God Chooses Different

Pastor Stan Mons

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Sermon Transcription:

Lord, we bless you today. We thank you, Lord, for all that you have given us. We thank you, Lord, that you have blessed us beyond what we would be able to understand. Thank you, Lord, that you've sent your Holy Spirit to help us understand these things that are so far beyond what we could receive today and on this side of Eternity.

Lord, I pray that you lead us into your word. I ask you, Father, to reveal your word. I ask you, Father, to give us understanding. I ask you, Lord, to reveal unto every person online, everyone that is here, Lord, that you choose different. Father, I pray that our hearts may understand it. I pray that the eyes of our heart may be able to see, that the ears of our heart may be able to hear from you, and that we may be changed by the revelation, by the understanding of who our God actually is. Father, that it may change the way we respond to you, expect from you, and call to you, the way we say yes, yes to you, Lord. Father, I pray that you send your Spirit to change the way that we say yes to you today. Lord, would you show yourself. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

We're going to get into the word of God. The title of what the Lord has given me for you today is "God Chooses Different." For those that know me a bit, you may understand me saying this, but in every case, I've never quite seen my journey coming, if you will. I've never quite expected life to turn out the way that it's turning out. I never expected to be in this country, never wanted to be in this country. I never expected to be married to someone who is not from my nation, my Ukrainian wife. I never quite expected to ever speak about Jesus or ever be involved in church in any capacity at all.

I always kind of felt growing up like the least in my family. I kind of felt unnoticed, I kind of felt out of place. I felt a little bit like the odd bone out, I think they say in the United States. I always felt like the lesser one. I couldn't give you a clear reason why. I'm not saying my parents gave me a reason for this, but that's how I felt as a kid, not really fitting in. I also could never speak. My younger brother, he's always the one that would speak at a birthday party or say something when our parents would be so many years married or when saying something would have been appropriate, and the eldest normally would be doing that. I always felt invisible, and I felt like I couldn't do it. I could not speak. I loved to talk to people one on one. As soon as it was a group setting, I would just shut myself in, grow quiet, grow insecure. I didn't enjoy talking with more than one person. It felt unsafe to me. I could never speak.

I never, growing up, got to lead a thing in my life, partially because I felt unnoticed, and I probably was not noticed. I didn't have a lot of leadership qualities, if you will, and I never got to lead a thing. It didn't matter what it was. If it was a craft at school that you had to do in groups, and you know one person always ends up taking the lead, that never ended up being me. There was a project later on in college, and you have to do it with a couple of classmates. I was never the one handing out to people what they should be doing. I got whatever task was assigned to me, and I never saw myself lead a thing. I was the kid that was always picked last at the schoolyard. In the Netherlands, we play a lot of soccer, and yes, I also play soccer. I was never the best, but you're standing in that lineup, and if you're me, you already know it's coming. You feel like it's a victory if you were second to last picked. I literally felt that way my entire life growing up, and it didn't matter what sports we were playing. The sports I was really good at were not team sports, I never did them as a team. So I was always that kid, the last one to be picked, and it caused something in my heart. I didn't really understand it, and I couldn't put words to it until later on in my life.

But I never expected God would pick me for anything, and before he would pick somebody else, I never expected God would pick me to do something over someone else. I didn't expect that. I never desired to speak for the Lord. I never, ever in my life, ever asked to speak. Till this day, I have never asked to speak for the Lord. I've never asked for a stage. I've never asked for a platform. I've never asked for somebody's pulpit. I never ever asked that. I never wanted to travel. It may surprise you, but I don't like traveling, and I may have traveled as much as the most of you. I never wanted to pastor. I never wanted to move to a different nation. And the Bible's full of stories like this. People, insignificant people, people that feel insignificant, people that are the last ones to be picked, people that didn't quite see their journey coming. And God's been trying to get something across to the generations for a very long time because God chooses different.

