Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located
in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship
Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism,
discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church
and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bickford and I will be your
host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing
to you and bring you closer to God.
Hey, and welcome back to the Potter's House podcast and seminar in British Columbia. My
name is David Bickford and I am the pastor here at the Potter's House. Today's message
I have put together is called, God Wants Your Heart. The subheading for this message is,
the rest will come in time. I think it's important for us to always recognize that as in our
Christian walk that we always want to try to make things a lot more difficult than they
really need to be. As long as you are moving towards Christ with a desire to become just
like the name Christian in titles, to be more Christ-like, then that is the right path.
With that, I am not putting aside theology. I do believe all that stuff is important.
But my point is that if you give him your heart, the rest will come in time. So our
text that we will be working off of today is going to be John 3, 16-17. So if you have
your Bible, if you are following along, you can turn to that portion of scripture. That
will be our launching off point. Before I get into that, I want to go into a few illustrations
that I found that I believe are important or that kind of help us with this message.
The first one is a quote from Steve Jobs. It says, here's to the crazy ones, the misfits,
the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs and square holes, the ones who see things
differently. They're not fond of the rules. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify
or vilify them. But the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things.
They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as crazy ones, we see the
genius because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are
the ones who do.
Now with that, I don't want to reference too heavily the thought of being a rule breaker
because in Christ Jesus, he is the fulfillment of the law. And so he did not break the law,
but he fulfilled the law. But still, we'll come back to that. I do believe there is quite
a bit of wisdom from this quote from Steve Jobs. And we'll be able to pull this in and
use the scripture to kind of get a little bit more clarity.
I found another one though for an illustration. It's called a Google search for Gaga changed
my life gets four million results. Lady Gaga identifies the world or identifies with the
world's misfits. So this is a little bit of a longer one, but it's a and here's the editor's
note. It's easy to focus on what we don't like about the lifestyle and songs of the
pop singer Lady Gaga. But this story reveals why millions of young people identify with
her and why the church might be missing an opportunity to love the world's misfits. So
the article reads Lady Gaga has sold over 64 million singles and won five Grammy Awards.
She's one of the most popular social media voices in the world with more than 33 million
Twitter followers and 55 million Facebook fans. The pop singer also has attracted millions
of fans around the globe who claim that she has changed their lives for the better. A
Google search for Gaga changed my life gets four million results marketing expert Jackie
Hubba argues that many of Gaga's fans identify with her concerns or concern for outcasts
and the misfits and an emotional MTV interview. Lady Gaga recounts some of the shame and humiliation
from high school that helped mold her and her life and left lasting deep scars. The
boys picked me up and threw me in the trash can on the street on the corner of my block
while all other girls from the school were leaving and could see me in the trash. Everybody
was laughing and I was even laughing. I had that nervous giggle. I remember even one of
the girls looking at me. Are you about to cry? You're pathetic. Out of her own feelings
of being a misfit Lady Gaga has created a community of outcasts. When old friends attended
one of her shows, they told her Gaga your fans are all of the misfits. They are all
the kinds of kids in school that everybody made fun of. She later told MTV all the weird
kids the artistic kids all the bad ones and I love that because that's who I was. We're
all together and they get it. It's our own little world. In Romans 12 16 it says live
in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. Never be wise
in your own sight. So let's look at our scripture this morning our primary text which is John
3 16 through 17 and it says for God so loved the world for God so loved the world that
he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal
life. This is my favorite part though for God did not send his son into the world to
condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him. The message is
one of redemption. It's not it's not a it's not one of condemnation. It's one of salvation
is one of taking someone who's sinking in the sea that is the world of sin and throwing
them a lifeline and pulling them out of the predicament that they find themselves in.
It's it's the saving of people who feel like they are misfits but really what they are
is they're just lacking Christ in their lives oftentimes. In Matthew 9 10 it says 9 10 through
13 and Jesus reclined at the table in the house behold many tax collectors and sinners
came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this
they said to the disciples why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners. But when
he heard it he said those who are well have no need for a physician but those who are
sick go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice for I came not not
to call the righteous but the sinners. The importance here is that we are called to look
beyond what is considered the right people or the the popular people in our society.
