"The Big Give" - How To Use Your Gifts & Talents To Make A Difference

Intro:

An unknown poet wrote these words that I want to start with today...

My life shall touch a dozen lives before this day is done;
Leave countless marks for good or ill, ere sets the evening sun.
This is the wish I always wish, the prayer I always pray:
Lord, may my life help other lives it touches by the way.

Even though we don’t know who wrote these words, we can all relate to this person because this is a person who, like us, wants to live a life of influence.

Last Sunday, I told you that when we think and talk about salvation we usually overlook something. That’s this…

The fact that Jesus saved us for something, not just from something.

God has a purpose for each one of us, individually, and he has a purpose for us as a church.He saved us so we could accomplish something, so we could have an impact on the world and people around us.

Not only does God want us to accomplish something, but each of us here have a desire to matter in this life. We all want to live a life that will make a difference in this world.

We want to have a life that has an influence on others and on this world.

The question I asked last Sunday was this…

*If that’s what God wants and what we want, why don’t more of us find ourselves living a life of influence and impact?

I told you that I think the reason is because we don’t know where to start. We don’t know how to use our gifts and talents in a way to impact other people’s lives in a big way.

And with so many needs out there, wee don’t know who we can help out in the biggest way.

That’s why for these last two Sundays I’m doing this series called, “Big Give.”

In this series, we’re going to be looking at a new matrix that will allow you to discover a way to have larger impact on the people in need around you. It will help you to discover, develop and/or deploy your gifts and talents in new ways.

Last week, I reminded you of this…

God is the one who took the first step and he did the ultimate Big Give. He gave himself and he paid the ultimate price: his ife. And God now expects us to give to others as he’s given to us.

When he sent the disciples out on their first mission Jesus told them this in Matt. 10:8, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”

Jesus wants us to give to others in the way we’ve received – generously and freely! He wants us to help them out, bandage them up, heal them, lift them up, and set them free people who are in need around us.

I told you that the funny this is that I’ve been seeing TV shows living out what God wants us to do better than Christ-followers. Shows like “Extreme Makeover Home Edition”. I think they appeal to people because we crave to live a life like that. I told you last week that it was after watching Oprah’s “Big Give” show that I suddenly had a new idea…

We don’t have to wait until we’re a bigger church to give big. We can have a huge impact on people’s lives at this stage.

It will happen when we each find the sweet spot of our maximum effectiveness. It will be when we begin to live this out together – inspiring each other, working together and challenging each other in the process.

We’re going to provide this through a friendly challenge I’m going to give Smaller Gatheringss that will allow us all to live these ideas out in a unique way. Hebrews 10:24 it says (NLT), “Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds.” The NIV translates it this way… “And let us consider
how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”

I’m challenging the SG groups to take the ideas that we’re talking about in this series and run with them in such a huge way that it will be a way we can encourage and spur each other on toward actually living out these outbursts of love and good deeds!

I want your SG group to find an individual or organization that you can do the BIGGEST Give to. I want the idea that you know other groups are using their creativity and aiming high to spur your group to go for it a big as you can

Today will help you to do that. You might want to have a pen handy again as we start.

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Life Management Series: Gift #3

I haven't had a chance to post "Gift #2" yet, so this is out of order. Sorry!

Intro:
I want to start today by talking about unseen dangers. These are the little-known dangers that are around us, all the time. You can look just where you live and find them!
Did you know…

· A Household dryers can be dangerous? Dryers cause more than 15,000 house fires every year.

· Toothpaste is poisonous?
If you shallow too much of it can actually kill you! Label… “If you accidentally swallow more than used for brushing, seek professional assistance or contact a Poison Control Center right away.”

There are dangers like this from everyday items that we use all the time. I saw something funny online when I typed in “warning labels” on Google…

These are labels from the 11^th Annual M-LAW Wacky Warning Label Contest…

Third place: A baby stroller featuring a small pouch for storage that warns: "Do not put child in bag."

Second place: An iron-on T-shirt transfer that warns: "Do not iron while wearing shirt."

Grand Prize: A label on a small tractor that warns: "Danger! Avoid Death."

The gift we’re going to look at today is another amazing gift that can do a lot of good in our lives and others lives, but there also is a danger comes with it. It’s a danger that most of us don’t even think about, but it’s serious! It has the power to ultimately destroy our lives if we don’t use it carefully!

