Episode 1227: Rekindle the Gift

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1,227 of the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:00:06] Shayna Rattler: I'm Shana Rattler. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time. Your talent and your treasures to live out your calling, having the ability to have and respond well to a God shift in your life is key.

[00:00:24] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer.

[00:00:33] Scott Maderer: Can you trust in this? Can you trust in this gift? He's seems to be asking Timothy and he says even though I'm here in prison, you can still trust in this gift because this gift is deeper than just this surface level of where I am. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:00:58] If you truly [00:01:00] desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast, who will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:19] In today's spiritual foundation episode about developing your influence. I talk with you about second Timothy chapter one versus one through 14. I talk about why the gift, we must rekindle here. Isn't just the blessings and gifts that we think of, but also our relationships. And I also talk about how we should not be afraid of the gift of the gospel.

[00:01:42] Second Timothy chapter one versus one through 14, says Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus to Timothy. My beloved child, grace, mercy, and peace from God, the father and Christ Jesus, [00:02:00] our Lord. I am grateful to God whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did.

[00:02:05] When I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day, recalling your tears. I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of you, your sincere faith of a faith that lived first in your grandmother, Lois, and your mother EUS. And now I am sure lives in. For this reason, I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands for God, did not give us a spirit of cowardness, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self discipline do not be ashamed then of the testimony about our Lord or of me, his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God who saved us and called us with the holy.

[00:02:52] Not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, this grace was given to us in Christ Jesus [00:03:00] before the ages began. But it has now been revealed through the appearing of our savior Christ, Jesus who abolished death and brought life in immortality to light through the gospel for this gospel.

[00:03:12] I was appointed to Harold and an apostle and a teacher. And for this reason I suffer as I do, but I am not ashamed for, I. The one in whom I have put my trust. And I am sure that he is able to guard until the day what I've entrusted to him, hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus guard, the good treasure and trusted to you.

[00:03:38] And with the help of the SP holy spirit living in us this a epistle from Paul, or maybe it wasn't written by Paul, but this passage to Timothy. It's used as a story to illustrate this connection between Paul and Timothy and the church at this time. And [00:04:00] I'll tell you that there's a lot of debate about who really wrote these letters and this kind of thing, but it of doesn't matter if you were looking at it from this sort of story.

[00:04:10] Perspective where Paul hears in PIs in prison, he's facing death at the hands of the Romans, and he passes the torch onto Timothy to go forward and complete his work to continue it, his work. So this is the setting of this. And this idea is that this is a blessing being passed from Paul to Timothy to continue the work that Timothy has been called to.

[00:04:40] And we all need that sort of blessing from those around us, not just from God and from Christ, but from our family, from the leaders around us, from those that witness to our faith in our journey each and every day. If you think about it for a minute, whenever [00:05:00] you set out to do anything, it's always harder.

[00:05:03] If the people that you most care about, look at you and say negative things about that dream. A, and I'm talking about here, anything it can help when others around us that we care about help lift us up, that doesn't necessarily mean they have to be false cheerleaders, but they're able to look at you and say, yeah, I'll help you.

[00:05:24] I'll support you. I think I've seen that calling in you when they affirm that message into you. There's all sorts of gifts here that we're talking about. And there is one level of the gifting of the spirit. but another level it's also talking about that personal and universal gifting of mentorship, of relationship of family.

[00:05:47] Think. The connection there, where Paul is calling out Timothy's own family and how they, his mother and his grandmother had lived a life of faith and passed that faith on [00:06:00] to him. But he's also talking about brothers and sisters in Christ and even his relationship with Timothy, all of these relationships, both biological and non are part of the community of fellowship of faith that surrounds us.

[00:06:18] And they're part of the gift by which we're being held up. They're both a gift to us. We're a gift to them. And living in that community is also a gift. Those connections at all, different levels are part of this gift that Paul is talking. And he is writing while he's in prison yet he says, do not be ashamed.

[00:06:43] And he means don't be ashamed of the fact that I'm in prison, that I'm probably being put to death. Don't be ashamed about me or concerned about me. No, go forward and live out your gifting and share the gospel. That's really [00:07:00] the good news that you're being called to share. can you trust in this? Can you trust in this gift?

[00:07:07] He's seems to be asking Timothy and he says even though I'm here in prison, you can still trust in this gift because this gift is deeper than just this surface level of where I am today, that this connection of family. Goes deeper than blood. It goes deeper than just friendship. It goes deeper.

[00:07:33] And that is the gift that we have to rekindle in each other. Thanks for listening.

[00:07:40] Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor. [00:08:00] Go over to facebook.com/inspired steward.

[00:08:06] And like our Facebook page and market that you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving you to the best of our abilities with time and tips there until next time invest your. Your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact the world.