WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.599 I don't really feel qualified to preach or especially 00:00:04.599 --> 00:00:08.679 not to be a preaching minister. But this isn't 00:00:08.679 --> 00:00:11.259 the first time that I felt that way. See, when 00:00:11.259 --> 00:00:13.919 I was 14 or 15, somewhere in there, my youth 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:16.260 minister, Mr. Glenn, came to me and he asked 00:00:16.260 --> 00:00:18.980 me if I would preach at our congregation Sunday 00:00:18.980 --> 00:00:21.219 night service. This was back when churches did 00:00:21.219 --> 00:00:23.839 Sunday night worship. Y 'all remember that? And 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:29.500 I was a little nervous. I was also. Really confused. 00:00:30.359 --> 00:00:35.439 And I was asking him, why me? Of all the people 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:38.280 you could choose, what qualifies me to preach? 00:00:38.500 --> 00:00:41.179 I mean, you know who I am. You know what I've 00:00:41.179 --> 00:00:42.740 done. You know where I've been. You know the 00:00:42.740 --> 00:00:45.439 kind of person I am. I don't know enough. And 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:47.380 I started running through all of these reasons 00:00:47.380 --> 00:00:51.799 why I should not be the one to preach. Because 00:00:51.799 --> 00:00:57.340 I am who I am. And so... I ran through all of 00:00:57.340 --> 00:01:00.899 these things that I felt like surely would disqualify 00:01:00.899 --> 00:01:04.840 me, that would take me out of the running. And 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:06.840 then Mr. Glenn says something that's really funny, 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:09.879 and it changed my life and yours, whether you 00:01:09.879 --> 00:01:13.180 know it or not. He says, Donovan, you already 00:01:13.180 --> 00:01:16.540 talk so much anyways. Why don't you just say 00:01:16.540 --> 00:01:22.579 something that matters for once? He got me, but 00:01:22.579 --> 00:01:27.189 he was right. I talk way too much. And so I might 00:01:27.189 --> 00:01:32.510 as well use that, we'll call it a gift, for good. 00:01:34.829 --> 00:01:37.209 It was at that moment that I realized that I 00:01:37.209 --> 00:01:40.769 was capable of doing something great. I had the 00:01:40.769 --> 00:01:44.469 ability to. But the question still ran through 00:01:44.469 --> 00:01:48.329 my mind of if I was qualified. And I still ask 00:01:48.329 --> 00:01:52.349 that question. Am I? Well, I want to look at 00:01:52.349 --> 00:01:54.030 Scripture, and then I want to talk about this 00:01:54.030 --> 00:01:56.650 idea. So we're going to look at Jeremiah 1, verses 00:01:56.650 --> 00:01:59.489 4 -10. If you've got your Bible, you can turn 00:01:59.489 --> 00:02:02.730 there, or it'll be on the screen. Jeremiah 1, 00:02:03.010 --> 00:02:06.430 verses 4 -10. I want to read this passage, and 00:02:06.430 --> 00:02:08.469 we're going to pray a little bit. Now the word 00:02:08.469 --> 00:02:11.389 of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed 00:02:11.389 --> 00:02:16.870 you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were 00:02:16.870 --> 00:02:20.030 born, I consecrated you. I appointed you a prophet 00:02:20.030 --> 00:02:23.849 to the nations. Then I said, I, Lord God, behold, 00:02:24.370 --> 00:02:27.669 I do not know how to speak for I'm only a youth. 00:02:28.310 --> 00:02:31.490 But the Lord said to me, do not say I'm only 00:02:31.490 --> 00:02:36.310 a youth. For to all whom I send you, you shall 00:02:36.310 --> 00:02:39.849 go. And whatever I command you, you shall speak. 