God Uses Men - Leland Kropf

Greetings tonight in the name of Jesus. Good to be

with you again tonight. I pray God's peace and confidence

to each one here tonight. As we progress into the weekend,

I know there can be apprehension, there can be sense

of uncertainty. Appreciated much brother Steve's devotional to have faith

in God. God uses men, and that's a statement. And

what should that do to our hearts? What do we

think about when we think that God uses men? Certainly

it's not to lift us up in pride. It should

rather humble us, and it should help us to reach

out to God in faith that he does what is

best and that He's promised to be with us. I'd

like to excuse me. I'd like to say at the

beginning here that God, excuse me, wants to use us

all men, women, young people, everyone who is a part

of the church. God has a work for each one

of you, and He wants you to be faithful in that.

And I trust that some of the things will say

here tonight will encourage all of us, not just focused

on the men or the man, God's man that he

has chosen for this work. First Peter two nine says,

but you're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a to

kill your people, that you should show forth the praises

of Him who has called you out of darkness into

the marvelous light. That's a calling for all of us

here tonight. What a privilege to be a part of

that chosen generation. Two Timothy two twenty one. It talks

about a vessel, and it says, if a man purge

himself from these we could say sin or the self life,

he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet

for the Master's use, prepared into every good work. Again,

that's not just talking two ministers. So I trust tonight

that you can since that privilege. In calling to to

be faithful to God. It doesn't mean that the rest

of you, the sisters or again the young people, are

not important, that you have nothing to do. But we

do believe that God's plan that we read from the

scriptures is that men are to be the leaders, whether

it's in the home the church. Men have been called

to that responsibility of leadership. And again that should be

an humbling and humbling fact as we go through this,

as we think of that. So tonight, our focuses on

church leadership and that God uses men. I'd like to

begin for a beginning scripture here turned to Ezekiel, chapter

twenty two and verse thirty. But this chapter gives a

pretty sad, sorry picture of the condition of Jerusalem and

the sins that they had there among them. And they

had prophets there that were saying God said this, when

God really hadn't said that. And so as God looked

down on that, he was looking for someone. I'd like

to read this at this time. Verse thirty of Ezekiel

twenty two He said, and I saw it for a

man among them that should make up the hedge and

stand in the gap before me for the land that

I should not destroy it. But I found none. That's

a sad picture. Also, God was looking for someone who

would stand in the gap, who do what is right,

have a connection with God, would proclaim God's mess sage,

a message of judgment, no doubt. But he sought for

a man as he looked down there, and he found none,

no man to stand in the gap, no man to

to make up the hedge. That God was looking for

a man. And I believe that today God is still

looking for a man for men who will stand in

the gap, who will make up the hedge, who will

proclaim the Gospel message, who will warn sinners, who will

encourage the saints. God is looking for a man, and

I'd like to now do somewhat of a I'd like

to think about that fact that God uses me. It's

God's way and all down through the history of mankind,

and we'd like to just do a quick overview of that,

picking out individuals that God could use for a purpose,

and in a sense we're standing in the gap who

were meeting the need of the hour. And then I

would like to also go on then to look at

a number of points characteristics of the man that God

can use. So again, it is God's way. It's God's way,

and we should not question that. We know in our

time there's such a even in the churches across the

land Protestantism, the role of men to lead has been

has been lost in many cases, and man or women,

men or women think that they know better, But it

is God's way. And I'd like to just think for

a bed here about the wonder that God would use men,

that God would use a man to stand in the

gap and to to be his messenger to yes to

make up the hedge. Man was made in God's image,

but we know that man fell. He's blighted by the

curse imperfect. And how can God look down and you

find a man to fulfill his will and his purpose

to stand in the gap and to make up the hedge.

God could have chosen other spectacular ways to give his message.

It's interesting if you look. I suppose he could have

sent angels to come here and preach and give his message.

But that's not God's way, usually not in the New

Dispensation anyway, the New Covenant. But in Deuteronomy chapter five,

Moses is recounting about how God came down there on

Mount Horb and gave the law. And verse four he says,

the Lord talked with you face to face in the mount,

out of the midst of the fire. And Moses said

this in parentheses, he said, I stood between the Lord

and you at that time to show you the word

of the Lord, for we were you were afraid by

reason of his of the fire, and went not up

into the mound. And if you can turn over to

Exodus nineteen and twenty, you can see how when God

came down there and thundered, and there the mountain shook,

and there was smoke and fire. The people, it says,

they backed a long ways off. They couldn't handle it.

Moses stood between the Lord and you. So God did,

in a way use something more spectacular, and yet man

was not able to handle it. So I'd like to

just think now briefly through history. I'm just going to

go rapidly over some names that I have here that

we can look at in the scriptures. It was men

who rose to the challenge. They obeyed God, and they

stood in the gap, and God was able to use them.

