¤ ¤ 00:00:01.06\00:00:29.96 Hello and welcome again to Issues and Answers. 00:00:30.00\00:00:33.27 This is a program that really focuses on the issues that all 00:00:33.31\00:00:37.71 of us have in our lives. We are far more similar than we are 00:00:37.74\00:00:43.05 different. All of us have issues and needs that only God can 00:00:43.09\00:00:47.96 fill. Today we have a subject that we'd like to share with you 00:00:48.00\00:00:53.44 that we hope will match up closely to an issue or a need in 00:00:53.48\00:00:59.47 your life and that is building. Building bridges. And you're 00:00:59.50\00:01:04.80 going to say, Ruthie, come on. I am not building bridges. 00:01:04.84\00:01:10.44 That's for engineers and heavy equipment. No, it's for all of 00:01:10.47\00:01:15.65 us as Christians. Building bridges, building relationships. 00:01:15.69\00:01:21.10 Advancing God's kingdom through friendships. And he has told us 00:01:21.13\00:01:26.63 in Isaiah 45 I will go with you and prepare the way and I will 00:01:26.66\00:01:32.13 break down gates of brass and crash through iron bars. 00:01:32.16\00:01:36.66 Nothing is impossible. That neighbor, that person who 00:01:36.70\00:01:41.13 seems to be farthest from the Lord may be just waiting for a 00:01:41.17\00:01:46.49 touch from you and the Holy Spirit working through you and 00:01:46.53\00:01:51.03 maybe you'll see something incredible that you've been 00:01:51.06\00:01:55.49 praying and waiting for. God is so good. I'm anxious for you 00:01:55.53\00:01:59.64 to meet my special guests. Tim Garrison from Camarillo, 00:01:59.67\00:02:04.09 California, welcome. Good to be here Ruthie. 00:02:04.12\00:02:07.20 And Derek Morris from Apopka, Florida. Glad to be here. 00:02:07.24\00:02:11.46 So what can you tell us about bridge building? How important 00:02:11.50\00:02:16.91 is it in what you do? 00:02:16.94\00:02:18.59 Well as you know, Ruthie, I'm involved in planting a church 00:02:18.63\00:02:22.15 and when you're going to a new area and you start a church from 00:02:22.18\00:02:26.01 the very beginning and you get together as a little core of 20 00:02:26.04\00:02:29.84 people determined to do this, you have to examine how did 00:02:29.87\00:02:34.25 Christ go about, you know, ministering and touching and 00:02:34.28\00:02:37.68 building bridges to other people's lives and one thing we 00:02:37.71\00:02:41.04 realize is we could not expect people to come to us. We had to 00:02:41.08\00:02:46.44 go to them. And so that's a part of this metaphor building 00:02:46.47\00:02:51.44 bridges as you know from your book of building those ways of 00:02:51.47\00:02:55.38 touching other people's lives just like Christ did. And we 00:02:55.41\00:02:59.60 determined that we would have to develop mechanisms for bridge 00:02:59.64\00:03:03.80 building. You know, he went out where 00:03:03.83\00:03:05.99 people were who needed him. He went where the lepers were. He 00:03:06.03\00:03:10.93 went where people didn't go. He went to the parties where they 00:03:10.97\00:03:15.87 we're drinking wine and getting drunk. And he was criticized. 00:03:15.90\00:03:21.61 It got him into trouble, but he kept on because he had a world 00:03:21.64\00:03:27.32 to save. This is a really important topic 00:03:27.35\00:03:30.77 Ruthie, because we most naturally build walls rather 00:03:30.81\00:03:35.12 that building bridges. Why do we do that. I think we grow up 00:03:35.16\00:03:38.24 trying to protect ourselves and maybe other people are different 00:03:38.28\00:03:41.33 but we see Jesus doing the exact opposite. I think of a 00:03:41.36\00:03:45.71 story in John chapter 4 where Jesus is coming to Samaria and 00:03:45.75\00:03:49.99 instinctively the disciples are building walls because they 00:03:50.02\00:03:54.23 don't get along with the Samaritans and they don't 00:03:54.26\00:03:56.95 associate with them. So they're separating themselves while 00:03:56.99\00:04:00.70 Jesus begins to build a bridge with one person who's come to 00:04:00.74\00:04:04.37 the well. In fact that story I think has great lessons for us. 00:04:04.40\00:04:08.00 But certainly Jesus models being a bridge builder. 