Father, it's obvious here. Lord, I pray that you would strengthen your people, encourage your people tonight through your word. Thank you for the good music we've heard, the fellowship we've enjoyed.
[3:33] But Father, help us to turn our attention now to the word of God. And may your son be glorified through it. For it's in Christ's name we ask and pray these things. Amen.
[3:44] Thank you so much for standing with me together tonight. I enjoy studying biographies and autobiographies. I love to read about people who we might call high impact people.
[3:58] People who have made a difference in a field. I like to read about great athletes. I like to read about where they came from. I like to read about their families. I like to read about a little bit of their history.
[4:09] We've got a great athlete in our community, literally played football, literally two miles from Pinecrest Baptist Church. You may have heard of me, went to this little inferior school by the name of Alabama.
[4:21] We don't talk much about that in this great state. They're the, any Alabama fans here, the altars are open anyway. That's a, come on, it's okay. You can disturb the service to get right about that.
[4:32] But there's a guy that played football named Will Smith that just went, no, I'll get this right. Will Smith, he's a good guy too. That Will Anderson, how could I forget that name?
[4:43] Will Anderson. He went number three. Hey, Will Smith, we got a few things to talk about with him too. Will Anderson went number three in the NFL draft this year.
[4:54] He played football two miles down the road from our church. I got to see him play in high school. I'm fascinated with him because he has a mother and a father in his life. He's his sisters.
[5:04] He has a family, he has grandparents, and he's a great young man. I've learned a little bit about this guy watching him. I'm fascinated by his story. I'm fascinated by his family.
[5:15] I want to know about high impact people. Here's what I know. People that have made a difference are people that do things that nobody else is willing to do.
[5:26] There are people that have a story and sometimes high impact people, their stories can converge and many of them have things in common, but there's something unique about every single person that is a high impact person, either in sports or in politics or in business.
[5:44] There's something that they bring to the table that the world may call an it factor. They have this it factor. You're around him and you immediately go, man, that guy's got it. What is it? I don't know how to define it, but he's got it, right?
[5:57] The it factor. Paul is writing to his young son in the faith, Timothy. Timothy is going to pastor likely the most effective church in the New Testament, the church of Ephesus, the church with the most influence, the church that would be known the most, more than likely in the New Testament.
[6:17] Timothy, there's no doubt that God is going to use Timothy and Timothy is going to be a high impact person. He's going to be a man that God is going to use magnificently and in a powerful way.
[6:31] But I want you to know that the it factor for Timothy was not his natural abilities and it was not his background only. The it factor for Timothy is the same it factor that every Christian has tonight and it is our faith.
[6:51] Our faith is what makes all the difference in the world. Our faith is what moves the needle in the lives of other people. And what we see tonight in 2 Timothy in chapter 1, as Paul is writing this last letter under inspiration of God's spirit, Paul is writing from prison, he's about to be headed for the cause of Jesus Christ.
[7:14] And Paul is writing this personal yet practical letter to Timothy, his young son of the faith and what he praises Timothy for is not the books that he has read.
[7:25] He doesn't praise Timothy for the sermons that he preached. He doesn't praise Timothy for the trips that he's taken and all the help that he's given along the way to Paul.
[7:36] What he says, Timothy, the most important thing that comes to my mind that has made the most difference in your life and in the life of other people that you minister to is your faith.
[7:48] I want to say tonight that God is still looking for people who are filled with faith, who believe that God is able, who believe that God will bless his word, who will believe that their faith can truly make a difference.
[8:07] I want to say this tonight. God is looking for difference makers. He is looking for difference makers. But if we are going to be a difference maker, we have to be people that are filled with faith.
[8:20] Here in 2 Timothy in chapter 1, we're going to read this passage of scripture and we've read and we've seen that Timothy had some distinctive things that God had done in his life.
[8:32] God had brought Timothy to a place where Timothy was not a difference maker that was born, but he was a difference maker that was developed. Our faith isn't something that's just natural, but our faith has to be born and it has to be developed.