We’ll look more at that in a second, but first… Let me remind you about what we’re trying to do in this series. When we started this “Life Management” series and I told you…

God has given you (and will give you) all of the "raw materials" and opportunities you need to reach your full potential.

At the end of our lives, no one is going to be able to blame God that he didn’t give them what they needed to make it in this life.

Whether you reach your full potential, or not, will be based on how you managed what you've been given. Did you waste your gifts or cherish them?

For 5 Sundays, we're looking at 5 of the most important raw materials you've been given to form your life with. I'm calling these 5 raw materials of life "5 Gifts" that God has given you to manage.

The FIRST week, I talked about the first gift that God has given us to manage, which is TIME.

You only have 1440 minutes given to you everyday. If you sleep 7 hours that leaves you 1020 minutes. You can never get more. The only way to make more time is by managing it better. How we manage our time becomes our worship to God.

It makes “Time Management” a holy thing!

The LAST Sunday we were here at the theater, I talked about the second gift that God has given us to manage, which is our health. I showed you in the Bible that God care about all of us – not just our spiritual health, but also our mental, emotional and physical health.

I told you that how you manage your gift of health will decide the quantity and quality of your life. You can listen to these last two talks at PathwayPaloAlto.Blogspot.com.

Today we’re going to look at the 3^rd gift.The third gift God’s given us to manage is Wealth.This gift has one major danger...

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*Two Handouts That Go With This Series:

1. "3 Ways To Better Manage Your Money"

• Simple method to eliminate your debt.
• How to grow your money from your knowledge.
• Tips for giving.

2. Ministry & Missions Giving Goals

Life Management Series: Gift #1

Let’s talk about gifts for second. (Show wrapped gift)

We all like getting these. I don’t know anyone who hates getting gifts!

Why do people give them?

To show someone we love or appreciate them. To see the excitement on their faces. To give them someone what they need or want.

But a gift always leaves us with a choice: Will you accept it and use it or will you reject it and throw to the side?

God has given you (and will give you) all of the "raw materials" and opportunities you need to reach your full potential.

At the end of our lives, no one is going to be able to blame God that he didn’t give them what they needed to make it in this life.

Whether you reach your full potential, or not, will be based on how you managed what you've been given. Did you waste your gifts or cherish them?

For the next 5 Sundays, we're going to look at 5 of the most important raw materials you've been given to form your life with. I'm calling these 5 raw materials of life "5 Gifts" that God has given you to manage.

What are you going to do with these 5 gifts God’s given you? Will you accept them or reject them? Use them or abuse them? An unaccepted or unused gift isn’t any better than no gift at all!

Today we’re going to look at the first gift. (Begin opening wrapped present) Let’s see what it is…

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"The Fear Factor" Series: "Life Giving Fear"

Spoken on 10/14/07
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Intro:
In The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis, there’s a scene where he has the two girls, Susan and Lucy, getting ready to meet Aslan the lion, who represents Jesus. I want to start this morning by reading you that from scene because it contains an important truth.

Two animals, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, get the girls ready to meet Aslan. "Ooh," said Susan, "I thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."

"That you will, dearie." said Mrs. Beaver. "And make no mistake, if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knee's knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."

"Then isn't he safe?" said Lucy. "Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the king, I tell you!"

In the Bible “Fear of God” is a positive thing. It was a way to describe someone who knew God and walked with him. To say that you have no “Fear of God” was a negative thing back then. It was the way non-believers were described.

Nowadays it’s the opposite! We’ve emphasized “The Love Of God”, “God as our father”, “God as our friend” so much that we have no fear of God left! In fact we think of “fear of God” now as a negative thing!

“Good… but not safe.” is a description of God that we all need to have and know again. It’s the place where wisdom, life and success all begin.

Many of us misunderstand what it means to fear God.

Today, I want to help us have a Biblical view of the fear of God. Today I’m going to talk to your about what I’m calling “Life Giving Fear”.

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You can read the book I mention at the end of my talk called, "The Judgment Seat Of Christ" by Rick Howard online, for free by clicking here!

"The Fear Factor" Series: "Making Friends With Fear"

Spoken on 10/7/07
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Intro:

How many of you know who Ann Landers is? She’s a famous old advice columnist who wrote her column for 43 years. Her column ran in newspapers across the country. People would write to her with all kinds of questions and problems and she’d give them advice.