00:04:08.03\00:04:11.21 You know, I'd like to back up. Speaking of Christ as a bridge 00:04:11.25\00:04:16.59 builder. Everything he did was bathed in prayer. He spent 00:04:16.63\00:04:21.22 in prayer. He prayed a lot because that's one of the rules 00:04:21.26\00:04:25.69 of the kingdom. When the Father told him I've put all of the 00:04:25.72\00:04:30.06 earth into your hands. That's your inheritance, you're going 00:04:30.10\00:04:34.71 to inherit the earth. But Christ knew that one of the rules of 00:04:34.74\00:04:39.98 the kingdom is you have to ask. So even Christ the Son of God 00:04:40.01\00:04:45.81 had to pray. He had to ask. And so he did that and then he was 00:04:45.84\00:04:51.61 prepared to go out and build bridges. So we have to pray 00:04:51.64\00:04:55.98 earnestly before we can build bridges, otherwise we're just 00:04:56.01\00:05:00.55 doing something nice. You know, random acts of kindness, but if 00:05:00.58\00:05:05.09 we're praying the Holy Spirit and the compassion of God is 00:05:05.12\00:05:10.21 what changes hearts. 00:05:10.24\00:05:11.27 And, of course, he also gives the Lord permission to throw him 00:05:11.30\00:05:14.98 out, that radical prayer, because Mark 1 says that he was 00:05:15.01\00:05:19.08 thrown out by the Spirit. So he also prays and it's interesting 00:05:19.12\00:05:24.13 in John 4 it says he needed to go through Samaria. Well the 00:05:24.17\00:05:27.74 disciples didn't want to go through Samaria. Why did Jesus 00:05:27.77\00:05:31.27 need to go? Answer: He's praying this radical prayer. He has been 00:05:31.31\00:05:36.29 bathing his life in prayer and he has given God permission 00:05:36.32\00:05:39.46 knowing that there's a bridge to be built with this one lady 00:05:39.49\00:05:42.60 whose heart is open. 00:05:42.63\00:05:43.66 Let me give you an example of what we've done in the Moorpark, 00:05:43.69\00:05:46.91 California church plant that I'm involved in and that is in 00:05:46.95\00:05:50.57 California the housing developments often have common 00:05:50.60\00:05:54.66 mail box areas, you know. They call them gang boxes. And the 00:05:54.70\00:05:59.36 problem you see in terms of connecting with your neighbor 00:05:59.40\00:06:04.03 in most modern housing developments is the automatic 00:06:04.06\00:06:08.24 garage door. You know, people open the door, they pull their 00:06:08.28\00:06:11.84 car in and they never see their neighbors. But I've discovered 00:06:11.88\00:06:15.30 there's one place where they do gather and that's to go get the 00:06:15.33\00:06:18.84 mail. So what we've tried to do with our community of believers 00:06:18.87\00:06:22.35 is have radical prayer, as you say, about making that an 00:06:22.38\00:06:28.13 opportunity for building bridges and so going down to that gang 00:06:28.17\00:06:31.94 mailbox right after the letter carrier has delivered the mail 00:06:31.97\00:06:36.55 when you know others are going to be gathering. So I've made 00:06:36.58\00:06:40.68 that a point personally to do that and as they come in I greet 00:06:40.71\00:06:43.89 them and I talk to them and many of them know that I'm a pastor. 00:06:43.93\00:06:47.73 I remember one time that I went down and an elderly lady came 00:06:47.76\00:06:51.53 and I greeted her and I said how are you doing and she 00:06:51.56\00:06:55.04 paused and I'd seen her before. We had a little bit of a 00:06:55.07\00:06:58.96 relationship. Her husband had just been in an accident and 00:06:58.99\00:07:02.83 they had just retired. And she talked to me about how she had 00:07:02.87\00:07:06.68 hoped differently for her retired life, but now she was 00:07:06.71\00:07:10.38 ministering to her husband. And I said, Ma'am, can we have 00:07:10.42\00:07:14.49 prayer. And so we paused right there by those mail boxes and I 00:07:14.53\00:07:18.32 had prayer with this woman. But again you have to be intentional 00:07:18.36\00:07:22.12 to build those bridges and that's the kind of thing that 00:07:22.15\00:07:25.73 when you pray to God he inspires you to find ways to make those 00:07:25.77\00:07:30.47 