It Is God Who Appoints

Good morning. Why don't we have a prayer, Lord? Just thank you for the day that you've given us, Lord. This is a day that you've made. We choose to rejoice and be glad in it, that you would speak to us by your Spirit and not from man. Lord, that you would stir us up and you would prompt us to press on in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to read something from 1 Samuel 8. 1 Samuel 8. Verse 1, Now it came to pass that when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judge over Israel. And the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba. But his sons did not walk in the ways of his father. They turned aside after dishonest gain. They took bribes and they perverted justice. Then all the elders of the children of Israel gathered together and they came to Samuel to talk about this at Ramah. And they said to him, Look, you're old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the other nations. Samuel did what he thought best. He put his sons in charge of governing the people of God. But his sons didn't have the same heart that Samuel had. They loved money. They loved things. They were proud. And God didn't deal with it. But the people all saw it. God's people all saw it. These guys, these guys are leading and we can't have this. This is just not working. So the people came and said, Listen, we need to have a king like all the other nations, because this is not working. And the people would seem to be justified in asking for a king, because what they had was not working. But let's see what God says about it. The thing that the people had said displeased Samuel. And they said, Give us a king to judge over us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, Listen to the voice of the people, for all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me. That's what the Lord said. They have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day I brought them up from the land of Egypt, even to this day, with which they have forsaken me and served other gods. So now they are doing to you also, Samuel. Now, therefore, listen to their voice. However, you shall solemnly warn them and show them that their behavior and the behavior of the king who will reign over them is not going to be what they like. He's going to rule over them. He's going to take their sons. He's going to take their daughters and he's going to take their grain and their offerings and he's going to take some of their best property and he's going to take a tenth of everything. And it's going to be for the king. That's how it's going to be. Let them know this is how it's going to be. And after he told them all these things, how it's going to be, the people said, Let it be this way. We want a king over us. I was sitting in this morning when I was reflecting on this, I was thinking, well, of course, these these prophets were not faithful. Samuel's sons, these guys were in charge. They were corrupt. They love money. They didn't have a fear of God. And so it made total sense to ask for a king. Absolute sense, but not to God. You know, sometimes we start thinking about the hierarchy of the church. We think of the order of the church and God lays it out. He's given some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and some teachers. But what we've done is we've gone and we've made a religion out of this thing and we've now elevated the pastor over top of all of the other men of God. And they've said, in like terms, make us a king to be over us. And so the pastor is now the pope. He's now the bishop. And everything runs through the head. And people just excuse themselves and say, well, as long as we have a guy who's leading and now even you can even vote who you want. Then it was appointed by God. Now you even vote who you want. You can have the most proudest pastor, the proudest bishop, the proudest pope over you. And you voted him in. And you get a pope right after your own heart. The kind of pope that you want over you. That's the kind of pastor you have ruling over you. When you allow it to the people to decide. But it was never up to the people to decide. It was always up to God to appoint a man. God would appoint a seer. God would appoint a preacher. God would appoint a minister. And now we want men to appoint men. Brothers, sisters, we've absolutely blown it. We've absolutely missed it. And if we have someone who can run a wonderful business, someone who's very good with finances, someone who's very wise in his own eyes, one who can manage his whole business well, whether he fears God or not, let's make him a pope. Let's put him in charge. And now we have these structures. We have these religions. I mean, whether it be the Methodists, or whether it be the Jehovah Witness, whether it be the Mennonites, whether it be the Baptists, or whether it be the Mormons, whether it be the Catholics, as long as we can run the thing well, we put a pope over us, we put a bishop, we put a father over us, praise God, we'll follow him. What does that have to do with God? If you want a pope, you'll get one. You want a bishop, you'll have one. You want someone to do the work because they're good at it? Appoint him. What does