(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So the title of the sermon today is God has chosen the weak and the base things to confound the mighty and the noble. And so one thing that I see, especially in the Bible and when you see what great works are done and who they're done by, it's not done by the most noble people in the world. It's not done by the wisest person in the world either. So what the Bible teaches here is that God has chosen to use those that are not the richest people in the world, those that are not the most powerful in the world, the ones that are not the wisest as far as education goes in the world to confound all the others. He actually uses, and the reason, we'll get into the reason why he uses that, but Notice it says in verse 26, it says, for ye see your calling brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. Notice the wise, the mighty and the noble, not many of them are called because most people that get saved are not the people that are high up in the world. We know the reason for that because they trust in riches and they don't have any reason to trust in Jesus, but God has chosen the foolish, he's chosen the weak, he's chosen the base to confound all them. And so we see that in the next verse, it says, but God had chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God had chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world and things which are despised have God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to not things that are. So God has chosen the weak things of the world, the base, and this is a great passage to understand because you may say to yourself, I'm not the smartest person in the world. I'm not the richest person in the world. You know, I'm not noble, I don't have a whole bunch of power in this world, but that just means that God can use you even more because he is actually looking for that. He is looking for the base person to use. He's looking for the weak person to use. He's looking for the person that's not in a position of power to use so that he can use you in a mighty way and that he can be glorified in that. Notice this chapter ends with, let him that glories glory in the Lord because the glory belongs to God and throughout the Bible we'll see there are passages upon passages as far as God using a small amount of people, using someone that's very, that's not, you know, a great speaker, someone that's not a good, you know, like someone that's poor to do great things for God. And you know, going out to this conference, what you see is a bunch of people that aren't rich, that aren't the smartest people in the world, that aren't, you know, they aren't in positions of power, but they're doing great things for God. And so God has chosen that. So if you're saying to yourself, I'm just not, I'm not, you know, I'm too weak, I don't have any money, well you're a perfect candidate. You're a perfect candidate to do great things for God because God has chosen you and obviously he's chosen you because you believed on him and there's a reason why you probably believed on him because you weren't rich, because you weren't in power, because you weren't wise, because the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. The wisdom of this world says that everything in this world came to be by nothing. Nothing exploded and this is where everything came to be. And then also everything came from a single-celled organism and it evolved into what it is today and only a fool can think of that, you know, but the wisdom of this world is foolishness and he's used the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. You know, it's kind of, you think about preaching and the just essence of doing it, it's kind of foolish, you know, it's kind of, you know, you're sitting here listening to me rant and rave and like preach to you, right? But God has chosen that to confound the wise. He's chosen that to confound the mighty. He's chosen that to confound the noble. And so I want to just, you know, give you some hope or just, you know, basically the fact that God can use you in a mighty way and the more you're down on the bottom of the totem pole, the more God can use you, I believe. Because God always wants to get the glory out of it and he's going to get more glory out of somebody that's stammering lips, someone that's not that wise, he's always going to get more glory out of that. The apostles of Christ are a perfect example of this. Who did he choose? Did he choose the leaders of Israel to be his 12? To be his witnesses? Those are what the Bible says in Matthew chapter 11, Matthew chapter 11. So as you know, the disciples were not, you know, like these noble people, they weren't the leaders, they weren't Pharisees, most of them were fishermen. They were just doing a trade. They were working a trade. They didn't come out of Bible college, they didn't come out of college in general, you know, but you think of like the Pharisees and all their doctors of the law and all this stuff. But God chose them to be the 12. And so, and they have great honor now, but they were the weak, they were the base, they were, you know, the foolish so to speak in this world. But God used them in a mighty way. Matthew chapter 11 verse 25, it says, at that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes, even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. When Jesus came, he blinded the eyes of the wise, he blinded the eyes of the nobles and the leaders in Israel, and he would only reveal it to babes, meaning, you know, the unlearned, the foolish that the world would look at, the base that the world would look at, the publicans, right? You know, think of Matthew the publican, you think of the fishermen, you know, these aren't the high up nobles of power, you know, the masons wouldn't be coming after those guys to bring them into the fold, right, you know, you think of these secret societies, they want the powerful, you know, but Jesus said, I want the base, I want the blue collar guy, I want the guy that's weak, you know, because then God will get the glory for what they do. And so it seemed good in his sight to reveal this, and remember, he spoke to the multitudes and parables, why? So that in hearing they would not hear, so that in seeing they would not perceive, lest they should be saved, right, because he blinded the eyes of the leaders of Israel, and he hardened their hearts, but he revealed, remember, every time he would speak a parable he'd go over to his disciples and say, this is what it means, and he'd speak to them clearly, because he chose them to be, to do great things for God, and Acts chapter 4, notice what it, you know, this story with Peter and the apostles, Acts chapter 4, this is a great example of God using men that were not learned, that were not educated, and I'm not saying they were illiterate, obviously they were not that, they weren't dumb, okay, when