connections. That's right, he does open 00:07:30.50\00:07:31.53 doors. When we first moved to the neighborhood where we live 00:07:31.56\00:07:35.36 now we didn't know anybody. We didn't know anybody in the town. 00:07:35.39\00:07:39.33 We didn't know anybody in the church and we discovered that 00:07:39.36\00:07:43.07 there were some people who we had known in Florida later. But 00:07:43.10\00:07:46.68 we thought that we were there at the end of the earth, because 00:07:46.71\00:07:50.07 you don't go to Hiawassee, GA if you're not planning to go 00:07:50.11\00:07:54.79 there. You don't go there going to anywhere. But we live on a 00:07:54.82\00:07:59.46 mountain and we looked up and down our hill and we saw all of 00:07:59.50\00:08:04.50 these houses. There are over a hundred in our homeowner's 00:08:04.54\00:08:08.56 association. And I started praying for Ramie Mountain. 00:08:08.59\00:08:13.44 I said, Lord, who was it that prayed give me Scotland or I 00:08:13.48\00:08:18.26 die. John Knox. Knox. And I said I want Ramie Mountain. Lord give 00:08:18.30\00:08:24.27 me Ramie Mountain. For some reason you've just given me a 00:08:24.30\00:08:27.08 sense of urgency for these dear people I've never even met. Well 00:08:27.12\00:08:31.80 before long we started meeting at the library, at the grocery 00:08:31.83\00:08:37.33 store, everywhere. And people invited me over to their home. 00:08:37.36\00:08:42.08 We were just getting acquainted with everybody. Then they asked 00:08:42.11\00:08:46.34 my husband to be the homeowners association president. Well then 00:08:46.38\00:08:50.58 we had people coming to our home, we were going to their 00:08:50.61\00:08:53.28 homes, we were planning meetings all kinds of events and we were 00:08:53.32\00:08:57.75 given opportunities to pray with them. They started coming to our 00:08:57.79\00:09:02.97 church, just an incredible thing but not long ago I was speaking 00:09:03.01\00:09:08.16 over at a Methodist church not far from where we live and I 00:09:08.19\00:09:12.05 invited all my neighbors. I said I'm speaking over at this church 00:09:12.09\00:09:15.07 Do you want to come over and hear me? Sure. So they went. 00:09:15.10\00:09:19.24 And coming home the neighbor who was riding with me said 00:09:19.27\00:09:23.34 you know we were laughing about you the other day. I said, you 00:09:23.38\00:09:27.59 were? What was so funny? She said well we weren't laughing at 00:09:27.63\00:09:32.20 you. We were envious. And I said why? She said you've only 00:09:32.24\00:09:36.70 lived here two years, Ruthie, and you know the whole town of 00:09:36.73\00:09:41.83 Hiawassee. And I said, you know that's pretty true. We know so 00:09:41.87\00:09:46.44 many people here now. And she said I've lived here 14 years 00:09:46.47\00:09:51.68 and you know lots more people than I do. And under my breath 00:09:51.72\00:09:56.11 I was saying thank you Lord, that's an answer to prayer. 00:09:56.14\00:10:00.46 You know, one of the things that Tim said that's so important and 00:10:00.50\00:10:04.94 we see it in Jesus is you went to that mailbox area. Right. You 00:10:04.97\00:10:08.83 were intentional about saying this is a place where I could 00:10:08.87\00:10:12.77 build bridges. I think of Jesus you referred to earlier after 00:10:12.80\00:10:17.33 a tax collector became one of his disciples, Jesus went to 00:10:17.37\00:10:21.83 that tax collector's party. He was going to connect with people 00:10:21.87\00:10:25.74 that he probably would never see any other place. But he begins 00:10:25.77\00:10:29.81 to build bridges with them and I want to learn how to do that 00:10:29.85\00:10:33.66 more effectively. I think that your book, Bridges 101, helps us 00:10:33.69\00:10:37.47 to think, maybe not just do these things, but Lord show me 00:10:37.50\00:10:43.33 some ways. The mailbox technique or whatever. 00:10:43.36\00:10:45.78 That fit my personality and my situation. 