[8:48] It is something that has to come along. It is something that has to be strengthened. There are some key impact things that God lays out for us in 2 Timothy chapter 1 about difference making faith that all of us can have in our lives.
[9:04] I want to give you three thoughts very quickly tonight in 2 Timothy in chapter 1. And I'd like you to remember these three truths that are found right here in our text. If we're going to be difference makers, if we're going to be people that are filled with faith, if our families are going to make a difference in our communities, if our church is going to make a difference in our communities, if we're going to impact our place of employment, it is going to take faith, but it's a special kind of faith that God wants to develop.
[9:35] Three words that we see are three truths that are taught in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verses 1 through 7. First of all, difference making faith is authentic faith.
[9:46] It is authentic faith. In verse number 5, Paul said, When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith.
[9:57] The word unfeigned literally would mean consistent, sincere, authentic, or genuine.
[10:08] This is not a put on. In other words, Timothy, your faith passes the smell test. Timothy, there's something legitimate about this.
[10:19] There's something real about this. In fact, it is so real to you that it has driven you to tears multiple times. It is something that is deep in your soul. It's not something that you show up and talk about on a certain day of the week.
[10:34] No, Timothy, your life can be defined by a real faith, a genuine faith, a sincere faith, a consistent faith. This is the type of faith that is life-changing.
[10:48] This is the type of faith that is difference-making. This is the type of faith that will not just change your life, but it will change the lives of those who hear you.
[10:59] Not because of what you say, but because of the life that you're leading. Timothy, you have an authentic faith. The other word unfeigned is used in several ways in Scripture.
[11:11] It's used to describe the kind of prayer life God's people ought to have. We ought to have an unfeigned prayer life. In Psalm 17, 1, the psalmist said, Hear the right, O Lord.
[11:24] Attend unto my cry. Give ear unto my prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips. In other words, God, I'm not one thing in my prayer closet and another thing outside of my prayer closet.
[11:38] How many of us know this? God already knows who we are in the prayer closet and out of the prayer closet. He said, no, wait a minute. This is an unfeigned prayer life. Then there's an unfeigned love that Paul talks about in Romans chapter 12 in verse 9.
[11:52] He says, Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil. Cleave to that which is good. There's an unfeigned wisdom that the Bible speaks about in James 3 verse 17.
[12:06] The wisdom that is from above. Notice this is first pure and peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy, good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
[12:21] There's an unfeigned fellowship that Peter speaks of in 1 Peter 1 and verse 22. See, seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit.
[12:34] Notice this. Unto unfeigned love of the brethren. See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you tonight what will move the needle in every relationship in life.
[12:50] What will move the needle and make a difference in the lives of people is God's people living out an authentic, genuine, unfeigned faith.
[13:03] It's not just something that we have and we hold to. Sometimes we think of faith as just a body of doctrine, don't we? We think of hold. Watch.
[13:14] Keep the faith. We hear people say that a lot. Earnestly contend for the faith, right? We think of our faith just as a body of doctrine.
[13:25] But hold on a second. It is not just a body of doctrine, but it is also a practice of our lives. The doctrine that we believe should affect the way that we behave.
[13:39] In other words, if I truly believe the faith, then that faith should affect the way that I treat you. The faith should affect the way I treat my neighbor.
[13:50] The faith should affect the way I pray. It should affect the wisdom that I listen to. It ought to affect every single area of my life. And I want to say tonight, people that make a difference have an authentic faith.
[14:06] It starts with being real. It starts with being transparent. It starts with being genuine. Difference makers cannot live two ways.
[14:19] Difference makers cannot think two ways. Difference makers cannot walk two ways. Difference makers cannot live two different types of life.
[14:32] No, people who have really made a difference for Christ are people whose hearts are united in the faith and they are genuine. They are sincere.
[14:43] They are unfeigned in their faith. There's an authenticity. You know, George Washington in the year 1786 established in August of that year.
[14:57] The Purple Heart. It used to not be called the Purple Heart. It was the Medal of Valor. It was something that was given to soldiers who displayed great bravery and were injured in the line of fire.