it matter whether they're anointed or not? We've absolutely blown it. And so we have all these places. I think of Martin Luther, who went and put this thing on the door of the church there, these 70 things. And I think of the word Ichabod. The glory hath departed. You can have a building full of thousands and the Spirit of God not even be there. What are the key things that will determine whether God shows up? What are the key elements that are needed to have the presence of the Holy Spirit in a church, in a building, among the people? We go on from there. Yes, they voted. Yes, they'll have a king. So God tells Samuel, give them a king. Chapter 9, verse 1. And there was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish. He had this and this sons, and he had a choice and handsome son whose name was Saul. He was more handsome than all the people. His shoulders upward, he was taller than all the rest. And these donkeys go missing, and Saul goes out to look for them, and they can't find the donkeys. And so it comes into his heart to go and say, hey, we should inquire of a seer, a prophet, to find out where these donkeys are, what we should do. And God has already whispering in Samuel's ear, telling him that Saul is coming. And he prepares a meal for him, and he gives him the choice portion, and he tells him that God is going to make him ruler over his people. And you know what Samuel goes on to say? He says, I am of the smallest of the tribes of Benjamin, and the least of the brothers. Why choose me? I started to reflect on that. Of the smallest of the tribes? Of the least of the brethren? And I thought of Gideon. Gideon was of the tribe of Manasseh. He was of the smallest of the clans of Manasseh, and he was the least of his brethren. And God calls him, oh mighty man of valor, I have a job for you. And God calls Saul, I have a job to appoint you to be ruler over my people, to shepherd my people. And he calls David of Judah, after all his brothers passed by, he takes the last one, the smallest one, who is ready and good looking. Because God doesn't look, not just because Saul was head and shoulders above the rest, it didn't make him God's anointed. It was because he was humble. Because he was little in his own eyes. Because he didn't consider himself to be something. I think of times when the Lord has told me to go and appoint someone to be an elder in a fellowship, or to appoint someone to be a deacon. And then later on you see these people get puffed up in their heads, they become wise in their own eyes, and they think that they're leading, but they're not leading from humility. They're not leading from weakness. They're not leading from dependence on Christ. They become popes, they become bishops, they become mighty and high-minded. Just like Saul, who was once humble, stopped obeying what God's word said and he became proud. Saul came to a place where he said, why choose me? I'm of the smallest tribe of Benjamin, of the least of the brothers. Why choose me? It was shortly after that, that Saul was among the prophets and he was prophesying before the people. And the people heard him prophesying among the prophets. They said, Saul is one of the prophets? What's going on here? He's prophesying. The Spirit of God came on him. He said, God's going to give you a new heart and he's going to empower you. You're going to equip you for the work. God doesn't call people because they're wise, because they're mighty, because they're noble. God calls them because they're humble. God calls them because they've come to a place where they know that of themselves they can't do it. God calls them because they know that they're not sufficient for these things. In Gideon's time, when the people were amassed and the Midianite army was there and they rallied the troops and it was like five or six to one. They're against the Midianites. God says there's too many. These people are going to take, if they get a victory and they take down four or five or six, each one themselves, they're going to say they did it because they were stronger, more fit, more equipped. They were able to do it. So he sent the fearful home. Then there were 10,000. Then he sifted them again until there were 300. 300 men against 130 or 140,000 armed soldiers on camels so that the victory would be of God and not of ourselves. You say, well, brother, would you be willing to share something? Oh, no, I can't do it. Send the pope. Send the bishop. Oh, brother, I can't do it. I'm not a pastor. Oh, brother, I can't do it. I'm not a prophet. I'm no seer. Brother, he calls those things that are not as who they are. Stop being an unbeliever. Renounce your unbelief. Repent of it. Turn from it. Become a believer in the fact that he uses the base things. He uses the vile things. He uses those things that are rejected indeed by men but chosen by God and precious. And he grafts them in to a house and he makes them part of his family. As David was able to take those who did not fit in Israel. Those worthless men. Those men who were in debt. Those men who were useless to society. The ones who were sleeping on couches and couldn't get a job. Those ones he called to be his anointed. His mighty men. He