KEY: Personal Story Story Quotes Key Bible Passages. 7) How Does God Guide Us? - Nicky Gumbel - HTB Alpha

Transcription

1 Talk 7 How Does God Guide Us? Duration 30 Minutes HTB Transcripts Key: P Personal story that Nicky Gumbel tells in his Alpha talk. These may be replaced with a live speaker s personal story or the speaker may tell the story about Nicky in the same way Nicky tells stories about others. S Story that Nicky tells about someone else (about a friend or a story he heard or read about). Q/Q* Quotes are key to the talk to emphasise a point and to enable guests to engage and relate the material. We acknowledge that some of the people quoted may not be well known in your local context, however, please be mindful of the value of what is said in the quoted material; not just the guests knowledge of the person being quoted. If you choose to replace a quote, it should be replaced with something equally effective to maintain the balance of teaching, story, and references to other information sources. In general, we encourage you not to omit or replace quotes unless absolutely necessary. Quotes marked in the margin with a * symbol are key quotes and should not be omitted from the talk. Key Bible Passages are identified and you may wish to display these visually for your guests. Red type identifies a part of the key teaching text that could be removed or altered for contextualisation. Text left untouched is the standard key message content of the Alpha talk. Talk summary: In life, we all face decisions, big or small. We are increasingly faced with a vast array of choices and making decisions can be hard. We all need guidance. We are not alone in this life that there is a God who desires relationship with us and who also communicates with us. It s not always easy to hear God, and sometimes we think we know best, but God s plan is bigger than out mistakes and, in everything, God works for good. God has a good plan and a purpose for our lives and it is possible to discern God s will (his guidance) through various ways: Commanding Scripture (Bible), Compelling Spirit (Holy Spirit), Counsel of the Saints (Church/Christian community), Common Sense (Reason), and Circumstantial Signs (Providence of God). If you walk in this relationship with God, reading (Commanding Scripture), listening (Compelling Spirit), talking (Counsel of the Saints), thinking (Common Sense), watching (Circumstantial Signs), your life will make a difference. you will have a far bigger impact than probably you will ever realise in this life.

2 NOTE: Parts of the talk may need to be contextualized for other contexts or cultures but make sure you maintain the key elements of humor and personal testimony. Notice how quotes, and stories are used throughout to add emphasis to the main points of the talk (theology and testimony). Keep or adapt text in red to fit your context. Keep or adapt text in red to fit your context. We re faced today with a dazzling array of choices. There s a kind of superabundance of options. I read that in the average US supermarket there are 48,750 different items to choose from. In the old days breakfast cereals: it was Cornflakes or Rice Krispies. Now there are hundreds of breakfast cereals. Marriage partners: in the old days, you married the girl or boy next door. Now, you can go on the internet and there are thousands of options! Jobs: in the old days you tended to do what your parents did. Now, there are so many different options and you don t just do one thing you can change many times. And choice is a great thing. It s a blessing. But in some ways it doesn t make the decisions any easier. So does it matter? Is it all just random, or is there some purpose to your life? P Omit or personalise this with your own illustration. On Sunday I was thinking about this talk today, and I tweeted this quote, which goes like this: Your life has a purpose. Your story is important. Your dreams count. Your voice matters. You were born to make an impact. And one of the replies I got is this: Life has no meaning. Stories are unheard. Dreams huh! Voices are lost in the crowd. We re born. We die. End of list. So I looked at this guy s Twitter handle and his Twitter bio, and it was this: Atheist to the bone. Born cynical and went downhill from there. Loathe all things children. Most tweets: bile and filth is what he wrote. And I thought, How sad! Life is a gift, an amazing gift. It s been said the two greatest days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why. And there is a God who loves you, and your life does have a purpose. You re not an accident. St Paul writes this: this is the New Living Translation of Ephesians 2, chapter 10. And for we you can substitute you, because you re part of we.

