Beyond Reputation | Bro. Alex Mason

Oh, oh, he is good. Has he been good to you today,

this week, this month in your life?

Oh, can you look back over your life and see that he has been

so, so good. God is so good.

I'm telling you, I'm telling you, I, my, my, my mom had sent

me that song, what we were doing and for lyrics and for playing.

And I was kind of half in and out.

I was just kind of listening to the beat and focusing on what I

needed to know. But then we get going and I'm

telling you, what if that doesn't just bring us in?

I'm telling you right now, God is good.

God is good, Amen. Thank you for being to the House

of the Lord today. Amen.

I I joked with myself, I was thinking to myself as I was

studying. I was like, man, going to have

to remember how to do this because it's been a little bit

since I've I've preached not for any other reason than scheduling

or last time I was supposed to preach we had tornadic weather

and so, but the Lord knows and it is what it is.

Thankful, thankful to be here today.

Thank you all for loving on my family and my daughter.

And I know she's just the best. Maybe biased, but I'm pretty

sure it was a fact. I looked it up.

So I can't tell you anything except for the fact that she's

perfect and we love her. I love my wife so, so dearly.

I love doing life with her and love parenting with her,

alongside her. And thankful for the ministry.

Aren't you thankful for your pastor and his wife?

Amen. That's all right.

Give honor where honor is due. We, we are, we are greatly

blessed, so greatly blessed. And I'm so thankful for them in

our life and for what they mean to my wife and I.

And I'm just, I'm so, so grateful for the ministry that

we have in this church. We, we're very blessed.

We are blessed to still, we are still blessed to have some great

ministry. We are blessed to have Bishop

and his wife and we are blessed that they are are on the mend

and they are healthy. We are thankful to God for that.

Amen. Amen.

Thankful and to God for that. We are thankful for the Masons,

all right, not me, but my parents, Masons.

So thankful for them and their ministry, preaching ministry,

secretarial ministry, their ministry of music.

So thankful for them and appreciate them and love them

and so thankful for brother Zach's sister Malin and what

they do. And brother Zach is, he's one of

my go to guys. I mean, he's, he's up there

right now. Bless him.

And he, he always brings the word and teaching so well, so,

so well and eloquent. And I love the way he brings it

and, and, and teaches. And we're going to look forward

to that on Wednesday. Thank you for standing.

And we're going to stand for the reading of the word.

If you turn your books to Acts 9, chapter 26, I will read a

couple of verses and we will, we will journey on.

Acts 9, chapter 26 says, And when Saul was come to Jerusalem,

and he is saved to join himself to the disciples, but they were

all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.

But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and

declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way and

that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at

Damascus in the name of Jesus for a little while tonight.

I'm sorry, Brother Brown, I'm not sure if I'm going to be long

winded or not. So we'll see.

We'll see how it goes. He might get, he might luck out

tonight. We'll see.

But for a little while tonight, I want to preach to you on this

thought beyond reputation, beyond reputation.

If you set your Bibles down, please raise your hands.

Help me pray for the Word of God tonight.

Lord, I ask you just to move in this place today.

Have your way Lord, You are so strong in this place, Your

spirit move in this place, Lord, as we Lord entertain you Lord,

Lord in your word Lord would come to us God.

Lord, it would not be anything vain glory, but it would be of

you Lord, anoint my lips of clay that I would speak what needs to

be spoken tonight to your people.

Lord, it would be an encouragement to them tonight.

Lord, I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus and will not fail

to thank you and praise you for it.

And everyone said in Jesus name, In Jesus name, you may be seated

tonight, look at your neighbor and say, beyond reputation.

It's been called arguably one of the greatest sporting events of

the 20th century, not because it was expected to be close, but

because it wasn't expected to be close.

In 1947, the world gathered in Africa to watch what most people

assumed would be a quick and easy fight.

George Foreman was the undefeated heavyweight champion.

He was young, he was powerful. He came on the scene just

absolutely guns a blazing. And he was 40.

And oh, with 37 of those fights being knockouts, he didn't just

beat people, he erased them. He took care of business.

And and then across the ring stood the great Muhammad Ali.

He was older, he was slower and he was written off Years

earlier. This would have been a different

story. Ali, he was the great, He was

considered the greatest and his nickname was even the greatest.

And so in that at this point in time, for it to be expected that

Ali would not win is kind of a backwards thing.

