Good evening. Just one person thinks it's a good evening. All right, I got this. This is going to be a fun evening. Wow. Whatever. Apparently, we need to have mics on. Yeah, just apparently. We've got mics. We've got everything. I don't know. Probably more than we need. Oh, come on. All right. Of course, technology sucks. There it goes. Really? There we go. That's mostly just there for an outline. Anyway, so. I've titled this message tonight, From a Nobody to a Somebody. There was a professor who was hired by a bunch of colleges to go around and teach his classes. or more of a, not really a class, but like a lecture or seminar. And he'd been doing this. And to go around with him, they hired him a chauffeur to drive him around. The chauffeur got to sit in all these messages. Been going on eight and nine months now. He heard them three times a week at different universities all across the country. And they're driving to the next, The next college, the chauffeur looks at the professor and he says, you know what? I think I could do your lecture. The professor is like, really? I've got doctorates. I've gone to school for 15 years. The chauffeur's like, yeah, I think I could do it. As a matter of fact, I think I could do it better than you. The professor's like, well, you're in luck. This, of course, is before the internet. The next college we're going to, they've never even seen me before. They just know me by name. So when we go there, why don't we go ahead, we'll change clothes. You go up there, and you give the lecture. So they get there, change clothes. And this chauffeur delivers a lecture like you've never heard before. People are jumping, throwing textbooks up in the air, and hollering, and hooting, and everything. And the great lecture gets to the end to the questions and answers time. And so at that time, a kid stands up. Andrew will appreciate this. He's got all these textbooks, notes flying out everywhere, looks at the chauffeur and says, you know, so all those years ago when the dinosaurs died and now that their carcasses are rotting and we're drilling down, getting them over 5,000 feet of soot and dirt and all this other stuff, And they struck bone through him. What is the pH factor in the drill bit likely to be? And what would be the name of the staph sphere at that depth? The chauffeur just starts blinking and composes himself. He's like, I can't believe this. And everybody's like, huh? I can't believe a university like this would allow a student like you to come in here that doesn't even know this. I'm going to show you how easy the answer to that question is. My chauffeur is in the back there. He's going to stand up and answer that question for you. See if it takes you a little bit to get that. All right. So I thought that's a little bit funny of somebody that thinking of himself as a somebody and having to be bailed out there at the last minute. So that brings up the question, do you think you're somebody? There are many people that have thought themselves to be somebodies, right? We see that in the world today. I mean, to the world today is if you're not a somebody or you're not doing something to become a somebody, What are you doing? We see it with celebrities. You see it with the, in the school systems. You see it in, just in everyday life is you have to get money. You have to go out and do this. You have to make a name for yourself. That got me thinking, because I'm dealing with the teens a lot and I know I see it in my kids, I see it in even the kids nowadays in our church, outside of our church, just even walking down the street. They wanna be somebody and society is telling them they have to be somebody. Then it got me thinking, it's like, when I started reading the Bible, who started thinking of themselves as somebody? And that got me thinking. When I was reading through Isaiah chapter 14, verses 12 through 17, it would say, how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? how art thou cut down to the ground which doth weaken the nations. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. Yet thou shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." They see the They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, that made the world as wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the house of his prisoners? Thou shalt not be joined within them in burial, because thou has destroyed thy land and slain thy people. The seed of evildoers shall never be renowned." Why that kind of stood out for me is, this is talking about Lucifer, how Lucifer decided to say that, hey, I am better than God. I'm a somebody. We were going over in a teens class of what Satan looked like. So Satan was beautiful. I mean, God created him. He was one of the most beautiful creatures that God created. And he let that get to himself into his head and say, hey, God created me, but I'm better than that. I want to be better than that. So where was I going with that? He thought of himself as somebody. And what did that end up happening to him? It got him cast out of heaven. Because Ezekiel 28, 15, it tells us that, speaking of Satan, it says, thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee. So until he decided to turn himself from what God had created him to what he wanted to be, He wanted to be that somebody without God. As