A Different Perspective Official Podcast Podcast Por Berni Dymet arte de portada

A Different Perspective Official Podcast

A Different Perspective Official Podcast

De: Berni Dymet
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God has a habit of wanting to speak right into the circumstances that we're travelling through here and now; the very issues that we each face in our everyday lives. Everything from dealing with difficult people … to discovering how God speaks to us; from overcoming stress … to discovering your God-given gifts and walking in the calling that God has placed on your life And that's what these daily 10 minute A Different Perspective messages are all about.Christianityworks Cristianismo Espiritualidad Ministerio y Evangelismo
Episodios
  • Mixed Reactions // The Long Road Home, Part 5

    Mixed Reactions // The Long Road Home, Part 5
    Feb 20 2026
    It's kind of embarrassing to have to admit sometimes that we've made a mistake. And even when it's the right thing to do – we still sometimes get mixed reactions. Have you ever been dreading something, a trip to the doctor's or the dentist, or maybe a confrontation at work or a reunion after a broken relationship? You know that sick feeling you get in the pit of your stomach, the sleeplessness the night before, the sweaty palms and cold fingers. But then when the time arrives it turns out so much better than we could ever have hoped. We look back on the event and think, "I just don't know what I was so worried about." But before hand, the apprehension is so real, that's because we don't know how it's going to turn out, and in our not knowing state somehow we imagine six different terrible outcomes as though they're all going to happen at the same time. I wonder for someone wandering around in a spiritual wilderness, I wonder whether it isn't the same for them, when they look at God. Whoever we are, wherever our journeys in life have taken us, we've all felt a sense of spiritual yearning. We may look at the glossy ads and the seductive images of success and prosperity and all those things. But it's empty, wandering out there yearning, like we're being called home. Something we can't explain but we look at God, we look at Jesus with a sense of apprehension because when we look at where we are, what we've done and admit our rebellion it's really hard to take a step on to that long road home. Jesus knew that and we've been looking this week at a story that He told, the story about the prodigal son. I'm going to read it again for one last time today because it's a beautiful powerful story, and today when I read it we're going to include the ending because the ending is awesome. Here's how it goes: A man had a two sons, the younger of them said to his father, 'Dad give me my share of the estate that I have coming to me.' So the father distributed the assets to them. Not many days later the younger son gathered everything he owned together and he traveled to a distant country where he squandered his estate in foolish living. After he had spent everything a severe famine struck that country and he had nothing. Then he went to work for one of the citizens of the country who sent him out into the fields to feed the pigs. When he came to his senses he said. "How many of my father's servants have more than enough food and here I am dying of hunger. I'll get up and I'll go to my father and I'll say to him – 'Dad I've sinned against you and in your sight, I'm not worthy to be called your son anymore, but make me like one of your servants'." So he got up and he went to his father but while the son was still a long way off his father saw him and was filled with compassion. Dad ran and threw his arms around the sons neck and kissed him and the son said to him, 'Father I've sinned against heaven and against you, I'm not worthy to be called your son anymore.' But the father told the slaves, 'Quick bring out the best robe and put it on him, put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet, then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it and we'll celebrate with a feast. Because this son of mine who was dead is alive again, he was lost and he's found.' So they began to celebrate. It was a cycle that began with rebellion, that the notion that we all have that sometimes life should just be fun. I want to go out and let it all hang out and do it when it feels good and of course, reality set in, there was an impact. Ultimately the son of this wealthy farmer found himself starving working as a laborer feeding pigs in a foreign land. And when he finally came to his senses, when he made the decision to say, "Look at my rebellion, look at the impact that it's had on me and in my best interests it's time to journey home again." But while he was still along way off, Dad was out there waiting and watching and straining and stretching his neck to see further, to see if his son was there, and when he was a long way off he sees his son and his heart is filled with compassion. He comes running out to meet him. Do you think that's what the son was expecting when he was back there feeding Porky the pig on the pig farm starving? Do you think in his wildest dreams and imagination the son would have thought, "Dad will be out there watching and waiting for me. And when I come over the hill he'll race out and hug me and put a robe on me." Would you think he was expecting that? We know he wasn't. We know he was going back with an expectation of maybe getting a job as one of the servants just for food. The robe is a symbol of honour, the ring is a symbol of the family signet - you belong to us. And the party with a spit roast was a barbecue; it was a celebration! Because "this son of mine who was dead is alive again. The one that was lost is found again." Not a word of condemnation, no scalding, total acceptance for no other reason than this ...
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    10 m
  • The Long Road Home // The Long Road Home, Part 4

