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. . . If you would all please find your seats and we'll begin with our Sunday night service. Once you find your seats and turn in your hymnals, let's go to hymn number 143. We'll begin tonight with hymn number 143. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, number 143. Once you find your place, we'll start on that first verse. We'll begin tonight with hymn number 143. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine, number 143. Let's sing it out nice and loud all together on this first verse. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine, Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, lost in His blood, This is my story, this is my song, Raising my Savior all the day long, This is my story, this is my song, Raising my Savior all the day long, The Word is a mission, perfectly mine, Visions of rapture, numbers on my side, Angels descending, rain from above, Echoes of mercy, whispers above, This is my story, this is my song, Raising my Savior all the day long, This is my story, this is my song, Raising my Savior all the day long, The Word is a mission, perfectly mine, I am my Savior and I am blessed, Watching Him waving, looking at love, Filled with His goodness, lost in His blood, This is my story, this is my song, Raising my Savior all the day long, This is my story, this is my song, Raising my Savior all the day long, The only way this is going to work is if you watch me, alright? So on that chorus, this is my story, This is my story, this is my song, Raising my Savior all the day long, This is my story, this is my song, Raising my Savior all the day long, Man, nearly passed out there. But that's Brother Kevin Rowe. Father in Heaven, thank you for the opportunity for us to be here tonight in church. I pray that you'll fill us all with your spirit as we sing praises to you. And please bless the preaching to follow. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen. Amen. Up to hip number 303. My faith looks up to thee. Hip number 103. Three hundred and three, my faith looks up to thee. Three, zero, three, let's sing it. All this verse first, all together now. My faith looks up to thee, Thou, Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine, How here he while I pray, Take all my guilt away, O, then become this day, Behold, divine. May thy rich praise impart, Strength to my fainting heart, My zeal in strife, As thou hast died for me, O, may my love to thee, Go forth and change us, Be a living part. While my start pays my strength, Then grace around me spread, Be thou my God. In darkness turned to day, My sorrows tears away, Lord, let me ever stray from thee aside. When as my strength's a dream, When death's bones so extreme, Shall o'er be grown, Blessed Savior then in love, Fear and distrust removed, O, bear me safe above, A ransom's soul. All right, this time we'll go through our announcements. If you need a bulletin, go ahead and slip up your hand. One of the gentlemen will bring you one. As always, we have our service times every Sunday at 10 30 a.m. again at 6 p.m. Make sure I got that right. I get confused being in Tucson. Yes, 6 p.m. up here. Wednesdays at 7 p.m. we'll be in Ezekiel chapter 13. We've got the church-wide soul-winning listed below that, as well as the salvation baptisms. Happy birthday to everybody celebrating a birthday in the month of November, and also happy wedding anniversary as well to those celebrating in the month of November. Don't forget the church picnic is coming up on Saturday, November 20th at noon, so typically that was something we did later in the afternoon, but we're moving that ahead. Make sure you go to that exact address that's there, or you're going to end up somewhere near the zoo. If you just put it into Google, put in 1000 North College Avenue. If you can, please bring a dish to pass on the back. Continue to pray for Brother Raymond as he's recovering from malaria. Last I heard, the last report I got was last night, or yesterday sometime, and it sounds like he's on the mend, but that he is, he had to get a blood transfusion, I guess. So, this is actually all turning out for the best, because at the beginning we were all very concerned, because they didn't even know what he had. They couldn't diagnose it. Malaria is like 20,000 people or something like that, get that in the U.S. every year, so it's a very rare thing to get, but praise God the area will identify it, and he's on the road to recovery, but do continue to pray for him. Pray for Pastor as well, he's got, he doesn't have malaria, thank God, but he is sick, so do pray for him that he recovers. And then don't forget, we'll be taking a group photo for the yearbook immediately after the morning service next Sunday, so if you could come out and get us a good shot, we're going to do that next Sunday. And then there's some details there about the zip line tour. Mrs. Anderson I know isn't feeling well either right now, so if you want to participate in this, you're going to probably have to reach out to her via Facebook or however else you can get ahold of her, or you can come to us here and we can try to work that out. But those details are there, don't forget the other upcoming events, we've got the Spanish night, and all small town soul winning has been postponed, obviously because of Raymond's the one heading that up, so we're going to postpone that until he's back on his feet, and that's going to do it for announcements, so go ahead and count up the soul winning going back to Thursday the 4th, got two there, anybody else on Thursday? And what about Friday? One there, one there. Anything else for Friday, got you two? Okay, Saturday, anything for Saturday? And today we'll start with the van? Six for the van, anything else outside the van? Two there, three there, anything else for today? Okay, I see that hand, see that hand, any other hand, there's another one, see? Alright, that will do it for announcements, so go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight. Alright, you should find the insert of Rejoice in the Lord. If you don't have one, please raise your hand. God never moves without purpose or plan. Let's sing it out on this first verse together. God never moves without purpose or plan When trying, servant, and molding of man Give thanks to the Lord, though your testing seems long In darkness he giveth a song Oh rejoice in the Lord, he makes no mistake In the wake, the end of each path that I take For when I am tried and purified I shall come forth as gold I could not see through the shadows ahead So I looked at the cross of my Savior's dead I bowed to the will of the Master that day Then peace came and tears fled away Oh rejoice in the Lord, he makes no mistake We know with the end of each path that I take For when I am tried and purified I shall come forth as gold Now I can see testing comes from above God strengthens his children and purges them of love My Father knows best and I trust in his care Through purging or fruit I will bear Oh rejoice in the Lord, he makes no mistake We know with the end of each path that I take For when I am tried and purified I shall come forth as gold Amen and your hymnals now, please turn to hymn number 468 Any other words for this? Isn't he wonderful, hymn number 468? Or song number 468? We'll sing it twice, isn't he wonderful? 