didn't leave them louts. He changed their nature. He gave them purpose. He filled them with his spirit. He empowered them. Should we now then become proud? Should we now then look down on others? As Saul looked down on others? As Saul didn't think Samuel's advice was any good because he now had the keys to the kingdom. He now was the boss. Samuel's getting older. Saul's now deciding to make some decisions for himself. You know, he's going to build a monument unto himself. Man, I want to get some honor now. It's time for me to get my due. Brother, sister, if you're looking for honor, you're going to be licking the pavement soon enough. God rejected Saul from being king because he sought honor. Don't seek honor for yourself. Seek the honor that comes from above. There's a scripture brother Sean and I were sharing. When you come to a feast, don't take the best seat. Don't say, well, I'm going to sit right next to Jesus. I'm going to sit right next to that brother. You know, that brother who's a pope. I want to sit right next to him. You know, get some honor. Take the lowest seat. Take the least seat and the Lord will lift you up. That's what he did with Saul. I'm the least of the brothers. You're going to choose me? Yes, you're going to prophesy now among the prophets. Me? After Saul prophesied among the prophets, his head must have swelled this big. I'm a prophet. When you think of Amos, he had the word of the Lord in his mouth and they said, are you a prophet? He said, I'm not a prophet. I'm not a seer. He said, I'm a farmer. My father wasn't a prophet. I'm no prophet. He was a prophet, but he didn't view himself as a prophet. Brother, sister, if you view yourself as a prophet, you need someone to pop your bubble and get humble. A prophet doesn't proclaim himself to be a prophet. John Baptist, are you the prophet? No. Are you the one to come? No. Who are you? The voice of one crying in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord. He was the greatest prophet among those born of women, John Baptist. But in his own opinion, he was not so high-minded. After he came up and shared a wonderful anointed word at the Jordan and people, many were baptized. He didn't say, you know what, I am the one coming before Jesus. It's me. In case there's anybody has any questions. No. The voice of one crying in the wilderness. That guy was there preaching and he was weeping. He was weeping. Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight his paths. What shall we do? You want to come to Jesus? You need to straighten out your life. You need to get your life right and prepare your heart. You need to humble yourself and get lower. You need to make some amends. You need to get yourself in a state where God will listen to your prayers because God is not listening to the proud. You humble yourself under his mighty hand and then you'll get born again. He'll lift you up. There is Saul. What is this bleeding of sheep that I hear? This lowing of oxen? God said you're not supposed to spare any of them. Oh, I didn't spare any of them. Oh, well, I spared some for an offering to the Lord. He's making his own rules up. It seemed just like the children of Israel. Well, your sons are corrupt. Give us a king. It seemed good wisdom. You know, one of my uncles, he used to say this. If it makes good sense, seek no other sense. I'm telling you, you look in the scriptures and find that it's absolutely demonic wisdom. If you think through psychology and some demonic wisdom that comes from men who are demon possessed, that you're going to somehow possess the calling of the glory of God, you're deceived. Wisdom comes from humility. Wisdom comes from God. You choose the fear of the Lord and he will lift you up. You will fulfill the purpose and call of God in your life when you follow the teachings of Jesus. The brothers got together. They were there and they were all bickering among themselves. Sometimes in my family, I see them pitting one against another and trying to fighting for who's the greatest and the older ones seem to have an advantage. That's not the way of Jesus, brothers. Jesus comes and hears them going on like that and must have disturbed them. He grabbed one of these little ones and he set that little one down in the middle and he said, if you guys want to be great, then you got to become like this little child and get converted because you'll never inherit the kingdom of God unless you be converted and become like this little humble child who can't do anything for itself. You will by no means inherit the kingdom of God, but somehow we think if we can become a pope, if we can learn the ways of the world, if we become wise, if we can get that paper, if we can just get that degree, if we can become somebody, then God will have use for us. I thought that way at one time. I thought, who in the world is going to ever listen to me? I have to go to Bible school. I started to look in the papers. I said, listen, I'll go to the Pentecostal assemblies. I'm going to get those books. I'm going to get myself a degree. I'll have an opportunity to become a pastor or a youth pastor, to go and become a pope at a church so that I can preach the oracles of God. And I