I used to have another radio program, in addition to this one, just to keep from getting bored. It was called "Alive!" and it was designed to reach young people and it had a pretty high energy format. A lot of that came from having a live studio audience of young people. I loved it! Teenagers like to hear other teenagers, so we involved our audience in doing dramas and discussing the week's issue.
One thing that was a surprise to those young people was that some of them ended up being the announcers for the program. Most people thought we'd have this golden-throated professional doing the announcing, "And now from Chicago..." No, no. We had young people from the audience read the opening script with music and cheering backing them up. "From Chicago..." Yeah, right. See, when they arrived at the studio that night, they had no idea they'd ever be an announcer.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "God's Big Plans for His Ordinary People."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Peter 2:9. Listen to who you are: "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."
Okay, so whose job is it to tell the people you know about what Jesus did on the cross for them? Wait, did you hear this? "That YOU should declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His wonderful light." Just like those young people in our studio audience you might say, "Well, you know, there are people who are like really good at talking about Jesus. Aren't they the ones who should be God's announcers?" Maybe you're almost intimidated by the... I don't know, I guess you call them the "professional God salesmen," the preachers, the evangelists who have all that training and they know all those verses. They say it so well, right?
But God wants everyday people to be His announcers. You know why? Because everyday people listen to everyday people. You say, "But I'm so ordinary." Well, see, it's your ordinariness that will open the doors to people that no "professional announcer" could ever get to. And what is it He wants you to announce? The difference Jesus is making in your life. Only you can tell that. I call it your Hope Story. It becomes clear when you ask this very important question, "What would I be like if it weren't for Jesus?" Man, that scares me to death thinking about that with me. You are living proof of a living Savior, and I can't tell your Jesus story - nobody else can. Only you can. It's a story only you can tell. And your Lord has planted you in the middle of a group of people because He believes you are the best possible person to show Christ to those people. This is going to transform how you feel about going to work, going to school, living in your neighborhood, going to the gym, being in that club, because you're on divine assignment; to be the link between those people and Him.
The pastor of a mega church in America was meeting one of the ladies in his church one time and he said, "What do you do?" and she said, "Well, Pastor, I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ cleverly disguised as a machine operator." I love that! She said, man this is just my clever disguise, because who does a lost machine operator most likely to listen to? Another machine operator! So, what's your clever disguise? Your job? Your school activities? Your community position? What you do for fun, for recreation?
I had a lady tell me not long ago, she said, "Ron, I have been in a five-year battle with cancer." But she said, "As a cancer fighter, I have had the opportunity to tell more fellow cancer sufferers about Jesus than I ever could have imagined." Positioned by her situation to help people be in heaven with her someday.
That's your clever disguise. God knows there are people like you who are most likely to come to Christ through a person like them. A salesperson through a salesperson. A mom through a mom. A student through a student. Someone in your world is most likely to come to Christ through a believer in their world who's like them. That would be you.