468 Isn't he wonderful, wonderful, wonderful Isn't Jesus my Lord, wonderful I shall sing his ever-ending story in the Word Isn't Jesus my Lord, wonderful Isn't he wonderful, wonderful, wonderful Isn't Jesus my Lord, wonderful I shall sing his ever-ending story in the Word Isn't Jesus my Lord, wonderful Alright this time we'll go ahead and pass the offering plate As the plate goes around you can follow along with brother Daniel as he reads from Judges chapter 3, Judges chapter number 3 tonight Judges chapter 3 the Bible reads Now these are the nations which the Lord left to prove Israel by them even as many of Israel had as had not known all the wars of Canaan Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know to teach them war at the least such as before knew nothing thereof Namely five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites that dwelt in Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal-Erman unto the entering in of Hamath And they were to prove Israel by them to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord which he commanded their fathers by the hands of Moses And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites and Amorites and Perizzites and Hivites and Jebusites And they took their daughters to be their wives and gave their daughters to their sons and served their gods And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and forgot the Lord their God and served Balaam in the groves Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and he sold them into the hands of Chushan Rishatham, king of Mesopotamia And the children of Israel served Chushan Rishatham eight years And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel who delivered them Even Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he judged Israel and went out to war And the Lord delivered Chushan Rishatham, king of Mesopotamia, into his hands And his hand prevailed against Chushan Rishatham And the land had rest forty years, and Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord And the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against Israel Because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek And went and smote Israel and possessed the city of palm trees So the children of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, eighteen years But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer Ehud, the son of Gerah, a Benjamite, a man left-handed And by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon, the king of Moab But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length And he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh And he brought the present unto Eglon, king of Moab And Eglon was a very fat man And when he had made an end to Ah for the present He sent away the people that bear the present But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal And said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king Who said, Keep silence And all that stood by him went out from him And Ehud came unto him And he was sitting in a summer parlor Which he had for himself alone And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee And he arose out of his seat And Ehud put forth his left hand And took the dagger from his right thigh And thrust it into his belly And went in after the blade And the fat closed upon the blade So that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly And the dirt came out Then Ehud went forth through the porch And shut the doors of the parlor upon him And locked them When he was gone out his servants came And when they saw that behold the doors of the parlor were locked They said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber And they tarried till they were ashamed And behold, he opened not the doors of the parlor Therefore they took a key and opened them And behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth And Ehud escaped while they tarried And he passed beyond the quarries and escaped unto Seirath And it came to pass when he was come That he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Viphraim And the children of Israel went down with him from the mount And he before them And he said unto them, Follow after me For the Lord hath delivered your enemies The Moabites into your hand And they went down after him And took the fords of Jordan toward Moab And suffered not a man to pass over And they slew of Moab at that time About ten thousand men, all lusty And all men of valor And their escape not a man For the Lord hath delivered Israel And the land had rest four score years And after him was Shamgar, the son of Anath Which slew of the Philistines six hundred men With an ox goad And he also delivered Israel Father in heaven, I pray that you please bless Brother Corbin as he preaches your word And help us, your children, obey your word In Jesus' name I pray, Amen Amen, so in Judges chapter 3 there We've got this cool story there Beginning of verse 12 about Ehud Which is a place during a time when You know Israel's first getting into The system of the judges and There's a lot of forsaking of the Lord Going on and God's constantly having to Bring up another deliverer to Bring Israel back and to the Lord To keep them from continuing to backslide And one of the judges that I want to look at Is of course here Ehud in verse 12 it says And the children of Israel did evil again In the sight of the Lord And the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab Against Israel because they had done evil And they gathered unto him the children of Amun and Amalek and went and smote Israel And possessed the city of palm trees So the children of Israel served Eglon The king of Moab eighteen years But the children of Israel cried unto the Lord And the Lord raised them up a deliverer Ehud the son of Gerah a Benjamite A man left handed and by him The children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab And the thing I want to kind of point out here About Ehud is the fact that the Bible Is real clear to tell us Which hand was dominant It says there that he was a man left handed And of course this plays into the story There's a real specific reason why The Bible is pointing this out But it's interesting that the Bible Often points this out that You know when we are dealing with Left handed individuals okay I won't turn you to all the passages But we'll just remember 1 Chronicles chapter 12 When we had those that came to David And Ziklag There was those that came to him And they could do what? They were armed with bows and could use They were shooting arrows out of a bow Even of Saul's brethren of Benjamin So this was something that they were Really skilled at They were so good with these weapons That they could use not only the right hand But also the left okay And then again in Judges if you were to go To chapter 20 we won't But if you remember again the tribe of Benjamin There were 700 chosen men left handed Everyone could sling stones at inherent breath And not miss So the Bible is pointing out These left handed individuals Of Benjamin It's always these people from the tribe of Benjamin That are left handed You know and before I get into this I just want to make a disclaimer I'm not trying to make any left handed People feel awkward tonight okay I don't think you're a freak or anything like that Alright you couldn't help it If you're left handed But you know I briefly looked at some statistics About being left handed And it's actually pretty interesting How rare it is to be left handed I think the one I looked at Is the science here But you know just from what I saw on Google For whatever that's worth You know even a person who has two left handed Parents only has like 24 percent chance Of being left handed So that's pretty interesting you know Even if both your parents are left handed You would think oh you're definitely Going to have a left handed child No there's actually only 25 percent chance That that child that two left handed parents Will have will turn out left handed Not that there's anything wrong With turning out left handed okay You know they have to reach around When they write and everything like that It's a difficulty but it's something That we take note of isn't it So that makes you a little different Not necessarily in a bad way You know but it is something that we take note of And I think the Bible's kind of pointing this out to us So that we can understand a principle here And that is that you know if we have some kind of a You know not necessarily a flaw But maybe there's