🎵
All right, good evening everyone. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If you would, turn to your songbook to song number 145.
Song number 145, It Is Well With My Soul.
🎵
All right, let's turn to our red hymn book to song number 145, It Is Well With My Soul.
🎵
While the offering plates are being passed around, please turn in your Bibles
to Matthew chapter number 20. Matthew chapter number 20.
🎵
Matthew 20 the Bible reads
For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder
which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard
and when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day
he sent them into his vineyard and he went out about the third hour
and saw others standing idle in the marketplace
and said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard and whatsoever
is right I will give you and they went their way. Again,
he went out about the sixth and ninth hour and did likewise
and about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle
and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day
idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us
he saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard and whatsoever
is right that shall ye receive. So when even was
come, the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the laborers
and give them their hire beginning from the last unto the first.
And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour
they received every man a penny. But when the first
came they supposed that they should have received more and they likewise
received every man a penny. And when they had received it
they murmured against the good men of the house saying, These last
have wrought but one hour and thou hast made them equal unto us
which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them
and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst not
agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is
and go thy way. I will give unto this last even as
unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine
own? Is thine eye evil because I am good?
So the last shall be first and the first last.
For many be called but few chosen. And Jesus going up to
Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way
and said unto them, Behold we go up to Jerusalem and the
Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes
and they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the
Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him
and the third day he shall rise again. Then came to him the mother
of Zebedee's children with her sons worshiping him and desiring
a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou?
She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit
the one on thy right hand and the other on the left in thy kingdom.
But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask.
Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and
to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall
drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am
baptized with. But to sit on my right hand and on my left
is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it
is prepared of my Father. And when the ten heard it, they were moved
with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them
unto him and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles
exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise
authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you,
but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your
minister, and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be
your servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for
many. And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude
followed him. And behold, two blind men sitting by the wayside
when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have
mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And the multitude
rebuked them because they should hold their peace. But they cried the more,
saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of
David. And Jesus stood still and called them and said,
What will ye that I shall do unto you? They say unto him,
Lord, that our eyes may be open. So Jesus had compassion
on them and touched their eyes and immediately their eyes received sight
and they followed him. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for
this day that we've had so far, Lord, for the soul winning and for the morning service,
Lord. I pray now that you would bless our afternoon service here and that you would
bless Pastor Shelley. Fill him with your spirit. Help him to articulate his
message boldly and also help us to pay attention to what he's prepared
for us this evening. Thank you so much, Lord, for this church. In Jesus' name I pray,
Amen. Amen. Look at verse 16. The Bible reads, So the last shall be first,
the first last for many be called, but few chosen.
And that's a pretty popular phrase that many are called,
but few are chosen. And really, that's where I get the title of my sermon is
Few are chosen. Few are chosen. And
we have this parable here in chapter number 20 where it's talking about
certain laborers. They're standing outside and some man
comes and hires them and the ones that some hire
early in the day, then a little bit in the afternoon and then kind of right at the very end
of the day. Yet whenever they come to get paid, they all get paid the
same wage. They all get paid a penny, even though that's exactly
what they had agreed to work for. And the people
when he ends up paying them, he ends up kind of paying them in reverse order.
He ends up paying those that work the lease first and they get
a full day's wage or a penny. And so the people that are last
to get paid, they're kind of expecting to get more than they had actually
agreed for based on how much he's paying the first
few people. And the master or the person
that hired them looks at them and says in verse number 15, Is it not
lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?
Is thine eye evil because I am good?
So he has a bone to pick with these people. They have a bad attitude.
They have the wrong thought process when it comes to how
this person distributes their own goods. They get upset. They feel
like they've been basically treated unfairly.
There's some kind of an injustice or they've been slighted in some way,
even though they get exactly what they agreed for.
I mean, the guy says, Hey, I'll give you a penny if you work all day. They work all day.
The guy gives them a penny. It should be. Thank you, sir. I'll see you in the next day
if I can. Why are they upset? Well, they're upset
because they perceive there's been some kind of injustice.
They perceive that they've been slighted. They have this perception that something
bad happened, even though nothing bad happened at all. In fact, the guy
did something good. He blessed other people with more money
and yet they're upset about that. Think about the irony here. I mean, he's
doing good on the people and it's causing them to be upset with him.
So that's not necessarily what I want to preach on
this evening, but I want to explain the context in which this is written.
So when he then has this comment,
What is the point of that verse based on this context?
The point of this verse is the fact that God is going to
do whatever he wants with his stuff. And honestly,
when we hear this, it should be good news. Because
either you're going to get exactly what you agreed for or you're going to get blessed
for more by doing less. Now, there's a lot of ways
that we could take this verse and kind of look at it. The one way
I want to look at it again is look at chapter 22 because it's the same
phrase used in chapter 22 also, but with a different parable.
You have in verse 22, or verse two of 22,
the kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son. So there's another parable.
For the sake of time, we're not going to read the whole parable, but basically there's this wedding.
This guy's inviting the guests, the servants. They all make excuses.
They don't show up. And so he ends up killing them all.
And then he says, hey, go and just get some people out on the highways and the hedges and just
bring them in. And the weddings end up furnished with guests. He has all these great guests.
And they're there for the marriage of his son, which is a picture of God the Father.
And the marriage of his son is Jesus Christ. And the first
servants that were burned and killed in the fire, that's the Jews, okay. And basically
the furnished guests are all the Gentiles coming in. But then he noticed there's this other
person there that doesn't have a wedding garment on. And he's like, friend,
how come it didn't thither? And you know, he doesn't have a wedding garment. And so they end up binding
him and casting him out. Now, that's a picture of
someone not having the right salvation garment, okay. They're clothed with their own
works garment. They're not clothed with the garment that Christ
would give them. And so they're going to be cast out because there's only one way into heaven.
That's through Jesus Christ's righteousness, not your own
righteousness. But it says in verse number 14, for many are called,
but few are chosen. Now, it's interesting because isn't that the
same phrase that we saw in the other parable? So then what's
what is the, let's boil this down. What does this mean then, okay?
Well, go to Mark 13 for a moment. Here's the thing.
All saved people are chosen.
Now, when you say that, somebody might be like, what is that Calvinism?
Here's the thing. No, that's not Calvinism. But it's Bible.
It's Bible that every single saved person is chosen.
Calvinism teaches that you're chosen based on nothing,
okay? The Bible teaches that you're chosen based on your
faith, okay? But they both teach that you're chosen, okay?
Don't get confused about the Bible. It says in Mark chapter 13 verse 20,
and except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh
should be saved, but for the elect's sake, notice this, whom he hath
chosen, he hath shortened the days. In fact, the word elect
means to choose. So those that are elect, God's people, they
were chosen. Why are we chosen to be saved? Because of our faith
in Jesus Christ. Now, here's the thing. Is it only
those who get saved that God wanted to get saved, though? No.
