2 Timothy 1 | Crossroads Daily

Hey, thanks for being with us. I'm Chuck. I'm Kirsten. I'm Chris. I'm Alex. And hopefully you had a chance to read Second Timothy. We're in Second Timothy now. Second Timothy 1, where Paul is basically, you know, if I can date myself a little bit, you know, this is like Paul taking a page from the Isley brothers who sang a song called It's Your Thing. You guys know who this is? Do what you want to do. My mom was so excited when she learned you turned 50. I can't tell you. She found out like 15 times. Who to sock it to. I'm totally dating myself. I have no idea what you're talking about. But there's somebody who does and they feel seen today because I mentioned the Isley brothers. So that was for them. It's just not you. No, but Paul's basically saying to Timothy, you know what you're supposed to do. This was a calling on your life and fan the flame into that calling and go for it. And so that's what we're talking about in the next couple minutes. So here's the question. What is something, you know, you're supposed to step into, but you've been hesitating? And maybe it's a gift. It could be a responsibility. It could be an opportunity, but you know, you know, you're supposed to step into it, but you've been like reluctant. Yeah. No, our church went through a journey. The small group, I led a small group with strangers. They did not know each other. Four of them had never met me in my life and walked into my house without ever having met me or my husband. And it went really well and we ended it and everyone was like, are you going to keep leading a group? And I was like, no, I don't have time for that. Absolutely not. And since then there has been consistent push on my heart and like I work in college ministry. So college students that have been asking for a study for people that are new to the Bible. I'm meeting more people that are new to the Bible. And I remember I started understanding scripture in a group where it was safe to ask questions with other people who had never read the Bible. Nothing's worse than being in a Bible study and everyone's a Bible scholar. And you're like, oh shoot, I don't belong here. And so I've been feeling like a nudge to lead a Bible study consistently for people who are new to scripture, who maybe don't even own a Bible. That's awesome. So what's your hesitancy? Yeah, I've been avoiding it because that is time, that is preparation, that is more relationships that I really don't feel like I have capacity to build into. And I think those are all lies that I'm believing that God can't shift things around in my life to make it possible,

which he can. And so, yeah. For most of my life, I feel like going into the deep end relationally has been very easy. Like it's come very naturally. We have intentional conversations, ask hard, deeper questions, and to cut straight to the core with people and friendships and relationships. And it feels like the last few years that's become more and more difficult. And I know I've been punting on caring for a lot of people in my life by going that into that depth with them. And whether it's friendships where I'm like, I could ask them like, you know, how's this thing in your marriage going? How is your job weighing on you? And instead it's like, you know what's easier to talk about? Fancy football. Like that's just, it's just easier. And I'm not gonna offend them with asking them a hard question. I'm not going to make anything awkward and you know what? They'll probably want to hang out with me more if I'm just more fun and be like not pressing on them with these more difficult things. Or I don't have to open up myself and talk about things that are difficult for me. So I can say that with my wife, like asking her questions about how she's doing or friendships or people I'm in different faith spaces with, like asking them what they think about Jesus. Like it's like, you know, it's just easier to not do any of that. So it's, yeah, it's been hard. Cause that's something for most of my life came so easily and now it's definitely pressing against me. Yeah. And I hear in that, maybe the risk of vulnerability or even the risk of rejection being a part of what's making that a challenge. The thing that came to mind for me is something that I've been feeling like God has been doing something in my life for a little while. And that's just praying more and boldly for people, like in the moment, like, have you guys ever experienced it? Some, you like either share with someone like something that's going on and they're like, Oh, I'll pray for you. And then you're like, will you actually, like I have done that to so many other people. Someone's like, yeah, my daughter's sick. And it's like, yeah, I'll pray for that. And then immediately forget. And so I feel like that is one thing. Um, but specifically like listening to, learning how to hear the voice of God, which is just kind of like such a weird, or can be such a weird thing, but then actually like doing what I think that he's saying.

