[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Take your Bible, go with me if you will to Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10, we're going to talk about Jesus calling his apostles.
[0:14] But as we do that, I don't want you to get like a history lesson. I don't want you to walk away from here saying, well, we're learning about the apostles. I want you to realize he's at work in your life.
[0:24] And he's calling you and he wants you in the ministry. When I was an 11-year-old boy, I was at a camp. And I surrendered my life to someday be a missionary and take the gospel. I had no idea what I was doing.
[0:36] I had no idea really what that meant. I thought I'd be a medical missionary. And I was going to be a missionary, go somewhere and heal people. And, you know, they'd be laying on the operating table. And just before I cut, I would say, do you know if you died right now, you'd go to heaven, I guess.
[0:50] I don't know. But anyway, I got to be about 18 years old. And I was in pre-med and I found out I didn't really like all the biology and all that stuff. But I sure like teaching and preaching.
[1:00] And so I kind of figured I must have messed up as an 11-year-old boy. So I became a pastor. I was a youth pastor in a couple of churches. Then we started a church. But in 1985, this wild thing began to happen in my life that I can't explain to you.
[1:15] I took about three months. And every day I thought that if I didn't go to Peru, South America, as a missionary, I would just die. I felt like that's where God wanted me.
[1:26] I felt like that's what I was supposed to do. I felt like he had this super big plan for my life. And so eventually, after Betty acquiesced slowly and hesitantly and not with a good attitude, just because I was her husband, we decided we would go.
[1:43] I called my friends. Anytime you talk about God getting you to do something, even your friends know you're crazy. I called my friends and I said, I am going to be a missionary and I'm going to go out and start churches down in South America.
[1:57] And my friend said, we didn't know I was going that bad at your church. And if it's that bad, we can help you. We have some friends and we'll help get you another church. We'll help you get set up somewhere else.
[2:08] I know some churches running hundreds that are looking for a pastor. They're my friends. I can get you in. I said, no, no, you don't understand. I really believe God wants me to be a missionary. And they said, that's ridiculous.
[2:19] I called my best friend on the planet. And I called him and I said, hey, buddy, I believe God wants me to be a missionary. He said, that's crazy. He said, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard. This is a great man, loves God.
[2:32] He said to me, he said, if an angel rang my doorbell dressed in his garb and said, God had sent him to tell me to be a missionary. I said, buddy, you're ringing the wrong doorbell.
[2:43] Go next door. And so maybe that's how you feel. But in the story here, Jesus is going to call out 12 guys and he's going to do something very special. He's going to work in their lives in a very special way.
[2:54] So if you would go with me through three main things, we're going to see how the master calls out his men to do his ministry. Read with me, if you would, one more time. Matthew chapter 10 and verse 1.
[3:06] The Bible says that when he had called unto him his 12 disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
[3:18] Now, when you start reading this passage of scripture, your focus needs to be on Jesus. We typically read the stories in the Bible and we immediately go to the man side.
[3:28] We start thinking about these 12 guys. We start thinking about them. But the story is he called. Look, if you would, in verse 1 and underline it. He had called. It was him that did the call.
[3:40] Look in verse 1, a little bit further down. He gave them power. It was the Lord God of heaven. God in human flesh calling men to do something. We need to consider what God's doing in every story we read.
[3:53] This is Jesus, the God man, starting his ministry. He chose men. He gave them power and ability to do the job he had called them to do. There were many disciples, but there were only 12 disciples, 12 apostles.
[4:09] He's calling out his staff. These guys are going to be his right-hand men. They're going to be his helpers. They're going to be the guys that carry on the work once he's gone. But he doesn't just call them. He doesn't just put them in the ministry.
[4:21] He equips them to do the ministry. If you look at the verse he did say this. He said he gave them power. He gave them power against demons. And he gave them power to heal sicknesses.
[4:32] He gave them what are called in the Bible, and I wish you'd mark this down, the signs of an apostle. That's going to be important before we finish today. Because in the world you live in, you turn on the TV, you find all kinds of apostles.
