May 6, 2025 • 31 mins
A desperate request from an exhausted spiritual leader forms the foundation of this deeply moving exploration of what it truly means to minister to one another. When an elderly statesman approached his associate with tears in his eyes pleading "preach to me," it revealed a profound truth: even the most seasoned leaders hunger for others to speak God's word into their lives.
This episode unpacks the transformative power of availability over ability. The associate had no prepared message, no clever insights ready to share—just an empty vessel willing to be used. From this emptiness flowed a flood of inspiration that brought healing to a weary soul. It's a powerful reminder that God doesn't require our expertise so much as our willingness to be conduits of His presence.
We explore how our words function as containers of either life or death, and how believers are called to be atmosphere-changers who transform environments with the peace of God's kingdom. This authority doesn't come from credentials or titles but from living in submission to God's authority. True leadership emerges not from diplomas but from active, obedient living that causes others to follow.
The episode challenges us to move beyond religious performance toward authentic relationship—being honest enough to admit when we're spiritually hungry and courageous enough to minister from our emptiness. For those who've abandoned their calling or felt inadequate for the task, there's a resurgence happening as God calls His people out of shadowy places of disappointment into fresh purpose and power. Your greatest qualification might not be what you know, but your willingness to be available when someone needs you to speak life into their situation.
Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
It was a while back that I heard this story about an
elderly statesman, a trueleader in the body of Christ and
an excellent teacher, and oneof his associates said that he
(00:25):
saw him one day and he lookedjust tired.
This statesman gentleman lookedjust exhausted and he
(00:46):
remembered very clearly that aman looked at his associate and
said I need you to do somethingfor me.
And he said he looked really Imean really desperate when he
(01:09):
was saying that and giving thatrequest and initially it kind of
took him back.
He was like he didn't reallyknow what he was going to ask
for.
I mean, it could have been,please, you know I need a drink
or I'm going to give you thisnumber and I want you to bring
(01:33):
my mistress in and I need tospend some time with her.
I mean, right, it could havebeen a variety of things.
It could have been a variety ofthings.
And yet the one thing that thisman asked for he looked at it
(01:55):
and he goes preach to me.
And now again, this man was aBible scholar and yet he asked
(02:19):
his associate to preach to himand initially he kind of turned
around to look to see if he wastalking to him, or maybe there
was someone behind him.
He said no, I need you topreach to me.
He goes.
I'm so hungry and thirsty tohave someone preach to me.
He goes.
I'm always preaching andteaching, preaching and teaching
(02:47):
and he goes.
I realize that people assumethat I'm doing just fine, but he
goes.
I rarely have anyone preach tome because I need you to preach
to me.
And his associate said that hehad nothing, nothing prepared.
(03:12):
There was no message that hehad in his back pocket that he
could pull out and say okay,I've been waiting to deliver
this.
And so here, this looks likeit's a good time.
His mind went blank, and Idon't know about you, but I can
relate, because there are timeswhere I'm put in a situation and
(03:34):
my mind has gone blank.
It's been something that hasbeen above my pay grade.
At least at that time I'm likenothing.
Above my pay grade, at least atthat time I'm like nothing.
And I'm here to say that's notnecessarily a bad thing.
In fact that's kind of a goodthing, because, you see, this
(04:02):
story is just ripe with biblicalconnotations and we use the
scriptures as our baseline, andso some of you, you're obviously
making some correlationsalready.
(04:23):
You know this guy's reallythirsty, you know, as the deer
man pants for the water, so mysoul longs after you, lord.
I'm just hungry and thirsty ina dry and weary land.
For you, lord, when thepsalmist says I cried out, he
(04:48):
cried out to God.
And so also to be prepared,whether it's in season or out of
season, right To be prepared togive an answer to the faith
(05:08):
that we have in Jesus Christ.
Why?
But also through the foolishness, seeming foolishness, of
preaching, the Word of God isconveyed.
There's something aboutpreaching under the anointing,
but also there's something aboutbeing in a place where it's
(05:32):
beyond us and our total relianceis upon Holy Spirit.
It's upon Holy Spirit becausethere's nothing that we have.
In fact, that's ultimately theway of growth that more and more
(05:53):
we co-operate with Holy Spiritand we find his life,
demonstrating the very life inus that it's no longer we who
live because we've beencrucified with Christ, but it's
Christ who lives in us, who'sfunctioning.
