Chosen or Not | Elder Terence Atkinson

You're listening to a message to go from acts church. We hope this message

will light up your day. Well, this morning, I have a word

for you, and I hope that it will bring many of you clarity,

even as it did for me. And it is on the subject of being

chosen chosen, and I've titled today's message chosen or not chosen or not.

Even as we get into it, we'll understand a little bit more. Let's

read, and I'm reading from Judges chapter seven, Verse one. Then Jero

bail Jerobal, that is, Gideon and all the people who are with him

rose early and encamped beside the well of Herod, so that the camp of

the media Nights was on the north side of them, by the hill of

in the valley. Verse two. And the Lord said to Gideon, the

people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites Midian

Nights into their hands, lest Israel came glory claim glory for itself against me,

saying my own hand has saved me. The one thing that we get

from this is the Lord always wants the glory. They never forget that each

and everything that we do, every step we take, every breath, we

make almost going into that song, almost but not quite should be forgiving glory

to the Lord. We begin to understand that God has a purpose for everything

that happens in our lives, good or bad. Wow, you mean even

the bad stuff? Yes, God is to get all the glory. And

do you know that he gets involved in our situation if he suspects that somebody

else is going to get the glory? You know, if he thinks that

in your life, he's not going to get the glory, He's going to

intervene. You want the Lord to intervene that way it can be quite frightening.

So why not you give the Lord all the glory all the time so

he does not have to intervene in a way that will shock some of us.

You know. I also want you to know and in order to understand

this message, you gotta understand that Heaven rules. Yes, and we know

this right from Daniel four twenty six. So what is it going to do

with Judge seven? I hope that by the end of this you might understand

so Heaven rules. You know, Heaven. Heaven in this verse means God's

realm, the realm where God is the seed of authority, the power,

where everything takes place, where the decisions are made, where the plans are

laid out. Heaven, Heaven on earth. What do we call in militia?

What do we call it? We call it parliament, right parliament,

or we call it the capital city where the seed of authority is. But

when we talk about Heaven, we're talking about God's realm. And the word

rules heaven rules rules. The word rules means shalit, having must over,

having mastery over. What is this God to do with being chosen or not?

Well? Being chosen is a merge or is a connection or is a

help between God's sovereignity and our submission? All right, So whether we are

chosen or not will depend on two things, God's sovereignty and our submission.

What motivates God's thoughts and his plans? God always has to get all the

glory. You know what happens when God does not get all the glory?

Man goes crazy. Man thinks he knows best. Man becomes his own God.

You know, in the world today, man thinks he is his own

God, that he can do whatever he pleases and whatever he chooses, and

no one can say anything. I'm a man who calls myself a woman.

No one can say anything. Do you know that in Canada if you call

a man he when he wants to be called a sheet, they can put

you in jail. That's what happens when God's not involved. The world goes

upside down on its head. People walk on their hands and lift things with

their feet. But is that how God intended it? God intended us to

walk on our legs and use our hands to lift things, right, But

you see, when the world does it, it looks silly, but they

think they look great. I mean, now, I don't watch Golden Globes

and I don't watch Academy Awards. It's been years since I watched that nonsense.

But how many of you note? Well, there was one picture that

you know, not that I look for it, but it comes to me

of this singer Sam something or the other. I can't remember what is his

other name? What is Sam Smith? He came to the Golden Globes dressed

in a dress, in a gown. You laugh, and I also will

laugh. I mean, it is the most ridiculous thing. But do you

know if you look at him, he says, no, you have no

right, because that's the way I am, and God looks down and shakes

his head. You see, that's why it's important for God to get all

the glory all the time, every time, because it keeps a head in

the right place, being chosen or not being chosen. Do you know that

the first thing that happened was God said, tell them, it's just too

many people. You know, Gideon had you know, he had called for

the people to come in fight the Midia Knights, and thirty three thousand or

thirty three hundred showed up something like that, all right, So the very

first thing that he said was those of you who are afraid go back,

and twenty thousand left. Twenty thousand people went away. I want to say

this to you, do not look down on the twenty thousand that went away.

