1997-06

SERMON NOTES

TEXT: 1 Corinthians 1:22-31

22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom,

23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.

27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-- and the things that are not-- to nullify the things that are,

29 so that no one may boast before him.

30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-- that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." (NIV)

INTRODUCTION: Looking at this passage, we can see that the measuring rod God uses to determine what to use is different from ours. God has the ability to look on a man or woman, and see the inside; He sees things which are not clear to us, and which may be totally hidden from us. He uses people which we would not choose to accomplish His purposes.

Here, the words, "but God chose" or "God chose" let us know how differently He looks at things than we do.

It is evident that God does not chose men or women based on the wisdom they possess as men count wisdom, or as we see things from a human standpoint. Rather, He has chosen what the world classes as poor or insignificant. He is the One, the only One, who can take what the world cannot even see, and put the strongest of the world's men to flight. Why? Verse 29 tells us that it is "so that no one may boast before Him."

Let's look back through history for a moment and see what men God did choose, and how He used those who were different from the norm.

Consider John Wesley, founder of the Methodist church. He rode 20 miles a day for 40 years; preached 40,000 sermons; wrote 400 books. Yet in the early days of his ministry, a man wrote that ""he seemed to pray all the time." And what was his impact on the world. An English nobleman, traveling through the countryside, stopped to ask a peasant, "Why is it that I can't find a place where I can buy a drink of liquor in this wretched village?" The peasant replied, "Well, you see, my lord, about a hundred years ago a man named John Wesley came preaching in these parts."

In its early days on the American frontier, the Methodist church devised a plan to reach the settlements on the edge of the wilderness. They started what were called "circuit-riding preachers." These men usually had an old horse given them by a farmer. His library consisted of a Bible, a hymnbook, and the Methodist discipline. One writer said, describing the preachers of that day, "they had only one text and it never grew stale: 'Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world."

One of these, Peter Cartright, was described in Clarence Edward McCartney's book, Sons of Thunder - Pulpit Powers of the Past, as rough, masculine, courageous, and crude, but at the same time gentle, kind, humble and considerate toward the men and women to whom he preached. William Ward Sweet, historian, said that "the old pioneers wanted a preacher that could mount a stump, a block, or an old log, or stand in the bed of a wagon without notes or manuscript; quote, expound, and apply the Word of God to the heart and conscience of the people." Peter Cartright was such a man.

This story is told of him: It was a custom in those days when night would fall they would stop and build a campfire to spend the night. He was traveling the Cumberland Mountains when he came on a small community, and in one of the lodgings there was a dance. He went inside and as he stood there, a young lady asked him if he would like to dance. The whole company seemed pleased at the act of politeness of the young lady shown to a stranger. He took hold of her hand, went over to the fiddle player and said, "For several years I have not undertaken any matter of importance without first asking the blessings of God on it." Then Peter Cartright knelt there on the floor and began to pray. He said later, "You ought to have seen the consternation which at first seized this young lady when she realized what I was doing." She tried to get away, but he held her tight. It wasn't very long until tears found their way down her cheeks and others also began to pray. This broke up the dance that night, and a Methodist church was started in that community with 32 members, all because one man had been used by God.

D. L. Moody was preaching in the Fifth Avenue Church in New York City. The people of this culturally refined and sophisticated church were on the edge of their seats when Moody began to preach. Now he called Daniel "Dannal", and Gideon "Gedgen" and he pronounced Jerusalem in two syllables, but the writer said he had not gone far in his sermon till they were sitting on the edge of their seats in anticipation. Vance Havner said it in one sentence: D. L. Moody had what made the difference - he dared to be used by God.

