Taking Care of Caregivers, Part 1

Hollywood may tell you that love is a feeling.

Don't believe it. Love is an action word. Coming your way next on today's Destined for Victory, Pastor Paul Shepherd shares his message, Taking Care of Caregivers. But first, he joins me now from his studio in California to talk about this month's offer which goes hand in hand with the message you'll hear today. Well, Pastor, thank you for these few moments. I'm intrigued by the title of the book we're offering to everyone that gives a generous gift this month. It's called Caregivers Need Care, Too. Tell us more about this resource and why you believe it will be so helpful to anyone who's listening. You know, when I was preparing a sermon series based on the life and ministry of Elisha, I was struck this time by the fact that such a powerfully anointed prophet as Elisha needed others to take care of practical needs in his life.

And it dawned on me that I shouldn't just preach about the miracles God wrought through this man's ministry. I needed to also stop and talk about and examine and unpack the fact that caregivers need care themselves. So many of us with what we do in our lives, whether it's a parent, whether it's being a spouse, whether it's being a family member, assisting a relative in need, and we need to know that there are things that we can learn. One is how to recognize we are not a resource that can care for ourselves very well. So God sends along people who will help us. And what we have to do is open our hearts, open our minds and let other people be a blessing to us. I don't know, Wayne, if you're like that, but I tend to want to take care of everybody because I'm gifted to do it. But often I feel my neediness and I'm not sure I'm as good as I should be at letting other people fill those needs. So this part of the series, I hope, just as it spoke to me, I hope it will speak to others and help them understand the importance of caregiving.

So when we wrote the booklet, it was a no brainer. We've got to share what was given in the sermon in book form so that people can take it away and, more importantly, apply it to their lives. It is true, Pastor, we all need help from time to time. Even those who devote plenty of time caring for others need care themselves. Again, this booklet is called Caregivers Need Care, Too, and it's our gift to you by request for your generous donation to Destined for Victory this month. Call 855-339-5500 or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online.

You can also mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538. If you got good in you, you ought to make sure that you don't die with the good in you. Give it up.

We all got to learn to do that. Give up the good that's in you. Consider the first nine words of John 3.16, the most well-known verse in all the Bible, for God so loved the world that He gave.

If you want to know what love is, observe what love does. It gives. It helps.

It serves. On today's Destined for Victory, Pastor Paul Shepherd takes us once again to the life of the prophet Elisha. He was a young man who devoted his life to serving God and helping others, and he met a woman and her husband who decided to help him in return. So here's Pastor Paul with today's Destined for Victory message, Taking Care of Caregivers. All right, let's spend some time in the Word of God.

I want to go back to 2 Kings 4. We are, of course, in a series of messages where we're learning lessons from the life and the ministry of the young prophet named Elisha. He, of course, is the successor to Elisha, and we are learning some valuable life lessons from him as we observe his life and his ministry.

And so we're going to go to 2 Kings 4 in a moment. We'll read a few verses beginning at verse 8. Let me preface it by saying this part of our study is going to focus on a woman in the city of Shunem. I have preached about her a lot over the years.

She's one of my favorite Old Testament characters, preached a lot about her. But in coming to the chapter as I have been preparing this series, when I arrived at the chapter this time, I thought, you know, I really don't feel led to just reiterate the things I have typically preached about as we've looked at the woman from Shunem. Rather, I want to discuss caretakers in God's service, caretakers in God's service. So as we continue this series, Lessons from the Life of Elisha, the focus here is on caretakers in God's service. It didn't develop as a sermon, so it's just going to be more me sharing some thoughts as I came to this passage in preparation for this current series. Now let's go on and look at verses 8 through 10 of 2 Kings 4.

2 Kings 4, verses 8 through 10, and this time I'm going to look at it from the New International Version. In fact, the scriptures that I'll share in this time together in the Word, I will read from NIV, New International Version. One of my preacher friends says NIV stands for non-inspired version.

That's really not true. He doesn't like NIV all that well, but it's not non-inspired, and you can get some good stuff out of it too. Anyway, God bless John Jenkins. All right, so here's what those verses read in NIV. One day Elisha went to Shunem, and a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. She said to her husband, I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. Let's make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him.

Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us. Now, my aim is to encourage and instruct Kingdom caretakers, those of you who spend a great deal of your time not so much focusing on yourself, but focusing on other people. And I want to speak to the people I'm calling Kingdom caretakers. Now, all caretakers are to be admired and to be thought of in a good light, because if you take time to take care of other people, that's a noble thing. But I want to talk about those of us who do it from the vantage point of, I don't want to just take care of other people. I don't want to just be someone who acts in compassion. I want to be someone who does what I do in order to fulfill God's purpose and calling in my own life. Some of us are caretakers, not only because we tend to be people of compassion, but because we feel a sense of God put me here to do certain things in His name for His glory. And I want to not only do the right things, I want to do the right things for the right reason.