(06:16):
And so this man said he justopened his mouth.
And when he opened his mouth,and when he opened his mouth, a
floodgate of inspiration cameboth to him and through him.
(06:38):
And he said this elderlystatesman just put his head in
his hands and sobbed, and atfirst he didn't know if he was
sobbing because what he wassaying just wasn't really
hitting the mark and the man wasdisappointed or exactly what.
(07:01):
But come to find out after 20minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes,
an hour, an hour plus later,when he finally completed, kind
of emptied out this man, afterhe stopped crying, just looked
(07:24):
and said I needed that, I neededthat, and sometimes we need to
hear the word of the Lord cometo us through the conduit of
(07:47):
another person, because Godwants to use us, and that's one
of the ways in which he haschosen to do so is to use our
mouths Hallelujah, hallelujah.
To use our mouths to Hallelujah.
To use our mouths to declarethings To one another when we
(08:13):
are able to actually, at times,speak to each other with a word
from Psalms, or to share a hymnor a spiritual song, where we
edify each other with psalms orwith words, finding out that
(08:35):
what we say is powerful, becauseour words are containers.
They're more than just soundsand syllables.
They are containers.
They contain within them eitherlife or death.
So it behooves us to keep aneye on what comes out of our
mouth, because we have theliteral opportunity of
(09:01):
influencing the very air that'saround us.
We are meant to be atmospherechangers, those who believe in
Jesus.
We are meant to create anatmosphere of shalom, of peace.
Jesus said Blessed are thepeacemakers, for they will be
(09:22):
known as the sons of God or thechildren of God.
They will be known as those whoare citizen members who
function on a higher levelbecause they are able to change
the atmosphere.
They're able to walk into aroom or even into a nation and
see it impacted with the verykingdom of God, hallelujah.
(09:45):
These are things that we arecalled to, and for us to be
prepared, and not just the otherguy, but for you, for you to
consider yourself to be thatassociate who is called on by
(10:07):
that elder, that elderlystatesman, saying preach to me.
If someone came up to youliterally and said I really need
you to open up to me the Wordof God, would you please just
(10:29):
share with me for a moment whatit is that you believe in, why
you believe it now.
I'm not the best at streetaddresses, telephone numbers and
other things that deal withnumbers.
I'm adequate, I get by, butthat's not my forte.
(10:54):
That deal with numbers.
I'm adequate.
I get by, but that's not myforte.
So I don't always use chapterand verse when I talk.
When I speak with things fromthe scriptures, from the Bible,
I mean I will.
But if you've ever heard areally good teacher teach and
(11:16):
they can use chapter and verseand just be conversant about it,
it's amazing, it flows.
But if you've ever heardsomeone struggling to do that
because that's what they feelthey need to do in order to be
effective, it's painfulsometimes to hear that.
What I'm saying is that in beingprepared, we don't have to be
(11:41):
like a walking concordancebefore we can adequately share
the Word of God.
Now, if you can and it comes toyou and it's a strength, amen.
And if not and you want todevelop it, yes, yes, yes, yes
(12:01):
and yes.
But if it's really a struggleand it produces that sense of
inadequacy within you, man don'tsweat it.
That's not the pre-reference.
In fact, very rarely in thescriptures do you find anyone
quoting any chapter and versefrom anyone else.
(12:22):
They will reference certainthings, but rarely do you hear
them say this was in the book ofsuch and such and give that
address.
(12:43):
Where I'm going with that onceagain is the fact that there is
a hunger that we can have withinus and sometimes it's important
for us to reach out and say Iam just starving for the word of
(13:03):
the Lord to be proclaimed to meand to be able to reach out and
say that very thing, as opposedto saying everything is just
fine.
And it also gives anotherperson the opportunity of being
(13:24):
literally used by the Lord inconveying his heart, perhaps
because he doesn't have anything, but God does and God uses us.
(13:44):
That's one of our chieffunctions on this planet is to
be a conduit for his kingdom tobe manifest to us and then,
through us, colonizing planetEarth with the kingdom of God.
And one of the ways that it iscaused is by what comes out of
(14:19):
our mouth and the effect that ithas in the world around us.
Because if we walk in authority, what we say will have an
effect because we have authority.
And we get authority by havingour faith, our absolute trust,
confidence placed in God andobeying the promptings that come
(14:44):
from him.
Being obedient is the basis ofauthority.