Smith Wigglesworth was one of the great, bold preachers of our century. Yet for the first 25 years that he and his wife Polly ministered, he was unable to preach even one sermon. He had a serious deficiency in self-confidence, so Polly had to do the preaching, while he worked behind the scenes, content to support her in her ministry. He prayed, and ministered one-to-one with people who responded to her sermons. On one occasion, she managed to get him to try to preach. He managed only 2-3 minutes in the pulpit before breaking down in tears, and turning the meeting over to another. He then had a time of coldness toward God and his work, and followed his trade as a plumber. Yet he recovered from that wilderness experience, learned sanctification (to the degree that he had no tolerance in his life for anything that compromised the character of Christ, particularly his destructive temper), and he sought the infilling of the Holy Spirit to aid him in his quest for sanctification. In 1893, he received a great blessing and enduement of power from God, which at the time he considered the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. His ministry took on new dimensions. He began to pray for the sick and see them healed. However, he was never satisfied with where he was in God, and when he heard of the Azuza outpouring, he began to seek that. In 1907, as he wrote in his own words, "The power of God fell upon my body with such ecstasy of joy that I could not satisfy the joy within, with the natural tongue, then I found the Spirit speaking through me in other tongues." His testimony was, "One time I thought I had the Holy Ghost. Now I know the Holy Ghost has got me." He telegraphed his wife Polly this message, "I have received the Holy Ghost and have spoken in tongues." She was skeptical, so scheduled him to preach the following Sunday, as a great test. That Sunday, when he stepped to the pulpit, the Spirit gave him a boldness and fluency with language that was the envy of even the most seasoned of preachers. Sitting on the back row, Polly could not believe her eyes and ears. She muttered to herself over and over again, "That's not my Smith!" She was heard to say "Amazing, amazing! What's happened to the man?" When he finished his sermon, the room began to fill with the cry, "We want what Smith's got!" In the exciting days that followed, many, including Polly Wigglesworth, received the baptism in the Holy Spirit in their church in Bradford, England.

WHAT KIND OF MAN (WOMAN) DOES GOD USE?

I. GOD USES A MAN WHO IS NOT AFRAID. There is a good fear, of which the Bible speaks many times, such as in Deuteronomy 6:13-15 and Matthew 10:28.

Dt 6:13-15

13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.

14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you;

15 for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. (NIV)

Mt 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (NIV)

But there is another fear which brings torment, and causes people to pull away from obedience to God (Prov 29:25). There it says, "Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe. (NIV) Now everyone who has ever been used by God has had to conquer his fear of man and his fear of failure.

Let's look at an Old Testament story which shed some light on this problem. In 1 Samuel 17, we find the story of a young, mid-teen age boy, who stood up to the giant Goliath, while all the army of Israel hid in their tents in fear. You know the story. David, taking food to his brothers in Saul's army at the instructions of his father, saw the men of Israel flee, terrified, at the presence of Goliath, who yelled insults at them. What was David's response?

1. A question - "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel?

2. Another question - "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God.

3. The answer - "great wealth, the king's daughter for a wife, and tax exemption for his family."

This brought the wrath of his brothers on David. His older brother asked why he had come, and with whom he had left the few sheep which were in his charge. He told him he was proud, of a naughty heart, and that he had come only to see the battle. But did his brother's words scare David? Not in the least. Why not?

1. David had spiritual insight. David asked if he had the right to speak; to see if there was more going on than appeared on the surface. David, though a youth, was already seeking God, and knew there was a struggle between good and evil, and that God and His people needed a champion. He had the spiritual insight to know something needed to be done.

Today, it is easy to lose your spiritual insight; to be caught looking at the problem, its difficulty, its size, to the extent that you no longer look at the magnificent size of Jesus' power. Speaking in Revelation 3:18, to the church of Laodicea, God said, "Buy from me . . . . salve to put on your eyes, so you can see." Today, many in this church, and nearly every other church, need their spiritual eyes anointed, so that they might have spiritual vision.

2. David had spiritual hindsight. He remembers incidents from his past when God had delivered him when there was a need. He had, you remember, killed the bear and lion who had raided his flock.