But they were afraid. What cowards. God don't want no cowards on

his side. Really, when I share with you this the later part,

you'll find out that's not true. Don't look down on the twenty thousand.

You know what, you can celebrate with them. They were obedient. Did

you know that God said? It wasn't man that said. God said,

those of you are afraid, go So when they went, what were they

doing. Were they not being obedient? Hey, guys, don't look down

on anyone you think is not chosen. Don't look down on anyone you think

who's not part of the plan you think they should be a part of There's

a purpose for everything. There's a purpose for everyone. You could say the

twenty thousands were afraid, but you know that the next ten thousand were not

afraid because they didn't go back. What was their fault? Their fault was

they knelted their hands and their knees and they took the water from the from

the stream and they drank like that. They didn't bring you know, the

water up to their face to drink. So what for that? They were

saying? Away? You see, God has a purpose and that purpose is

for him to get the glory. How do you think the ten thousand felt?

I mean, if I was part of the ten thousand, I would

have felt really, really horrible. Hey, I'm not afraid. Okay,

the first time you said if you're afraid, go back, I didn't go

back because I'm not afraid. I believe God will leave me. I believe

God will get the victory. I believe, I believe, I believe.

Do you realize that sometimes when you believe, we are still not chosen,

and that make us upset. How many of you have ever felt upset because

you are not chosen? Is it only me? Be? You know what?

The best way to overcome problems is to be honest. How many of

you have ever felt upset because you are not chosen? Can I see you

shore hands? And there you go? I'm speaking to us. We know

it. The ten thousand would have felt horrible because they felt they were rejected,

rejected by who? Rejected by Gideon or rejected by God? Can we

feel rejected by God? Absolutely? And you know that's why a lot of

people struggle. A lot of people in churches struggle when they don't get chosen.

But I'm going to tell you that there is a reason for everything.

Also, God is very very smart the way that he does things. You

know, in Judges eight, chapter one, it said, now the men

of Ephraim said to him, why have you done this to us by not

calling us when you went to fight the Median knights? And they reprimanded him

sharply. These were some of the ten thousand. You see, Gideon won

the battle. Gideon won the battle, and then the people who were sent

back got angry with him. Why did you send me back? You say

God told Gideon what to do? God didn't tell them. So do we

need to know everything? No, that's one of the lessons we gotta learn.

Do you know we don't need to know the whole plan? Remember,

being chosen is a very very good merge between God's sovereignity and submission. Do

we need to know the whole plan? Can we trust God even if we

don't have all the facts? You know, God sometimes doesn't tell us all

the facts because if he tells us all the facts, there is no faith

because faith triumphs over fact. You know, we live a different life,

all right. The fact is you're sick like a dog. That's the fact.

But faith is be healed in Jesus name, and you're okay. Faith

always triumphs over facts. So can we have faith even if we don't have

all the facts. We'll go a little bit deep into this and then you

will understand it. Now, let's just move on a little bit. David

wants to build God a house. Let's talk about somebody whom God loved tremendously.

The Bible says that David was a man after God's own heart? How

many people in scripture has God said that about anyone? Can think of anybody

else. Scripture only says that David was a man after God's own heart.

Now David was an experienced king, all right. He was multi talented.

I mean, David was multi talented. You got to give him credit.

He was a musician. Not only was he a musician, he was a

composer. He played his hart and he sang I think scripture records maybe seventy

to one hundred songs. So not only was he a musician, he was

a composer. I tell you something else David was. He was a shepherd.

If you want to know where wrestling got its moves from, I think

they got it from David. Because David wrestled a bear and killed it with

his bare hands. And David wrestled a lion and killed it with his bare

hands. Now why couldn't David kill Goliath with his bare hands? I suppose

because if he was too small, he would not have reached the neck.

But you see, God had different plan. So not only was David a

composer and a musician and a wrestler, he was also a marksman. People

use boy and arrow. He used a sling and a stone. The fact

that he chose five stones tells you what tells you he knows what stones to

pick, which tells you he was pretty good at what he did, right.

How many of you, when you play table tennis, just gon't pick

any bats from the table and you play. I have seen players do that.

They're the ones who play like this. But how many of us who

play table tennis one our own bats the moment you buy your own bet,

you don't play like this? You know you play like this, right?