I think of Noah first off, preacher of righteousness. God

told him to build this a boat on dry land,

and he preached righteousness. But it was through him that

the human race was saved. He stood in the gap. Abraham,

friend of God. He was called out of his country,

away from his family, and God had the confidence. And

God was looking for a man through whom the Godly Seed,

the promised Messiah could come. And it says that God

seen that Abraham would command his children after him, God

could use him to fulfill his plan. I think of Joseph,

also referred to here tonight already, but he was down

there in Egypt. And when his brothers came down there,

and finally he revealed himself to them, and they were scared.

They were afraid of what Joseph might do to them.

But he said, you meant it for evil, God meant

it for good. To save much people alive. God was

using a man. And I get ahead of myself here

a bit, but one of the characteristics of a man

that God can use as someone who's obedient. If Joseph

would not have had a faith in his God, if

he would have been corrupted by the evils of Egypt,

God could not have used him. But he was a

man who stood in the gap, and God used him

to save much people alive. Moses, like you just refer

to him again here, and you know he was on

the back side of the desert. He had tried in

his own strength to bring deliverance to the children of Israel,

and he had killed an Egyptian and tried to set

some of his Hebrew brethren, set them straight. And he

found out that it was known that he had killed

the Egyptian. He fled, and he was forty years in

the backside of the desert. God came to him there.

I don't know what Moses thought of the future was.

Maybe he was just thought he just heard sheep back there.

I believe he had found his wife back as he

had fled from Egypt. But God met him there at

the bush, the burning bush. He says, come down, I

will send you to Pharaoh. And we know that the

Moses had all kinds of excuses why he shouldn't do that.

But God needed a man. God needed a man to

take his children, of the children of Israel out of Egypt.

Come now and I will send you. And finally Moses

gave into that after his excuses, and God sent Aaron

to be with him. I'm so impressed with the leadership

of Moses, and we'll refer to him again later. But

he was a man that stood in the gap the

God could count on that God could use to lead

these two or three million people through the wilderness. I

think also of Joshua, that servant of Moses, who led

the children of Israel then into the conquest of Canaan.

A strong warrior, but he stood in the gap. He

was somebody that God could use to give them victories.

They conquered their enemies, we think a Gideon. You know,

they were, I believe, as the mid Unites had them,

had them oppressed, and Gideon was I think he was afraid.

He was what was he thrashing out his wheat in

the in the wine press. And the Lord came to

him and said, the Lord be with you, the mighty

man of valor something to that effect. And God used

him then to deliver the Israel from the midi Unites.

God using a man. We think of Ezra and Nehemiah

rebuilding of the Temple and the walls of Jerusalem. Men

that God could use. Other prophets. We think of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,

who had a message for God's people. God needed a

man to give that message to his people. And then

we come down and the Hebrew writer in chapter one,

verse one says, God who had sundry times in divers

manners spaken to the fathers by the prophets, but he

has in these last days spoken unto us by his son,

whom he hath appointed heir of all things. And so

we have Jesus Christ, the god Man, coming down and

fulfilling the Father's will and giving us a perfect example

of a leader and we see how he realized that

his time on earth was short in the physical sense.

And you go to Luke chapter six, and it says

there that he called his disciples to him, and he

called twelve, and he named them apostles or messengers sent ones.

It's God's way. It's God's way to carry on his

work and to expand his kingdom. Jesus before he left

then gave them the great commission go into all the world,

preach the Gospel to every creature. Again, he's depending on

men have the primary responsibility. Yes, we all have a

responsibility to spread the Gospel. Acts one eight. You shall

receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you,

and you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem,

Judea and Samarian, unto the uttermost part of the earth.

And then we think of Saul, who was later called Paul.

On the road to Damascus, God told Annonius, He's a

chosen vessel for me, and God, in his foreknowledge, knew

that Paul would be a great as set to the

church and spreading the Gospel. Well, there would be many others,

no doubt, but it's God's way. He uses men, and

even today down through the centuries, God has used men.

Many have been faithful, some have not. The God still

chooses men. Okay, I'd like to now think for a

little bit on some characteristics of the man that God

can use. First of all, the man that God can

use is willing to answer the call. We think of

the negative that I thought of Joseph here before we

came this evening. I thought of Jonah as a good

example of someone who didn't heed the call, at least

not right away. And he thought he knew better than God.

He was not willing to submit to the call, and

so he headed off the other direction, down to Tarsius,

got on a ship, getting away from God, going the

opposite direction from his assignment that God had called him.

He was God's man, He was God's man to take

the message of judgment to the city of Nineveh. God

was merciful. God delivered him from the belly of the whale,

gave him another chance. And I just as you read

that story and get to the conclusion of the book,

you really don't know if how willing a man that

Jonah really was. Seemed like he had a hard time

really accepting God's work there, even though he did deliver

a message, So let's not resist the call. The one

the man that God can use is one who answers

the call. It's not a matter of putting yourself forward.