Let me read to you 1 Corinthians chapter 1. We're going to start in verse 18. We're going to read 18 to 28. 1 Corinthians 18: "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." Incredibly powerful statement that the word of God makes right here. The word literally tells us that there's many people, many people groups that make God out for a fool because of the message of the cross. "What do you mean it was God who came to His world that He created, and He ended up dying by the hands of men on that cross for that world? What do you mean this is my only way to be forgiven? What do you mean this is my only hope? What do you mean this is the only way that I can have a relationship with God? What do you mean this is the only religion that actually provides a way into something eternally good, and no other way is possible?" That is foolishness. The word of God says this is foolishness to most people except us who are being saved. It is the power of God. It is the very power of God that is bring about change we never could.

Verse 19: "For it is written," this is what God said, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent, the capable. The capable in this world, I bring their understanding to nothing." Then an accusation comes from the word: "Where's the wise? Where's the scribe?" That's the higher educated in their generation. "Where's the disputer of this age?" That'd be a lawyer, the high paid, high educated, the one that can hold an argument and win it. "Where's the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" In other words, these impressive positions or peoples, what can they actually bring about that can make a change, an actual eternal difference in your life? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

Verse 21: "For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom." In other words, there's these religious people groups, some of them, they want to experience God before they believe God, whatever that may look like, a sign. Some people will not do what God has told them in the word. They go to prayer, and they go ask the Lord for a sign before they're willing to walk in obedience to something the Lord has already made clear. It is referred to in the word as the Jew, that was the person that tries to come to God through the law. They end up praying and looking for signs before they move. I'm not saying God does not give signs, but I've learned one thing: He don't give them when I ask. He gives signs when He speaks, and He knows you are never going to make it in what I'm asking you to walk. I'm going to give you a sign that is going to sustain you in your obedience. God doesn't give you signs to buy your obedience, to purchase it with a sign. He doesn't do that. He gives you a sign because of your obedience to sustain you when the difficulty comes. Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom, that is worldly wisdom, things we understand, things that make sense to us. They don't like Christ.

Verse 23: "We preach Christ crucified, to the Jew, the person that would like that sign first, to the Jew a stumbling block", they don't like that. It hurts their toe, it stumps their toe, it makes them stumble. They don't want to walk that way after Christ. "And to the Greek, foolishness." This is a joke. What do you mean God came to Earth, God the Son was killed, gave His life on Earth? You mean to tell me He had all the power, all resources of Heaven, and He lost? It looks like He lost. Foolishness to the one that wants wisdom in this world.

Verse 24: "But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." This is the difficulty. People go, especially in this time, they go, "What do you mean this man, this particular man that went on that cross on Calvary Hill, if I put my faith in His name, I'm going to have an eternal change in my life? I'm going to have a daily change in my life? God is going to come into relationship with me? You mean to tell me there's at the very least over 100,000 people that were crucified under the Roman rule? You mean to tell me that particular one, of all those crosses that have been on Calvary Hill, this particular one that also died, went into the grave, this one that was rejected, crucified outside of the city because He was regarded unclean and rejected, you mean to tell me that this particular one out of all of them, that kind of look the same in many ways, I need to put my trust and my faith in this particular one? I don't see a difference. That is foolishness. How strange that you believe that stuff."

Verse 24: I'll read it to you again. "But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. And the base things, or the insignificant things of the world, and the things which are despised.God has chosen, and the things which are not, or are without, or are lacking, not enough to bring to nothing the things that are."

We people are not good, let me tell you this. We're not good at making choices. If you think you make good choices in life, you are deceived. I'm sorry, we do not make good choices. People in general, humanity, does not make good choices. We do not have good people skills, we think we do, we are deceived. We are not able to make good choices on our own. We're going to see an example of it in the word of God, and we're going to see that God chooses different.

Come with me to the story in 1 Samuel where the people of God ask him for a king. They've never had a king, they've had judges, they've had, if you will, in many ways they are likened to spiritual leaders, they are likened to pastors. They had a pastor, if you will, Samuel was their pastor at the time, he was the prophet, he would tell them, "Listen, this is what is in God's heart for your life, we really should be listening to God." And here the people now ask for a king, and the word tells us that the people of God rejected him and this is how they did it, just to give you a little cautionary note so you never are in this people category: the people of God rejected him in that they wanted to make their own choice when the Lord gives direction in his word, and we rather make our own choice. The Bible tells us we are rejecting God, not a good position to be in, but that's where the people are, that's where we pick up in 1 Samuel 8, verse 7 and 8: "And the Lord said to Samuel, 'Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day, with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods, so they are doing to you also.'"