[15:10] It was something that was a very significant award when it first was given out in the early part of the Revolutionary War. It went underground for about 150 years and people had forgotten about it and it was resurrected later after World War II.
[15:25] But the second World War that when a soldier was injured, they would be receiving the Purple Heart. It was changed from the Valor to the Purple Heart.
[15:36] But there began to be a problem in the early 2000s after the second invasion of Iraq. There were people that were going around and they were taking liberties by taking medals that looked like Purple Heart medals and they were pinning them to fake uniforms that they had bought at an Army, Navy store or wherever and they were walking around and they were imitating heroes.
[16:06] They were imitating these great soldiers. So in 2005, President George W. Bush signed into law and made it completely illegal for someone to imitate a soldier who had suffered, a soldier who had shed his blood, a soldier who had gone to the front lines and fought.
[16:27] There is a law on the books in America today that is against the law to impersonate a person of valor. By the way, I say thank God there ought to be a law against it.
[16:39] In 2009 in Orange Beach, California, there was a man by the name of Michael who was decorated from the head to toe, standing in a Starbucks line.
[16:50] While he was standing in a Starbucks line, people would move out of the way and let him go to the front of the line. It was a very long line. And he would get to the front of the line and he would go to the same Starbucks every day, wearing this uniform, having this purple heart on, and every day he would tell a different story about his heroics on the battlefield.
[17:12] One day there was a captain, a legitimate captain, who was not dressed in his uniform, who heard the stories that this gentleman, Michael, was telling again and again. He asked Michael, Michael, where were you stationed?
[17:26] He told him the place where he was stationed. He said, tell me what platoon you served in. He told him the name of the platoon that he served in. He said, where were you injured and what battle were you injured?
[17:39] He told him the name of the battle that he was injured in. He said, Michael, it's interesting because I'm actually the captain of that platoon. And I've been the captain of that platoon.
[17:52] And I was in that very war and in that very fight and in that very skirmish. And I remember the people who were awarded the purple heart. But Michael, I don't know who you are.
[18:06] Michael, you're an imposter. Michael, and all of a sudden it got very quiet. And this captain, who was a legitimate captain, called literally the military, who called the police.
[18:17] And Michael served 60 months in prison. Five years in prison. Watch carefully. For being a fraud. For not being real. For not being legitimate.
[18:29] You know why? He wasn't a difference maker. He wasn't real. I want to say to us tonight, church, that one day we'll stand before the captain of the Lord's host, the Lord Jesus Christ.
[18:41] And he will call our lives into account and call our deeds. Why did we do what we do? Why did we give? Why did we serve? Why did we pray? Why did we worship? Why did we do what we do?
[18:52] Did we do it in his name? Or did we do it for our glory? And I want to tell you on that day, I want to stand before the Lord with an authentic and genuine and real faith. Don't you?
[19:04] Difference makers have an authentic faith. But I want you to notice there's something seconds that we see in this passage of Scripture that is so powerful. Not only is there an authentic faith, but I want you to notice there was an assisted faith.
[19:19] Timothy's faith was assisted. Notice he says in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse number 5, When I call to remembrance the unfamed faith which is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also.
[19:44] Notice that Paul is commending Timothy. He calls Timothy his son in the faith. And I love this. He says, Timothy, you're my son in the faith. But as soon as he gets out of that, he immediately points him to his heavenly father.
[19:58] And he talks to him about God. But I want you to notice that Paul said, Timothy, this faith that you have, it's not something that you've got on your own.
[20:10] There were some people that God used in your life. There were some people that assisted you. There were some people that came alongside you.
[20:21] Timothy, you're not this great difference-making pastor in Ephesus because you figured it all out by yourself. No, no, no, no. Timothy, you had two women that invested in your life.
[20:33] You had a godly grandmother. And you had a godly mother. And that real, sincere, authentic faith that is in you, it was first in them. And guess what?
[20:45] That faith did not stop with them. It was passed on to you. Your mother Eunice passed it to you. Your grandmother passed it to her.
