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I'm gonna start with Ezekiel
chapter 22, and let me set the stage for this chapter. In Ezekiel
chapter 22, it's a season of tremendous declension among the
people of God. You remember God called a man
called Abraham out of where he was into a new place and gave
him a promise that I'm going to bless you, I'm going to increase
you. That would be a supernatural
increase coming, not just to Abraham, but through him, a lineage
that would be supernaturally increased. From that would come
a nation, and from that nation would come a church, and from
that church the whole world was going to be blessed. Abraham,
could you imagine if he had been thrown back by the largeness
of what God was speaking and said, no, not me, maybe somebody
else. I mean, God was speaking a promise to him so preposterous
that nobody but God himself could fulfill it. And now through Abraham
came the lineage that eventually became the lineage of Christ,
and on the way to that lineage, God brought a people that were
the descendants of Abraham into the place of promise in the earth.
Their purpose in that place of promise was to be a people through
whom God could bring his own name to glory by answering prayer,
realistically, and giving them abilities that could only come
from God. And actually, it did start that way. Remember the
queen of Sheba came into Solomon's temple and she was so taken aback. She had servants, she had cupbearers,
she had all these things because she was a queen, but she had
nothing like what was found in the kingdom of God. There was
an order there, there were abilities being given that she recognized,
because she was a leader, she recognized the abilities that
she saw as something other than this world has got to offer.
And so the nation of Israel was a nation set apart to bring glory
to God, not just the Savior into the world, but the nation itself
was to bring glory to God in the earth. But along the way,
in this portion of scripture, they lost their purpose, and
they forgot who they were. I think in America today, we
lost our purpose as well. We forgot the founding 400 years
ago. We forgot about the people that came here looking for freedom.
We forgot about the ability of the society, even though it's
not been perfect. The society here in America was always open
to be reasoned with by God himself. And we could be turned from what
became wicked ways back to the ways of God. And so here we stand
today, very much like we're going to read from Ezekiel chapter
22, and in the same situation they found themselves in. Verse
23, Ezekiel 22, and the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
son of man, say to her, you are a land that is not cleansed or
rained on in the day of indignation. In other words, God himself had
a controversy now with this nation, and they had an opportunity for
cleansing, and they had an opportunity for the blessing of God, but
they had turned it down, and they were now in a place where
they were at odds. with the one who had brought
them into being in the first place. Listen to the spiritual
condition now of God's own people, God's own nation, the conspiracy
of her prophets. God calls the prophetic ministry
an actual conspiracy, in a sense, against Him. The conspiracy of
her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the
prey. They've devoured people. They've taken treasure and precious
things and they've made many widows in their midst. Instead
of the prophetic ministry turning the people back to the worship
of the true God, they were obsessed with obtaining things for themselves
and they had made many of the people lose their relationship
with the living God. Her priests have violated my
law and profaned my holy things. They've not distinguished between
the holy and the unholy. Nor have they made known the
difference between the unclean and the clean, and they've hidden
their eyes from my Sabbath so that I am profaned among them."
I had said this morning, and I'll say it again, I hope you
are thankful for the pastor that God's given you in this church,
who is drawing the line between that which is holy and that which
is not holy. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God. For a pastor
who stands in this pulpit and uncompromisingly is bringing
this church age and all the influence that's been given to this church
back to a biblical worldview again. Her princes, that means
the political leaders in her midst are like wolves tearing
the prey to shed blood to destroy people and to get dishonest gain.
That means the people who are leading the nation are not in
it for the people's sake anymore, they're in it for their own sake.
And many of them are taking money in places where they shouldn't.
Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar, seeing false
visions and divining lies for them, saying, Thus says the Lord
when He has not spoken." So all around this corrupt political
process, as it is, is a religion that is, in a sense, endorsing
it and saying, Yes, you're in the Lord's favor, and what you're
doing is right. The people of the land have used
oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy,
and they wrongfully oppressed the stranger. And you just think
of these recent scenes where people are breaking into stores
en masse and just loading up backpacks and stealing stuff
from everywhere, no longer a consequence to these things. And he says,
therefore, I poured out my indignation on them. I've consumed them in
the fire of my wrath. Now, what God was looking for,
he says, I sought for a man among them who would make a wall and
stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, that I should
not destroy it, but I found no one. I found this incredulous. These people are steeped in religion.
