The Week in Review

Destined for Greatness
(Preached at Langley Avenue Church of God 2/17/08)

Now let’s look at Mary’s life for a few momentsLuke 1:26-38: The Birth of Jesus Foretold In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God." "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

The writer of Luke gives us this recanting of a story about a young virgin girl that has just been given an unusual assignment. We do not have any other information about Mary, but she simply shows up in the telling of this story. The writer, just as the writer of David’s life simply begins to tell the events. Yet Mary did not just appear, but was also on the mind of God before she was yet born. He formed Mary fearfully – with great care. As he formed her he knew he was forming the mother of the savior. Just as he knew in Mary’s womb the savior would be formed. God knows even when the child is yet unborn the greatness he wants to fulfill within. Why do you think the devil wants so much for us to kill the unborn? If he can cut the seed off before it even gets here, he can cut off greatness yet unborn. Mary was a simple and ordinary girl; one Bible dictionary says she was probably a peasant girl. So she wasn’t rich, famous or sought after. There isn’t anything really great mention about her, yet she is being chosen for such a wonderful assignment. She is being called to have strength, character, perseverance, determination and an ability to sacrifice. Her very name means bitter. Mary is being asked to take on a bitter assignment, because she will have to watch her very son crucified for the sins of the world. Mary’s first response was, how can this happen, I don’t know a man?
In other words Mary is asking how can this natural thing, childbirth, happen without help or a man’s intervention? God’s answer through the angel is it will not be a natural thing, but a supernatural thing, because nothing is impossible with God. It will be by my spirit that this is done. When Mary hears all the information, she says let it be done unto your servant. In other words, I surrender myself to you.

Mary shows us something important. Sometimes we cannot see the greatness inside because we are looking at it from the natural. We say, this is great, but what man will help me? I want to go to law school or start a business, but if I can’t get someone to open doors for me, I won’t be able to. God then speaks and says it won’t be by man’s efforts but by my spirit. God wants to do some supernatural things in our lives if we only release ourselves into his hands. He is calling for some young people to be like Mary to say Lord, let your will be done in my life. What he wants to do is plant his spirit in you and allow the Spirits influence to grow you. And when the time comes he will bring forth life. Do you know God wants you, young people (all of us really) to be willing to be sacrifices so that his Spirit can reach someone else? See I cannot reach all the people you can. You are called for that very purpose to reach your friends and peers and those you have contact with. Yeah, some will talk about you, some will ridicule you and others might even think you are a joke, don’t you think there was probably talk about Mary a virgin that was pregnant. That had to be the joke of the village. However, God is looking for some young people to make a commitment right now to live completely for him and accept their unusual assignment to carry his son. He wants you to carry his son to a dying world and when you do, he promises you that he will make you a royal nation. You will become royalty because you are the child of the King. You are a nation of priest that comes to tell the world about God.
Come back next week for the next and final installment of this message.

Week in Review

Destined For Greatness
(Preached at Langley Avenue Church of God on 2/17/08)

We ended last week with David handling the negative from others. We pick up this week with how you can handle the negative:

So if you can sing, do math, whatever it is, give it to God and watch him take what looks useless and make it into giant killers. Not only will you have victory over the Goliath situations, but you encourage those that see you to go forward in the battle to win as well. I had people tell me I couldn’t be anything. I was told I would be nothing but a statistic. I would be a girl on welfare with a bunch of babies with nothing to offer. But God said, “NO. You will not be a statistic because I have you destined for greatness”. Sometimes you have to tell the naysayers in your life, if you don’t have anything good to say, please be quiet and stop talking to me. My rocks are not useless they are giant killers. So people of God, let us stop looking on the outside and seek to see what God sees, the heart.

Let’s stop looking at the negative and start to seeing the positive. If we have a child that doesn’t come to Sunday school often, let us not jump on them for only being there for 15 minutes or for only coming once a month, lets give them the best 15 minutes they can get and drench that seed in them. Let’s stop jumping on our youth because they don’t look like we think. “OH what a sin before God” Well if what they look like is a sin before God let’s pray for them, and then when we see them tell them, I am so happy to see you. I miss you when you aren’t here. I’m glad your doing well in school. I love your smile. I’m praying for you. and the praises goes on and on. You know what happens? We invest so much in that young person, they will want to come back to us because they have found love and acceptance and not rejection and ridicule. Guess what then happens, you can tell them things that may help them grow and change. You can’t do it until you have established a relationship with them first.