Many are called, but few are chosen. And what was
the deciding factor? Our faith in Jesus Christ. Go to Romans 3
for a second. We'll see a verse there. But Ephesians 1 says, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love. We were chosen before the
world was even created. I was chosen to be saved.
You say, you sound arrogant. It's not anything special
about me. The reality is, though, when I believe in Jesus Christ, that's
evidence of the fact that I was chosen. And I wasn't just chosen. Every
person that believed in Jesus Christ was chosen. Many were called to be
saved, but only the chosen are going to make it in.
They were chosen based on the fact of their faith. Even the servants were called to the wedding,
but they refused it, didn't they? They rejected the invitation.
They didn't want to go to the wedding, and he wasn't going to drag them in there anyways.
He burnt them with fire. Oh, that sounds like a place I've heard of, called Hell.
So basically, the many that are called, they didn't
receive that gift, did they? They were chosen. 1 Peter 2 says,
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.
I want to make this clear. God does the choosing,
yet it's based on something, isn't it? He chooses people based
on their faith. Romans 3, 24 says,
So according to the Bible, we're saved by faith,
yet you have to realize that there was still a choosing there.
Not just on your part, also on God's part. God is the one
that chose to save us, otherwise we would have no salvation.
God chose to have the option for people to believe in Jesus Christ
and be saved, and for Him to choose to save those people.
And this is an important point. Why? Because everything that God
does is based on His choice. He does all the choosing
for everything, not just salvation. We're just covering the basics here, okay?
I know most people in here already, hey, we're saved, alright, I was chosen, okay.
We're going to get a little bit deeper here in a second, but go to Romans chapter 9.
Go to Romans chapter number 9. I think it's important to understand
all these aspects so that we can get some deeper truth, too.
But we have to realize that God does call
a lot of people, but He only chooses some.
Not everybody that gets called to do things ends up getting chosen, okay.
And in Romans chapter number 9 it says in verse 27,
What shall we say then?
That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained
righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained
the law of righteousness. Wherefore, because they sought it not by faith,
but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at the stumbling
stone as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone,
and a rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him
shall not be ashamed. So, according to the Bible,
the Gentiles were saved based on what? Based on their
faith. Yet, you can see how someone can get mad about
this. Why? Because the Gentiles, they've been
heathen their whole lives. They don't have the Lord.
They haven't been doing good. They're just kind of late comers. They're just kind of
showing up at that last hour, yet they still get a penny, don't they?
They still get the same salvation the guy did that started working at the beginning
of the day, and it ends up that they get salvation. We shouldn't
be upset that they get saved. You know what? It doesn't upset me
that the person that I walked out and preached the Gospel to this afternoon
and I'll never see again and is not going to serve God goes to Heaven.
That would make me have an evil eye if I had that type of an attitude or a feeling
or a thought. Go back to Matthew chapter 20, and I'm going to show you something
with this verse though. You can also see how
a lot of people would be upset that they're the first to the party, yet they don't
get the greatest reward. They don't get the greatest privileges.
And in fact, I like this point, okay?
Probably because I'm last, alright? But here's the thing. Many
that were first are not going to be first. They're going to be last.
Many that are last are going to be first. Now, in what context?
First of all, we kind of grazed over the salvation point, okay? That's one
aspect. But there's another aspect. How about the fact that it
says, let's skip back to chapter 19 and look at verse number 28.
Now think about this.
In context of the entire Bible timeline,
where do disciples fall? Do they fall in the beginning
of days or do they fall kind of in the latter days? The Bible says it's the
last days. So they're kind of at the latter part, but who's going to be judging
the 12 tribes of Israel? Is it those people that started
the 12? Is it Jacob necessarily? It's the disciples.
In fact, they're last, but then they get rewarded as if
they were first. They get even greater rewards.
And us, I'm not a disciple. I mean, I'm standing on the shoulders of giants here,
but at the end of the day, I can still get rewarded
greatly, even though I'm last. Even those that are last to the party
can still be first in the kingdom of God. That should motivate
us. We'll say, oh, I'm just kind of late to the party. I'm just kind of last. Look,
who was the last apostle to the party? Paul.
You know who's going to probably be first? Paul. I don't think it's going to be
Andrew. And I'm not down on Andrew. Andrew's probably going to get rewarded greatly. He's going to be
judging the 12 tribes of Israel. But you know what? The apostle Paul
is going to be great, even though he's last. This tells me there's never a bad
time to serve God. You say, well, I didn't start serving him until
the end of my life or the latter parts of my life. Well, you know, the guys that started
serving the whole life versus the very end, in this parable
they got paid the same. Isn't that interesting? So you should
never get discouraged about when you serve God. You just need to serve him now.
You just need to get in the fight now. And we ought not have an evil eye and look at
people that get rewarded greatly based on them just coming in a latter moment
and perceiving some kind of slight. And I
see this as an attitude of a lot of people. They're
content with everything they have until they see someone else getting something that they
wanted. And then all of a sudden, their life's ruined. It's
like, why can't you speak in? Well, I had an iPhone 8, but did you see the iPhone
9? It's so much good with the iPhone 10.
You know, it's like you are so excited about the iPhone 8 five minutes ago
when it came out. And then five minutes later, you know, the guy that
showed up last to the store, they were like, oh, we just sold out of the eights. Let's bring
the nines out. Nines? I've been standing
in line all day for the eights. If I had
been last, I would have gotten the nine. And it's like, what?
That's American attitude. They're always discontent. They're always
frustrated about everything that they don't have.
And look, serving God. Let me make this clear.
Serving God is not something that you earn. It's something that you just
receive by grace. Many are called,
but few are chosen. And yet there's a lot of people that get really mad about
that. They get really mad that the work of God is a chosen thing
because they have no control over that. And because they
have no control, their eye turns evil against people that do get chosen.
Even though it's great. What? You choose some great
person to go do the work of the Lord, and then people get mad about that?
Yet that's what happens. Well, I wanted to do one of those.
I've been in the church longer than that person.
You know, I know more than that person. I've done more than that person. Why does this
Johnny come lately, just get to show up, and then he gets to do something?
You know, where's my pay? And all of a sudden they just get
mad about things that they should have been content with in the first place.
Now let me prove this point very strongly
in your Bible. Go if you would to
let's just start at the beginning, but I guess
I want to show in my notes, my notes are disorganized in my mind,
okay? Go to number 16 for a moment. We're going to first show the bad example, and then we're
going to give an example, okay? But Jesus said this
to Peter. He said about John, if I will
that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me.
Everybody was so concerned with how long John was going to live.
What's going to happen to John? It's like, who cares what happens to John
Peter? Just serve me. Just go ahead and follow me.
