Jeff Gelineau - Beyond the Book - Class 5 - The Useful, Not the Great

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   I feel like, I feel a little guilty, like I’m afraid I’ve been having a much better week than you’ve been having. I’ve been receiving so much behind the scenes that you guys haven’t, haven’t seen, you know, with the, with them broadcasting the classes. I’ve had texts from people in San Diego, have had Texan people in Washington, DC, texts from people in Ontario and Texan people in Texas all over, literally all over the country who are, you know, watching the class and had, you know, given positive along with all the positive input you guys have been giving.

2. 0:37

   So that’s been really enjoyable. And I’ve also been, you know, getting the benefit of reading the things that everyone has been submitting at the end of each class. And, and you know, that’s, that’s been, that’s been the highlight, frankly, laying in bed at night with just kind of reading what everyone has has said, like, like these gems from yesterday. I asked if anyone would share any experience from their life where they noticed that God was trying to teach them to trust him.

3. 1:06

   And someone wrote and they said, as our children got older and made their own decisions, I found that I had to pray and wait. Pray as we wait for them to return home from a night out with their friends. Pray for help and guidance as they pull away and refuse to talk. And then after many long sleepless nights, our kids returned to us and we can talk and reason together and we’ve got back into the conversations.

4. 1:34

   Another person who wrote and said I was very successful in school, top of my class concepts came easily, always had good grades, helped my classmates. And yet I was unable to find a job in my field for an agonizingly long time. When I did find it, it was not what I’d expected my hard work would have earned me. I really struggled with decisions to stay or leave because I was afraid to be a burden on my family. And yet at every turn, God answered my prayers. My most common prayer became I don’t know what to do, but my eyes are on you.

5. 2:07

   Or like this one here. I’d asked if anyone was brazen up, brave enough to share some of the tough questions of life that had rocked their faith, and they said there was a divorce in our ecclesia years ago and it divided the ecclesia. I was young, dumb, dumb and happy, and when the angels decided to introduce us all to the in the area to know how complicated life can be, I was so disappointed in people for choosing the wrong side. Not really that they’re realizing that there are no right sides in eclusional life.

6. 2:37

   To see your Sunday school teachers be so needlessly cruel in a situation where everyone is already hurting was shocking. Like crossing the road to kick the man who’ve been beaten and robbed. How could all those lessons be right when the teachers were so wrong?

7. 2:54

   And I, I picked the easy ones for you guys to hear. I mean, it, it’s been really, really interesting and really loving and, and helpful to, you know, have so much talk. It’s, you know, it’s, it’s as you can imagine, it’s emotionally and spiritually draining to, you know, be open to to get up, to talk about things that in front of 200 of your friends that you really only have ever talked to your wife about. But it’s been very encouraging to be here and to hear everyone who’s surprise, surprise experienced similar things in their life.

8. 3:37

   I’ve been fortunate enough to have had three brethren in my life. We’ve acted as mentors. You probably know Brother Bob Lloyd and Brother Ken Somerville. They’re all they’re all passed away now, which tells you how old I am. Some of this vice advice I managed to follow, and some I have not. Some of you might have known that the third brother, Brother Wilfred Alene of the Handsworth Ecclesia in Birmingham. Wilfred came into my life at the crucial age of 30, when I was slowly, painfully, resistingly transitioning into an adult. And I distinctly remember a late night conversation by a fire where Wilford talked to me in his Guyanese accent. And he said, don’t worry about being the teacher at the Bible school, don’t worry about being the recording brother of the ecclesia, don’t worry about being the chairman of the committee.

9. 4:43

   Just be. And for 30 years I’ve been, you know, remembering that. Just be. Just live your life quietly, doing the best you can to serve the Lord where you are at that moment. Focus on what you can do now, not what you can do later.

10. 5:14

    Don’t be overly concerned with making great plans to tackle some massive spiritual project. Instead, focus on what you can do today that’s useful. The useful, not the great.

11. 5:34

    That’s been my mantra in the past year while preparing these classes. They may not be great classes, but hopefully they’re useful. I always used to feel that we’re required to rise up to some major challenge in our life to serve our Lord. And it’s a it’s a reasonable conclusion to come to if you grew up reading the Bible.

12. 6:01

    I realize now as I get older how much of my worldview was established in Sunday school. So if your opinion on what the the Bible is about was also formed by flannel graphs, then you also have a natural inclination to assume that it’s it’s all about performing some great deed.