[4:45] Hello, my name's Austin Gardner, Apostle Austin. Apostle Austin of the Vision Baptist Church. And this is my wife, Bishop Betty. And so there's this idea.
[4:58] But these guys are apostles. In 2 Corinthians 12, in verse 12, the Bible says, Underline the signs of an apostle. Underline that.
[5:09] The signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience and signs and wonders and mighty deeds. He gave them power over demons, and he gave them power over disease.
[5:21] And Paul said, I had those same signs. Now, I'd like you to consider with me just a minute our master. And he's calling out those guys. And he's been doing it all through the Bible, and he's doing it this morning too.
[5:35] The Bible says in 2 Chronicles 16, in verse 9, For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.
[5:49] Herein thou hast done foolishly, therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. Look at this verse. That's an Old Testament verse very similar to this New Testament verse. I just want you to see a pattern. Now, we're not going to get called to be apostles, and we're not going to get called to be one of those 12 disciples.
[6:03] But I don't want you coming here today and going home and saying, Man, I heard all about 12 apostles. That's pretty interesting. They're all dead. Been dead 2,000 years. I don't know how that applied to me. Let me tell you how it applied. He's been calling people since the Old Testament.
[6:15] He called them back then. He calls them now. And he called them in the New Testament, and he's calling people now. Amen? Amen? In 2 Chronicles chapter 16. In 2 Chronicles chapter 16 and verse 9, he chose men.
[6:26] And if you had your Bible open, which I hope you do. Sometimes I get nervous about these screens because you won't look up stuff. So look it up. And underline in 2 Chronicles chapter 16 verse 9. He said he wanted to show his power.
[6:38] You know, when God equips you and puts you in some kind of ministry, it's never about you. It's about the master. It's about God saying, Look at me.
[6:48] I'm strong. Look at me and look at what I can do. Imagine the privilege of having God use you today to do something very special for our God.
[7:00] Imagine being a young guy, probably in my opinion in his late teens, early 20s, named David who steps forward to fight Goliath. He steps out to fight Goliath.
[7:10] The Bible called him a man of war. He stepped out there. Nobody could do it. Everybody believed God was able. Everybody believed God could. Everybody believed God would. Nobody believed God would do it with him right then and right there.
[7:24] But David did. And when he stepped out, he even said, Hey, I'm here to show you there's a God in Israel. It was all about not killing a giant but proving there was a God. Imagine God wants to use you.
[7:35] He wants the world to know that there's a special thing going on and he's a special God. There was a guy named Daniel. He was told he couldn't pray. He was told, Don't you pray? So he went to his window and he prayed anyway.
[7:46] They threw him in a lion's den. It may sound like a children's story to you, but while he was in a lion's den, God closed the mouth of the lions. Daniel didn't close the mouth of the lions. Those lions didn't quit being hungry.
[7:56] Those lions didn't lose the desire to eat Daniel. They just couldn't get their mouth open. They chewed some gum and their mouth wouldn't open. God was at work showing how great he is. God wants to show his power.
[8:08] He hasn't quit working. He still wants to do that. Imagine three young Hebrew men who would not bow down and who said, Hey, you can throw us in the fire if you want to, but we still won't deny you.
[8:20] You can burn us, but we won't deny you. Our God is able. God protected them. Or imagine a D.L. Moody. He was a great evangelist in his day. D.L.
[8:31] Moody was an illiterate guy. He only had like three years of education. He slaughtered the king's English his entire life. When he went to Britain, they almost laughed him off the streets because of how poorly he spoke.
[8:43] But he loved God so much, had so much passion. But it wasn't D.L. Moody that did it. It was God that used him. See, it's the master. It's the master. I need you to understand before I ever get around to the next part that it's the master.
[8:55] God wants to do something, not because of who you are, but because of who he is. Not because of what you can do, but because of what he can do. And he did that. There was a German guy living in Great Britain.
[9:07] His name was George Mueller. And George Mueller believed with all of his heart that God needed to be bragged on again. And he thought everybody quit bragging on him. So he said, I know what I can do. I'll open these children's homes and I'll ask God in prayer and I'll have God do all these big things.