The whole center of their social life is supposed to be the synagogue
or the temple, and yet seemingly, no one could hear God's voice
or respond to the longing of his heart. All kinds of religious
activity, yet the Lord is walking through the midst of it all and
say, what about you, ma'am? What about you, sir? Would you
stand? Would you stand and begin to
intercede and push back the powers of darkness that want to swallow
this whole society? And would you turn the other
way and approach my throne and hold back the hand of retribution
that was right at the door from the hand of God? I sought for
a man who would make up a wall and stand in the gap, before
me on behalf of the land that I should not destroy it, but
I found no one." I can't fathom that. These people are set apart
to bring praise to God in the earth. I can't fathom that a
religion can develop where nobody can hear the voice of God. They're
hearing the voice of the teachers. I don't even know the reasons
why. Why can nobody hear the voice of God? You know, this
is a question that each one of us should be asking ourselves
now. God, am I hearing your voice? Can you speak to me? Can I be
moved from where I am to where you want me to be? Can your thoughts
become my thoughts and your ways my ways? Can you lead me? to
where I need to go. Could you take me out of where
I am, or am I so consumed with my own thoughts? What is the
reasoning why nobody in this nation could hear the voice of
God?" And that's an incredible indictment. Unless we think that
couldn't happen to us, it happened to the people of God of that
time. Now maybe sin had such a hold
at that time that nobody really wanted to hear His voice. Maybe
they instinctively knew that He'd be calling them away from
sin, and they had become so comfortable in the mixture. Maybe nobody
wanted to escape the mixture. Maybe they liked the thought
of going to heaven, but they also liked the thought of getting
close enough to hell to have a good time and not be burned.
Who knows? But for whatever reason, they
couldn't or didn't want to hear His voice. Maybe the false religion
of the day had really convinced the people that they were hearing
the voices of God. And yet, the false religion was
leading them astray. The Lord Himself called it a
conspiracy, called it something that was profaning His name.
And yet, these people are standing in pulpits and speaking, saying
that their voice is the voice of God through them. Those are
possibilities, but I feel that most likely the need was so great
and the opposition was so fierce that those who could hear the
voice of God felt too powerless or too small to make a difference.
That's, I think, most likely the reason. That's what happens
to us today. That's why God can speak to us
about the need and we look around and we say, God, I don't know
that I could ever make a difference. I don't have anything to give. I'm so small. You remember when
the angel, the messenger of the Lord appeared to Gideon and he
calls him a mighty man of resource or valor. It means resources.
Gideon says, are you kidding? Who are you kidding? I'm just
trying to squeak out a living in my father's backyard, and
my father's house is the smallest house in all of his tribe. I'm the smallest person in the
smallest house, and you're talking to the smallest person in the
smallest house of the smallest tribe, of the smallest town?
in all of Israel. Are you sure you have the right
address? Did you get mixed up in the heavenlies along your
way here? But here you are talking to me. You see, that's what happens
when God comes to us and says, I have something I want you to
do, and I'm giving you the resources to do it. You're a mighty man
or woman of resource. Now, in John chapter six, here's
a situation, it's a scene where there was a great need that became
evident and the voice of God was clearly heard. John 6, verse
5 says, Then Jesus lifted up His eyes and saw a great multitude
coming towards Him. Think about it now, the multitudes
of people that are hurting, the multitudes of people that are
confused, they're lost, they don't see a future. In our major
colleges today, one of the reasons the door is opening to some of
our major universities now is because they're dealing with
depression on an unprecedented scale. Young people don't see
a future, they don't see a way forward. There's a great multitude
coming and there's a great need. They were coming towards him,
towards Jesus. In other words, they're at least
willing to consider him. And he said to Philip, where
will we get bread that these may eat? Where will we get the
supply, in other words, that is necessary to meet the need
that is being presented before us? But this he said to test
him, for he himself knew what he would do. So now, these that
were closest to him, they've been walking with him for a season,
he's going to put them to the test. That's what God's doing
for you and I today. He's going to put you to the
test. And so where will we get what we need to feed this multitude? Now, Philip does what we all
do. He starts to check his pockets. He starts to look into his own
resources. Then he checks the pockets of
other people around him. Pulls maybe, I don't know, a
fiver out of his pocket and says, hey, I got five bucks. How much
you got, Peter? How much have you got, Andrew? How much have
you got, Simon? And he starts looking around, and he comes
up with a, he says, we've got 200 denarii worth of bread is
not sufficient for them. that every one of them may have
a little. This is exactly what we do. We
check our own resources, we see the need is almost astronomical
in our society today, and we look in our own pockets, we look
at our own resumes, we look in the mirror in the morning and
at night, and we make a conclusion that we have too little. to meet
the need that is presented before us. This is, I just can't do
it. Now, it was a test, and many
of us often fail this test, but in verse 6, it says, he himself
knew what he was about to do. He knew what he was going to
do, but he knew it before he asked the question. we know that
the power of God operates through faith. I want you to follow me
in this thread. He always works through faith, through vessels,
through people like Abraham and many others throughout history
who just Like Abraham, he was old, he didn't know where he
was going, but he heard the voice of God, and he got up and went.