went there and I got all those thick books and the Holy Spirit said, if you go to that direction, I'm going this direction. And a fear of God came in my heart and those books laid in my cupboard for years. I never went back. Someone asked me the other day, they said, oh, are you an ordained minister? I said, Gordon Campbell, who was the premier of the Liberal Party, I said before he had his drinking and driving charge, he gave me my ordination so I can marry my children and the people from our church. I said, what is that among anything? What does that mean? It comes from a cracker jack box. It's useless. Our ordination comes from Almighty God. The anointing comes from God. You want the anointing or you want the approval of man? That which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. You want to be esteemed among men? Then you'll find yourself the least. You'll find yourself wallowing in your pride, trying to figure out what went wrong. Because you've made a covenant with Christ. And now you're in it for the blessing or the curse. And when you become the tail and you're wondering why is everything failing? Why is everything failing? It's because God cannot bless you in your pride and in your rebellion and walking according to the ways of the world. He said, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Not many wise, not many noble, not many mightier call, but God uses the foolish things. He calls those things that are not, Brother Sean, as though they are. We need to walk in a manner pleasing to the Lord and choose the fear of the Lord. If we choose any other way, God is not with us. And if God calls us and we reject the call, if Saul said, no, I'm not going to go, I'm just the least. If Gideon said, when he said to him, oh, mighty man of valor. And he said, no, I'm not going to go. I'm not going to, you want me to go and tear down the altar at my dad's house that Baal did? You want me to do that? I'm not doing that. They're going to kill me. And David, when they came and they called him up and he said, you know what? You guys didn't even invite me to this thing. Nevermind you guys, you guys figure it out. I'm going back to my sheep. You know, I'm happy where I'm at. No, brothers, they went through with God. If you don't go through with God, then God will never make you into a man of God. Recently, I was reading some excerpts from Alan Redpath's book, The Making of a Man of God about David. You have to be conformed into the likeness of Jesus in order for Jesus to use you for his glory. And that involves the dealings, the daily dealings that Jesus has for us and to overcome in that, to get the victory. This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. If you don't believe, then you'll be cast into the outer darkness with the unbelieving and the cowardly, along with the sexually immoral, the adulterers and the drug addicts and the alcoholics and the swindlers. You say, oh, I'll never do those things. Oh, I'll just be unbelieving and cowardly. I'll find myself right next to the drug addicts, the evil and the unbelieving. Brothers, we need to see it how Jesus sees it. We don't just see it how our headset tells us. Oh, we're just good folks, but we're not worthy, but we're good folks. No, you'll have a pope over you for sure. You'll never fulfill the purpose and call of God unless you repent. Just give us a king. Just give us a pope. It'll be good for us. We can make our money. We'll give him a tithe. We'll send the bucket around. We'll take the 10 percent. We'll give it to the pope. Well, he'll use your children to lead Sunday school, and he'll use your sons to take offerings, and they're going to use them. They're going to have some rallies, and then they're going to have a car rally, and then they're going to have video night, and then they're going to need some people. They're going to use your sons for that. Yeah, we're good with that. We'll do our volunteering. We'll do our time. We'll give him our bit, but give us a king. We want a pope. He grieved God. He said give him the pope. They want a pope. They want a king. They want a pastor who has a heart not after God. I'm not saying all pastors. I'm saying those that are called of God to pastor. That's a different deal, but you're not going to see one head pastor. I mean, brothers, sisters, he's given some to be apostles. Where are the apostles today? Oh, the wise preachers have said that that passed. There were only 12. There's no more. What about the prophets? When the canon ceased, the prophecy ceased, brothers. God don't speak no more. We have the written word. We have the logos. He don't give us rhema anymore. You know, our living God don't speak. He's really conservative that way. He's given us evangelists. Well, we believe in evangelism. I mean, come on, brothers, just because you don't have an experience it for yourself, it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. When the scripture says it, that he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. There are still apostles who plant churches, who go about preaching the word of God and establishing them. There are still prophets who speak, and the prophets who speak don't call themselves