[9:23] And I will tell people how great God is. He started praying. Man, they gave him all the clothing. They gave him the linen. They gave him the plates. They gave him the silverware. And on the day he was supposed to open the children's home, they had no children.
[9:36] And he said, excuse me, I forgot to ask for children. And he ran back in and said, God, by the way, I got all the stuff. How about some kids? And before it was over 2,000 young people, what I want you to realize is this.
[9:48] The master uses people to show his power. It says in 2 Chronicles 16, verse 9, to show himself strong, strong, himself strong.
[10:01] You get the idea? God can use your life. And all he was looking for was a guy whose heart was perfect towards God. That doesn't mean a perfect heart. And as a kid, I used to think, man, who's got a perfect heart?
[10:12] I mean, I can act pretty perfect in front of people. I was real good at being a church hypocrite, kind of like you, you know. Come to church, dress right, talk right, walk right, and everybody thinks I'm really good. But I knew in private that things weren't all that great with me.
[10:24] And God knew my heart. But a perfect heart here just means, it just means, all it simply means is my heart's totally dedicated to God. I love God. I love him, and I don't love any other gods. So God could use you today.
[10:36] The master is calling his men. In these verses, the master calls. You don't have to be flashy. You don't have to be special. He's still calling.
[10:46] In Isaiah 6, 8, he said, who will go for us? And Isaiah answered, here am I. Send me. Adonai and Judson wrote a letter home to Luther Ross.
[10:57] Adonai and Judson was a missionary in Burma, one of the most famous missionaries of our missionary history. Luther Ross never went to the field. He traveled all around America, raising money and sending money and raising up new young missionaries and starting education to get these young people trained.
[11:12] And Adonai Judson writes a letter in a day when everything was so hard. And he says to them, he said, Mr. Beloved Brother Ross, in encouraging other young men to come out as missionaries, do use the greatest caution.
[11:27] One wrongheaded, conscientiously obstinate fellow would ruin us. That means private prayer.
[11:54] Who live near a God and are willing to suffer all things for Christ's sake without being proud of it. These are the men. But oh, how unlike this description is the writer of it.
[12:05] Still, however, I am with never ceasing affection, your most affectionate brother in the Lord. So I just would like to say to you this morning, first thing, and I hope you wrote it down, the master called those guys out.
[12:16] The master had a job to do. The master is in the ministry of doing great things. And he has a plan for you. You are not a spectator. He has no intentions of you just getting saved, finding out that we can get your money and let you sit here and listen to us preach.
[12:31] God has a plan. Go with me, if you would, to chapter 10 and verse 2. Check out the men. I'm not going to read their names again, simply because I'm a tendency, he'll believe, don't always pronounce things right.
[12:43] But now the names of the 12 apostles are these. Notice some things about the guys. They're ordinary men. Ordinary men. There wasn't a lot of real wealth.
[12:54] They were just kind of middle class. There was a tax collector with maybe more money than some. There were some fishers whose families had boats and nets and employees, but nobody's got real education.
[13:06] Nobody seems to have any social advantage. Jesus chose these men for who they were, not for who they were, but for who he could make them. These 12 guys are ordinary guys.
[13:19] He didn't choose them because these are great guys. He wasn't making a basketball team and said, I need all the eight-foot-tall guys. He said, it's not about who you are. It's about what I'm going to do with you.
[13:29] No real education, no real social advantage. He knew that his leadership and influence was about to change their world. He chose an unusual collection.
[13:41] This is an unusual group of men. We don't see that because of where we live today. But he chose a tax collector. Matthew the publican, it says in Matthew 10 too.
[13:52] He is a traitor to his people, basically. Basically, he works for the Romans who have taken over their country and who is stealing money from them and is their oppressor.
[14:04] And Matthew's on their payroll getting money. Now, the last guy you want to choose to be on your team is the guy everybody's going to hate. But Matthew's that guy. At the same time, he chose a guy.