We are called to look beyond that and to see all people the way Jesus sees people seeing
people in need as the people that we are supposed to go out in minister to. So why does God
pick the misfits the outcasts and the oddballs then because that's what he did in his time
in society is he went to the he went to the parts of the Jewish community that were being
neglected by the Pharisees and Sadducees at the time. Throughout the entirety of the Bible
we see this trend the trend is that God's choice for the oddballs and the rejects and
the misfits this permeates both the Old and the New Testament after the fall of man being
cast into the garden it became clear that many of the earth shakers in the kingdom of
God were characters they were oddballs. The story of Noah gives us a picture of a man
and his family building a massive ship away from the ocean and the sea. What kind of man
would have the faith to start a project of this type then to go on for years building
while being mocked and ridiculed by all his community. He would have hired help to help
him build this and they would have been like this is the dumbest thing ever but at least
I'm getting paid right they would have been mocking him even while working. We can look
at this story and move into our day and age by looking at those who've created unimaginable
creations in our time like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Henry Ford, Nikola Tesla and many others
the true truly oddball innovators of our time. We can see that it takes these type of men
and women to push the boundaries in our society. Now when we go back to the Word of God we
see this thread continued we have the fathers of our faith Abraham as we venture further
we have Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the judges, King David, the prophets, even Mary and Joseph.
God works through the outcasts he works with these oddballs because it is those who are
willing to preach unashamed of the gospel and to rise above their humble beginnings
and fully serve our savior. My first point here is that God's always picking these oddballs
and the God's Old Testament picks really start to highlight a trend for us. Imagine having
a conversation with Jacob explaining your God to a polytheistic pagan. Most of the world
worshiped many gods and carried idols with them everywhere. Now if you ask Jacob to explain
his God you can picture him saying I do not carry idols for my God for he is a spirit
and invisible to man except that time when I wrestled him and he broke my hip and changed
my name to Israel. How crazy does that sound in the context of the time and how much more
crazy does it sound to our ears today? Joseph is similar when you consider his dream of
ruling over his brothers and his father who was Jacob Israel. In fact it was so out there
that his father even rebuked him at the time. He was such a reject, a misfit, an oddball
that his brothers sold him into captivity. This didn't deter Joseph though. He clung
to his faith and was truly risen up and the godly dream was realized when he was the salvation
for not only his family but for the entire kingdom of Egypt. He became the second highest
governor of Egypt just under the Pharaoh. So we've looked so far at Noah, Jacob, and
Joseph but we have not even scratched the surface. We have Moses. I met God at a fiery
shrub. In the book of Exodus we get introduced to Moses given up by his mother and by God's
hand adopted into the Pharaoh's house. He was raised as a prince but became an outlaw
and a murderer. Fleeing into the wilderness after being rebuked by his Hebrew brothers
he stayed in the desert finding a wife and becoming a shepherd. It was here that he encountered
the burning bush. It was in this obscurity that he met with God and from that place of
obscurity that he was led back to free his people from Egyptian rule. Moses was called
out of the shadows but he remained an oddity to those he served. It was clear that God
was with him but regardless he was still very isolated. Later on we have King David, the
lion slayer, the giant destroyer and his sinner and more. So my favorite character in all
the Bible is David and it's not because my name is David. It's more than that. Yes I
know that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are the primaries in the Bible but
it's the story of David that shows us how we can serve God with humility and despite
our own failings. David was taken from the fields. His own dad overlooked him when the
prophet Samuel asked to see the sons of Jesse. He was the son that rose up for Israel and
defeated Goliath and he was rewarded with hate from King Saul. Hiding and running from
Saul until Saul's death, once coronated as king he succumbed to temptation and became
an adulterer and conspired to kill the husband of Bathsheba his friend. It is through all
of David's ups and downs that we see how we can still come to the Lord for forgiveness.
We can praise our Lord, worship our Lord and when we mess up we can repent and be forgiven.
David's life was very difficult but he is noted in the Bible as a man after God's heart.
His ultimate claim to fame is not his nobility, his royalty, but rather that he was a servant
of the Lord. We then have the prophets Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and John the Baptist.