That's who I'm calling Kingdom caretakers. It's people who take Colossians 3.17 seriously. Here's what Colossians 3.17 says, And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

It's people who do what they do, say what they say, because they understand that we weren't put on earth to just figure out what to do and do something until we die. We're here because we are people of purpose. We're here because we understand that Ephesians 2.10 says, We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. So we are caretakers. We take care of other people because we know it's a calling of God on our lives, and we know that one day we're going to answer to God in terms of how we fulfilled that calling. And for those of you who are general caretakers, you know, your profession has to do with taking care of folks, whether you work in healthcare or whatever.

Many different professions kind of focus on compassion and taking care, helping people. That's good. I want to applaud all of you and thank God for you. But I want to especially talk to people who do what you do because you want God to be pleased with you and you want to give an account to Him about the calling He placed on your life. And in that context, I want us to look at this woman. I've always, over the years, when I preach about the woman of Shunem, I talk about certain things because they jump out at the text. I love the fact that she was well-to-do. And, you know, when the Bible says a woman is well-to-do, that's a very intentional statement. You know, because generally speaking, you think of well-to-do in Bible times. They talk about the men and how Abraham was blessed and prospered and told about all this stuff. Job was prosperous, had to talk about it. It talks about a lot of men. Rarely do you find the Bible saying that that sister had money.

But that's what you have here in 2 Kings 4. You know what that means? That means she didn't marry money. That means she brought money to the table. Her husband was the one standing there at the front with the preacher, and she's at the back and about to come down in that beautiful gown. He's standing there just on his balls of his feet, just, oh, thank you, Jesus.

Because he knew bills were about to be paid like a mug. That's not in the Bible, paid like a mug, but... So, you know, she was well-to-do when she got married. That's a wonderful thing, and we talk about how, you know, she chose to use it in this certain way. But when I came to the passage this time, I saw it jumped out at me that I need to say something to kingdom caretakers, because that's what I see her as being. This woman saw an opportunity to use her resources for the betterment of the kingdom of God.

How? By taking care of a man of God. She said, I want to bless God by blessing his servant, making his life better, making him more comfortable. I want to facilitate him being able to do what he's called to do well. Life can be tough on anybody, even a person of faith.

And she said, I want to use my resources to help make his life better. God will be glorified by that, and I would be pleased by that. That was the heart out of which we come to this moment in her life, when she observed this man of God, this young prophet Elisha, coming into town, going around, doing what he does, helping people, serving people. You know, when a lot of people say, you know, when Elisha was granted a double portion of Elijah's anointing, they say, just look at it. For all the miracles that Elijah did, when you look at Elisha, he did twice as many, and I've seen folk that count them up, and they come up with a literal twice as many.

Bless your heart, you mean well, but you're missing the point. Double portion doesn't mean two times. It simply had to do, and I explained it earlier in the series, it had to do with the fact that you received twice as much as any other child because of the calling on your life. It had to do with your calling. It didn't have to do with your output, and the fact of the matter, Bible doesn't tell us how many miracles Elijah worked, so it doesn't tell you how many Elisha works.

All you see is Elisha. They mention probably 14 or so of his miracles. That doesn't mean that's all he did. The man spent his life serving God, and so God knows how many either of those prophets did.

It's not about calculating. It is about understanding why and how God used them. We'll be right back with more of today's Destined for Victory message from Pastor Paul Shepherd. Listen to the broadcasts on demand at pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net, and there you'll find a host of great resources at our online store, including books and DVD messages from Pastor Paul. Now here is Pastor Paul with the second half of today's Destined for Victory message, Taking Care of Caregivers.

And so here's the point. This woman sees this man going, coming in and out of town, serving God, helping people, giving God's word, doing whatever he had to do as a prophet of God, and she noticed that when he came to town, he didn't have anywhere to stay. And it was out of that heart that she said, I want to use my resources to make a difference for God by making a difference for this man of God. She did what Jesus mentioned in Matthew 12.35. He said, a good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him.

And of course, that's not to be a gender designation. A good person out of the good things in his or her heart brings forth those good things that are stored up in them. If you got good in you, you ought to make sure that you don't die with the good in you. Give it up. We all got to learn to do that. Give up the good that's in you.

I am so sick of Christians talking about how much they love people. Love is an action. Love is a verb. You do something when you love.

Don't stand there. You never smiled at me, never helped me, never gave me anything, never served me, never did anything. Talking about you love me, I can't use your verbal love. You say you love me, I got needs you won't meet.

That's a problem. Love does something. And if it can't meet the need, it'll wish me well. It'll pray for me. It'll do something to help meet the need. And so this woman showed that the good stored up in her heart was, I know God didn't give me all this money just for me. Would to God that we, especially in America, I know folks are watching from different parts of the world these days, and I welcome all of you, but especially here in America, we are plagued with this thing of prosperity. I have no problem with prosperity. I have problem with our priorities. Prosperity is wonderful, but it is a tool.