I say unlearned or the foolishness of what they would say, they would just say a normal person that's working a regular job, and they're not, you know, like, you know, all these high up scientists and these high up, you know, political leaders and stuff like that, so we're just talking about normal people with a normal just, you know, education, they can read and write, you know, we're not saying that it's that far down the line, you know, but Acts chapter 4, and I just want you to get some context, you know, this is talking, this is where Peter and the disciples are brought before the Pharisees because they healed somebody, and so obviously they're just getting persecuted for doing something right, notice in verse 5 it says, and it came to pass on the morrow that their rulers and elders and scribes and Annas, the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, as many as were of the kindred of the high priest were gathered together at Jerusalem, and when they had set them in the midst, they asked, so they set the apostles in the midst of them, and asked by what power or by what name have you done this, then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost said unto them, ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand here before you whole, this is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, so this is a great rebuke that he's giving these leaders, he's saying you crucified them, God raised them from the dead, and there's salvation, there's neither salvation in any other, no name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, besides Jesus Christ, so they are bold, they're filled with the Holy Ghost, and notice what they say about them in verse 13, it says now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus, so you know the world may look at me and say I'm ignorant, I'm not one of the elites like them, but they're gonna take knowledge that I've been with Jesus because the Bible makes wise the simple, and the Bible is more powerful than anything in this world, it's sharper than any two edged sword, and it's gonna pierce and divide asunder, you know both the joints and the marrow and the soul and spirit, and the thoughts and intents of the heart, and the Word of God is powerful, and when you're filled with the Holy Ghost, you'll confound the wise, you'll confound the mighty, you'll confound the noble, and that's exactly what Peter and John did right here. Peter and John, they said these are unlearned men, these are ignorant men, but look at the boldness that they have, look at the boldness that they have because they've been with Jesus, and Jesus got the glory for that. Jesus got the glory knowing they knew, hey, these guys are not learned, but yet they're quoting them scripture and putting them in their place. They are putting them exactly in the place they need to be, they're the ones that rejected that stone, they're the builders that rejected the stone, right? And he's saying you crucified Jesus, but God raised him from the dead, and you'll see other sermons where he's, Acts chapter 2, he's ripping their face off again before that, before this passage. Acts chapter 5, it says we ought to be God rather than men, because they tell them don't speak in this manner, and then they do again, and they bring them back, and they say didn't we tell you not to do this, and he says we ought to be God rather than men. Now that type of boldness is only going to come from God, and so that's what we need to have in our lives, and know that God has chosen us to confound this world of wise people, noble people, and mighty people, and I use that in parenthesis because that's what God is doing in that chapter in 1 Corinthians 1, you know, the wisdom of the world according to the flesh, right? So they're wise and strong and noble in the flesh, but not in reality, and so God has chosen us to do that. Now why? Because in general those that are weak and base and unlearned are open to the gospel, because they're humble. You know, when you don't have everything in the world, when you have to lean on God to even make it through this world, when you don't have all the riches in the world to, you know, you're trying to figure out if you're going to be able to put food on the table, then you've got to lean on God, and so when you hear the gospel, when you're that person, you're going to be a little more open to say yeah, I need help, I need something, but the people that are proud and noble and wise, they don't need anything, and so they don't need anything for their soul, they trust in their own riches to get them through life, and so they don't need to hear the gospel. They don't need, you know, and they don't think they need to hear the gospel, but they'll burn in hell for all eternity if they don't get saved, and so in general why does he say to remember the poor? Why does he say to go for the poor? Because the poor in general are going to hear the gospel. They're in general going to receive it, and that's why, you know, he chose the poor, but go to James chapter 4, James chapter 4, I just want to show you some places as far as being humble and being meek, and the fact that God is looking for that, so you can be poor and not be humble, right, because you can have people that are poor, so to speak, that are on welfare, and therefore they're leaning on the government. That's what we have in West Virginia as a welfare state. We have a welfare state, and it's almost like talking to the rich when you run into these people because they don't need anything, because it's all given to them by the government, which is stolen from us, right. The government doesn't give you anything. They just steal from somebody and give it to you, so anything to Robin Hood or something, I don't know, but James chapter 4, and so the Bible reads in verse 6, but he gives more grace, wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw an eye to God, and he will draw an eye to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. This is a theme throughout the Bible as far as humbling yourself, and God will exalt you. You know, you may be weak now. You may be base. You may be not one of the smartest people in the world, but God can exalt you because the Bible will make you smart. The Holy Spirit will give you power, and God wants that. He's waiting for that. He wants to be able to teach you and to give you that wisdom of the Bible and to give you that power of the Holy Ghost, to do great things for God. But you got to be humble. In order to be a leader, in order to be a great man of God, in order to be a servant of God, it starts with humility. Humility comes before honor, my friends, and in order to lead, you have to follow. And so you have to start off at the bottom of the totem pole. You have to earn your way. And a lot of people in the Christian realms and in the Baptist churches want it to be handed to them. They just want