And look, that's the kind of attitude some people get. How many
Christians would think, you know what, as long as I'm as good as Peter, that's good enough for me.
I mean, I'd be content if I get to be Peter.
Yet Peter, he wants to be John, doesn't he?
He's not content with just being Peter. He has to worry, what's going to happen to John?
Who cares what happens to John? You just serve God yourself.
And look, many are called, but only one John.
There's only one gospel of John. Hey, you got first and second Peter.
John got John. John got first John and second John and third John
and Revelation. Yeah, it was cooler. Sorry.
But you still got to write first and second Peter.
How much, I mean, how many people get to write epistles in the Bible?
Okay. Look, there's many that are called. Hey, a lot of you had that opportunity.
But you know what? Only certain people were chosen.
And don't have an evil eye because someone else gets chosen.
God is going to choose whom He will. And oftentimes,
you know, while we think it's arbitrary, it's not arbitrary. God tries
to pick people that are faithful. God picks people He knows. But at the end of the day, it's His choice.
He can do whatever He wants with His goods.
Now, there's some people, they don't like this. They get really mad about all this.
Their names are Korah. Numbers chapter 16, look at verse 8.
And Moses said in a Korah, Here I pray you, sons of Levi, see me but a small
thing unto you, that the God of Israel has separated you from the
congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself to do the service of the tabernacle
of the Lord, and to stand with the congregation and minister in Him. And He hath brought
thee near to Him, and all thy brethren, the sons of Levi, with thee, and seek
ye the priesthood also, for which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered
together against the Lord. And what is Aaron the murmur
against him? So Korah comes up and he complains about Moses and Aaron being
in charge, and he's like, We should be in charge. I should be in charge. We're all holy.
And he's like, What?
Korah, you've already been separated from the whole congregation? Let's
take the world picture, okay? You've already been separated. You're a child
of Israel, okay? You're like in the top ten or
greater at that point of the world. And then of the children of Israel,
you've been separated again unto God. Now you're in the upper echelons.
I mean, you're in the top 1% of the world here, Korah. Well, I have
to have the priesthood, though. Look, it wasn't
yours to get. Aaron was chosen. And he's like, Look at Aaron.
I mean, what's Aaron? Who cares?
The thing that matters is what God said. And God picked Aaron.
Yet, Korah just has to be in the priesthood, doesn't he?
It's like it's not good enough for people to be saved. It's not good enough
for people to just serve in a really good church. It's like, I have to be, you know, in
some other kind of position. And even when they get that position, they won't be satisfied.
I guarantee it. You can always be dissatisfied.
Now, what happens to them?
They die. For the sake of time, I'm not going to go there. Go up to verse 2 in chapter 1.
He was too big for his britches. What does that mean? Too big
for your britches means your britches won't come on. You think you're bigger
than you really are. You think you're badder than you really are. I'm so wonderful. I can't
believe I'm not getting more and I don't have more responsibility and more authority.
If people knew how great I was, you know, this is what it means to be too big
for your britches. And that's what Korah was. So he gets thrown, he gets a one
way ticket straight to hell. And the earth just
swallows him up. I mean, Moses said, If this guy dies the common death, the Lord has not spoken
by me. How would you like that to be spoken? He's like, You're not
going to die a common death. What's going to happen? He's like, The earth is going to swallow
you up, buddy. That's dangerous. And
why? Because he's not content with the position he's in. Even though he's in a very
coveted position. You're already a child of God. Not like that.
You're a priest. You're already a Levite. You're going to minister.
You're of the chosen people here. Well, I have to be
the priest. Yet he wouldn't have been satisfied with that. As soon as he was Aaron, he wouldn't want to be Moses.
And, you know, anybody can do this. Everybody can
do this. It's a wicked attitude. Even people that just have this
wicked attitude. I have to be a pastor. Okay. As soon as they become a pastor,
well, it's like, well, I have to be a pastor of a 500 person church.
Well, I should be a pastor of a thousand person church.
Well, I should be a pastor of a, I should have the biggest church.
And then they jump off the cliff with Joel Osteen. Why? Because
nothing satisfies them. They're not content with anything that they have.
And you know what? So they just try to grab stuff. They try to get
stuff by wicked means. Yet the work of the Lord is not
one about you going around and exerting yourself. It's about you
being chosen. Many are called, but you know what? Few are chosen.
And this is a point that the Bible emphasizes over and over again.
Look at 1 Timothy 1 verse 11. According to the glorious
gospel, the blessed God was committed to my trust. I, and I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord
who has enabled me for that. He counted me
faithful, putting me into the ministry
who is before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious,
but I obtained mercy because I did it and ignorantly
and unbelief. Now this is the exact opposite attitude
of Quora. Number one, he's saying I was
put into the ministry. Who put him in there? God did.
He didn't put himself in there. And notice from his own
personal opinion, he's like, I don't deserve it. I'm a
blasphemer. I'm a persecutor. It's only by God's grace that I'm
even in this position. What was Quora? I deserve to be in this position already.
Look how holy I am. It's like the exact opposite
attitude. And look who God wants to exonerate. He wants to exonerate someone
like the Apostle Paul, not Quora. Quora goes straight to Hell. The Apostle
Paul becomes one of the greatest Christians ever. Why? Because he was chosen.
He had the right attitude about it. 2 Timothy chapter
number two, 2 Timothy chapter number two. Look at verse number one.
So this morning, you know, I brought up a lot of concepts about who's in charge,
right? Well, now we're figuring out who to put in charge. Like
practically who do you put? The people that God chooses. That's who gets put in
charge. We know that the pastor is in charge. But how do you decide who that should be?
You should let God choose those people. OK, now we're going to figure that
out and what that means here in the Bible. But it says in 2 Timothy chapter two, verse one,
Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in the Christ Jesus, and the
things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou
to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Who's doing
the choosing here? Timothy.
Timothy is the one that's identifying them. Timothy is the one that's selecting
them. They're not selecting themselves. He finds them faithful.
He selects them. And notice faithful men.
So there is a qualifier. It's not like just choose random bozos. It's
choose faithful men. Right. Good. You don't have to go there.
But Titus chapter one five, we already read that Titus is supposed to ordain
those in every city. Again, someone that he is choosing. Go to Genesis chapter
six, Genesis chapter six. Now.
There's people that attack the doctrine of, you know, men of God choosing
other men of God to go in the ministry. But as we go through the Scriptures,
if you can't see it, you're blind. It's on
every verse, every line. Everybody is chosen. I'm
chosen to be saved. Everything God does is choosing. It's not
random. It's not God up in heaven just saying, you know, free for
all. You guys just figured out. No, God is active in
his creation. God is active in our daily lives. I pray
because I know it has an impact on every single moment of every single day.