00:02:40.409 --> 00:02:43.650 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to 00:02:43.650 --> 00:02:46.740 deliver you, declares the Lord. Then the Lord 00:02:46.740 --> 00:02:48.819 put out his hand and he touched my mouth and 00:02:48.819 --> 00:02:51.620 the Lord said to me, behold, I have put my words 00:02:51.620 --> 00:02:56.659 in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over 00:02:56.659 --> 00:02:59.979 nations and over kingdoms to pluck up and to 00:02:59.979 --> 00:03:04.919 break down, to destroy, to overthrow, to build 00:03:04.919 --> 00:03:09.900 and to plant. Let's pray before we talk about 00:03:09.900 --> 00:03:13.199 this passage. Father, I thank you for your word. 00:03:14.320 --> 00:03:17.120 These words that have been preserved for thousands 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:19.400 of years so that we might hear them, so that 00:03:19.400 --> 00:03:21.800 we could read them and take them in and hopefully 00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:26.219 have some part of our lives changed. And God, 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:29.039 I thank you for the story of Jeremiah. I thank 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:32.759 you for people like Moses and Paul, who even 00:03:32.759 --> 00:03:34.979 though they felt like they were not qualified. 00:03:36.060 --> 00:03:38.039 Even though they thought that they should be 00:03:38.039 --> 00:03:39.860 disqualified. Even though they felt like they 00:03:39.860 --> 00:03:42.620 were the wrong person for the job. You saw them, 00:03:42.819 --> 00:03:46.259 you used them, and you equipped them for your 00:03:46.259 --> 00:03:50.659 glory. And God, I believe that every person in 00:03:50.659 --> 00:03:54.439 this room has the ability to do something great 00:03:54.439 --> 00:03:57.879 for your kingdom. And so I pray as we look at 00:03:57.879 --> 00:04:01.340 scripture this morning, as we discuss, that we 00:04:01.340 --> 00:04:04.629 would see. That you are calling all of us to 00:04:04.629 --> 00:04:08.229 do something great for you. And I pray that we 00:04:08.229 --> 00:04:12.129 would know and trust that you will give us the 00:04:12.129 --> 00:04:15.370 words to say. You'll give us the right things 00:04:15.370 --> 00:04:18.649 to do and you will help us to see how we can 00:04:18.649 --> 00:04:21.629 glorify you in this world. God, we love you. 00:04:21.750 --> 00:04:24.170 We praise you and we thank you so much for your 00:04:24.170 --> 00:04:28.129 son. And it's in his name we pray. Amen. So we 00:04:28.129 --> 00:04:32.269 see this guy. named Jeremiah get called by God. 00:04:32.649 --> 00:04:36.009 God comes up to him and Jeremiah is not just 00:04:36.009 --> 00:04:40.430 going to be a person that we read a story about. 00:04:40.490 --> 00:04:42.850 He's going to be a prophet to the nations. He's 00:04:42.850 --> 00:04:45.730 going to be God's messenger, God's mouthpiece 00:04:45.730 --> 00:04:48.529 to the world. And he immediately resists this 00:04:48.529 --> 00:04:51.610 call with his own disbelief. He says, I do not 00:04:51.610 --> 00:04:54.410 know how to speak for I'm only a youth. And that 00:04:54.410 --> 00:04:58.060 only a youth thing. is pretty true. Jeremiah 00:04:58.060 --> 00:05:00.879 is believed to have only been about 17 years 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:04.379 old when this call from God comes. And so maybe 00:05:04.379 --> 00:05:06.220 for some of you teenagers, I want you to imagine 00:05:06.220 --> 00:05:10.759 that God comes to you and says, you're going 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:14.860 to be my mouthpiece to the world. You're going 00:05:14.860 --> 00:05:17.279 to go and proclaim my glory. You're going to 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:20.319 proclaim my law to the nations. That's what happens 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:23.379 to Jeremiah. So you can imagine being asked this 00:05:23.379 --> 00:05:30.970 by God and immediately being. But God says, don't 00:05:30.970 --> 00:05:34.029 worry about your age. Don't worry about your 00:05:34.029 --> 00:05:36.569 ability. Don't even worry about the audience. 00:05:36.689 --> 00:05:40.610 I've got you. More specifically, he says, do 00:05:40.610 --> 00:05:44.689 not say I'm only a youth. For to all to whom 00:05:44.689 --> 00:05:48.230 I send you, you shall go. And whatever I command 00:05:48.230 --> 00:05:51.649 you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them. 00:05:52.050 --> 00:05:56.339 For I am with you to deliver you. That would 00:05:56.339 --> 00:05:59.600 probably, hopefully be enough to calm Jeremiah's 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:03.480 unbelief in himself. It should be enough to help 00:06:03.480 --> 00:06:06.439 him realize that his age doesn't matter or the 00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:09.040 daunting task before him doesn't matter. It should 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:12.740 be enough to help him to see that he is capable. 