prophets. Like Amos, they said, I'm no prophet, but he proclaimed the oracles of God. When the spirit of God comes on a man, he prophesies. Everybody will say, the brother has a spirit of prophecy on him. That sister had a spirit of prophecy on her. The prayer of intercession. This is a gift. Who is interceding behind everyone who is anointed? There is a praying people who are holding up the rear guard in prayer. Praying women, wailing women. Where are the wailing women today? Is that something that's ceased also? Are there any wailing women who will stand between the porch and the altar, who will weep and say, spare thy people, God? It doesn't have to be women. It's just a term. The people of God who will intercede and be burdened for the lost. Do we have any burden for the lost? Some of us don't even have burden for our own family members who are lost. We haven't wept for them. Brothers, we need to get the love of God. If Jesus weeps, we should weep. If Jesus rejoices, we should rejoice. It says, weep with them that weep and rejoice with them that rejoice. May the Lord help us to have understanding in the ways of the things of the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God, the realm of the Spirit is far superior to the realm of man. I has not seen nor heard or entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him. I heard a preacher say this in a meeting. He was ranting about, I has not seen, and the Spirit of God stirred me up and I shouted out, but God hath revealed them to us by his spirits. And then he said, Amen. We can understand the things of God. I hear many Christians say, well, when I get to heaven, you know, I'm a golfer. I'm going to golf always under power, always under power. I'm going to be golfing. You know, when I'm water skiing, I'm just going to have the, just the smoothest seal on the sea of glass before everybody's out there. I will be out there just carving it up. When I'm on the mountains and climbing those peaks in heaven, I will just have the perfect climb. It's all deception brothers. If you're not interested in worshiping the King now, you'll have no interest in worshiping the King then. We deceive ourselves. Man's wisdom, the wisdom of God, the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man. So he uses the foolish things. And that is why we go to the creek. And that is why we go to Wagner. And that is why we reach out to the whosoever wills because God is not called the mighty, the noble and the proud and the people who have no need of God and the self-righteous. He's not called me to that. He's called me to associate with those who know they're sinners because of the chief of sinners I am. I want to identify with sinners in that I can give them the hope of Jesus Christ. So my arm may be short, but I want to make sure it's long enough to go to the lowest places to give them a hand up and introduce them to the one who gave his life for me. The one who shed his blood for me. The one who died for me. And to tell them that we were able to overcome all these things through the blood of the lamb and share the word of our testimony, that rhema word, that living word that worked for us. But that recipe from the cookbook that doesn't work. I've never cooked it myself. I don't know. I hope it turns out like a vacuum salesman who comes to sell you a phlobia and tells you you can just cut your hair with the phlobia. It's just going to be wonderful. Save money. Come on brothers. These salesmen peddling the word of God for profit today. What is all that? These super apostles. People following after them because they have itching ears. Where are the true prophets of God? Where are the ones who share the word of God in brokenness? Who have a burden for the lost? Who are willing to deny themselves for the Lord Jesus Christ? Who've been bought with a price to say, Lord, I'm willing. Here I am. Who shall I send? Who will go for us? Isaiah says, Lord, send me. And God is the one who has to touch the coal to your lips. You just have to acknowledge that you're a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips. But when you get a vision of Jesus, it'll change everything for you. You'll say, Lord, whatever the job, whatever is needed, I want to make myself available. If you open the door, I want to be willing to go. If the door is shut, I'll pray for an open door and I'll trust you. Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength from Jeremiah 17. But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is in the Lord. Do you want to have your leaf green in the year of drought? We've gone through some crazy times, brothers. We can try and figure in our heads how we're going to get out of Canada and go to a freer place. It's crossed my mind. Freedom is in Jesus. Paul says to the Agrippa who's there and he says, I'm the Lord's freed man except for these chains. And if God places us here to be a witness and a testimony here, then let's be a blessing where we're planted. Let's be a fragrance of Christ where we're planted in every place where he leads us, whether it be at the ballpark, at the park, whether it be in our homes or at the mall or in a fellowship gathering or just visiting someone