Being under authority,receiving the word of the Lord
and conveying the word of theLord, having that power and that
confidence and then doing it,it changes the atmosphere and we
(15:09):
become the very sons of God.
We're the ones who are abovethings, no longer the inferior
powers of darkness havinginfluence.
It's the very angels of Godbeing manifest as a result of us
taking our place as sons of Godand ruling from the place where
Jesus is seated at the righthand of the Father.
(15:31):
That's where we make ourdeclarations from, because
that's where we are seated now.
Currently, we have a dualprocess going on.
We're already seated in a placeand we're living here in
progress of becoming where wealready are.
(15:53):
That's amazing that we can behere and we can be there both at
the same time, and we canfunction from the place that is
(16:21):
above and speak into the worldthat we live in, inviting Holy
Spirit to do that very thingthrough us.
As we hear the word of the Lordcoming to us, we express it
into the world that we live in,and sometimes by responding to
someone saying preach to me, or,if you are a person who does
(16:45):
that on a regular basis, preachthe very oracle of God.
Don't just come up with a homilythat is nothing more than a
(17:06):
religious exercise of peoplelistening to.
That they can check off assomething that they've done.
That has no basis ofrelationship at all.
That dead religious thing ofhaving just that
compartmentalized, prefabricatedhomily versus administering the
(17:32):
very oracle, compartmentalizedprefabricated homily versus
administering the very oracle,the very word of the Lord.
Or breaking open and rightlydividing the word of truth,
breaking the scripture open,like Jesus did to those walking
on the road to Emmaus.
He just broke open thescriptures to them and they were
just like man.
Didn't our heart just burn whenwe heard that?
(17:54):
Praise God, being ready is beingavailable.
What our best ability, ourgreatest ability, is our
availability.
Right, and that's more thanjust a cute statement.
(18:17):
That's really true.
Being available, taking timeand absorbing the scriptures,
taking time and just being withGod.
There's no replacing that beingfilled and overflowing.
Regularly, ongoingly, in anongoing way.
(18:39):
We are called to that.
It's not relegated to the otherperson who is the expert,
because they've gone to schooland now they have a degree that
(19:05):
qualifies them to be a leader.
That's not how leaders aredeveloped.
That's a great tool to have theenvironment in which our minds
are honed is a wonderful thing.
(19:25):
But it doesn't qualify us to bea leader just because we have a
certificate, a degree, adiploma.
A degree comes by thecommissioning of God and shoe
(19:48):
leather that's how we get aleader moving is by.
You know that old saying adeacon is a deacon as long as he
dekes, and the more we function, the more we become an
(20:08):
authority on something.
And if you want to know ifyou're a leader or not, just
turn around and see if anyone'sfollowing.
And so by doing the stuff, weare all called to do the stuff,
(20:30):
not just the experts.
In fact, those things arebecoming more and more subdued,
which is a good thing, meaningthey're good, but they're not
(20:51):
being used as the means by whichsomeone gets a title and then
their title becomes the factthat they are a leader.
That's not the way of thekingdom.
(21:12):
And so for us to be filled sothat we can be useful is
important, but for us to say attimes when it's real, I need you
to, and whoever that is thatyou can trust, say I need you to
(21:36):
break open the word of God tome.
You know, there's one time Ijust I needed, I needed someone
(22:00):
to say out loud that I wasforgiven, because hearing it in
my own head and saying it andknowing that God has forgiven me
was factually true, but itwasn't experientially happening
in my life.
I was still troubled by what Ihad done, and it took someone
looking at me and saying to meyour sins are forgiven and I
(22:28):
forgive you too, because it wasdone out loud.
Again, what we speak out loud,it begins with that which is
within us.
(22:48):
It's not the outside of the cupthat needs to be clean, it's
the inside right, our hearts.
And so there's a wonderful,wonderful, wonderful thing
(23:14):
that's taking place as a resultof God revealing his presence
more and more, and that is I'mseeing people who have felt as
though they were maybe just notreally cut out to fulfill what.
(23:34):
Maybe they thought at one timein time what God had said to
them, and then they thought atone time what God had said to
them, and then they'd given up abit.
I'm seeing a resurgence ofpeople coming out from that
shadowy place, being called byGod to come out.
(23:57):
It's one thing to try, and thenyou're like it's just still
empty, and it's another thing tohave God call us out, and it's
his presence that fills us,because that's what we've been
craving for, that's what we'vebeen craving, that's what we've
been crying out for.
