“You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” Luke 1:31-33

Here Mary was given a tremendous promise that she will have a son who will be great, called the Son of the Most High, and will be given the throne of his father David and will reign over the house of Jacob forever. What a tremendous promise to someone the world would call a “nobody.” This should speak to many of us, because we too like Mary have the tendency to think: I am a “nobody.” The answer, I believe, is found in first Corinthians 1: “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”

When we look around at the problems that we face in the world today the challenge for the answers is out to the “wise man,” the “scholar” and the “philosopher,” but they have none.

What is the answer that God gives: “But God chose the foolish things (the nobodies) of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”

Regarding the church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3 Jesus said this: “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.  “I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”’ ” Revelation 3:7-9

The enemy works tirelessly to stop and hinder us from fulfilling what the Lord has laid out for us. I believe that one of the ‘traps’ that Satan uses to good affect is the thought pattern that we are not worthy or that we lack the skills to be used by the Lord.

When God called Moses to go and do what He wanted him to do, what was Moses’ excuse? “But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?'” Exodus 3:11 “But Moses said to the Lord, ‘Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.’” Exodus 4:10

He said, “But I will be with you.” Exodus 3:12

Jeremiah’s call:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5

Jeremiah’s answer to God:

Then Jeremiah said: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.” Jeremiah 1:6

God’s response to Jeremiah’s lack of faith: “Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: ‘Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.’” Jeremiah 1:9-10 (NKJV)

Timothy as the young protégé of Paul was challenged: “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12 (NKJV)

I would venture to say that in a real call of God one sees the difficulties entailed with that calling. We see this also with Moses and Jeremiah. I know in my own life when God was calling me to preach I thought God was making a mistake, because the one thing that I hated the most in school was public speaking.

But I have come to realize what Paul said: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) When God called me to preach He gave me this word: “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:20

The question for me was this: Would I believe that He was with me and then act upon it? I did and found out that He is not a man that He should lie. He has been with me and I realize that He can take us ‘nobodies’ and use us to fulfill His purpose.

Only believe

We have a tendency to think that power and influence go together or that they are identical. Or like some would say, “people of power have influence and people of influence have power.” But is this the case? The answer is no!

One Jewish Rabbi brought it out like this: “Imagine you have total power. Whatever you say, goes. Then one day you decide to share your power with nine others. You now have at best one-tenth of the power you had before. Now imagine that you have a certain measure of influence. Then you decide to share that influence with nine others whom you make your partners. You now have ten times the influence you had before, because instead of just you there are now ten people delivering the same message.”

We have the example of the Lord Jesus Christ who, although He was God in the flesh, put aside His divinity and became a man. He came into the world with no power, but with great influence. “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:6-9

The first coming of Jesus Christ into the world He came as a babe in a manger needing help to survive. He was not raised in an important city, nor attended a prestigious university, but instead He was brought up in an obscure village of no importance as far as the world was concerned. His only stand on the world stage was for 3 ½ years before He was crucified for going up against the religious and political system of His time. But like Dr. James Allan Francis said in his sermon: “He rises from the dead. Today we look back across nineteen hundred years and ask, what kind of trail has he left across the centuries? When we try to sum up his influence, all the armies that ever marched, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned are absolutely picayune (trivial or of little importance) in their influence on mankind compared with that one solitary life.”

Power works by division. Influence works by multiplication. In other words, the more power you share the less you have, but the more influence you share the more you have.

What did Jesus do? We read that Jesus spent the night in prayer and the next morning He called His followers and out of them He chose 12 whom He called Apostles. We read in John 20:22 “And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” One could say that He gave them His influence and they went forth and spread that influence.

The great need today is for visionary leaders of influence to be able to articulate the vision they have so that people can understand and identify with it, and then go forth and share those same ideals.

Not everybody has power, but we all have influence. Influence starts in the home with a father and mother upon their children. Influence does not come with titles, fashions, riches, etc., but with a willingness to listen, to teach and to treat other people’s views with respect even if we disagree. We need to keep in mind Luke 6:40 “Students are not greater than their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher.” We raise our disciple to the same level of influence that we have. We produce what we are. Of course, this can work both in a good as well as a bad way.

So, we as followers of Jesus Christ are to go forth and influence, “making disciples of all nations.”

We live in a world of opposing ideas. When I think of the divisions that we have in America we see this coming out. We have the progressives who want social justice and that is their end game, but what does social justice mean to the progressives?

David Horowitz in his book BIG AGENDA says: “Progressives dream of a world of political correctness and politically enforced equality, where everybody is taken care of by taxing the rich (until there are no more rich), where universities and schools do not admit ideas that are hurtful or offending, where environments have no pollution, where countries have no borders, and where nations have no armies. Progressives are so enthralled by their dreams of a heaven on earth that they see those who oppose their dreams as evil, and which is why progressives hate anyone who opposes them.”

Progressives recognize what we call the ‘fall and redemption’ of mankind. They recognize that we live in a world that is fallen, but they see themselves as the redeemer and have taken the place of God. In this sense progressivism has become a religion and like most religions they work from the outside in.

