April 27, 2022
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My friend, Ian, is unexplainable. He may very well have been at that time the best known Christian leader in all of New Zealand. A powerful, popular speaker and he had a great Christian TV program. If you heard him speak in any public setting, you'd have been very impressed. I was, and you'd want to meet him when he came off the stage. And he would extend his hand, and probably begin to stutter. You might kinda laugh and go, "Come on, you're kidding." And then you'd realize he's not; this is serious. See, Ian had a noticeable stutter when he spoke to other people anywhere but in a large meeting. But when he got up to speak about his Lord in front of a crowd, it's just amazing. Something happened, but not necessarily something unique to him.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Someone Else's Script."
Now our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ephesians 6 and we're reading verses 19 and 20. And I believe that something took over in Ian in those times when he was ministering publicly and literally, that someone takes over what he says. Yeah, not just something. And that same person wants to do something like that for you. The Holy Spirit wants to do it for you when you're speaking to someone about Jesus Christ.
Here's the prayer: "Pray also for me that whenever I open my mouth words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should." Now, you can pray this prayer, you can trust God for words to say when you're representing Him, and that's something supernatural.
When you're woefully inadequate to talk with someone about eternity, I'm telling you, He will come in and as promised He will make up the difference. When you're scared to death and you don't know what to say, let Him supply the words. Sometimes I'll be listening to a person I want to share with, and I'll be thinking, "Oh, man, I have no idea what to say next. Keep talking; Buddy, because when you stop I don't know what I'm going to say." I don't know how I'm going to answer. So I fire up an S.O.S. to heaven. And when I need to respond, you know what? Over and over again there's been an insight I didn't even have a moment ago, I didn't even know. This is supernatural stuff!
If you tell God how inadequate you feel, you are at that point, on your way to being an effective representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because that opens you up to a Holy Spirit take-over. From the inside out He will provide you with the courage you do not have, with the thoughts that maybe you've never expressed, words that may surprise even you. But you have to take the risk to experience His power.
Shakespearian actors say some pretty profound and impressive things. You say, "Man, they're smart. What a thinker! What a communicator! What a way to put things!" He didn't write the script. He's just delivering what someone else wrote. Well, that's how it's supposed to be when we're communicating Christ to someone. We're delivering someone else's script - God's words. And if we'll trust God for His active involvement in those conversations, well, it just takes away an awful lot of the pressure.
I've watched God turn a man who has difficulty getting through a sentence into an un-halting communicator. But only in the moment when he needs it. See, that's what God wants to do in you, but you have to show up with the willingness to be His voice in the life of someone else.
Don't hold back any more on speaking up for Jesus in that situation He's assigned you to. He put you there, He gave you the assignment, and He'll give you the script. Now, your head will make you think that the things that you are saying maybe are coming from you. But in reality, they're coming from the heart of God, through your voice into the heart of someone who really needs to hear from Him.