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:16.560 He is going to be qualified to do this because 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:23.379 why would God call him if he wasn't? But Jeremiah 00:06:23.379 --> 00:06:27.769 is still not. necessarily convinced. And so God 00:06:27.769 --> 00:06:31.649 does something really special. He reaches out 00:06:31.649 --> 00:06:34.970 and he puts the words to say in Jeremiah's mouth. 00:06:35.029 --> 00:06:38.069 Maybe you've heard the phrase, you took the words 00:06:38.069 --> 00:06:40.250 right out of my mouth. God does the opposite 00:06:40.250 --> 00:06:43.389 for Jeremiah here. He touches his lips, puts 00:06:43.389 --> 00:06:45.990 the words in his mouth. He says, I'm going to 00:06:45.990 --> 00:06:48.509 give you everything you need. I'm going to help 00:06:48.509 --> 00:06:51.410 you know what to say. I'm going to protect you. 00:06:55.050 --> 00:06:58.389 Then the Lord put out his hand and he touched 00:06:58.389 --> 00:07:05.029 my mouth. Behold, I've given you the things that 00:07:05.029 --> 00:07:08.389 you need. See, Jeremiah is able to do some really 00:07:08.389 --> 00:07:10.490 great things, obviously, because he has an entire 00:07:10.490 --> 00:07:13.230 book that is about his life. But more specifically, 00:07:13.509 --> 00:07:17.189 Jeremiah, through his spiritual leadership, is 00:07:17.189 --> 00:07:19.990 able to help his people survive disasters. They're 00:07:19.990 --> 00:07:24.730 able to survive captivity because of his. Now 00:07:24.730 --> 00:07:28.870 this is a 17 year old who goes from being just 00:07:28.870 --> 00:07:32.350 a teenager to being an incredible prophet and 00:07:32.350 --> 00:07:35.689 messenger of God. Not because he was super qualified. 00:07:35.709 --> 00:07:38.329 Not because he had all this training. Not because 00:07:38.329 --> 00:07:42.170 he was just so gifted. But because God chose 00:07:42.170 --> 00:07:50.829 him and equipped him. Because God equips whom 00:07:50.829 --> 00:07:57.589 he chooses. And who am I to question God's calling? 00:07:59.709 --> 00:08:04.430 Similarly, in Exodus chapter 3 and chapter 4, 00:08:04.550 --> 00:08:08.149 we'll see Moses. And Moses gets called by God. 00:08:08.230 --> 00:08:11.089 And at this point, Moses is about 80 years old. 00:08:11.129 --> 00:08:13.970 So we've got our 17 -year -old, maybe 18 -year 00:08:13.970 --> 00:08:16.089 -old. And now we've got our 80 -year -old getting 00:08:16.089 --> 00:08:18.069 called by God. Moses is out tending his sheep. 00:08:18.550 --> 00:08:21.189 He's just doing what he does. He's out on the 00:08:21.189 --> 00:08:25.860 job. And God approaches, well, God appears in 00:08:25.860 --> 00:08:29.040 a burning bush. See, at this point, Moses is 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:31.459 not only 80 years old, but he's long removed 00:08:31.459 --> 00:08:34.019 from the palace that he grew up in. And he's 00:08:34.019 --> 00:08:36.639 also probably lost a little bit of that zeal 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:39.039 and passion that he had to free his people and 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:42.279 let my people go. And so God shows up in this 00:08:42.279 --> 00:08:44.220 burning bush and he says this to Moses. He says, 00:08:44.279 --> 00:08:47.080 come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may 00:08:47.080 --> 00:08:54.250 bring my people out of Egypt. If I'm Moses, I'm 00:08:54.250 --> 00:09:01.909 not 80. But I have an idea of how big this mission 00:09:01.909 --> 00:09:06.470 might be to say, I'm going to free an entire 00:09:06.470 --> 00:09:09.529 nation of people from Egyptian rule. Now, you 00:09:09.529 --> 00:09:12.190 got to remember, Egypt is one of those empires 00:09:12.190 --> 00:09:14.409 of empires at this time. And so you're going 00:09:14.409 --> 00:09:19.240 to go one man against an entire nation. To free 00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:21.919 an entire nation of people. That is not going 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:25.580 to be an easy job. And just like Jeremiah, Moses 00:09:25.580 --> 00:09:28.720 pushes back. And he says, who am I that I should 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:32.159 go? And he questions even more in chapter 4. 