13. 6:21

    I was happy and surprised to learn when I grew up that quicksand didn’t play as big a role in my life as it did when I was watching TV as a kid. You know, all the time they were falling into quicksand, you know, and all the time these flannel graphs were talking about lions and tigers and bears and and jail sentences and, you know, being burned at the stake.

14. 6:42

    We had some nasty flannel graphs. I remember once Noah spent 70 years building with his own hands a 450 foot long arc. Moses parted the Red Sea. David kills a giant after warming up with a lion and a bear. And Paul. We talked about Paul whipped, beaten, stoned, shipwreck, robbed, starved and dehydrated Paul.

15. 7:18

    And Jesus allowed himself to be beaten and hung on a cross until he stopped breathing. And Jeff flew all the way to Fort Wayne, IN and coach, I mean, it was tough, but I made it. You know, I realize I’ve lived a large portion of my life feeling inadequate as a servant of Christ. Like I’m just not doing enough.

16. 7:52

    I’m falling short of what I’m supposed to be doing, not living up to my Sunday school version of what it means to be a servant of God. And I realize now I couldn’t have been more wrong. I’ve come to believe that God doesn’t expect me to slay giants. He just wants me to be polite. He just wants me to not gossip.

17. 8:25

    He wants me to not be judgmental. He wants me to care for the destitute, the lonely, the widowed, the needy. God isn’t looking for the great. He’s looking for the useful. And he made that clear from the very beginning. Remember the example of Abraham we’ve been talking about a week long. The defining point of Abraham’s life wasn’t him taking 318 of his men and hunting down A5 nation army and that overthrown Sodom and Gomorrah. The defining point of his life wasn’t climbing Mount Moriah with his son and and some wood and and matches and and a knife in his hand only to be spared to have to sacrifice his son at the very last moment.

18. 9:12

    The defining point in his life is just trusting in God, standing all alone in the middle of night in the field and believing that what God had promised him was going to come true. That’s all God wants from us is for us to trust Him, to believe that He actually does exist. And He does reward those who seek Him.

19. 9:40

    There are 3148 named characters in the Bible. That team that won last night knew all their names. If you only count the primary characters who who play an important part in the story, it’s 94. Four thousand years of history being told through less than 100 people. What makes me think I’m going to be one of those 100? Why not just be one of the millions of others who who lived during those 4000 years?

20. 10:23

    Honest, hard working, caring, compassionate people. I spent so much of my life worried that I’m not reading enough and not attending enough classes. I’m not studying enough. You know, study to show thyself approved my formative years as a Christian. We’re sitting in a small Sunday school room beneath a sign just like this one. It was covered in dust and had it fallen once or once or two times and it had a chip in it right. Constantly reminded that I have to spend more time studying the Bible.

21. 10:59

    Consider these words. This is obviously from the King James Jesus version because that’s the one Jesus used study to show thyself approved unto God a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. These are strong, active, aggressive words, right? Study. You have to have your nose in the word approved. No one likes the sound of being not approved, right? A Workman.

22. 11:32

    It’s all about work. You have to work Ashamed. If you don’t do this, you’re going to be ashamed. You’re going to feel ashamed rightly. I don’t know what dividing is, but you have to do it right. Has to be rightly done. And truth, the big one, the one single word that has defined my life for 60 years.

23. 11:57

    Not hope, not grace, not forgiveness, not peace, not love, not mercy, not Jesus, but truth, the most important thing. And there’s only one way to the truth and it’s through constant and never ending study for the rest of your life and, and, and and now, just for kicks, let’s consider what my life would have been like if we’ve been reading the message instead of the King James. Concentrate on doing your best for God work. You won’t be ashamed of laying out the truth, plain and simple. Concentrate.

24. 12:46

    Focus on these things. Have these things as your goal. Do your best. These are action words, things you can do. Don’t be ashamed. Do something good, something that pleases God, something plain, something simple. The truth is plain. The truth is simple. The truth doesn’t require a PhD to figure it out. The truth doesn’t require a lifelong dedication to study to understand it.