the accolades. They want to be known. And especially in our movement, there's people that want to be known in the movement, but they don't want to do the work to earn it. They don't want to read the Bible. They don't want to go soul-winning and do all the hours of all the toil and trying to win people to Christ and memorizing the Bible and doing what they need to do for years in order to get those accolades. You think of Pastor Anderson in the movement that's kind of come out of just what he's done out there, but you know what? That took a lot of work. That took a lot of times where he's just preaching to his family in his living room. That took a lot of character and a lot of time for him not to quit, for him to keep going, and other pastors are the same way where they had to do that and where you'd have big numbers and then everybody would just leave and then you just have to have character to keep going and it just angers me when you have people in the movement that just want it now. You have to earn it. You have to work to get there and God wants to use you, but you have to be humble. Don't try to just get exalted automatically. Let God exalt you. You know, I had to sit under preaching for a long time that I didn't agree with and I had to sit under people that I didn't agree with, but eventually, you know, God allowed me to be sent out. God put me in a position where now I can lead. Now I can preach the whole counsel of God. Now I can do what I believe God wants me to do and be a servant of God and be a man of God, but you know what? There had to be a time where I was humble and I still need to be humble today, but you have to be humble to get to that point. You have to be meek to get to that point. And so God is looking for that humble and that contrite spirit because then he'll exalt him. Then he'll put him in a position of exaltation. And you think of, when you look at Pastor Anderson, you should never worship a man. You should never exalt someone like people want to do and like he's a pope or something like that. We're all independent churches. If Pastor Anderson fell tomorrow, this church is still going. You know, but people get envious. They get envious of people that God has exalted because they want it now and they don't want to earn it. And so we need to be careful of that in this movement that when all this stuff is exploding and people are very famous, you know, I went out, you know, to the conference and people are listening to my sermon. It's easy to get your head puffed up when people are saying, you know, I listened to your sermon. I'm over here in Hawaii. I'm over here in this land. I'm in New Zealand. I'm in all these places. I'm listening to your sermons. It's easy to get puffed up and exalt yourself. But you got to stay humble. You got to stay humble and realize, no, it's I need to decrease. He needs to increase. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus needs the glory, not me, not any pastor, not any member of a church. God needs to get the glory. We need to remember that. Stay humble because if you do that, God will use you in a mighty way. The Bible says in Matthew 5, 5, one of the most famous passages in the Bible, you see all these blessed are they, you know, the Beatitudes as they call them. Matthew 5, 5 says, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. So you think of salvation. You have to be meek in order to get saved because you have to be humble. You have to realize, hey, I'm a sinner. I need a savior. That takes humility, you know, because you got to put away pride and put away all that in order to say, I need a savior. I need to get saved and realize that you were wrong. But even within the Christian realm, when you're thinking about inheriting the earth, when we get saved, you can choose to be proud and not do anything for God. And think you have, you know everything and you've done everything that you need to do, or you can be meek and follow God and follow Jesus who's meek and lowly and do his work, bear his cross like he did. And then when Jesus comes, you know, you were faithful or a few things, I will make you rule over many things. You know, you think of the rewards, the positions of power that God will give those that do his work, those that were humble in this life, those that were his servants in this life, and then he'll give you, he'll exalt you eventually. But you got to look at the eternal value of it because you won't be exalted now. We are the, you know, the scouring of the world today. People hate Bible believing Christians. They will accept anything else, anything else besides true Christianity in the Bible. Every other Bible's fine. We love all the Bibles, but not that King James. We love all, yeah, all the Christian churches. We love, you know, the Methodist Church of Christ, but not Baptists, not those legalist Baptists that believe, you know, it's only by believing on Jesus Christ and it's just by faith alone. Not the true gospel. We love all the false gospels, but not the true one. So the world is against you, but if you stay meek, stay humble, and work, then God will exalt you in due time. And then in Psalm 25 in verse 9, it says, the meek will he guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his way. If you want to be wise in the Bible, you need to be meek and humble. What I find when I come to reading the Bible is that the people that trust God's word to be perfect without error are the ones that know the Bible more. The ones that think they know more than the Bible or think they need to go back to the Greek or Hebrew or they need to correct the Bible or they're smarter than the Bible and don't want to use Bible language and don't want to use Bible, you know, they don't like certain passages in the Bible. I find that they don't know their Bible from a hole in the ground, but those that trust the Bible and say, you know what, that's a hard passage to answer, but the Bible's perfect. There has to be an answer. Instead of trying to correct it, they just realize this is God's word. It's holy. It's true. I need to figure out. I'm the one that has an issue with it. I'm the one that doesn't understand it. Those are the people that God blesses with more knowledge. You know, the humble, the meek will he guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his way. You need to be meek and humble when you're reading the word of God and God will teach you. But you've got to let him teach you and not think that you know everything. Anybody that's going into the Bible thinking they know everything is not going to get taught. You know, it's like going into a classroom thinking you know everything. You know, those are the people you can't stand in the classroom, right? The ones that think they know everything. It's the one you just need to sit down. You know, when it comes to the Bible, when you're reading it, just sit down, shut up, so to speak, and just read it. Read it like God speak to you. And so being a servant of God and doing great things for God is not by inheritance. Now what do I mean by that? Meaning that just because your dad was a great man of God and a servant of God does not mean you will be. It is not something that they just pass down like a possession where this is coming upon you. No. Every person has to earn that themselves. Go to Amos chapter 7. So we have Hosea, you know, after Daniel. So we start into Minor Prophets. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah. If you find Jonah you can go back a couple into Amos. I know it's hard. The Minor Prophets are so close together it ends up taking me forever to get to one. But Amos chapter 7. Notice what Amos is saying here. Amos chapter 7 verse 14. Then answered Amos and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son, but I was in Hardman and a gatherer of Sycamore fruit. And the Lord took me as I followed the flock and the Lord said unto me, go prophesy unto my people Israel. Amos, his dad, was not a prophet. And when you look in the Old Testament you'll see a lot of the sons of the prophets. The sons of the prophets. And you think of the kings, they would inherit it but their sons were always evil. Right? You'd have a good king like Hezekiah and then his son Manasseh was awful. You'd have a good king like Solomon but then Rehoboam messed up. You have, you know, you have like all this happened. You have a good prophet and then their son's awful. And guess what? That's exactly what happens today. You have a bunch of like, you have really good preachers like Jack Hyles who was a good preacher and you have other people that were good preachers and did a lot for the cause of Christ. But then their sons didn't amount to anything. Because they thought they could get it by inheritance. They thought, well just because my dad is powerful and he's a great man of God, it's just going to come on me by osmosis or something. I don't know. And so, but with Amos he says my dad wasn't a prophet. Neither was I a prophet but God told me to go prophesy so I went and prophesied. And so, you know what? My dad was not a pastor. His dad was not a pastor. And as far as I know his dad wasn't a pastor. Maybe there was somewhere down the line a preacher in my lineage but God is using me to be a pastor. God is using me to be a preacher and he can use you. It doesn't matter who your parents are. Just as much as salvation isn't by inheritance, it's not by blood, it's not by the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but by God. For as many as received him, then them gave you power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. And so just as much as salvation is not by inheritance, you don't get saved just because your parents are saved, well you don't become a great man of God, you don't become a great servant of God by inheritance. It just doesn't come on you by accident and you have to earn it. Everybody has to pay their dues. And I'm not saying going to Bible college, that's not the dues I'm talking about. I'm talking about reading the Bible. I'm talking about memorizing the Bible. I'm talking about doing the work, going soul winning, doing what you need to do, doing the commandments of God, being a friend of God. And so God uses individuals that prepare their hearts. Remember, Rehoboam didn't prepare his heart. You have to prepare your heart and God is no respecter of persons when it comes to this. Just because your daddy was some great person does not mean that that comes down to you. And that's what we see a lot of times is the fact that these people think, well my dad is this person, therefore, it's almost like, don't you know who my dad is? It's like, I don't care who your dad is, who are you? And especially because the fathers a lot of times are falling out too. We have preachers that used to be good and now they're falling by the wayside and they're taking their family with them. And so we need to remember, we need to stay humble, we need to stay meek. If this church grows, if this church starts busting at the seams, we need to stay humble. Don't let that puff your heads up. Don't think that God is the one that needs to get the glory for it. God is the one that builds the church. Jesus Christ said, upon this rock I will build my church. We go out soul winning. I'm not trying to build the church. I'm trying to get people out of hell. But God will build this church. And if God chooses to keep it the size that it is now, amen, that's what God wants. We'll praise the Lord and we'll do what we can. But if God chooses to make this church grow and we're running 100 or 200 or 300, we need to stay humble. We need to stay meek and give God the glory for everything that we do. And so in 2 Corinthians 12 there's a story because we need to know that God uses the weak. He wants to use the weak. And Paul is a perfect example of this. Did I say 1 Corinthians? 2 Corinthians 12. There's a story here with Paul. And obviously he's rebuking the Corinthians in this passage. In verse 1, and I know I'm kind of reading a lot of passages but I want you to see basically stories in the Bible of people that were weak but God used. And he actually wants it to be that way. You think of Gideon, and I don't even have this as a point, but you think of Gideon who had 32,000 people with him and he was going against a host of probably a million. He was the hand of the sea as far as the multitude of the army he was going against. And God said, nope, it's too much. Too many. 22,000 to leave. He basically said, anybody that's faint-hearted or that's scared, leave. 22,000 to leave. He's left with 10,000. And God said, nope, that's too much. Because he said, you might actually think that you won the battle with 10,000. He's like, just in case you actually think that you won with 10,000 against a million, nope, you're going to have to go down to the water and whoever laps up like a dog. He goes through this whole thing about how they drink the water and he's left with 300. There's no question that God won that battle when you had 300 against that kind of multitude of people. But God wanted it that way. Why? Because he got the glory for that battle. Because there was no doubt in the people's mind that that was God. That was not man. That was not the arm of flesh. And God wants it to be that way. So if you're saying to yourself today, I'm weak. I don't know if I can do it. I don't know if I can make it. That's when you can be strong. You know, I was thinking with going soul winning yesterday, when I went to bed, I'm like, I can't do it. I'm like, I don't know if I'm going to be able to get up. I'm like, I need to go. But I'm just like, I don't know if I can make it. And somehow when I woke up, I was ready to go. But you know what? That wasn't, you know, it wasn't my flesh that wanted to go. You know, I believe God helped