The Goliaths of this world have killed many of God's people because they have not learned to handle the bears and lions in their lives. David learned what it was like to live a victorious life when there was no one around watching him. Now, when it was time to defend Israel in front of the people, he was prepared.

3. David had spiritual foresight. He had enough foresight not to attempt to use Saul's armor; that was not God's way for David. He old slingshot had served him well in the past, and would on this day. He picked up five stones, smooth ones, while Goliath looked on with disdain. He insulted David, asking if he was a dog that David was coming to fight him with staves. He cursed David by his gods, threatening to feed his body to the birds of the air and beasts of the field. Was David scared? Not in the least, for his spiritual foresight told him that he was going "in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom Goliath had defied. He had the spiritual sight to see the victory which God was going to give him on that day. Victory reigned that day for David.

Victory will be the result for us, when we, with God's help, find the men and women who are unafraid of the Devil, his imps and demons, and human followers in this world. We need to be people who will attack the strongholds of Satan. We must boldly proclaim the gospel of Christ, live it fearlessly before this world, and know that God is going to give the victory.

II. GOD USES A MAN WHO GIVES HIS ALL. The 6th chapter of John tells us the story of the feeding of the multitude. You all recall this story. There was a great need. The people had come to Christ to be taught; they had been long without nourishment. Jesus asked Philip, in John 6:5, "Where shall we buy bread for all these people to eat?" This was a test of the faith of Philip, for Christ already knew what He would do to meet the need. Do you recall Philip's response. He said, "Eight months wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite."

1. Note that Philip was not showing doubt. He was only stating a fact.

2. Note that Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, though not asked, had been doing some footwork. He had found what food was available, and brought a lad with a small lunch to see the Lord.

3. Jesus took the five small loaves, and two small fish (all that the boy had) and after blessing it, broke it and fed the multitude.

Note a couple things here. Andrew was not one of the men who sought the limelight; he did not want or seek recognition; he did not need to sit on the platform, to bee seen of men. He was one of those quiet, background people who often provide the answer.

The youth gave all he had. Sometimes God wants to bless us, but cannot because we are withholding part of ourselves from Him. Luke tells us that if we give, it will be returned to us, pressed together, shaken down, good measure, running over. Now the reason some people are not blessed in their giving to God is because they use a short measuring rod in giving to God. They have not learned that they will be blessed in the same measure that they are a blessing. God says He will bless us in proportion to our gifts.

What did Christ do with all the remains of this miraculous meal? One preacher stated he felt that Christ gave them to the boy who had given his lunch, his all. If so, he got back twelve basketsfull for the small sack lunch he had given.

Someone may ask, "How do you know when you have given your all?" Simple. When you have nothing left, when you can truly say that everything you possess belongs to God; when there are no secret corners of your heart you are reserving for yourself, then you can say you have given your all. When you can say, "It is yours, Lord, all is Yours," you may have given Him your all.

III. GOD USES A MAN WHO DOESN'T KNOW WHEN TO QUIT. Do you remember the story of Joshua, and the city of Jericho, recorded for us in Joshua chapter 6. Now Jericho was a great city. It is documented that 4 chariots could run abreast on top of its main wall. Israel was not prepared to knock down a wall this size, let alone defeat the army inside. But God had told Joshua what to do. "March around the city once each day, and seven times on the seventh day. Send seven priests in front of you, with seven rams' horns. On the seventh day, at the completion of the seventh time around, blow the trumpets with a long blast; have all the people shout with a great shout, and the wall will come down." Now this seems to be a strange way to take a city.

Can you imagine the fun the people of Jericho had shouting insults, and laughing at, the people as they circled the city? Perhaps, on the third or fourth day, many of the people felt they had done enough, and they wanted the victory then. But if they had any victory at all then, it would have been only a partial one.