25. 13:22

    The huge majority of Christians through the past 2000 years never owned a Bible. They never owned a single book because they couldn’t read. Yet somehow we’ve come to look for academic mastery as a prerequisite to be a part of our community. It feels like our community has spent way too much time concentrating on the statement of faith and not enough time concentrating on the commandments of Christ. We need a little less Martha running around back and forth, going back and forth busying yourself with The Dirty dishes in the kitchen, and more Mary being there for Jesus. Consider with me, just for a moment, the commandments of Christ.

26. 14:06

    We aren’t called to build the giant temple of gold. We aren’t being called to fight an army of heathen. We aren’t even called to memorize the Bible. We’re being called to love our enemies. We’re being called to love your neighbor as yourself. We’re being called to be humble, to be patient, to be gentle, to be meek, to be kind hearted, to be compassionate, to be merciful, to be forgiving, to be sincere, to be temperate, to be washful, to be vigilant, to be brave, to be joyful, to be courteous, to be strong, to be humble.

27. 14:45

    Literally, that is only four of the 53 commandments of Christ that we have written in that little book yet I don’t think I’ve ever read it. I don’t think I’ve ever cracked it open. I saw it and so I know all that. Let me focus on clause 22. Of course, all these are in the Bible and we spend a lot of time reading the Bible and I’m about to hit this button and share a slide that I’m most nervous about. So please put your cameras away.

28. 15:34

    I truly and honestly believe it’s essential that we have regular daily contact with God’s word, daily contact with God’s word, in order to become more like Him. But just some, not a lot. Bible study is vital to understanding God, but the whole point is just be. Just be more like God, not spend your whole life studying how to be more like him. It’s not rocket science, people,

29. 16:10

    it’s simple, it’s plain. Consider this first. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another and all wisdom, singing songs and hymns and spiritual songs with thanks, thankfulness in your hearts. That’s the purpose of the Bible. That’s what doing the Bible readings are supposed to do to us versus the Basque and the and the richness and the beauty of the simple truth.

30. 16:39

    Don’t worry about, you know, what that word is in Hebrew, what that word is in Greek. Sing songs, sing hymns, sing spiritual songs. Allow thankfulness to seep into your heart. Don’t feel guilty because you’re not doing more. God has blessed us with so much that we can’t help but feel thankful. Fill your life with love. Fill.

31. 17:05

    Fill your life with goodness. Let that goodness overflow and fill other people’s hearts. Make their day better. Let them see Jesus and the love that you show.

32. 17:29

    Here’s some familiar words to us all. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I’m a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. If I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faiths, those remove mountains but have not love. I am nothing.

33. 17:50

    At the end of the day, it’s not about how much you know, it’s about how much you love. Because love never ends. As for the prophecies, they’re going to pass away. As for the tongues, they’re going to stop. They’re going to cease. As for knowledge, it will pass away. At the end of the day, knowledge passes away, but love lasts. That’s what’s really important.

34. 18:17

    At the end of the day, it’s all about love. That’s what we need to fill our lives with. That’s what our life should be about. We need to share God’s love with other people. Oh no man, anything except to love each other. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. Done. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is fulfilling the law. So fill your minds with good things. Don’t save any room for anything else. Don’t waste any time trying to sweep out the bad habits. They’re just going to return with seven of their friends. Just fill your life with good, fill your minds with good. Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there’s any excellence, if there’s anything worthy of praise, just think about those things. I started out this week telling you to don’t do the Bible readings, but do the Bible readings. Stop thinking that you’re serving God by simply following a daily reading plan and start filling your life with the kinds of things that are written about in that daily reading plan. Do the readings.

35. 19:27

    That’s what James is telling us. He says. Be doers of the Word and not studiers only. I love how the message translate that, he says. And James too, he says, Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere with God if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it?

36. 20:00

    The faith that we proclaim to have, that that faith raised, that God raised Jesus from the dead and through death forgives our sins, that that faith has to have some kind of effect upon us. It has to motivate us. It has to inspire us. It has to lead us into action. When we keep reading in James, we read if her brother and sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to him, oh go, go in peace, God bless you, you know, be warm, be filled without giving them the things needed for the body. What good is that so awful?

37. 20:33

    Also faith itself by itself, if it doesn’t have works is dead. It’s dead. Faith in God’s ability to extend His mercy to us and justify us in his sight without actions that are prompted and motivated out of appreciation for that kind of great gift is dead. If you really believe that, but don’t do anything about that, it’s useless.