And you know what? God is still choosing people to do things. God sets
up people. And God allows people to do anything and everything that they
do. That is not discount our free will, but he works with
our free will. And God still does all of the choosing.
But, you know, Jeroboam, he wanted to ordain people.
And you know who he did? Whosoever would.
He's just like, can I get a raise of hands? Ministers, you know, you get one
and you get one and you're a pastor and you're a deacon and you're an evangelist.
Evangelist! Woo! You know, and he's just going around just like,
who wants one? That's not how it works.
Okay. That's not what the Bible teaches. Yet it still is
a person choosing. Look at Genesis chapter six, verse seven.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both
man and beast and creeping thing, and the thousands of the earth, for it repented me
that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
So, why has Noah chosen to build the ark? Because God
found him. Because God chose to give him, notice this word,
grace. Did Noah just say, you know, I feel like I should build an ark today.
Why did Noah build an ark?
Because God chose him to build an ark, didn't he?
He didn't just decide to do something on his own. Building an ark was a good idea,
but you know what? It's because God gave him that idea. Look at chapter twelve. Look at chapter
number twelve. Look at verse one. Now the Lord had said unto Abram,
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show
thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great.
And thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse
thee, and indeed, shall all families of theirs be best. Why did Abraham
leave? Because God told him to. Because God
chose Abram. He knew that he'd be a faithful person.
Look at chapter seventeen. Look at verse nineteen. And God
said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call
his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with them for an everlasting
covenant, and with his seed after him. Why is Isaac special?
Because God picked him too. Well, why not Ishmael?
Because God didn't pick him. God did not
choose Ishmael. God chose Isaac, and that's why his seed is
called. Why is it father Abraham? Because God picked him.
Why did Noah survive? Because God picked him. Look at chapter forty-one.
Look at chapter number forty-one. The men of God
and the Bible are picked by God. Now, here's the thing.
Sometimes God does this in a lot of different ways by proxy of man.
Sometimes he does it by an angel. Sometimes he just shows up and tells them, okay?
So that doesn't really matter, the medium in which he does, but it's God that's
choosing these men on purpose. He's identifying a person that he wants
to accomplish his will, and he's hand-selecting him. Now,
Joseph was definitely hand-selected by the Lord, but look how
he has Pharaoh choose him. Genesis chapter forty-one, verse thirty-three.
Now therefore, let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise and set him over the land of Egypt.
Let Pharaoh do this and let him appoint officers over the land and take
up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenty of years. Now, Joseph
is in an interesting position. He stands before Pharaoh, the most powerful man on the
earth. He interprets his dream. He says there's going to be
a great famine in the earth, and even though you didn't ask my opinion
directly, you know what to do, let me just tell you, you need to find a really smart guy to take
control and manage this, because this is really important.
Did Joseph say, hey, you need to make me your ruler now?
No. He said, you need to find a really good guy here.
You need to find the right guy. Look at what Pharaoh says in verse thirty-eight.
And Pharaoh said to his servants, can we find such and one as this is? A man in whom the
Spirit of God is? And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, for as much as God has showed
us, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art. Thou shalt
be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be
ruled. Only in the throne will I be greater than thou. Pharaoh
chose Joseph. Joseph didn't choose to do anything.
You know what Joseph chose to do? To follow God's commandments and to be a faithful person.
And then notice who chooses him. Oh, yeah, the master of the house.
Oh, yeah, the person in charge of the prison. Oh, yeah, Pharaoh.
Never is Joseph walking up and just saying, put me in charge.
Have you not realized how smart I am? I'm Joseph.
You know, I'm in the Bible. You know, God talks to me.
Did you know that? No, he's just telling him good advice.
And he's like, well, let's put this guy in charge. This guy is the greatest guy I've ever met. This guy
this guy has the Spirit of God in him. OK, now that
speaks to a point that I'm going to make. Let another man praise thee and not
thine own mouth, a stranger and not thine own lips.
Man, some people need to get that tattooed on their face.
Just like, look, buddy, don't go around to
your own horn in any case, in any situation. And look,
I don't care if you're in the secular world, the secular world gets this point. No one
likes someone bragging about themselves. And if you start bragging about
yourself, everyone's going to hate you. This is why everybody hates the Dallas Cowboy fans.
OK, this is why. Why? Because they thought we're the greatest. We're so great.
We're so wonderful. You're idiots and losers and stupid.
You know, when you start building yourself up, everybody's ready to tear you down.
You know, just stay silent on yourself. Let other people
sing your own praises. And you say, well, no one's ever going to sing my praises.
That's because you suck. That's
because you're not a great person. Look, if you're
a great person, other people will sing your praises.
Other people will take notice and, you know, really take notice. God and God
will make sure that you're taken care of. The reason why no one wants to sing your praises
is because there's nothing to sing about.
You know what? You're not going to fix it by singing about yourself. You're not going to fix
it by promoting yourself. The way up is down.
Genesis chapter number 50, verse 20, you just flip over there.
Now you say, well, that was Pharaoh choosing. Yeah, but it was actually God choosing.
Let me prove that. Genesis chapter 50, verse 20. But as for you,
ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good
to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive.
Joseph had the revelation at the end of his life, wow, all these horrible things that happened
to me were on purpose. God was setting it up that I would be put into a great
position to help other people. Notice
what he's bringing up to. Is he saying God meant it to pass that
I'd become such a great ruler. That'd be so wonderful.
No, to save people. Just like Jesus. Why did God choose Jesus?
Oh, yeah, because he's faithful in all his house because there's nobody as wise and
discreet as him. And to what save much people? All the affliction
and suffering Jesus went through was on purpose to what save people?
Exactly like Joseph. Joseph's a great picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what it means to be called. Joseph had a great calling on his life,
but you know what? A lot of people have that calling on their life. Only few are going to be
chosen, and it's based on God's foreknowledge of how faithful
you're going to be with that choice. And if you're not faithful in that which is least,
why is he going to commit even more unto you? You can't even handle what you've got now.
Most people, they think, well, I'd be really faithful if I had a good job, if I had a good,
you know, my kids were better.
You know, if I had a better situation, if I had a better spouse, you know,
if I made more money, if I lived in a different town, if I went to that
church, I would be serious about church. You know, if I was going to that
church, I mean, I would show up three times a week if I was going to that church. No, you wouldn't.
People just have this attitude, and their eye is evil,
okay? God is going to do the choosing, and we need to just be
faithful with what we have so that God can choose you to do more later.
Now, God even chose Moses, for the sake of time,
go to Exodus 28. The Bible says, Come now, therefore, and I will send thee
unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. Now, the thing about
Moses that's interesting. Moses tried
to save the children of Israel on his own.
I mean, he saw his brethren afflicted. He came, and he smelt the Egyptian.
He killed him. He tried to be the leader on his own. Didn't work out.
But then later, when God called him, it worked out.