[14:16] If you look in the verse, you'll find that he chose a guy named Simon. Simon the Canaanite. It says, and look at Matthew 10 too. A Canaanite, he's called a zealot in Luke 6.15.
[14:32] Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Salotes. That was a zealot. That was basically the tea party of their day.
[14:43] I mean, this is a radical political group. Bless God, we stand for the Jews. We don't want any foreigners here. Matthew, you're on the wrong team.
[14:55] We don't like you. These guys would have no man on earth as their king. They were prepared to suffer and die to get rid of the foreign rule. They were extreme nationalists. Had Simon met Matthew outside of Jesus, he'd have probably run him through with a dagger.
[15:11] He'd have probably said, okay, buddy, you work for the wrong crowd. I'll be doing God of service. I'll kill you. God picked a wild group. They were chosen men. Mark 3.14.
[15:22] The Bible said, and he ordained 12 that they should be with him. They weren't just chosen to work. They were chosen to be a staff. They weren't just chosen to be a staff. They were chosen to know him.
[15:35] They were chosen to have a very close and personal relationship, a personal friendship. They were chosen to share life with him. They were chosen to be with him. There's some ministry principles for you.
[15:47] The master's calling these men to do the work, but look what he's going to do with these men. He's going to be with them. Now look this way just a second. I want you to understand something.
[15:58] More than the apostles could ever know this, you and I don't just live with him. He lives in us. We are his temple. I can remember when I was a kid thinking to myself, I wish I could have lived in Jesus' day.
[16:12] But had I lived in Jesus' day, I would have probably never seen him and never known him. I'm a white boy from Georgia, from Tennessee. I'm a white boy. I'm a Caucasian.
[16:23] I'm not a Jew. I wouldn't have lived in Jerusalem unless something weird changed. I wouldn't have known him. But had I known him, I wouldn't have been one of the 12. If you ever notice, Jesus doesn't even mention very many people's names.
[16:35] He doesn't even have any real friends. You got the 12. There's 70 whose names are never mentioned. There's only one guy who ever spends a lot of time with outside the 12, Lazarus. That's about the only guy's name he gets mentioned.
[16:47] I would have not been there. But I am his temple. He lives in me. I get to spend time with him. I get to share life with him. He guides me and he directs me. He is working in my life.
[17:00] And if you're in our church this morning, listen to me. God wants to use you. And these exact principles are what he would have you do. You realize you could make a difference in people's lives.
[17:11] If you could write down beside that Matthew chapter 10 and verse 2, just write the word with dashness. Withness. That's a word that Gunther Kralman, he's a guy that I got that word from.
[17:23] And he said it's not so much witness as it is witness. And God chose them. And Jesus chose them that they might be with him. And as you are growing in the Lord, and as you learn to serve Jesus, and as you learn to read the Bible, and as you learn to pray, you could impact people's lives.
[17:39] Don't be solitary. Don't be solo. Don't be alone. Get with people. Share life with people. Share Jesus with people. Let people see what God's doing in your life.
[17:51] Practice some life on life discipleship. Please. Check out what they were doing. Then I'll notice this. They were called. They weren't forced or compelled.
[18:03] He invited them. Jesus is looking for volunteers. Now listen to this. When I was young, and I'm afraid you may think this, I grew up with the idea that there were two groups of people in church.
[18:16] You know, we all knew the master. But then there were two groups of people in the church. There were the called, and there was the rest of us. And by the way, the call was a very hard thing.
[18:27] Every preacher I ever heard talk about it ran from it. How many of you ever heard that? They all ran from it. Boy, God was calling me, and I was running. And then a mule kicked me in the head. A lightning bolt split my head wide open.
[18:39] I nearly died. God killed my kids. We used to have a guy that came to church here. He said he knew a preacher that only went to ministry after God killed two of his kids. I'm like, my stinking soul. I don't know if I will work for that guy, man.
[18:51] And that's kind of the way they painted the picture. But that's not what happened. He called them. And he would ask you to serve him. He saved you. He lives in you. He works in you. And he calls you to get involved.
[19:02] He's got big stuff you can do. You can make a difference in people's lives. God's calling you. God's calling you. It was something everybody ran from. But these men accepted the call.