    The Long Road Home // The Long Road Home, Part 4
    Feb 19 2026
    Sometimes, we come to the conclusion that decisions and choices we've made – just aren't working. But turning them around, well, it can be a long road. For years, and years, and years, I wandered around in a spiritual desert. Now the crazy thing was that I'd been a Christian in my teenage years. But when I grew up, I rebelled and I came to the point where I kind of knew that there was a God but after all the things I'd done, after the years of wandering out there, I just didn't know whether He'd really want me back, and at what cost? What would I have to give up of the lifestyle that I was accustomed to, in order to have a relationship with him again? For me, as it is for so many people, the road home seemed like such a long one. And what would His reaction be when I turned up on His doorstep again anyway? I remember as a child, I did something wrong after school, I can't remember what it was, but my Mother said to me, "You wait until your father comes home." And I can still remember, I must have only been about six or seven, or eight years old. I can still remember vividly the sense of dread, of waiting at home for the consequences when my Dad came home again. Do you remember that? I'm sure we've all had that experience. This week on A Different Perspective we're doing a small group of messages that I've called The Long Road Home because so many people are wandering in a spiritual desert and the thing that often keeps us from turning around, and going to God in the middle of that. The one person that we're looking for, you know the one thing that can satisfy that longing that we have, the thing that so often stops us, is that sense of dread. That sense of wondering well how is He going to react? Is it going to be like Dad punishing me when I was a kid? Jesus knew that, Jesus knows that. That's why he told a story, it's the story of the prodigal son, the lost son. We've been looking at it over this week on A Different Perspective. It began with a son's rebellion. Let's have a read of it again. A man had a two sons, the younger of them said to his father, "Dad give me the share of the estate that I have coming to me." so the father distributed the assets to them. Not many days later the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country where he squandered his estate on foolish living. After he had spent everything a severe famine struck the country and he had nothing. And then he went to work for one of the citizens of that land who sent him out into the field to feed the pigs. This son longed to eat his fill from the carob pods that the pigs were eating but no one gave him anything. When he finally came to his senses he said, 'How many of my father's servants have more than enough food and here I am dying of hunger. I'll get up and I'll go to my father and say to him, 'father I've sinned against Heaven and against you, I'm not worthy to be called you son anymore, just make me one of your servants'." And so he got up and he went to his father. It's a cycle that began with a desire to do it my way, with a desire to rebel, with a desire for partying and excitement, and all the stuff I guess that we look for as young people, and probably as we get older as well. But I wonder how much of this cycle parallels our lives. Whether you've never met Jesus before, you just have a sense of spiritual longing, or maybe, maybe once you walked with him, somewhere along the road either you wandered off, or he somehow seemed to disappear, or maybe you're trying to walk with him but in a certain area of your life, well there's something you're holding back. Wherever we're coming from, the same symptoms of spiritual hunger, of emptiness, of something missing, of something not working is what so often people feel. And what happened here for this young man, is when he finally came to his senses, what he did was this. He linked his pain with the initial cause, which was his rebellion. So often we don't do that, so often we're suffering and yet we go on deluding ourselves that our choices are fine and everything's fine. Of course I can have an affair, of course I can live like this, of course I can reject God's view on A, B, C and D. And yet, if we're really honest with ourselves, if we really look at our predicament in our situation in this spiritual wilderness that so many people are walking through. If we're really honest, we can see that the pain and the symptoms come back to a rebellion. I don't know what that rebellion looks like in your life, we all rebel in different ways but it's not rocket science to figure it out. And then this young man-made a pragmatic decision, a selfish decision, not some altruistic decision to say I'm going to go back to my father because my father is a wonderful man. It was a decision that was driven by the hunger in his stomach looking at these pigs day and night. And he made a decision in his best interests to start on that long road home. We're not told in this ...
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    10 m
  • A Tough Decision // The Long Road Home, Part 3