00:10:45.82\00:10:48.17 Where I can build bridges to people rather than building 00:10:48.21\00:10:50.86 walls. I tell you, you have to really 00:10:50.89\00:10:52.52 you know be ready when you pray that prayer, because it's just 00:10:52.56\00:10:56.41 amazing what the Lord does. You know I prayed to the Lord, I 00:10:56.44\00:11:00.57 would like to be in a roomful of strangers and the very next 00:11:00.61\00:11:05.02 day I got jury notice and I ended up at the court house in a 00:11:05.06\00:11:09.44 room full of 200 people that I had never met before. 00:11:09.47\00:11:12.49 And it's just like the Lord is smiling and he's saying OK now 00:11:12.53\00:11:15.96 is this what you had in mind? 00:11:15.99\00:11:17.83 Now once you get there, whether it's at the mailbox or it's in 00:11:17.87\00:11:21.63 the jury waiting room then you have to be prepared to... 00:11:21.66\00:11:26.96 And I discovered that your praying doesn't stop when you 00:11:27.00\00:11:32.34 have been thrown out or when you are reaching out with some 00:11:32.38\00:11:37.69 method of building a bridge. 00:11:37.72\00:11:40.00 It's like it's almost like a constant conversation. 00:11:40.04\00:11:42.24 I was just thinking of something that happened in our family. Our 00:11:42.28\00:11:46.49 neighbor was sick and he called, an interesting phone call. He 00:11:46.53\00:11:50.32 said please pray for me. I've got a problem with my health. 00:11:50.35\00:11:54.13 So we went to the hospital. My wife stopped and picked up a 00:11:54.16\00:11:58.10 beautiful arrangement of flowers I'm a little more thrifty, but 00:11:58.13\00:12:01.74 she understood what that would do for him and his wife who was 00:12:01.77\00:12:06.03 there. Giving them the flowers, that was a bridge, and he said 00:12:06.07\00:12:10.20 wow the flowers are so beautiful thank you so much. And I just 00:12:10.23\00:12:14.00 said do you know we have prayer quilts at our church? Maybe 00:12:14.03\00:12:17.78 you'd like a prayer quilt. And his eyes lit up and his wife was 00:12:17.81\00:12:21.78 excited and so it's like one more step. You don't just bring 00:12:21.82\00:12:26.09 flowers day after day. The quilt came, we cleaned up some sticks 00:12:26.13\00:12:30.03 in the drive way and before long we're inviting them to have 00:12:30.06\00:12:33.88 lunch with us. I shared a DVD series on healthy Christians 00:12:33.92\00:12:37.41 that I'd done. If I'd just walked out of the blue and said 00:12:37.44\00:12:41.08 you need to listen to this, he probably would have been polite 00:12:41.12\00:12:45.02 and taken it but... (or a book they had) or worse I would say 00:12:45.05\00:12:48.35 you know I'm going to build a wall because I know that my 00:12:48.38\00:12:51.74 neighbors are not interested. But when you begin to build 00:12:51.78\00:12:55.03 bridges and I think the key is that you're asking the Lord to 00:12:55.07\00:12:58.58 show you when and how to do that It's really quite exciting. 00:12:58.62\00:13:02.83 It really is exciting and yet you know as Jesus clearly showed 00:13:02.87\00:13:06.95 there's risk involved. I mean, when he interfaced with the 00:13:06.98\00:13:10.99 Samaritan woman there was a risk how would she respond, would she 00:13:11.03\00:13:15.01 be open. And so when we face that risk and we allow the Lord 00:13:15.04\00:13:19.37 to take the fear away then some amazing things begin to happen. 00:13:19.41\00:13:23.48 That's right. But I believe that when we're willing to take 00:13:23.51\00:13:29.85 those first steps, he shows his grace and he meets not only our 00:13:29.89\00:13:34.79 needs but the needs of the people. I like what you did with 00:13:34.82\00:13:39.79 the flowers and with the prayer quilts because those are 00:13:39.82\00:13:44.55 tangible things. After you're gone the Holy Spirit can use, 00:13:44.58\00:13:48.79 that's right, they're still there and the Holy Spirit can 00:13:48.83\00:13:52.97 speak through things and remind people, this is the love of God. 00:13:53.01\00:13:58.53 Because people ask what makes somebody do something like this? 00:13:58.57\00:14:04.16 What would cause somebody to have a totally free car wash, no 00:14:04.19\00:14:09.75 strings attached, wash my windshield, give me a bar of 00:14:09.78\00:14:16.48 granola or something or have a little prayer with me while