or meeting a stranger on the street. Let's be the fragrance of Christ. There's so much doing. Let's allow ourselves to be the fragrance of Christ. That only happens through humility, the fragrance of brokenness, the fragrance of weakness, the fragrance of Christ in every place. Let it be diffused, brothers, to the one we're a fragrance of death to death, the other a fragrance of life to life. There's things, brothers, we need to die to. In order to be that fragrance of life, when we get together, we share our struggles, we share our weaknesses and we share where we're overcoming and we encourage one another to continue to press on in the faith. And when we're with the worldly people, oh you're radiating, you're glowing, oh you seem so joyful, you have such peace on you. What's your secret, brother? His name is Jesus, the prince of peace, the peace he will give that passes understanding. While everything is going turmoil, you have such peace. Your face is glowing, sister. What's going on? Oh, I've just spent an hour with Jesus. I've just spent an hour with him. Could we come to that place in our life where our peace doesn't come from how good the bank account is and how circumstances are going for us naturally, but how things are with Jesus? Pressed on all sides, brothers, sisters, but not crushed. Perplexed. What is going to happen? Are they going to lock us down again? Are they going to arrest us as Christians? But not in despair. Struck down. Man, I always get the beat down, but not destroyed. Why? Always caring about in this body the dying of the Lord Jesus. Always bearing our cross and following him. So that the life, brothers, sisters, so that the life of Christ might be manifested in our mortal bodies. He who has the son has the life. The one who has not the son, who they're walking in the flesh, hath not life. They're really heavy and discouraged. And then the wrath of God abides on them. Lord, let's liberate people from the hell that's on them in Jesus' name. Let's be a fragrance of life to people who are perishing. Let's speak words of life unto them that faith could come. As brothers shared, faith cometh by hearing, hearing the word of God. Tell your story of what Jesus has done for you, unless he hasn't done anything for you lately. Then you can't share what's not real in your life. Then there's self-examination and repentance to do. Tell that smoking drug addict, alcoholic, what Jesus has done for you and how he changed your life and took you from being a religious deadbeat and gave you life and gave you joy and gave you peace. Go bring them some muffins. Bless them in the name of Jesus Christ. I was driving by the fuel place to wreck my car and I drove by and I said, Lord, I choose to forgive. And I say, Lord, bless the man's business. Bless his business. I want to bless it because the word says, bless and don't curse. I want to bless everyone. Yeah, but that cost you thousands. Yes, it did. And I want to come to a place where I say, Lord, I want to be able to bless my enemies. I want to be able to pray for those who persecute me and spitefully use me. I want to be a blessing in the earth. Lord, I've been a miserable curse in the earth in years past. I want to be a blessing. Make yourself a blessing to people. Ask the Lord how you can be a blessing. And if you can't do it, come to the end of yourself. And all of a sudden, when you become the least in your own head, you'll find salvation. You'll find salvation. I think of this blue Presbyterian, blue stocking Presbyterian that was spoken of by this one brother. She was a woman who held to her integrity. And he went there to say, Sister, she was old already. He said, it's the last time I'm going to come visit you, Sister. She was holding to her righteousness. And he said, hell waits you, not heaven. She knew nothing against herself. She was a very righteous woman. But she didn't know Jesus. She knew religion. She trusted in a pope. She trusted in her own righteousness. Brothers, sisters, that's a dangerous place for us to be, trusting in our righteousness. We have to see our own wretchedness. We have to see our lack of love and compassion for people who are going to hell. Otherwise, we will be right next to them. While there is yet time, let us humble ourselves. Confess to the Lord. I'm boastful, proud, haughty. I'm thankful, unholy, unloving. Lord, have mercy on me. And the lady humbled herself and said, could you come back? And would the Lord forgive a hard-hearted sinner like myself? And he knelt with that lady, and she repented and became born again. After years of sitting in church, years of sitting in church, looking down on others, thinking herself to be better than. Brothers, think of yourself to be the least of all the brothers. Think of yourself to be the least of the tribes, as Paul says. Think of yourself to be the chief of all sinners. And he saved us there. I was the worst sinner because I had no love for the lost, for whom Jesus died. Jesus, forgive me. Help me to change. If that's you, you can repent right where you're at. You can repent and confess and renounce, and let the peace of God come. Let the joy of the Lord come. Let the Holy Spirit fill you. Amen.