    A Tough Decision // The Long Road Home, Part 3
    Feb 18 2026
    Sometimes we get to a point in life where we have to admit to ourselves that we've taken a wrong turn. That's not easy – and the decision to turn around – well, that's harder still. We've all had that experience of trying something, committing to it, believing in it, publicly promoting it, and then flop, we fall flat on our faces. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt! It's not a nice feeling, is it? On the one hand there's the public humiliation but even worse than that, is that deep loss inside of having wanted something, believed in it, committed to it emotionally and then failed. Sometimes we're angry, other times we deny it, and then we just hope it'll go away and nobody will notice. You can tell, can't you, that I understand this pretty well? But when it comes to our life choices, sometimes we back the wrong horse and we let the failure linger on and on, and eat away at us. Because going back to what we know is right in the first place, well, that can be a long road home. There's something that's fun and exciting about rebelling, about turning our backs on things and thumbing our nose at authority. Just recently we had a bit of fun in our Ministry, we redeveloped our website, www.christianityworks.com. And all of the developers, (the team there are in their early 20s), and if you go there, there's a video image of me on the homepage. And during the development time before the whole thing went live, some of the developers put a little halo above my head! You know what I mean, it was fun, now not withstanding it was theologically correct because of course we all are saints in Christ Jesus! I had to tell him to take it off, you know a bit of disrespect but it was fun, you know we all had a good laugh. And so there are times when it can be fun but if we go on and on, and on, and we rebel, and we turn against things, life gets unbalanced, and there are consequences. There are so many people who think, "well, I can have fun all the time, I can joke all the time, I can reject all the time, I can rebel all the time, I can do what I like." And as they try and pour gratification to themselves, as they try and chase that illusory oasis in the desert, what they discover is actually, it's a mirage. Actually as we try and pour things in, we find ourselves in a spiritual wilderness. Jesus knew that, Jesus told a story, it's the story of the prodigal son, which we read yesterday and the day before, and we're going to look at for the rest of this week. He told a story about this spiritual wilderness and what the road home looks like. Let's pick up the story. A man had a couple of sons, the younger of them said to his father, "Dad give me my share of the estate that I have coming to me" so the dad distributed the assets to them. Not long after the younger son gathered all the stuff that he had and traveled to a distant land where he squandered his estate in foolish living. After he'd spent everything, a severe famine struck the country and he had nothing. And then he went to work for one of the citizens of that land who sent him out to feed the pigs. He longed to fill himself with the carob pods that the pigs were eating but no one would give him any. When he finally came to his senses he said: How many of my father's servants have more than enough food and here I am dying of hunger. I know what I'll do, I'll get up and go to my father and say, 'Father I've sinned against Heaven and against you, I'm not worthy to be called you son anymore, just make me one of your servants'. And so he got up and went to his father. See it all begins with rebellion. It all begins with this illusion that we can spend our lives having fun and partying and doing what we want, and if it feels good do it. I mean morals are old-fashioned and, it has consequences, life isn't like that. There is a reality to life; enjoyment is much deeper than partying and doing what feels good. It's an interesting cycle. It begins with rebellion, we reject something, we reject God along with it and we all do that sometimes. And then we think we can kick up our heels and do what feels good. And people do drink and drugs, and they have attitudes that are against God, and they have mindsets that are strongholds against God, and "Ah! Sure, have an affair, the world's saying it is ok." And yet there are consequences. People go and have affairs and it hurts. There are divorces; there are kid's lives that are often so deeply impacted by all of that stuff. And on the one hand people are saying, "No, no it's alright, what if it feels good, go and do it." And yet this whole rebellion, kicking up our heels thing is linked to the consequences, but we deceive ourselves, we don't connect the two at all. And that was the cycle for the prodigal son in that story. Dad and the farm, and the work, and the brother, compared to parties and an exotic far off land. Well, which one do you think looked more appealing to the young man at the time? There were consequences, he ...
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    10 m
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