me do that. And I believe God helped a lot of people do that that day because we're all tired because it has been a long week. And, you know, when you're weak, then are you strong in God? And that's what we're going to see here. So in 2 Corinthians 12, in the beginning chapter it says, It is not expedient for me, doubtless, to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. So he's saying, you know, I don't want to glory. He just got done basically speaking as a fool, so to speak, and glorying in what he has done for Christ. Because these people are saying, you're not like someone that we should listen to or something. And he's like, listen, I've done all this. You need to sit down, shut up and listen to me because I'm an apostle of Christ. And he didn't say it like that, but that's exactly what he was saying. And he's like, I'm going to come to you with the rod because, you know, I am a true apostle of Christ. I've done way more than you guys have done. And so, you know, you have no room to talk. And now he's saying, you know, I don't want to glory, though, because he wants to glory in Christ. And it says in verse 2, it says, I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth. Such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth, how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words which is not lawful for a man to utter. I guess he was caught up to hell. Oh no, that's right, we already covered that, that paradise is not hell. So, side note, of such an one, in verse 5, will I glory? Yet of myself I will not glory, but in my infirmities. Now he's saying, I'm going to glory in my infirmities. Now notice what he says here, he says, For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool. For I will say the truth, but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. So he's saying, I don't want to exalt myself, I don't want people to think I'm higher than I am, unless I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. So Paul's saying here, so that I wouldn't be exalted, God allowed this thorn in the flesh to be there. I believe, personally, and people always debate about this and what this is, I believe it was his eyesight, personally. If you think that he was blinded on the road to Damascus and then he could see, but it doesn't say that he saw perfectly after that, but there's a lot of times where he says, I've written a lot, he was always talking about how he wrote this himself and it was a big deal, and he says in Galatians that they would have plucked out their own eyes and given them to him, meaning he's kind of praising them at how gracious and giving they were, and so why would he give them their eyes? So I believe it was his eyes was the thorn in the flesh, and he's saying, God did this on purpose so that I wouldn't be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might be depart from me, and he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. He's saying, the power of Christ rests upon me when he is weak. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. You know, the strongest sometimes you get is when you are in persecutions. The strong, that's when you have the power of Christ upon you. When you don't think you can make it, when you don't think that you can go another day, when you don't think that I can go soul winning anymore, I can't handle the persecution, I can't handle the tribulation, I can't handle all the stuff that's coming down on my life because I'm too weak to handle it, that's when God's going to get the glory. That's when God's going to give you strength. And so his grace is sufficient. Now Paul was one of the elites. Remember, he was a Pharisee of the Pharisee, we'll see that. But he was humbled. And he had to be humbled in order to get saved. And then he said, you know, that was all nothing to him. And he's actually gone from that to trusting in all this stuff that he had, all these accolades that he had, to saying, I'd rather have infirmities because when I'm weak, then am I strong in Christ. And that's when Christ's strength is perfected in you, is when you are weak. So when that flesh is weak, when you don't feel like you're going, that's when God can really shine through your life. That's when you can really see the power of God working in your life because God will be glorified in that. God's always looking for that as far as what he can show others. When they see people do great things for God and they see that they're not the best speaker, they're not the best looking, they're not the best, they don't have all the money in the world, but somehow they're doing all these great things and people are following them, they're following them. Follow me as I follow the Lord. As Jihu said, come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. When they see that, and they see it's just like a normal person, it's like that person isn't that special, but they see the power of God upon them and God gets the glory for that. 1 Corinthians 1, we already read the last verse in there. The last verse, and this all comes down to the fact that God needs to get the glory, and in order for God to get the glory, or the most glory, is for it to be the most impossible. Think about that. The most impossible things are what God wants to deal with. You know, with men this is impossible, with God all things are possible. That's where God loves to work. He loves to work with the impossible, the downtrodden, he wants to work with those, the things that people would say that can't be done. If it can't be done, I want to try it because I want to see if God can do it. You know, there's a lot of houses to knock over here in all these three counties, and my flesh says it can't be done. My flesh says we can't accomplish that, especially with the numbers that we have, but that's what I want. I want a goal that looks impossible because with men it's impossible, with God all things are possible, and I want to see God do great things with this church. I want to see great movement come out of this church. I want to see people raised up out of this church to start other churches, to start great works that are even better than what I'm doing right here. I hope that everybody that comes out of this church is smarter than me, that does more than me, that puts me to shame on what I'm doing. I hope that happens. That's what I'm striving for because he must increase, but I must decrease. But 1 Corinthians chapter 1 or verse 31, we read this, obviously when we read the chapter, that according as it is written, if he gloryeth, let him glory in the Lord. 2 Corinthians 10 talks about the same thing, and it's interesting because he was glorying, he's talking as a fool, and he says, if I'm going to glory, I'm going to glory in infirmities, but 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 17, the Bible reads, Let he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord, for