just something about us That other people perceive about us Or maybe it's just something an opinion That we have about ourselves That we think well God can't use me For this reason right And Ehud here he was a man left handed He was a little different than everybody else But God was still able to use him In a mighty way And again I'm not saying if you're left handed You know you're probably doubting Whether or not God can use you I'm using this to kind of extrapolate And say hey you know being left handed Is kind of different And sometimes we think that we're so different Or that we have some maybe even a perceived flaw That we think well God can't use me For the truth God can use us in spite of ourselves And we see here how God was able to use A man who was a little different Right and able to accomplish something Great for God So if you would go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 1 Corinthians chapter 12 Keep something in Judges 3 we're going to come back But go over to 1 Corinthians chapter number 12 1 Corinthians chapter number 12 So Ehud he's a left handed man Right and people would think you know What's the significance of that Well I think the Bible's showing us That God can still use us And we should never dismiss people And say well you know God can't use this person Because they're this or because they're that You know God can never you know So and so can never be a preacher Because they're just too much this way You know or that person could never win souls Because they have this flaw Or they have that flaw Or you know that wife that mother She'll never raise godly children Because she has some kind of a background Or you know she has some kind of flaw We should never think like this Because there are people in some way That God can't use us God can still use us He can use a man left handed That's the title of the sermon a man left handed Well you're there in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 20 It says in verse 20 But now there are many members yet but one body And the eye cannot say unto the hand I have no need of thee Nor again the head to the feet I have no need of you Nay much more those members of the body Which seem to be more feeble are necessary And those members of the body Upon these we bestow more abundant honor Now he's saying there in verse 23 Those members which we think to be less honorable He says upon these we bestow more honor More abundant honor You know we kind of this reminds me of You know a lady she might have a blemish or something Not that it ever happens here But you know what do they do They bestow more abundant honor upon that They take a little more time in the mirror To do whatever they do to cover that up And you know we do things like that We think there's some part of our body Or something about our physicality That is coming up short We might take the time to address that in some way You know I think about for myself Like if you have back pains You know I'm kind of confessing a fault here And I'm sure other people can relate to this If you have back pain I got a name in there that's good You know it might be because of the fact That you have a weak core right So you know I know it's true All right I know it's hard to believe That we should bestow more abundant honor on Right so we should never look at a part of the body And of course this is being in the context of the church And say well that person you know They can't do anything for God We should actually bestow more abundant honor on them The Bible says Just like we would our body He says verse 24 For our comely parts have no need But God hath tempered together the body Tempered the body together Having given more abundant honor to that part Which lacked Now if you would go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 12 And say well that thing about you That is a little different That might be the exact thing that God uses To work in your life and the lives of others You know and when I was You know thinking about the sermon I was just thinking about how sometimes You know specifically when it comes to Like people who are going to be preachers one day Right like some people might say You know that that person I don't think They would make a good preacher because Of some attribute they have When in fact that attribute that they have Could be what appeals to other people Or might appeal to You know this is something I thought about You know quite a bit and been reminded About quite a bit Is the fact that you know different preachers Are going to appeal to different people We don't want to have preachers That are all the same We don't want to have guys that all preach the same Have the same demeanor So on and so forth Or have the same attitude or whatever It's good to have a variety of people When it comes to preachers Because you know some people might be Preachers are preaching the same message They both got the King James Bible They're both preaching the right salvation They're both preaching the same doctrine You know that's why God sometimes Even gives these people different attributes That's why we have differing personalities And things like that So we should never write people off like that And we can apply that to soul winning too You know that's a fact There's some people that you're going to go knock On their door and they're not going to give you The time of day But then some you know so and so Is something you know more subtle I don't know exactly what it's going to be But they'll listen to that person You know I find that a lot when ladies go soul winning It seems like ladies tend to do better Than the men when they go out soul winning Because they're probably a little bit less Curt at the door They're a little more gentler You know they're a little bit easier to look at When you have to talk to somebody that long This is a fact This is something I've noticed You know that when people certain people go out They might have success So we should never pick people apart Over some perceived flaw You know of course I'm using EHUD Using a little liberty there In that passage to say Well you know he's left handed And everyone knows how those left handed people are They can't do anything for God We don't want to have that type of attitude To say well this person God can't use them the same way that they could use this person Because there's just something about them that's different We should never have that attitude In fact it's the things that we would think Are a drawback to us that God would actually use And if you look at 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9 He said And he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee For my strength is made perfect in weakness He said my strength is made perfect in weakness You know when we have some kind of flaw When we have something that's maybe not just so Maybe something that's maybe even a little bit of a detriment to us You know that helps keep people humble You know sometimes when people get a little too puffed up Or they think they've got it all together They're not going to be able to use that person Because God resists the proud but gives grace unto the humble the Bible says So we need to have people who are willing to look beyond their faults Look beyond their shortcomings And let God use them Because that's the type of people that God wants to use People that are going to not think highly of themselves And that's why God often I think will give us Something that might be what others would consider A flaw or something that's not perfect in some way Now if you would go back to Judges chapter 3 Judges chapter 3 you know the Bible says in Proverbs 18 A man's gift maketh room for him and bringeth him before great men You know and that this proverb applies to Ehud in several different ways You know he had this gift one for making knives We'll see that right that's a skill that he had But you know his gift or maybe what made him