[19:15] And I'll say to you today, I run to him. And I desire to be used of him. And I want my life to count. I just don't understand sitting there.
[19:26] I just don't understand knowing somebody like Jesus and not wanting to be involved in a ministry. That's the third thing. Look, if you would, again, at Mark 3, 14, and you can write that as a parallel passage to Matthew 10.
[19:42] It's another place where Jesus is calling out his apostles. And it says that he ordained 12 that they should be with him and that he might send them forth to preach. He ordained or appointed these 12 men.
[19:54] It was the idea of giving them a task. It's like a general that calls in his men and says, this is what you're to do. There were 12 apostles. There's a whole bunch of disciples, but these were chosen group.
[20:06] Disciples are learners. Disciples are listeners. But an apostle was an ambassador, a sent one, an envoy, a herald, a messenger. They didn't go with their own message.
[20:17] They went with his message. They were with him, filled by him, equipped by him. Before I go on, I'm going to get back to you in a second. But I'd just like to answer this. Are there apostles today?
[20:27] I want to show you some Bible, but let me explain it to you. No. In case you didn't understand that, let me sit on this side. N-O-no. No apostles. They don't exist.
[20:38] They're all gone. They're not here. They're the guys God used to write the Bible. They're the guys whose doctrine we're studying. We'll read the verse here in just a minute. There aren't any of these apostles. So sometimes people, see, we get too hung up on the man side of it and not the master side of it.
[20:56] And so all of a sudden, here I come. There comes Austin. He's the apostle. He's the bishop. He's floating in the air. He, he, this guy doesn't even sweat. I mean, this guy, everything's smooth. I mean, when this guy talks, God listens.
[21:08] In fact, it's God. Ask him for an appointment. He's so important. That's not the way it works. God's the king of the universe. God's in charge. And we're just a bunch of peons. And he's in charge.
[21:20] In the early church, many people claimed to be apostles. Just so you'll have some Bible on that. There'll be many people claim to be apostles. In Revelation 2, 2, that church tried them that said they were apostles and found out they were liars.
[21:34] In 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 13, for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
[21:45] The Bible uses the word apostle primarily to speak of the original 12. They are the foundation of the church. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 20, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
[22:00] In Acts chapter 2 and verse 42, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. You have the finished word of God. You don't need any preacher who knows anything else.
[22:16] Okay? Listen to this. I have no stronger connection to heaven than you do. God's not up in heaven saying, oh, lines are busy. That's Austin.
[22:26] Everybody on hold. Austin's calling. That's not how it works. People come to me sometimes and say, hey, would you pray for me? I know your prayers get through. If my prayers get through any better than your prayers get through, it's because we don't have the same operator.
[22:38] My operator is Jesus. Who's yours? And if he's Jesus, we pray. Amen? Independent Baptist preachers like sometimes act like they're somebody really big, somebody very special. But just biblically, we're just brothers.
[22:50] We're just brothers. There's no big shots here. There's no big men of God, only men of a big God. I want you to know that Satan deceives many today because they accept things that are not in the scriptures.
[23:04] We are a people of the book here at Vision Baptist. 2 Thessalonians 2.9 Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness.
[23:20] Let me explain that to you. There is coming a guy, and there are even guys here now who have powers to trick you and deceive you, and they appear to do great and mighty things.
[23:31] In Revelation chapter 16 and verse 14, it says the spirits of devils work in miracles. We don't chase after miracles. We chase after what does the word of God say.
[23:43] So that's about the apostles real quick. You have the word of God. Inspired, preserved, trust the Bible. You know God, his will, and everything. So before I finish, I'd just like to say this to you.
[23:56] Now listen to this. It's about the master. It's about the master. He's at work. So if you want to focus, don't focus on somebody because he's famous.
[24:06] Don't focus on somebody because he's got talents. Because it's real easy for you to look around and say, I could never be like that famous guy. I could never be like that guy who writes all those books. I could never be like that guy who could speak in tongues, heal people, walk on water and all that.