It's not a matter of aspiring to some position. But

it's simply when God calls that we say, with Isaiah,

here my sent me. Should not be out of pride

or arrogance. I can do this, I can do this job.

I'm better qualified than anyone else. No, it's not that

or desire for position, but a willingness to be where

God wants me to be. On the other hand, we

can shrink back from the call by saying, well, somebody

else could do it better, or I'm not qualified to

be a minister. But you know that's really looking at self.

When God calls, he gives the ability. God never gives

you a responsibility that His grace is not there to

help you. We talked about Moses already, but you know,

when God came to him, he just felt inadequate. It

wasn't he couldn't speak, He just he couldn't do it.

But you know, he finally surrendered to that, and in

my mind, he's the greatest leader that walked the face

of this earth, and we need to. We need to

if we feel inadequate. We need to realize our dependence

on God. Paul, writing to the Thessalonian, said, faithful is

he who calleth you, who also will do it. God

gives the enabling for responsibilities given. Just remember that number two,

the man that God can use has experienced spiritual cleansing.

And I go back again to the example of Isaiah's.

He had that vision of God in his holiness and greatness.

In Isaiah's response was woe is me? Woe is me?

I'm undone. You remember that Seraphim took those that coal

from off the alder placed it on his lips, and

I believe there was a There was a cleansing there,

removing any hindrance in our lives. Be willing for God

to show us. Let me use the example where the

Pete Lewis is ours a teacher in our Sunday school class,

and he's I think I've heard him say it more

than once. He just asked the Lord to show him

he is how God sees him, and he said, sometimes

it's not very pretty, but that's the kind of attitude

we need to have. Search me. Oh God, no, my heart,

cry me know my thoughts. See if there's any wicked

way in me, lead me the way were lasting, again

referring to two Timothy to where he said, if a

man purge himself from these we need God's cleansing, his forgiveness,

his purging. But it's the only way that God can

really use you as he would desire if we haven't

experienced spiritual cleansing. The man that God can use has

faith in God. Again, we heard quite a bit about

that this evening here, but we need to be convinced

that what God has promised he's able to perform. We

need to realize that the battle is not ours, but

it's God's. Daniel was another was another man who stood

in the gap, that faithful man who was committed to

follow God regardless of what it would cost him, and

God blessed him. Did he serve under about three different

heathen kings and that one king that didn't think through

things very well and had Daniel cast into the lions

den against what he wanted to do. But I can

just picture Daniel. He was human, I'm sure, but being

confident didn't shake him. And he spent that night with

the lions. The next morning that king was out there

after a sleepless night. He said, it does the God

whom you serve has he saved you remember the exact

words there. But Daniel six he was delivered, it says,

because he believed in his God, much like the Hebrew

the three Hebrew boys Shadrach, Meshak, and a Bendigo who

faced the fiery furnace, they had a confidence, whether it's

by life or death, God would take care of them.

They'd be delivered from the king. It's a good exercise

to read Hebrews eleven sometime if you haven't for a while,

Verses thirty two and thirty to thirty four. I'll go

ahead and just read that at this time. And what

shall I more say, for the time would fail me

to tell of Gideon a barrack, and of samson of Jeptha,

of David also and Samuel, and of the prophet, who

through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stop the

mouths of lines, quench the violence and fire, escape the

edge of the sword. Out of weakness, were made strong, waxed,

valiant in fight, turned to flight. The armies of the

aliens and so on. But our God is able. Our

God is bigger than any circumstance that we could think of.

Do we have that kind of faith? Number four, The

man that God can use is obedient. He's obedient. Joshua

want a God telling Joshua. There, he's speaking of the law.

This book of the Law shall not be part out

of the mouth. You're to meditate on it day and night,

that thou mayst observe to do what all that is

written therein. For then thou shalt make that way prosperous,

and then thou shalt have good success. And just referring

back again to some of the other men of faith, Noah,

God told him to build an arc. He did it,

looked impossible, never reigned before, but he did it. Abraham

told to leave his father's house, He moved out. Told

to offer up his dear son. Probably the hardest thing

that any father, the hardest thing that it was ever

asked of any father to slay his son. And he

did it in a figure God withheld his his hand.

But I believe that in his heart Abraham had offered

him up. He was obedient. He was obedient. Again, our

perfect example Jesus and all that he accomplished in that

beautiful prayer in John seventeen, he said, I have finished

the work that Thou gavest me to do. He was obedient.