And because of it, of course, we are here today. I want you
to think that through for a moment. One man obeys God, and it goes
boom, and sends a blessing over the whole world, just as God
said he was going to do. God operates through faith. In
Mark 9, 23, there was a distressed father that came to Jesus Christ
because his child was being thrown into the fire and into the waters. And he said, if you can do something,
please help us. And Jesus said, if you can believe,
all things are possible to him who believes. If you can believe. All things are possible. Not
just some things or marginal things or little things, but
if you can believe, all things are possible. That means all
the things that God has destined for your life are possible if
you can believe. All the things that God wants
to do through you and through me are possible if we can bring
ourselves to a place of faith. And I love the father's response.
He says, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. In other words,
I believe as far as I can, and God, you're gonna have to take
me the rest of the way. It was an honest prayer. Thank God.
And Jesus answered that. It was sufficient. His faith
was sufficient to bring freedom into his child. In Matthew chapter
13, verses 53 to 58, the scripture tells us that though the voice
of Jesus Christ was clearly heard in his own town, calls it his
own country in the New King James Bible, that He did not do many
mighty works there because of their unbelief. Oh God, I don't
want to be counted in with that number. I don't know about you.
When we finally get to the throne of God one day, I don't want
to be counted among those that finally see what their life could
have been. I want my life to be that. I want to go through
every door that God sets before me. I want to be everything He
wants me to be now. I want to do what he's... I've
walked too far to turn back now. Walked too far with God to start
looking in my own pockets for resources. And I feel that I'm
left here now. I'll be 70 in September. I feel
I'm left here for you. Do you understand? It's for your
sake I'm still here. Otherwise, God would take me
home. I feel I've been left here to say, listen, what God did
for me, he can do for you. He's no respecter of persons. He can take your life and He
can take you so far beyond what you could ever hope to be. He
could make you into so much more than you could ever be in your
own strength. And He could give you the things
that you need to get done what He sent you to do. And it's all
miraculous. There's nothing of the human
ability in this. It's divine ability. I feel like
a runner in a race and I'm coming around the corner and I've got
the baton in my hand saying, who wants it? Who wants to take
this baton and walk with the supernatural God? Who wants to
hear the voice of God? Who wants to move with God in
a way that will bring about change in your generation? Now the scripture
says he tested his disciples. These are the people that are
in the best Bible school there ever has been in the history
of the world. They've got the voice of the God who created
the universe by His word speaking to them every day. They can ask
Him any questions they want to ask. And after all they've seen,
and all the miracles, and knowing who He is, He finally just asked
them a question, what are we going to do? How are we going
to feed them? To test them, to say, have you left the natural
yet? Are you moving now into the supernatural
yet? Are you willing to believe that
I can use your life, or I can do more than you could even think
or imagine? And so, but he knows what he's
gonna do. Philip says 200 denarii worth
of bread is not sufficient for them that every one of them may
have a little. Then one of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's
brother, said to him, there's a lad here who has five barley
loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many? There's a lad here, and he's
come forward out of the crowd. Remember, Jesus operates through
faith. He's the one who said, unless
you become converted and become His little children, you will
by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. You'll never understand
how the kingdom of heaven works unless you become like a child.
I'd see this little boy, I don't know the scenario. I want to
talk to this kid when I get to heaven. He's probably a man now,
but I want to talk to him anyway. But he's on his way either home
or he's on his way to school with his lunch, but he doesn't
have very much. He's got five little loaves of
bread and two small, not just fish, but small fish, almost
like sardines probably. And Andrew's looking at that
and saying, but what is that? But it's the faith of a child.