[24:19] Ain't nobody like that. They just say that on TV. You can do anything on TV. Amen? I mean, you can have Star Wars on TV. Ain't nobody done that yet, but you can do that. Amen? You can have Transformers on TV. Don't believe all that TV stuff.
[24:31] Just so you, I'll throw that in there for you. It's the master. But the men he used were ordinary men. They were looking, if we were to see them today, they didn't have halos.
[24:44] When I was a kid, every picture of an apostle, he walked around with this big white glow around his head. And we'd have all said, whoa, there come one of them. But if they were here today, we wouldn't even recognize them in the crowd.
[24:58] They didn't wear a big A on their chest for apostle. They were not special like that. They were just people. God wants to use you. You count.
[25:09] God has a plan for your life. Get off the bench and in the game. God wants to use you. What's the ministry? You're not going to be an apostle. You're not going to be casting out demons. You're not going to have power over sicknesses and disease.
[25:21] But you've got power to love people. You've got power to share life with people. You've got power to bring people to Jesus. You can be used of God. Practice some of that withness. You spend time with God and then go spend time with others.
[25:35] In Acts chapter 4, I believe it is, they said about the apostles, they took note of them. That they had been with Jesus. Jesus, I have just a couple of questions for you.
[25:48] God's work is not done. He's still calling. He's Lord. We're servants. Our lives should be lived at His pleasure. How will you respond as He directs you? Your heart longs to do something that matters.
[26:01] Everybody sitting in this room, you're a born again believer. Something inside of you said, man, I want to count. I want to be in the game. I want to do something. You want to make a difference. But your whole world constantly pulls you back.
[26:14] You don't want to be weird or different or unusual. You don't want your friend saying you're a nut. That's what mine did. But today, will you offer Him your talents and your time and your treasure?
[26:26] Would you say to Him, God, you gave me this money to use for you. I'm not this hidden for me. It was never about me. It's about the Master. Would you look at your time and say all these hours that He's given me aren't about me.
[26:37] They're for Him. Would you take your talents and your abilities and say not about me, it's Him. Will you offer Him everything? Will you treat Him like He is the Master, the real Lord, who has every right to your life?
[26:50] I want to read you a few words out of a chapter in a book. One of my favorite little just kind of fun books to read. It's called The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkerson, and I think it sums up maybe where you sit today.
[27:07] Not long ago and not far away, a nobody named Ordinary lived in the land of familiar. Every day was pretty much the same for Ordinary. In the mornings, he got up and went to his usual job.
[27:20] After work, he ate almost the same dinner he'd eaten the evening before. Then he sat in his recliner and watched the box that mesmerized most nobodies on most nights. Sometimes, best friend came over to join Ordinary in front of the box.
[27:35] Sometimes, Ordinary went to his parents, and they watched together. For the most part, not much happened in familiar that hadn't happened before. Ordinary thought he was content.
[27:46] He found the routines reliable. He blended in with the crowd, and mostly he wanted only what he had. Until the day, Ordinary noticed a small, nagging feeling that something big was missing from his life.
[27:59] Or maybe the feeling was that he was missing from something big. He wasn't sure. The little feelings grew. And even though nobodies in familiar generally didn't expect the unexpected, Ordinary began to wish for it.
[28:16] Time passed. Then one morning, Ordinary woke up with these words echoing in his mind. What you're missing, you already have. Could it be? Ordinary looked and looked, and then he discovered in a small corner of his heart lay a big dream.
[28:31] The big dream told him that he, a nobody, was made to be a somebody and destined to achieve great things. Jumping out of bed, Ordinary discovered something else.
[28:42] A long white feather resting on the seal of his window. Where did it come from? What did it mean? With a jolt of excitement, Ordinary decided he'd been visited by the dream giver. Now Ordinary had heard rumors of various nobodies and familiar waking up to a big dream.
[28:58] But he had never imagined that it could happen to him. He rushed to get dressed. His big dream beating brightly in his chest. He couldn't wait to get to his usual job and tell best friend the news.