[20:57] And now you have had people that have invested in your life. You have people that have poured into your life. You have people that have done something for you.
[21:07] And Timothy, you're not standing where you're standing today because you did it on your own. You're standing there because somebody helped you.
[21:18] And he's going to charge Timothy, by the way, two chapters later, that it's now his turn to help somebody else. In other words, what has been given to you, it is your job, Timothy, now to give it to somewhere else.
[21:29] You did not get where you are, Timothy, by yourself. Someone made an investment in your life. Someone, that authentic faith, that difference-making faith, somebody, somewhere, they may not be as known as you, they may not have the same fame as you, but you would not be where you are had they not put something into you.
[21:58] Here's what I want to say tonight. None of us that make a difference through the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ do what we do because we got there on our own.
[22:11] Every single one of us today here have somebody that put something inside of us. Every one of us have somebody that invested in us.
[22:23] For Timothy, it was a grandmother and a mother. But I would say to you tonight, as I stand here on this pulpit, and as I stand every single week at the Pinecrest Baptist Church and preach, I don't like people being behind me while I preach.
[22:36] Anybody else in the house, I don't want nobody else because I don't trust anybody behind me. That gets me nervous. I stand on a platform every single Sunday and look at a full church, and I preach, and I'm up there by myself.
[22:49] But I want you to hear me this morning, this evening, whatever it is. I want you to hear me. In the realm of faith, I'm not up there alone. No, sir.
[23:01] In the realm of faith, I don't stand on that platform and preach every Sunday. I don't stand here tonight alone in the realm of faith. You see, now as a three-year-old boy, I had a Sunday school teacher, a couple by the name of Randy Howell and Tracy Howell.
[23:19] And Randy and Tracy Howell taught me scripture, taught me some of the great scripture in the word of God. I still, today, as I preach, I rehearse scripture that I learned as a three-year-old boy that Randy and Tracy Howell poured into me.
[23:37] You know what? When I stand up to preach, guess who's up here with me in the realm of faith? Randy and Tracy Howell. I have Christian school teachers that spanked me, I mean, loved me to Jesus.
[23:50] I have people that poured into my life. I have a dad who loved the word of God. I have a mother who lived out her faith. I have sisters who love the Lord Jesus Christ and are serving him today.
[24:02] I have pastors who have poured truth into me. I have staff that is on my staff now who still pour truth into me. I have members who pray for me every single Sunday. You know what?
[24:12] When I stand up here, you may just see me. But in the realm of faith, there have been a lot of people helping this old boy. There's a lot of people who've been assisting me for a long time. I'm saying to you tonight that you and I do not become difference makers on our own.
[24:29] Somebody, somewhere, at some point, put something in us. The question is, what are we putting into other people?
[24:40] If people are going to make a difference, there are some things that we can put into their lives that will stir them and motivate them and help them become the people God has called them to be.
[24:55] But they need somebody. They need one of us to come alongside. Brother Weaver, I know your story was led to Christ by Dr. Jerry Falwell. If I could talk to people all across this room, there was somebody that pointed you to the Lord Jesus Christ.
[25:11] You know that person. That person that pointed you to Christ. That person that taught you truth. That person that encouraged you when you were discouraged. That person who gave of themselves and of them time and sacrifice to give something and put it into your life.
[25:26] I want to say, foolish is the man or woman who thinks they have arrived where they are by themselves. No, we're all assisted. God has used somebody, somewhere, at some point to help us get where we are.
[25:41] Now it's our turn if we're going to be a difference maker to take the help we've been given and to give it to someone else. A difference making faith, very quickly, it's an authentic faith.
[25:55] It is a assisted faith. And let me close tonight and say this, that a difference making faith is an activated faith.
[26:07] It is an activated faith. Verse number six, Paul said, wherefore, I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
[26:28] Now notice what he said. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. The tendency for every one of us who know the Lord as our Savior, the easy path and the tendency of all of us is not to put our faith to work, but it really is, the easy way is to put it to rest.
