CAN GOD USE ME?

 

Everyone here today comes from different backgrounds, lifestyles.

Each of us has a past.

John 4

⁵Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

⁶Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.

⁷There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

⁸(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

⁹Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

¹⁰Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

¹¹The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?

¹²Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

¹³Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

¹⁴But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

¹⁵The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

¹⁶Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.

¹⁷The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:

¹⁸For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

¹⁹The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

²⁰Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

²¹Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

²²Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

²³But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

²⁴God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

²⁵The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.

²⁶Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

²⁷And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?

²⁸The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,

²⁹Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?

³⁰Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.

This woman’s past was a little dark.

She came to the well during the heat of the day to avoid the criticism of the other women who would also come to draw water from the well.

She was confused as to her worship to God.  Jesus flat out told her, you don’t even know what or whom you are worshipping.

Her understanding of the scriptures was very faint.  In fact all she really knew was that someday the Messiah would come and when he did he would tell them what to do.

So let’s recap

– Her past is dark

_ She didn’t even understand what or whom she worshipped.

–       Her knowledge of scripture was so vague, the only thing she could answer Jesus’ question with was  – Well Messiah will tell us when He comes.

 

This woman was in the church enough to be added to the members list, but not enough to really be changed by Jesus or know enough about Him to share him with someone else.

Not much to work with here…

But look what happens, Jesus pulls her aside and begins to speak to her on a one on one basis.

Without a doubt, He lets her know that he is the Messiah.

And this little bit of information is all that the woman needed.

And what did she do with that tiny bit of information?

She went and told someone.  In fact not just anyone… She went and told the men who were the elders of the city.  She went to the gates of the city where the elders of that city would be gathered every day.

She went straight to the top.  She didn’t hang around the well and sheepishly wait for some stranger to come along that she could witness to…. She went to the magistrates.  She went to the ones who most people would have been fearful to talk to.

And what happened as a result?  “They went out of the city and came unto Him.”

So what were her qualifications?  1.  And only 1.  She had a revelation as to who Jesus was.

• Did He heal her?  No
• Did He fill her with the Holy Ghost? No
• Did He forgive her of her sin at this point? No
• Did He bless her with a job or a better marriage or kids that would stay out of trouble?

None of that. All she had was a knowledge or revelation, if you will, of who He was.  And with that, she was willing to not share her faith with, but cause the leaders of her city to come to meet Jesus.

 

Let’s talk about Ministry for a moment.

One of the lies that people who make mistakes are told by Satan is that God cannot use them now that they have sinned or made mistakes in their life.

People involved in or called to ministry (Which by the way is all of us) are especially hit with this.

When a person makes a mistake or falls into sin it is a healthy thing to have a reasonable amount of guilt, or shame or remorse.

However, once they have repented and placed that sin under the Blood of Jesus, they need to move on with their walk with God to the point of ministry.

 

We have to ask ourselves… If God cannot use a sinner (Which by the way is all of us.)  Who has repented, then who can He use?

We all make mistakes.

• We all sin.
• We all doubt
• We all lose faith

Nonetheless, this one lie of the enemy literally cripples the church’s potential for growth and revival.

Satan tells us, you’ve made mistakes.

• You’ve failed God.
• You’ve backslid, so let someone else who is more spiritual do it.

But guess what, he is telling them the same thing…

So guess what…  Nothing happens.

Ministry does not happen all because Satan has caused us to believe that we are all not good enough to work for God.

And guess what – HE’S RIGHT!

• I know I’m not good enough
• And I know you….  You’re not good enough.
• And I know you…  You’re not good enough.

But guess what…. again, God chooses to use people who are Not Good Enough.

Today, I am not perfect, I have made mistakes, but even if I was completely backslid, I would still want to be involved in ministry…  why? Because I want to serve the Lord!  I want to work for God!

Jesus required two things of his disciples

1. That they were busy and not lazy.
2. That they were willing to follow.  (God does not beg and He wants volunteers.)

A person’s background did not seem to be important.  (Fishermen, tax collectors, and labors – they were all Galileans except for Judas.)  God’s ministers come from a variety of backgrounds – why? So that we can reach all people in all areas of life.

The call of God came to Saul of Tarsus, while he was yet an enemy of the Church.  He was marked by God for Ministry while he was involved in some of the most horrendous acts of persecution ever demonstrated against the Church.

God said, “For he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the gentiles and Kings, and the children of Isreal…” Acts 9:15

Paul said – “Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision…” Acts 26:19

Paul’s transformation began on the Damascus Road.