(24:20):
My hope in sharing this is thatsomeone listening to this is
going to be able to say I amgoing to be both available to
God and also more open and realin my relationships with others.
(24:50):
If those two things take placewithin any one person's life as
a result of hearing these words,this particular podcast episode
is completely a success.
It's a 100% success.
(25:11):
Any more than that is a bonusand then some.
But if you're that one personand you can say, yes, I want to
become that person who is readyin season and out of season and
(25:36):
available, but also I want to bethat person who is open and
real with others and saying Ineed you, I need you, I need
this, I need you to speak to meand, last but not least, that we
would have the ability to speakout loud the words of life and
(25:57):
create the environment that Godhas called to manifest in the
earth as it is in heaven.
And we are the conduits forthat and our mouthpiece, our
mouths.
They're the mouthpiece of Godand his kingdom and we are
(26:24):
called to see this earth justcovered with the knowledge of
the glory of the Lord, just thatthe waters cover the sea and
his kingdom would fully manifest.
Cover the sea and his kingdomwould fully manifest and we
would be completely one, so thatthis whole presentation of us
(26:47):
and of Christ being given overto the Father and that we are
melded together with him by HolySpirit as one, because we have
matured to a place of unity ashis body.
Not uniformity, but true unity,heart felt, love for one
(27:13):
another.
We truly enjoy one another andI respect our act of worship of
enjoying what God has given tous, what he's created, one other
included.
God is glorified.
Hallelujah, hallelujah,hallelujah.
(27:35):
Be encouraged.
You were called and chosen.
You were divinely elected to benot only who you are, but to be
alive at this point in time andto hear these things and to be
equipped to do the very work ofthe ministry, the, the ministry
(28:03):
of Jesus.
There's only one ministry andit's his.
We get to be part of it.
Let's pray, father, we, we castour crowns before you, father,
we cast our crowns before you,we worship you, I honor you.
(28:35):
Holy Spirit, thank you forshowing us Jesus.
I see you'd intensify that.
You'd manifest Jesus to us evenmore.
We want to know him.
Thank you for exposing thosethings that are inferior and
(28:59):
revealing to us the path ofrighteousness, the way that
things are correct and true andreal.
I speak shalom to the homeacross the board in the mighty
and powerful name of Jesus.
We stand here in his name andsay so be it.
(29:25):
Amen, amen, amen, amen.
All right, folks, I love you.
If you have any thoughts,questions, concerns, please feel
free to drop us a line atlifearoundthefire at gmailcom.
That's lifearoundthefire, alllowercase letters, all one word
(29:46):
lifearoundthefire at gmailcom.
Or you can just type inlifearoundthefire and look us up
on the web.
We would love to hear from youIn the meantime.
God bless you.
Adios amigos.
It was a while back that I heard this story about an
elderly statesman, a trueleader in the body of Christ and
an excellent teacher, and oneof his associates said that he
(00:25):
saw him one day and he lookedjust tired.
This statesman gentleman lookedjust exhausted and he
(00:46):
remembered very clearly that aman looked at his associate and
said I need you to do somethingfor me.
And he said he looked really Imean really desperate when he
(01:09):
was saying that and giving thatrequest and initially it kind of
took him back.
He was like he didn't reallyknow what he was going to ask
for.
I mean, it could have been,please, you know I need a drink
or I'm going to give you thisnumber and I want you to bring
(01:33):
my mistress in and I need tospend some time with her.
I mean, right, it could havebeen a variety of things.
It could have been a variety ofthings.
And yet the one thing that thisman asked for he looked at it
(01:55):
and he goes preach to me.
And now again, this man was aBible scholar and yet he asked
(02:19):
his associate to preach to himand initially he kind of turned
around to look to see if he wastalking to him, or maybe there
was someone behind him.
He said no, I need you topreach to me.
He goes.
I'm so hungry and thirsty tohave someone preach to me.
He goes.
I'm always preaching andteaching, preaching and teaching
(02:47):
and he goes.
I realize that people assumethat I'm doing just fine, but he
goes.
I rarely have anyone preach tome because I need you to preach
to me.
And his associate said that hehad nothing, nothing prepared.
(03:12):
There was no message that hehad in his back pocket that he
could pull out and say okay,I've been waiting to deliver
this.