not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. Remember, when you look at these passages, talking about, do we need letters of commendation from you? A lot of people, they need these letters of commendation, like they need their Baptist Pope to say, this guy is a preacher, this guy is someone you should listen to. The only commendation I need is from God. That's the only thing I care about. I don't need a commendation even for my pastor friends. We're independent Baptist churches. The only commendation I'm looking for is God's. But this glorying in the Lord, it says, as it is written, so it's in the Old Testament, and this actually gives us more light on what it's talking about. Go to Jeremiah chapter 9, Jeremiah chapter 9. This is where this is quoted from, and it actually gives you information as far as what he means by that. Him that glorieth glory in the Lord. And when you hear that, you could say pretty much anything, you know, just glory in the Lord, you know, praise, but what's that mean, the glory in the Lord? Because I'm not to be exalting myself and glorying in myself. Anything that I have, anything that I have is from God. You know, every gift coming down from the Father of lights, right? And so, everything that I have that's good and true and right is from God himself. And you know, it's not by me. So, but in Jeremiah chapter 9, verse 23. Jeremiah 9, verse 23. It reads, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither the mighty man, glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches. Sound familiar with 1 Corinthians 1? The mighty, the rich, and the wisdom, the wisdom of this world. Verse 24, But let him that glory, glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. What are we to glory in? That we know God. That we understand God. And knowing God is not just being saved. Being known of God is being saved. Well, he knows you. My sheep hear my voice and I know them. And they follow me and I give unto them eternal life. And it says that we know God, or rather be known of God. Being known of God is the most important thing so that he doesn't say, I never knew you, depart from me, you that work iniquity. But knowing God is a process, hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. Knowing God is knowing the Bible. Knowing the word of God. Understanding the word of God. Glory, glory in that. Glory in that you know God. That you're a friend of God. That you're close to God. That you're bearing his cross with him. That you're a laborer with him. That you're in the husbandry with him. That you're bearing fruit with him. Glory in that. And give him the glory for everything that he does because the branch is not the root. And it's not the vine. You can do nothing without Christ. I can do nothing without Christ. And so my branch, you know, I would wither away if I didn't have Christ to help me in everything that I do. But we're to glory in the fact that we know God. Him that glories, let him glory in the Lord. Glory in this. That you understand and know him. And so that's what you need to be striving for in your Christian life is knowing God. Reading his word. Memorizing his word. Doing his works. Being wise. How do you be wise? What's a good way of being wise? You know, fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that win his souls is wise. Is it any coincidence that the people that know the Bible the best are the ones that are winning the most souls? That are winning people to Christ all the time? It's not a coincidence, my friend, because it talks about by reason of use. It talks about knowing the strong meaning of the word. It's by reason of use. It's by reason of rule. You know, when you read it and you know it, that's one thing. But another thing, to use it and apply it. And when you apply it, that's when you're really wise. Because there's a difference between knowledge and understanding and wisdom. You think of knowledge, knowledge would be like saying, I know the sky is blue. Understanding is understanding why it's blue. Wisdom is applying that knowledge and understanding of your knowledge. And so, side note, I want to get through some people here. People that were meek and that God used. Moses. Moses is a great example of this. Numbers chapter 12 and verse 3. And if you want to, you can turn to these, but I'm going to try to go quick through these. Numbers chapter 12 verse 3 says, Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. So Moses, the Bible says that he was the meekest person upon the earth all the time. That's crazy to think about. You think about Job was the most upright man upon the whole earth. Can you imagine that being said about you? Like you're the meekest, you're the most upright in all the world. But he was the meekest. But Moses is the person that's brought up all the time in the New Testament. Moses, Moses, Moses. We're Moses' disciples. And Moses is this great man of God, but he was the meekest. Now meekest doesn't necessarily mean weak. Weakness is not meekness. Meekness is just basically putting others beside yourself. You're not trying to do everything for yourself. You're meek. Jesus was meek and lowly. He died for the whole world. But Exodus chapter 33, notice what it says about Moses. We're not going to go through all the things about Moses and what he did, but Exodus 33 and verse 11, remember we were talking about Abraham being the friend of God. Notice what it says about Moses. It says, and the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. So it says that he speaketh to him face to face. And he was rebuking Mariam and Aaron saying, listen, if I'm going to speak to a prophet, I'll speak to him in a vision or in a dream in some other manner. But I speak to Moses face to face as a friend. And so here's a guy that was close to God. Here's a guy that knew God. You think of friends that you have and you're like, I know that guy. There's people you can say you know more than others just because you know everything about them. But that takes time to know that person. You think of family members. I know my family members probably more than anybody else. You think of coworkers, you probably know them very well because you see them every single day but can you say that about the Lord? Can you say that about the Lord Jesus Christ? Can you say that about God? How much do you talk to him? How much do you let him talk to you and let him know who he is, what he's about? If you're not reading your Bible, you're not going to get in any other way. We're not Pentecostal. God's not going to come down to you and talk to you audibly. He's going to talk to you through this book. This is his word. Everybody here is saved, knows the Lord as far as salvation goes but do you really know him? Do you know who he is? A lot of Christians today think they do but they don't know him from Adam because when you quote them Bible verses they never heard that before. They don't even think that's God. They say things like God created good but he didn't create evil. It says God created evil. Is there evil in the city and the Lord hath not done it? You think of things that people say like all hate the sin, love the sinner. God hates those that love violence and the workers' iniquity. We should never hate anybody. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred, David said. He says search me, O Lord, and see if there's any wickedness in me. There's a lot of things that people think they know about God that's completely false. And so we need to know God and we need to try to be his friend. That's what I'm striving for. I want to be God's friend. I would want God to say that's Jason. That's my friend because that's powerful. Now for me to be his child if that was it, that's great. I'm his child. I'm going to heaven. I'm covered by the blood of the lamb and I'm going to say that's my friend right there. I can count on him to get things done. Can he count on you when it comes to doing something for him? If he had something just set up and it was just like this, you knew that he wants you to do this. He wants you to go win someone in Christ or he wants you to go do something for him and move somewhere or do something, would you be willing to do it? Could he count on you to do that? And you think about the fact that if you don't do it, he may not put that in front of you the next time because he knows that he's not going to do it. He knew that Abraham, he says I know he'll teach his children right and raise them right. I'm paraphrasing that. He's saying before you destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, should I tell him all this? Should I tell him what I'm about to do? He says I know he's going to teach his children right. You think of Abraham, God's friend, and he let him in on it. He's like I'm going to let him know but it's because that Abraham was a friend of God. He kept God's commandments. He knew God. And so David was another man, Acts chapter 13 and verse 22, it says, and when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king to whom also he gave testimony and said I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart which shall fulfill all my will. So we see with David, a man after God's own heart was chosen by God to be king instead of Saul because Saul obviously fell from being king and he dissipated the Lord. They go to 1 Samuel 16. 1 Samuel 16. This is a story of where David was anointed by Samuel. I just want you to see who did God choose? Who did God choose to be king? Did he choose this mighty man that was, you know, you think of Saul, that's who he was, right? He was head and shoulders taller than above everybody. He took a yoke and ripped it in half. So this guy was strong and what happened with him? Power got to his head and he failed. But when he chose David, a man after God's own heart, in 1 Samuel 16 verse 1 it says, 1 Samuel, how long wilt thou mourn for Saul, saying, I have rejected him from reigning over Israel. Fill the horn with oil and go, and I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king among his sons. So we've already seen that before this and earlier in the chapters in 1 Samuel, he already said that I found a man after God, after my own heart. So Samuel goes to Jesse and I kind of don't want to read it again. Well, we can read it. But in verse 4 there it says, And Samuel did that which the Lord spake and came to Bethlehem, and the elders of the town trembled at his coming and said, Comeest thou peaceably? And he said peaceably, I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord, sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and called them to the sacrifice. So he's kind of doing this in secret. Eventually he's going to be anointed in public, but he's not really telling everybody what he's doing. And so in verse 6 it says, And it came to pass when they were come that he looked on Eliab and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. So he looked at the firstborn of Jesse and said, Surely this is it. This is the anointed. But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as a man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. And then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel, and he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this. And Jesse made Shammah to pass by, and he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this. Again Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel, and Samuel said unto Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Hear all thy children, and he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Arise, anoint him, for we will not sit down till he come hither. And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal, of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. So we see, where did David come from? He came from the sheep gods. He came from the writings. It's basically like I was in the lower parts of the earth, meaning like I was poor. I was a shepherd. But he used David in a mighty way. David became the king that everybody knows. If you were to look at any king in the Bible, who would you think of? David. David is mentioned in the New Testament a lot because that's who Christ was gonna come out of, the seed of David. It even talks about prophecies of Jesus and says David shall sit on the throne forever because it's Jesus. So David was exalted to great honor, if you think about it, to be likened with David. He is the root and the offspring of David. Jesus. Jesus is the root, meaning that he actually created David, and he's also the offspring of David because by the flesh he's David's son, but by the fact that he's God, God created him. But David had a great honor in that, but he came from nothing. He came from being the youngest in his family. And usually the oldest gets the highest honor, especially in the Bible days, they would get all the inheritance. But David was the youngest. He was the baby. And he got the honor of being king and he had the honor of being associated with Jesus for all eternity. The king of kings and lord of lords. And so one last passage to go to Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three. So what are we talking about? We're talking about the fact that God has chosen the weak. God has chosen the base. God has chosen the foolishness of this world to confound the wise, to confound the mighty, to confound the noble, and he does that because he gets the glory. Because his strength can now be through you. His spirit is what's giving you that power to do that and he is glorified by it and God is always wanting to do the impossible. He's always wanting to prove that all things are possible through him. And so in Philippians chapter three, great, great chapter. I love this chapter. But notice what Paul is saying here. So Paul, obviously he was a Pharisee until he