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Three times a year I post a link to a guest talk I give at my home church. If you use firefox the link may not work well. Internet Explorer does. http://www.anglelake.org/resources/online-sermons/?sermon_id=291 GIVING UP LIFE’S RAGS FOR GOD’S RICHES Introduction: We love rags to riches stories. Americans believe in upward mobility—that we are not bound by our race or our social class.We really can become whoever we want to be.As Christians, we believe that we are children of God.We really can become all God intends us to be, regardless of where we came from, or what we’ve done in the past! Amen?Proposition: Jesus uses the worst to accomplish his best. Scripture: Matthew 1:3, 5; Luke 19:10; John 10:10; Romans 8:38-39; Jeremiah 29:10-14; Luke 4:16-21 Transition: If you’ve ever been called the lowest of the low, keep in mind that in Jesus’ own lineage were, not one, but two prostitutes! Jesus came from lineage that included two prostitutes. Matthew 1:3, 5: 3Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar … 5Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, The first committed a kind of incest, and the second was a traitor to her own people. Retell the story of Tamar. Gen 38 tells us that Tamar was Judah’s daughter in law. She married his first son, but he was wicked, so the Lord killed him. The second son took her, as was his duty and custom. However, he would not make her pregnant. The Lord was angry, and killed him. Then the father told her to live as a widow, for he feared that if his third child married her, he would die too. So, she dressed as a prostitute, and Judah hired her. When she became pregnant, and Judah was told, he ordered her executed. However, she provided proof he was the father, and he admitted that she was more righteous than he. Though that be true, and though she was surely a victim, the fact remains that she prostituted herself for a kind of incest. The fact also remains that she was an ancestor of Jesus, and scripture openly describes it. Retell the story of Rahab. In Joshua 2 – 6 Rahab is a prostitute in Jericho. Israel sends spies into the city, and Rahab helps them escape detection. Ultimately, because of her treason, she is spared. We might agree that she chose wisely in protecting God’s spies. Nevertheless, she was a prostitute and a traitor. She also became an ancestor of Jesus!Transition: God found no reason to withhold the story of these two prophets from us. Neither did he exclude them from the lineage of his Son. Would Jesus follow in his Father’s footsteps? What of the Apostles—all handpicked by Jesus? What If Jesus Used An Employment Service To Hire The Twelve Apostles Posted on January 21, 2012 by Reverend Fr. Jerome Kwasek To: Jesus, Son of Joseph, Woodcrafter’s Carpenter Shop, Nazareth From: Jordan Management Consultants, Sudan Interior, Nazareth Dear Sir: Thank you for submitting the resume’s of the twelve men you have picked for managerial positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; and we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our employment psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant. The profiles of all the tests are included, and you will want to study each of them carefully. It is the staff opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability. Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew has been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better business Bureau. James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic depressive scale. One of the candidates, however shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness meets people well, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All of the other profiles are self-explanatory. We wish you every success in your new venture. Sincerely Yours, Jordan Management Consultants Transition: Jesus might choose rough people to work with, but the church today isn’t like that, is it? The Maury Davis Story (from Regent University Chapel appearance)Maury Davis, senior pastor of Cornerstone Nashville in Tennessee, looks like a run-of-the-mill, ordinary preacher. He is neatly pressed, stacked with a bright smile and accompanying humor. But, to see Davis certainly isn't to know him. The crooked pinky on his left hand is the only hint from his former life, a permanent relic from his years spent as a drug dealer, a meth addict and a convicted murderer. …After committing what he described briefly as a "brutal, horrible" murder, Davis came head-to-head with pleading guilty for his crime. His family hired a lawyer, who told Davis plainly that he "didn't need an attorney" but "needed God." "I was terrified; I knew if an attorney was coming to talk to you about God, the next step would be the electric chair," said Davis. "And the city of Dallas could get you there." But then through his time in jail, God "came in like a flood" for Davis. He believes the hopeful people he met while incarcerated who loved God were "lights in the darkness," despite their life-sentences in prison. "God took the scales off of my eyes then," said Davis, who remembers his first few months as a born-again Christian. Through his experience, his family members also came to Christ. And though he still had 20 years to serve in prison, he said that God melted his heart of stone and gave him joy and radical redemption through it all. Davis has spent the latter part of his life proclaiming this news and encouraging his congregation to seek the Holy Spirit and to live life in full-throttle for Christ, as he continues to be living proof that "nothing can separate" anyone from the love of God.EPILOGUE FROM NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - (OCT 2014): A local pastor is opening up about his decision to hire the man convicted of killing former Grand Ole Opry star David “Stringbean” Akeman and Akeman's wife. John Brown will be released from prison soon after serving 40 years behind bars.When he's released, he'll have a job at Cornerstone Church.It may sound controversial, but Pastor Maury Davis is making no apologies, saying he's only doing what someone once did for him.Transition: What a story! Still, Davis’ troubles happened decades ago, and his far from here. How about something closer to us? What about me? Unchurched home In my circle of loved ones I saw alcohol abuse, drug abuse, divorce and suicide. In my ordination class 20 out of 40 were the children of ministers. 36 out of 40 grew up in strong Christian homes. I was one of the remaining four. During my teenage years the head of a political party told us Christians that the Pacific Northwest is the anti-Bible belt. So how does an unchurched kid, growing up around substance abuse and divorce, who lives in a part of the country that could care less about religion end up becoming a preacher? Transition: You might be thinking, “That’s okay for you preacher, but what about me?” What about you? Luke 19:10 "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Jesus sought you out. That is why you are finding God. He came save us, but for what? John 10:10: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. Satan promises fun, freedom, and a sense of personal godhood. He delivers pain, incarceration, death, and the destruction of all we hope to accomplish. If we come under Christ’s protection will I be safe? Romans 8:38-39: 38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Yes, you will be safe. Satan cannot separate us from God and his love. Transition: So what exactly is God offering me? God is offering restoration—normalcy with provision Jeremiah 29: 10This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.b I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” God will bring us back to our citizenship. Israel was taken into captivity, but promised a return to the kingdom God established Likewise, we, who were captives to sin, can come to God’s church and his kingdom. We can be established, and regain hope for the future. Luke 4: 16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:18“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”f 20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus came to make the cooked paths of our lives straight. He came to transform us from sinners generating death to Christians demonstrating and offering life! CONCLUSIONS Jesus came from lineage that included both an incestuous prostitute and a traitorous one.Jesus chose to surround himself with leaders who had little that the world valued.Jesus turned a convicted murderer into a megachurch pastor, who in turned, is hiring a convicted murder to work for his church.Jesus took an unchurched kid from a no-account, godless neighborhood and made him a prison chaplain—and your speaker this morning!And now Jesus is coming for you.Jesus seeks you and will save you.Jesus will establish you in his kingdom.Jesus will free you, and give you vision.What is the meaning and purpose of life? To love God and obey him. Jesus has made the way.He says in John 14:6: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.BOW FOR SINNER’S PRAYERIF YOU ARE READY TO ABANDON ALL EXCUSES…IF YOU ARE READY TO RECEIVE POWER FROM THE HOLY GHOST…IF YOU ARE READY FOR TO LIVE LIFE IN UNDER GOD’S DIRECTION AND FOR GOD’S GLORY … STAND WITH ME!