I'm 00:14:16.52\00:14:20.12 waiting in line. What would make people do that? And they ask 00:14:20.15\00:14:23.72 questions. You know, I think there's a 00:14:23.75\00:14:24.90 principle here of bridge building and that is also 00:14:24.94\00:14:27.59 Jesus recognized. He met people where they had a need. And so if 00:14:27.63\00:14:32.61 I'd walked into the hospital room and given him the DVD, 00:14:32.64\00:14:36.14 first of all he has nowhere to play it. Secondly he's not well 00:14:36.18\00:14:39.47 and he doesn't particularly feel like watching a DVD, but some 00:14:39.50\00:14:43.20 beauty to his room or maybe a tangible quilt to remind him 00:14:43.24\00:14:46.87 that people are praying. Jesus did that when he'd been teaching 00:14:46.91\00:14:50.38 all day and the people were hungry and he gave them food. 00:14:50.41\00:14:53.63 He tried to talk about being the bread of life, but first he 00:14:53.66\00:14:56.85 built a bridge. I think that there's a very 00:14:56.88\00:14:59.49 important principle here. Sometimes we're happy to share 00:14:59.53\00:15:04.18 the love of the Lord or to meet people or to build a bridge but 00:15:04.22\00:15:10.05 we're tempted to do that on our ground of comfort. We want to do 00:15:10.09\00:15:15.09 what makes us feel good. Never mind what that person may need. 00:15:15.13\00:15:20.10 This is what I think you need so you better take this and 00:15:20.13\00:15:24.01 jolly well get this and read it or whatever it is and we can go 00:15:24.05\00:15:28.11 away saying well you know I've done my good deed and this is 00:15:28.14\00:15:32.59 my whatever for the day, my good thing that I've done for the 00:15:32.62\00:15:37.56 Lord, for the kingdom of God and the Lord may be shaking his head 00:15:37.59\00:15:43.39 saying you missed it. Don't do it for you, do it for me and for 00:15:43.43\00:15:49.20 him and there's a totally different way that we live and 00:15:49.23\00:15:54.40 minister when we have that mind set. 00:15:54.43\00:15:55.77 We also find, at least I've found that when I break out of 00:15:55.81\00:15:59.84 my comfort zone, interact with my neighbors, try to befriend 00:15:59.88\00:16:03.58 them, that there is a mutual benefit. There's something about 00:16:03.62\00:16:07.53 establishing those relationships learning from those people as 00:16:07.56\00:16:11.90 well and being enriched by that relationship that is wonderful 00:16:11.94\00:16:16.25 for me as well as what I might be able to offer to them. 00:16:16.28\00:16:20.14 It's like a two-way street isn't it. (It is, yeah.) 00:16:20.17\00:16:23.44 The Lord doesn't just send us out and say do this for me and 00:16:23.48\00:16:27.99 whether you like it or not. No, he says this is going to enrich 00:16:28.03\00:16:32.51 your life. This is going to make you a better person. 00:16:32.54\00:16:35.93 You know, something happened in my ministry. When I began 00:16:35.97\00:16:39.29 ministry I gave myself kind of like an island. If you said you 00:16:39.33\00:16:43.64 built walls around yourself I probably would have denied it 00:16:43.67\00:16:48.19 but really I wasn't building bridges at least. I've noticed 00:16:48.23\00:16:52.72 in recent years that God is giving me courage to build 00:16:52.75\00:16:57.74 bridges; going to the local ministerial alliance, I ended up 00:16:57.78\00:17:01.06 being the president of the ministerial alliance and it's 00:17:01.10\00:17:04.31 totally new and yet I've had the opportunity to pray blessing 00:17:04.35\00:17:08.29 for pastors in the community that I otherwise wouldn't meet. 00:17:08.33\00:17:12.71 So I think it's that recognition that if we are light to the 00:17:12.74\00:17:16.71 world and salt of the earth, it's not going to happen by 00:17:16.74\00:17:20.40 hiding under a bushel, to use the same image as the light of 00:17:20.44\00:17:23.99 the world. I need to be getting out there, letting my light 00:17:24.03\00:17:27.55 shine and building bridges with people. 