Jesus knew what he was going to do. It's a child that says,
here, here, this should do it. I'll give you what I have." He
doesn't know how the crowd's going to be fed, but he says,
well, I have a little bit to contribute. Isn't that the way
you feel today? We have a little bit to contribute.
The need is great, but we do have something. We do have the
Word of God. We do have the Holy Spirit. We do have a heart. that's burdened for the lost.
We are sitting in a good place, this little boy. So all the disciples
are hearing this question, but the only one who responds, everyone
else says, no, it can't be Don. The only one who responds is
a little boy with a lunch, because Jesus knew what he was going
to do. Now, when he brought his lunch,
he would have heard Andrew say, but what is that among so many?
There's always that voice that says, who do you think you are
to think that God is interested in what you have? Who do you
think you are to think that your little bit of knowledge, your
little bit of strength, your little bit of education, your little
bit of righteousness, your little bit of success that you've had
serving God is going to make any kind of a difference when
you look at the grand scale of the hunger that's in this society
today? If it was left to Andrew, he
would have said, go home, kid, or go to school, whichever way
you're going, and go eat your lunch. It's foolish. You're just a child. You don't
realize that you can't feed 10,000 people with just five barley
loaves and two little sardines that you have in your lunch bag. But Jesus knew what he was going
to do. Amazing. Imagine when that boy went home.
Mom, Dad, you'll never guess what I did today. I fed 10,000
people with my lunch that you sent. Me and this guy called Jesus.
I brought my lunch to him at the mom, you know, dad, you're
not gonna believe this. I mean, he took my little bag
of lunch and he lifted it up and prayed and then suddenly,
bang, there's just baskets of fish everywhere and bread and
10,000 people were fed and they had leftovers. So I'm getting to the leftover
stage in my life now, you know, so I'm gonna be, one day soon
I'll be gone, I'll be home, but I'm hoping that there's gonna
be leftovers. that God's done something in my life and there's
gonna be something left over even after I'm gone. Praise be
to God. Isn't that amazing? That's what
he does when we surrender to him. First Corinthians chapter
one and verse 26, Paul the apostle says, for you see your calling,
brethren. Do you see your calling? Your
calling, not somebody else's, your calling. Not just the zeal
of Pastor Tim Delina for the lost, but your zeal for the lost. Not just him going and winning
600 young people to Christ yesterday, but your calling to go out and
win the youth of this generation. Do you see your calling? God sets before you examples
like your pastor to show you that if you're willing, if you're
willing to obey, if you're willing to go out, if you're willing
to do what God calls you to do, the need of the society will
be met. Your calling. Not many wise according to the
flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble are called. There
are some wise, there are some mighty, and there are some noble,
but not many of those skill sets are called. But God has chosen
the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. And
God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame
things which are mightier. That means things that stand
in their own strength or boast of themselves. and the base things,
the things at the bottom of the world, and things which are despised,
God has chosen, in other words, those things that nobody aspires
to be, and the things which are nothing, to bring to nothing
the things that are. So the scale of what God uses
in his kingdom are foolish to nothing. So if you're anywhere
between those two points, you qualify to be used mightily of
God in his kingdom. It's really that simple. You
are the choice of God. There's no plan B or C or D or
E or F. You're the choice of God. No
great preacher in this last day that God's gonna raise up and
win the nation back to God. You are the choice of God. You
are the light of the world. You are a city set upon a hill
that cannot be hidden. You are the believers in the
upper room one more time, in prayer, saying, God, we need
your Holy Spirit, and if you will give us your Holy Spirit,
we will make a difference in our generation. You are the generation
that needs to stand in the marketplace one more time, empowered by the
Spirit of God, speaking to people in languages they understand
about the wonderful works of God, the powerful things that
God is able to do. The fact that He does take the
weak, He does take the foolish, He does take the nothing. The
nobodies of society gives us the power of His Holy Spirit,
enables us to hear His voice, and gives us the power to speak
it out to others. And you think of the thousands
going by, they're involved in a religious season in Israel
at that time, but when they saw the 120 empowered by the Spirit
of God, they were stopped in their tracks, and they were saying,
we know things about God, but we don't know God the way you
do. You're not just talking about him, he is speaking through you
to us. And they bent their knee and
said, what must we do to have this kind of a relationship with
God? They had just seen 120 weak, nobodies, nothings, and foolish
people empowered by the Spirit of God. And I want to tell you,
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not
change. You are the plan of God for this
generation. You are the little boy. You're
the little girl with the bag lunch wherever you're going,
whatever you're doing. Whether you're heading to school
or work or you're going home, you have that little bit of resource
that God's given you, and when you put it in the hands of Jesus,
thousands can be fed with it. He will multiply it. He will
give you so much more than you could ever possess in your own
strength and take you so much farther than you can ever hope
to go with any amount of your own initiative. You see your calling. You see,
the point is that the hour is dark and the need is great, and
every once in a while, when the hour is dark and the need is
great, every once in a while, God finds somebody like you.