00:09:32.259 --> 00:09:34.899 He says, they won't believe me. Or he gives his 00:09:34.899 --> 00:09:37.340 excuses of why he's not the right person. I'm 00:09:37.340 --> 00:09:39.220 slow of speech and of tongue. And you've got 00:09:39.220 --> 00:09:42.759 to remember, way back before this, Moses killed 00:09:42.759 --> 00:09:45.720 a guy in Egypt. And he's been on the run, so... 00:09:46.200 --> 00:09:49.659 This isn't this easy mission for him. This isn't 00:09:49.659 --> 00:09:52.340 something that you would hear somebody say, hey, 00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:53.659 I need you to go do this. And you're just like, 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:56.100 oh, yeah, I got it. I'll do it on my way home 00:09:56.100 --> 00:10:01.779 from work. This is like a serious calling. And 00:10:01.779 --> 00:10:09.399 80 -year -old Moses just has to try to understand 00:10:09.399 --> 00:10:13.700 that this is his duty. But God doesn't just leave 00:10:13.700 --> 00:10:16.539 him hanging. God responds to him. He says, who 00:10:16.539 --> 00:10:21.460 has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute? Who 00:10:21.460 --> 00:10:24.519 makes him deaf? Who gives him the ability to 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:31.000 see? Or who makes him blind? Is it not I, the 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:35.240 Lord? Now, therefore, go and I will be with your 00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:37.299 mouth and I'll teach you what you shall speak. 00:10:37.480 --> 00:10:40.220 See, God's qualification process is way different 00:10:40.220 --> 00:10:42.879 than ours. We look at people and we say they've 00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:45.419 got to be ready to go right now and then they 00:10:45.419 --> 00:10:50.440 can have the job. But Moses's age doesn't disqualify 00:10:50.440 --> 00:10:54.299 him. His speech problem didn't disqualify him. 00:10:54.340 --> 00:10:59.120 His fear doesn't disqualify him because God's 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:04.230 call. always comes with God's provision. He doesn't 00:11:04.230 --> 00:11:07.029 call us to do things. He doesn't call them to 00:11:07.029 --> 00:11:09.509 do things that He's not going to equip them to 00:11:09.509 --> 00:11:12.470 do. God's not going to call you into Egypt and 00:11:12.470 --> 00:11:14.450 say, hey, I need you to go free these people 00:11:14.450 --> 00:11:16.769 and go up against this army if He's not going 00:11:16.769 --> 00:11:18.730 to equip you for it. He's not going to tell you, 00:11:18.750 --> 00:11:20.789 I need you to be the mouthpiece to the nations 00:11:20.789 --> 00:11:23.950 for my glory if He's not going to equip you for 00:11:23.950 --> 00:11:29.679 it. God is always going to call. Those whom He 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:32.600 wants. And when He calls them, He will equip 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:36.460 them. All throughout Scripture, we see this theme 00:11:36.460 --> 00:11:39.919 of God not always calling the qualified, but 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:42.860 always qualifying the called. Paul explains this 00:11:42.860 --> 00:11:44.580 a little bit in his writings to the church in 00:11:44.580 --> 00:11:47.559 Corinth. The first one is in 1 Corinthians 1, 00:11:47.860 --> 00:11:51.259 verses 27 -29, where Paul says this, God chose 00:11:51.259 --> 00:11:53.860 what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. 00:11:55.080 --> 00:11:58.110 God chose what is weak. To shame the strong. 