Who God chooses

[0:00] In 1 Corinthians 1 verse 26, it tells us who God chooses.

[0:21] Not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.

[0:41] And God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And the base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to naught the things that are.

[0:57] That no flesh should glory in his presence, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God hath made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord.

[1:17] Who God chooses. This passage tells us who are the ones that God calls. And it is we, if we are such, that we are the called, according to his purpose, unto a mission, a calling, a ministry, a service.

[1:34] We can be such a people on mission. The team of workers that God pulls together, that he puts together, that he binds together, that he knits together. Who could be the people that God can use.

[1:46] And to reach our world, or at least our part of the world. Who should we expect God to use, is the question. Who should we expect God to use?

[1:59] What kinds of people? Take a look at the people the Lord Jesus selected. Out of the whole human race of his day, to be his.

[2:11] To be his special people. His disciples. His chosen ones. Look at them. Number one. Who does God choose?

[2:23] They were ordinary men. Not one of them was highly educated. It would seem in Acts 4.13 of Peter and John. It says they were unlearned and ignorant men.

[2:35] But it says the people marveled. And they took knowledge of them. That they had been with Jesus. That's what made the difference.

[2:48] There was something radical. Something different about them. They had been with Jesus. Could this be said of you?

[2:59] That there's nothing really special about you or of yourself. They might even say you're unlearned. Ignorant. Yet, could it be said of you?

[3:10] Could people marvel? As they sense, they acknowledge, You have been with Jesus. Nothing perhaps really special about you, but God is in you.

[3:29] You have been with Jesus. He has made a difference in your life. He has done something with you, with your soul. You're saved. You're heaven bound.

[3:40] And would God reach down across the breadth of humanity and choose you? Would He do such a thing? By His grace? I'd like to make the point, Yes, He would.

[3:53] And He did. And He can do. He will do. Who does God choose? Our text tells us that God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise.

[4:07] The ones who the world would regard as foolish and stupid, they would discount. God chooses one of the dumbest animals to represent Christians, let's face it, as a sheep.

[4:19] Bah! One of the dumbest animals you could pick. They can't care for themselves. They go astray. They just go willy-nilly.

[4:31] They need a shepherd's protection to guide, to care. Maybe God was trying to say something when He picked a sheep, as an example of what we are.

[4:43] It's almost like God has a sense of humor, doesn't He? Let us lay aside our own wisdom and turn and trust the shepherd, our shepherd. Let us not pretend to know everything.

[4:56] Rather, almost say, I know nothing. It's that sense that we need to know. Whom to know is life eternal. That's what matters, what we know. And as far as the foolish things, the foolishness of this world, Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 2, verses 2 to 3, For I determined not to know anything among you, save Christ and Him crucified.

[5:22] And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. Paul says, I determined to know nothing but Christ, Christ, Christ alone, Christ and Him crucified.

[5:34] That was his message. God has chosen the foolish things. God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are mighty.

[5:45] God chooses the feeble, those without strength, those whose society might overlook and exploit and abuse the weak things.

[5:58] And Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 10, When I am weak, then I am strong. Sometimes we need to acknowledge, don't we?

[6:09] How weak we are. David was weak. Yet look what he did with Goliath. Because God was his strength. There's many examples of Scripture of God using the weak and the weakly.

[6:23] God has chosen the base things of the world, it says. The things which I despise, God has chosen. And the things which I'm not to bring to nothing, the things that are.

[6:37] Look at the people of God in the pages of Scripture. We see the ordinary, the lowly, the insignificant. Those who are looked down upon.

[6:48] God chooses such. Such as we. If you think you are too small to be effective, you've never been in bed with a mosquito in the room.

[6:58] Even those small things can be very big, can't they? And you can be big in God. You can be strong and mighty in God because he is your strength.

[7:11] What a motley crew God uses through the pages of Scripture. Through his word, we see fewer qualified or impressive to man's way of thinking.

[7:22] Look at who he chooses. God chooses the nobodies. Paul was a murderer. Rahab was a prostitute. Noah was a drunk. Joseph was abused.

[7:34] Moses had a stuttering problem. Gideon was afraid. David had an affair and was a murderer. Elijah was suicidal.

[7:46] Jonah ran from God. The disciples fell asleep while our Lord was praying. And the Samaritan woman was divorced more than once. ordinary people.

[7:57] People with problems. People just like you and me. It does not matter what your past condition was. God can use you and God can change you.

[8:11] There are three records of our past deeds in the world today. First, there is the record we carry in our mind. Secondly, there is the record carried by all those who knew what we were before.

[8:23] Third, there is the record carried by Satan and he will throw your past up to you all the time. But may I remind you today that even though I may remember my past and my friends and family may remember my past and even though Satan surely remembers my past, God in heaven has forgotten my past and it is no obstacle to him in using me now or into the future.