3 For you are God s masterpiece. The Greek word is poíēma, from which you get the word poem, work of art. Ephesians 2:10, NLT You re God s masterpiece. He created you anew in Christ Jesus, so that you can do the good things he planned for you long ago. God designed you with a purpose in mind. Many people feel they re useless, they re worthless, they re frustrated; they say, I m not good at anything. But your life has huge significance. God loves you. You re of infinite value. Jesus died for you, and he has a specific, unique, glorious destiny for you. Don t waste your life. Your life can make a difference. God has good things that s what Paul says he has good things for you to do. Sometimes people worry about this, like the plan, purpose, and calling: Isn t that just for like priests, nuns, missionaries? No, it s for everyone. God has a calling on your life. Does that mean it s all predetermined, there s a kind of blueprint? Does it mean that you can miss God s plan you did one thing wrong and you ve missed the whole thing? Certainly I don t think that that s the case. I ve made many mistakes in my life. Sometimes I ve kind of deliberately ignored the instructions. Other times, I ve just got it wrong. Guidance is difficult. I ve made mistakes: I thought God was guiding me about something and I was wrong. But God s purpose for you is bigger than your mistakes. Q S Nelson Mandela said this: Don t judge me by my successes; judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again. It s never too late. This is a true story I read about. It was a 104-yearold woman. She was asked, What s the best thing about being 104 years of age? and she said, No peer pressure.

4 It s never too late! Whatever age you are, if you are still alive, God has a purpose for you. And I think it s a bit like the SatNav, the GPS. We re not very good at following directions. I m not even very good at setting up a SatNav or a GPS in our car. But what we have learnt is that it s a great help to have one. And it s amazing: even when you go wrong, it doesn t give up on you. It reroutes you. It will go on rerouting you over and over again! It says: As soon as possible, turn around. Whenever possible, do a U-turn. And the amazing thing about it is it s so patient! Sometimes I think I know much better than the SatNav and I decide just to ignore it, because I think I ve got a better route. And it just keeps rerouting. It doesn t say, Look, you ve ignored my instructions so many times, I ve had it I m going to stop giving you instructions! That s what I would do. But it doesn t do that. It s just infinitely patient. Obviously you can switch it off, you can ignore it; but if you follow it, generally you ll have a much more enjoyable journey and it will get you to a point where it says: You ve reached your destination. Of course, the analogy breaks down, because we re not dealing with a machine we re dealing with a person who loves us. This is a relationship with God. But God has a purpose for you. He has a wonderful plan for your life. And he s infinitely patient. Psalm 32:8 And what he says is: I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. So how in practice do we hear that voice? How does God guide us? Well, God guides in many different ways. But what I ve found is these five CS s have stood me in good stead as far as guidance is concerned. They re different ways in which God speaks to us and leads us. Sometimes it s just one of them. Sometimes, with a big decision it might be all five. So here s the first:

5 Talk Point 1 COMMANDING SCRIPTURE Commanding Scripture. This is God s guidebook for your life. Psalm 119:105 The psalmist says: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. This is the main way in which I ve found over the last forty years God has spoken to me. And as we read this book and I try to read it daily because I love to hear God s voice he speaks about his love for us, his kindness, his mercy, and his grace, how important you are to him. And it also tells us what his primary calling is on your life. And his primary concern is not about what you do, about who we marry or whether we get married or not, or about the children; the primary calling on your life is into a relationship with him. That s what gives ultimate meaning and purpose to your life: a love relationship with him. And then a love relationship with other people. That s what we re called to: we re called to love our family, to love our friends, to love our neighbor. Many different ways in which we can do that, but as you read you see all the different things that you can do. Little acts of kindness can make such a difference. Everybody out there is struggling, and you can make such a difference. With your money: you can use your money to give generously and make such a difference to people s lives. There s so many different ways to love. And then God s purpose is that you should become like Jesus, be transformed into his likeness. P Replace with your own example to illustrate that your value is not in what you do but who you are. I remember when I stopped practicing as a barrister and I went off to train for what I m doing now I went off to theological college I became a student again. I hadn t been a student for many years. I d been a barrister. And as a barrister I wrote opinions, and I got paid for those opinions rather overpaid for those opinions that I gave! And that gave me a kind of feeling of self-esteem: people valued what I thought.