In the book, “Conquer Fear!” by Lisa Jimenez she tells this story about Ann Landers that I want to start with today. Listen to what it reveals..

Newspaper columnist Ann Landers was once asked, “Out of all the thousands of letters you receive each month, what problem is most dominant in people’s lives?”

Her answer was shocking! “It’s fear!” she replied without hesitation. “The one thing that keeps people from the life they dream of is fear. People live every day in their fear. They’re afraid of losing their wealth. They’re afraid of losing their loved ones. They’re afraid of being themselves. They’re afraid of growing up and being responsible. They’re afraid of making the wrong decision. They’re afraid of making a commitment. They’re afraid of life itself!”

When I was praying and thinking about what I should talk to you about for our next series I felt like God led me to this topic of fear because it’s so universal.

No one is completely fearless. We all fear something or some things. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a student or a parent, single or married, young or older – we all have things we’re afraid of.

What I’m afraid of might be nothing to you or what you’re afraid of might be nothing to me. Fear is unique because it’s subjective and really in the eye of the beholder.

And just like when we were kids, most of the things we’re afraid of aren’t real. They’re make-believe or at least not real yet!

But these make-believe fears, in a very real way, hold most of us back from doing, living and being what we’re meant to do, live and be!

That’s what makes fear such a negative and restrictive thing. But fear isn’t only negative! HowItWorks.com said this about fear…

If we couldn't be afraid, we wouldn't survive for long. We'd be walking into oncoming traffic, stepping off of rooftops and carelessly handling poisonous snakes. We'd be hanging out with people who have tuberculosis. In humans and in all animals, the purpose of fear is to promote survival.

Listen to this Wikipedia definition of Fear… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear

“Fear is an emotional response to impending danger, that is tied to anxiety. Behavioral theorists, like Watson and Ekman, have both suggested that fear, along with a few other basic emotions (e.g., joy and anger), is a trait innate to most higher functioning organisms. Fear is a survival mechanism, and usually occurs in response to a specific negative stimulus.” And later it says, “Fear is related to a number of emotional states including worry, anxiety, terror, fright, paranoia, horror, panic (social and personal), persecution complex and dread.”

Not all fear is bad! God gave us fear to protect us. Without it we’d be clueless and constantly in danger and not even know it! We’d be like young kids.

Picture of why we need fear: Addison is 18 months old now and he’s fearless about falling. He’ll walk, stand, and fall on our chairs, couches, and our bed. When he’s doing this he’s laughing and completely clueless that he’s in danger. He needs to have some fear of this, not so he’s too afraid to ever stands on a chair (he’d never be able to change a ceiling light bulb if he was like this), but he at least needs to have a fear that causes him to be careful. Otherwise he’s going to get hurt!

What I’m going to be talking to you about today is NOT about completely getting rid of all fear. It’s impossible and not healthy or smart to totally get rid of fear!

I’m going to be talking instead about changing the way see/respond to fear! We have to change our paradigm of fear.

Stephen Covey in his classic book “7 Habits Of Highly Effective People” says this about paradigms…

“It becomes obvious that if we want to make relatively minor changes in our lives, we can perhaps appropriately focus on our attitudes and behaviors. But if we want to make significant quantum change, we need to work on our basic paradigms.”

We need a new way to see and respond to fear. Instead of seeing fear as something to run from fear we need to make friends with it and realize that it can help us and inspire to action.

If we don’t do this, then we’ll never get rid of one of the major barriers that hold us back from living and fulfilling our purpose!

Can you imagine all that you could do and be if you could change how you think and respond to fear? Have people imagine/write down what they’d do if they weren’t afraid (1 minute). Isn’t that reason enough to change your mindset?

The good news is that God wants you to change your view and response to fear too!
God doesn't want you to be afraid. God doesn't want you to live as a prisoner of your fears. He wants to set you free.

That makes this quest to change our mindset about fear so much more doable and possible because God and we both want the same thing! We just have to ask God for help and do our part and we’ll begin to see this barrier dissolve!

Today I want to look some more at fear and give you specific things you can do to change your mindset of fear from your enemy to your friend.

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Truth In The Movies Series: Spiderman 3 - Our Ultimate Battle"

Intro:

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Today, I want to talk to you about the greatest battle that you’ll ever face in your life. It’s the battle whose victory matters most – more than any other.

The battle I’m talking about is the battle within. This is a battle against your own destructive desires. It’s our ultimate battle.