So, the Lord then begins to warn the people through the prophet Samuel, and he begins to tell them, "If you take yourself a king, all kinds of trouble is coming your way," and he begins to list thing after thing: difficulty and restraint and sacrifice and payment that the people of God will have to make if they take for themselves this king. And then we arrive at verse 18: "And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day."

That's what the word says when we move away from trusting and following our God as Lord, and we instead reject Him and readily make our own decisions. We don't want to be led, we don't want to be told what to do by His word, by His servants, and we rather make our own decision. That doesn't mean God doesn't go with you, He'll go with you, but here's what happens: He will not hear you in that day, a quietness of heaven begins to resound over the people. It's not a quietness of rejection, you're going to see that, but it is a quietness of consequence. It is a quietness that demands a turning, a repentance, a turning from one direction to another because God is seeking the good for the people, and all kinds of bad is coming on their life through these choices, through this king that they wanted.

Verse 19: "Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, 'No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.'"And Samuel heard all the words of the people and repeated them in the hearing of the Lord. So the Lord said to Samuel, "Heed their voice, and make them a king." And Samuel said to the men of Israel, "Every man, go to his city."

Now, watch this. "There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power. And he had a choice and handsome son whose name was Saul. There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people." Now, this is the king the people choose. He's more handsome than anyone you can find in the nation. He's way taller, more mighty, more strong. He comes from a family of power. This is a great future king, and this is the choice of the people.

And as soon as they make Saul king, all of the nation is going into a new direction. For a moment, it doesn't even look like things are going so bad. But it isn't very long before we begin to see and begin to realize, they haven't chosen very well. Let me take you a few chapters down to chapter 16, because Saul didn't do what the Lord had asked him. So, the Lord rejects him. Saul was a king who rejects God by wanting to make his own decision. This was a king after the heart of the people. The people had a heart to reject God, to make their own decision. They had chosen a king that reflected the heart of the people. This king did the same thing. He had instruction from God, yet he chooses differently.

And in doing so, just like the people rejected God, he rejects the Lord. Verse 1 of chapter 16: "Now the Lord said to Samuel, 'How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided myself a king among his sons.'"

A lot of good things happen in Bethlehem, amen, amen. And Samuel said, "How can I go if Saul hears it? He will kill me." But the Lord said, "Take a heifer with you and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' Go undercover." This is what he's telling him. "Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for me the one I name to you." So Samuel did what the Lord said and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming and said, "Do you come peaceably?" And he said, "Peaceably, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, "Surely the Lord's anointed is before Him." Now, imagine this. Jesse is standing right here, his sons are passing before the prophet of the nation, and the oldest one gets to go first. Here he is and he passes, and Samuel speaks before he thinks and he says, "Surely, behold, the Lord's anointed, a great man, a strong man." And then he has to swallow his words. Verse 7: "But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'"

That's awkward, that's embarrassing. One moment Eliab thinks, "We're going to be king here," and the next moment he realizes, rejected. Samuel spoke a little too quick. Verse 8: "So Jesse responds and he calls Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, 'Neither has the Lord chosen this one.' Then Jesse made Shammah pass by, and he said, 'Neither has the Lord chosen this one.' And they go, son after son after son." Verse 10: "Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, 'The Lord has not chosen these.'"

Now, this must have been a kind of in a pinch kind of moment for Samuel because he was pretty confident he had a word from the Lord. He believed he got even the name of the family right. He's in the right place and so he believes and so he gets the best of the sons. That's what it looked like before him, and it ain't him. Six more pass before him and the Lord is quiet at this point. Samuel is thinking, "I better not be a false prophet, I better not get this one wrong. What is going on?" And so he asks.

Samuel said to Jesse, verse 11: "Are all the young men here?" Then he said, "Well, there remains yet the youngest. There he is, keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him, for we will not sit down until he comes here." So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had bright eyes and was good-looking. And the Lord said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is the one." Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

Now, this story is so incredibly significant because we just read that Samuel comes to town. He tells Jesse to get his sons together because Samuel wants to consecrate them. He wants to prepare them so that they are, according to Jewish rituals, allowed to be at the sacrifice.