He had been stripped of his title of heavyweight champion

and he was banned from boxing because he refused to go in the

draft. And when he came back, he had

already lost once. So the great Muhammad Ali had

already been cut, if you will. He's he's human, if you will.

He was, he was, he was not somebody that when he came back,

we thought, oh, he's going to do great things in this fight

against Foreman. And when he came back with that,

the shine, so to speak, was all all gone.

The stardom of of this was gone. The odds had said it all, that

Ali was 4 to 1, the underdog. Everyone, everyone expected

Foreman to destroy Muhammad Ali. And the fight started.

And as it would go, the bell would ring and they touch gloves

and here they go, they're off. And Ali did something that

looked absolutely insane to the people that looked on instead of

of running and coming up and fighting back, he leaned against

the ropes and he let Foreman just punch him, just absolutely

continue to pot, just absolutely lean into him.

And the commentators were even confused.

You could hear them in the crowd was uneasy thinking that this

was a rigged fight, thinking that this this was just he was

just giving up. The greatest was giving up, but

he wasn't quitting. He was ending up that it found

out that he was waiting because Foreman, everything that he had

done up to that .40 and O37 knockouts, many of those had

been in the first two rounds. He did not know anything about

the longevity of going a full stint of a boxing match.

And so in doing that, Foreman is swinging and he is swinging and

Ali is just taking hit after hit and round after round.

Foreman's ending up getting tired because he's never had to

go the distance and by this time the eighth round came and the

giant, so to speak, was exhausted.

Foreman is exhausted, he's young but he is getting winded and

Ollie is stepping off the ropes now and now he is starting to

throw some combinations and knocked out the unbeatable

champion. Come on, the underdog, we know

the story. Humanity as a whole, we are

drawn to it. I don't know what it is.

I think we just like to see somebody that shouldn't do it

and someone. When you have someone or a group

of people, we talk about sports teams, we talk about war heroes,

someone that. They beat the odds, whether it

was their own doing or because of other obstacles, they beat

the odds, they rise to the occasion and they overcome it

all. We are drawn to it from the

history. We look at our our own history

of the United States of America and we think that of the

underdog of the colonists and how how they overcame the

British Empire. We think of sports and we had an

example of Muhammad Ali. We think of movies and look at

it and it is just everywhere. The lives of even people around

us, they that they get to overcome things and we get to

watch that happen in real time. We are drawn to it.

And if I were to tell you think of an underdog in Scripture, if

I gave everyone the opportunity to answer, have an underdog in

Scripture, most would probably say the same thing that the next

person next to you is thinking, and that's David.

We would all think that. We would think David.

We look at the underdog account of David.

We think of David and Goliath 100% do that that that's where

our mind goes. We we have to understand

something about David though, is that he was more than just an

underdog with Goliath. We have to understand that he

was an underdog against Saul and the army and even his own

brothers. He wasn't invited to the battle.

He was little boy stay home, so to speak.

He was mocked. Saul even tried to dress him in

this armor that would not fit him and no one believed he

belonged there. And if we're honest with

ourselves, we don't have an account.

But except for the fact that we know that David said I came in

the name of the Lord, he probably didn't feel like he

belonged there either. But he was there in the name of

the Lord. He wasn't just fighting a giant.

He was fighting everyone's assumptions about who was

qualified to take out this giant.

And of course, if there was a list of people that would be

qualified, David would probably be nowhere near that list,

nowhere near it. And so that's where we end up

with Saul of Tarsus. He's walking into here today.

You see, David is the type of underdog we're comfortable with.

We're comfortable with the story of David because we want to root

for him and we want to. We want to rah, rah.

And then we look at Saul and the disciples.

They were afraid. They were afraid of of him.

He's the type of underdog that sometimes we cannot be so

comfortable with because Davis''s reputation didn't scare

anyone, but Saul's reputation scared them.

And so here in Acts 9, we come across probably 1 of, if not one

of the most unlikely circumstances of God using

someone. And we have Saul, who is famous

for persecuting Christians, and he is making this journey to

from Damascus to Damascus. And then he comes from Damascus

and it's ends up that he's preaching Jesus.

And in context, if someone were reading their Bible throughout

the year and they accidentally skipped over a few verses, we

would be pretty confused because we have Saul.