[26:56] I'm saved. I'm on my way to heaven. I'm okay. My family's okay. All right. We're good. Hold on.
[27:07] God hasn't called any of us to rest alone on that faith. He has called us to activate that faith and put it to work now. What does the Bible say?
[27:18] Faith without works is what, church? It's dead. It's dormant. It doesn't make a difference. Why is it that it is so easy for all of us tonight to have faith?
[27:33] And why is it that many Christians know the Lord, but there's no difference being made through the life that they live? They're not making a difference.
[27:44] Is it because they're unsaved? No. There are many Christians who know the Lord, but their life isn't changing other people's lives, not challenging other people's lives.
[27:54] Look, I don't want to live and die and leave this world the same way I found it. I want to make a difference. How are you going to do that? You need to have an authentic faith and somebody's got to help that faith.
[28:09] This is so important. That faith has to get activated, has to get put to work. Just a couple of Saturdays ago. Is that right if I step down here?
[28:20] I'm sorry. A couple of Saturdays ago, Sarah and I, my nose is about to bleed. I'm too high up there. Sarah and I were out doing some yard work and man, this weather has been insane.
[28:32] Anybody else in the house, I mean, come on. Georgia's has got a problem with weather. We're cold one day, hot, and then that's all in one day. Cold, hot, sleep, snow, everything in one day. Anyway, it was one of those hot Saturdays.
[28:44] We were outside and we were doing a little bit of work around the house and man, I was doing some pressure washing and then we started doing some pine straw, all this stuff around the house and man, we went to go get a few things from a store and while we were there, I'd already pounded about three waters because it was so hot and man, I told Sarah, I said, man, I'm really thirsty and I looked over and they had this, this Coca-Cola machine but inside of it, they had lemonade and I thought, huh, now we're talking.
[29:14] This is legal, it's okay, number one and number two, this is perfect, this is it and man, perfect, perfect drink to have on a hot day.
[29:25] I've had lemonade on my mind. Caleb, come on up here for a second, I need your help. Man of God, come help me today. All right, come on. He's gonna stand up here with me, that's all right, I'll take one at a time. Come on up here. All right, you got the top, you're gonna lose this for a second.
[29:37] Caleb, our assistant, thank you for being here tonight. Now what we've got here is old time country lemonade.
[29:49] Can anybody give me a little bit of help tonight and say God bless you or amen or something? I mean, this will change your life whether you want to or not. I mean, this is good. You have there water. Now we're gonna really plow deep here, okay?
[30:02] I'm gonna teach some real theology tonight. We've got this, let me borrow this for a second. We've got this water and we've got this lemonade and in order for this to become lemonade, we've gotta pour this lemon powder inside of the water.
[30:21] Is that enough? Now keep going, all right. Anybody else, is that enough? Nah, let's keep going, it's all right. You know, anybody that drinks this, you'll be awake for a month. It's okay, all right? What do we have here?
[30:35] Anybody? What do we got here? I heard lemon, I heard water, I heard lemonade. Let me tell you what we got. We have water with lemon powder in it.
[30:50] It's not lemonade yet. Now watch. It has the potential to become lemonade, but it's not lemonade yet.
[31:00] In fact, if you drink that, it's nasty right now. You can't tell if it's lemonade or if it's water or what it is. What you got is potential that you don't have lemonade.
[31:13] What do you got to do to get lemonade? You got to take this. Oh yeah, I can fill all that grain at the bottom. You're getting excited about this. He's getting too happy. What do you got to do?
[31:25] Come on now. You got to stir it up. Why? Because when you stir it up, it activates that lemon powder and it blends it with the water and instead of it just being potentially lemonade, it is now actually lemonade.
[31:47] I know I just preached really deep there. We're all like, man, God's good. Hey, man, what a wizard at Bible study. I'm just taking you to the throne room and back. Amen. But wait a minute.
[31:58] This, although it has the potential, watch, it has the ingredients to be refreshing. It has the ingredients in it to satisfy and to change something and make a difference.