We all have good qualities, strengths, and a desire to do what’s right. You probably have done and probably will do some pretty impressive things in your life. You probably have done and will do some pretty good and kind things in your life.

In some ways you’re a pretty good person! In some ways I am. But we all have a problem.

Deep down we all have thoughts, desires, and emotions that are wrong. They’re not just wrong, but they’re dark, destructive – even evil. You might hide them, suppress them, and keep them in the dark, but they still exist.

The biggest danger this dark side of us has is that if we feed these negative qualities we could destroy a part of our lives or even destroy ourselves.

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like Owen Wilson. He’s a funny, likeable, successful guy. But recently his dark side showed itself. A source close to him has said, “A good portion of his [Owen’s] life has been dedicated to fighting depression and addiction… This is the third time he’s tried killing himself.”

In People magazine another source close to the actor said, "Owen is in bad mental shape but said he is thankful to be alive. He knows he came close to ending his life, and he is happy that he was saved from himself. He is basically at home with people watching him 24/7."

Owen isn’t the only successful comedian this has happened too. Chris Farley died at the age of only 33 from what they say was a combination of obesity and substance abuse. Jim Belushi died of an overdose.

It’s not just comedians who have a dark side. Check the news and you see senators, businessman, housewives, and pastors being caught in adultery, embezzling money, murder, and all sorts of crazy things!

But it’s not just them! These people are all people just like us. The only difference is that they happen to be in the spotlight, they made decisions that fed their dark side and eventually destroyed part of their lives.

If we don’t face the fact that we have a dark side whose desires, thoughts and emotions could one day destroy us, then we will be blindsided one day by it.

Today I want to use the movie Spiderman 3, as a backdrop to look at this idea and to discover some ways to help save us from ourselves.

The Spiderman 3 DVD isn’t out yet, so we’ll just use the trailer and an online clip to take a peek at the movie.

Listen to the talk below...

NOTE:
I've edited the movie clips out of the audio, but you can pause the audio and watch the clips below when those parts of the talk come on.)

1. Watch the trailer here.

2. Brock turns into "Venom"


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(Time: 29:55)


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“What All Great People Of Faith Have Done BEFORE They Saw Results”

Intro:
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I’ve felt like God’s led recently to do a personal self-study on faith again. I started reading Abraham’s story again, and others. I’ve reread Hebrews 11, Romans 4, and James 2.

In the middle of this study I’ve discovered what seems to be THE requirement for seeing God do huge things in and through your life. This simple thing is something that needs to happen before we see any results.

I want to talk to you about that today, but first I want to tell you an amazing story about an Eastern Indian women that I read in INC magazine.

This woman came to this country with just a simple goal. And it came true in a way that was beyond her dreams…

Prathiba Ramadoss emigrated from Chennai, a coastal city in southeast India, to St. Paul in 1999 when she was just 21 years old. She was newly married, and determined to start a business.

Two years later, with a six-month-old in tow, she launched an IT staffing firm, Business Integra, from her garage. When she started out she persistently called 50 to 60 companies a day until her husband, Selva Jay, a software consultant, came home to help her tackle the West Coast.

With Jay as her CTO, Ramadoss has transformed her company (now based in Maryland) into a full-scale contracting firm and software developer with $4.7 million in sales.

Listen to how she describes starting the company…

It was very difficult initially. When I called companies, they wouldn't listen--probably because of my accent. They would just hang up the phone. I don't blame them; they tend to get numerous calls a day. But I was patient and persistent. I would call the next day and say, "Sorry, when I called you yesterday the phone got disconnected. That was my fault, but I have some good consultants looking for a project, so if you have anything coming up I'd be happy to help." Now one of the companies that hung up on me calls me every day to get into our vendor program.

She went on to say…

My degree was in zoology, but my husband's experience in IT made it easy for me to transition. Otherwise, I would have gone into biotech.

They say behind every successful man is a good woman. Well, I have a good man behind me. Selva molded me into this level. It would have been different if I was in India, but here I am shy. He taught me the business way of talking. Like when we speak to clients, we should refer to our consultants as resources, not people. Because of my background in science, I also didn't have an in-depth knowledge of things like Dot.NET, Java, and data warehousing, which he explained to me. I'm planning to enroll in an M.B.A. program--once I have a little more time.

__________________

Did you catch where she said, “It would have been different if I was in India, but here I am shy.” She grew the company to $4.7 million in sales! And that’s when she’s SHY!