we know, other people think of themselves as somebody, especially nowadays. Just a few weeks ago, or last month, I think it was, we had the Golden Globe Awards or something like that, where actors went and congratulated themselves on acting, congratulated themselves on doing their job. It's like, I wish I could do that at work. I would walk up to my boss and say, hey, give me an award because I drove the truck today. He'd just start laughing at me. But it goes to show you that it's televised. This thing has millions and millions of dollars put into it to show people that, hey, in order for you to be somebody, you've got to be like this. You've got to be able to walk down a red carpet someday. You've got to have millions of dollars. That's what the world thinks being a somebody is. They have the flashy red carpets, designer clothes. They basically are saying, hey, look at me. See what I have done. I am better than you because I am here, is basically what they're saying. This breathes in ourselves if we can wash that stuff and allow that stuff to entice us, because it does have a tendency to entice us. Flashing lights, I mean, I've got ADD, so I see flashing lights, like, ooh, flashing light. But. It's not really a good thing. We see it because it starts affecting our children. If we start allowing ourselves to be consumed by this stuff, that we have to be making that millions of dollars, we have to be dressing in the designer clothes, we have to have a spotlight on us 24-7, we start to see then it starts going on to our children. And they think that they have to be like that and be a somebody. Celebrities aren't the only ones. We kind of talked about this. We have the people that are in charge of us today. They are basically the same way. They are like, I don't know if you've ever tried to talk to like a congressman or something in a town hall meeting or gone to even a city hall meeting and you try to talk to them. I've gone to many, I grew up in Mukilteo, I've gone to many of those city hall meetings and try to get up there and talk and it's basically like they sit up there and like, no, we're in charge. Who are you to be asking us questions? So even politicians are that they are the somebody and we are the nobody. That's okay, I'm fine with being the nobody, but It breeds in us that, hey, these politicians act this way, and then the rest of society sees that and thinks that they need to be that somebody. Otherwise, nothing that they do is going to matter. But we also know that that's nothing new, because even the Bible shows us that, that even from Adam and Eve, they wanted to be a somebody. Even though when God was content with having them as being the nobody, they were his creation. They were his to make into somebody's. But they wanted to be somebody's that they made themselves to be. Otherwise, Eve wouldn't have been tempted. by the apple or the fruit. I know it's not an apple, some sort of fruit. She wouldn't have been tempted. She wouldn't have been there because she got to the thought that, hey, I want to be a somebody, because that's what was being portrayed to her. It's like, you're not somebody because you don't have the knowledge. And then, of course, we know where that went. The Pharisees. were that way. If you weren't a Pharisee, if you weren't part of the hierarchy of the church or the temple, the tabernacle, or the Jewish traditions, you weren't really anybody. I mean, we see that with how they treated the poor. They weren't giving as much as the upper class people were, and so the poor were always looked down upon. They weren't really anybody's. And we, of course, we've already gone over that Satan, and a lot of this boils down to his pride, that we want the pride of being a somebody. But what does that cause is when you start thinking of yourself as a somebody, that causes bitterness. We think that we are better than others. We even try to hold ourselves higher than those that we call brothers and sisters in the church. Because we think we're somebody. Then it got me thinking, why is being a somebody so important to the world? Why are they making such a big deal out of having to be known? Why are they pushing the narrative that is to make it in life, you have to be a somebody. As I said, we see it in our schools. We see it at work. We've got that coworker that goes out of his way to make others look bad, so he makes himself look good, to make himself look like that somebody. And I'm fine with that. I've got coworkers that are like that. But I know it's because they want to be somebody. Politics. Politics at work. You can't get away from politics. As much as I've tried. So when I started actually starting thinking about this, the pastor had come to me and said, hey, I need you to write a sermon for the teens. I want you to preach this to the teens. And that's kind of where my heart is. My heart is more geared towards the kids than it is more than the adults. But I got to thinking after I started writing this, this isn't just for our teens, this is for the adults too. And not just the adults, it's for me. Because I mean, I can see how I can get caught up in worldly philosophies of saying I need to be better, that I need to be somebody, that my kids need to be a somebody. I know I struggled growing up, and I don't blame, My dad for