got saved. So he was a ruler. He was a leader. He was like an elder of Israel. Notice verse four, it says, Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath but by more, circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee. So he's giving his credentials here. He's one of the top guys. It says, Concerning zeal persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. So he's saying, you know, everything that these elders were doing, I was doing it, I was blameless in it. But notice what he says. In verse seven, But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. You know, Paul said all that stuff, all those accolades, everything that I learned, everything that I had as far as a standing in this world, I counted but dung. I counted but loss. And he says that's all nothing to me. That means nothing. The only thing that mattered was the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Remember, that's what we're to glory in is the knowledge of Jesus Christ. We're to glory in his righteousness and that we can get his righteousness by faith, not by the law. The law, we can glory in that. But not if it's Jesus. Jesus gets all the glory. That's why when we go out soul winning, we talk about the fact that if you were to go to heaven by your works, you have where of the glory. Him that worketh is not the reward reckoned of grace but of debt. And if Abraham were justified by works, he hath where of the glory, but not before God. But if we are justified by faith, who gets all the glory? Jesus. He gets all the glory for what he did on the cross. And if someone tries to get to heaven by doing good works or not believing on him alone for salvation, they are not giving him the glory. Therefore, they're not going to go to heaven. They will go to hell. And that's just the way the Bible, that's what the Bible says. But we're to be found in him and not having our own righteousness but his righteousness. Verse 10 there, it says, that I may know him. But also that we know him. And it says, verse 10, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. And remember we were talking about the fact that we're striving, we're striving to try to be that perfect man, trying to walk in the Spirit to the point where our flesh is so emaciated, the fact that you're starving it so much that you are walking as the new man. You're walking as if you're in the resurrected state. And he's saying, I'm trying to attain unto that. I'm trying to attain unto the resurrection of the dead knowing that it isn't going to come yet. But he's trying to attain to it and trying to glory in Jesus. Then verse 12, it says, not as though I had already attained. So he's saying, I haven't attained. No one's going to attain to that until Jesus comes. Not as though I'd already attained. Either we're already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Apprehended knowing are about the same thing, right? So he's basically saying, I want to apprehend Christ as I am apprehended of Christ. Meaning that as I'm known of Christ, meaning that I'm saved, I want to know Christ. I want to apprehend him. Here's what it says in verse 13. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended. He's basically saying, I'm not even going to say I know Christ because that's a process. It's something we're trying to do and we won't really know him until we see him as he is. We'll be like him, right? But it says, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind the high calling of God and Christ Jesus. And let me tell you something. You may feel weak today. You may feel base today. You may feel foolish today, but in the Bible you can be strong. In the Bible you can press toward that mark for the prize of the high calling of God and Christ Jesus. You are the perfect candidate for God to do great things in your life. You're the perfect candidate for God to just show this whole world what he's about by going soul winning, by reading your Bible, by doing great things through you, by filling you with his Spirit and by knowing him and he can be glorified through you and God's gonna use that. So don't think to yourselves, I'm too weak, I'm too, I don't know enough, I'm not smart enough. God wants that. He's looking for that person that he can train, that person he can teach, that person he can use because then they'll say, this guy didn't go to college, he didn't go to MIT, he went to Harvard, but somehow he's rebuking this person. You think of Jesus and the authority that he had and he spake with authority but you think of people that didn't go to all these wisdom of the world colleges but yet they can confound these fools that think that they're the wisest people in the world because these Richard Dawkins and all these Stephen Hawkings and all these people, the wise, they're the dumbest people I've ever seen in my life. I mean, you think of the fact that they're saying that the universe was created by gravity. I mean, just stupid stuff that they say. I mean, just dumb. And so you think of all the dumb things that they come up with, it's all about aliens, aliens brought us together. It's like, you talk about us believing in fairy tales, you're talking about aliens coming on saucers and basically creating this universe and it's like, these people are just like kids that never left their mom's basement and then somehow they got up to this high ivory tower of knowledge somehow and everybody's looking to them to get the wisdom of this world. Well, the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God and the foolishness of God is wiser than men. And so if you want to be wiser than everybody in this world, know this book. I've found every single wise person that's out there. And so, you know, don't think that God can't use you. God uses me and I'm not the smartest person in this world. I'm definitely not the richest person in this world, but God can use those that are weak, those that are base, those that are foolish in this world. He'll use them because it'll be to his glory. And think of the apostles. These high up elite people, but God used them in a mighty way and their names are written in heaven. Their names are engraved in the Holy Bible that this is for all eternity. The Stephen Hawkins, he's going to be forgotten. It's going to be like the rich man. You don't even know his name, but you're going to have a new name written in heaven and your name's written down in heaven forever. So let's end with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you today and we thank you, not the glory in ourselves, not to exalt ourselves, but to be humble, to be meek and Lord, that you would exalt us and Lord, that we could show this world that you are the true Lord, that your salvation is true, show them the true gospel and Lord, that we can be allied unto this crooked and perverse nation and Lord, we just love you and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.