Every once in a while. I've shared this so many times,
but the privilege of age is that you get to share your stories
over and over and over again. It doesn't matter if anybody's
heard them before, you don't really care. You just tell it
again, that's just the way it is. Remember when Jack, you don't
know Jack West, he used to preach here, an old evangelist, and
he told about his Uncle Tommy's conversion so many times, if
he died in the pulpit, I could have finished the story at any
time. And then we would go out to eat, there used to be a restaurant
around the corner on 8th, we'd go out to eat after the service,
and he'd sit in that table and tears come down his face and
tell me about Uncle Tommy's conversion all over again. Because you see,
how culture transmits itself traditionally, at least anyway,
is the old tell stories. And that's how values are passed
on. And in telling these stories, what we're doing is we're telling
you how God works, what God has done in our life. It's not a
theory for us, it's an experience that we've had. So I sat where
you are one time. I was in my 20s, maybe 26 or
so years old. I sat in a church one day. We were just visiting with my
wife. We were in the back. And I was a cop then, and my life
was a little rough. It was really rough around the
edges. I'm only saved for a short season. I've got a lot of stuff
I'm dealing with in my life, like just coming from way back
and just trying to trust God to get some of the things in
order in my own life. And I'm just visiting, and I'm
sitting in this center section, almost at the back, and The pastor
preaches his heart out about what I'm preaching on today,
essentially. And at the end of his message, gives an opportunity
for people to respond, to yield their future into the hands of
God. Now, I'm looking around the church, and everybody looks
so good there. You know, they all have suits, and nice clothes,
and big Bibles, and their families look to be all together. I'm
not raised in a Christian home, so I don't have the knowledge
they have. I don't have the Bible like they do. I don't know the
language. They're using words like righteousness.
I'd never heard stuff like that before. The only time I'd ever
heard the word is there was a singing group called the Righteous Brothers.
I don't know if anybody here remembers that. But that's the
only time I'd ever heard the word, righteousness. But nevertheless,
I'm there and he gives a call. I felt like the Gideon at that
moment, the least qualified in the entire church. I'm not raised
in the faith, I don't have the knowledge, I don't have the Bible,
and these people look so good and they seem to have it all
together. And he gives an altar call, which seemed reasonable
to me for people to come forward and just yield their future into
the hands of God for the sake of others. And I remember nobody
moves. There's seven, 800 people there
and nobody moves. And I'm standing in the back and thinking, what
is wrong with these people? I mean, don't they care? And
suddenly my heart starts to beat, and I'm going, oh, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, move on, move on,
move on, messenger of God. You have no idea who you're dealing
with here. It can't be me. But then your heart is pounding,
and you feel that pull of the Holy Spirit, and just like, God.
And I remember I get out of my seat, and there was one other
guy, there was two of us responding, the guy in a green suit came
down this aisle, Middle Eastern guy in a green suit, and I came
down this aisle in my jeans or whatever I was wearing, and I
got on my knees, and I remember my prayer to this day, I said,
God, I don't have anything to give you. If you need somebody
with a bad temper, I'm your man. If you need a lousy husband,
that's me. I'm not a good father. and I
don't like people. So if you're going by a resume,
I'm not your man. I almost felt that the Lord's
gonna say, next, and just usher me out. But a weeping came upon
me, and I just started weeping. I said, God, I have nothing.
I can't speak in front of people. I don't even like being in a
crowded room. But if you can use nothing, you
can have me. You see, I've been left here
to tell you that He can use you. If you open your heart to Him
and just have a desire. Now, you don't go from that altar
to preaching to 10 or 100,000 people, whatever it is, but what
you do is you just go the first place, and then the second place,
then the third. He'll start to lead you. And then you start
to hear His voice. If you don't want to be led by
God, you'll never hear His voice. Why would He bother speaking
to you if you don't want to hear Him? Today, if you can hear His voice,
the Scripture says, don't harden your heart. Don't push it away. Don't look for another opinion.