38. 20:59

    We have to act. We have to produce something good out of our lives. We can’t just expect God to remove all the bad from our lives and and like what He sees. We actually have to make something good out of our lives. So when he removes the evil, there’s something that remains. We have to do some good. Was not Abraham our father justified by works? We now for up his son Isaac on the altar. You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works.

39. 21:28

    A person is justified by works, not by faith alone. God wants us to do something with our lives, not spending our whole life just worrying about sin. He’s taking care of that, but doing something good and productive, doing something useful.

40. 21:47

    For as the body apart from the Spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. God’s given us this life for this purpose. We’ve been made alive. We were dead in our sins, and we gave us a new life specifically for the purpose of serving Him with good works.

41. 22:10

    It is the useful, not the great, that God wants from us. He isn’t calling us to slay Dragons and defeat armies. He’s chosen us for our weakness, to show forth His strength. He simply wants us to find useful, encouraging, uplifting, helpful things to do for the people around us to reflect some of the love that He has given us.

42. 22:36

    What do you do in your life that’s useful? That should be an easy question, but for me it wasn’t. It’s definitely a lot easier than what do you do in your life? That’s great. But maybe we’ve been too focused on Bible classes and Bible studies and Bible seminars and Bible schools and Bible reading and Bible bingo. We haven’t spent as much time that we should have on doing something useful for someone right next to us, something helpful for someone, something kind for someone, something for someone.

43. 23:17

    I remember a story from when I was a child that you might find helpful. It’s kind of politically incorrect now. But yeah, if you remember, I’m from the 70s and I grew up in the country, and it’s a story about a young boy and a big man who go into the woods hunting together. And the boy says, when I get bigger, I’m going to shoot a Big Bear.

44. 23:38

    And the man says, there’s small bears in the forest, too. You know, it feels like we often spend our whole life preparing to do something really big for the Lord. We’re waiting until we’ve honed these amazing skills and developed a deeper understanding. We look at people around us who, you know, are rescuing children from human traffickers and feeding babies.

45. 24:02

    And, and we think, you know, maybe when I retire, if I have enough money and enough time, I’ll do something like that. I’ll do something big. I’ll do something good. In fact, the matter is that you have something you can contribute right now. No matter where you are in your life, no matter your age, no matter your finances, no matter your intelligence or your spiritual understanding, you were put on earth to make a contribution.

46. 24:28

    God didn’t create you simply to consume resources and take up space. You were created to get stuff done. God designed you to make a difference with your life, and God wants you to give something back to those around you. You can’t just sit back and watch others do it. I have many favorite sayings from Pastor Rick Warren. You’ve probably noticed them, some of the some some of them this week.

47. 24:54

    But one of my favorites is study without service leads to stagnation. Study without service leads to stagnation. The whole reason we study the Word of God is to learn better how to serve those around us. But if we never put that service into action, we never mature. We never grow, we never become who God wants us to become.

48. 25:16

    We stagnate, we plateau. I got baptized in my ecclesia. It was considered young. It was considered kind of uncomfortably young. It was 16, which I don’t think is that young, but I got baptized at 16. Pretty sure I plateaued about 30.

49. 25:41

    Don’t look for another Bible study in your ecclesia. Look for an opportunity where you can serve. Exercise your muscles. Serving is the opposite of our natural inclination. You normally look to ecclesia to meet your needs. I think we should look to the community to see what needs need to be met. I love to talk about gifts. I talk about gifts a lot and whenever I do, I can literally see people shifting in their seats, right? We get a little bit uncomfortable when we touch talking, talking about gifts.

50. 26:08

    I believe that God gives every one of us a gift. Not every one of us gets the same gift, but every one of us gets a gift. In whatever way you’ve come to understand the verses about gifts in the New Testament, I don’t think you can deny them. You may not believe in the Holy Spirit gifts. We may not no longer have gifts like healing or the gifts of tongue, but the Bible speaks about all different kinds of gifts.

51. 26:36

    Administration. What it takes to run a Bible school. Exhortation What it takes to get upfront and encourage people giving. The gift of giving. What it takes to be able to realize that you can live without $5000 and you can give that to someone who can use it. The gift of knowledge. The gift of leadership. Gift of mercy.