Why? Don't go and do it your own self way. Don't be self-willed.
Let God choose you. When you're out in the wilderness by yourself,
nobody cares about you. God was still there. God showed up, and God used
Moses in a great way. He also chose Aaron,
and God chose all the priests. God even chose Nadab and
Abihu. Exodus 28, verse 1, And take thou unto thee,
Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may
minister unto me in the priests' office, even Aaron,
Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons.
When did Aaron in the Bible say, Please make me the priest?
I should be the priest. Never. God chose him.
God said, Make this guy the priest and his sons. This is the one.
Exodus chapter 30, verse number 30, And thou shalt anoint Aaron
and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priests' office.
You know who did not like that part of the Bible?
Korah. Korah didn't like that part of the Bible.
Why is Aaron and Moses in charge? Because God said.
Because God chose them. Aaron didn't say, God,
please choose me. In fact, Moses tried to get out of it.
Moses is like, I don't want to go. Send someone else. I can't even
speak well. He's like, You're speaking to me now? What's going on,
Moses? And look, a lot of people that God chooses
are actually kind of resistant at first. They're not even that interested.
You know, some people don't have the right idea. Look, just be faithful what you have
and then when you see God telling you that you need to go, someone starts choosing you to do something,
do it. But you know, a lot of people are going to be called for the work of a
reward. I wish that we had way more soul owners
and way more people that were qualified to be evangelists and deacons and pastors.
I don't hold that back in my mind. I don't think, you know what?
I just don't want that many people to do these things.
This is that bad attitude of Joshua. Actually, Joshua had this bad attitude at one point.
Because he came into Moses and he said, Hey, there's these guys prophesying. And
he's just like, you know, what did God, all the Lord's people were prophets.
You know, envious thou for my sake? He's like, I want them to bear the burden.
I'm not interested in carrying the burden of all these people by myself. I wish everybody
to get involved. I wish everybody's a great pastor, a great preacher, a great
event. I don't care. Many are called. But you know what? Unfortunately, only a few are chosen.
You say based on what? On the Bible, on God's word,
on his commandments. And you know what? If there's no one to pick, we don't
say, well, let's lessen the restrictions. No.
We just stick with what God said. But at the end of the day,
many are called. You were chosen. Deuteronomy 23,
I'm sorry, Deuteronomy 31, verse one. This is
God choosing Joshua. It says in verse one, And Moses went and spake these words
unto all Israel. And he said unto them, I am one hundred and twenty years old this day. I can no more
go out and come in. Also, the Lord has said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this
Jordan. The Lord thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy
these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them in Joshua. He shall go
over before thee as the Lord has said. So God picked Joshua.
Now you say, why did he pick Joshua? Well, here's
an interesting fact. Only him and Caleb decided to follow
God's commandments in the wilderness. And it seems like God was testing them.
You know what? There was no limit.
God didn't start out taking them to the wilderness and say, only Joshua
and Caleb have a chance here. They all had a chance here. Those twelve spies
had a chance there. You know what? Joshua was the faithful one. Joshua was the
one that decided to just get the job done anyways and try to follow God's commandments
anyways and go against the crowd. And you know what? He gets rewarded for his faithfulness.
He's the next person that God chooses.
But it wasn't based on nothing. Yet at the end of the day, God chose.
And he chose Joshua over Caleb. I hope Caleb didn't say
like, well, that should have been me. And you know what? I know it wasn't because he said that
I want that mountain. He went and got it. OK, Caleb went into that.
He was eighty five years old. And it says his natural force had not been abated.
He still went in there. Guns a blazing. And he was kicking
a and taking names. All right. OK, Caleb. Eighty five. I wouldn't want to go against
him. I mean, this guy was strong. All right. Go to judges
chapter number six. Judges chapter number six. God raised up the
livers in Joshua three. It says the Lord raised up a deliverer to the
children of Israel, who deliver them even off the son of Kina as Caleb's younger brother.
So every time there needs to be a man of God, every
time there's some great need, how does it get started? Oh, yeah. God
chooses them. It's not like I just feel like I have
I have to step in. I have to do it. I have to be the person. No, God
decides this person should be the person. It should always be
chosen. Not anybody's self. Self-willed is always that.
Self will desiring that you're so important, that you're the
you're the hero, you come sweeping in and people can't
do things without you. This is a bad attitude. The right
attitude is I'm just gonna be faithful with everything I got and I'm going to keep my head down. And if
God ends up deciding to open the door for me, then I'm ready
to step through it. But if he doesn't open the door, I'm fine, too.
I don't have to have that, you know, and if there's a really good person
if Joshua's in the in the running, I hope Joshua gets it.
I hope Joshua is is going to be selected and not
you know, Jeroboam or not native and Abihu. OK,
now they were chosen for a reason, but it was a different reason. God even chooses
Gideon. Look at Jesus, Chapter six, verse 14. And the Lord looked upon
him and said, Go in this thy might and now shalt save Israel
from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent thee? So God
pick Gideon. Gideon didn't want to do it.
Hey, where be all his miracles? You know, it's like
this guy wasn't really interested and he wasn't just like, I'm ready. Of course,
finally. Why did it take you so long, God, to ask me? He's like,
I don't know. How am I going to do this? And he's like, I've sent you. Go and
do it. God chose him. Good. You would first see him at 16.
Now, I'm just showing you a hint. I can't even show you every
single example, even though I have so many even written,
even in my notes, I have so many I'm not going to show them all. There's so many in the
Bible. But one common thing God chooses, God chooses,
God chose Noah. God chose Abraham. God chose
Isaac. God chose Jacob. God chose Joseph. God
is just like God choosing every single character that we're reading in the Bible.
None of them chose themselves. None of them. And every time someone chooses
themselves, they get destroyed. Every time they elect
themselves and decide for themselves, it shows that was a bad person.
You don't want them. You want nothing to do with them. God even chose Saul.
And Saul ends up turning out bad, but he started out good. He was little
in his own sight. In fact, when it's time to announce the
great king, the king of Israel, he's hiding
in the stuff. Okay, he's hiding behind the stuff because he's so embarrassed
even though he's the biggest guy. You would think the biggest guy
would have an ego. Like, of course I'm the king. Have you seen me?
All the other runts, you know, get under my shoulder. He's a head,
he's a shoulder and head above every other Israelite. Yet he's little in his own
sight. Yet he was hiding behind the stuff when it was time for him to be called.
But God says, I want to choose that guy. I want that guy to
lead the people. I don't want the arrogant prick to lead the people.
I want the guy that's little in his own sight. And the moment that Saul started
thinking he was too big for his britches, replaced. He got
dropped like a bad habit. I had you turn to Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 16, right?
Look at verse 6. And it came to pass when they were come that he looked on Eliab.
This is Samuel being told by God there's a replacement for King Saul.