Don't let your own thoughts supersede the voice or the thoughts of
God. And the rest is history. I've been all—most of the world,
I guess, now. Pastor Teresa and I are heading
into Ukraine on Tuesday to Kiev and—to Lviv, rather. And it's been a wonderful journey,
just a wonderful, wonderful journey with God all these years. Now
when I'm getting to the last turn in the band, I'm coming
back to you and to others with that baton in my hand saying,
you sir, You, man, would you take the baton? Would you trust
God for the supernatural? Would you let Him take you out
of the little room you find yourself in right now, the little self-view
that you have about yourself? It's not about you. Don't look
for the resources within you. It's not about you. It's about
Christ in you, Paul says, who's the hope of glory. It's Christ
in you that's your strength. Because every once in a while,
every once in a while, God finds somebody like you. God finds
a heart that says, Lord, here am I, send me. Isaiah's drawn,
at a critical time in his nation, he's drawn into the presence
of God, and he's the only one there that feels undone. He is
the only one undone there. Everything else at that throne
is all created beings in heaven that haven't had to be redeemed.
They spend their whole day, 24 hours a day, praising God and
just moving in unison with Christ. He's the only one that's a mess
and he knows it. And sometimes you come to church
and that's the way we feel. God, I'm the only one that's
a mess in this place. Oh, if you knew how many messes
are here. You'd be so happy, you'd be clapping your hands.
There's a lot of messes. I'll tell you straight out, it's
a lot of messes, myself included. He is the only one who's aware
of what he is and how undone he is, but he's touched by the
mercy of God. And when he receives the mercy of God, he starts to
hear the voice of God. Who will I send? Who will go
for us? And suddenly, just like when
I was in that church service that day, there's this silence.
Everybody stands and nobody moves. They're all waiting for something.
What are they waiting for? If I was Isaiah, I would have
said, God, send that thing with the six wings. They'll listen
to him. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? If he appeared
here in the sanctuary and had a message from God, I think I'd
be inclined to want to hear what he had to say. They've got it
all together, and I'm just a mass. But nobody speaks, nobody says
anything. There's a sudden silence in heaven. I think even the holy,
holy part stops. And everything's silent, and
finally at the back, he just goes, well, I'll go. That's what
happened to me 43 years ago. I'll go. If nobody here will
go, I'll go. I'll go. I don't know where going
is going to lead me to, but I'll go there, God, if that's your
will for my life. And the rest is history. God
gives Isaiah not only just influence over a portion of the nation,
but he gives him a panoramic view of the entirety, in a sense,
of God's redemptive plan on the earth. And every once in a while,
like Esther, who felt that her influence with the king is gone,
and there's ladies sitting here today, you feel like, oh, I wish
I'd heard this five years ago. You know, I had such a passionate
prayer life. with God but I haven't been talking
to him and he's not been talking to me. The cry comes to Moses,
the voice of God comes to Moses when he's past his prime and
he feels like a failure, like I was given a chance to do something
but my temper got the best of me and I blew it and I'm too
old now. The voice of God comes to David
when he's too young and he's not been trained in military
ways like the soldiers around him. The voice of God comes to
Gideon when there's 135,000 Midianites coming in and just pillaging
the land annually, comes to Gideon when he feels so insignificant
that he feels like he's the bottom of everything, he's the least
of the least, and yet God calls him a mighty man of resources.
The Lord comes to Isaiah, comes to Hannah, comes to Mary, comes
to people all throughout biblical history, and I'm so glad that
the Lord does not change. You still are. You still are plan A in the kingdom
of God. You're not plan B. When you go
home today, look in the mirror, in your bathroom, look in the
mirror and say, I'm still plan A in the kingdom of God. Lord, here
am I, send me. Whatever you would have for my
life, wherever you want me to go, whatever you want me to do,
whoever you would have me to speak to, whatever giftings I'm
going to need to do the work I'm called to do when I get there,
God, I open my heart to you and I ask you to use my life for
your glory. There's no deeper than that, it never has been.