It's what you use the tool for that counts. God didn't send Jesus so you could drive a Bentley. It's okay to drive one if that's what you've done. You got enough money, you want to drive one, you're still advancing the kingdom, you're still giving very generously and all that.

If you want to drive a Bentley, knock yourself out. Just don't blame that on the kingdom. The kingdom is to make a difference for time and eternity and the lives of as many people as we can. And therefore, we have to learn to get our priorities in order. And we got people always talking about, I'm believing God for this and that and the other and the other, like God is some heavenly Santa Claus.

We got to get ourselves straight. God is not just, he's not obsessed with giving you stuff. And some of us old people, we need to revisit those old values and help the young people come along to pick up some of them. God is not a spoiler, and so we shouldn't be trying to spoil one another. We should be looking how we can help.

Yes, bless people that you love and all that, do nice things for them, and no problem with that. But, you know, we grew up with parents who gave you chores throughout the year. You couldn't show up November talking about what you want under the tree in December, and you've ignored all the things they told you all year long. Some of y'all, come on, I need some old folk to help me with that, old folk to help me with it.

You couldn't show up. Here you come with a list, and your parents would preach a sermon. They'd say, I had a list on the refrigerator.

It was held up there by a magnet, and it told all you kids what you were supposed to do. And talking about a list, that list been hanging there since January. And y'all ignored it. And every now and then you did something, most of the time you ignored it. Now here you come with a list.

Here's what I want for this. And, you know, and all the manufacturers, they know how to work it, because all the commercials start showing you all the latest, hottest, brightest, most expensive stuff. And it gets them all excited, and here they come with a list. And we grew up in times that said, no, no, you've been ignoring my list all year. Why should I pay attention to your list?

I tell you what, take that list and put it in the trash I've been telling you to put out all year. See, that's why I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm just old-fashioned. Y'all excuse me. I know some of y'all probably think that's abusive for me to even say it that way.

Ooh, we raising a generation of wimps. That's not abuse. Now, I remember abuse. If you wouldn't talk about abuse, I had friends. I wasn't personally. My parents were balanced. Thank God. Love you, Sister Peggy.

She watching right now. Yeah, they were very balanced. They didn't abuse a kid, but we had friends. We didn't know it then. We didn't call it that. That wasn't a big thing back then, but when I look back on it, I had several abused friends.

Their parents would light them up real, real good. Yeah, so anyway, this woman, this woman had a priorities right. She knew what God had given her wasn't just for her, so she wanted to advance the kingdom with it. She had good stored up in her heart, and she brought it out, and I want to let you know all of us have gifts, abilities, and resources that we should use to serve other people. All of us do, even if you don't have the money this lady had.

You got gifts. You have abilities. You have ways that you can make a difference in the lives of other people, and you ought to be doing it, so that's for all of us, but I want to talk about and talk to those of you who already do that. You spend your life looking for ways you can serve, looking for ways you can brighten somebody's world, looking for ways you can make their life better, and I want to say to you that is a good thing. You are doing what the apostle Peter said in his first epistle, 1 Peter 4.10.

Here's what he said. God should use whatever gift he has received to serve others faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms, and many of you do that. Many of you do that and do that well, and so you are like this woman. You use what you have. If you don't have money, you use your time. You use your energy.

You use your availability. Many of you will go somewhere and volunteer. Many of you take care of relatives other than those children you had. Some of you all take care of your family's kids and you do all kinds of things, and you don't even feel like you're doing much because it's just become your life.

Some people, you don't know who's the mom and who's the aunt, because auntie take care of the child than the mother does. You don't have to say amen because you don't have to talk about your sister, but you know it's true. It's true, and you just do it out of a heart.

You don't even think anything of it. God bless you for that, but here is why I am bringing up this emphasis when I come to this passage this time because that is a God thing. When you are a kingdom caretaker, that's a God thing. You say, why is that a God thing? Because, again, your focus is to please God and to do His will, and God has you do that because caretakers have needs that should not be ignored.

Jot that down, it's true. Caretakers have needs that should not be ignored. Every caretaker you know, everybody who serves others, everybody who takes care of other people from a kingdom perspective, they have needs.

Now, you might not really focus on them because they don't bring them up. Most caretakers don't go around leading with their need. They lead with service. They lead with a desire to help, and most of them are people who need help in some ways, but you'll never hear it from them unless you force it out of them because their tendency, their meat, Jesus said on one occasion, my meat is to do the will of Him who sent me. They act like it's their food, and I've seen people just literally give their lives.

I've seen people get sick helping other people. Thank you for being here for today's message, Taking Care of Caregivers. For more information about the Destined for Victory ministry or how you can get the booklet that goes along with today's message, stop by our website, pastorpaul.net.

That's pastorpaul.net. Givers tend to be better at giving than receiving. Givers tend to be really good at giving.

It's second nature. They love giving. Giving is just, they don't even have to think about it. They just give.

Most givers are pretty poor at receiving. And that's next time in Pastor Paul Shepherd's message, Taking Care of Caregivers. Until then, remember, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.