Sermon Tone Analysis

Satan Lies - God Can't Use You

Robert Groover / General / Obedience

Through the noise we hear from the world, we hear that God cannot use people like us.

This is a lie

The noise that we hear from the world today is very depressing.

The source of 24/7 news is not uplifting but to tear each other down.

Turn on the TV and you will see riots or demonstrations some where, it is almost a given.

When it comes to religion, we are degraded, den-graded and made to feel insignificant.

We are made to believe our faith is in fairytales and not reality.

The bedtime story of kids of the flood and a big boat and saving a bunch of animals, just may not be enough to get you through.

Belittling you is the goal.

To get you to think (if not like them) that God doesn’t love you, or that He can’t use you.

That Jesus is not divine and the Son of God.

We hear:

• You have no Identity with God

• Live in the Past, Dwell in Your Misery

• You are not forgiven, That sin will Mark You FOREVER

• God Doesn’t Guide People Like YOU

When I look at the preachers, evangelist and speakers of today, I see gentlemen that spent a lot of time learning the word of God.

I see people that seem to have their lives together.

I don’t see men that are known for sin.

So is there any truth to the noise that we are hearing about God not using us?

Instead of listening to others, or to what the world says, ask: What does God word say?

Ephesians 4:11–13 ESV And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Paul is telling us here that God has given us the apostles, prophets and even today evangelists, shepherds (or Pastors), and teachers to guide us in His work.

That we are to work for Him in sharing His glory today.

Even though we are not perfect, we are to be about His work.

Because His work is good for teaching and correcting as well as training others in righteousness.

We work and share this information so that we can be complete in God’s measure.

We do this so that we can mature in our walk with God.

What about the sin I have committed?

Is it too great for God to use me?

Let’s begin by looking at who is giving this information - Paul 1 Timothy 1:12-13

1 Timothy 1:12–13 ESV I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.

But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,

Paul a Pharisee, a zealot for what he believed to be true.

He persecuted the church and believers.

overseeing the beating, jailing and yes even the murder of believers.

A man that thought himself above the law because he felt he was doing God’s work, but he was only a puppet on the string of man.

He was misguided and had a violent streak also.

He didn’t care about other people’s rights, but his actions were done in ignorance.

In a sense he was blind to the truth.

Just like many of us.

We sinned against God before we really knew who and what God is.

Now this doesn’t forgive us or our actions, but is the reason why.

The forgiveness comes only from God when we repent of our sins.

Let’s take a look at something that happens today.

We get so outraged when government makes laws that we don’t agree with.

Ones that go against our faith and beliefs.

Remember this, you cannot legislate moral behavior.

We cannot expect people to act like Christians because of laws.

It has to be through changes that God makes.

We say hate the sin, love the sinner.

Why should we even care about the sin, we have no control over that aspect.

The only thing we can do is show mercy and grace towards everyone we meet.

When we put our faith in Jesus Christ.

You say:

But this is just one man.

How can you say God uses people like me?

Let’s look closer to the beginning, Noah - Scripture says he was a just man, perfect in his generations, he walked with God Genesis 6:9

Noah - Scripture says he was a just man, perfect in his generations, he walked with God Genesis 6:9

He was picked by God to build the ark, but what happened when the flood receded?

He got Drunk.

By all accounts, we would call Noah a good Christian today, just not a Baptist.

Even though he was good, he was not perfect.

Abram (Abraham) Genesis 12:2 says : And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

Now it sounds like Abram is a pretty good and upstanding fellow, right?

But in Genesis 11 we learn that Abram comes from a family of idolaters.

The city he is from (Ur) is very famous for the idols and Babylonian religions.

He even lied to save his own skin after he was walking with God.

Not once but on a few occasions.

Moses - The leader of the Israelites out of the slavery in Egypt.

In Exodus 2 verse 12 we learn that Moses kills an Egyptian that was beating an Israelite.

So he was a murderer, and in Exodus 4:10 Moses even says that he is slow in speech.

Other words he stutters.

Moses is making all kind of excuses to get out of this assignment.

But God is not having any of this mess.

David the giant killer, general and warrior, king and ruler of Israel

In 1 Samuel 16:11 we find that when Samuel came to Jessie, upon orders from God to anointed the next king.

David was left in the field.

With the important visit from Samuel, David was left to tend the sheep.

He was overlooked.

But even after success, David lusted after another man’s wife, had him killed by going into battle, took her for his own.

Looking at the people God used, being a small sample, here.

They are jacked up.

You got liars, drunkards, murderers, and spoiled leaders.

This doesn’t sound like a group of Godly, holy stuffed shirt kind of guys.

These are ordinary messed up guys just like us.

Surely when Jesus got on the scene, there were better prepared and godly people.

Jesus started choosing people to help with His ministry.

He began with fishermen.

Several of the disciples were fishermen, but a few had a rather notorious past.

Matthew was a tax collector.

They were hated men.

They cheated the people and put additional fees into the amounts of taxes they owed.

This money was so bad, that it was illegal to donate or give any portion of it to the church.

No tithing at all from this portion.

Then Jesus also chose Simon the zealot - a rebel.

His whole existence was to start uprisings.