00:11:58.990 --> 00:12:02.690 So that no human being might boast in the presence 00:12:02.690 --> 00:12:05.070 of God. Think about it. Think of all these people 00:12:05.070 --> 00:12:07.549 that we see God call throughout Scripture. They're 00:12:07.549 --> 00:12:10.129 not always the mighty. They're not always the 00:12:10.129 --> 00:12:12.490 most noble. They're not always the richest or 00:12:12.490 --> 00:12:16.730 the wisest or the strongest. They're often the 00:12:16.730 --> 00:12:23.519 poor. The young or the really old. They're the 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:26.059 people that you would never expect. And Paul 00:12:26.059 --> 00:12:29.320 is explaining that God does this on purpose. 00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:32.259 We see what Paul says again, and this was what 00:12:32.259 --> 00:12:34.399 our scripture was that we read in 2 Corinthians 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:38.779 3. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves. We're 00:12:38.779 --> 00:12:41.139 not capable on our own. It's not our ability. 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:43.740 It's not who we are. It's not what we've done. 00:12:43.899 --> 00:12:48.200 But it's God. Our sufficiency is from God who 00:12:48.200 --> 00:12:51.279 has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new 00:12:51.279 --> 00:12:55.360 covenant. See, this is a key part of the gospel. 00:12:56.179 --> 00:13:00.220 This is a very important truth that the church 00:13:00.220 --> 00:13:03.220 needs to always remember. All through scripture 00:13:03.220 --> 00:13:05.720 we see these people that shouldn't have been 00:13:05.720 --> 00:13:11.059 used. That were not qualified. That weren't the 00:13:11.059 --> 00:13:14.419 prime choice. That weren't the picture perfect 00:13:14.419 --> 00:13:19.059 example of messenger of God. It's funny, somebody 00:13:19.059 --> 00:13:23.549 once told me, you're not like... Other ministers. 00:13:23.909 --> 00:13:26.490 And at first I took that as an insult. I was 00:13:26.490 --> 00:13:28.870 like, that seems kind of, what are you trying 00:13:28.870 --> 00:13:31.149 to say? Like I had a person tell me one time, 00:13:31.289 --> 00:13:35.250 you don't preach to youth group kids like a youth 00:13:35.250 --> 00:13:38.470 minister. I went to college to be a youth minister. 00:13:39.309 --> 00:13:42.610 So that was kind of insulting, right? But that's 00:13:42.610 --> 00:13:44.610 not what they meant. What they meant was that 00:13:44.610 --> 00:13:47.190 you're a little bit different. And God calls 00:13:47.190 --> 00:13:49.190 people that are different. He calls people that 00:13:49.190 --> 00:13:51.070 you don't look at and say, yeah, he fits the 00:13:51.070 --> 00:13:53.830 bill. That's why people love the preachers that 00:13:53.830 --> 00:13:55.929 have tattoos all over them. That's why people 00:13:55.929 --> 00:13:59.090 love the missionaries that they don't look like 00:13:59.090 --> 00:14:01.049 these, you know, white collar wearing high and 00:14:01.049 --> 00:14:02.990 mighty people, but they look like they fit in 00:14:02.990 --> 00:14:05.929 with the locals. That's why people like the church 00:14:05.929 --> 00:14:08.230 member that doesn't act like they're up here, 00:14:08.330 --> 00:14:10.509 but they get down in the weeds with people and 00:14:10.509 --> 00:14:13.870 live like normal human beings. Because we are. 00:14:15.389 --> 00:14:19.210 God calls. And uses these people. And we remember 00:14:19.210 --> 00:14:21.950 them because they did significant things. People 00:14:21.950 --> 00:14:25.049 like Esther. This young woman who was a minority 00:14:25.049 --> 00:14:28.909 in her time and in her place. And she goes and 00:14:28.909 --> 00:14:31.789 she uses her ability that God gives her. That 00:14:31.789 --> 00:14:35.169 God uses to save her people from genocide. Somebody 00:14:35.169 --> 00:14:37.809 like Paul. Who was a former enemy of the church. 00:14:37.950 --> 00:14:40.629 Who he literally says, I was persecuting Jesus. 