different Was the fact that it was left-handed and what did it do It brought him before a great man You know you could say in what sense was he great You know he was physically great right He certainly wasn't great in the godly way He was a very wicked man But he was a man of power and stature and position And the gift that Ehud brought him before this man You know and when God gives us gifts And God gives us maybe something that makes us a little different Or maybe we have a different personality We're not like somebody else That might be the thing that God designs to use in our lives To bring us before great men Maybe to bring before us you know before a great quantity of people To think of it in terms of quantity You know God might use our preaching, our soul winning To you know reach many people You know because of some gift or something that makes us a little different Now you're there in Judges chapter 3 continuing on the story of Ehud Look at verse 17 it says He brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab And Eglon was a very fat man And when he had made an end Excuse me when he had made an end to offer The present he sent away the people that bear the present But he himself turned again from the quarries which were our Gilgal Excuse me let me get a drink of water This is water and you're right this is mine? Okay good I don't want to get taken out So what's going on in the story is that you know They bring this gift right And then they go away and then Ehud dismisses everybody when they get to these quarries And he goes back right And it says in verse 20 Ehud came unto him and he was sitting in a summer parlor Which he had for himself alone and Ehud said I have a message from God unto thee And he arose out of his seat And Ehud put forth his hand And took excuse me put forth his left hand And took the dagger from his right thigh And thrust it into his belly So you can see how God is using this particular gift To deliver this you know message And by the way that was the message from God He said well what was his message? No that was it You know God is angry with the wicked And destroys the wicked the wicked shall perish That's God's message to him you know Hey you know what here's your message You're dead right But notice how God used him right When he went to kill him he reaches with his left hand And he takes it from what his right thigh Okay And you got to kind of think this story through a little bit Like how did he get you know how did he get this close to the king with the weapon Well it was because of the fact that he was a man left-handed It was his gift it was what made him different That brought him before a great man Okay So you got to imagine that when they're bringing people into the king They would probably kind of pat you down Or they would look to see if you had some kind of a dagger or a sword And where would that typically be on an individual You know seventy-five percent of the population or whatever You know in China or actually in India one of the most populous places on the planet Only three and a half percent of the population is left-handed Right so imagine you know that's it kind of gives you perspective You know when you so they're typically these guards you know They wouldn't make very good Secret Service apparently Because they're just assuming everyone's right-handed And they're just looking say well he doesn't have a gun or you know he doesn't have a dagger Or a sword I guess in this case on his left hip so he's good You know they didn't bother even to pat that side down And that's what allowed Ehud to slip through these guards And get close to the king and what did he end up doing He ends up killing him Right but notice when he killed him you know what was the result of that And he delivered Israel I mean he delivered God's people from bondage He brought righteousness back and they had peace for decades in the land And it was all because of the fact that he was different He wasn't like everybody else He had something that even maybe some people would perceive as a flaw And say well that makes you a little different to be left-handed And that's the thrust of this message is that we should never count ourselves out We should never count other people out Just because their personality is a little different Just because there's something about them that we think is a little off That might be the exact thing that God is going to use to reach somebody And do a great work for God And the Bible says you know we could think of other examples You know think about Moses right And then we could say well maybe he was just making excuses When God called him to go deliver Israel And he said what I'm of a slow speech and a slow tongue Now maybe he was trying to pull a fast one on God I don't know Or maybe he really did you know was of slow speech and of a slow tongue And God still used him in a mighty way right And why was that because Moses didn't think highly of himself He's thinking you know who am I to go and deliver God's people You know I think of King David you know all the great works that he did And even at the height of his power he's you know he says You know who am I and what is my house that that was brought me hitherto You know David was just a shepherd boy Remember when they found him he was the youngest right And he's just he's he's a shepherd out in the sheep cult They didn't when Samuel came to town to to to find out which one of You know of the of his brothers were going to be the next king They didn't even bother calling David They're just like he's of course it's not David You know and we we romanticize you know you know a lot of You know like agricultural work today like we think oh it'd be so cool to be a shepherd No it wouldn't you know that's a really hard job Right and typically that job was reserved for people that you wouldn't want around a lot Right because they're I mean they're out keeping the sheep the whole time Like you know let the younger one go do that let him go pay his dues You know get him away from us that's kind of what they thought of David Right and and because of that you know David who was ostracized by other people Was thought you know not to have anything to offer by other people Was actually you know one of the greatest kings that God has ever used to lead his people Now the Bible says in 2 Corinthians I'll just read to you But if you would go to Colossians chapter 1, Colossians chapter 1 The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4 that we have this treasure in what? In earthen vessels That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us When he's talking about an earthen vessel he's talking about like a clay vessel or maybe a wooden vessel You know not a vessel of gold or silver or something that's very attractive You might use to you know put up as a conversation piece in your living room or something that's going to be some kind of an heirloom You know an earthen vessel is just something that is just made for its functionality You know just you know a vessel that you could take to the well and dip down in there And if the cord breaks and it falls in the well you're kind of like bummer I got to make another one You know it's not great-grandma's you know you know French vase or whatever You know it's not it's not anything glazed or anything like that It's just an earthen vessel right and the Bible's saying that we have this treasure in earthen vessel You know we have the Holy Spirit we have the ministry that God has given to us in an earthen vessel You know and these vessels that we have these bodies you know our personalities all that you know they can be flawed Maybe they're not perfect maybe not the most attractive thing maybe they're not the the best of the best But you know what it's the treasure that's within the vessel that matters the most And we have this treasure in earthen vessel and why is that? It's that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us