It's the son of Jesse. He sees the first son, Eliab.
Giant guy, looks really strong. I mean,
from Samuel's position, position or perspective, he thought,
this is it. This guy, I mean, look at Eliab. I mean, this guy is going to
take down the army by himself. And he said, surely the Lord's anointed
is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel, look not on his countenance or on the
height of his stature, because I've refused him. For the Lord
seeth not as the man seeth. For the man looketh on the outward appearance,
but the Lord looketh on the heart. So he rejected
Eliab. Eliab from a carnal perspective was the guy, but from a heart perspective
wrong. Verse number 12.
And he said and brought him in. Now this is David. And now he was ruddy,
which means his cheeks were red and with all the beautiful countenance.
So he's good looking and goodly to look to. And the Lord
said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn
of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day
forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ammon. David was picked
by God. David did not decide to be the king of Israel.
In fact, he resisted that position. He didn't want to usurp the authority
over Saul. Yet he was anointed.
Yet he was handpicked by God.
Now go over to Daniel chapter one, Daniel chapter one. God also
chose Solomon, but someone didn't like that. An Adonijah.
Adonijah decides to just make himself king, resist God's
choosing of Solomon, even though he knew that Solomon had
been chosen. He sets up the kingdom by himself. He has
all these men call him king. And it's just like, yeah, pastor.
I found a bunch of guys that will call me pastor.
Pastor Adonijah. Sorry, I don't know.
Pastor Adonijah. And it's like, yeah, but they didn't call a couple
of people. They didn't call David. They didn't call Solomon. They didn't call
any of the real men of God. They called a bunch of fake infiltrators
and they all fell for him. Joab went and fell for
Adonijah. And Solomon, you know,
Bathsheba's mother. I'm sorry. Why is that weird?
Bathsheba, Solomon's mother. Okay. She goes
and makes a petition and says Solomon's the rightful heir. You said that. God said that.
You need to set him up. And even Adonijah's own words, this is what Adonijah said
later. He said, Now knowest that the kingdom was mine and that all
Israel set their faces on me that I should reign. Howbeit the kingdom has turned about
and has become my brothers, for it was his from the Lord. So Adonijah
says, hey, I knew that God wanted him to be king, but I just want to do it anyways.
There's wicked people out there. They'll say, hey, I know this guy should be the one
in charge, but I don't care. I don't care what God says. I don't care what the Bible
says. Just put me in charge already. Just call me king already. And he even
convinced so many Israelites. People are gullible today. Okay.
People just fall in line with the loudest voice sometimes,
not realizing what they're doing is wicked. God chose
Elisha. You know, he told Elijah to go and anoint
Elisha, and he chose a few other people there, Jehu and other people.
God is just constantly choosing. God chose Jeremiah. He said, Before I formed
thee in the belly, I knew thee. Before Jeremiah even existed, God chose
him. He said, why? Because he knew that he would be faithful
in his preaching all his life. He just chose him. God chose
Ezekiel, and God chose Daniel. Notice this by the Chaldeans.
Look at verse four. Children in whom was no blemish, but well favored and skillful in all wisdom
and cunning in knowledge and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand
in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.
Now this is interesting. The Babylonians come and invade the children of Israel,
and they steal some of the people. For no reason? No.
They stole the smartest. They stole the best of the people,
Daniel. If Daniel wasn't a good kid,
if Daniel wasn't smart, if Daniel didn't apply himself,
he would have never been stolen away now. He would have been killed
later whenever they came and just ransacked the town.
So in fact, by being a faithful person, they end up
choosing him as the Babylonians, and then God chooses him to be one of the most
special vessels of all the Bible to deliver some of the greatest prophecies
ever known to man. Not because Daniel decided that for himself,
because Daniel was a faithful person, and God chose him.
That's why. And you know what? Daniel had a hard life,
but he still got to do great things for God. He was chosen of God.
Amos has a great story. Go to Luke chapter 1. Amos was told
in, you know, they didn't like his preaching. I'm shocked.
I probably would have liked it. Actually, in fact, I do because it's called the book of
Amos, all right? But in Amos chapter 7, in verse 12,
it says, Also Amosiah said unto Amos, so this guy didn't like his preaching,
O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah,
and there eat bread and prophesy there. But prophesy not again anymore at Bethel.
For it is the king's chapel, and is the king's court. Then answered Amos, and said to
Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son,
but I was a herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit.
And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the
Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. So here's
a guy. He's just out doing his own business.
Hey, I'm just following the flock. I'm just gathering fruit.
This sounds like a soul winner, okay? He's following the flock.
He's with the sheep, with the children of God, and he's gathering in the fruit.
He's a faithful soul winner, just minding his own business, and then God
comes out of nowhere and says, You need to be a preacher. He's like, I wasn't
a prophet's son. You know, I'm not a prophet. I'm nobody special.
And then God just chooses him out of nowhere. Just because he's
a random? No, because he's a faithful person. And he knew if he
sent him in to Israel to preach, he would do it. And even when
faced in opposition, he would say, Well, that's what God told me to do. I'm just going to do what God told me to do.
He was already faithful in his other job. Hey, he was faithful in that which
is least gathering fruit, okay? It's not really the best job,
all right? But he's really good at it. He's really faithful at it. And God says, You know what? I can use
this guy, even though he's nothing special. God chose
Joseph. God chose Mary. Luke chapter 1, verse 28.
And the angel came in under her and said, Hail, thou art highly favored.
The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.
Now, there's another really special woman in the Bible.
At this time, Elizabeth, one of
Elizabeth said, You get Jesus.
I just get John the baddest. You know, that's still
an awesome privilege. You get to be the mother of the greatest
born among women. There is no
greater prophet born among women than John the Baptist.
Yet you know what Elizabeth does? Her and John the Baptist are excited when
they find Mary, and they know that she's carrying the baby of the Lord.
And you know what? She was the last because who got pregnant first?
Elizabeth got pregnant first. But you know who got to carry Jesus? Mary did.
But you know what the
common denominator between both of them is? God chose them.
And in fact, Elizabeth and Zechariah hadn't had a kid for a long time.
Even though they were faithful, they were blameless, they were the greatest Christians
you could imagine. God chose them in the latter part of their lives to do something
really special, really privileged. You know who also God chose?
Jesus. Matthew chapter 12. Go to Luke chapter 6.
Matthew 12, verse 18. Behold my servant and whom I have chosen, my
beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased. God chose Jesus Christ.
He selected Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ
did not select himself.
If you have a modalist Jesus, you're an idiot, OK? You're a fool,
you're unsaved, and you can make no sense of the Bible because
Jesus did not select himself. We already learned in Hebrews
Bible study, he did not annoy himself. He did not glorify
himself. The Father glorified Jesus. The Father selected
Jesus. The Father gave commandment unto Jesus Christ.