[32:11] But it's not activated until those ingredients and that water get stirred up and stirred up. And as much powder as I put in there, I got to keep stirring it up.
[32:25] Right? Now, if you're brave enough, don't drink it. It's okay. But now, what do we have? Thank you, buddy. Now, what do we have? We have really strong, really tart, borderline illegal lemonade.
[32:38] Right? Because it got stirred up. Now, I want you to hear me for just a moment. If you know the Lord Jesus Christ is your Savior, and I'm preaching to a wonderful group of people on a Thursday night, and my goodness, look, I doubt you would be here tonight if you hate God and hate His Word.
[32:59] Okay? So let's just get this out of the way. Thank God I'm preaching to some wonderful Christian people here tonight. Amen? That means this, that all you need, you got, the moment you got saved.
[33:17] Christ in you 31 times in the New Testament, the hope of glory, the Holy Spirit of God lives, dwells, abides in you forever.
[33:29] You can't get more of Him, and you can't lose any of Him. I felt like I needed a little more on that. You can't get any more of Him, and you can't lose any of Him.
[33:40] The moment you got saved, you got everything you need. Colossians chapter 2, verse number 10, you are complete in Him tonight. That means this, that within you is the potential to be a difference maker for the Lord Jesus Christ.
[34:01] I don't care if it's the smallest child, I don't care if it's a teenager, I don't care if it's the oldest saint here tonight. If Christ is in you, you have all that you need within you to make a difference for the Lord Jesus Christ.
[34:17] He is in you tonight. Why? There's so many Christians there. Never make a difference. Is something wrong with Jesus?
[34:32] Is something wrong with the Holy Ghost? No, no, listen. All that you need is in you. But our faith, it's not enough to just have faith tonight.
[34:45] That faith has to get activated. That faith has got to get stirred up. The Word of God will stir you up. The Word of God will stir you up.
[34:56] But listen to me. Your faith doesn't get activated if we're only Word of God you get us from this pulpit. You've got to get it for yourself, don't you? You've got to get in that Bible and that Bible has got to get in you.
[35:08] And when the Word of God dwells in us richly, guess what happens? Your faith starts to get activated and you stop living just on your preacher's faith or your teacher's faith.
[35:19] God gives you some faith and all of a sudden you're getting stirred up. Prayer life will stir you up. When God answers your prayer, anybody, when God's answered your prayer, how many of it's wonderful when God answers somebody else's prayer?
[35:32] I rejoice. But how many of you have seen God move on your behalf and God has answered your prayer? Hey, there's nothing like that that'll stir you up. It's wonderful to hear when people get saved.
[35:46] Man, I am thrilled every time I hear people get saved. But Brother Toby, you know this as well as I do. I feel like I get saved all over again when I lead somebody to Christ because it stirs my faith up, right?
[35:59] I love coming to a good worship service. But I've come to worship service and I've watched people sit down and literally go, I'm here.
[36:14] Bless me if you may or can because I will not be blessed and I will not be moved. So preacher, you can preach as loud, long, short, whatever, but I'm good.
[36:30] But then I've come to church and I've entered in. As Psalm 100 tells us, you know what I'm talking about. I've entered in. I didn't come saying, oh, okay, bless me if you can.
[36:42] I said, no, I'm already blessed. I'm just here to live in the overflow with you today. And I've come into a church service saying, God, you're not coming here to speak to everybody. God, you've got a word for me today.
[36:53] God, that altar's not for everybody. That altar's for me today. And God, that sermon's not for everybody. It's for me today. And that song isn't for only the worship team. I don't know that third verse and I ain't sing.
[37:05] No, no, no, no. I'm entering in. And buddy, when I enter in and worship, guess what happens? I get stirred up. the potential of our faith.
[37:21] It's in each one of us. It's in us. God has put it in us. What's the missing ingredient? Acting on what we know and stepping out and believing God can do something through me.
[37:38] And when we do and we act in obedience, God stirs it up and God makes a difference through us. I was with Pastor Chappell this week out in Colorado.