00:14:41.370 --> 00:14:43.889 Paul gets used to become the greatest missionary 00:14:43.889 --> 00:14:46.009 that the church has ever known and the greatest 00:14:46.009 --> 00:14:48.889 church planner and the author of half of our 00:14:48.889 --> 00:14:51.690 New Testament. We see somebody like Rahab, this 00:14:51.690 --> 00:14:55.950 Gentile woman who was a former prostitute whose 00:14:55.950 --> 00:14:59.830 faith saved her and places her in the lineage 00:14:59.830 --> 00:15:03.740 of Jesus. What better example than this band 00:15:03.740 --> 00:15:07.139 of misfit, uneducated, blue -collar, fisherman, 00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:10.440 carpenter, disciples that Jesus calls His best 00:15:10.440 --> 00:15:14.519 friends. That Jesus uses to spread His message, 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:19.000 to perform miracles. All of these people that 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:25.379 we would look at and say, unqualified. Do you 00:15:25.379 --> 00:15:29.590 see the pattern? Whether you're 18 or 88, whether 00:15:29.590 --> 00:15:31.769 you're an introvert or you're charismatic, whether 00:15:31.769 --> 00:15:35.490 you've got a PhD or ADHD, whether you are in 00:15:35.490 --> 00:15:37.990 the greatest health of your life or you're chronically 00:15:37.990 --> 00:15:40.950 ill, whether you are just pouring out confidence 00:15:40.950 --> 00:15:45.870 or you are always doubting, God can and will 00:15:45.870 --> 00:15:51.610 use you. And when he chooses to use you, he will 00:15:51.610 --> 00:15:55.690 equip you. If anybody understood this, it was 00:15:55.690 --> 00:15:58.490 the Apostle Paul. This is what he says to the 00:15:58.490 --> 00:16:00.809 church in Philippi in chapter 2, verse 13 of 00:16:00.809 --> 00:16:03.529 his letter to the church in Philippi. It is God 00:16:03.529 --> 00:16:07.870 who works in you both to will and to work for 00:16:07.870 --> 00:16:15.610 his good pleasure. It's God. It's God. I understand 00:16:15.610 --> 00:16:18.789 feeling unqualified. I still am not sure I'm 00:16:18.789 --> 00:16:21.700 supposed to be up here. I'm still not sure that 00:16:21.700 --> 00:16:23.860 I'm the one that you want praying over you and 00:16:23.860 --> 00:16:26.000 praying with you and that you want trying to 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.899 comfort you and minister to you. I'm not sure 00:16:28.899 --> 00:16:35.240 of that. But I am sure of one thing. If I will 00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:39.799 let him, God will work through me. And God will 00:16:39.799 --> 00:16:42.980 be the one ministering to you. And God will be 00:16:42.980 --> 00:16:45.590 the one comforting you. And God will be the one 00:16:45.590 --> 00:16:48.870 proclaiming the message to you and to Union County 00:16:48.870 --> 00:16:52.710 and to the church abroad. And I'm also sure that 00:16:52.710 --> 00:16:54.350 He'll do the same thing through you if you'll 00:16:54.350 --> 00:17:00.769 let Him. He did it for Jeremiah. He did it for 00:17:00.769 --> 00:17:02.649 Moses. He did it for Paul and for the disciples 00:17:02.649 --> 00:17:05.410 and for all of those people throughout Scripture 00:17:05.410 --> 00:17:09.109 that we see. He calls them. He equips them. He 00:17:09.109 --> 00:17:14.400 uses them for mighty good works. And I've got 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:18.880 to believe that he'll do the same for us. So 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:21.519 maybe you've been asking yourself the question, 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:24.920 why me? Every time I say that, I think of the 00:17:24.920 --> 00:17:28.480 Chris Christopherson song. Why me, Lord? And 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:30.700 sometimes when I get in the weeds of church work, 00:17:30.779 --> 00:17:37.839 I really do think, why me? I think hopefully 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:41.319 we've answered that question this morning. There's 00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:45.200 no rhyme or reason to it. There isn't a why. 00:17:45.799 --> 00:17:54.039 It just is. God wants to use unqualified, unskilled, 00:17:54.039 --> 00:18:02.039 