And if it takes Jesus being chosen, then we all
need to be chosen. Because if anybody could say like
I should be the guy picked, it's Jesus. OK, hey,
I'm the king of kings over here. Put me in, coach.
Like I'm the Lord of Lords. I never lie.
I created everything with my own hands. I am the word of God.
I mean, if anybody could boast or brag about themselves, it's
of course the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet he never did.
God's just like, who are we going to pick? We're going to pick this
guy. We're going to pick my son, the greatest
of all. Luke chapter 6,
verse 12. And it came to pass in those days that he went
out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God.
And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples, and of them he chose
12, whom also he named apostles. Man, I really want to get on that
disciples frame. It's invite only.
It doesn't matter. I don't care what you
want. They got chosen. Jesus
came up to them and said, Hey, follow me. And then they got to follow him.
It wasn't the other way around. And in fact, I don't know of a single
disciple that even came up to Jesus like the 12
that asked for it. He told them. He came
and found them. He sought them out. The ones that came and sought
them out never panned out. Hey, I'll follow you where there's no ghost.
Didn't see him following very long, did he? It's like everybody says, Hey, I'll be at your
church. I can't. Where's your church out? I can't. I'll see you on
Sunday. We got to go find them. All right. We got to drag them
in here. OK. But Jesus chose his
disciples, even Judas, John chapter number six.
Go to Acts chapter one. Jesus answered and said, Have I not chosen you
12 and one of you is a devil? Jesus chose every
single disciple on purpose, even Judas. Why would you pick Judas?
Well, he knew he would betray him. He's like, I need a snake.
This guy looks like a snake. This
guy is going to get the job done. This guy is going to get infiltrated
by the devil himself and betray me. That's why he picked Judas.
He couldn't pick somebody that was good because a good person wouldn't betray him.
He's like, I got Judas as my man, although
I've been better from not being born. Acts chapter
one, the disciples choose another apostle.
Acts chapter one, verse number 26.
And they gave forth their lots and the law fell upon Matthias and he was numbered
with the 11 apostles. I don't remember Matthias saying, Hey, pick me.
They cast lots and they were hoping that God would direct that
law. Now, what I think interesting about this, though,
is it's possible that this was just man's doing. I think it was of God
essentially. But it is interesting that when they choose somebody
never mentioned again in the Bible. Yet everybody that God
chooses, it's like books are written after them. Isn't that interesting?
Who's? They have to. They're like, we need a replacement. When did God say
replace replace that position immediately? They just decide they need to replace it.
You know what? God did have a replacement. Who was it?
Oh, yeah, the apostle Paul. And he did a pretty good job. He
kind of wrote like the rest of the Bible. And he's like basically
the end of acts. OK, now to prove that Jesus
even picked the apostles. Look at Acts chapter one, verse two. Back up a few verses
until the day in which he was taken up. After that, he threw the Holy Ghost and given commandments
unto the apostles whom he had chosen. FYI.
Notice how do you become an apostle?
God chooses you. That's the only way you could become a possible. It's not
of man. It's not man's to give. Even Jesus Christ
when asked of his own disciples, hey, can we send you right in left hand?
That's not mine to give. That's my father.
You know, I don't have any say here, you know, and who's going to put it in his right hand?
Me. FYI. You know, at the end of the day, it's not
for you to decide. It's for God to decide. What you're supposed to do is just be faithful
and wait and let God call you and then step into
that calling. Now, of course, he's going to use men to call you. Look at Acts chapter six
and verse number two, Acts chapter six. The disciples
and the congregation end up electing a few people. It says in verse two,
Then the twelve called the multitude of disciples unto them and said,
It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out
among you. Seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may
appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer
and to the ministry of the word and the saying, Please the whole multitude. They chose Stephen, a man
full of faith and the Holy Ghost and Philip and Phocurus and Nicanther and Timon and
Permanus and Nicholas, a proselyte of Enoch, whom they set
before the apostles. And when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. And the word of God increased
and the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. And a great company of the priests
were obedient to the faith. Now, one person in this group is really well noted.
Stephen. Did Stephen elect himself? No, he allowed
other men to praise him. And then who chose him and ordained him and elected
him? The apostles did. The men of God elected and chose
him. And then what does Stephen do? He preaches some of the greatest
sermons ever recorded in the Bible. Probably the longest sermon recorded
in the Bible. I guess Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. But one of the longest
sermons ever recorded in the Bible. He didn't choose himself, though.
He allowed other men to praise him. And then he allowed
elected apostles, chosen apostles to put him in
this position. And then he did great works. And let me tell you this.
I don't believe that anybody is going to be chosen by God in a lot of the Old Testament
ways. I don't think you're going to see the burning fiery book.
You're probably not going to have the angel of the Lord come and visit you like Manoah.
You're probably not going to wrestle with Jesus Christ in the flesh.
But you can still be
chosen just as much as they were. Just as much as Noah
was picked and Moses was picked and all these guys were picked. You can be
picked the same way through what? Through the man of God choosing you.
Through the apostles choosing you. And they chose Stephen
and he does great things. He gets to see Jesus Christ standing
at the right hand of God in the New Testament.
Think about that. What a great privilege and honor of getting to see a
vision of Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of
God the Father and in receiving his spirit up into heaven.
Yet he didn't choose himself. He was a faithful man
and he allowed others to praise him and he was chosen. Acts chapter
nine. Look at verse 15. This is about the apostle
Paul. The apostle Paul, one of the greatest Christians in the Bible, verse 15. But the Lord said
in him, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me.
So Ananias is told to go and get the apostle Paul
saved. Why? Because he's chosen. And this is another proof that he was
chosen before he was saved.
He was already picked. Why? Because God already knew what he would do.
Now here's the thing. After he was picked though, he still submitted himself unto the church
and he waited until Acts chapter number 13 until the Holy Ghost
said, Separate me Paul and Barnabas. And then the
church sent them out to do a great work for the
Lord. And we get all the great missionary journeys of the apostle
Paul. But you know what? The apostle Paul did not elect himself. He did not choose
himself. Positions of ministry should be
chosen. And here's the thing. Many are called.
We don't want to restrict the calling. The calling should be going out.
We want people to be called. The problem is a lot of people
don't believe in the choosing. Now let me point out one really
obvious error to this. Bible college.
You say, I really want to be in the ministry and I don't know if God's going to choose me.
Bible college is your solution.
If you graduate, you will be chosen. But you know what? Not
necessarily by God. Hey, I can go online. I can pay 50 bucks
and I can get an ordination sticker. That wasn't chosen by God,
my friend. OK. And at the end of the day,
this church is there's no sure bet in the ministry
from my opinion, from my perspective. And there shouldn't be
and people that want to sure bet you can go join Bible college or you can buy your ordination
online or you can just find five guys that really like you.