In 1 Kings 19 through 21 it says, So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat
who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him and he was with the twelve. Elijah
passed by him and cast his cloak upon him and he left the oxen and ran after Elijah
and said, Let me kiss my father and my mother and then I will follow you. And he said to
him, Go back again for what have I done to you? And he returned from following him and
took the yoke of oxen, sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen
and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted
him. These are some weird, weird stories. That's like Elisha, Elijah's second, you know,
this is origin story. It's like weird stories. Jeremiah 1 5, before I formed you in the womb,
I knew you and before you were born, I consecrated you. I appointed you a prophet of nations.
Ezekiel 3 17, Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever
you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them a warning for me. Ezekiel 3 26 through
27, and I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth so that you shall be mute
and unable to reprove them for they are rebellious house. But when I speak with you, I will open
your mouth and you shall say to them, thus says the Lord God, he who will hear, let him
hear and he who will refuse to hear, let him refuse for their rebellious house.
Now here's a guy, he's a prophet, but every time he's not talking the words of God and
when he is not prophesying, he's got his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth so he can't
talk. That's a pretty odd guy. This brings me to my second point, which is Jesus in the
New Testament picks this thread of picking people who the world might not think are the
right choices, but God can see past that and can see through that and see the perfect choice
even amongst the oddballs, if you will. So we have John the Baptist in Matthew 3 1 through
6. In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, repent for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand for this is he who was spoken by the prophet Isaiah when
he said the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path
straight. Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist and
his food was locusts with wild honey. And then Jerusalem and all of Judea and all the
region about the Jordan were going out to him and they were baptized by him and the
river Jordan confessing their sins. So the first thing we get to see is we get to see
this oddball out in the wilderness preaching about repentance and baptism. And then we
have all the disciples, the fishermen, Simon Peter, son of Jonah or Jonas was a fisherman
and an impetuous man. He was emotional always and he spoke whatever was on his mind and
he was very impulsive. Andrew son of Jonas, the brother of Simon Peter, like his brother,
he was also a fisherman, lived in Bethesda, Capernam. Originally he was a disciple of
John the Baptist, but left to follow Jesus. So here we got another guy. Here's a guy.
He's not only a fisherman, which fishermen were looked pretty down upon in Jewish society.
It's a pretty low labor position, but not only that, but he follows that crazy guy on
the desert, desert eating locusts with honey. James son of Zebedee and Salome brother of
apostle John James the greater was the first martyr among the 12 disciples and the only
one recorded in the Bible. Another fisherman as well. And then John son of Zebedee, brother
of the, of James that we just said. And he was also known as John the evangelist. He
wrote the gospel of, of a first John, second John, third John and revelation.
Judy status also known as Jude or Libyus was the son of Alpheus and Cleo Cleophas and Mary.
He lived in Galilee and was a brother of James the younger. And he was also called Judas
the zealot. So like Simeon or Simon, he was an intense and violent nationalist with the
dreams of world power and domination by the chosen people. So these are the fishermen,
but these are the guys like, you're like, man, these guys are weirdos already. The lesser
known ones like Philip, they say he becomes a living personality in the gospel of John.
Then we have Bartholomew, who's also called Nathaniel, who was a true Israelite and there's
nothing false that anybody can say about him. But these are like lesser known guys. James
is also James the less, who's son of Alpheus and Mary. And he was also like the brother
of Jude who lived in Galilee. He was the oldest amongst the 12 disciples, but unlike James
the greater, he is one of the most obscure apostles. So here we got, we got some weirdos
like the fishermen. And then we got these guys that are like rejects or like just kind
of out loud skirts. Nobody cares who they are. But then we come now to the disreputable
apostles. We have Matthew also known as Levi was the son of Alpheus who lived in Capernay
and he was a publican, a tax collector, one of the most despised people in Jewish culture.