6 Then I went off to be a student, and I wrote opinions, essays, and nobody paid me for them! Not only did they not pay me for them, they didn t think they were very good! They were critical of them. And my self-esteem went right down. And I was talking to a friend, and he said: Well, it s so important to realize what matters is not what you do but who you are. And God wants us to become like Christ. He wants us to be people of integrity. And in this book you see the kind of things we need to do to be a person of integrity. There s certain things you don t need to pray about in terms of guidance. You don t need to pray about whether you pay your taxes: Lord, this year shall I pay my taxes or not? Answer is: yes, you are to pay your taxes! S A man who d just become a Christian wrote to the Inland Revenue like this. He said: Dear Sir, I ve just become a Christian, and I ve found that I cannot sleep at night. So here is 100 that I owe you. PS: If I still can t sleep, I ll send you the rest. And then God has good things that s what Paul says: he has good things for you to do. Or, as some translations say, good works. You re not saved by good works; you re saved by grace, Paul says, but you are saved for good works. God has a purpose for your life, good things for you, uniquely for you, to do. How do you find out what that is? Talk Point 2 COMPELLING SPIRIT Here s the second CS: Compelling Spirit. To be a Christian is to be led by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to live in our hearts, and we begin to hear the voice of Jesus through his Spirit within us. And it takes a bit of time to get to recognise the Spirit of God speaking to us. It s a bit like, you know, sometimes people ring me up and they say, Oh hello, its John here. And I get into a conversation, and I don t actually know who John is, but it s too far into the conversation to ask the question John who? So you sort of start asking questions like, So how are things with umm with everybody? hoping they ll

7 say, Oh, Marjorie s fine, or give you some clue. Or, you know, How are you doing with umm that thing that you do? But when Pippa rings, one syllable and I know her voice. And as you get to know Jesus better, you recognize his voice. Sometimes in my case, I m afraid, I don t follow it. There are times when I feel the prompting of the Spirit but I ignore it. Sometimes we re talking about somebody behind their back, and I ve got this great story to tell, and I know I shouldn t really tell it, but it s such a good story and I can t resist it! I feel the Spirit saying, Don t speak badly about them behind their back, but I go on and tell it. And then I feel I know that the Holy Spirit s saying: Don t do that kind of stuff. And as you pray, as you read the Bible, the Holy Spirit speaks to you. Most of the ideas I ve had to do with work in the last, whatever it is, thirty, forty years of doing this thing, have come as I ve prayed, as I ve read the Bible. These ideas come, good thoughts come: Ring that person. Write that letter. Visit that person. And then God guides by his Spirit by giving us a strong desire to do things. Paul says in Philippians: Philippians 2:13 God works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. He gives you the desire to do things. P Omit or replace with your own example. So, for example, before I was a Christian, the very last thing in the world I would have wanted to do would be to be a clergyman in the Church of England. I mean, a clergyman! Of all the things, that very long list of things I would have wanted to do, clergyman wouldn t even have featured at the bottom. I just wouldn t even have thought of it. The most boring, tedious, dreary life that would mean! And then I encountered Jesus, and this is what I wanted to do more than anything in the world. And I absolutely love what I do. God has changed my will. And then sometimes he guides in more unusual ways: visions, pictures, prophecies.

8 P Omit or replace with your own example. I can think of a prophecy that was given to Pippa and I in 1989, and only now is it beginning to come true. But I always think about it when these things happen. Ensure the language inconsistent with the context you are running your Alpha. For example, when referring to services or the Alpha Weekend or Day. Sometimes he gives just impressions. As we pray for people we pray for people on the Alpha Weekend, we pray for people in the services here and sometimes as you re praying something comes to mind. It s often just quite mundane, but this is often the way the Spirit prompts us, leads us. P Replace with your own example of a time when God gave you a very simple word for someone. I think of just a few days ago, the Sunday before last, I was praying for a Swedish man who d come forward. And I was praying, Lord, speak to me. Is there something that? And then all I could see was two very bright headlights, and I felt God is saying something about shining in the darkness. And he immediately kind of looked... And I said, Does that mean something to you? He said, Yeah, with our family car, both the headlights are broken. And I ve been feeling I need to shine in my family. Just a very little thing, very mundane thing. Talk Point 3 COUNSEL OF THE SAINTS Saints not in the special way of very special people, but there s another sense in which saints is used. In the New Testament, saints just means ordinary Christians. So counsel of the saints is like the church. We ll have a whole session when we look at the church. But this is about getting advice. We re not alone in this. God has put you in a community. You experience that in the small group here. And the Holy Spirit doesn t just speak to me; he speaks to you. The writer of Proverbs says: Proverbs 12:15 Proverbs 20:18 The wise person listens to advice. Make plans by seeking advice. I m so grateful for the advice of friends, the advice of my parents, and now my children. Ultimately, of course, we re responsible for our decisions, but it s such a blessing not to be on our own, be able to talk to people about the decisions that we re making.