Think about this: it is the head prophet of all the prophets that have ever prophesied coming to you, and you have no idea why. But Samuel says, "Listen, get all your kids together. We're going to have dinner together. I'd like to pray over your family." Just think of it like that as an example.

Here Jesse brings almost all of his sons, but one is left out. David was not consecrated to be at the sacrifice. David was not prepared to be a part of the ceremony. Why did this story go this way? Why were there so many kind of embarrassing moments for Samuel, for Jesse, because he hadn't brought all of his sons, and Samuel had to ask and find out, "I didn't bring all my sons?" I kind of felt caught, and the one son, the son that I should have brought, I didn't bring. Why did this story go this way?

Shepherds were often considered outcast. The fact that David was shepherding the sheep meant that he wasn't really that good for anything else. He was too young, for whatever reason his father would have had to make him the one that shepherds the sheep. But it doesn't stop there. Shepherds were looked down upon in their culture. This was a very looked down upon trade. Shepherds were often poor, generally uncultured. They were the simpler people, they were unschooled. And here's the big one: they were unclean. Shepherds were unclean. Shepherds had the duty to help deliver a little lamb that was being born. They would touch blood, they would touch whatever was considered by their laws unclean. Because of that, they couldn't come into the temple, they couldn't come to the sacrifice, they couldn't come anywhere.

And Jesse has a guest of honor. Samuel's knocking on the door. David couldn't come because he would also become unclean and miss out, not be able to spend time with Samuel. David wasn't consecrated, he wasn't even invited to the party. He was completely overlooked because he was unclean, he wasn't allowed. He couldn't be at the ceremony, it was impossible for him to be chosen, he could not be anointed. But God chooses different. Church, God will always choose different than what we think and what we expect. We see it at the birth of Jesus again, happening right there in Bethlehem. When the Son of David is born, God chooses different: shepherds, the unclean, the unwanted, the outcast. It is shepherds that are being told by the angels, "The Lord has come, the King of Kings has just been born." But we're telling you, we're letting you know, all you shepherds, all you outcasts, all you ones that are considered unclean, always the last to be picked, the last to be considered, "He's the Son of David, he's one of you. You're going to find him in a stable where the enemy animals reside, where the animals that are unclean get to live. That is where the King is born, that is where the Lord is born."

God chooses different. Church, he's born among the outcast. He's born where there was no room for him, he wasn't invited inside. He's in the stable, he's poor, he's one of you, he's a Son of David. We so often remember David by his great victories, his incredibly patient character, and trusting character in God. Being chased all throughout the nation, and even beyond the borders of the nation, by Saul. Being persecuted. We remember him for the great victories.

But he was a shepherd boy, an outcast, not invited to the ceremony. He was a shepherd boy that was unclean and could not be a part of what God was going to do. From the human perspective, he could never be a part of it. He could never be chosen. And the King comes into this world again, in the most unlikely of ways. God's choices line up, and they are so unlikely. The King comes not in a palace, but in a stable. The King comes in an unclean environment, not in a royal environment. And the first ones to hear about it? Shepherds, the outcast, the unclean, the last ones to be chosen.

Isaiah 53:1. Isaiah cries it out, "Who has believed our report? Who's going to believe this stuff? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Who can see this? Who can see that God chooses different? Who can see that God does not choose the impressive? Who can see that God came as a shepherd, that David the shepherd boy was called, and that the Son of David, the Good Shepherd, would follow after him? That he's not offended to be a shepherd, that he's not offended to be considered an outcast, that he's not offended to be cast out of the city, to be put away as the unclean, and crucified outside of the city, that he is a true Son of David?"