However, with us who call ourselves born-again Christians we see just the opposite – which is the need to work from the inside out. Change the heart and you change the person; change the person and you change the culture. We read that “in Christ we are a new creation.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Why is the ‘heart’ so important? Scripture tells us: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) The heart is the very essence of who you are. Out of it “come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man unclean; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.'” (Matthew 15:19-20)

We also read that “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7 KJV)

Yes, we live in a fallen world and there is only one solution and that is the Gospel of Christ. Paul told the church at Rome: “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16 KJV)

What do the progressives see? They see the hostility of racism and sexism, but with the Gospel we see these barriers of hostility broken down. “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” (Ephesians 2:14)

Progressives see the haves and the have-nots, but those who have been redeemed and are a new creation see things from a different perspective. Apostle John told us: “Let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7) One main characteristic of God’s love is to give. “For God so love the world that He gave….” (John 3:16)

Some of the great benevolent works in the world have been done by those who have experienced God’s love in their life and many times it has cost them their life. In these acts of charity, of giving, many of the have-nots in the world have been touched and their lives have been changed so that they become one of those who have and out of love will give and help others.

Examples like the Dohnavur Fellowship in India where Amy Carmichael rescued Indian girls (have-nots) from being sold as Temple prostitutes, or where Mother Teresa who was known as the “Angel of Mercy” and also as the “saint of the gutters.” It was said of her that her life bore witness to the joy of loving the greatness and dignity of every human being – both the haves and the have-nots.

I preached in a small church in the “red light” district of Sao Paulo, Brazil where the congregation of the church consisted of the have-nots: prostitutes, homosexuals, the alcoholics, etc. In my travels around the world I have seen men/women who have been transformed by the Gospel reaching out to the have-nots.

One of the problems is that so many of those who call themselves Christians are not walking the talk. We so often want people to listen, but they want to look and what they see is for the most part not at all unlike the world around them.

The word “Christian,” like so many words today – has lost their meaning. Some years back I was preaching in Goa, India (a Portuguese colony) and asked a Hindu man what he thought a Christian was and he came up with three definitions. A Christian to him was one who got drunk, was immoral and ate pig meat (which is an abomination to a Hindu). I decided then and there that I would not call myself a Christian, but rather a follower of Jesus Christ.

However, the bottom line to the problems of the world is not the “progressive” solution of “taxing the rich until there are no more rich, universities and schools admit no ideas that are hurtful or offending, environments have no pollution, countries have no borders, and nations have no armies.” (From the book Big Agenda)

The answer is the Gospel of Jesus Christ going forth into all the world to change people from the inside out – one person at a time.

Mark 12:14 “They came to him and said, ‘Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

Here we find the so-called leaders of Israel trying to trap Jesus in making a stupid remark so that they might use that against Him. Today we see the same thing in the political realm as well with main stream media asking questions that are what they call ‘gotcha’ (got you) questions.

They came to Jesus to trap Him. And what they said about Him was true: “You are a man of integrity; you pay no attention to who they are; you are not a man to side in with the powerful or wealthy – not a respecter of persons and you teach the way of God in accordance with truth.”

However, we have the traps of the enemy. What are they?

Traps can be anything that would tend towards our weakness. Part of the trap for the young would be in the area of sex. When we were young and the sex drive was strong this is where the enemy would set his traps.

Paul knew this and he was warning his young protégé Timothy about this danger when he said: “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” 1 Timothy 6:11

“Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” 2 Timothy 2:22

Peter tells us that we are to resist the devil and he will flee, but often we do the opposite and flee the devil and try to resist the flesh, and then we wind up trapped. Might we learn from the instruction manual that the Lord gave us: the Holy Bible!

“Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.” Proverbs 7:2

“They will keep you from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words.” Proverbs 7:5

Another trap of the enemy is to focus on the negative instead of the positive. Because of the fallen nature of man, we have the tendency to think of the worst-case scenario. However, Paul gives us some good advice when he says: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

A trap that the enemy has been using with success is that God is not concerned or cannot be bothered with what we are faced with or that He is unable to do what He says. Along with this is what Napoleon Hill describes as the six basic fears.

1. The fear of poverty
2. The fear of criticism
3. The fear of ill health
4. The fear of loss of love or of someone
5. The fear of old age and
6. The fear of death

The common denominator on all of this is the word ‘fear.’ Why this is such a trap is that fear creates what it fears. Job said it well: “What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.” Job 3:25

We must come back to the Word of God and ask ourselves some important questions about God. God says that He is not a man that He should lie. Do we believe that? Will He do what He says He will do? We know that many people have come to us saying that they will do certain things and have let us down and we tend to think that God will do the same thing. But is this true?

What did God say that He will do? First, we see that He will accept us. One of the greatest human needs is to be accepted and what do we hear the Lord saying? “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” (John 6:37) We are accepted in the Beloved. “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6 KJV)

Secondly, Jesus conquered death and because He lives we too shall live. “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:40

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44

Thirdly, Jesus has not left us as orphans, because He said that He will return. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” John 14:3

Fourthly, we see the promise of answered prayer. What a privilege we have that we can to go to Supreme Being of the universe and ask for our daily bread; for guidance in this life that we might miss the deadly traps of the enemy. “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.” John 14:13

The question is: DO WE BELIEVE THE ‘I WILLS’ OF THE LORD?

When it comes to old age and retirement people have asked me what my retirement plan is and I point them to Isaiah 46:4 “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” What better plan can one have than that?

The common denominator in all of this is the word – FAITH!

Do we believe what God says?