A pastor tells of a lady who came to church one Sunday morning, saying that God had saved her husband the night before. He began to rejoice with her, thinking, "What a miracle. Her husband was one of the meanest men I have ever met." She said that they had going to bed the previous night when she felt the bed shaking, and asked what was wrong. He responded, with tears dripping off his fact that he had been talking to the Lord. She said, "Pastor, I never even got out of bed. I prayed him through right there." The pastor asked her, "How long have you been marching around that wall? How long have you been believing for your husband?" Now he had been her pastor for a number of years, knew that her husband had gone out on her, had broken their marriage vows, and abused her as well. She said it had been 20 years she had been coming to church alone, bringing her children, and believing for his salvation. She did not quit.

1. Many time we quit when the victory is in sight.

2. We must learn to keep on until we receive the answer.

3. We must keep on living for the Lord ourselves until the answer comes.

Victor Plymire, first missionary to Tibet, and the first white man to ever cross that country, did not know when to quit. He preached on after the death of his wife and 5 year old son due to smallpox in 1927. He had not had any converts, yet he stayed. A year later, he married Ruth Weidman, a missionary to China. Today there is a church in Tibet because of them. Their son David has been a missionary over 40 years to China and the far east. You will remember that his wife Wardella died recently. After she found she had a brain tumor, and might survive the operation to remove it, but be in a vegetable state, she told her husband that if that happened, he was to place her in a nursing home, and return to China to his work. Neither of them knew when to quit. He is now returning to his work in China alone. His sister, Mary Ann Hawks and her husband served as missionaries with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada for many years. None of them know when to quit; they learned well from Victor Plymire and his dedication.

My parents, William and Rowena Wallace, likewise did not know when to quit. They did not know to quit when they ministered with no funds but what they could earn themselves. They just did without themselves, and gave to the Lord. Never did they even have wedding rings, because they took the money they had saved for them and gave it to a missionary.

My dad preached his last sermon during the afternoon of the last full day of his life. He preached in the chapel of Ellis Fischel Cancer Hospital in Columbia, Mo. in the afternoon, in spite of illness just as he had done for the last 4 years of his life. He returned to his room, and told his roommate that he had just finished, and they were now going to call us to come get him. That happened in the early hours of the next day. His race was run, and won, because he did not know when to quit. There are Assembly of God churches tonight in Washington, New Haven, and Belle, Missouri in part because of his work, and another church, no longer an Assembly of God church, in Newburg, Missouri.

I am here in large part because of what I learned from their example. I hope that I have no quit in me either, so that God can also use me.

CONCLUSION: A minister serving as state youth director in California found the caretaker of the camp hard to get along with. One day, he finally made friends of him, and the caretaker shook his hand. He said, "I want to thank you Pentecostals for keeping the 'amen' in religion." Never having been thanked for that, the director said "Thank You" for Pentecostals everywhere. Then the caretaker asked, "You know what is wrong with our church?" The minister had a pretty good idea, but wanted to hear what he had to say. The man said, "We know how to march around the walls, we know how to line the priests up, we know how to play on the ram's horn, we know how many times to march, but we are not bringing down many walls today. You know why?" The minister wanted to hear his answer, and asked why. "Because we have forgotten how to shout," the man said. The minister then remembered the words of the Lord to the children of Israel. God said, "After you have competed 13 laps around the walls, let the ram's horn trumpets blow, and shout with a great shout, for the Lord has given you the city." (paraphrased)

Now the interesting thing is this. The ram's horn, and the trumpet signal victory. The people shout, but the walls are still standing. But as the shout of victory and rejoicing continue, the walls collapse. Only then does the victory become a reality. Don't give up; keep marching; the shout the victory cry.

Tonight, we need to shout the cry of victory. The enemy is already defeated, but does not know it yet. We must claim the victory, and praise God for it, though with our natural eyes we may not yet see it.

Are you a man tonight who will be used by God. You will not be scared from the battle; you are a man who is willing to give your all. You are a man who does not know when to quit. They you are the man God is looking for, the one whom He can use.

Osage Gospel Lighthouse, Linn, MO 2-2-97 pm