Who's going to believe that this is God's plan for redemption for the entire world? Who's going to believe that God doesn't send angels on every corner of the street to tell the nations, "From here out, until the last day, until eternity starts, for all people"? If God would have sent his angels to every corner and every big city in this world, where a lot of the people live, and the angels are there, they are taller than men, there's a clear act of God, and they are declaring, "The King has come, Messiah has come, his servants go before him, all majesty and glory is his, and when he comes through the street, you bow or you fall dead." Everybody would believe that God had invaded the earth one more time from heaven, that God was providing salvation through a Christ like that, that is a Christ we will worship, a Christ we will honor.

But Isaiah foresees that the Lord is going to be a shepherd king, that the Lord is going to be king among the outcasts, that the Lord is going to be king among those that are not impressive and often overlooked, that he is going to live his life the same way, so that in all things he is able to relate and serve the weakest of the weak. "Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Who can see this with their heart? Who believes this stuff?" Verse 2 and 3, "For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. He has no form, that word means stateliness. You would never believe his royalty. He has no form or comeliness, means splendor. He has none of that. And when we see him, there is no beauty, that word means appearance, that we should desire him. He is not stately, there's no splendor. And when we see him, there's no appearance that we would have desired him. Nothing impressive would just pass over it, nothing that would draw us or make us believe or understand or see with our physical eyes or our human understanding."

God has just invaded the world. Nothing is there, weakness, beauty is lacking, appearance is lacking. Next verse, "He is despised, despised, despised and rejected by men." That word means forsaken. People turn away from him, leave him alone, forsaken by man. "A man of sorrows," that means pain. "He's a man of pain and acquainted with grief." That word means sickness. "You're sick all the time." And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. We look away from him. He was despised, and we did not esteem him.

"Who has believed our report? Who believes that the Christ came like this? Who believes that he is a shepherd king, that he is an outcast, that he is lowly in form, that he has no splendor? He laid it all down. There was no beauty, there was no appearance at all. All of these things laid down so that he could come for the outcast and the broken man and woman."

No one that stood with him, forsaken by man, pain and sickness in his life. God chose David and, as it were, there's a lot of reflection. We see between David and the Son of David, the Christ. And Jesus begins to point to this in the very last thing that Scripture records that he tells us, the very last thing Jesus tells us. He refers back to his heritage. He says this in verse 16 of Revelation 22: "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the church. I am the Root, I'm the Offspring of David, the bright and morning star."

In our humanity, we look at David and we saw something that caused us to not even invite him. We look at Jesus. He's no appearance, he has pain in his life, sickness in his life. "He can't be my savior. He was crucified. A hundred thousand other people were crucified. How can he be it? Where is his power? Where is his glory? Where's the impressiveness? Where's the worship? Where are all these things that my God is going to come with? This cannot be my savior."

And then, in our humanity, we do the same thing to ourselves. We look at ourselves and we begin to say all the things that God cannot do. God is not going to use me. God is not going to pick me. God is not going to do a miracle in my life. God is not going to answer my prayer. God is not going to remove my pain. God is not going to make choices for my benefit.

But God chooses different, Church. God chooses different than you understand. Let me read to you again, verses 26 to 28 of 1 Corinthians chapter 1: "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. Church, do you see your call? Do you see that in your weakness, in your brokenness, even though you're an outcast, even though you may have so much sin, even though you do not have anything to offer? You don't have the appearance, you don't have the impressiveness. All you have is weakness, all you have you can only add up negative stuff, reasons for God not to use you, not to choose you, not to fill you.

Do you see your call that God chooses the weak? But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are mighty; and the base things, the insignificant things of the world, and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, or that are lacking or without, to bring to nothing the things that are.

Can your heart see over your own life that God chooses different? It is your weakness that qualifies you. It's the fact that you are overlooked that qualifies you. It's the fact that you would never ever want to be on a stage that qualifies you. It is the fact that you think God can never use you in your family that qualifies you. Because God chooses different. He's not looking for the ones that know to speak well, for the ones that look well, or are impressive or strong in their humanity, strong in their flesh.

He doesn't look at man the way that we do. He chooses different. He chooses you. He chooses the weak. He chooses the insignificant. He chooses the outcast. He has already made up his mind. That's what the Word tells us. God has already chosen. God has already chosen.