So I mean a lot of times when you see somebody who just seems like they have it all together They're a great speaker you know you just you think of well of course they're they're this powerful preacher Of course they're this great soul winner they're just a very outgoing person They're very you know charismatic right they're a very enthusiastic person They're an extrovert right we think well of course they're they're good at that I mean just just look at their personality look what they're like of course they're going to be good in this area And I'm not you know I'm saying if you're if you're that way that there's something wrong You know those people can still are still humble people obviously if they're being used of God But look when you have somebody who's not that way who's more introverted You know maybe somebody who's not the best speaker maybe somebody who's a little bit more shy isn't as outgoing And they and God uses them you know we tend to say wow God God is at work here You know the excellency truly is of God the excellency and the power is of God and not of them And of course in both instances it's that way but sometimes we fail to recognize that Sometimes we fail to see it that way we just think well yeah they're they're a great order They're some great speaker they're some great soul winner because of the way that they are But you know really in either case what's really going on there is that it's the it's the treasure that's in that vessel It's the the excellency of the power of God that's at work there Now if you look there and well I'll get to Colossians 1 So we see first of all with Ehud the fact that you know he was used of God despite the fact that he had something a little bit different about him Right maybe he wasn't the ideal you know person for the job maybe he wasn't going to be the the perfect preacher or what everybody thought he should be or what anything like that And God could use him right but is that enough to get you used by God just to be different Just to be you know so to speak left-handed right no of course not There's still you know a matter of you have to be willing and you have to be prepared to be used by God So you know though you oddballs out there don't just think all right well anytime now God's just gonna use me because I'm so weird right or I'm so different Okay, you know who you are all right No, you still have to be prepared you know and and and whether you're odd or not God isn't going to use you know Somebody that isn't prepared to be used by God because I'll remind us you don't have to go back just yet to Judges chapter 3, but remember before he had even went to go see Eglon It says in verse 16 that he sat down and did what made him a dagger You know and that's something that takes skill and time and preparation You know that's you know I've never made of knife I've seen people do it on YouTube. I know people that make knives You know there's a lot that goes into making a knife You know you got to find the steel you got to make some kind of a kiln you got to heat it up You got a bang on that thing you got a Sharpen it you got I don't know everything that goes into it, but there's a lot of work that goes into making a knife There's a lot of preparation right when he had decided you know that God was going to use him when God decided I'm gonna use he had you know He found a guy that had some skill a guy that was willing to sit down and get prepared and sharpen a knife You know if we want to be used by God we have to do the same thing you know We have the Word of God the sword of the Spirit right you know we got to sharpen this thing in our hands You want to be used by God as a soul winner. You know it's not just enough to be a little little different You know you still have to be prepared It's not enough just to have humility you still have to have this thing sharpened And there's a process there You know if you go out soul winning with people and you take notes on how people do things And and you mark the scriptures and you learn how to do it you memorize the scriptures You used and you know the biggest hurdle is just starting to talk Just getting out there and just opening your mouth to make known the mystery of the gospel That's usually the biggest hurdle that people have to get over But the more you do that the more prepared you become the sharper that that blade gets and the more God can use you So there's still you know this matter of having to be somebody who's prepared He had still had to sit down and make him a dagger You know and that's what we see in the scripture You're in Colossians chapter 1 look at verse 9 it says for this cause we also since the day we have heard of it Do not cease to pray for you and to desire they may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual and understanding So Paul here is praying for the Colossians and he wants these people to be used of God He wants them to work for God so but what does he pray for them? God just use them God just use them in spite of themselves you know use them they're humble people God I pray just mightily use the Colossian people What was his prayer? His prayer is that they would be filled with the knowledge of his will He wanted them to have knowledge and understanding That you might walk worthy of the Lord and pleasing being fruitful in every good work You know that's a good prayer for people look we want people to go out and be fruitful soul winners We want them to be fruitful in their personal lives We want them to be fruitful in their families all of that right that's a good prayer But also fruitful in every good work and what increasing in the knowledge of God We can't just have this desire to be used of God and not have the knowledge Ehud couldn't just show up you know without a knife you know that wouldn't have done him any good Hey I have a message from you from God O king well what's your message? Actually it's left hand right? Don't sin you know whatever you know he just makes up something something You know he had to sit down and get that message ready he had to make that knife in order to be used of God Now if you would go over to second Samuel chapter 18 second Samuel chapter number 18 God you know Paul prayed that the Colossians would be used and that they would increase the knowledge of God To be strengthened with all might according to his glorious power right But there you know it's not just this supernatural you know mystical thing that takes place You know God uses people God empowers people that have knowledge people that study the word of God Get into the word of God and that's why Paul told Timothy you know Paul wanted Timothy to be used of God I mean first and second Timothy is just Paul imploring Timothy to continue in the faith You know to fight the good fight of faith to make full proof of his ministry to watch in all things right To do the work of evangelists but also there was the part where he told him you know study to show thyself a proven to God A workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth You know he told him to give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine right He wanted to be used of God but he also said in order to be used by God you have to have the knowledge Right just like Ehud had to sit down and make that knife in order to be used by God Now another example of this that I want to look at before we close tonight about you know the type of people that God uses Right God used Ehud right and even though some people might have looked at him like well he's left-handed God can't use a left-handed guy now I don't know if anybody said that or not No I don't know if anybody said that or not but I'm just kind of using that as an illustration right That he was a little different or something a little you know off with him But God still used him in spite of you know his oddity or whatever you want to call it Another example of this would be