And so here, this looks likeit's a good time.
His mind went blank, and Idon't know about you, but I can
relate, because there are timeswhere I'm put in a situation and
(03:34):
my mind has gone blank.
It's been something that hasbeen above my pay grade.
At least at that time I'm likenothing.
Above my pay grade, at least atthat time I'm like nothing.
And I'm here to say that's notnecessarily a bad thing.
In fact that's kind of a goodthing, because, you see, this
(04:02):
story is just ripe with biblicalconnotations and we use the
scriptures as our baseline, andso some of you, you're obviously
making some correlationsalready.
(04:23):
You know this guy's reallythirsty, you know, as the deer
man pants for the water, so mysoul longs after you, lord.
I'm just hungry and thirsty ina dry and weary land.
For you, lord, when thepsalmist says I cried out, he
(04:48):
cried out to God.
And so also to be prepared,whether it's in season or out of
season, right To be prepared togive an answer to the faith
(05:08):
that we have in Jesus Christ.
Why?
But also through the foolishness, seeming foolishness, of
preaching, the Word of God isconveyed.
There's something aboutpreaching under the anointing,
but also there's something aboutbeing in a place where it's
(05:32):
beyond us and our total relianceis upon Holy Spirit.
It's upon Holy Spirit becausethere's nothing that we have.
In fact, that's ultimately theway of growth that more and more
(05:53):
we co-operate with Holy Spiritand we find his life,
demonstrating the very life inus that it's no longer we who
live because we've beencrucified with Christ, but it's
Christ who lives in us, who'sfunctioning.
(06:16):
And so this man said he justopened his mouth.
And when he opened his mouth,and when he opened his mouth, a
floodgate of inspiration cameboth to him and through him.
(06:38):
And he said this elderlystatesman just put his head in
his hands and sobbed, and atfirst he didn't know if he was
sobbing because what he wassaying just wasn't really
hitting the mark and the man wasdisappointed or exactly what.
(07:01):
But come to find out after 20minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes,
an hour, an hour plus later,when he finally completed, kind
of emptied out this man, afterhe stopped crying, just looked
(07:24):
and said I needed that, I neededthat, and sometimes we need to
hear the word of the Lord cometo us through the conduit of
(07:47):
another person, because Godwants to use us, and that's one
of the ways in which he haschosen to do so is to use our
mouths Hallelujah, hallelujah.
To use our mouths to Hallelujah.
To use our mouths to declarethings To one another when we
(08:13):
are able to actually, at times,speak to each other with a word
from Psalms, or to share a hymnor a spiritual song, where we
edify each other with psalms orwith words, finding out that
(08:35):
what we say is powerful, becauseour words are containers.
They're more than just soundsand syllables.
They are containers.
They contain within them eitherlife or death.
So it behooves us to keep aneye on what comes out of our
mouth, because we have theliteral opportunity of
(09:01):
influencing the very air that'saround us.
We are meant to be atmospherechangers, those who believe in
Jesus.
We are meant to create anatmosphere of shalom, of peace.
Jesus said Blessed are thepeacemakers, for they will be
(09:22):
known as the sons of God or thechildren of God.
They will be known as those whoare citizen members who
function on a higher levelbecause they are able to change
the atmosphere.
They're able to walk into aroom or even into a nation and
see it impacted with the verykingdom of God, hallelujah.
(09:45):
These are things that we arecalled to, and for us to be
prepared, and not just the otherguy, but for you, for you to
consider yourself to be thatassociate who is called on by
(10:07):
that elder, that elderlystatesman, saying preach to me.
If someone came up to youliterally and said I really need
you to open up to me the Wordof God, would you please just
(10:29):
share with me for a moment whatit is that you believe in, why
you believe it now.
I'm not the best at streetaddresses, telephone numbers and
other things that deal withnumbers.
I'm adequate, I get by, butthat's not my forte.
(10:54):
That deal with numbers.
I'm adequate.
I get by, but that's not myforte.
So I don't always use chapterand verse when I talk.
When I speak with things fromthe scriptures, from the Bible,
I mean I will.
But if you've ever heard areally good teacher teach and
(11:16):
they can use chapter and verseand just be conversant about it,
it's amazing, it flows.
But if you've ever heardsomeone struggling to do that
because that's what they feelthey need to do in order to be
effective, it's painfulsometimes to hear that.