So, if you have weakness, if you feel insignificant, or it's been the outcast life for you all of your life, you are right at the center of the kingdom of God. This is where God works. This is where God makes a way forward. This is where God can be expected to do the impossible. This is where God will glorify His name. This is where God will raise up people. This is where God changes lives around.

It is the people that believe they can be used in the kingdom of God, and they don't believe it because of who God is. They believe it because of what they see in themselves. They'll never be used. You'll never see the Lord move on His anointing in their life. These are the people that have ambition for the kingdom of God. And then you have those that were not invited, they were not thought of, they had too much uncleanness in their life, they were too young, too inexperienced, too unschooled, you name it. There's no chance God is going to use them, let's not invite them.

God says, "I've already chosen. I've chosen My gospel to come forth by the preaching of men, broken, weak, man, broken vessels redeemed. He could have sent angels and made the world believe. Instead, He said, 'I'm going to do it through foolishness, because the foolishness of God is more powerful than the wisdom of men. I'm going to choose the weak. I'm going to choose the broken. I'm going to choose the insignificant. I'm going to choose those that were forgotten, that no one had ever thought of. I'm going to choose them."

If you are with us online or you're here in the house, and you say, "I feel weak and I have felt insignificant in my life for so long. I felt overlooked, I felt like that last pick not only in my life, I feel it in the Kingdom as well." As I pray over you, we're not going to invite you to the front today. This is what I want to invite you to say in your heart: all you need to say to the Lord today is yes. Yes, I believe that you choose different. Yes, Lord, I'm willing. You have no idea the journey that God is placing me for you. That's why you qualify for that journey. You don't see how you could ever be a part of that. You don't see how God could ever bring that kind of restoration upon your life. You don't see how God would ever answer your prayers that way. Instantly God goes, "You qualify. I've chosen you. I've chosen you because of your weakness, because you don't have enough, because of your brokenness, because you were overlooked. People think you have nothing to offer. You're mine. I've chosen you."

As I pray over you, that's what I believe the Holy Spirit is asking you for. You to quietly or out loud tell the Lord, "Yes, Lord, I believe you choose different now. Lord, have your way. Whatever you seek to do with my weakness, brokenness in my life, Lord, I believe you choose different. I believe I'm going to see a journey that I didn't see coming. I believe that you are who you say you are. I believe that you could have sent the Gospel in a grand way, yet you chose to do it in the most humble way. You could have entered this world in a great way, yet you chose to be the Son of David and come like a shepherd, even be born in a stable. Lord, I believe you choose different. I believe my weakness does not offend you. I believe my emptiness does not pose a problem for you. And I believe my sin does not keep you away from me anymore. God, I believe today because of what I see in Jesus. I believe now that you choose different. Lord, I'm saying yes. Whatever you're asking, whatever you're leading me into, Lord, I'm saying yes."

Father, I pray over every person online and every person that is here, Lord God, you are seeking to show us, Lord God, over our own lives, Lord, that you choose different, Father, and that we can expect you, Lord, to begin to choose the areas of our life that were unpresentable, Lord, that you begin to choose the areas of our life that were unclean, Lord God, that you begin to choose the weaknesses in our life, that you begin to choose the areas of our life, Lord God, that are so insignificant, so overlooked, Lord, the areas of our life for our entire life, Lord God, where we're cast out, Lord, where there's no room for us, Lord God, and we are cast out toward the unclean stuff. Just like you, Lord Jesus, had no room in you were not invited inside, you were cast out, where the unclean reside, Lord God, help us to see, Father, this message, Lord, that you have sought for us to understand for so long that our prayer life, Lord God, may be changed, that the way we say yes to you, Father, may be changed, that the way, Lord God, we believe you may be changed, that the way, Lord God, we accept your promises may be changed, Father, that we may believe that you do not choose like men, that you do not choose like prophets, that you do not choose like spiritual leaders, that you do not choose like kings, but that you choose altogether different, Lord God, you have chosen the weak, you have chosen the broken, you've chosen the insignificant, Lord God, and you say that everything is possible for those who believe you at your word.