And so trying to like pray for the person in the moment. And I think where the hesitation is, is that can be such a weird and vulnerable thing, especially when it's like, like recently I felt like God asked me and this guy that I was having lunch with, a volunteer to pray for our waitress. And that's just so weird people. Like, that's just like, what's she going to think is everyone around us? Like, what if she's like, no, it just can be, I don't know, which is honestly really strange for me. Cause I'm a really outgoing person. And I typically don't get like, I'm like, I don't care what people think about me, but for whatever reason, this thing, it's just sometimes really hard to step into. But when I've said yes to it, the stories are really amazing and it's become easier because I'm seeing where God is in it when I'm saying yes. So it's like making me want to pray for people more and more and more. So did something happen with this waitress? Actually, yes, she... Say more. The reason we prayed for her was because she had an ice pack on her hand. And so when she was carrying out our drinks, she was like simultaneously holding an ice pack to her hands.

And so we wanted to pray for her hand. She said she had this like arthritis or something in her hands and we prayed for her. And she said her pain level, like on a scale of one to 10 was an eight and it went down to a one. Like right there in the restaurant. It was truly incredible. It was incredible. Yeah, so I should have led with that. That's a really good story. Yeah, right. You were just gonna leave it there. Like, you know, so maybe you should pray for people. Heal more waitresses. That's right. You're like, I don't have to tip now. There's your tip. Oh God, oh, please don't be that Christian. Please don't be that Christian. Oh my God. Christian public service announcement. If you don't tip, please don't name yourself a Christian because oh my gosh. That's right. Notorious. Take that sticker off your car. The only reason I don't wear a Crossroads bumper magnet is because I'm a terrible driver and I can't claim that. You don't want to claim that, right?

I can't claim when I accidentally cut someone off. Wow, I love that story, Alex, because you know, with all of us, we all have things that we're reluctant and hesitant to step into. And I've had the same thing. And that has happened to me a lot where it's like, okay, I don't want to be the weird pastor guy that's like, I want to pray for you now. But we miss the opportunity both to be party to God's power, but also to witness it ourselves. Yeah. I'm sure your faith was built. Oh yeah. From that experience. The part too, to that, that guy, that volunteer who I was praying with, he was volunteering this week at church and I was with him and he was having this pain in his shoulder. And because he had experienced that, he knew that healing is possible when we pray for him. We pray those bold prayers. So we got the opportunity to pray for his shoulder yesterday and he felt like he experienced some sort of healing, but could totally, you know, it's just so many people's faith were raised. And I think it's because we just said, yes, what we felt like God was calling us to in faith and in boldness. So I love it, I love it.

I'm actually going to call it audible. I feel like I want to do something different. I want to pray, I want to spend some time praying and for you to be a part of this with us. So I'm going to ask you just wherever you are, if you want to, if it helps you to close your eyes or just to relax your gaze right now. I want you to think about a gift that God has given you. Maybe it's a talent. It could be an opportunity to influence. It could be a relationship, but I want you to actually envision that in your mind's eye as a gift, as a present that God is handing to you. And I want you to just like interact with it and just ask Jesus, maybe what's in this box? What is it that you want to show me that you have gifted me with? Let me give you just a couple seconds to just kind of get that thought. And then what I want you to think about is what is the thing that causes you to not open that box? Is it fear? Is it feeling inadequate? Is it just confusion? for you in that space? Is it anger? Is it exhaustion? Just think about what is the thing that keeps me from opening this box and using this gift? And here's what I'm gonna ask you to do. I'm gonna ask you to think of an object that represents that barrier for you. So if it's fear, maybe the thing that you, I don't know, maybe you envision a ghost. Or if it's exhaustion, maybe the thing you envision is like just a cot, a mat. I just need to sleep. And I'm gonna ask you to

give that object to Jesus in this moment. In your mind's eye, just to physically say, Jesus I want to give you my fear because I want to be able to open the gift that you've given me. Or Jesus I want to give you my exhaustion because I want to open the gift that you are giving me. Because I believe that Jesus wants to carry that for you. I believe he wants to take that for you so that you can open that gift and use it. Not only to bless others so that you can experience the blessing that God has for you. And so as you just envision that moment with Jesus, I just want to pray a blessing over you for today. Jesus I pray that in this moment, in these few seconds that we have with you, that something has been made crystal clear. Undeniably so. And that we would leave this time, whether on our phone or computer or wherever we are, we leave this time with the confidence that you have given us that gift. That is from you. That opportunity, that calling, that is from you. And whatever is in the way that we can hand that over to you so we can be free of it and we can walk boldly toward the ministry, the mission, the call that you have for our life. And I pray that over you in Jesus name. Amen.