[29:09] But on his way to work, Ordinary realized he had a problem. His big dream was too big for a nobody like Ordinary. He'd be embarrassed to tell everyone. Even best friend would probably laugh.
[29:22] Still Ordinary was too excited to keep his dream to himself. As soon as he saw best friend, he blurted out the news. The dream giver gave me a big dream. I was made to be somebody and destined to achieve great things.
[29:36] Best friend looked surprised, but he didn't laugh. That's very big, he said. But if I were you, I wouldn't talk about this dream of yours too much. Nobody's around here might take you as a fool.
[29:49] Ordinary didn't want to look like a fool. So after that, he kept his big dream to himself. Day after day, Ordinary showed up at his usual job. But while he worked, he thought about his dream.
[30:00] He thought about how wonderful it would be to do what he loved to do instead of just dreaming about it. Ordinary's longing for his big dream grew and grew until finally he realized he'd never be happy unless he could pursue it.
[30:13] Why didn't the dream giver make it possible? If the dream giver didn't, how could Ordinary ever leave familiar? He had payments and expenses. He had regular duties. A lot of nobodies counted on him for a lot of things.
[30:26] Ordinary felt completely stuck. Time passed, but nothing changed. He began to hate his usual job. This isn't what I was made to do, he'd say to himself. I just know it.
[30:38] After a while, he began to worry that maybe he hadn't received a big dream after all. Maybe he just made it all up. And he grew sadder by the day. One evening after work, Ordinary went to his parents to watch the box.
[30:50] But their box was broken. So the house was very quiet. It was even more quiet because his mother was out shopping at familiar foods. In the quietness, Ordinary started to think about his dream again.
[31:02] He looked over at his father sitting in his recliner, staring at the single page of nobody's news. Maybe he could help. Father said, Ordinary, I'm growing sadder by the day. I don't like my usual job anymore.
[31:16] In fact, I think I hate it. Father looked up. That's terrible, he said. What happened? Before he could stop himself, Ordinary started talking about the dream giver and about his big dream.
[31:27] I was made to be somebody and achieve great things, he said. Then he told his father the name of his dream. As he spoke, his voice trembled. He was sure his father would laugh or call him a fool.
[31:39] But his father didn't. I'm not surprised to hear you say these things, he said. You're not, said Ordinary. No, his father said. You've had that dream ever since you were little. Don't you remember? He used to build that same dream with sticks and mud in front of this very house.
[31:53] Then Ordinary did remember. He always had his dream. It was what he'd always wanted to do. What he'd always thought he'd be good at doing. His eyes filled with tears. Father, he said, I think I was born to do this.
[32:06] Ordinary and his father sat together quietly. His father seemed to be remembering something too. And after a while he asked, When you woke up to your big dream, son, did you happen to find a feather? Ordinary was shocked.
[32:17] How did you know, he asked. A long time ago, I woke up to a dream too, his father said. And it came with a long white feather. It was a wonderful dream. I kept the feather on my windowsill while I waited for a chance to pursue it.
[32:31] I waited and waited, but it never seemed possible. One day I noticed the feather had turned to dust. Of all the sad words Ordinary had ever heard, those were the saddest.
[32:42] Before he left that night, he hugged his father. His father hugged him and said, Don't make the mistake I did, son. You don't have to stay a nobody. You can be a dreamer. Matthew chapter 10, the master calls men to a ministry.
[32:57] You were meant to be used by God. You don't have to be a preacher. You don't have to be a missionary. God could use you serving as a deacon. God could use you serving as a Sunday school teacher.
[33:08] God could use you in foundations. God could use you as a major person helping other people. You can be a soul winner. But you make a big mistake when you read these stories in the Bible and say, Man, wouldn't it have been great if God would let me be like he used to make those guys?
[33:22] He's still doing it. He is still doing it. You still count. He still loves you. He still wants to use you. He's still calling men. And he's still the master.
[33:33] And he still has a ministry. Why don't you get involved? Father in heaven, I love you. And I thank you for the chance to share your word. And I pray that you would call out men to serve you and love you.
[33:44] And I pray that your name would be honored and glorified today. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com, where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.