This woman came from another country and for some reason had enough guts and determination to start a business and see it succeed in HUGE ways. Her company is listed in INC as one of Americas 500 fastest growing private companies!

There are three things that she had or did that helped her succeed. She had faith. She believed she could do it. She gained the knowledge. She talked to her husband and learned the industry. And this is the most important part - she took action! She continually called 50 to 60 companies a day! And she didn’t just call them once. She called them again and again – even when they hung up on her!

A lot of people have more knowledge in the IT field, but they never accomplish anything like she did!

Why? I think there are two reasons. They don’t believe they could and they won’t take action.

Belief and action are BOTH needed in order to succeed.

If you have belief but no action you’ll have no results.
If you have action, but no belief that you can do it, then you have poor results. You won’t try hard enough. You won’t be persistent, etc.

You have to have strong belief and action to succeed!

I just got a book in the mail yesterday, that I ordered from Amazon.com called, “The Magic Of Thinking Big”. It’s a classic book, that’s sold more than 4,000,000 copies, by a Ph.D. named David J. Schwartz.

The whole premise of the book is that successful people aren’t successful because they’re smarter, luckier, work harder or any other advantage like that. He says that the reason their successful is just they believe in themselves and because the aim higher!

They have the confidence and belief to try something BIGGER than most people would. I can really see that in Prathiba’s story! Can’t you?

This idea that has some things in common with what I’ve discovered in my study of the “greats” of faith.

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Heroes Series - Gideon

This is from the Heroes series I finished on August 12th. I just finally got a chance to upload it.

You'll learn how God can use you even if you're fearful, faithless, and full of doubt.

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Series: “Heroes: Extra-Ordinary Living For Ordinary People”: 2nd Hero - Joseph

Here's the audio from last Sundays talk.

You can download it and listen to it on your MP3 player or you can stream it and listen to it online right now. Choose the link below you want.

Joseph - Blessings In Disguise Stream
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Talk length (41:48)

Below is the intro to the talk to give you a little teaser of what the talk is about....

Intro:
This story is from Reader's Digest, March, 1993, p. 123….

“A friend of mine awoke one morning to find a puddle of water in the middle of his king-size water bed. In order to fix the puncture, he rolled the heavy mattress outdoors and filled it with more water so he could locate the leak more easily. The enormous bag of water was impossible to control and began rolling on the hilly terrain. He tried to hold it back, but it headed downhill and landed in a clump of bushes which poked it full of holes.

“Disgusted, my friend threw out the water-bed frame and moved a standard bed into his room. The next morning, he awoke to find a puddle of water in the middle of the new bed. The upstairs bathroom had a leaky drain.”

Sometimes problems in life just seem to get worse and worse and make no sense at all. It’d all be funny if it wasn’t you!

· If you’ve ever felt like God has delayed his promises or blessings in your life, then what I’m about to talk about is for you.

· If you’ve ever felt like God’s forgotten you or that he just isn’t coming through for you, then what I’m about to talk about is for you.

Here’s the thought I want to plant in your mind as we start today…

What if the delay and the problems you’ve felt showed God was against you were actually a part of the plan to help you live out your purpose?

Last week, I read to you from John Eldredge’s new book “Epic: The Story God Is Telling”. I want to remind you again of one part of that quote from John. He says, “What if all the great stories that have ever moved you, brought you joy or tears – what if they are telling you something about the true Story into which you were born, the Epic into which you have been cast?

“We won’t begin to understand our lives, or what this so-called Gospel is that Christianity speaks of, until we understand the Story in which we have found ourselves. For when you were born, you were born into an epic that has already been underway now for quite some time. It is a story of beauty and intimacy and adventure, a story of danger and loss and heroism and betrayal.”

We looked last week at the story of David and Goliath and saw that God sends trials to use to prepare and train us so that we can learn to trust him, rely on him, take risks, and learn how to let God use us.

Today, we’re going to learn one final lesson about being used by God to live heroically. It’s something that could change the way you see your problems right now and it could reframe the way you see your whole life.

We’re going to discover this idea by looking at the life of Joseph. He was a guy who had a dream that didn’t get fulfilled in the way he thought it would. It was in harder, but greater and larger way, then he ever could’ve imagined! We’re going to start our story today in Genesis 37...

Listen to the audio to hear the whole talk!