the would be Cushai You're there in 2 Samuel chapter 18 of course this is during the rebellion of Absalom And we're coming Absalom has just been killed by Joab and the ten young men that slew him When he was hanging in the tree and they passed his body in a great pit And it says in 2 Samuel chapter 18 now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar Which is in the king's dale for he said I have no son to keep my name in remembrance And he called the name of the pillar after his own name and it is called into this day Absalom's place So this is Absalom's death So verse 19 then said Ahimeaz the son of Zadok let me now run and bear the king tidings How that the Lord hath avenged him of his enemies So you have this guy who's saying look I want to bring the one that brings the message You know we'll see here why he wants to bring the message and really the reason why is because he's in it for the glory I mean he wants to run I don't know what the big deal is about that But you know he's real good at it we'll see you in a minute right But he wants to bring this message to the king he wants to be the one to come and kind of get that moment of glory Right because King David is a man of prominence right He's lifted up he's got power everyone knows who he is so he kind of wants to be the one that told David about that victory that he had And it's interesting you know he's insisting here and if he says there he says you know let me bear tidings right And then look at verse 20 and Joab said unto him thou shalt not bear tidings this day But thou shalt bear tidings another day but this day shalt thou bear no tidings So you know he's telling him no in three different ways right because the king's son is dead And I think Joab kind of knew something about this guy Ahimeas and that's probably why he didn't send him Because it's not that Joab doesn't want to get the message to the king He wants the message because right after he gets done telling Ahimeas no you're not going to bear messages You're going to do it another day but today you're not going to do it Then said Joab verse 21 to Cushai go and tell the king without a sin So it's not he's got this Ahimeas he's like hey he's volunteering he's like hey I'm going to do it I'll go I'll go bear the message And Joab says no not today another day but not this day then he just turns to Cushai hey go tell the king And imagine being Ahimeas he's like didn't you hear what I said you know I'd be willing to go and do this But it seems like Joab kind of knew something about this guy that's kind of what I think Then said Ahimeas the son of Zadok yet again to Joab but where howsoever let me I pray thee also run after Cushai So this guy's just not giving up right even after Joab's told him no three times he sent another guy And Ahimeas is still saying well no you got to let me do it he's insisting right You know and this is something that we need to take note of people that insist on doing something that they've been told they can't do Typically are not good people People that want to bear a message that it's not theirs to bear you know and specifically you know I would apply this to people who are disqualified from the ministry And yet still insist on bringing that message Where people are told hey you know what you're not cut out for the ministry you're not going to go into the ministry you're not going to be able to do anything And then they find some little you know loophole somewhere else you know they they go to a college they get online and get some kind of a box-top degree Right and now they're a pastor even though they don't have kids or they're divorced or they disqualified themselves in some other way They just insist on being the one that bears the message right Now I'm not saying that all those people are bad people because even Ahimeas when he gets there David said oh he's a good man And they recognize his running that he was a man of reputation and David said he's a good man right So maybe you know I think sometimes people they insist on being in these positions just because they want the glory Or you know but a lot of times it is because they have you know wicked purposes They want to like you know they're in it for the money they're in it for the prestige or whatever But usually that's a red sign of some a red flag of something When somebody's insisting no let me no let me because Ahimeas just doesn't give it up Ahimeas said the son of Zadok said yet again to Joab well howsoever let me I pray this is verse 22 Also run after Cushai and Joab said wherefore wilt thou run my son seeing thou hast no tidings ready He's like look the messages are there's no new message to tell him But howsoever he said let me run so this guy is just persisting here right And finally Joab it just seems like he throws it he said on him run right He just gets so annoyed with this guy he's like you know what I'll let David deal with you You're just so obnoxious I'd rather just have you out of my my hair right now Says you know what just run then but notice when Ahimeas runs what happens it says but that verse 23 Towards the end there then Ahimeas ran by the way of the plane and overran Cushai Now think about the lead that Ahimeas has on Cushai at this point of story Right he's been told to go and then Ahimeas has to sit there and make his case to Joab Let me run no no really let me run no hey let me run all right fine run I mean I don't know how long that all transpired but I'd have to imagine Cushai had a pretty good lead on this guy And Ahimeas still manages to overtake him and beat him right So you have to ask yourself why didn't Joab choose the faster run I mean isn't this kind of an important message that he's sending I mean the king's son is dead the battle's over they weren't sure whether or not they were going to even live to see the end of the day And God has given them this victory over the enemy And he's choosing the slower guy to deliver the message You know well sometimes you know there's a reason to choose the guy who maybe is not the best runner But he has some other attributes that are good that Ahimeas does not have And we'll see what those are here in a minute And of course you know the story it says in verse 25 And David sat between the two gates and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate of the wall and lifted up his eyes and looked and to hold the man running alone The watchman cried and told the king and he said If he be alone there's tidings in his mouth and he came apace and drew near And the watchman saw another man running and the watchman called under the porter and said behold another man running alone And the king said he also bringeth tidings And the watchman said me thinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimeas the son of Zadok And the king said he is a good man and cometh with good tidings Now notice when Ahimeas gets there now we can kind of get to get a sense of why maybe Joab didn't use him Why maybe the slower guy the guy who wasn't as fast a runner was the right guy to send Because notice when Ahimeas gets there the message that he delivers Ahimeas called and said unto the king all is well Now think about that statement is all well? Because you have to remember in the story earlier on David said hey deal gently with my son And it says that all the captains heard it Ahimeas knew that's what everyone knew he was not to kill Joab or excuse me to kill Absalom Absalom was killed because you know David doesn't want Absalom killed You know right or wrong okay that's not really the point of the sermon But when Ahimeas shows up his first words are all is well You know this is the positive only preacher The guy doesn't want to come up and say hey you know what your son's dead Everybody disobeyed you You know that's a hard message to deliver I don't know why he's so eager to go and tell King David a guy of great power Who specifically said don't kill my son Why would you