00:17:27.58\00:17:29.15 And it's amazing how the Lord will prompt you and push you. 00:17:29.19\00:17:34.32 My husband and I were having lunch in a place near Highlands, 00:17:34.36\00:17:39.46 North Carolina. We were sitting out on a patio under an 00:17:39.49\00:17:42.70 umbrella and there was a big kind of an outdoor dining area. 00:17:42.74\00:17:47.00 And we were having a wonderful time and the weather was perfect 00:17:47.04\00:17:51.06 I noticed over in the corner there were two couples and they 00:17:51.09\00:17:55.70 were so loud. They were talking to their waitress and just 00:17:55.73\00:17:59.42 having so much fun and I said to Don, I'm going to go over 00:17:59.45\00:18:02.93 there and tell them to quiet this down. They are just you 00:18:02.97\00:18:06.38 know, disturbing the peace. And he laughed and he said no don't 00:18:06.42\00:18:10.86 do that. Well Don is much more what's the word, levelheaded, 00:18:10.89\00:18:16.40 cautious. But I really felt a prompting in my spirit. I felt 00:18:16.43\00:18:20.64 like the Lord was saying here's some people you could get 00:18:20.67\00:18:24.68 acquainted with. So when Don went to the car for something, I 00:18:24.71\00:18:28.42 walked over there to their table and the waitress was still there 00:18:28.46\00:18:32.02 and they were talking. I just kind of had a sparkle in my eye 00:18:32.06\00:18:35.40 and a big smile on my face but I said to them you know you're 00:18:35.44\00:18:39.29 going to have to calm this down because this is altogether too 00:18:39.32\00:18:43.68 noisy. They said pull up a chair and we were instant friends. 00:18:43.71\00:18:49.10 They could tell that I was just being funny or you know enjoying 00:18:49.13\00:18:54.49 them. And we got acquainted. Come to find out they had 00:18:54.52\00:18:58.45 relatives that lived not far from us in Hiawassee. They said 00:18:58.49\00:19:02.84 we're going to be in you town tomorrow. We want to see you 00:19:02.87\00:19:07.15 tomorrow. Well they did call us the next day and we happened to 00:19:07.19\00:19:10.59 be gone so we missed them. But they gave us the name of the 00:19:10.62\00:19:14.26 name of the sister and her husband. A couple weeks later 00:19:14.30\00:19:18.48 we were driving out in that neighborhood and I said, Honey 00:19:18.51\00:19:22.54 this is where Virginia and Howard live. Let's go see them. 00:19:22.58\00:19:26.63 So we pulled up into their driveway. They came out and they 00:19:26.66\00:19:30.50 said Oh we know about you. We heard about you. We've been 00:19:30.53\00:19:35.30 wanting to meet you. That's God. And I get e-mails from her 00:19:35.34\00:19:39.83 nearly every day. She's been to our church. We've been to their 00:19:39.86\00:19:43.80 church. We have just become very good friends. She's been to our 00:19:43.83\00:19:48.09 home several times, we've been to theirs. But see that was God 00:19:48.12\00:19:52.35 saying here are some people that I want to use you for. 00:19:52.38\00:19:57.53 You see he was throwing you out into his harvest using your 00:19:57.56\00:20:01.29 personality. I can imagine someone watching the program 00:20:01.32\00:20:04.98 today going, I could never do that and it's possible that God 00:20:05.02\00:20:09.23 would never ask them to do that. But God is going to use the 00:20:09.26\00:20:12.81 personality and the gifts that each of has to build their 00:20:12.84\00:20:16.23 bridges. What we have in common is that we don't want to 00:20:16.26\00:20:19.98 separate ourselves from those people but we want to connect 00:20:20.01\00:20:23.70 with them. That's right and use whatever 00:20:23.73\00:20:25.67 means will work. Whatever God brings to our mind. 00:20:25.71\00:20:29.59 That's right. And we all have different tools. We all have 00:20:29.63\00:20:33.58 different personalities. But I really believe that the key of 00:20:33.61\00:20:38.30 the universe, the God who made us, knows how he made us, he 00:20:38.33\00:20:43.19 knows what gifts and talents and interests we have and he says, 00:20:43.22\00:20:48.10 you know if you work with me I'm going to make it a joy. I want 00:20:48.13\00:20:53.61 you to experience the joy of actually being a partner with me 00:20:53.64\00:20:58.24 So I suppose, Ruthie, as a part of the prayer that our viewers 