9 How do you know that the prompting of the Spirit or the advice from a friend is really God speaking to us, not the devil or the cheese you ate the night before?! Well, there are various tests. And what we re encouraged in the New Testament is: 1 John 4:1 test the spirits to see whether they re from God. So one test is: is it in line with the Bible? If it s not, God s not going to contradict himself. Is it loving? God is love. You read of people saying, Oh, I went off and killed this person cos God told me to. No, God did not tell you to do that. God is love. It says about prophecy, when we have a picture for someone, a word for someone: is it encouraging, strengthening, comforting? Another test is do you feel peace about the decision? Colossians 3:15 Paul says: Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. Talk Point 4 COMMON SENSE Fourth CS is Common Sense. God s promises of guidance don t save us the problem of thinking. Paul wrote this to Timothy: 2 Timothy 2:7 Reflect on what I m saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. He says, in other words: Use your mind, and as you re thinking, God will guide you. And I find that s the main way in which God has guided me over the years. He presents reasons to the mind for acting in a particular way. I don t think it s very helpful, often, to say: God has told me to do this. You may sense that God has told you, but he s probably given you reasons. It s better to give the reasons, then people can argue with that it gives it openness. There s stuff in here that will tell us the general will of God. So we know from the Bible that singleness is a high calling, that marriage is the norm; but this book won t tell you who you should marry. It s no good saying: Lord, who should I marry? Oh, Ezekiel. I don t know many Ezekiels! It s common sense.

10 You know, are you compatible with that person? All the usual tests. Work, job, career: that s your primary ministry, is your job in the workplace. And what Paul says is: stay in the job that you were in when you were called. Don t just leave your job when you become a Christian. God doesn t call us out of things; he calls us into things. And that s the moment to leave. Unless, of course, you re doing something like unless you re an armed robber: then you do have to leave straight away! You can t sort of do that gradually! But generally speaking, stay where you are. If you have referred to Charlie Mackesy s sculpture earlier in the course, then refer to it again here. If not then omit or replace this with your own example. A picture of Charlie s sculpture can be downloaded from Thank God Charlie Mackesy didn t stop being an artist when he became a Christian. I mean, think of the impact of what Charlie s done. He s used his talents. He s used his gift. His ministry is his work, the primary ministry. He has other ministries as well, but his primary ministry is the workplace. And it s had a huge impact. And God has given you gifts, talents. He s given you abilities, qualities, character, strength. He s given you experiences of life. And he doesn t want anything to be wasted. He wants your talents to be used so that you re not frustrated but you re fulfilled in what you do. Talk Point 4 CIRCUMSTANTIAL SIGNS Fifth CS is Circumstantial Signs. God is sovereign. He rules and reigns in this universe, and he can work things out. Paul says this: We know this is like from his experience. He says: I know! I know this! Romans 8:28 We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose. In everything in your life, God is working for the good. That s in all the bad stuff that s been done to you, God can use that for good. But also the bad stuff I ve done, the mistakes I ve made in the past, even the bad stuff I ve done that was wrong,

11 Paul says he can even use that for good. He can use everything all the situations you get yourselves into, all the struggles, all the circumstances, God is at work in all of them for the good. He is guiding. And often you can only see that as you look back with hindsight. P Omit or use your own example. I think of my marriage proposal, which was about the worst marriage proposal that anyone could do! I had done all the tests. I d written down the five CS s, I d been through all that process. But I still wasn t sure whether it was right, and I know Pippa wasn t sure either. We were very young and we were very kind of tentative about the whole thing. And I think my proposal must have been one of the worst, and certainly one of the most unromantic, proposals that have ever taken place! We had supper, and I just thought that she probably might not want to marry me. And I didn t want to be rejected, so I thought I needed to be careful about how I asked the questions! So the first question I asked, I just said: Would you ever like to get married? And she said, Yeah, I d like to get married some time. So I said, Who would you most like to marry? Quick as a flash, she replied: Prince Charles. So I said, Well, would you marry me? Thankfully, she said yes. And for the last thirty-seven years I thank God every day that she did. But at the time, I wasn t sure. She wasn t sure. But looking back, we can see God s hand. Sometimes he opens doors like that. Sometimes he closes doors. P Replace with your own example when God closed doors for a purpose, which you could not understand at the time, but now, looking back, you can see that God was working for the good. When I left theological college, we applied for nine jobs and none of them worked out. We were rejected over and over again. I was the only person in my year who didn t have a job when I moved back to London, and I thought about going back to be a barrister. And then finally I got a phone call inviting me to come and work here, which I was so thankful for. But it was tough and very disappointing at the time; but now I can see that God closed those doors for a purpose. In everything he was working for the good. Sometimes we can t see why he s doing it, and we just have to trust. And I d encourage you, what this verse tells us is: Don t look back with regret. Don t look around with worry. Look up and trust God that in everything in your life he is working together for your good.

