I Was So Busy Telling Someone Off That I Forgot I Stirred the Pot

Sermon outline

Becoming a person God uses means letting the Holy Spirit change you from the root outward: making better decisions, taking off the mask, changing yourself before you try to change others, using what is in your hand, and giving.

1. Better decisions and a quiet confidence

   Your decisions and your stance in life are critical. Knowing Jesus works from the inside out, and the first change is better decision-making. Without a finished degree she took low-level jobs, and with no family support they relied on a helper; if the helper did not come, she could not go to work. Yet she never spent her days afraid for her policeman husband or her children, because there was a quiet confidence and peace inside her.

   Illustration: There were no cell phones then: if you had no phone in the house, there was no way to check on anyone during the day.

   “The quality of your life is enhanced, meaning in your decision making.”

   • Isaiah 26:3

2. Content where you are, and always in the house of God

   Jesus made her content and excellent at whatever level she was at. Sunday church was not optional: she took her sons whether they were small or sick, with blankets and a baby seat on the floor, and walked if there was no lift, while her husband got involved early in Sunday school. Listening to the word was like being rearranged inside, and she applied it to everyday choices. She was strict with her children about music, language and rudeness, because how you treat people follows you into the workplace, and integrity is how you act when no one is watching.

   Illustration: Having lost her own mother at eight, she was raised by her grandmother, who taught her how to keep a home and how to behave.

   “Jesus made my life better because he made me content at the position that I was at.”

   • Colossians 1:27

3. Take off the mask: the inside of the cup

   Pastor Wesley notes that the spirit is saved at once while the soul is renewed day by day as culture is challenged. She gives examples from the religion she was raised in: doing certain things only with the right hand, and washing before touching holy books. When the Holy Spirit asked her why she did them, she began to change. Jesus said not to fuss over the outside of the cup; she had to be the same person outside as inside.

   Illustration: With two small children and a house to run, the only time she had alone was in the bathroom, so she took her Bible there; it would have been unthinkable in her old religion, and God met her there with some of her greatest 'wow' moments.

   “I had to be the same person on the outside as I was on the inside.”

   • Matthew 23:25-26

4. Change yourself before you try to change others

   She has a feisty personality, and God has tempered it over time. She and her husband clashed because each was trying to make the other more like themselves, and she wanted church to change him, but the decision to change starts with 'Holy Spirit, work with me first'. When you point at someone, the other fingers point back. If you want to be someone God uses, you have to be adaptable and adapt to your environment rather than make it adapt to you.

   Illustration: A woman always cut the tail off the chicken before roasting it. Asked why, she asked her mother, who asked the grandmother, who explained that the old ovens were too small. Many of us do things without knowing why.

   “I was so busy telling somebody else off that I forgot that I stirred the pot by some of the words that I was speaking.”

   • Matthew 7:1-5

5. The Holy Spirit changes the root

   A tall tree cannot be straightened with sticks or a tractor without damaging it. The Holy Spirit works on the root instead, anchoring it in Christ and making Him the living water. The first sign is your speech: a critic begins to commend people, say thank you and see the best in others, because God first saw the best in them. Change the way you hear, and your heart and mouth follow.

   Illustration: A naturally negative person is drawn to negative people and annoyed by positive ones, because they threaten their mindset.

   “The fruit is indicative of the root.”

6. Do not drown the call; find someone to mine the gold

   The enemy fights the seed and the gifts inside you, because if you fulfilled your calling you would change your world, bring creative ideas and add to the economy. Some silence the frustration of an unfulfilled calling with alcohol, drugs or other abuse. Find someone to lead you to Jesus and to mine the gold in you. God placed her around people who did that, and at work she became the one people relied on, finishing every task within the time given.

   “Find somebody that will mine the gold that's inside of you so that you can arise.”

7. What is in your hand?

   They began in one room of a crowded five-bedroom house, used as bedroom, kitchen and lounge, where she learned to sew curtains and keep house. Make do, be content, but do not stay there or become a victim. If you have no job, you have a talent: grow chillies in a pot, sell sweets, sew uniforms. At twenty-three and twenty-four, on her husband's small salary, they bought their first home in raw faith, and God came through month after month. Before they knew about tithing she still gave away anything extra and always fed the men of God who visited.

   Illustration: A visiting pastor who was fasting accepted only a cup of water, held it and said, 'He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward.' They were living in a garage at the time, and she says that reward has followed them ever since.

   “Money that leaves your hand never leaves your life. It goes into your future.”

   • Mark 10:51
   • Luke 14:28
   • Matthew 10:41

In this message