Not? That's stable tennis? How you you know table tennis? Okay,

you don't know? What do you know football? How many world class footballers

do you know play barefeet? Cristiano Ronaldo does he play barefooted? No?

You think his boots are fiving? You know they are good boots. When

he wears his soccer boots, it has to fit, It has to feel

comfortable when he kicks the ball. They must be no paid, And I

can tell you his boots must be special so that when he kicks the ball

it can even spin, so that it can curve correct or not. David

knew how to be a marksman. He knew his stuff. Then, of

course David became king. David became king and he was a great soldier.

Uh saw a skilled thousands. David has skilled ten thousand. The song when

so he was very good at military strategy. So he was good at the

military as well. Hey, another thing David was good at. David built

himself a house. It wasn't an ordinary house. It was a real beautiful

palace. Meaning what David knew how to build a house. He knew what

he needed. He knew how to change a thought into a plan into action.

He knew how to supply to build for his house. In other words,

David was experienced. Why am I going through all of this? We

are sometimes experienced. We are experienced at what we do. I mean,

the Lord knows I can do a lot of things. I can in everything

that I do, I don't know how I do it. I give glory

to the Lord, and the Lord keeps me doing it. The other day,

we were in the office and there was this TV that was spot the

power was not on, and we have one, you know, a young

guy in the office who is a volunteer and he is in his studying to

be an engineer, and there he was. He was with the I think

it's a multi media is that what they call it? The thing with the

two prongs and then you you know, you touch the stuff and the what

is it? What is it? Is the multi meter? Well, anyway,

he was trying to see what was not working, so so I came

up to him and I said, oh, what are you trying to do?

The TV has got no power, you know, I'm trying to see

what's wrong. Do I know electronics? I don't. I don't even know

really how to use that meter, but I can hear from the Lord.

So I looked at the board and then the Lord said, look at that

small piece there, it's burnt. It was a really small, one small

black piece out of a big board. Then I told him, I said,

the thing is not working because of this piece. It's burnt. Then

he tested it. He said, you're right, it's burnt. How did

you know? I said, I heard the Lord. So that was just

the Lord telling me you still have it because I went through a rough time

and that's how this message came about about being chosen and not being chosen,

about having the experience and not being chosen, and it troubled me. God,

I have the experience, Why am I not in it? You know

what? In Chronicles one, Chronicles twenty two, six to eight, it

says, then he called for his son Solomon and charged him to build the

house of the Lord. In verse seven, David said to Solomon, my

son, as for me, it was in my mind to build a house

to the name of the Lord, my God. God to David was very

personal. He was in some figment of imagination. He wasn't somebody up there.

He wasn't somebody that. He was much more than that. God was

very personal in But the Lord said it was in mine. David said,

he was in my heart to build a house for the Lord, my God.

But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, you have

shed much blood and have made great wars. You shall not build my house

for my name, because you have shed so much blood on the earth in

my sight. You know, when David first had it in his heart to

build a house for the Lord, he told Samuel. You know what,

Samuel said, go and do as you wish. Then Samuel went to sleep,

and Samuel had a dream, and God spoke to Samuel. And you

know what, God told Samuel said, I have been walking with these people

all through their journey, and everywhere they went they built a tabernacle for my

name. And when they got up to leave, they took down the tabernacle

and they went to another place and they put it up. And they want

to build a house for me. Not so I will build a house,

and of that house it's gonna last forever and ever and ever. You're going

to read that. That's in Second Samuel. I think verse second Samuel,

chapter seventy. If I'm not mistaken, If I'm not mistaken, all right,

Yeah, two Samuel seven. He's saying, I have been moving around

in houses which were not made, but I went wherever the tabbernacle went.

And I begin to ponder on this and try to understand what was God trying

to say. You know, God was actually leading us to the type of

what our hearts are today? What are our hearts temples of the Holy Spirit?

Where does God dwell today in our hearts? Do you realize that if

David was allowed to build a temple or a house for God. I'm not

talking about the temple. I'm talking if David was allowed to build a house

for God, it would mean that you could only worship God there. Why

do you think Solomon's temple does not exist anymore, because if it existed,

you could only worship there. But why was God saying it's not important for

him to I will build a house for my name. You know what was

the house that God was gonna build Jesus. He was talking about Jesus.