What I'm saying is that in beingprepared, we don't have to be
(11:41):
like a walking concordancebefore we can adequately share
the Word of God.
Now, if you can and it comes toyou and it's a strength, amen.
And if not and you want todevelop it, yes, yes, yes, yes
(12:01):
and yes.
But if it's really a struggleand it produces that sense of
inadequacy within you, man don'tsweat it.
That's not the pre-reference.
In fact, very rarely in thescriptures do you find anyone
quoting any chapter and versefrom anyone else.
(12:22):
They will reference certainthings, but rarely do you hear
them say this was in the book ofsuch and such and give that
address.
(12:43):
Where I'm going with that onceagain is the fact that there is
a hunger that we can have withinus and sometimes it's important
for us to reach out and say Iam just starving for the word of
(13:03):
the Lord to be proclaimed to meand to be able to reach out and
say that very thing, as opposedto saying everything is just
fine.
And it also gives anotherperson the opportunity of being
(13:24):
literally used by the Lord inconveying his heart, perhaps
because he doesn't have anything, but God does and God uses us.
(13:44):
That's one of our chieffunctions on this planet is to
be a conduit for his kingdom tobe manifest to us and then,
through us, colonizing planetEarth with the kingdom of God.
And one of the ways that it iscaused is by what comes out of
(14:19):
our mouth and the effect that ithas in the world around us.
Because if we walk in authority, what we say will have an
effect because we have authority.
And we get authority by havingour faith, our absolute trust,
confidence placed in God andobeying the promptings that come
(14:44):
from him.
Being obedient is the basis ofauthority.
Being under authority,receiving the word of the Lord
and conveying the word of theLord, having that power and that
confidence and then doing it,it changes the atmosphere and we
(15:09):
become the very sons of God.
We're the ones who are abovethings, no longer the inferior
powers of darkness havinginfluence.
It's the very angels of Godbeing manifest as a result of us
taking our place as sons of Godand ruling from the place where
Jesus is seated at the righthand of the Father.
(15:31):
That's where we make ourdeclarations from, because
that's where we are seated now.
Currently, we have a dualprocess going on.
We're already seated in a placeand we're living here in
progress of becoming where wealready are.
(15:53):
That's amazing that we can behere and we can be there both at
the same time, and we canfunction from the place that is
(16:21):
above and speak into the worldthat we live in, inviting Holy
Spirit to do that very thingthrough us.
As we hear the word of the Lordcoming to us, we express it
into the world that we live in,and sometimes by responding to
someone saying preach to me, or,if you are a person who does
(16:45):
that on a regular basis, preachthe very oracle of God.
Don't just come up with a homilythat is nothing more than a
(17:06):
religious exercise of peoplelistening to.
That they can check off assomething that they've done.
That has no basis ofrelationship at all.
That dead religious thing ofhaving just that
compartmentalized, prefabricatedhomily versus administering the
(17:32):
very oracle, compartmentalizedprefabricated homily versus
administering the very oracle,the very word of the Lord.
Or breaking open and rightlydividing the word of truth,
breaking the scripture open,like Jesus did to those walking
on the road to Emmaus.
He just broke open thescriptures to them and they were
just like man.
Didn't our heart just burn whenwe heard that?
(17:54):
Praise God, being ready is beingavailable.
What our best ability, ourgreatest ability, is our
availability.
Right, and that's more thanjust a cute statement.
(18:17):
That's really true.
Being available, taking timeand absorbing the scriptures,
taking time and just being withGod.
There's no replacing that beingfilled and overflowing.
Regularly, ongoingly, in anongoing way.
(18:39):
We are called to that.
It's not relegated to the otherperson who is the expert,
because they've gone to schooland now they have a degree that
(19:05):
qualifies them to be a leader.
That's not how leaders aredeveloped.
That's a great tool to have theenvironment in which our minds
are honed is a wonderful thing.
(19:25):
But it doesn't qualify us to bea leader just because we have a
certificate, a degree, adiploma.
A degree comes by thecommissioning of God and shoe
(19:48):
leather that's how we get aleader moving is by.
You know that old saying adeacon is a deacon as long as he
dekes, and the more we function, the more we become an
(20:08):
authority on something.
And if you want to know ifyou're a leader or not, just
turn around and see if anyone'sfollowing.
And so by doing the stuff, weare all called to do the stuff,
(20:30):
not just the experts.