want to bring that message to that guy? That's a hard message to bring You don't even know how David's going to react But he shows up and says all is well right And he fall down to the earth upon his face before the king and said Blessed be the Lord thy God which hath delivered thee up and delivered up the men that lifted up their hands against them Willard my king And David's like yeah yeah verse 29 And the king said is the young man Absalom safe? And again we get another glimpse as to why Ahimeas was not the guy for the job Although he was a faster runner Boy that guy could run He really had that going for him He had some good attributes He believed and thought he was a good man But you know what he was? Unfaithful to the message You know it's not necessarily about how well that message is delivered It's about whether or not you're faithful to the message God has given And he's not faithful Because when he shows up You know he shows up and he says hey is Absalom safe? And Ahimeas answered and said wouldn't you have sent the king's servant And me thy servant I saw a great tomet but I knew not what it was Everyone knows that he knows that Absalom's dead Everyone knows this that's why they're sending messengers I don't know He's real quick to show up and say all is well Everything's fine It's your best life now God's not mad at you Right? But he doesn't want to show up and deliver the hard message Hey Absalom's dead You know he doesn't want to deliver that hard message He doesn't want to deliver that hard message That's why this guy's not the right guy for the job So that's what I'm trying to get at this evening Is that you know when we see people who maybe don't have the best qualities in some area Or think aren't ideal the way that we think they should be That doesn't mean that God can't use them Because we don't always know what's in people's hearts You know you might see a guy who's just polished Who's got it all together Who just seems like yeah this guy should be some great preacher somewhere But you don't know what's in his heart God knows what's in his heart And maybe that guy will turn out to be you know wicked And bring a false message or won't be faithful to the word in some way But you know that's not the case with Cushai That was the guy although the slower guy He was faithful to message verse 30 And the king said unto him turn aside and stand here And he turned aside stood still verse 31 And behold Cushai came and Cushai said Tidings my lord the king Now notice how he shows up He just says tidings He doesn't say I got good news He says I got bad news he says I got some news Right and then we'll see why Cushai It wasn't just that he was faithful to message It's also in the way he delivered the message that counts And Cushai he said and behold Cushai came And Cushai said tidings verse 31 My lord the king for the lord hath avenged thee this day Of all them that rose up against thee And the king said unto Cushai is the young man Absalom safe And Cushai said answer oh Absalom yeah he's dead Oh yeah you should have seen it king Joab ran him through with three darts And then the ten young men that were with him They hacked him to pieces you know they just They cut him up it was great And the whole time I mean think about the death of Absalom It's one of the most gruesome deaths in the Bible He's literally hanging from his hair in an oak tree I mean that alone is painful enough And he's hanging there long enough for a guy to see him And go tell Joab what happened And for Joab to show up You know it wasn't like he was just there for a few minutes I mean he's suspended in air By his hair in an oak tree And then Joab shows up and does he cut him down? He runs him through with three darts But the Bible says it was the ten men That were with Joab that slew him And it says it threw him through the heart Now I think that just means it was in that general vicinity You know the heart of the man like the core Right because heart and core are words that are synonymous And he throws three darts through him So the guy's hanging from his hair writhing in agony With three darts in him and then he's hacked to pieces Right now could have Cushai come and told him about it So I got him, Tidings is the king How's Joab or how's Absalom doing? What of my son? Well he should have seen his gruesome death And then we just threw him a pit and threw a bunch of rocks on him Right Now look some guys they might be faithful to the message But you know what they lack tact They lack tact And how to deliver a good message Or a hard message rather in a good way They think oh I'm going to be a preacher I'm going to be a preacher I'm going to be a preacher I'm going to be a preacher I'm going to get up there and I'm just going to rip everybody's face Every sermon I preach is just going to be this ripping face sermon People are just going to squirm throughout the whole auditorium Palms are going to be sweating Stomach's going to be turning People are going to be afraid to come hear me preach Because I'm going to be so hardcore in the pulpit You know what I learned real quick When I started preaching full time Delivering hard messages is not fun It's not fun to get up to tell people hey you need to change It's not fun to get up and have to rebuke people It's not fun to get up having to correct people And tell them they're in sin And then they need a change It's not easy And I didn't get up and say oh this is fun You know This is what made Cushai the right guy to send Was he the fastest? No but you know what he was faithful to the message Because he says here And the king said to Cushai verse 32 Is the young man Absalom safe and Cushai answered Notice the tact here He said my lord the king and all that rises up thee to do thee hurt Be as that young man is And he's basically telling him in a very gentle way You know what your son's dead Because he knows that's not what the king wants to hear And he's bringing a hard message And not only being faithful to it But he's also delivering it in such a way That has some tact to it Because look no matter what he says You read the next verse David's weeping Does it really matter if he said it You know in a crass way Or delivered it nicely He's gonna react either way So why not use a little tact Why not deliver that message a little bit more gently Look and I'm not against a hard message People sometimes you gotta get up and you gotta rip face I understand that You gotta tell it like it is And people's feelings are a secondary concern But that's not every sermon That's not every message Some message it's just more important they deliver it faithfully And that you just deliver it in the right way So that people will actually receive it Now he wasn't the fastest guy And you know EHud was a man that was left handed He wasn't a normal person I'm so sorry to you left handed people you know You know I'd ask for a raise of hands But I don't know I might be afraid of a mob afterwards or something I guess I'll find out afterwards right But you know there's something different about these guys Maybe they weren't the perfect people for the job But it was you know what they The qualities that they did possess that mattered You know EHud his left hand being left handed Is what you know allowed him to sneak through the guards And get to the king And deliver that message to the king right And you know Kushai not the fastest guy right But also still somebody that God could use Because of the fact that he was faithful And he wasn't insisting was he He was just there You know God you know what God's really looking for people From people is just that they're available They're just available they're there Kushai was just there with Joab He wasn't like hey let me raise my hand He wasn't like hey let me raise my hand He was just there with Joab He wasn't like hey let me run He was just there He was the one that was chosen to deliver the message to the king You know