And when Jesus came, Jesus builds his house in our hearts. Wherever we

go, he is living with us, just as when the people were marching

in the desert, the tabernacle followed them wherever they went. That's why today

we can meet here as a church, and tomorrow we can meet in somebody

else's house. Because God, where's God's house in our hearts? His house

is in our hearts, and wherever we go he goes he is with us.

And that's why he did not allow David to build that temple. And

when that answer came to to Samuel, a message came, which I hope

one day I will share a message about the House of God. And this

is just a morsel. God was telling, do not be so conceited as

to think you can build something and put me in so that I am residing

there. You cannot put God in a box. That's what God was saying.

I will not be in any box a man can build. He can

try and keep me in that box, but I won't be that way.

So God will not accept anything that may cause us to exalt ourselves. Details

of how God, you know, has always done the building In second Time,

God was detailing step by step how he was always the one who did

it and he will continue to do so, paving the way for Jesus.

So why aren't some of us chosen? Does it? Does not being chosen

mean we are being rejected? Always? Remember first I talked about the twenty

thousand and the ten thousand. I will explain God knows things that we don't.

Some of our experiences and ways maintained or disqualify us. Do you know

that you can be successful in the world, But that doesn't mean that success

translates into God's kingdom. I mean I'm gonna see something really weirir out.

Okay, I steal and I become rich. So now you become a Christian

and you want the church to become rich, do you steal? Does that

experience of stealing that made you rich find its way into the church. No.

So in other words, there are some experiences that you have that cannot

be used for the glory of God because it may be tainted. So sometimes

you gotta ask you, so, Lord, why am I not being chosen?

Well, the first answer was I want to get all the glory.

So does that mean that if you were involved, you would get the glory?

Absolutely? Absolutely. I mean if I had to do everything all right

and I didn't give you a chance, who would get the glory? You

or me? You know, God had to deal with me in this so

that I could understand that others need to get a perspective of God helping them

in their lives. So if I was involved, they wouldn't get that.

I'll give you an example when I was and I think I've shared this example

before, but I'll repeat it. When I was in in Pizza Hut in

the late nineties as the Maraitian accountant and I had to learn Lotus one two

three. How many of you even know what Lotus one to three is.

It's not Lotus seed cake of something like that. Okay, no, no,

it was the precursor of excel. Yeah, Lotus one two three.

That time I was gleen screen. Okay, green screen, not these fancy

screens that you have these days. Okay, it's horrible, right And anyway,

so my boss came. He said, Terrence, I need you to

do this report. Okay, fine, I do the report. Twelve restaurants,

ten restaurants. Got to give them monthly report. You know, he

thought, I knew. I did no idea anything about lotus one two three,

just gave me the computer, gave me the work. You do it.

You know what I did. I actually used the calculator and for eleven

restaurants, add every line this way, add every line that way. All

the different reports, I use calculator, add and I type the figure in.

You laugh, very funny, so I also laugh. I gotta tell

you that what happened was I somehow knew this makes sense. It's not a

glorified typewriter. Okay, the computer was not a glorified typewriter. So it

didn't make sense to me. But what to do? I had to give

the report. So I added everything and I sent it to him. Praise

God, there was no errors, lave, because you know, if you

add, if you have to add this way, you add that way one

error. The whole thing is wrong. You gotta check the whole thing again.

Crack. Okay. Anyway, I went home and I went asleep and

say, God, you gotta help me. I'm sure this is not the

way. There has to be a way. I went asleep, and while

I was asleep, it's it. It literally like fell into my head,

like you know, a box falling on the floor. Boom. It just

fell into my head. And when I opened my eyes in the morning,

I saw it. I just had the understanding of everything that took place and

should take place. You know. That day I rushed toward God my bike

from Clanger from Clang all the way to Section fourteen PGA. I race,

very excited, got in front of the computer and I needed to test out

what God dropped in my mind. What was it? I opened the Lotus

one two three screen and in one cell, I say, okay, this

is basket A and another cell basket B. So there are two baskets,

so there's some There five apples in this basket and there are five apples in

that basket. And we say if I add these two into the next empty

basket, how many will I have? So I just put their equals.