[37:53] We were on their family farm. It's a dry farm. In other words, they just rely on rain, whatever God sends. His grandfather, that was his property.
[38:06] I asked Pastor, I said, Pastor, tell me the story about this farm. He told me the story about his grandfather. He said, let me tell you why I love coming to this farm. This is our family's farm.
[38:18] I said, yeah, I gathered that. It said chapel. I got it, you know. I said, but why do you, I mean, just talk to me about the history of this. He said, my grandfather was plowing a row, a long row, getting ready to plant, and he was a long way off.
[38:35] The property's huge. And he said, there was a man standing at the end of that row waiting for my grandfather to finish that row. This man got a burden to go to every farm in that area and talk to the farmers, not about farming, but about their soul.
[38:55] And he said, this man is standing at the end of this long row. If you saw the row, you would think, this gotta be awkward standing there waiting. It's like, you know, you coming? I mean, standing there and all of a sudden he's coming, he's coming, he's coming.
[39:07] Finally, he said, his grandfather jumped down and went over and shook his hand and met him. And he said, that man sat down with my grandfather and opened the New Testament and led my grandfather to Christ right here on this property.
[39:21] He said, but John, let me tell you why I love this property. It's because then my father got saved as a result of that man leading my grandfather to Christ. And then my father led me to Christ.
[39:33] And then he said, and I've had the privilege to lead all my children to Christ, and my children are now leading their children to Christ. And he said, God has literally revolutionized our family because one guy said, this is what's in me and I'm going to make a difference and he activated his faith and only heaven and eternity will reveal the difference that was made by a man that nobody hardly even knows.
[40:00] The watch got stirred up and said, it's not enough to just have the faith. I've got to do something with it. I want to say this tonight as we close right here in this room are difference makers.
[40:16] Right here in this room is the potential. Only heaven could reveal what God could do through the room that I'm preaching to tonight if we would say, God, by your grace, I want to be real.
[40:31] I thank you for the people who've helped me along the way, but God, you've put far too much in me for let it all settle on the bottom and me to do nothing with it.
[40:42] Oh, Spirit of God, stir me up again. God, stir us up again. Don't let us sit on the sidelines as the world's dying and going to hell.
[40:54] God, get us stirred and make a difference through us for your honor and for your glory. would you bow your head and heart with me tonight?
[41:05] I'd like to pray with you this evening. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed tonight. Would you stand with me all across the room with your head bowed and eyes closed and here's our invitation.
[41:18] It's very simple tonight. I want to ask you to do something this evening. I want to ask you to take a step of faith tonight. And here's the invitation.
[41:30] It's very simple. How many are here tonight and would say something like this, John, by God's grace, I want my faith to make a difference.
[41:44] I want to be that difference maker. Look, God hasn't called you to run my race and he hasn't called me to run yours. Don't compare what God has called us all to do.
[41:54] We need to be faithful with what God's called us to do. But listen, God's called all of us to make a difference. For the Lord Jesus tonight. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed, and here's what I want to ask you to do.
[42:06] I want to ask you, I don't know what your tradition is, I don't know what your culture is, but I'm going to ask you to do this tonight. If the Spirit of God has talked to you, touched your heart, and you say something like this, by the grace of God, I want to be a difference maker.
[42:19] I don't want to just have the faith. I want my faith to make a difference in the lives of other people. Starting in my own family, starting around me, I want my life to make a difference.
[42:31] No one's looking tonight, our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed, but if that's the burden of your heart, I want to ask many of you tonight to join me at an old-fashioned altar tonight, and just slip out of your seat. That's right, just come as you are right now, and you would just say right here at this altar, God, whatever you have put in me, God, whoever you have allowed to make an impact in my life, God, I don't want to sit back.
[42:52] God, I don't want to hold back. God, I want to get stirred up. I want my faith to be activated. I want my faith to make a difference.
[43:04] Stay tonight with me, would you? Let's ask the Lord to do something through us, even now. God, do something in us. God, do something through us tonight.