I'm like the little boy with the lunch bag. Here, Jesus, what
I have is yours. Use it as you see fit to feed
the hunger in 10,000 people. Here's my lunch. That's what
I want to leave with you today. That's all you need to be. You
just, you hold it up to God. The rest is up to God. It's not
up to you or me. He knows what doors to open before
you. He knows what to give you to
speak when you get there. He knows what he has destined
for your life to be. There was a divine plan for you
the moment you turned to Christ as your Savior. There was a plan
of God that is waiting to be initiated in your life. The problem
that you and I face is getting out of the littleness of our
thinking. Getting away from searching our own pockets and resources
for what we're gonna need to do the work and the needs that's
before us. From stopping for looking to
others around us to say, well, maybe you can help, maybe you
can help, and just say, God, what would you have me to do
with the little that I have in my hands? I have a little bit
of education, I have a little bit of courage, I have a little
bit of love in my heart, I have a little bit of faithfulness.
A little bit of integrity, God, but it's not what I think would
be necessary to me to need so big, but God, I believe that
if I give it to you, you can multiply it. That's how it works. He multiplies what you have,
and he does it supernaturally for his glory. And when you get
to the end, you say, only God could have done this. Only God
could have done this, only God. And now the choice is yours.
You are the answer of God to the hunger of this generation.
You are plan A. And so the question is now, will
you bring to God what you have? And give it to him. You don't
have to go out here and start preaching on the corner. You
just go where God leads you. And you give what he gives you
to give, and you say what he tells you to say when you get
there. Keep it real simple. And you watch what God will do.
So don't tell me you're too old, don't tell me you're too young,
don't tell me you're too small, don't tell me you're too poor,
because it's not about you. This is about Jesus Christ, it's
about the presence of God in your life. So we're gonna stand in just
a moment, the worship team's gonna come and sing a chorus
or a song on this platform, and I wanna give you an opportunity
to do what I did 43 years ago. An opportunity just to get out
of your seat and say, well, I don't have anything. Maybe that's,
maybe you got a little more than I had. But God, whatever I have,
I give it to you. And I'm asking you to multiply,
I'm asking you to multiply what I have in my life and in my heart
and use it to feed the hunger in this generation. Watch what
God will do. Watch the giftings of God that
will begin to abound, the leadings of God in your heart. You'll
feel drawn to speak to people that you weren't drawn to speak
to before. You'll have a sudden urge, you'll see somebody sick,
to just put your hands on their shoulders and pray for their
healing. God will begin to do things through you that only
God can do. You're only the vessel. You're
just putting your little bit into the hands of God. And God
is taking it all and doing something marvelous. I happen to feel,
that we're on the threshold of Christ's return. Let's go out
with glory. Let's go out with a shout of
praise. Let's go out with... Let's go out bringing glory to
his name by opening our hearts and letting God be God in each
one of our lives. I love the fact that Pastor Tim
has got a burden to get the gospel out to a billion souls, but it
can't be just us clapping for Pastor Tim. Do you understand
what I'm saying? Everybody has to get in to the work of God. There's a huge, huge hunger in
this city and the surrounding areas wherever it is you're from.
And we are still plan A. We're the bread carriers, may
I put it that way. We're the ones that God will use to feed
the hunger in so many people's lives. And if you just wanna
join and come to this altar today and just say, God, I don't feel
like I have much, but I give you what I have. If you're not
a believer in Christ and you'd like to give your life to him,
you come out and you join the people that are coming today
and you watch and see what God is going to do. We're gonna stand
now and I just wanna invite you to come just and we'll pray together
wherever you are. Lord, here am I. Send me. God bless you. Just come. Here am I. Move in closer. Make room for
people as they come. You'd be amazed at the difference
that's gonna be made in somebody's life because of you. People are
gonna find heaven because of you. They're gonna find courage. They're gonna find out they're
loved. Just keep coming, just keep coming.
Come down the aisles on the sides and the back. And if you feel
your heart being strangely drawn, even though you feel like you're
totally unworthy, just yield to that drawing. Yield, it's
God drawing you, just yield to it. And just come, just come. Lord, I'm yours, I'm yours.
God Finds A Person Like You
Series Christian Life
Follow Times Square Church: https://www.tsc.nyc
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Are you a faithful servant? God is looking for faithful men and women to carry on his will before the rapture. Keep going!
| Sermon ID | 530231855567590 |
| Duration | 40:10 |
| Date | |
| Category | Prayer Meeting |
| Language | English |
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