In fact, those things arebecoming more and more subdued,
which is a good thing, meaningthey're good, but they're not
(20:51):
being used as the means by whichsomeone gets a title and then
their title becomes the factthat they are a leader.
That's not the way of thekingdom.
(21:12):
And so for us to be filled sothat we can be useful is
important, but for us to say attimes when it's real, I need you
to, and whoever that is thatyou can trust, say I need you to
(21:36):
break open the word of God tome.
You know, there's one time Ijust I needed, I needed someone
(22:00):
to say out loud that I wasforgiven, because hearing it in
my own head and saying it andknowing that God has forgiven me
was factually true, but itwasn't experientially happening
in my life.
I was still troubled by what Ihad done, and it took someone
looking at me and saying to meyour sins are forgiven and I
(22:28):
forgive you too, because it wasdone out loud.
Again, what we speak out loud,it begins with that which is
within us.
(22:48):
It's not the outside of the cupthat needs to be clean, it's
the inside right, our hearts.
And so there's a wonderful,wonderful, wonderful thing
(23:14):
that's taking place as a resultof God revealing his presence
more and more, and that is I'mseeing people who have felt as
though they were maybe just notreally cut out to fulfill what.
(23:34):
Maybe they thought at one timein time what God had said to
them, and then they thought atone time what God had said to
them, and then they'd given up abit.
I'm seeing a resurgence ofpeople coming out from that
shadowy place, being called byGod to come out.
(23:57):
It's one thing to try, and thenyou're like it's just still
empty, and it's another thing tohave God call us out, and it's
his presence that fills us,because that's what we've been
craving for, that's what we'vebeen craving, that's what we've
been crying out for.
(24:20):
My hope in sharing this is thatsomeone listening to this is
going to be able to say I amgoing to be both available to
God and also more open and realin my relationships with others.
(24:50):
If those two things take placewithin any one person's life as
a result of hearing these words,this particular podcast episode
is completely a success.
It's a 100% success.
(25:11):
Any more than that is a bonusand then some.
But if you're that one personand you can say, yes, I want to
become that person who is readyin season and out of season and
(25:36):
available, but also I want to bethat person who is open and
real with others and saying Ineed you, I need you, I need
this, I need you to speak to meand, last but not least, that we
would have the ability to speakout loud the words of life and
(25:57):
create the environment that Godhas called to manifest in the
earth as it is in heaven.
And we are the conduits forthat and our mouthpiece, our
mouths.
They're the mouthpiece of Godand his kingdom and we are
(26:24):
called to see this earth justcovered with the knowledge of
the glory of the Lord, just thatthe waters cover the sea and
his kingdom would fully manifest.
Cover the sea and his kingdomwould fully manifest and we
would be completely one, so thatthis whole presentation of us
(26:47):
and of Christ being given overto the Father and that we are
melded together with him by HolySpirit as one, because we have
matured to a place of unity ashis body.
Not uniformity, but true unity,heart felt, love for one
(27:13):
another.
We truly enjoy one another andI respect our act of worship of
enjoying what God has given tous, what he's created, one other
included.
God is glorified.
Hallelujah, hallelujah,hallelujah.
(27:35):
Be encouraged.
You were called and chosen.
You were divinely elected to benot only who you are, but to be
alive at this point in time andto hear these things and to be
equipped to do the very work ofthe ministry, the, the ministry
(28:03):
of Jesus.
There's only one ministry andit's his.
We get to be part of it.
Let's pray, father, we, we castour crowns before you, father,
we cast our crowns before you,we worship you, I honor you.
(28:35):
Holy Spirit, thank you forshowing us Jesus.
I see you'd intensify that.
You'd manifest Jesus to us evenmore.
We want to know him.
Thank you for exposing thosethings that are inferior and
(28:59):
revealing to us the path ofrighteousness, the way that
things are correct and true andreal.
I speak shalom to the homeacross the board in the mighty
and powerful name of Jesus.
We stand here in his name andsay so be it.
(29:25):
Amen, amen, amen, amen.
All right, folks, I love you.
If you have any thoughts,questions, concerns, please feel
free to drop us a line atlifearoundthefire at gmailcom.
That's lifearoundthefire, alllowercase letters, all one word
(29:46):
lifearoundthefire at gmailcom.
Or you can just type inlifearoundthefire and look us up
on the web.
We would love to hear from youIn the meantime.
God bless you.
Adios amigos.
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