[8:50] Psalm 103 verse 12 it says, As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

[9:04] Isaiah 38 verse 17 it says, Behold, for peace I had great bitterness but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

[9:19] Wow. That's how God thinks of our sin when we're saved. Isaiah 43 verse 25 it says, I, even I, am he that blotted out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins.

[9:35] God erases our sins from his memory bank. God can bring a new beginning a new direction. Here's another quote, Through the Bible God uses people in spite of and after their greatest of failures.

[9:49] Simon Peter preached his greatest message and had his greatest ministry after he denied the Lord. Moses was a murderer yet God used him for his glory.

[9:59] Samson sinned against God yet he slew more Philistines in the end of his life than he had during his entire ministry. Abraham lied yet he was used of the Lord.

[10:12] Jacob was a deceiver yet the Lord transformed and used him greatly. There are many others that could be named among these. But these are sufficient to show that the Lord can take those who have failed in the past and he can still use them for his glory today and into the future.

[10:33] And it's the same for you and me. God can use people who are foolish, weak, despised, nobodies, fires, ordinary people, average people.

[10:44] God chooses people like you and me. So that leads us to this question. So what are you going to do about it?

[10:56] Are you part of the mission force that God has selected out of the multitudes who are lost? We have been chosen, called, we have a mission. It can sometimes seem like mission impossible, yet we do have a mission to accomplish.

[11:14] Christ still wants the Christless ones, the unloved, the unlovely, the foolish, the despised, the derelict, the drunkards, the unwanted, the unworthy, to come unto him.

[11:32] Christ still wants to enter into broken homes and into broken hearts and heal. He longs to. You are the missionaries to Elizabeth.

[11:43] You are the missionaries Elizabeth needs. You are the missionaries Adelaide needs. You are the superheroes our world needs. You may seem, as it were, like the Clark Kent or the Peter Parker, but you are the real superheroes.

[12:01] God can use you even in your ordinariness. God can use you for his glory. By his almighty power, as you let him work in you, by his supernatural power, God can work in you and through you, in your life.

[12:16] You are the church Adelaide needs. You offer and represent the saviour to this community. He has called you, he's chosen you for this.

[12:31] God uses the small, the insignificant. He uses Moses' rod, Balaam's donkey, a little boy's lunch, a widow woman's jar of oil, a raven, a scarlet thread, a slingshot.

[12:50] Are you willing to be simple enough, willing to be humble enough, willing to be small enough, willing to be humble, weak enough?

[13:04] Sure, you're not perfect, but God can use you still. When you feel inadequate and unworthy, God can truly use you. Just be the glove that his hand can fit in.

[13:17] Touch the aching, the torn, lift the fallen, suit the bruised, share their pain. I saw a little badge, an evangelistic, provocative badge, and it said J-I-M.

[13:33] It stands for Jesus in me. That's who we're on about, Jesus in me. We want to share the Jesus that is in us, our Lord and Saviour, who lives and breathes and walks in our shoes within us to share him and his love with our world.

[13:50] And our mission should be let the Jesus that is in you ooze out of you. Just let him flow out of you. Let him emanate from your life.

[14:04] Let him minister through you. Attract people to Jesus. Care for people like he would. Touch people like Jesus would. Do you want to be used?

[14:17] Christ. Will you let God use you? Will you let the Holy Spirit fill you and live out of your life? Live the life of Christ in you?

[14:33] Christianity is about God's people getting up and getting going. Living the life, imparting him who is life to the dying ones. Caring, compassionate, doing what counts.

[14:48] Being there for people. Not getting caught up with all the peripheral things. Showing love and reaching out. There's so much need and how we need to reach out and care.

[15:00] Like someone says they don't care how much you know, it's that they need to know how much you care. Let God use you. You. You offer the lifeline that they need.

[15:14] Reach out. Reach out. It doesn't matter who you are, where you're from, what problems you have, what personality quirks you exhibit, what your level of education, what your level of acceptance by others.

[15:29] God can and will use you if you will make yourself available to him and his work. One of the main things to learn from this message today is to let God have the glory.

[15:42] glory. It says in our text, 1 Corinthians 1 31, he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. God can use the most unlikely of all people.

[15:54] What matters is that God gets the glory, that's what counts, that he gets the credit, that he gets the praise. Let us learn to be humble and usable in his hands.

[16:05] Simply place yourself at his disposal. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 7, it says, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might be of God and not of us.

[16:21] Let God have all the power and all the glory in your life. Let the glory of the Lord take over. Humble yourself, give yourself completely over.

[16:33] Let God have all of you. Humble yourself, let God take completely over. Let God have all of you. Let's pray. Lord, we pray that this might be a time of committal of our life as we reflect on the ordinary people you use in your word and still use now, that we can be such ordinary people, yet filled with your extraordinary power.

[16:59] Lord, help us to be as vessels that you would fill and flow through and do a work in us, we praise you in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[17:13] Amen. Be encouraged to be his hand extended to your world. Thank you.