this, I don't blame. There were things that I wanted and I thought was needed. But we were just fresh Christians then when I was younger. And when I went to my dad and told him I wanted to do something, he said, oh, son, you'll never make money doing that. Go for something else. So now would he give me that same advice today? I don't think so. because I've talked to him about other stuff before and afterwards. That advice is just of new babe Christians. But the philosophy of the world was still there, and that was the advice that he was going off of. So the worldly philosophy can break into our homes because it starts getting us to say, hey, if you don't make yourself somebody, where are you going to be 10 years from now, 20 years from now? So I started thinking, I love the Old Testament. The Old Testament is one of my favorite things to read. I start from Genesis and by the time I'm done with the day, I'm usually in right around Psalms at the end of the day. And so I've been going through 1 Samuel a lot lately. Because I was wondering, who in the Bible does the world think of as a somebody the most? The biggest somebody, if we looked at the Old Testament, that we could point our finger at, the biggest somebody. And of course, we always, everybody, if you said, hey, even a lost person, if you wanted to say, hey, do you know who King David is? Just about every lost person I know can tell you, yeah, King David, he was the king of Israel. or some sort of fashion that he was a king back in way long time ago. And so I started thinking, David was a somebody. But the more that I read about David in the beginning, he wasn't a somebody. So I got my main verse here for the night. It was 1 Samuel 16, 10 and 11. Which says, again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, the Lord hath not chosen these. And Samuel said unto Jesse, are here all thy children. And he said, there remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither. So when I was reading this, I was like, I know that at this point David was a shepherd, and then I was like, In the beginning, when we read about Cain and Abel, being a shepherd was a very high-honored position. After Moses led the children out of Israel, they settled down in the Palestine area. we know that the shepherd actually kind of went away as being an honored position. It was more of a second class citizen would do that. You don't see them, you didn't see them much being like consulting to the kings. You didn't see them actually having a very hierarchy in society, they were looked at as like, oh, they're just gonna be smelly and they're sleeping with the sheep all the time. My brother Zach knows about sleeping with the goats, right? Well, you don't sleep with them, but being around them, you start smelling them all the time. And who wants to have that around when you're having a dinner party? So they were not looked at as very, Like, I'm not going to invite them all over the place. So there's one strike against David for being a somebody at this point in time. So he was just a lowly shepherd. And then his family was like, it's just David. Because when Samuel came to Jesse and said, hey, I want all your children. I need to see all your boys. And Jesse was like, oh, yeah, here they are. David's out in the field. He's like, God, David doesn't matter. He's out there. Or at least that's how I see it. It's like David's not out there. Because if I keep looking, he was tending the sheep out there, not really thinking, probably minding his own business, probably talking with the Lord, doing whatever shepherds do, keeping the flock safe. But it wasn't thought of, David wasn't thought of as like somebody that was of high importance. But we come to know that that's definitely not the case. We see that David was anointed by Samuel to be the next king of Israel, right there. And you would think that would have changed how his family thought of him. Because after that point, David did go and see the king. We know that after David was anointed that Saul, his mind went and he had evil spirits and stuff. And the only thing that really consoled him was somebody playing a harp and David played the harp for Saul. helped them. But we also see after that this happened when they're starting to have more and more conflicts with the Palestines. And we know that David and Goliath was starting to come up. David had already gone back to the sheep. to be the shepherd of the sheep. And his brothers were actually part of the army. So they had a hierarchy. They were at least in the military. They were known. They were there. And Jesse sent David back to him and said, hey, bring him some food. And all the brothers saw Samuel anoint David to be the next king. His brothers knew that he was supposed to be the king. But they still did not think of him as somebody, because I don't believe that David really presented himself. I think he was humble enough to say, hey, this is the Lord's time. I'm going to go and do what I need to do here for my family before I'm actually anointed. And I think we see that because when David did return, when we go to chapter 17 and look at verse 17 verse 15 is when David went back from Saul to feed the sheep. And then we go to 17 verse 28 is when he goes back to where the armies are. And it says in the Bible here, it