Latest / HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN® / Becoming the person God always knew you could be

Transcript

Becoming the person God always knew you could be · HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN®

• 0:03
  So let me ask you something Have you ever looked at your life and thought There
• 0:09
  is no way God could use someone like me,
• 0:13
  Maybe you look at your mistakes Maybe you think about the opportunities that
• 0:19
  you missed Maybe you compare yourself to everyone around you,
• 0:25
  Or maybe you simply convince yourself that someone else would make a better
• 0:30
  person, a better Christian,
• 0:32
  a better leader, a better servant than you could ever be.
• 0:37
  If you would ever feel that way, or have you ever felt that way, raise your hand.
• 0:43
  Yeah, I thought so. Well, then guess what? You're in good company because that's
• 0:48
  exactly how Gideon felt.
• 0:51
  And yet before Gideon ever believed he could be used by God,
• 0:55
  God had already called him.
• 0:58
  God sees beyond our present.
• 1:01
  When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he wasn't standing on the battlefield.
• 1:07
  He wasn't leading the army.
• 1:09
  He wasn't performing miracles. He wasn't acting like a hero. He was hiding.
• 1:17
  Israel had spent many years living in fear of the Midianites.
• 1:21
  Every harvest was threatened. every day, every hour brought uncertainty.
• 1:30
  The people had become discouraged, defeated, and exhausted.
• 1:35
  So Gideon found himself threshing wheat in a wine press, not because that was
• 1:40
  the proper place to do it, but because he was afraid.
• 1:45
  He was afraid that someone would take hold of him, Would find him And would
• 1:52
  take whatever little he had That's where God found him And what did God say?
• 2:00
  The Lord is with you Mighty warrior,
• 2:04
  Gideon was like.
• 2:08
  Think about that for a minute. Think about that. If all of a sudden you heard,
• 2:11
  the Lord is with you, mighty warrior.
• 2:16
  God didn't call Gideon by what he was doing. God called Gideon by who he was becoming.
• 2:24
  How often do we define ourselves by our present circumstances while God is looking at our future?
• 2:33
  Maybe today you're sitting here, you're standing in your own wine press,
• 2:38
  hiding behind disappointment, fear, regret, or maybe uncertainty.
• 2:47
  But what if God sees something in you that you haven't yet discovered in yourself?
• 2:53
  Stop letting fear introduce you.
• 2:58
  Gideon's first response wasn't confidence. It was excuses.
• 3:04
  My family is the weakest. I'm the least.
• 3:08
  He immediately began listing every reason why God had chosen the wrong person.
• 3:15
  Does that sound familiar?
• 3:18
  How many times have we introduced ourselves by our fears instead of our faith?
• 3:25
  I'm not smart enough. I'm too old. I'm too young.
• 3:32
  I've made too many mistakes. I'm not qualified.
• 3:38
  But notice something beautiful. God never argues with Gideon.
• 3:43
  He doesn't hand him a list of qualifications. He simply says, I will be with you.
• 3:53
  Turn to each other and say, God is with you. God is with you.
• 4:01
  Sometimes we spend so much time asking if we're enough that we forget to ask if God is enough.
• 4:10
  And the answer has always been yes.
• 4:16
  Becoming takes time. One of the greatest lies we believe is that transformation happens overnight.
• 4:25
  We live in a world that wants everything immediately. Instant gratification.
• 4:33
  Instant answers, instant success, instant results. But God usually works differently.
• 4:42
  God shapes us one prayer at a time, one lesson, one challenge,
• 4:49
  one act of obedience at a time.
• 4:53
  We don't become the person God created us to be overnight. We become the person,
• 4:59
  by continuing to trust him one day at a time. Remember?
• 5:06
  David was anointed king long before he wore the crown. Joseph dreamed long before he ruled Egypt.
• 5:15
  Peter walked beside Jesus for years before becoming the leader of the early church.
• 5:22
  And Gideon didn't become courageous the moment God called him.
