Monday, April 13, 2009

How to Have Real Change in Your Life - Apples of Gold - April 13, 2009 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for April 13, 2009

“How to Have Real Change in Your Life”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

Do you need something to change in your life?

Have you tried the self help books, had a little success, then slipped right back into the old ruts?

Well today I want to talk about how you can have real, long lasting change.

And it starts with Wayne Huizenga, Jr., a part owner of the Miami Dolphins.  (huh-ZEN-guh)

Junior was quite a drinker and loved to party.

But he knew he needed a change.  There had to be more to life.

He started going to church, even invited his friends – and then after church they would go right back to their partying.

Then one day he was invited to a different church. 

“And I went,” he said.  “And I listened to an hour-long message that rocked my world and culminated with the pastor talking about having a personal relationship with Christ and challenging that there was more to being a Christian than just attending church on Sunday.”

He said the pastor really hit home with questions like, “Why did God allow you to be born,” and, “Why have you been given the things that you’ve been given?”

And what was his response?

“It was like I had springs in my legs,” he said.  “I stood up out of my chair….and I made my way to the front of this church with a bunch of other people…and I fell to my knees, and I began to cry…like I’ve never really cried before, and telling God how sorry I was…that He had given me so much…that I knew I wasn’t living the right way, and I prayed that simple, short prayer that changed my life.”

Isn’t that a great story?  God changed his life, right?

But the next thing you know, he was right back at the cocktail parties.  And he was shooting off his big mouth like always.

So where was the change?

Ah, listen to what he said.

“I tried to go and behave the way that I did at parties, and I woke up the next morning feeling terrible.”

Now did you get that?  He went out and did the same thing.  On the outside he didn’t look any different. 

But catch this.  Something was changing on the inside.

Back to Junior.  He said, “I’d still say outrageous things, and I’d find I would set my cocktail down at the party and go find a quiet spot and go, ‘Lord, I’m sorry that I said that.  Please forgive me.’”

So out there in the public eye he basically looked the same.

But get this.  There was a private, hidden conversation going on inside him.

The morning after a party, a voice was telling him that it wasn’t right.

After he said something stupid, that voice let him know.

And you know whose voice that was?

It was the voice of the Holy Spirit of God.

The Bible says in several places that as believers in Christ, God’s Spirit comes to live inside us.

And you know what?  The Holy Spirit is the perfect mentor.  He is our counselor, our trainer, our guide.  He convicts us and teaches us and leads us into all truth. 

Now brace yourself.  This is going to sound weird.  But the Holy Spirit mentors us from inside of us.  It’s like an internal conversation.

This is how real change can happen in our life.  It’s through the mentorship of the Holy Spirit within.

And the Holy Spirit is not just a voice inside us.  Ephesians 3:16 talks about God’s power coming through His Spirit in our inner being.

So the Holy Spirit tells us what changes to make, and empowers us to make them!

Let me tell you, incredible change happens as we listen to the Holy Spirit!

So are you tired of slipping into the same old ruts?

Then it’s time to bring about real change in your life.

And you do that by listening to the Holy Spirit inside you.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.


 Read more of Junior’s story here:
http://www.familylife.com/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=dnJHKLNnFoG&b=3789887&ct=6856963

© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip 
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If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for
Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000

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