Keep On Keeping On // Rekindling the Flame, Part 4

Using one's God-given gifts to serve others often leads to challenges and opposition, according to Bernie Dimet in a recent message on Christianity Works. He emphasizes the importance of perseverance in utilizing these gifts, drawing from personal experiences and biblical teachings. Dimet shares his own journey with music, illustrating how rekindling his passion for the piano has brought him joy and fulfillment. He highlights that true satisfaction comes from using one's abilities to bless others, rather than seeking personal gain.

Dimet recounts a transformative story about a young teenager who found hope and faith through his ministry, underscoring the impact of sharing one's gifts. He references the Apostle Paul's encouragement to Timothy, urging believers to persist in their callings despite adversity. Dimet warns against the temptation to give up when faced with difficulties, reminding listeners that the time for sharing the message of Jesus is urgent. He calls on individuals to embrace their unique gifts and use them for God's glory, asserting that everyone has a role in spreading the truth of Christianity, especially in a world increasingly drawn to misleading teachings.

Doesn't matter what our gig is in life, when you choose to use that God–given gift specifically to honour God, to bless other people, one thing's for certain – the going's going to get tough. We're going to hit opposition. And if that goes on for any length of time, the one thing that we really want to do, is just to give up.

Keep Shining Over these last few weeks, we have been chatting about rekindling the gift that God has put within each one of us. And you know the exciting thing about that? When we use our gifts – I mean, when we take the things that we have been given in our makeup and put them to work, it is so incredibly satisfying. I know myself, one of the things I really enjoy doing is playing the piano. In my younger years I practised hard all the scales and the arpeggios and sat the exams – practical and theory – but when I moved away from my parents' home I went years – probably twenty years – without playing the piano much at all. Eventually my mother gave me the grand piano we had out in the music room and when it arrived in my home I started playing it again. These days it sits in my study where I pray, where I write my books, where I prepare these radio messages and a few times each day I will go and play for ten minutes or so. It's just such a delight and a joy to be able to do that. Now, that's just one small example, almost trivial. But as we have been chatting about these last few weeks, I know I've been emphasising the fact that our God-given gift is meant to be a blessing to other people. I'm blessed through your gifting; the things that you can do that I can't, and hopefully, you are blessed through mine. That's how it's supposed to work and it does. But there is something so incredibly special about the enjoyment and the fulfilment that we get when we use our gift and we see it impact in other peoples' lives. All my life I was looking for fulfilment in the things that I could get but I didn't realise that fulfilment only really comes when we take what we already have and we give it away when we use it to bless other people. About eighteen months ago a young teenager from a broken home contacted me in response to one of these radio messages that she had heard. She was only thirteen at the time and going through a really terrible time at home. But she also had a hunger for God and so she asked me some questions and I was able to share a few things with her. Within weeks she gave her life to Jesus and she was filled with His Holy Spirit and in the middle of all the bad stuff that happened, she had a joy and an excitement in her that she had never experienced before in her life. While I was praying for her the other day so I sent her a quick email to find out how she was going. She came straight back to me to tell me she was powering on with God; that her whole life had been changed. Now I had just some small part to play in that but the joy and the sense of satisfaction that I gained from knowing that God had used me – me, of all people!! This fifty two year old man who has never met this young teenager, who isn't what you would call, made to be involved in youth ministry. It makes me smile. Does that make sense? It's so easy to forget that we have to use it and when we do, even though it can be really hard work, it is so fulfilling to use the God-given gift that we have. And to emphasise this, the Apostle Paul, who is writing to his young protégé, Timothy, back in the first century, encouraging him to rekindle the gift that God has put in him, has this to say. I'm reading – if you have a Bible – from Second Timothy chapter 4, beginning at verse 1: In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you to proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not p