And then Paul to King Agrippa as he was recounting

his conversion experience there on the Damascus road, when Jesus

met him there, and he told King Agrippa, he said,

and I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. What

a testimony. Paul's focus from that time forward, from that conversion,

as far as we know, is that he was not perfect,

no doubt, but his goal was to fulfill the calling

that God had called him to. He was obedient. He

was God's man for the hour. God accomplished so much

through him. The man that God can use has vision,

vision of what God can do, what God desires. Again

referring back to Nehemiah, you know he was there in captivity.

You heard this about what Jerusalem was like, the walls

broke down, but he had a vision about what it

could be. King, I believe God worked in the heart

of the king. Let him go, and you know it

says there the k Nehemiah rode around or was out

there at night, looking at the condition of the city.

He had a vision for what it would look like.

It says, so built we the wall. Do we have

a vision or do we just see the dark things?

Do we see that all the obstacles. We need to

have the vision for the church that Christ has for

the Church, that He might present it to himself, a

glorious church, having without spot or wrinkle or any such

thing that that might be holy without blame. If we

don't have any kind of vision for what God once

of his people the church, pretty hard for God to

use such a man. The man that God can use

is humble. We have the example again, if I can

refer back to Moses one more time, It says that

he was the meekest man, the meekest man very closely

connected to humility. There was one time he lost patience

with those rebellious people. But there was a time or

two when God said, stand back, I'm going to wipe

these people. I'll kill him, destroy him. The Psalmist and

Psalm one hundred and six, beautiful little verse. There it says,

had not Moses, the man of God stood in the breach,

he was humble. His sister quibbled with him about the

Ethiopian wife that he had, and she was smet with leprosy,

and Moses interceded for her. The example of an humble person,

but God could use him mightily in the leading of

his children. And you know, we think of King Saul

and how his life was, how God could use him

had he had so much potential, and you know he

was this big man that stood head and shoulders, commanded respect.

And when they went to crown him king while he

was hiding among the stuff, Well, the things didn't continue

on that way. And God had a message for him

through Samuel. He said, when that was little in thine

own sight, God could use you. I'm putting that in

my own words. That's what Samuel told him. God can't

use a proud person. Again. The apostle Paul, as he

spoke to the Ephesian elders, said that he served the

Lord with all humility for Theessalonia's two six nor men

saw it with glory. You know, that's that's that's a

temptation for the man that God can use, that is

that he is using. There's that temptation to be glorified

by men. Well, God, the man that God can use

is courageous. And I won't spend much time on or or.

I just refer to that here. I talk more about that,

no doubt Sunday night. But again, Joshua and Caleb, we're

well able, these enemies, and they're bred for us. We're

well able. They were courageous because they knew that God

was on their side. The man that God can use

is self sacrificing. We know that. Jesus the perfect example.

He said he came not to be ministered unto but

to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

It requires sacrifice. Paul in one Corinthians twelve fifteen says,

and I will very gladly spend and be spent for you,

though the more abundantly that I love you, the less

I beloved. That sounds kind of bad, doesn't it. But

his focus was non what people were thinking of him

so much. Yes, again, he was human, but he was

willing to sacrifice. I read a quote once. It was

in an airplane magazine lying somewhere, and it was from a

business standpoint, but I thought it applied to the church.

It's our leadership in the church. A good leader this

is somewhat the way it went. A good leader does

not strive to be first, but he is the first

to strive, and that I takes sacrifice. It's not that

we want to be out front. And you know, I

have people serve us. We're the first. Could I say

we should be the first to get in there and

get our hands dirty to get the work done. Well,

I'm gonna quit here with one more. The ministry who

allows himself to be used by God will receive the

crown of life. The apostle Paul wait, I can't quote

unquote all here, So I'll turn to that tewid Timothy,

for for I'm now ready to be offered time a

might departures at hand. I've fought a good fight, I've

finished my course, I've kept the faith. Henceforth there is

laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,

the right judge, wall give me it that day, and

not to me only, but unto all them also that

love his appearing. That's for the faithful, not just ministers,

but for everyone who finishes the course that God has

given you to run. Maybe some of this sounds a

bit negative, and we're not promising a bet of roses.

But to be in God's will is where we can

find fulfillment and enjoy the confidence. If we can have

the confidence that God, we're right where God wants us.

May the Lord bless you as you proceed and do

your part in this work. Here God has his man,

and I'm confident He has his man here tonight, the

man that he can use. May you submit to that. Lord,

Bless you. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Heavenly Father,

we come to you this evening. We thank you, Lord

that you love us, you care about us. We thank

you that you called us to be your children. We

thank you for what Christ are perfect example has he

accomplished for us. Lord, We pray that you would give

us hearts that are desire nothing but your will. We

be surrendered. We might be the individuals that God that

you can use. Bless this congregation. You know the hearts

of all men. We pray that you would direct and

give confidence tonight, and we pray that your Holy Spirit

would just lead and direct in a very definite way.

In the name of Jesus, we pray Amen,