I had a friend’s mother when I was young that would allow me to come and talk to her no matter how long I needed to talk. She didn’t tell me my shorts were too short, and they were. She didn’t tell me all the negative things about me (because there were some), instead she talked about the good things. If I needed 10 minutes or 2 hours, she gave it to me. Her name is Barbara Ellis and she invested in me. Do you know that investment in me saved me at times? When my stepfather thought it was his job to ridicule me daily I would replay the messages she gave over and over again in my head.

Do you know because she invested in me I didn’t have to become another negative statistic? Church do you know when we ridicule our young people we are grooming them to become a statistic? So when we wag our tongues about how bad they are or how lazy they are or some other complaint we can come up with, be assured you are adding to the negative numbers.
Young people, God wants you to find assurance in what you can become in him. It is your choice, you can decide to accept his calling for you and allow his Spirit to direct you even now, or you can reject it and choose to become just another statistic. You can know with assurance that God ‘s purpose in you will be fulfilled if you give yourself to him. God does not invest himself in anything or anyone he does not plan to complete. So you can stand boldly when some come and say the negative things. Even if those words hurt, you can do like David and determine in your heart to continue to go forward. David didn’t stop short of becoming the king he was anointed to be, don’t stop short of reaching your place of purpose, the place God destined you to fulfill. Now I want you to understand David was not anointed king one day and then became king the next. He had to go through some bitter times before that thing was fulfilled. Yet, I believe in those bitter times he was able to remember the calling on his life and to continue to move toward that goal.

Week in Review

Destined for Greatness

(Preached at Langley Avenue Church of God 2/17/08)

David’s confidence is in God. David sized this giant up and said he is nothing against God. It doesn’t matter his size because God is bigger. If God protected me against the lion and the bear, surely he will protect me against Goliath because it is God he is defying. Now here is where we have the problem.

READ verse 38-40: Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

David was ready to go up against this foe, but the king thought he needed to put his armor on David. What he did instead was burden David with “his armor” and not allow the armor God gave David to work for David. See what happened is the King decided David’s weapons were not good enough. That’s true today. We must be careful about how we look at the generation coming behind. We cannot look at their weapons and decided they are not good enough, or that they need our armor. Let me ask a question, if you take your armor off to put it on somebody else, what is protecting you, where is the armor you should be wearing for the battle you should be in? Scripture says put on the whole armor of God and that is speaking to what you should be doing for yourself. It doesn’t say, put John and Mary’s armor on for them so they can be ready. If you take your protection off, you are in trouble. But we must understand, David had all he needed.

READ verse 49-52: Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine's sword and drew it from the scabbard. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.

·What is the message God wants you to see from the life of David? David had a calling, a purpose placed on his life in the womb of his mother way before he met the priest that would anoint him. David when he was anointed received the purpose and the anointing of God. God still does the same. When you accept his son’s gift of salvation you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. That is what the oil represents God’s presence through his spirit. At that very moment that which God has purposed in you when he formed you in your mothers womb, can now begin to grow. He speaks into your life what his purpose is and he will grow that seed in you until it comes to be what he wants. David accepted his calling to be a king even though he did not become the actual king at that moment. He had to go through some things, some processes before that could happen. You will have to go through some growing processes so that which God has ordained for you can come to fulfillment. David was confident in what God was going to do, that is why he was able to stand up to that giant because he knew that God had not finished with him and surely he would have to bring him through in order to fulfill his purpose he had for him. You can have that same assurance when you face those giants, those things that seem too big to face, that God will give you the victory, because he is not finished with yet. You can have the assurance that your weapons are just what you need to face the giants in life. That is because they are the weapons God has given to you.

The warning to us the church is we need to be obedient like Samuel and speak words into the lives of our young people (and this goes to the young Christian as well) that will water that seed. Samuel didn’t see it at first, but he did what he was supposed to any way. We need to stop looking at our young peoples weapons and thinking, “they only have useless rocks”, they need what I have. We have too many “kings”, too many Saul’s that think they are the authority and are writing off our young people as being unable to stand in the battle. What we don’t understand is they do not have useless rocks; they have giant killers in their hands. Young people whatever the gift God has given you is not useless. It doesn’t matter if the naysayers do not see it; your weapons are not useless. Don’t worry about those that talk about you like David’s brother did. See David was not there on his own, his father had sent him there with provisions for his brother. Your Father, God wants to send you into some places with provisions that he has given to you to go and see about your brothers and sisters, and in your obedience to him, some may talk about you. Go any way and simply do as David did, turn you back to the negative stuff.

The Week in Review

Destined for Greatness
(Preached at Langley Avenue Church of God 2/17/08)

What’s the point: There are some vital points we want to pause for a moment and look at.

Samuel was a wise, godly man, but he did just like the others did when picking a king, he looked at the outside: This let’s us know that even those that should know better, still can look at things with physical eyes and miss the spiritual significance. Samuel looked at Jesse’s sons and thought that the bigger one had to be the choice. – For us today, this let’s us know that even those we trust as wise can miss God’s anointing on our life. Some may want to write you off because you aren’t the biggest, the brightest or the best. But God does not look at outward things he looks at the heart. So even those that may not see you are destined for greatness does not take away from the fact that God has a calling on your life and he is the final say on that matter.

It is also a caution for the older generations. It doesn’t matter if we have discernment and can interpret the mysteries of God, we still cannot see everything. If you don’t see what God wants to do in the heart of a young person, that’s okay, we still need to be what God has called us to be, an encouragement. Maybe by some chance you are using natural eyes to see and are missing the spiritual anointing that God has placed on the life of a young person. Samuel may not have seen it, but it didn’t matter he was obedient and anointed David because it was what God told him to do. Let us be obedient even if we don’t see the clear picture, let us plant into the lives of our youth or water the seed that God wants to increase because he is the only one than can bring the increase from the seed any way.

An Important point from verse: 13 – “So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power.” Samuel anointed David and spoke a purpose into his life. From that point forward, David went forth with God’s spirit. David received the promise, the destiny of what was to be in his life. We know this when we see David next in chapter 17. Next time we see David he is faced with a “Goliath” of a situation.

1 Samuel 17:28-32 “When Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle. "Now what have I done?" said David. "Can't I even speak?" He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him. David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him."

David’s father sends him to take some provisions to his brothers but when he shows up his brother is angry because he is there. You must remember his brother was also there and must have senses what was taking place in David’s life and he might not be too happy about it. Remember everyone will not be happy about what God wants to do in your life, but you have to determine to keep going even when others refuse to see it or are jealous because of it. So David’s brother speaks words that are mean to him and David’s response is, “I can’t say or do anything I am always being talked about”. Do you feel like that sometimes? No matter what you say or do, somebody has something negative to say about it? You are trying to do what is right and you are talked about. There are some people no matter what you do they are going to find something wrong with you. You have to do like David did. What David does is he does not allow the naysayers to stop him, if you remember in scripture he turns to someone else. What David finds out is that the Israel army with all its brave men has been running from Goliath because they are afraid of this giant of a man. David sizes up the situation and decides, I’ll fight him. Can you image what that must have looked like? Here we have this scrawny boy saying I’ll go fight this mighty warrior, when all the mighty men were hiding. If you look back in the telling of this scripture, for 40 days the warriors showed up took their positions for battle and then when Goliath came out and challenged them they ran.

Do you know that some have been coming for 40 days, 40 weeks or 40 years taking their positions on the battle field and then as soon as a “Goliath” of a situation comes we hightail it out of there. Well God is sending some David’s in to take care of the situation. He is preparing some to face the Goliath’s because they have faith in what he can do. You might ask why does David have this confidence?

Let’s read what the scripture says in Verse 34-37, it READS: But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you."

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The Week In Review

Destined for Greatness
(Preached at Langley Avenue Church of God 2/17/08)

We have heard this scripture read before, Psalm 139:14 “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” KJV

But we don’t get the impression the people live this way, with this understanding when we listen to the news and the media today. We hear some disheartening things about the world we live in, and especially our youth. Let me give you some of the statistics of what’s happening in our world:

* There were 2.6 million new marijuana users in 2003. That was an average of 7,000 new users each day. 69% of these new users were under 18. That is 4,830 teens (and of those 52% are girls). If these trends are still true today, then that means 2,560 teen girls and 2,270 teen boys will start smoking marijuana this very day.

* Stats show that 80% of teens are involved in some type of music piracy within a six-month period of time and of this number a large percentage say they are born again believers or attend church.


* Statistics show that every day 1,000 new teens start to drink. If these numbers are still true today, then 1,000 teens will have their first drink this Sunday.

* 5.1 million teens say they binge drink.


* Statistics show that nearly ½ of all teens say they have had sex by their 18th birthday. Their hope was for the romantic feelings they saw in movies and the media. However, the reality of it set in and of that total, 61% of girls said they wish they had waited, and 40% of boys said the same.

* 1n the year 2000, there were 14.5 abortions per 1,000 teen females (ages 15-17)

These are only a few of the statistics of things happening in our world. When you hear this statistics, it might make you feel things are hopeless. What has happened in the world (especially in the Christian world) is we have heard these types of statistics about our youth and we have written them off. We have decided that many of these things are simply going to be, so why fight them. Our youth have been called such names as generation X as if they have no identity. But did you know something important about statistics? Statistics are numbers that report information that has happened and can only “Project” what might happen.
In other words, these numbers are not a truth until it has happened. I’m here to tell you this; it is not God’s plan for you to be just another negative statistic. He has not planned it in his heart that our youth will become only stats of hurt, disappointment and sinful life styles. In fact the scripture said you were fearfully and wonderfully made.

What does that mean? When something is fearfully made it means extreme care has been used to get that thing just as the creator wants it. It has not been done haphazardly. To be wonderfully made means God took delight in how he made you. You are marvelously made, done up with the brilliancy of God and with his magnificence. So you and I were made with extreme care and when God looked at his finished work he delighted in it and thought his work was marvelous, brilliant and magnificent. And anything God took such time with, surely his has a plan for. God had a plan for you when he formed you in the womb of your mother.

You can find encouragement for that purpose in the word of God. Sometimes people find it hard to think the Bible can give you a hope for today, with today’s issues. Yet I want to tell you, that the Bible can do just that. Today, we will look at the lives of two young people in the scripture that will reaffirm this very point of you having significance in God.

DAVID
The first person we want to look at is David. Many know or have heard of David the great king or David and his battle with Goliath. Yet, we want to take a step back before those times. Let’s set the scene for David’s entrance into the scripture.

1 Samuel 8:5-7
They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have." But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.

The children of Israel did not want to follow after the priest anymore. Samuel was old and his sons were not doing as they should and the people decided they wanted to be like other nations and have a king. Samuel disapproved of it. But God told him to give them what they wanted.

Now Samuel did allow the people to pick a king and they picked Saul. Do you think they picked him because of his valour, or his strength? NO they picked him because he was taller than everyone else. The looked at outward things and made their decisions. Saul was an okay king for a while and then he became full of himself and God decided, I’m taking the kingdom away and I’m going to pick a king my way. So God calls Samuel to go and anoint the new king. We see this in 1 Samuel 16:1-13 (David anointed).

As we read the scripture about David he simply shows up on the scene, we never knew anything about him before. Yet here he is, ready to be anointed King. David shows up in the mind of the writer as he writes about David, but let me interject here. David may simply be showing up as a youth in this picture ready to be anointed king, but he was always on the mind of God. God knew when he formed David in his mother’s womb what his purpose for him was. He knew that he was fearfully forming him – with extreme care to have the attributes of a king and to show the wonderful, and marvelous work of God. So as we look at David he does not look like a king yet, but God sees his future and what he will become. So this small boy does not look like kingly material but he is not done yet. Read the history of David and you find that he becomes a great warrior, a fugitive hero (where he runs from Saul with a handful of fugitives as his followers. He becomes king of Judah. After Saul’s death the tribe of Judah elects him king. He becomes king of Israel on the death of Ishbosheth, Saul’s son. He immediately works at uniting the kingdom together. He is David the psalmist. Many of the psalms are attributed to David. He is also in the ancestral line to Jesus Christ).

So, what is the point? Come back next week for the next installment.