12 If you walk in this relationship with God, reading (Commanding Scripture), listening (Compelling Spirit), talking (Counsel of the Saints), thinking (Common Sense), watching (Circumstantial Signs), your life will make a difference. In fact, you will have a far bigger impact than probably you will ever realise in this life. S* Omit the text in red. This story is a key lead into the ending of this talk the key point being when he stands up, turns around and sees the impact he had on others, which he d never realised. A link to the video clip can be found at here. If possible, show the clip as part of the story, or as an alternative re-tell the story in your own words. If you are not able to use this story, replace it with an alternative powerful story, ensuring that it ties in with the theme and the ending of the talk. I was involved in organizing an event to celebrate the life of Sir Nicholas Winton. Sir Nicholas Winton is now over 105 years of age. In December 1938 he was a young stockbroker on holiday in Prague, and he saw the Nazi occupation, and he realized that Jewish families were in jeopardy. And in the space of three weeks thousands of distraught parents were interviewed, and in the space of nine months he arranged for 664 Jewish children, who would otherwise have been killed in the Holocaust, to be transported in it was called the Kindertransport to this country. He managed to persuade the Home Secretary here to allow them into Britain. He found families for them who fostered. He forged the permits that got them over the border out of Czechoslovakia, placed them in the families here, and saved them. When war broke out, he became a fighter pilot, and he absolutely forgot about what he d done. He didn t even tell his wife about it. Fifty years later, in 1988, his wife was in the attic and she came across this suitcase. And she opened it, and inside were all these pictures and letters relating to each of the children. And Esther Rantzen heard about it and tracked down some of the children and invited them to the studio, without telling Sir Nicholas Winton. Nicholas Winton was invited to the studio, totally unaware of the reason for his attendance, and he was placed next to a woman called Vera Gissing, who was one of the children. Until that moment, she and the other children had no idea who it was who had saved them, had rescued them. And this is what happened: Esther But back here is the list of all the children. This is Vera Diamant, now Vera Gissing. We did find her name on his list! Vera Gissing is with us here tonight. Hello, Vera! And I should tell you that you are actually sitting next to Nicholas Winton! Vera [Shyly to Sir Nicholas] Hello! Vera V/O And it was just so wonderful, so terribly, so terribly touching.

13 AUDIENCE APPLAUSE. SIR NICHOLAS WIPES AWAY A TEAR. Vera [To Sir Nicholas] Thank you! Thank you! I love that moment where he stands up and turns around and sees the impact of his life that he d never realized. He d simply used his God-given talents. The language in red specifically ties into the Nicholas Winton story above. And as you use your God-given talents, as you follow his guidance through your life in relationship with him, one day God will say to you: Stand up. Turn around. And you will be amazed at the impact that you ve had. Maybe you invited somebody here. Maybe you re a small group helper or leader and someone s come on this course, and you ll turn round and you ll see the impact on their family, on their children, on their children s children. Maybe just some little act of kindness for someone in the office next to you, and you ll see the impact on their life. Maybe just you stood up for someone on the Tube, and it had an impact on their day. Or some encouraging word you spoke, or some money that you gave that changed someone s life. Omit or replace the text in red if you did not refer to Charlie Mackesy s sculpture above. One day God will say to Charlie Mackesy: Stand up. Turn around. You have no idea the impact that sculpture has had on thousands of lives. And he ll say to you: Stand up. Turn around. Well done! You ve reached your destination.

14 The Alpha Transcripts are taken from Alpha with Nicky Gumbel filmed , which are based on Questions of Life by Nicky Gumbel. Alpha International 2015 Prepared by: Alpha International, HTB Brompton Road, London SW7 1JA. Website: alpha.org Acknowledgements: Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised Copyright 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company All rights reserved NIV is a registered trademark of Biblica UK trademark number Holy Bible. New Living Translation [NLT] copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois All rights reserved. That s Life, 1988 BBC MOTION GALLERY