00:20:58.27\00:21:02.84 could think about as well as ourselves is use me as I am. 00:21:02.87\00:21:07.02 Use me as my personality and my unique gifts measure, you know. 00:21:07.06\00:21:12.52 And so a simple smile to a neighbor. Just the little things 00:21:12.56\00:21:17.95 that show that you're trying to make connections in whatever way 00:21:17.99\00:21:20.68 you can. I tell people smile because 00:21:20.71\00:21:24.19 people will think you're smarter than you are. But really 00:21:24.23\00:21:27.83 I'm glad you said what you did because a smile can be 00:21:27.87\00:21:31.87 powerful if you have put yourself in God's hands for the 00:21:31.90\00:21:36.04 day and you just said Lord whatever. If somebody needs a 00:21:36.07\00:21:40.50 little hug, or somebody needs a sandwich. If you are in a 00:21:40.54\00:21:44.90 restaurant and you see somebody that is counting out their money 00:21:44.94\00:21:49.53 and worried, may be they don't have the money to meet the 00:21:49.56\00:21:55.30 ticket, the price of the meal, you could just quietly say to 00:21:55.34\00:22:01.38 the cashier I want to cover that and you'll be blessed for it. 00:22:01.41\00:22:06.79 The Lord just does that and you know people will say well I 00:22:06.82\00:22:11.59 can't do big things. God doesn't ask you to build a hospital. 00:22:11.62\00:22:15.63 Just a bridge. You know I've been reading your book and my 00:22:15.66\00:22:18.90 wife and I have been reading it actually at worship and it's 00:22:18.94\00:22:22.15 been such a blessing, that's Bridges 101, and something 00:22:22.18\00:22:25.52 happened at the airport and I know it happened because of 00:22:25.55\00:22:29.08 reading the book. Not that there was a story there that I was 00:22:29.11\00:22:32.50 trying to duplicate but just thinking about building bridges. 00:22:32.54\00:22:35.96 I was getting ready to get on a flight and I saw someone and she 00:22:35.99\00:22:39.49 said hello to me and my name. I didn't know who she was. That 00:22:39.53\00:22:43.06 happens sometimes. I found out that she was a media person from 00:22:43.09\00:22:46.59 the area but she was in transition. I had a copy of my 00:22:46.62\00:22:51.76 book The Radical Prayer with me and I said you know sometimes 00:22:51.80\00:22:55.34 when we're at change times we can give God permission to throw 00:22:55.38\00:22:58.62 us out into wherever he wants us to be and join him in his 00:22:58.66\00:23:01.84 work. She's a Christian. So I gave her the book and she said 00:23:01.88\00:23:05.28 thank you. That was the last I heard. Several weeks went by. 00:23:05.31\00:23:08.79 Just recently she called. She's now back working for a news 00:23:08.82\00:23:12.20 paper in our area. Then she called and said you know I would 00:23:12.24\00:23:15.48 love to do an article on what God's doing in your church. 00:23:15.52\00:23:20.58 And I was shocked and yet I realized that that probably was 00:23:20.61\00:23:25.28 a response to building that bridge. You said it's two-way, 00:23:25.32\00:23:29.76 right? Once the bridge is there it's not only reaching out to 00:23:29.80\00:23:34.21 that person, it allows that person to reach back to you. 00:23:34.24\00:23:38.17 Sometimes the things that we may do may seem so infinitesimal, 00:23:38.21\00:23:43.22 so inconsequential. And the Lord says you know I'm not expecting 00:23:43.26\00:23:48.24 you to do something big but if you give it to me I can make 00:23:48.27\00:23:51.92 something big out of it. You don't have to. But that's what 00:23:51.95\00:23:55.87 Christ said; a cup of cold water simple things, just simple 00:23:55.90\00:23:59.79 things. You notice there seems to be a 00:23:59.82\00:24:01.85 lot of suspicion in our world and in our culture. And so when 00:24:01.89\00:24:05.91 you pass somebody on the sidewalk or you know they tend 00:24:05.94\00:24:10.00 to not always look, but just a simple smile just breaks the 00:24:10.03\00:24:14.20 whole barrier there and they know that there's a friendship 00:24:14.23\00:24:18.37 connection and that's really all it takes. 