That road for Paul represented hatred for the church, it was a murderous road paved with the blood and bones of believers and people just like you.  Paul was the henchman of Satan chosen to carry out persecution without mercy to the church.

I mean, how bad can a person be?

YET!  God chose to use him as a minister of the church.

In fact, God called Paul into ministry even before he saved him.

Even before Paul repented, was baptized or received the Holy Spirit.

I wonder today how many of us God saw while we were yet in sin.  How many of us He chose to use for the sake of ministry while we were still in sin.

Albert Sweitzer said, “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know:  the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who sought and found out how to serve.”

Servant hood in God’s kingdom is born out of love. (When we truly love, we serve.)

“There is but one failure, and that is not to be true to the best that is in us.”

• There is in me a drive that says, “Don’t waste what’s been given to you.”
• Don’t waste Devine Opportunities…

His name was Fleming and he was a poor Scottish farmer.  One day, while trying to eke out a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog.  He dropped his tools and ran to the bog.  There, mired to his waist in black muck was a terrified boy screaming and struggling to free himself.  Farmer Flemming saved the boy from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s poor farm. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy farmer Fleming had saved.  “I want to repay you,” said the nobleman.  “You saved my son’s life.”  “No, I can’t accept payment for what I did, “the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer.  At that moment, the farmer’s own son came to the door of the family hovel.  Is that your son?” the nobleman asked.  “Yes”, the farmer replied proudly.  “I’ll make you a deal.  Let me take him and give him a good education.  If the lad is anything like his father, he’ll grow to be a man you can be proud of.”

And that he did.  In time, Farmer Fleming’s son graduated from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin.

Years afterward, the nobleman’s son was stricken with pneumonia.  What saved him? Penicillin.  The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill.  His son’s name? Sir Winston Churchill.

I think many of us know who he was…  Had it not been for his leading during the 2^nd world war, it is entirely possible that Europe would have fallen to Adolph Hitler’s reign of terror and quite possibly the rest of the world with it.

Understand something…. You have enormous potential.

One man took a moment from his day to save a young boys life.  How could he know that by doing so he was changing the face of medical history and world order?  Do you know how many lives that man’s son has saved by simply discovering Penicillin?  Millions upon millions.

And you think you have no value to the Kingdom?

You think your mistakes negate you from working for God?

Satan has you believing that you are on the trash heap of Hell, sitting in church today, but not able to be used by God?

I want you to know something today…  “SATAN IS A LIAR!”

Rom 11:29

29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

 

2 Tim 1:9

9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

 

 

I’m going to share a little something with you that most preachers won’t ever say.  Your mistakes (sins) probably enable you for ministry more than disable you.  Now, that doesn’t mean that God allows you to sin in order to be able to minister to others… that ridiculous.  That would be a reprobate.

However, what the devil meant for evil in your life, God can use for good.

You see, a person who is delivered from the hold of alcoholism is much more able to witness to another alcoholic than someone who has never struggled with alcoholism.

He has been where that alcoholic has been.  He knows how hard it is to get away from it.  He knows what it takes to stop drinking.  And he knows better than any person in this world the Power of God that delivered him from its hold on his life.

If this church ever starts a ministry that reaches out to alcoholics, I am not the best candidate to run that ministry.  But believe me, God will provide us with someone who has been totally set free from it and they’ll be able to minister to alcoholics like you and I never could.

Don’t look down on the drunk on the side of the street – he just might be our church’s Alcohol Evangelism Minister.  Well, he’s not yet, but let the Power Of God get a hold of his life to heal him and set him free and there’s no telling what could come of that man…  Or those he reaches out to for that matter.

 

You have distinct personality traits that will open doors of evangelism that no one else can open.

You have past experiences good and bad that will open doors of evangelism that no one else can open.

There are people in this world that only you can reach.

I may never meet them.

Another believer may never have the chance to talk to them and reach out to them like you can.

You may very well be the only Blood Bought – Holy Ghost Filled – Pentecostal many people will ever have the opportunity to meet.

If you don’t reach out to them, who will?

If you don’t invite them to church, how in the world will their children and their families ever have a chance to be saved?

There’s only one you and you’re it!

Without your obedience to God’s command to disciple those people, they will never be saved.

And who do you think God is going to be looking at come judgment day?

Not me!

I never met them.

It may be you he looks at and says, “Why were these people never reached?”

• You have a ministry.
• You have a responsibility.
• You have a mandate.

It is not to simply be a member of Acacia.

It is not to simply sit back and hear Good Preaching every Sunday.

The mandate of God upon your life is to be involved in the ministry of this church for the purpose of reaching every soul that we can reach for Jesus Christ before His soon return.