Looking back on the chapter and understanding this, you see that

Saul is not just casually opposing Christianity, but he is

consumed by doing so. A consumed by going against the

gospel of Christ. And Acts 9 starts out by taking

about how he's breathing threats and slaughter.

And he has been given the official authorization from high

priest and legal paperwork in hand.

Find anyone who follows the gospel of Jesus Christ, drag

them back bound, drag them back to Jerusalem in chains.

Something that we can overlook I think is important to understand

about Saul. When we talk about Saul and we

think, oh, he, he was so, so evil.

He was doing all these crazy things and he was he stone.

He was a part of stoning Steven and all these things.

We have to understand and not forget that he believed what he

was doing was for God. Saul was a Jew.

We have to be reminded of that sometimes too.

And he thought he was doing his duty, his duty by persecuting

these people who followed, whom he thought was a a false

Messiah. But the reality known to us is

that he is in opposition of what God was doing.

When we get to Acts 9, verse 3, earlier in the chapter, it says,

Acts 9:3

And he journeyed, and he came near Damascus, and suddenly

there shined round about him a light from heaven, and he fell

to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why

persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord?

And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecute us.

It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

And he trembled and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou do

have me to do? And the Lord said unto him,

Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told of thee what

thou must do. Verse 6 is showing us something

about Saul that he's finally asking the right questions.

He is asking what God would have him do before Saul couldn't do.

He he could do anything for God, he, he, he.

But but before anything could happen, God had to strip him of

everything. He had to strip him of what Saul

thought. He made him strong.

And so when Saul opens his eyes in verse 8, the man who was

confident, who was going to persecute Christians, he was not

able to see a thing. And so he he arose from the

earth in verse 8 and says, and when his eyes were open, he saw

no man, but they led him by the hand, those that were with him,

and they brought him to Damascus.

And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor

drink. And so we have saw the confident

man. The he is, he is just, he is

doing justice for God. And now he is a shell of a man.

He is no, he is not the same person.

He already he was already, but he has not even completely

changed from what we're going to get to.

And we have Saul being led to the city.

And most would think by this point we're just being honest.

We're going to say, oh, he got what he deserved.

We look at that and we think that is right.

That's right, Saul. That's what you get for, for

dealing with God's people and our humanity.

Our humanity wants that justice and, and I don't blame you.

I don't blame you for wanting that justice, but God had other

plans. God came with the two disciple

named Ananias and the Lord comes to him in a vision and told him

to find this man named Saul. And God tells him to find him,

put his hand on him, that he could receive his sight, because

a few verses earlier, Saul had been spoken to by God to go into

that city and that he was going to be, he was going to be told

what to to do. So Ananias is processing all

that the Lord had said. And with that, this is what the

first thing that comes out of his mouth.

He's talking about what evil Saul had done.

He's talking about, do you remember the reputation that

Saul has? Do you remember God, what he has

done to your people? And he's talking about how you

know he has the authority to bind people who call upon Jesus.

And I like how the message Bible says in verse 13 and 14 of Acts

9, it says Ananias protested. Master, you can't be serious.

Everybody's talking about this man and the terrible things he's

been doing, his reign of terror against your people in

Jerusalem. And now he's shown up here with

the papers from the chief priest that give him license to do the

same to us. And so Ananias was responding to

Saul's reputation and God was asking him to see beyond his

reputation. You know, we, we understand, you

know, Saul had been a great enemy of the Christians of the

the the gospel of Christ Christian since Acts 7 and when

they had stoned Stephen. But this is where you have to

understand that even someone who responds to the Lord with

obedience, we still voice objections.

We have our opinions. God, I have some amendments to

to the plan. Maybe not him, right?

It makes no sense to Ananias. He's like, Lord, hold up.

But that's the thing that we have to understand.

That's why we have to see how God sees.

We don't see the potential because we're focused on the

reputation. We'll, we'll, we'll think that,

oh, you know, this happened or that happened that this person

did, and that's what they deserved.

But you remember, you remember, we have, we have this wonderful

thing called memory and we remember it.

They did such and such. And yet the deal is that Ananias

was making these claims based off of that reputation.

He didn't know Saul. He didn't, he didn't see any

potential. All he saw were the things that

he had done and the things that he had heard.

That's important. Oh, have you heard?

Uh oh. You know, sometimes we have to

just kind of shut off the gossip train.