Lord God, today, your Spirit is inviting us to say yes, Lord. Yes, God, I believe you choose different. Yes, God, I believe you are choosing the outcast areas in my life. Yes, God, I believe that you are choosing the things in my life that are unclean. Yes, God, I believe you are choosing to demonstrate the power of God in the most unlikely of ways in my life. I'm going to trust you. I'm going to give you all of my life, Lord God. You decide the journey, Lord God. You decide what happens next. Lord, I believe that you choose different, and I'm saying yes to you today. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Let's give him a hand clap. Lord, we thank you. God, thank you, Lord, that you are moving us to say yes to you. Thank you, God, that you are moving us to believe that you are choosing us, Lord God. We would have never thought, there's no reason we could come up with, Lord, but you choose different than we understand, Lord. You've chosen sinners to become sanctified, restored, a demonstration of what you are able to do. You didn't go to the religious elite, Lord God, to make them better. You chose sinners, you chose the outcast to show this world that you are a God who chooses different, that you are a God who has chosen salvation for all who will believe in who you truly are.

For all who will believe, who Jesus came to show us that you are Lord God, a God who is humble, a God who is meek, a God who is lowly, a servant shepherd king, Lord God, help us to always say yes to who you are, knowing that there's not an area of our life that you are disappointed in, that you reject or that you pass over. Thank you, God, that every area of our life qualifies for you to invite us to come in. Lord God, thank you that you choose different. We say yes to you today, Lord God. Yes, Lord, we believe you. Yes, Lord, have your way. Yes, Lord, start a journey in my life. God, have your way in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Can you see it, Church? Can you see that there's not an area in your life that pushes God away? Everything that in our human understanding we would say, "Well, this is a problem," God says, "That's what I chose." God chooses different. There's not an area of your life that doesn't qualify for God to invade your life. This is good news, Church. This is good news. No matter how outcast or how unclean or how uneducated or how unwanted, God chooses different. I love my Lord. I love His Gospel, and I love that you can never bring a situation to Him that doesn't warrant a response of hope. There's not a situation, not a thing in your life that will ever warrant another response than hope, because God chooses different. This is good news, Church. I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, that you choose different.

Thank you, Lord, that you have chosen people like us, Lord. Thank you that you've even chosen people like us to continue your work of salvation and distribute it into this world. Father, I pray that we may believe it with all of our heart today, that we may believe with all of our heart that your choices bring us near, and you don't choose against us, and your choices enable us in the power of God, no matter who we are, no matter what we've done, no matter what's missing, no matter what we brought with us, you enable us to become people that are used in your hands to see salvation come to other people. "Who has believed our report, and to whom is the hand of the Lord revealed?" Father, I pray that your Spirit shows it to our heart, that we may say yes to you every day of our life. Yes, I believe you. Yes, I believe you choose every part of me. Yes, I believe you choose me and through me, you're going to do something that was impossible. God, I believe you. Say, Lord, I pray, Lord God, for the person you are putting on my heart, and I ask you, Father, Lord God, to heal all of the wounds of their life, Lord God, all of their wounds of growing up, Lord God. Father, I pray that you don't only show them, Lord God, that they are chosen by you and not rejected or overlooked, Father, I pray. I pray that you bring healing today, Lord God, to their heart. I pray, Lord God, that you bring restoration to their heart.

I pray that you surround them, Father, with your fatherly arms, that they may know, Lord God, not only believe, Father, but that they may know from Heaven, Lord God, that they are chosen by you, Lord God, to be a full part of your kingdom, to be a full part of your family, a noticed part of your family, Father, I pray, as only you can do it by your Holy Spirit. I pray that you do this miracle, Lord God, by your hand, removing the pain and removing the doubt and removing all of the things that have brought them to the place where they have felt so left out and unnoticed for so long, Father, I pray that you do it in your love. You've chosen them. You have a plan. You have a journey for them, Lord God. I pray, Lord God, your blessing on them in Jesus' name. Lord, you fulfill what you say, and we ask you, Lord God, to go before us this week, to teach us, to strengthen us, and to help us with all of our heart, through our tears, through our happy moments, at every hour, Lord God, to say yes, Lord God, because we know you choose different. You've chosen us as your family. You've chosen us as your vessels, and we're saying yes to you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.

-Pastor Stan Mons