• 5:27
  He became courageous one step of obedience at a time. Now that's encouraging.
• 5:34
  Because it means God isn't asking us to arrive overnight.
• 5:38
  He's simply asking us to keep walking, to keep trusting, to keep becoming.
• 5:48
  You know, if somebody told me 25 years ago, I'm 48.
• 5:51
  Somebody told me 25 years ago that one day I would be standing behind the pulpit,
• 5:57
  preaching God's word and sharing my faith through a daily podcast.
• 6:02
  I probably would have smiled and probably said, yeah, you got the wrong person.
• 6:07
  But for more than 25 years, I believed my life was heading in a completely different direction.
• 6:15
  I worked in sales, retail, restaurants, banking, customer service.
• 6:23
  And every time I thought I had finally found where I belonged,
• 6:27
  another door would close.
• 6:30
  At the time, I didn't understand why. I questioned myself. I questioned my future.
• 6:37
  I wondered what God was doing.
• 6:40
  You ever been there?
• 6:43
  Have you ever wondered why one opportunity ended before another one began?
• 6:49
  Looking back now, I see it differently.
• 6:54
  God wasn't closing the doors because he was finished with me. Nope.
• 6:59
  He was leading me somewhere I never imagined. He brought me to Garden Health Medical Center.
• 7:06
  He surrounded me around people with faith that strengthened my own.
• 7:11
  He opened the door to ministry school.
• 7:14
  He gave me a mentor, Pastor Jim.
• 7:19
  He gave me a podcast where I could start sharing his love with people around
• 7:23
  the world called Half Faith, Let It Begin.
• 7:27
  Looking back now, I realize something. God wasn't simply changing my circumstances.
• 7:36
  He was changing me.
• 7:38
  He wasn't preparing a career. He wasn't preparing a calling.
• 7:44
  And maybe that's exactly what he's doing in your life right now.
• 7:50
  Have you ever felt like hiding?
• 7:54
  Have you ever smiled while carrying something nobody else knew about?
• 8:00
  Now, you ever wondered if God had forgotten about you?
• 8:04
  If so, you're standing exactly where Gideon was.
• 8:09
  And that's often where God begins his greatest work. So let me conclude with this.
• 8:16
  Maybe today you've been calling yourself something.
• 8:21
  God never called you. He never called you and said, failure. Never said that to you.
• 8:29
  Broken. Never said that to you. Unworthy. He's never said that about you.
• 8:36
  Not enough. He's never said that about you.
• 8:40
  But God calls you something different. Forgiven.
• 8:46
  Loved. Chosen. His children.
• 8:53
  Just as he looked at Gideon, he saw a mighty warriors.
• 8:58
  He looked at you and he sees the person that you are becoming Not because you've
• 9:04
  already arrived But because he knows that with his grace He will accomplish anything,
• 9:13
  So maybe today God is calling you something you've never been called yourself,
• 9:19
  Forgiven Loved Chosen Redeemed,
• 9:27
  called,
• 9:29
  not because you've already become that person, but because God already sees
• 9:33
  you or who you are becoming.
• 9:36
  So the next time you look in the mirror, don't ask, what do I see?
• 9:44
  I want you to ask, what does God see? Because the God who created you already
• 9:50
  knows the person you are becoming.
• 9:53
  And if God believes that you can become that person, that's what I'm saying.
• 9:58
  Perhaps it's time you begin believing it too. Amen.
• 10:04
  And with that, our time of worship is concluded. I invite you to come this way,
• 10:09
  which is my right to your left.
• 10:11
  We're going back down to Fellowship Hall to unite as one, break bread,
• 10:16
  enjoy the communion of one another. And I ask you to leave with this.
• 10:23
  God is with you. God is blessing you.
• 10:27
  God is going to always be with you because he loves you, he trusts you,
• 10:32
  and he will never leave your side.
• 10:35
  Remember that as you become who you intended to be.
• 10:39
  In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as my grandmothers
• 10:42
  would say, which means, may God bless you.
• 10:46
  And as my father would say, let's eat. Have a good one, man.