00:24:18.40\00:24:20.54 It's disarming. In our little town, we live in north Georgia, 00:24:20.58\00:24:24.45 we live in the Bible belt and we can see North Carolina from 00:24:24.48\00:24:29.17 where we live. But the people there are for the most part down 00:24:29.20\00:24:33.06 home. There are a lot of people that have moved there from 00:24:33.10\00:24:37.54 Florida. Somebody said to me, a Florida transplant, she said 00:24:37.58\00:24:41.13 to me, you now have you noticed how friendly everybody is in 00:24:41.16\00:24:44.11 this town. And I said yes. And she said well we're all from 00:24:44.15\00:24:47.40 Florida. How come we weren't that way down there? But people 00:24:47.43\00:24:50.55 you see them at the post office and they'll say g'mornin', how 00:24:50.58\00:24:55.88 are y'all. And it's just a happy environment and that in itself 00:24:55.91\00:25:01.18 will invite you to make a comment or to say something that 00:25:01.21\00:25:06.97 will build a bridge. 00:25:07.00\00:25:08.03 Back to Jesus because I know we're speaking as followers of 00:25:08.06\00:25:11.80 Jesus. We're not making something up that's new. 00:25:11.83\00:25:14.95 This is a novel idea. We're following the example of Jesus. 00:25:14.99\00:25:19.17 He was constantly building bridges. He did that because he 00:25:19.20\00:25:23.35 loved people. And he did simple things. He 00:25:23.38\00:25:28.07 gave food, he held children on his lap, he blessed the children 00:25:28.11\00:25:34.13 You know, he just gave a word of comfort and encouragement. 00:25:34.16\00:25:39.50 He started by meeting a need. Then he moved to developing a 00:25:39.54\00:25:44.85 relationship before he ever really talked about people 00:25:44.88\00:25:49.00 following him. That's right. And if we follow 00:25:49.03\00:25:52.54 his method we're going to have success. I love the text in, is 00:25:52.58\00:25:57.87 it Psalms or Proverbs that says Commit your plans to the Lord 00:25:57.91\00:26:03.17 and they will succeed. Proverbs 16 and verse 3. 00:26:03.20\00:26:07.34 Is there a song that your wife wrote about that. 00:26:07.37\00:26:11.44 Actually there is. It's one way to memorize the Bible. 00:26:11.48\00:26:15.56 Are you going to sing it for us? 00:26:15.59\00:26:16.79 No I'm not but I think it's true that as we commit our ways to 00:26:16.83\00:26:21.15 God and allow him to guide us that our plans will be 00:26:21.18\00:26:26.34 established. I believe that too. Now do 00:26:26.37\00:26:29.38 either one of you have a quick last word of encouragement. 00:26:29.42\00:26:32.38 Well I would just tell people, our viewers, that if they will 00:26:32.42\00:26:35.30 just pray that prayer at the beginning of every day, Lord let 00:26:35.34\00:26:38.56 me be sensitive, let me be open to the opportunities you present 00:26:38.59\00:26:41.78 he will present them. 00:26:41.81\00:26:44.65 Like you said, Ruthie, don't wait for some huge thing to do 00:26:44.69\00:26:48.44 for God. Just look for each opportunity he puts in front of 00:26:48.47\00:26:52.19 you and build that bridge and see what he'll do. 00:26:52.22\00:26:55.59 And if the Holy Spirit is in it there can be eternal 00:26:55.63\00:26:58.93 consequences. Well we have enjoyed sharing with you today 00:26:58.97\00:27:02.81 I would like to know what kind of bridges have you been 00:27:02.85\00:27:06.68 building. You probably are sitting there thinking I've done 00:27:06.71\00:27:11.23 something like that. And I'll bet you have. Pray about the 00:27:11.26\00:27:15.21 opportunities that you have because the Lord has bigger 00:27:15.25\00:27:19.13 plans in mind for us than we can possibly imagine. If you ever 00:27:19.17\00:27:23.78 doubt that, read Ephesians 3:20. He can do more than you can 00:27:23.82\00:27:29.40 imagine. And he wants to use your hands, your eyes, your lips 00:27:29.44\00:27:34.37 your words, your kind heart and you will be amazed. I believe 00:27:34.40\00:27:38.88 that in heaven he will show you the faces of people who are 00:27:38.91\00:27:43.04 there because you were faithful, because you built a bridge, 00:27:43.08\00:27:48.20 in honor of your king. God bless you. Thanks for joining us. 00:27:48.24\00:27:53.33