WHO DOES GOD USE PART 7 OF 10
Text- John 20:19-23
INTRODUCTION
WHO DOES GOD USE TO REACH THOSE WHO ARE LOST?
WHO DOES HE USE TO PREACH THE GOSPEL AND ABOUT REPENTANCE AND FAITH?
LISTEN TO THE FOLLOWING STORY AND YOU TELL ME WHO GOD USES.
MR. AND MRS. SMITH HAD A SON NAMED JOE. AS JOE GREW HIS PARENTS TOOK HIM TO CHURCH, READ TO HIM THE BIBLE AND TOLD HIM ABOUT JESUS. JOE’S GRANDMOTHER ALSO PRAYED FOR GOD TO SAVE HIM. THEN THERE WAS SISTER MARTHA, JOE’S SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER WHO FAITHFULLY TAUGHT JOE BIBLE STORIES EVERY SUNDAY MORNING. AND LET’S NOT FORGET PASTOR JONES. EVERY SERVICE HE WOULD PREACH FROM THE BIBLE AND JOE LISTENED - SOMETIMES. THEN ONE DAY AN EVANGELIST CAME TO JOE’S CHURCH. DURING HIS INVITATION FOR SALVATION JOE WAS CONVICTED AND CAME FORWARD ALONG WITH SEVERAL OTHERS. THERE AT THE FRONT OF THE CHURCH A COUNSELOR EXPLAINED TO JOE HOW TO BE SAVED AND HE TRUSTED IN JESUS.
THE QUESTION IS, “WHO LED JOE TO JESUS?”
WAS IT THE COUNSELOR, THE EVANGELIST, THE PASTOR, THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER, THE GRANDMOTHER, HIS PARENTS OR GOD?
IN ONE SENSE THE COUNSELOR DID, YET WITHOUT THE EVANGELIST HE COULDN’T HAVE. THE PASTOR AT LEAST HAD A PART ALONG WITH THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER, THE GRANDMOTHER AND OF COURSE HIS PARENTS.
SOME THOUGH WOULD SAY THAT IT WAS GOD.
SO WHO REALLY DID IT?
1 Corinthians 3:4-9, “For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not mere men? 5What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. 6I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. 7So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. 8Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.”
John 4:34-38, “Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work. 35"Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. 36"Already he who reaps is receiving wages, and is gathering fruit for life eternal; that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37"For in this case the saying is true, 'One sows, and another reaps.' 38"I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
TO BEGIN WITH WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS GOD WHO SEEKS AFTER PEOPLE TO BE SAVED AND NOT PEOPLE SEEKING AFTER THE LORD.
Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
Romans 3:11, “THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;”
SECONDLY, WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT GOD DOES NOT NEED US TO REACH THOSE WHO ARE LOST AS IF HE WAS DEFICIENT IN SOME WAY AND COULDN’T DO IT HIMSELF.
AFTER ALL IT WAS GOD WHO SOUGHT AFTER ADAM AFTER HE HAD SINNED IN THE GARDEN AND THEN RESTORED HIM TO FELLOWSHIP WITHOUT ANYONE’S ASSISTANCE.
Genesis 3:8-9, “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"
IN ACTS 9:1-9 WE FIND THAT IT WAS ALSO GOD WHO SPOKE DIRECTLY AND PERSONALLY TO THE APOSTLE PAUL AND SAVED HIM ON THE SPOT WITHOUT ANYONE’S HELP.
ON ONE OTHER OCCASION GOD ALSO USED AN ANIMAL TO DELIVER HIS MESSAGE TO MAN NAMED BALAAM.
Numbers 22:28, “And the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?"
GOD ALSO USES ANGELS TO DELIVER.
So, who does God use?