I'll take a drink, but maybe somebody should talk to us like

Jesus did to those who wanted to stone the woman who committed

adultery. If you're without sin, cast the

first stone. Go on the the man Christ Jesus

God robed in flesh. He could have, but he didn't.

People mess up, people make mistakes, but if we as the

church are not able to see the potential of those people like

God does, then why would they have a desire to be in church

with us? So we get to God's reply of

Ananias to Ananias in verse 15 it says, But the Lord said unto

him, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my

name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of

Israel. For I will show him how great

things he must suffer for my name's sake.

When we get into verse 17. Ananias he, he obeyed.

He had no more more retorts or anything like that.

He went and Saul received his sight and he was baptized in the

name of Jesus, and he was received, He received the

baptism of the Holy Ghost, and he stayed in Damascus.

And then he was becoming accustomed to Christianity while

preaching. Chosen vessels do not require

training, they require action. He, he was new to the gospel of

Christ. And Even so, he was preaching

because he was chosen. He God will equip, it's a

classic one, but a God will equip the call, not call the

equipped, right? And with that, he is going and

he is preaching because he was chosen and his life was changed

with this. It could not be said that he

wasn't chosen because they were even amazed.

They were amazed by his preaching, the fact that just a

short time he was on his way on his way to persecute and just to

think about if you you feel inadequate about doing something

for God that God has called you to do.

You have to understand that no matter where you have been, no

matter the reputation that people try to remind you of that

God will equip you if you allow him to.

Just days before Saul was on that mission and now he has a

different mission. He hadn't been taught how to

preach. He was just a new convert

preaching Jesus. God had equipped him at the time

that it was necessary. And so when time went by, verse

23 of Acts, the Jews who did not believe him were trying to plot

to kill Saul. They were determined that they

were watching the gates day and night.

And verse 25, Saul's disciples ended up lowering him in a

basket, letting him through an opening in the wall.

And I don't know about anybody else, but if I were Saul, I

wouldn't feel too welcome in Christianity.

Saul had been preaching for many days.

And even though there were those people who were amazed, there's

always, there's always going to be the critics.

There's always going to be those that have something to say.

Well, have they really changed you still again, you still

remember what they Saints? I want you to understand

something. It doesn't matter what other

people tell you, or what the enemy tells you, or what you end

up talking to yourself in your mind about.

You have a role to play in the Kingdom.

You have a role to play in the Kingdom that has a purpose.

He does not care what you have done, where you have been, what

wrong decision you made that got you on the wrong path.

All that matters is that you are here now.

You may look in the mirror and you may think that the scars

they they do not they disqualify you.

The past that you have disqualifies you when really he

qualified you at the cross and when he took the nails for you

and for me. What you have been through could

just possibly be something that helps somebody else get to the

cross. Don't be deceived by anyone.

Don't be deceived by yourself to be to be convinced and believing

that you do not have a role in the Kingdom.

There is no hierarchy. There is no pedigree of anyone

here better than you. That means that that does not

mean that anyone is more worthy or perfect than you are.

You can be used of God more than you think you can.

The lie that the enemy hopes we believe is that we cannot be

used of God. And when we get to our opening

text of of verse 26 and 27, Saul comes to Jerusalem and he is in

hopes that he will be received by the disciples, the disciples.

And considering all the terrible things he he had done in the

past, I'm sure he was worried they wouldn't receive him.

And why would he feel welcomed when they were plotting to kill

him in Damascus? The disciples were afraid of

him. They couldn't believe that he

was a disciple. They could not see past his

past. I want you to understand

something. The leadership of FAC is not

going to plot to spiritually kill you, not going to split to

plot to spiritually kill you, especially not for your past.

Not for anything, but especially not for your past.

You are welcome here. We want you to be used by God.

We want your God-given talents to be used, your unique story to

be used to benefit the Kingdom of God.

This is not a Damascus church. Ladies and gentlemen, there was

a Barnabas and he took him in and he brought him to the

apostles and he told him about how he preached at Damascus and

that that message Bible states also.

He said he laid his life on the line.

Paul laid his, Saul laid his life on the line with his bold

preaching in Jesus name. And so Saul is coming here, the

underdog, if you will, in this position of walking boldly to

having to be bold again in hopes to be received.

And they are weary. They are afraid because they

know the reputation that precedes him.