52. 27:02

    The gift of service. The gift of teaching. The gift of wisdom. I believe that the power of God through His Holy Spirit is a fundamental part of my life and a fundamental part of your life. If I didn’t believe that the Holy Spirit was still at work and the ecclesia today, then why would I pray before an exhortation for God to be with the speaking brothers so that His words may be your words?

53. 27:24

    Are we just saying that? Do we really believe that the Holy Spirit is going to help that person exhort us with the message God wants us to be exhorted with?

54. 27:37

    I believe that God does give us gifts. We don’t get them all. We all get different ones. Ephesians says grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. God planned it that way so we would feel the need for each other, so we would we would realize each other have benefits.

55. 27:58

    You don’t earn the gifts you’re given. You don’t deserve them. You can’t choose them. You’re you’re given it as a gift and it’s an integral factor of who you are. Your gifts are influenced by your passions. The Bible uses a nicer term for passion. It uses the term heart. Heart is that that bundle of desires and hopes and interests and ambitions and dreams and affections that each one of us have. There are things that you love to do. What does Peter love to do?

56. 28:30

    We know what Peter loves to do. I love to play. He loves music. These are things that you love to do and what you care most about. Now, the problem is you think that I love something kind of weird, and that’s not. I can’t really serve God with that. Whatever God gave you, you can use to serve that, whether it’s turning wood or I couldn’t think of a cute turn or phrase there or turning a phrase.

57. 28:56

    Oh, that’s a good one. Good job, Jeff. Your heart reveals the true you, right? Your heart determines what you say, what you do, why you feel the way you do. Got to want you to use your natural interest to serve Him. God wants you to do what you feel most passionate about. When you’re serving God with passion, you’re going to be very enthusiastic about it.

58. 29:26

    You’re not going to have to drag yourself out of bed in the morning to do it. You’re going to do it for the sheer enjoyment of doing it, and you’re going to be effective at it. Few people excel at things they’re not passionate about. When you do what God wanted you to do, you get good at it. Now, not all these gifts are things that you would consider spiritual.

59. 29:52

    For example, I love spreadsheets. I just love them, right? That the OCD part of my brain really connects with the beauty and the symmetry of everything being all lined up and perfect little rows and columns. And I love math. So a spreadsheet is like this, this love child of math and OCD, you know, it’s, it’s a, it’s the perfect recipe for my happiness, right?

60. 30:19

    And I’m pretty sure you’re not going to find a Bible verse that talks about that kind of a gift. It’s clearly not a spiritual gift, but I love it and I find ways that I can use it to serve God. I can use it to help others. Abilities are your natural talents you’re born with.

61. 30:36

    Abilities are are also given to us from God. And every one of your abilities can be used for God’s glory. God has a place where your special passion can shine. You just have to find it. Your abilities are not given to you just to learn, earn a living. God gave them to you so you could help other people.

62. 30:55

    He wants you to find a good use for them. And everyone is different so your service is going to be different than other people’s service. Don’t compare what you do with what they do. That’s going to make you feel dissatisfied with what you know, what you are, what God has given you. No one likes to give a gift to someone have them not enjoy it.

63. 31:13

    It’s the same way with God. There’s there’s no need being resentful or jealous of others gifts. They thought that person’s not you. They may have troubles that you don’t want. They don’t have the same gifts you have. And it’s obvious to me that God loves variety. How else can you explain the duck billed platypus, right?

64. 31:33

    God designed introverts and he designed extroverts. God designed people who love routine and people who love variety. God designed some people as thinkers, other people as more touchy feely. God designed people who work best on individual assignment and he designed people who work best on a team. Your personality is going to determine you know how you how you work and and and where you you use your gift and your abilities. 2 people might have the same gift but there are different personalities. Allow them to express that in different way. One thing that affects what you do with your ability is your experiences that you live through. You’ve been shaped by all the experiences in your life that brought you to where you are today. God allowed them to happen to you in order to mold you, to change you, to develop you.

65. 32:29

    Many types of experiences affect us. Our family experiences, our educational experiences, our work experiences, our spiritual experiences, our eclesial experiences. But there’s one type of experience that affects us more than any other painful experiences. I’ve heard plenty of those this week. I’ve sat with people at lunch and at breakfast and at dinner who told me the unbelievable painful things that have had the traumatic things that happened.