says, Elab, or Eliab, I am terrible with names, so excuse me. Eliab, his oldest brother, heard when he spake unto the men, and Eliab's anger was kindled against David. And he said, why camest thou down hither? And with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride and thy naughtiness of thine heart, for thou art come down that thou might see the battle. So his brother knew he was the next anointed king. And he knew that he came because his dad told him to come. But he saw David out of his place. Dave was supposed to be with the sheep, or so he thought. So in essence, basically, his brother was saying, you're a nobody, and you don't belong here. You're overstepping your bounds. So we see that in our society today, even in our churches. You have some of the churches that You basically, you're going in the battlefield with these preachers and pastors and everything. And you say, hey, what about this? And they look at you and say, who are you? Right? That's basically what his brother was doing here. They're saying, who are you? What are you doing here? You're overstepping. You're not in charge. You're a nobody. In a sense, he was right. David was a nobody at this time. And the more I read about David, the more that I'm convinced that God wants to use nobodies. Because we know that David went on to do great things. We know that he became the king, obviously. But we see that when he was doing the great things, the great things were coming to him when he thought of himself as a nobody. It's not until he started, so he thought of himself as a nobody is the only way he was able to kill Goliath. Because he said, hey, I'm a nobody. He didn't, because Goliath came out saying to his people, say, hey, I'm a somebody. I'm the biggest guy that we've got in the army. I've got the pride as sees little David. He's like, basically Goliath is saying, Hey, I'm a somebody watch me guys. I can do this. No one thought he would utterly fail. Right. But David being a nobody had God on his side. God was able to kill Goliath through David because David allowed himself to be humble and that nobody. Because even what David told Saul, he said, it was the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and the paw of the lion and the bear. And it is he that will deliver me out of the hand of the Philistines. So David at this point had the mentality of what basically our theme for this year is. Not I, but God, right? Not I, but Christ. He had that mentality. So he's saying, it's not I. I'm not going out here on my own to kill Goliath. God is going to use me to kill Goliath. That was the mentality that David was having. He took himself, said, I am a nobody. And God is the somebody, and He will deliver us. And He told Saul, not I, but God will deliver us. Some would say that David was somebody, and I would agree that at times David would think of himself as somebody. I believe in those times where David was thinking of himself as a somebody, there's a time that David failed. We see this with Bathsheba on the rooftop, right? Where was David supposed to be? David was supposed to be in battle. But he said, ha, I'm the king. I can rest. I can be in here. And then what happened? He utterly failed. I believe also the cutting of Saul's robe. was a failure, was David thinking of himself as somebody. Because he went to Saul and repented of it. He said, hey, I could have killed you. I should have killed you. But I didn't. And I shouldn't have even done that. I mean, there was even a time that he was fighting against his own people. Because he wasn't trusting. He's being that somebody. when God wanted him to be that nobody. Because if he thought of himself as what God wanted him, he knew that he would never have had to run far from Saul. Because God had already anointed him and told him he was going to be king. So we can see through David when making himself somebody, how his flesh would take over. And it's only truly when David surrendered himself and says, God, I'm a nobody, that God would say, I will make you into a somebody. And people would say, no, that can't be true. I would have to really disagree because in 2 Samuel, if you want to turn over there, 2 Samuel chapter seven, 2nd Samuel chapter 7 I've got this this verse highlighted in my Bible here Verses 8 through 11 says and now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David Thus saith the Lord of hosts I took thee from the sheep coat, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel. And I was with thee whithersoever thou went'st, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more. Neither shall the children of the wickedness afflict them anymore as before time. And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies, also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee in house. So we can see there that God made David into a somebody. Because David made himself into nobody. So that brings up the question, and I end with this. How about you? Are you hindering God from making you a somebody? Do you think that you are all that in a bag of chips? Are you not seeing God able to do things in your life that you're supposed to do? Have you made yourself a somebody? God wants you to be a somebody. But you have to let God make you that somebody and not you make yourself that somebody. All right, let's pray.