He worked for the, you know, the oppressive Romans collecting taxes. Thomas, did him as
often referred to as doubting Thomas lived in Galilee. He was a pessimist, a Bill Wilder
man, a man who couldn't believe until he'd seen. And so we always have that story about
the doubting Thomas. He didn't believe unless he could see. And then last we have a, we
have Simon the zealot who was a Canaanite who lived in Galilee. He is also one of the
less known disciples of the Bible. But interestingly, his name was only mentioned three times in
the Bible. So we don't know about him except that he was a zealot. Zealots were part of
that fanatical Jewish nationalist group who had a heroic disregard for the suffering involved
and the struggle for what they regarded as the purity of their faith. These were, these
were extremists, religious extremists of the time, if you will. But they were crazed with
hatred for the Roman Empire. And then of course I didn't touch on it too much, but you have
Judas Iscariot, who's the betrayer. Interesting thing about Judas is that he's the most famous
or reputable of the disciples. He was someone that was considered good with money. He was
their treasurer. And so it's, it's very interesting though, that he is the one who, who's most
reputable who ends up being the one to betray our Lord. And this brings me to my final point,
the rest will come. The least likely apostle, the special apostleship of Paul, who is also
known as Saul. There's however this special apostolic office that we have given to a man
named Paul who had never shared the public ministry of Jesus, but stood witness to the
grace of God. The apostle to the Gentiles, it is this unique purpose of Paul. He wasn't
part of the 12, but the 12 apostles accepted him as someone sharing their tasks and responsibilities.
Second Peter 315. Paul, a former persecutor of Christians, encountered Jesus through a
blinding light that speaks to him on his way to Damascus. After this encounter, he lived
a changed life, declaring the grace of God and his good news. Paul was not part of the
12, but was considered as an apostle for those who do not belong to the tribe of Israel,
the Gentiles, because of his calling, other nations received God's salvation. Paul was
the least likely to be called by Jesus, but regardless, he came face to face with our
savior and this meeting left Paul blind and all his beliefs shaken. This led to his powerful
conversion and he moved from persecutor and killer of Christians to one of the most devout
and important preachers of the gospel. As the apostle to the Gentiles, it is Paul that
we have most to thank for his ministry and bringing the good news to the Gentile world
and his challenging of even Peter to live according to the words of Jesus and the mission
of Christ. So we oddballs and misfits by looking at all these characters, it's important to
know that this is only, only scratches the surface. There are a number of other women
who follow Jesus and other men who are called to, you know, who God called. Many of these
were prostitutes, Gentiles, and others that society deemed unworthy. The key to all of
this is that we were never beyond redemption and salvation. That is why even if we are
at the end time, we are called to push forward. We are meant to recognize the time continually
moving forward with a purpose of Christ. We are called to preach to every living creature.
You cannot shut down when you are fearful, when you feel unworthy. It is in Christ in
you that empowers us and wills us to work through it and his will to work through us.
So we must remember all these outcasts and misfits and understand that God loves all
of us and it is often the most unlikely people that God chooses for the highest and most
impactful ministries. Like Moses in the wilderness or David in the fields, God chooses those
who will give them their heart. Jesus Iscariot had all the training and skills, but he refused
to give Jesus his heart. And it was here where he became willing to betray our Savior. So
Jesus chooses us and he has chosen you too. In Ephesians 2, 8-10, for by grace you have
been saved through faith and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result
of the works so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them.
So in closing, every head bowed, every eye closed. If you are driving keep your eyes
open, keep your hands ten and two. For everybody else, every head bowed, every eye closed.
It's time to give Jesus Christ your heart. Give him your heart fully and all the rest
will come in time. He will strengthen you, he will help you, he will uplift you and he
knows that it is not easy. He knows that there are times when we will falter, but he will
be there to pick you up again and again. Give him your heart because he has already given
you his life as a sacrifice that you might be saved. If this message has resonated with
you and you want to give your life to Jesus Christ, you signify that with an uplifted
hand. I can't see it, but God can. And just say after me, dear Lord, I know that I am
a sinner, but I know that you sent your son Jesus and he died on the cross for me. I turn
from my sin and I accept him as my Lord and my Savior. In Jesus name, amen. That simple
prayer is a prayer of salvation. It's a recognition of sin, a recognition of Christ's divinity
and his Lordship over your life. I pray that this message will have impacted you and I'm
going to close in a quick prayer before we go. I do pray that the Lord touches you today.
Dear Lord God, I give you all the praise and glory. I thank you for picking me, the oddball
that I am, the reject that I am, and knowing Lord God that you see past all of our issues
and our problems and that it is in your holy name that you have given us a better purpose.
In Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Thank you for listening and I can't wait for you to come
back next time.
Amen.