Don't ask me how I know. I had to start with equals. When

I equals, then I click on this basket, put the plus signed click

on that basket, enter ten. Wow, that was Eureka moment, you

know, UCA moment when the guy got into the water and displacement. I

thought, who was it? Was it Pythogress? No, what's what's your

name? Archimediates? That's right, urreca moment. So then I tried,

okay, division, subtracting all work. I did a worksheit that that allowed

me to do seven days of work in two hours, because that's how long

it took to manually do all the dockets, all the dockets, that's how

long it took. But with that Excel, with that Lotus one to three

worksheet that I did just because of plus minus, subtraction, division and equal

sign, I actually did it. I could do it in two hours.

And then I went crazy. I started converting all the worker into these marvelous

worksheets that just made it so easily. That's my testimony. Who gets the

glory? God gets the glory. But you see if now today I do

those worksheets all the time every time, what about the guy under me?

How is God going to give them that same testimony? How is God going

to work for them? Do you get it? So? Sometimes you are

not chosen and I am not chosen because somebody else has a testimony to receive.

Somebody has the power of God to come upon their lives so that they

can see something good happen. But you see, if I'm the one who's

doing it all the time, what about them? If David was the one

building the house? What about giving an opportunity for Saul to hear from the

Lord. And you know that Saul and not soul Solomon. Solomon heard from

the Lord. How do you know this? Because he prayed and he said,

let me rule these people with wisdom. And God was so happy with

him. He said, because you did not ask me for riches and God,

but you asked me for wisdom. Not only will I give you wisdom,

I'll give you the Sylvan gold. So others need a story too.

Sure you have your testimonies. You see God helped you, But does that

mean you don't help? Does that mean you don't help? So that means

God has not chosen me. So I what's the word mogola? What's the

English word strike just start coming into my mind. I know the word against

right. You see, I need others to help me, even when I

think I know so, because God isn't didn't choose you. You go and

strike? No, I won't do it. I won't touch want to have

this person. Hey, how many people up there who are doing the work

need your help and support. You think it's easy being up on extreme Try

and play. They try playing the guitar. You only know three cards.

But somewhere along the line, when people oh, hey, hey, sound

good, you'll be encouraged to learn court number four. Encouraged to learn court

number five. I couldn't sing for nuts, man, I couldn't sing for

nuts, No way I could sing. In fact, when I went to

sing in church, they used to tell me, can you keep quiet?

Throwing everybody off. Yeah, it's true, don't keep quiet, they used

to tell me. But the Lord helped me, saying he helped me,

saying so much so that people said, why didn't you come and sing in

my pub? I was offered to sing in pubs. He said, no,

that's not me. So God taught me how to sing. So if

I encourage someone who see many doesn't know how to sing. Don't you think

God will help them too? I'm a firm believer that God can because he

did for me. So we don't. We don't strike, So not chosen

does not mean rejected. God has a different plan. Nothing is wasted.

I want you to know that David understood this, and he's supplied the material

for the temple to be built. Let me tell you how much he's supplied.

Seventeen point seven billion US dollars of silver, and he supplied one point

four trillion US dollars in gold. Can your mind even wrap itself around that?

That is how much silver and gold David provided for God's temple to be

built. Why do you think that when Solomon's temple was destroyed, not one

stone was left upon the other because they wanted to get to the gold and

they wanted to get to the silver. You see, nothing is wasted.

You think your experience is wasted. No, it's not. So you've not

been chosen for a specific task. It's okay because somebody else needs to learn

what you need to do. You need to support, You need to support.

Why do you think I would support a young person who is leading and

guiding me up there they were. If a young person eighteen years old were

to come in and and and and and share a word of God, I

will still learn from him. Why because they need they need help. You've

done it, dear learning. Now help them. That's what God wants you

to do. That's what God wants us to do. Will we be willing

to be a supplier? In other words, will we be willing to be

a behind the scenes participant? Begin to understand what chosen is all about.

