Unstoppable Idiots

Yesterday, we concluded our "unstoppable" series at church. I thought last week was the end, but it was this week. Next week, we will start One Prayer 2010 and I loved participating in that last year!

So, our Pastor started out by asking how many of us have felt called to ministry. No one raised their hand. Ephesians 4:11-12 says that we are the ones who are to be prepared for works of service/ministry. We HAVE been called to ministry. America's idea is that we pay people to be in ministry in the church, but that is not biblical. God's idea was for all of us to minister. We don't have to know everything to be able to minister. God uses the unqualified.

God doesn't call the prepared, but He prepares the called!

God doesn't say for us to get it all figured out and be prepared and then go out and serve. He says for us to just go, and as we go, He will equip us with what we need. Jesus invested in disciples and then He left them to do the work. When Jesus died, His message didn't stop. The religious leaders saw this. They thought once Jesus was killed, they wouldn't have to deal with these people spreading His message anymore, but they were wrong. Acts 4:13 says that "when they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ORDINARY MEN, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus."

The words "ordinary men" were translated from the word "idiotes".
Idiotes: an ignoramus, an ignorant or unlearned person, an idiot.
The religious leaders considered the disciples idiots, but they saw that they'd been with Jesus and were being used to do incredible things.

We should all be idiots.........bold and foolish enough to recognize Jesus was who He said He was and dumb enough to believe in the impossible.

Among the disciples, there were no people of status, no educators, no political leaders, no religious leaders. Jesus hung out with the lowest people too. If you look at Jesus, He wouldn't have been qualified to work in most of the churches of America today! I thought that was so interesting to think about it from that perspective! Churches of today have so many restrictions on what you have to have and who you have to be in order to be in ministry.......all qualifications that Jesus never would have met. What do y'all think about that?

Idiots who have been with Jesus
1. Give their whole lives to Him.
2. Become unstoppable.

You can see this in the story of Simon Peter in Luke 5:8. Peter was a fisherman by trade and he had caught nothing all day. Jesus came by, spoke to him and said they should go back out in the water. Peter was a professional fisherman and Jesus was not. So they went out with Jesus and caught more than they could ever. It was then that Peter fell to his knees and saw his own sin. When you begin to see Jesus as He is, you will see your sin and it will be exposed. It says in Luke 5 that Peter left everything. The disciples left their dreams, jobs, and families behind to follow Jesus. They were big enough idiots to do exactly what Jesus asked of them. They didn't ask questions or make excuses. They didn't say a prayer about how they believed in him and then go back to living life on their own terms.

Are you playing the game? Do you keep Christ on one side and your life/dreams on the other? Trying to do this leads to incredible frustration. It becomes more about religion and a moral code and you miss out on the life that Jesus came to give us as described in John 10:10. You will become frustrated, angry, and resentful. You will be in a tug-of-war between the Holy Spirit vs. The World. You want it both ways, but it doesn't work that way. The only way to get the John 10:10 life is through radical, total surrender. It will lead to complete fulfillment and joy if you follow Him.

The religious men wanted to suppress the movement. He arrested them and Jesus sent an angel to release them and they went right back to teaching again. Many other men had claimed to be sent by God, but once they were killed, their followers dispersed. In light of this history, if Jesus was not who He claimed to be, if he was of human origin, then this movement would fail like all the others since Jesus had been killed. (Acts 5:38) If it's from God, then you won't be able to stop it and you will be fighting against God Himself. If it's God, it's unstoppable. We are here today as Christians because it did not fail; it was not from human origin.

We have to realize God can do things through us if we work together around the gospel. It's not a fad, plan, or new thing. Our Pastor told us some of the story of how he was working in a church, on his way up, but he knew that he was not where God wanted him. He used to dread Sundays. He specifically asked God what it is He wanted him to do and he told God that whatever it was, he would do it. God very specifically answered him too. He knew God wanted him to start Lifepoint. He said many people thought he was crazy; many people called him an idiot right to his face.

1 Corinthians 3:18 - Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a fool so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight.

The wisest thing you can do is to become a fool, an idiot, for Christ. To be a fool before man to gain God's wisdom.....that is the life we've been called to. To leave it all, trust Him completely, to be taken on the most incredible ride............

something that is unstoppable!!!!