66. 33:02

    Things that some of them I don’t think I’ve even realized yet. You’re probably going to be most effective in serving the needs of others, an area that you’ve had a painful experience in the past. God intentionally allows you to go through painful experiences in order to equip you to help others. That’s what Corinthians says.

67. 33:24

    God comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, He brings us a lot, brings us alongside someone else who’s going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us.

68. 33:37

    Experiences in your life haven’t simply happened to you randomly. It didn’t just happen by chance. God brought them into your life because He knew that you could handle them and He wanted you to learn something by them. I’ve been so impressed with Lynn sitting next to Pat today all week long.

69. 34:15

    For God to use your painful experiences, you have to be willing to share them. Happy, willing to open up honestly talk about your failures and your fears and your faults. People are always more encouraged when you share how God’s grace helped you and your weakness than when you brag about your strengths.

70. 34:44

    Experience is not just what happens to you, it’s what you do with what happens to you. So take your gifts and take your abilities and your passions and your experiences, your painful, ugly, dirty, sad experiences and do something good with it. Do something useful. It really is that simple. And I can literally hear you thinking, oh, what am I going to do? What you do is a byproduct of who you are. So maybe I should say, instead of saying go do something, I should say, be something.

71. 35:34

    Be the kind of person that assumes the best about other people. Be the kind of person that doesn’t cast other people in a negative light.

72. 35:48

    Be the kind of person that listens to other people’s ideas. Be the kind of person that keeps their promises. Be the kind of person that’s oh, Jeff. Be the kind of person that’s generous with their time.

73. 36:07

    Be the kind of person that doesn’t say, well, let me know if you need anything, but instead says I’m coming by on Thursday to mow your lawn. Be the kind of person that takes their dog to the hospital to visit people who are lying on their beds, lonely and scared. Be the kind of person that sews A quilt for a newborn so their parents can bring them home in something handmade. Be the kind of person that brings cookies to the office. Be the kind of person that sends a care package to a soldier who’s far from home.

74. 36:51

    Be the kind of person that drops off some packs of socks at the shelter. Be the kind of person that washes their neighbor’s car when they’re at washing theirs.

75. 37:04

    Be the kind of person that lets someone go ahead of you in the checkout lane. Be the kind of person that picks up litter. Be the kind of person leaves a large tip. Be the kind of person that leaves a positive comment on a blog.

76. 37:27

    Be the kind of person that learns people’s names and calls them by their name. Be the kind of person that gives blood. Be the kind of person that volunteers at the animal shelter picking up you know what?

77. 37:46

    Be the kind of person that let others go in front of you in traffic. Be the kind of person who visits with the cleaning staff or the grocery bagger.

78. 37:59

    Be the kind of person that gives away the vegetables they grew in their garden. Be the kind of person that gives restaurant gift cards to the unhoused.

79. 38:12

    Be the kind of person that donates books to the library. Good books. Be the kind of person that holds the door for the people behind you.

80. 38:25

    Be the kind of person that talks to that awkward person standing over in the corner. Be the kind of person who speaks up for someone being treated wrongly. Be the kind of person that takes the time to write a great review when it’s appropriate. Be the kind of person that makes friends with the new employee. Be the kind of person that shaves the shares the leftover lasagna in the refrigerator.

81. 38:53

    Be the kind of person that lends their tools to somebody. Be the kind of person that lets people crash on your couch. Be the kind of person that plays hoop with the kids at the after school program. Be the kind of kid person that tutors their neighbor’s kid in geometry.

82. 39:15

    Be the kind of person does pro bono work for a non profit. Be the kind of person that shares positive books that they found helpful. Be the kind of person that calls someone they haven’t talked to in a long time.

83. 39:32

    Be the kind of person that sends flowers to someone in the hospital. Be the kind of person that babysits so the young couple can have a date night.

84. 39:43

    Be the kind of person that always offers a cup of tea. Be the kind of person that says good morning and means it. Be the kind of person that gives their seat to the elderly or the pregnant. Be the kind of person who helps a mother carry her stroller up the stairs. Be the kind of person that pays for the coffee for the person behind you. That’s all you have to do.

85. 40:14

    God’s not really expecting you to cure the common cold. He’s not planning some huge challenge you’re going to have to tackle. What God has planned for your future doesn’t require years and years of study to prepare for.

86. 40:32

    We’ve all read the verse due to others as you would have them do to you. Maybe we just need to see one more bumper sticker and just do it.