We are all chosen. Do you know that? Whether we do a task,

whether we call to do a specific task or not. Do you realize

you and I we are all chosen? In Deutronomy seven six, it says

for you are a holy people the law to the Lord your God. The

Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special

treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. You and I

we are chosen. But being chosen doesn't mean we always are called to do.

Sometimes we are called to support. Even if in your own eyes you

seem the best person for the job, and you may very well be the

best person for the job, but somebody else needs to get a testimony.

Never forget, just in case we are not involved in God's planner. So

now this is what Gideon is telling those people. So he said to them,

what have I done now in comparison with you? It's not the gleaning

of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer. God has delivered

into your hands the princess of Midian orab and Zaeb. And what was I

able to do in comparison with you? Then their anger towards him subsided when

he said that this was now. Remember the ten thousand also had been sent

away, and they had been sent away to their land. Right, they

were not in the battle. But when they found out that what had happened

in the battle at Gideon and won, they were angry with Gideon. Why

have you done this to us? You know what Gideon said, Hey,

don't fret about it, man, I just went after the normal people.

You know who. You took out. You took out the kings, you

got the head Honchos, you captured, and you took out the ones who

were really the evil people. The better part, the better part, you

got the better part of the stick. And they said they were okay,

with it. So I want to ask you, can we be patient?

You see, being chosen or not being chosen has a lot to do with

being patient. The battle will eventually come to us and God will be victorious,

just like how Gideon sent away the ten thousand sent away the twenty thousand.

We can look down on them, No, don't. They still had

a part to play. And I want you to know this. It is

very important. If you think that the twenty thousand were sent away because they

were afraid, and you look down on them, let me tell you Gideon

was also afraid. If you read up to seven, you read a little

bit further down. God told Gideon, if you are afraid, go down

to the camp and listen to what they say. And Gideon went, Meaning

Gideon was afraid. Why didn't go? Why didn't Gideon go when he when

he told the crowd, those who are afraid, go because God told him

to tell the people that God didn't tell him. If you also are afraid,

you go. So what does it tell you? It tells you it's

not afraid or not being afraid. That it's the issue. It's about being

obedient, because Gideon was also afraid, So don't look down on anybody that's

not our calling. We have to be patient. The battle will come to

us and God will be victorious. Can we be suppliers in God's plan?

You know? Not only were those that were not originally chosen for them,

not only were they part of the plan. In Gideon's own words, they

were part of the better plan. They were part of the better plan.

There's always a purpose, there's always a way. I want you to know

that all of us, at some point of time, want to be chosen

to do something in God's house, and sometimes it happens that we appear to

be missed. You know, you have not missed God's eyes. That's very

important. It just simply means you're not doing that which you wanted to do

because God has something else for you, and it's going to be good.

It's really going to be good. You know. God will have his way

because Heaven rules. And I've realized, I've realized that it doesn't matter my

experience, my know how doesn't matter. What matters is I just do what

God tells me to do. Other people are doing what God tells them to

do. At some point of time, they will come to me for some

help. Which I can supply. And guess who wins? God always wins.

What did he say? There are too many people for me to get

the glory, So send some away, because whatever happens, God must always

get the glory in our lives, in everything that is done, in everything

that we do. Probably the shortest message I've ever shared in church. I

hope you've been blessed by today's words, as the Lord blessed me comes from

a very personal place. It's just lovely the way God chooses people, right,

he chooses ordinary people, He chooses all. You may say, Ah,

those people were not afraid. Those people, the three hundred that were

left, were not afraid. They were brave people. They might have been

brave, But the fact that three hundred took out what was it, thirty

thousand, not one hundred thousand, three hundred took out one hundred thousand.

Nobody in their right mind can ever say those people had anything to do with

it. Nobody in their right mind can ever say they were so good that

one hundred people a three hundred people defeated one hundred over one thousand people.

Way, everybody knows it's God, the three hundred. No, it's God.

The ten thousand know its God, the twenty thousand NOI its God,

and the one hundred thousand that were routed know it's God. Let God always

rule because Heaven rules. God is good. Praise the Lord. We hope

you've been blessed by this message. For more information on our church, please

visit as church org. We are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're

believing that this week is going to be a good week. I hit for

you. God bless