uneducated people to do good works. I love that 00:18:02.039 --> 00:18:04.619 what Paul says is he chooses the weak to shame 00:18:04.619 --> 00:18:10.200 the strong. I'm not strong enough. And if I ever 00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:12.720 feel like I am, I feel like God will shame me. 00:18:15.880 --> 00:18:19.880 It's God. And God's going to do what God wants 00:18:19.880 --> 00:18:23.019 to do, what God needs to do. And if he says go, 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:27.440 I better go. And I can trust that he's going 00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:31.140 to make it to where when I go, I'm going to do 00:18:31.140 --> 00:18:34.700 all right. The better question to me that we 00:18:34.700 --> 00:18:39.440 need to ask and answer is why not now? Because 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:41.119 the truth is, we're not waiting on a burning 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:42.859 bush. God has already called us. He's already 00:18:42.859 --> 00:18:45.019 told us what he wants to do. We go back to that 00:18:45.019 --> 00:18:48.759 great commission. Go into all the world. Proclaiming 00:18:48.759 --> 00:18:52.339 the gospel to all creation. Baptizing and making 00:18:52.339 --> 00:18:56.799 disciples. That's the mission. It was mentioned 00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:59.700 earlier. Let your light shine before men. So 00:18:59.700 --> 00:19:02.880 they can see your good works and glorify God 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:10.259 in heaven. That's the call. question is why am 00:19:10.259 --> 00:19:15.099 I not doing that now? What am I waiting on? Am 00:19:15.099 --> 00:19:18.500 I waiting to feel qualified? Because if so, I 00:19:18.500 --> 00:19:21.019 got to stop that. Am I waiting for the right 00:19:21.019 --> 00:19:23.859 time? Because if so, there is none. If I'm waiting 00:19:23.859 --> 00:19:28.630 for something, I got to put that aside. And I 00:19:28.630 --> 00:19:30.670 have to trust that I'm ready, that God is going 00:19:30.670 --> 00:19:32.849 to prepare me. If you're a Christ follower who's 00:19:32.849 --> 00:19:34.730 been holding back from what God is calling you 00:19:34.730 --> 00:19:38.329 to do, whether it's serving, leading, sharing, 00:19:38.630 --> 00:19:40.809 stepping out of faith, whatever it is, today 00:19:40.809 --> 00:19:44.490 is the day to trust that God will equip you if 00:19:44.490 --> 00:19:47.690 you will just answer the call. He's not waiting 00:19:47.690 --> 00:19:50.109 for you to be perfect. He's not waiting for you 00:19:50.109 --> 00:19:53.849 to understand. He's waiting for your trust and 00:19:53.849 --> 00:19:57.509 obedience. And if you're not yet a follower of 00:19:57.509 --> 00:19:59.750 Jesus, I want you to hear this. And I hope that 00:19:59.750 --> 00:20:04.150 this can help you. God's not waiting for you 00:20:04.150 --> 00:20:07.849 to get it all right. He's never waited for people 00:20:07.849 --> 00:20:12.049 to be perfect before he could cleanse them. God 00:20:12.049 --> 00:20:18.049 is simply choosing you. He's already extended 00:20:18.049 --> 00:20:21.210 his grace to you. He's already offered you this 00:20:21.210 --> 00:20:23.730 new life, this abundant life, this purpose -filled 00:20:23.730 --> 00:20:27.279 life through Jesus. So whether you need to take 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:30.680 a first step or a next step, God is calling. 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:36.220 You have to decide. I've got to decide whether 00:20:36.220 --> 00:20:38.940 we'll say yes or no. If you'd like to respond 00:20:38.940 --> 00:20:41.579 in any way today, if you'd like to take that 00:20:41.579 --> 00:20:44.220 first step or the next step, I'll be up front. 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:46.259 There's shepherds in this room. There's people 00:20:46.259 --> 00:20:48.259 in this room that want to pray with you, that 00:20:48.259 --> 00:20:51.059 want to love you and support you. We extend this 00:20:51.059 --> 00:20:53.240 invitation to you now as we stand and as we sing.