And they think about how awkward that would be to deal with this,

this person that you know, has this reputation, this evil

reputation against the gospel of Jesus Christ and this big task

of having to understand that God created that potential in him

and that he is a chosen vessel seeing through God's eyes.

If if Saul was that extreme against Christians, think about

what he could do as a Christian, as a conduit for the gospel of

Christ. We have to think and see as God

sees that sometimes the people that with the reputation that we

want to go back and look at the think about what could happen if

that is used for the Lord instead.

It didn't matter one bit what the disciples thought.

Saul was changed. His integrity had changed.

There had been this, this is going to be an ongoing testimony

in his ministry of what God could do.

He went from persecuting Christians to persecuting the

enemy of our soul. And the reason, the reason that

David even overcame Goliath and overcame all the doubts around

him was not because he was qualified.

It was not about qualifications. It was about integrity.

He knew who the battle belonged to.

He was not trying to claim anything.

He was not trying to state that he was doing something great and

that Saul was terrible. He was anointed to replace King

Saul because King Saul's integrity had been impacted and

tainted. You see, King Saul, he was

chosen by God for a time, and it was Saul that ended up ruining,

not God. When we get to first Samuel 16

and seven, it even says the Lord sent him to Samuel.

Look not on his countenance or the height of his stature

because he looked good, he looked right.

It was the image part instead of the integrity part.

But God said, I refuse him, for the Lord seeth not as man seeth.

Again, there's that vision of seeing like God sees.

The man looketh on the outward appearance.

The man looketh on the reputation, if you will, but the

Lord Lord is looking on the heart in this verse.

He has. He got his talking to Samuel.

He's saying there is going to be a new king that is going to be

focused on integrity, not image, because man is focusing on the

image, not the integrity, not the heart.

Just because there is someone that would look absolutely

perfect for the job from our perspective, that does not mean

that there is not somebody on the sidelines that has quote UN

quote reputation that actually would be better that maybe even

is a chosen vessel of the Lord because God has other plans for

the underdog. God has other plans for the

underdog. And in this story is Samuel

anointing a king God direct him toward David because he even

with that the age that he was, you know, Samuel just obeying

God. But maybe in his mind, even

thinking, this little kid, are you kidding me?

But here God is choosing this, this unlikely scenario, this

underdog for a purpose and for the potential that God had

placed in David's life. David was that servant to King

Saul and later multiple occasions, as we know, haunted

to be killed by King Saul. But it wasn't even until around

30 years old that David had become king.

He was a teenager when he was anointed.

We have to think about the fact that God may plant something or

start something in our life. It may take days, it may take

months, years to come to fruition.

But just because people tell you that you, you have a certain

reputation or you're, you're the underdog, so to speak.

That doesn't mean that you don't have a potential or a purpose in

the Kingdom of God that God has placed on your life.

Even though, even though there's all the mess of your past, maybe

that you looked at and you think that I that I am worthless, that

there is nothing that I could do.

Who who am I to think that I could do something God can take

that underdog story and make it into something that is beautiful

for his glory. There are times that maybe where

you have had had times of you and God and sometimes you may

all you have to do is do what David did is encourage himself

in the Lord. You may sometimes feel lonely.

I hope you don't. I hope you have brothers and

sisters that are around you that are encouraging you, and we

should do that as the Kingdom and this is a body ministry.

But if you have to encourage yourself and the Lord, I promise

you the Lord doesn't look at you any differently.

The Lord is looking at the integrity.

He's not looking at the image. He's not focused on your

reputation. He's focused on you at your

core. Though the thought could be

drawn about Barnabas that he had a godly faith in Saw that he saw

something in him that that that it took, it went beyond just the

physical. I would be inclined to think

that Barnabas had a discernment about him in this moment because

he felt inclined that Saul's integrity had been changed.

None of the other disciples stood up.

None of the other disciples said something.

It took Barnabas to bring them to him.

The other disciples didn't believe that Saul does.

The disciple even to the sense of being afraid, still being

afraid of that reputation, Barnabas had faith.

Barnabas in the in the translation means son of

encouragement, and he saw that potential in Saul and he had

that faith in Saul and he was an encourager unto him.

We need some Barnabas that can come alongside the Sauls in the

church. We need to be able to see at

their core the integrity, not focusing on somebody, somebody

coming to us later and saying do you know who they are?

Do you remember what they've done or know what they've done?