You can pay off to call your pastor or whatever. But you know, that's not
how the Bible ordains it. I mean, you are chosen.
And I think this let's let me make this clear. It's not
because you don't want lots of people to be chosen, it's because you are faithful
help Lord for the godly man sees it
for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
It's just sad. And, you know, the way someone
communicates to me that they want to be in the ministry is by their action, not
their lips. Oh, man, they're just you can't
get rid of this guy. He's always in church. He's always serving. He's always
faithful. Everybody loves this person. You know, he knows the Bible super
well. He's constantly preaching. You think I want to hold somebody back
that's like that? And this guy, he's got his family in a row.
I mean, everybody in his job likes him. I mean, the men of God,
when they were chosen, they had to walk away from stuff.
Peter and his brother in the fishing boat, literally catching fish
in the moment. You know, they had to forsake their job. They had to be like, I have this
job, but, you know, it's Jesus, you know, he chose me.
Amos is working. He's got to leave it. David's working.
He's got to leave it. Joseph, he probably didn't care about his job in the jail.
All right. But all these men, they have to, Elisha, he's plowing with
his oxen. He's like, I got to, you know, well, let's kill them all and feed
some people and let's go out to work. But at the end of the day,
they weren't just like, you know, slow bumming it
until they get in the ministry. Well, as long as I can just get in the ministry, you know.
They, in their vision, I'm going to live a successful life if I never get into the ministry.
And he said, you know, I like that guy.
He's just making it work in life. He's a succeeder in life.
Let's just handpick this guy out because I think not only is he going to succeed
in the carnal world, I think he can succeed in the ministry. And look, there's some people
there's this holier than thou attitude I've heard and seen from some people.
They're like so hard to work in the secular world
because everybody's so ungodly. But if I was working
for the church, I mean, man, that'd be great. You know, if I could just get in the ministry,
it's like that holier than thou attitude is going to carry in the ministry.
Pretty soon I won't be holy enough. Pretty soon none of us will be holy enough.
Our church is just so ungodly. I mean, they drink lemon
in their water. They use microwaves.
Oh, man, it's just so ungodly.
There was women exposing their elbows in the
congregation. It's like, whoa, buddy,
how are you going to minister to the center? I mean, Jesus Christ
let prostitutes wash his feet with their hair.
They're so ungodly.
You're ungodly, OK? Stand by thyself, for I am holier than thou art.
No, you're not. That's a wicked attitude. What was Paul's attitude?
I'm chief of sinners. When you have that attitude, you have the ability to minister to everybody.
Because in your view, everybody's better than you.
Your viewpoint, I don't even know if I could touch you.
I'm chief of sinners here. I don't even deserve to be here.
You know, pick someone else. Amos is like, I'm just a herder.
I'm just a gatherer of fruit. But you know what? God
told me to do it. I'm just going to do it.
We need to find the biblical qualifications and let God
do the choosing. You say, how does God do the choosing? Well, it meets up with the Bible.
Not by man's definition. Well, this guy just looks like
he could be the person. But he doesn't match up with the Bible? Too bad.
You know, and God still wants to choose people. And the
Old Testament priests were ordained by being a son of Aaron, which means what?
It was set rules. God had set rules in place, even
though there wasn't always this act of God to choose them, was there?
I mean, just, you're born in the family of Aaron? Chosen, right?
I mean, you're just already selected. God gave us the qualifications of a pastor
and a bishop. There's not going to be some special, you know, oh, I saw the
light. You know, the pastor that I grew up under,
which is a false prophet, OK? Get over it.
He would always preach how he was like this used
car. He was a used appliance salesman.
OK, selling appliances sounds like a sleazebag.
But basically, he's like, well, I just God gave me this vision.
And I saw myself standing and it was
like I saw myself from the back, so I just saw my back and I'm looking out into
this body and a sea of thousands and thousands of people.
And God told me that I was going to be a pastor.
Even though I don't meet the qualifications, that's interesting,
isn't it, Cora? Isn't that interesting how that works out?
Yet it's funny because he told that story for years. Why, I
just by pure luck, OK, I found the sermon
and he gets up and he goes, you know, I've been telling this story for a long time about
how God showed me this vision of preaching to the sea of people. He's like, today's
that day. I mean, it's like you tried
to pull the Jesus, you know, and Jesus reads the prophet Isaiah
about himself. He's like today that's been fulfilled in your ears. It was so creepy and
satanic and weird. And it's like that is not how God's working.
You know, God's working with this book. God is speaking
every single day in this book. And when you don't meet the qualifications, I don't care
what your vision was. That was a vision from the devil or just coming out of your faint
heart. But God will choose people. But he's going to choose them
based on the scriptures. And he's going to use, you know,
a sinner to pick them, a sinner saved by grace
to pick that person. And, you know, we ought not have an
evil eye when someone gets picked to do something. You know, I could I could
always have that attitude. And we can apply this every year by you say, well, I'm never going to be a pastor.
So apply this to the areas of your life. OK, don't worry about who gets the next iPhone.
All right. It's probably tracking all your whereabouts anyway. It's probably not that.
I mean, well, you know,
that person has more children than that person has a better spouse than
that person gets to sit up closer to the front than, you know.
Well, many are called your chosen, you know.
No one's stopping you from getting in on the good deal. You know, is usually stopping you
from being a faithful person. And when other people get great things,
we ought to celebrate with them, not tear them down,
not look down upon them, not be like, why not me?
Why why don't I get the good stuff?
But God's going to do the choosing and he's going to choose those are humble
and content and meek. Moses was the meekest man on
the face of the earth. And I believe it's this. God
chooses those that are content with what they already have.
So when you notice yourself having the evil eye, let me tell you who to
blame the evil eye. Get rid of the evil eye and maybe
God will choose you to do something great. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, so
much for all the things that you've blessed us with with this great church
and the important work of being a light
under this world. And I just thank you that you choose people to do your
work and that you're still in control. And I pray that you would just raise
up faithful men and men that just love the Lord, that can be great ministers
and that we could choose them according to your will, not our own, and that you
would guide us and you would lead us in the right directions and that we could continue to
do your work according to your will. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
All right, for the final song, song number 63.
We're going to sing what a day that will be.
Song number 63.
All is peace forevermore
On the happy golden shore
What a day, glorious day that will be
What a day
that will be With my Jesus I shall
see When I look upon His face
What will save me by His grace
When He takes me by the hand
And leads me through the promised land
What a day, glorious day that will be
There will be no sorrow there
No more burdens to bear
No more sickness, no pain
No more parting over there
I will be With the one who died for me
What a day, glorious day
that will be What a day
that will be With my Jesus
I shall see When I look upon
His face What will save me by His grace
When He takes me by the hand
And leads me through the promised land
What a day, glorious day that will be
Amen. You are dismissed. You have a good night.