that's the thing that God needs the most in people Is for you to just be available And people think well you know I can't be used of God Until I've got this in line I've got this in order And I'm this and that And I'm just perfect in every way You know what God's never going to use you then Because you're never going to be perfect We're always going to have this treasure in earth and vessels We're always going to be flawed But if we would just make ourselves available To the excellency of the power of God God would use us You say well I'm going to go soul winning one day When I know how to answer a Mormon and a JW I know I'm going to go out there and I know how to answer You know a Catholic and I know how to give the gospel To every single false religion out there You're never going to give the gospel there Because you're going to spend all your time Just trying to figure all that out And then you're going to get in front of one of those people And they're going to throw something else that you didn't see coming You're like oh I've got to go back and read some more Another six months and I'll be back and try the soul winning thing again Because you know what there's some practical advice on that You know it's the same gospel for everybody Salvation by grace through faith Well I'm Catholic I'm this I'm that Okay well what do you think it takes to get to heaven Be a good person That's what they all say They all say some version of well you've got to be a good person And I'm all for being a good person None good no not one that's what the Bible says The Bible says that we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God And that salvation is by grace through faith It's not about how good we are it's about how good Christ is for us That's the message that we preach So what does it matter who you're preaching that to But you can't just have this attitude of well you know I'll get around to it when I'm better Because we're never going to be good enough And you know some of those shortcomings that we think we have Some of those things that make us different That might be the exact thing that God's going to use to reach somebody And what God really wants more than your ability and I'm not downplaying ability The Bible says you know especially for preachers he has to be apt to teach You know we have to have some level of ability You know to teach and to express the word of God I understand that But more than ability you know what God's interested in availability Availability You know and it just seems like today lately there's a real lack of availability You know and I don't mean to get on you guys too much up here You know I'm going to run away to Tucson when I'm done But you know people ask me it's like hey who's the next guy to go out and start church It's like I don't know who's available You know and maybe there's just nobody that has that desire But you know if there's somebody that has the desire And is thinking well I'm just not good enough or I you know I have to get this straight or that straight It's like no what you need to be is just available And let God work out the rest You know and we could look to other examples of this And you know you could think about Timothy or excuse me Paul right Paul who was you know before a blasphemer and a persecutor an injurious right I mean he was hauling away Christians and to jail where they were being like executed You think God's not going to use that guy look how wicked he is You know you're like well God can't use me you know I have this wicked past And look I understand when it comes to the pastorate yeah you can disqualify yourself You know if you're divorced you know you're disqualified I get that You can still move on and be used of God in a mighty way You can still serve God even as a divorced person You know you confess and forsake that sin And you know you just you know what the pastorate's just not it I get that But when we say that about Paul well his past was just so wicked God would never use him I mean Paul's saying look I was a blasphemer I was a persecutor injurious He said but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief He said that he was set forth as an example to them which should thereafter believe to life everlasting He said look God used me in spite of myself as an example to other people That's why I never buy this excuse of well you know I would serve God but I have this you know this checkered past or whatever It's like well is it anywhere near as bad as Paul? Well you know I stole a car when I was a teenager or something I used to be a drunk And I went to jail or I was in prison for a while or You know they have some some thing in their past I think well God's just not gonna use me You know but that's not true God can use you Paul's an example of that God will use people who are available people who are faithful to the message and know how to deliver it That's who God's gonna use whether it's behind a pulpit at somebody's door preaching the gospel speaking to your children at home you ladies teaching the Bible to them You know God can use all of us in some way despite things that we might think are a shortcoming in our lives But you know what we have to have is the preparation you have to be available and you have to be prepared And that's why Timothy you know was told that you know to give attendance to reading you know and to study And that's why God has given us the Bible the Word of God The Bible says that all scripture is given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine for proof for correction for instruction and righteousness That the man of God may be perfect and perfect just means complete thoroughly furnished into all good works Look if you're saved and you have the Holy Spirit you have that treasure in an earthen vessel and you have this book you have everything you need to be used by God To whatever degree you're willing to be used All you have to do is be available. Let's go ahead and pray Dear Lord again, thank you for the fact that you use us in spite of ourselves Lord I pray that you would help us to always understand it never to sell ourselves short never to sell you short Lord for the fact that Lord you're just looking for people that want to serve you And Lord that if we would just surrender to that and Lord if we would be willing to just believe that by faith and step out by faith Lord you would use us And Lord help us to be people that are faithful available and Lord we give you all the glory for it in Jesus name Amen Alright we'll sing one more song before we go Amen let's sing hymn number 325 in your song books number 325 trust and obey hymn number 325 Number 325 when we walk with the Lord in the light of his word trust and obey number 325 let's sing it on this verse When we walk with the Lord in the light of his word what a glory he sheds on our way While we do his good will he abides with us still and with all who will trust and obey Trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus But we trust and obey not a shadow can rise not a cloud in the skies but it's something we trust and obey Not a doubt or a tear not a sigh or a tear can abide while we trust and obey Trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus But to trust and obey not a burden we bear not a sorrow we share but our toiling of which we repay Not a grief or a loss not a frown or a cross but it's blessing we trust and obey Trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus But to trust and obey but we never can prove the good light of his love until all on the altar we lay For the favor he shows and the joy he bestows are for them who will trust and obey Trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus But to trust and obey many fellowships we we close in at his feet or go on by his side in the way Trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus But to trust and obey For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus