God's Choice | Nick Johnstone
by Nick Johnstone
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: 2 Kings 5:1-3, 2 Kings 5:8-12, Joshua 3:15-16, 2 Kings 2:8, 2 Kings 6:6, Genesis 12:1-3, Deuteronomy 7:1-8, Matthew 2:6, Ephesians 1:3-4

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/nick-johnstone--god-s-choice
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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I'm going to go to the book of second Kings chapter 5 and I am uh my intention is to be short tonight to leave you with the word and then let you go back home I know what day it is I know the hour but I believe that God would would want to talk to us tonight he'd want to help us tonight and uh I I I first want to say I I give great honor to our entire pastoral staff Pastor Carpenter and first lady and I I love and appreciate these folks as I know you do as well and I I count it an honor and a privilege to stand in this Pulpit tonight to minister to you and so I I just I want them to know that I love them I want you to know that I love them and I know that we share that that commonality tonight 2 Kings 5 and verse 1 and I'll I'll read about uh four or five verses here we're going to jump around a little bit so keep your Bible open here for a couple minutes or on the screen if if that works for you 2 Kings chapter 5 verse one now non captain of the host of the king of Syria was a great man with his master and honorable because by him the Lord had given Deliverance unto Syria he was also a mighty man in Valor but he was a leper verse two says and the syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid and she waited on non's wife verse three says and she said unto her mistress would God my Lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria for he would recover him of his leprosy and I'm going to jump to verse eight and it was so when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes that he sent to the king saying wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes let him come now to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel verse 9 so non came with his horses and with his Chariot and stood at the door of the House of Elisha and Elisha sent a messenger unto him saying go and wash in Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again to thee and thou shalt be clean verse 11 says but non was wroth and went away and said behold I thought everybody say I thought I thought he will surely come out to me and stand and and and call on the name of the Lord his God and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper in verse 12 says says are not abana and farfar rivers of damasca far better than all the Waters of Israel may I not wash in them and be clean so he turned away and went in a rage would you put your Bibles down and lift your hands towards heaven right now and let's ask the Lord to help us tonight as we look into his word father we thank you tonight for this opportunity to hear from you to look into your word father I pray let your anointing rest upon this season of time anoint me as your vessel tonight in the name of Jesus let me be sensitive to your voice let me speak your word as you give it to me father I pray anoint us as listeners as receivers of the word tonight to receive everything that you have for us tonight and we'll give you all the praise and the glory and the worship and the honor tonight in Jesus name in Jesus name you can be seated Rivers bodies of water when you hear that word or when Maybe maybe you hear the word lake or stream maybe there's a there's a memory that comes back to you maybe it's from your childhood maybe it's something that's current uh maybe it's your favorite fishing spot on a stream maybe it's a a camping spot alongside a river and and and and just as I begin to talk about this there's many of you that there are pictures rolling through your mind right now of of places maybe you've spent time on bodies of water you spent time on maybe there's a lake that you and your family love to go camp out on or you have a cabin there maybe you have a boat that's stored on the river nearby here and well these awesome lakes and rivers that we have but I I have some of the same memories tonight and uh I I gave them some pictures that they're going to show up throw up there and I I want to show you some of these things but uh I want to show you some rivers from from my childhood and when I hear the word River what I think about this is the wamit river uh this River was about 10 minutes from my house and uh this is a very interesting River um just just a few facts on it it's the 13th largest river in the world or in the United States by volume and uh it's a very dangerous river I I don't know a lot about what makes it dangerous but uh I lost a couple of friends the first one being in the fourth grade In this River and and and that River takes people's lives every summer it's a very powerful River and from what I've told it's got under toes and I don't know a lot about under but uh you can just it just looks like a normal River until you get out in it and then it's it's very powerful and and it'll take you under but when I think of rivers when somebody says the river or a river this is one of the first memories that I have is the wamit river I got another picture up there this is the Columbia River I don't know if you've ever heard of the Columbia River or not but the Columbia river is huge and for about 42 years of my life I lived within an hour or two of that River and that river is Iconic in the Northwest it's it's over 1,200 miles long it's a massive massive River uh that that runs down to the Pacific Ocean and uh almost half of the length of that River some 500 Miles actually originate up in Canada and it's it's a very powerful River uh it's nothing to see that River uh with multiple uh boats and and and container ships on it at any given time pulling cargo and moving cargo uh up and down this River as it passes through the Northwest uh but when I think of rivers when I when I read and maybe this ID you identify with this but when I read about a river in the Bible my mind goes to the Columbia right when I said River here tonight your mind went somewhere and you you have some picture in your mind Throw Another River up there I got I got a few more pictures here this is the Yakama River and uh this this river is in the town that that my wife grew up in and now I just threw this picture up there I don't know a lot about this River that almost died in it and just a word to the wise if you want to go whitewater rafting this is this is for free tonight okay this is your Thanksgiving freebie if you want to go whitewater rafting get a guide that knows what they're doing don't go buy a float on Facebook Marketplace and put it in the river this is a scary moment I'll tell you the story some other time uh throw up the next picture there now this picture is very interesting to me because this picture is the Jordan River now we've just been looking at some pretty amazing photographs of some beautiful country and and some some beautiful places but that that's the Jordan River there's I got one more picture of the Jordan it's pretty pretty Mighty isn't it now what's interesting is when we uh when we begin to look that you can just leave that picture up there for a couple of seconds when we begin to look at these rivers and and we we live near some pretty pretty big Rivers ourselves we have the Tennessee River here in this state one of my favorite things to do when I'm headed down 140 headed back to the freeway and towards Knoxville I love to cross the bridge there at the County Line and cross over the Tennessee River and look as much as I can in both directions because I love the beauty of it there there's something about a river it's power it's it it the flow of it it demands respect if you've spent any time on a river floating or fishing you know and I and I know firsthand that that it'll it'll take you out so fast if you're not careful if you're not paying attention but we the the Mississippi River is nearby here and I was doing some research on that and I found out that the the Mississippi River produces or has a volume of almost 600,000 cubic feet per second that's a river that's a massive River it's in the top five rivers for length in the United States massive massive River but when I look at that picture that last photograph that was up there of the Jordan River I did some research and and as of today as of uh the 22nd of November the cubic feet per second flow or discharge of the Jordan River is somewhere around 300 think about that we we we see the mighty Mississippi and all those photographs that I showed you today of of these Mighty and Powerful rivers and then we look at that that little Jordan River and and as I begin to to study and and and talk to different people about and ask questions of of people who have gone to Israel and have seen it and and what was interesting to me is many of them said you know we like to have the Jordan River built up in as something great in our minds but they said in all reality it's it's not much more than a ditch in most places in fact the average person could jump across it in a lot of places and they've damned it up for tourism in a lot of the areas so they can create pools to baptize people in and do different things and but but for the most part it's just not all that significant but you know when we look at it from the word of God it's very interesting that the Bible mentions 17 Rivers by name and the Jordan River is one of those the uh in spite of its its lack of significance it's mentioned over 79 times in your KJV Bible and this becomes the challenge for us in our walk with God is that when we think of something when we read something we see it as something big and something Mighty and we picture it as I did of these Great Mighty rivers in my personal life but in in reality it's it's just wasn't all that great but what separated the Jordan River from the initial pictures that I showed you to the final photo that I showed you was that the Jordan River was God's choice that was the river that he picked and for the next couple of moments tonight that's what I want to talk to you about tonight is God's choice do you believe tonight that God chose you do you believe here tonight that that you are the ch voice of God I'm not here by accident I didn't just stumble into this thing I didn't just stumble into the Waters of baptism one day I I didn't just stumble into an altar and accidentally begin to speak in other tongues as the spirit gives the utterance one day but God chose me I am the choice of God Peter would write and say you are a a chosen generation and a royal priesthood I got to believe that tonight God has chosen me I'm God's choice it doesn't matter what I look like on the surface nobody would pick the Jordan from pictures nobody would say that's the river I want to go fish in nobody would say that's the river that I want to float or I want to spend time in but that's the one God chose I I I can't help but think about Jesse and his boys and Samuel coming to to find the next king and as as he ran those Boys in front of him you know the story well as they filed in front of him that day the Lord spoke to the prophet and he said Hey listen don't look on the outside don't look at what man looks at but I I I've got a different set of criteria by which I pick individuals I don't look at what man looks at I'm I'm I'm not choosing by what men chooses but I choose by what by what I choose God has his own set of metrics tonight I can't dis qualify myself in his kingdom because of how I feel about myself because he feels differently about me his word tells me that he feels differently about me so this this portion of scripture that we looked at tonight this is a it's a very interesting portion of scripture because we we've got four different characters in the story the first character was non we we find out a little bit about him the Bible actually tells us quite a bit about him and I I find this an intriguing part of the story first of all it tells us that he was the captain of the host he was a pretty important dude the second thing it tells us about non was that he was a great man he wasn't just a run-of-the-mill dude but he was he was a great guy he he had a lot of respect he was he was an honorable man according to the scripture he was a a mighty man of Valor according to the scripture he's checking all the boxes this is a good guy this is a good dude but he had a little problem and the fifth thing that the Bible tells us about this first character of the story is that he was a leper he had leprosy he had a problem and he needed the touch of God in his life there was no other option for him but for God to do a work in his life and then we find the second character of this story it's the little maid that's all we know how interesting that we know non's name we know five things about him how great he was how awesome he was but then there was this little Maid no name she's a captive but she had a passion something burned inside of her and she says to her master one day oh I I just I wish I wish that my master could meet the prophet in Israel there is a prophet Israel that if he could get in his company I guarantee you God could touch him and then we have Elisha we have the prophet and then we have the final character of the story the Jordan River and we know that elishah gave instruction Elijah's instruction in Amon was to go wash in the Jordan River go wash yourself you if you want to be healed go wash yourself in the Jordan seven times I I don't know why the scripture doesn't give us any inclination as to why the prophet chose the Jordan River other than that was that was God's choice he he simply spoke what God told him to to say God could have sent him out there and said wave your hand over him 15 times and spit on him and and and rub his head with oil and and all cleanse his leprosy but that's not what he said he said you tell him to go to the Jordan but non had a problem with this and and his his his answer his question to this is like hey why the Jordan come on why not the Tennessee River why not the Mississippi River take me to the Columbia River take me to the because it had a stigma he said there are better rivers in Damascus he said in fact and we read it in our scripture text he said are not all the rivers of Damascus isn't everything else better than Jordan yeah yeah non it is you hit the nail on the head every other river is greater than Jordan but listen God didn't pick every other River God didn't choose every other River God chose the Jordan River that was the river he selected for you to wash in that was the river that he selected to do a miracle in in that moment now I I didn't put a picture I didn't give him a picture of this River tonight but the town I grew up in had a river flowing through it it wasn't the wamic it was called The Long Tom and it was the nastiest dirtiest River you've ever seen and nobody swam in the long time because you didn't know what was going when you come out of the water what was going to be on your skin and clothes it was gross I don't know how it got there there were all kinds of Legends and stories how the river got so dirty but just five miles beyond that River they they kind of ran parallel to each other was the wamit river which you saw the pictures of that it was a beautiful place and clear water and it was always a you know a wonderful place to go and so I I kind of know how non felt a little bit like the long time seriously I mean right over there I mean just just five more minutes away is the it's a far better River oh I know non there are better Rivers there are greater rivers in that region there are larger rivers in that region there are more powerful Waters and rivers in that region but those are not the rivers that God chose hear me right now you and I are chos CH en by God for this hour we are chosen by God for this generation we've been placed on the earth for this hour God could have had me born in any other era he could have placed me here in any other time in any other generation oh but brother or he picked me right now he placed me here for this time and for this season and I got to believe it are there greater people in the world than me absolutely I I I don't know why he chose me I don't know why he chose this time if you've got kids here tonight you you understand that it's getting more and more difficult in raising kids in this generation and sometimes I hit my knees and I go to God in prayer and I'm like what in the world I got a four-year-old I see the direction this world's going brother Dean and what what are you doing why did you bring my children into this but I've got to trust that God has chosen them he's chosen this hour for them he's chosen this generation and this season for them and if he's chosen them he will equip them he will Empower them to do what it is he wants them to do on the earth in this hour oh if you believe that would you clap your hands to the Lord right now would you give him praise and glory that he chose you I'm not here tonight by accident but I'm God's choice man in spite of all of its insignificance I want you to think about a few things with with me go to Joshua 3 and: 15 because as as insignificant as it seemed and as obvious as non's non's Declaration was come on there's better things out there uh-huh but let's let's see what God chose to do in Jordan Joshua 3 and 15- 16 and as they that bear the ark were coming to Jordan and the feet of the priest that bear the ark were dipped in the brim of the water for Jordan overfloweth all of his Banks at the time of harvest or all the time of harvest verse 16 said that the waters which came down from above stood and Rose up upon a heap very far from the city of Adam that is beside zaratan and those that came down toward the Sea of the plain even the salt sea failed and were cut off and the people passed over right against Jericho one of the first Miracles that we see in the Jordan River were that defeat The Souls of the priests that were carrying the Ark of the Covenant when their souls touched the water the scriptures tell us that the waters parted they rolled back and the upper waterers stood up in a heat and Heap and the bottom Waters were cut off that was a miracle that happened in Jordan God chose Jordan he he allowed the Jordan to be the dividing line between the children of Israel and their promise of all the things that he could have chose of all the places that he could have chose he chose Jordan go with me to second Kings chap 2 and verse 8 another miracle that happened in Jordan Elijah took his mantel and he wrapped it together and he smoked the waters and they were divided hither and thither so that they too went over on dry ground you're the Jordan River could could you just put yourself in the seat of the Jordan for a minute some guy walks up to you with a mantle he pulls it off and he lays it on your Waters and all of a sudden they part and and he walks across it you know the rest of the story his protoge came right behind him took the same Manel laid it right on the same river and it parted again I'm talking about the Miracles that God chose to rot in the Jordan River things that he chose to do through the Jordan River the Jordan was his choice one of my favorite stories 2 Kings chapter 6 and verse 6 this is the story of the school of the prophets anybody here remember the story of The Borrowed Acts he's chopping down trees trying to get some wood all of a sudden the axe head flies off in 2 Kings chap 6 and: 6 the man of God said where fell it and he showed him the place and he cut down a stick and he cast it in thither and the iron did swim this is interesting to me because whether you believe that the Jordan caused it to float or that God caused iron to float either way a miracle happened in its Waters an element that when it hit the water it went straight down and that's why the prophet said where did it go in because wherever the iron went in it was at the bottom right there and when he touched the Jordan with a stick when that stick hit the waters the spirit of God caused the waters to give up iron that's a miracle that's a miracle that God wrought in the waters of Jordan his choice not man's choice but his choice let's look at some other people some other individuals that God chose tonight Genesis 12 verse 1-3 tells us about Abraham now the Lord said unto Abraham get thee out of thy country and from thy Kindred from thy Father's House unto a land that I will show thee and I will make of thee a great nation I Will Bless Thee I will make thy name Great Thou shalt be a blessing and I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed think about that God chose him out of all the people in the world in that moment in time out of all the humanity that were there in that season of time God looks down and says come on Abraham I'm picking you and here's all that I'm going to do through you I'm talking about God's choice tonight you can't can't pick yourself you can't choose yourself but when God chooses you there is nothing that anybody can do about it there is no power in hell that can resist you there's nothing that can war against you when he chooses you when he empowers you when he puts you on the field to play I I was reflecting back earlier tonight on our our softball game over family weekend and all of you have lived through this at some point in your life I know I don't look like it now but I was a scrawny little guy weighed about 160 lbs in high school nobody wanted me on their team when we lined up against the back back stop I was nobody's Choice everybody got picked but me and I was usually one of those last two or three guys and you know one of those guys I know none of you identify this is you're all the cool kids but that guy's like you take him no you take him no you take him okay okay well we'll take him but we get next too right I was so bad they had to add one more with me I know what it is in humanity to not be man's Choice oh but when I get a fresh Revelation that God CHS me he picked me come on I wasn't his last Choice he looked down and he turn and said Nick come on you're coming with me Brother Dean come on you're coming with me brother or come on you're coming with me he picked me I was God's choice I'm not an accident tonight think about Israel I I there's a a very interesting portion of scripture in Deuteronomy chapter 7 and I I'm I'm hurrying to a close here Deuteronomy 7 verse 1-8 he said when the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whether thou goest to possess it he's talking about the children of Israel here he said God God's going to bring you somewhere God's getting ready to fulfill the promises in your life and when he does it he will have cast out many nations before you he said the Hittites and the girgashites the amorites the Canaanites the perizzites the hivites the jebusites Seven Nations Seven Nations that are greater and mightier than thou are there better rivers in Damascus yes all the rivers in Damascus are greater than Jordan but God didn't pick those Rivers were there greater people in the earth than the children of Israel yes by all means there were Nations greater and mightier with better armies and better Warfare but God didn't choose them he chose Israel he chose Jacob he chose 12 boys and said through you he went all the way back to Abraham it started with the choice of Abraham and said it's through you dude it's through you it's through you that all the nations of the Earth are going to be blessed come on the Promises unto you Abraham verse two and when the Lord thy God shall deliver them from before thee Thou shalt Smite them wait a minute they're going to be greater than you yes and you will utterly destroy them wait a minute they're going to be mightier than us yep but God is going to give you the strength because when he chooses you he never abandons you you're not hopeless tonight you're not left without strength tonight if God's chosen you he will give you power he will give you anointing come on don't fear tonight don't be afraid of the choosing of God don't be afraid of saying yes Lord here am I in me don't fear that for who he chooses he equips whom he chooses he empowers oh you're not alone tonight he said Thou shalt make no Covenant with them in the end of verse two no show Mercy unto them verse three neither shalt thou make marriages with him thy daughter shal thou not give unto his son nor his daughter shal thou take unto thy son for they will turn away thy son from following me that they may serve other gods so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and Destroy thee suddenly but thus shall you deal with them you shall destroy their altars break down their images cut down their Groves burn their graven images with fire for thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the Earth you see the Lord had a challenge with him and I I know that's that's a very obvious statement we could spend the rest of the night and all day tomorrow talking about all the challenges the children of Israel had right well one of the greatest challenges that they had was just months previous to this they were slaves in Egypt they had nothing they were they were beaten they were they were given tasks that were that were insurmountable they were they were driven every single day and and the Bible said that they actually cried out by reason of the bondage in the first part of Exodus the Lord actually heard their cry and he said listen I I I I'm going to I'm going to deliver you but they went from that think about this with me for a minute one day they had nothing literally one day they had nothing they were slaves in Egypt and the next day the day after pass over they are on their way out of Egypt with enough Gold Silver and precious medals and jewelry to make a golden calf and to build the Tabernacle or the tent they went from being poor one day to literally being loaded the next they went from having nothing one day to Mana raining down from heaven and quail coming in the next and God was saying oh you you think this is good you guys are your mind's blown by all that you have now just wait I'm getting ready to take you to a land that flows with milk and honey you're going to inhabit houses that you didn't build sister Dempsey you're going to you're going to enter into places that that I am giving you Orchards you didn't plant you're going to harvest fruit that you had nothing to do with and that's the challenge you see I every now and then you get you can you you can forget a little bit of where God brought you from you can forget a little bit about your past and your history sometimes you forget and we see it all throughout the Old Testament they forgot all the time about where God brought them from and they constantly complain that take us back take us back oh oh that we were in Egypt oh you just brought us out here cuz there were no Graves and and they forgot where God brought them from because the moment you forget where God brings you from you lose faith that he could take you where he wants you to go because the path that he has for me and the journey that he has for me I can't do it in myself and so I look at it I think oh go that's that's not me listen things haven't always been Rosy for me I I grew up in a little tiny town in Southwest Southwest Oregon the wam Valley Town of 485 people it was a Cow Town it had one Bank two bars one Cafe and a convenience store and no stop lights nothing but stop signs that was it that was the town I grew up in high school had nobody in it little middle school and then the the one room Schoolhouse about 8 miles away that my dad went to school at before he went to high school my dad was raised in that region my mom was born and raised in that region most of my family still lives there many of them still live in that same town and had you looked at that that young boy in that town of 485 people 40 some years ago and said to me someday God's going to take you from here he's going to he's going to put a microphone in your hand you're going to preach the gospel someday God's going to take you somewhere and he's he's going to give you favor he's going to bless you and he's going to put you in business and and he's going to give you success in business i' have been like I never leav in this Farm but sometimes in the current state that I'm in it's easy to forget where he brought me from sometimes it's easy to forget that it wasn't me who got me here it wasn't my own works it wasn't my goodness because there is no goodness in me if you tear the suit off and and you look deep inside of me there's nothing great in me it's only by the goodness of God that I stand here tonight it's only by his grace that I'm here my parents aren't here tonight they're traveling for Thanksgiving but you can ask them when they get back they they told me stories of my childhood my dad when he was 24 years old 19 I think it was 1978 1976 or 1978 when he came to God he was 24 years old he learned to read at 24 years old the first book he read was after he was baptized in jesus' name and filled with the Holy Ghost and it was the Bible that was my upbringing I I don't I don't have parents with a Harvard background I don't I don't have parents with a great business Acumen but God's blessed them God's been good to them dad was Raising houses without indoor toilets but I live in a house it's it's got indoor running water and everything's good and glamorous and great and I got heat and I got air conditioning but I don't have to look very far back to realize God's brought me a mighty long way it was his choice I was God's choice my parents have told me stories when I was a baby how my my dad was working in a sawmill just trying to make ends meet and they were new converts and they didn't have any baby formula and didn't have any food in the house and they would get down at the couch Brother Dean and they'd begin to pray and ask God God you can provide for us we we know we're we're new to this but you're a provider you're our provider and and within just hours a knock would come on the front door and so they somebody would be standing there with grocery bags and they'd say I was at the grocery store a little bit ago and God just prompted me to buy groceries for you and we'd eat on it for a few days I that's my history I don't live that way now I don't have to worry about where my next meal is coming from but Kenny I I got food in my cupboards I don't have to ask God to give me food oh but I can't forget that just a little ways back there that's where he brought me from he chose me when I was that and that's what he was saying to the children of Israel hey I picked you when there was only one of you you've never been great and you never will be great just look at the size of the nation now I know it's at the Forefront and everybody sees it but look how small they are now oh but you just start messing with them and God says hold on hold on hold on hold on that's my choice I pick them it has nothing to do with their military size it has nothing to do with their military might they're my choice don't mess with them that I pick them here's what he said he said last part of verse six he said I I I I chose you to be a special people under unto himself unto myself above all people that are upon the face of the Earth verse 7 says the Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people for you were the fewest you were the fewest I still chose you but verse eight says but because the Lord loved you brother hon he loves me he chose me but he didn't choose me because I was great if you looked at my resume it means nothing it's a piece of paper you may look go oh wow that's pretty cool it's garbage it's garbage I'm only here today because he loves me I'm only here today because he chose me and he didn't choose me because of my degree or lack thereof he didn't choose me because of my experience or lack thereof he chose me because he loved me how could how could John say that he was the disciple that Jesus loved other than he saw the love of God firsthand when he went to the cross of calvary he said that's love he loves me he loves me oh he loves all of us but but John saw firsthand he said that that's love oh are you glad that he's chose you tonight are you glad that he loves you tonight come on give him a hand clap of Praise right now I'm coming to a clothes you can stand brother Hiner you can just come play it'll make me feel better remind me that I need to stop think about Bethlehem the birthplace of the Savior Matthew 2 and6 and now Bethlehem and the land of Judah are not the least you're the least among the princes of Judah for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule My People Israel they were least we get in trouble when we start comparing ourselves among ourselves well God could never use me like that because no you're his choice and he doesn't pick like the world picks man listen to me when God picks his team it doesn't make any sense to humanity I have a I have the privilege of hiring people and picking team members and that's not how the kingdom of God works I get to get their resume brother or I like to pick through it and then I like to get on the phone with them and I like to pick their brains I want to know all yeah I'm not interested in them they don't they don't but when I step into here when I step into the kingdom realm it's a different set of rules God doesn't care about my resume see all the world cares about resume what have you done well what what happens when you're not happy or you're not proud of what you've done then what do you do you don't want to talk about it and you hide it but it's not so in the kingdom of God I don't have to be afraid of what I've done because of the Waters of baptism I go down in them and I come up in newness of life and don't talk to me don't don't I you don't want to know about my worldly resume just know that God chose me just know that God loves me just know that he washed all my sins away oh if you saw my past you wouldn't pick me but God saw my past and still picked me listen to Ephesians 1:3 and4 blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Heavenly places in Christ according as he hath chosen us he picked me I I don't know if that overwhelms you the way that overwhelms me he picked me spite of where I was I I didn't have a lot to offer him there's people far more qualified than me but he picked me think about all the disciples fishermen Tax Collectors people turning heads going what seriously Matthew S is that the best you can come up with mhm that's my choice I'm picking him it was it was a privilege it was it was considered a high honor to be chosen by a rabbi to be his disciple you got to understand we understand Jesus is the Christ the Mighty God in Christ we understand all that but but they didn't they were just bunch of fisherman all of a sudden in their minds a rabbi a teacher comes by and says hey come with me and they were like you're picking me yeah come on some historians believe that maybe they were still working on their dad's fishing boat because they hadn't been picked yet they had been overlooked by Society up to that point it it was the highest of honors for a young man that that was the number one goal in life was to be selected that was the only they wanted to do they just wanted to sit and learn of the law to be taught by the orators of the law the publicans the Pharisees all these that that's all they wanted Sadducees they just wanted to learn so the day that Jesus came by and said I'm I'm choosing you I'm choosing you there's two two of the longest rivers in the world the longest is the Nile it shares the same region as Jordan in fact the Jordan River if you look up the largest rivers in the world just do a Google search it doesn't even show up anywhere in any searches it's five there's there's there's a list it's either branica or one of them gives you the top 200 longest rivers in the world 200 the Jordan River is still 500 Miles shorter than the 200th longest river in the world so insignificant to man nobody talks about it you got to go looking for information on the Jordan Riv because nobody talks about it it's insignificant to most Humanity but not to God God said it was my Choice I'm going to do some works I'm going to do some Miracles through that River in fact I'm going to send John out to baptize in that River I'm going to come walking down and there's going to be a revelation John is going to reveal Who I Am To The World it'll be written down for ages to come in that River I'll get baptized in that River oh come on don't discount yourself don't compare yourself among yourself and say well I I I don't measure up to him and there's he's greater man he's Wai don't get all that out of your mind can you accept tonight before we leave this place that you're his choice you yeah you not me you you're his choice would you lift your hands all over this room right now and from your heart just begin to talk to the Lord if you have a hard time believing this if you have if you struggle with this if this if this is something that you wrestle with would you let the Lord minister to your heart right now oh Father it's your choosing it's your choice that I'm here tonight I didn't pick me I didn't choose this it was your choosing and I surrender to you tonight I surrender to you tonight father I let go of the past I let go of every everything that I see is a hindrance to you using me to me operating in the giftings and the callings that you placed on my life I I let go of all that tonight I release all of that tonight and I allow your spirit to do the work that you wanted to do I allow you to use me in the capacity that you desire to use me tonight in the name of Jesus Oh father I declare I'm not my own tonight I'm not my own I've been bought with a price oh I belong to you I belong to you tonight Jesus that's it just talk to him from your heart talk to him from your heart tonight you know you know where you're at you know what you've battled with you know what you struggle with you you know what your impediments are talk to him from that place tonight I can't talk to you for him but you can talk to him and he can minister to you tonight oh he can breathe a he can breathe a confidence he can can breathe the boldness of the Holy Ghost into you it's not it's not Pride or arrogance but it's the boldness of the Holy Ghost that he can Breathe Into Your Vessel tonight and you can leave this place and and walk into the purpose you can leave this place and walk into the calling that God has for your life thank you for choosing me Jesus thank you for choosing me Jesus hallelujah hallelujah father others may have discarded me others may have saw little to no value in me but you chose me oh the fact that I'm filled with the Holy Ghost tonight baptized in your name oh you chose me thank you Jesus thank you Jesus thank you Jesus let me never forget where you brought me from let me never forget it's not because I was mighty or great or because we were a great number that you chose us but you chose us because you loved us you chose us because you loved us father and we give you glory we give you honor and praise tonight thank you Jesus thank you Jesus would you just give the Lord a wave offering right now I don't know what it is about that but there's just something of a surrender I here I am Jesus your choice tonight father surrendering myself presenting myself back to you I Belong To You Jesus I'm no longer my home but I belong to you not what I want from life Jesus but what you want in the name of Jesus in the name of Jesus father I thank you for the ministry of your spirit in this place tonight I thank you for every heart that you've ministered to I thank you for every life that you've ministered to I thank you for every heart that's been encouraged I thank you for every head that you've lifted I thank you for every heavy burden that you've lifted tonight father I thank you for the bounce that I'm leaving with here in my step I thank you for the joy your joy that I'm leaving with here in my spirit tonight father and I pray more than anything else let us leave here with a spirit of thankfulness let us leave here with gratefulness in our hearts father for all that you've done for us for all that you are doing in our lives in Jesus name in Jesus name thank you again for being here tonight such a beautiful presence of the Lord thank you for receiving the word for responding to the word thank you for your worship please continue to pray for those that we we mentioned tonight all those that are NYC and I I I wish you the best and happiest of thanksgivings tomorrow with your family take some time and thank the Lord for something tomorrow morning when you get up thank the Lord for something tomorrow if you things may not be great for you right now but you got something you got one thing you could be thankful for for maybe the fact that you wake up tomorrow morning you could thank him for that you woke me up this morning Father you gave me one more day thank you for that God bless you Happy Thanksgiving we'll see you back here on Sunday morning