Message THE PERSON GOD USES - 05-15-16
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Transcript of Message THE PERSON GOD USES - 05-15-16
Brothers and sisters, God chose you to be his. Think about that! Not many of you were wise in
the way the world judges wisdom.
Not many of you had great influence, and not many of you came from important families.
But God chose the foolish things
of the world to shame the wise. He chose the weak things of
the world to shame the strong. And God chose what the world thinks is not important—what the world hates and thinks is
nothing.
He chose these to destroy what the world thinks is important.
God did this so that no one can stand before him and boast
about anything. It is God who has made you part of Christ
Jesus. And Christ has become for us wisdom from God.
He is the reason we are right with God and pure enough to
be in his presence. Christ is the one who set us free from sin.
So, as the Scriptures say, “Whoever boasts should
boast only about the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31 – Easy To Read Version)
God uses ordinary people in extraordinary ways for His glory. Think of your favorite biblical character or person from church history. Before
they were “well-known” they were unknown.
The Lord takes nobodies and makes them somebody all by His grace. God took a
shepherd boy and made Him King of Israel.
God used a donkey to deliver
a message. God uses ordinary people in
extraordinary ways.
God uses those who are grateful because they never forget all
they have been given!
I plead with you to give your lives completely to God. Let
them be a living sacrifice, holy—the kind he can accept. When you think of what he has done
for you, is this too much to ask?
(Romans 12:1 – Living Bible)
God uses those who are weak because they know how much they
need God’s help!
God said, “I am with you; that is all you need. My power
shows up best in weak people.” Now I am glad to boast about
how weak I am;
I am glad to be a living demonstration of Christ’s
power, instead of showing off my own power and abilities. (2 Corinthians 12:9 – Living
Bible)
God uses those who are humble because they want God to get
all the glory!
In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so
that they will see the good things you do. Live so that they
will praise your Father in heaven.
(Matthew 5:16 – International Children’s Bible)
God uses those who are compassionate
because they want to help other people!
Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed.
Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you
think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived . . .
Right now, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the
people closest to us in the community of faith.
(Galatians 6:2, 10 – The Message)
God uses those who are imperfect because they boast about God
and not about themselves!
“Don’t let the wise brag of their wisdom. Don’t let heroes brag of their exploits. Don’t let the rich brag of their riches. If you brag, brag of this and this only: That you understand and
know me.
I’m GOD, and I act in loyal love. I do what’s right and set things
right and fair, and delight in those who
do the same things. These are my trademarks.”
(Jeremiah 9:24 – The Message)
God uses those who are forgiven because
they know how blessed they really are!
God is ready to overwhelm you with more grace and more
blessings than you could ever imagine so that you’ll always
be taken care of in every way and you’ll have more than
enough to share with others. (2 Corinthians 9:8 – The Voice)
God uses those who are faithful because they don’t give up
when things get hard!
And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of
blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up.
(Galatians 6:9 – Living Bible)
God uses those who are surrendered
because they want to give their
best to God!
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your
sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and
place it before God as an offering.
Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can
do for him . . . I’m speaking to you out
of deep gratitude for all that God has given me . . . (Romans 12:1, 3 – The
Message)
Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got
called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the
best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-
society families.
Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and
women that the culture overlooks and exploits and
abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the
“somebodies”?
That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with
blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—
comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.
That’s why we have the saying,
“If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31 – The
Message)
Let’s Pray