That's not important. That's what they're.

What's important is the cross and the cross levels, the

playing field, the cross, everything.

Everything gets demolished at the cross and we have to

understand we need to be a Barnabas to somebody that we

could take them, take their hand and say, hey, it's OK, I've been

somewhere too. I did.

I did such and such too. We have to understand the hearts

of the issue. If we if we don't feel like the

person for the job, that's OK. Many people, you can read your

word and you can find many of people did not look like the the

person for the job. You want a good example of an

underdog? Look at your Savior.

He did not come. He did not come robed in kingly

garments. He came, he came as a lowly

servant. And we have to understand that

our Savior was killed because that was not what they thought

was going to happen. They had their own

interpretation of how God should handle things.

They were focusing on the, the, the revelation, the, the

revelation style of God, the, the Daniel and Daniel, the, of

the, the my gosh, Hallelujah, have your way, Lord.

They were focusing on the prophecies and focusing on the

things that are still yet to come.

They did not expect or assume. And in that, in that they

thought this is not the Messiah. He's supposed to come and, and

all these great and mighty things, but he came lowly first.

And we have to understand that that underdog story is one of

the greatest underdog stories of all time.

Came lowly so that he could defeat death, hell and the grave

for you and for me. No matter reputation, no matter

where you have been, no matter if it you just got back or no

matter if you just got here. Does not matter.

Everything leveled at the cross. Music could come if we could

stand. I want you to understand that

God. God is going to send people,

whether the backslider or the new convert.

There is going to be reputation. We have to see past it.

We have to see beyond the reputation.

We have to see the integrity. We have to see if that person is

willing. Then God can do whatever he

wants, mold them and shape them into whatever He has planned.

That is not our decision to make.

God may even send Barnabas. Those are that are that feel

like Saul. Maybe you relate to Saul.

Maybe there's a Barnabas coming your way, but we need to be

Barnabas's when people are saying that it won't happen

because because they are, they are not adequate, they are not

qualified. We need to come alongside them

and say God's got this God. God is more than able because

because I know what he brought me through.

I know what so and so was brought through.

Look at them. I know what the Scripture says.

People were brought through and even look at Saul and in so much

that they could be encouraged in the Lord that there would be

there would be those that could wrap their arms around a brother

or sister and say, you know what, God has a great plans for

you. God has something great for you.

You're going to be a conduit for the Kingdom.

You are going to minister to people that you have never even

met since Adam and you are going to be a great conduit for the

Kingdom. And there is going to be great

things that you have capabilities of doing that I do

not. You're going to have

capabilities of speaking to people that I do not because of

your reputation, because of the story that you have to tell.

You are going to be able to minister differently and better

to some people that I cannot. We need, we need those type of

people that are going to encourage, encourage those don't

live under that reputation. Let it be something that can be

buried and used instead of something that is a weight

because he's calling us beyond it.

He's calling us beyond it tonight.

I wonder these altars are open. I wonder if we if we feel like

Saul tonight. I'm asking you as a church body

to reflect on that. If if we don't feel like Saul,

then reflect on Barnabas. How can I be more of a

encourager to those around me, those that are coming in, those

that are about and then they need some encouragement.

They feel like they they have lost it.

They have not been, they have not been the good Christian or

maybe they have just gotten in. They feel like they're not

worthy, They're God made, made worth at the cross.

He deemed us worthy at the cross.

The cost was already paid. It is a level playing field at

the cross. And so we have to understand

that. We have to ask ourselves if

we're willing to see people beyond their reputation.

I have done. We have to think also, if we

feel like saw all the underdogs in the room, then you may stand

there and go through the list in your mind of the reasons that

you are disqualified. But I'm telling you, God may be

looking at you and waiting. He may be waiting to use you.

He may be waiting to use your story and your talents and your

life for the benefit of the Kingdom.

These altars are open tonight. Who knows what could have

happened Saul's trajectory and if the disciples all refused

him. Who knows what could have

happened if there wasn't a Barnabas who had looked at the

heart of Saul and taken him by the hand or lapped his arm

around him and said this is going to be a benefit for the

Kingdom. God sees you and your potential.

God sees you and your integrity. Don't let the naysayers in.

Don't let it in your head cause you to lose faith in yourself

and faith in your God. We have to have the underdogs to

enter into the Kingdom of God, that they would be a conduit for

revival.