The Master's Choice

"THE MASTER’S CHOICE"

Luke 1:26-35,38

Minister Zenola Diggs

October 23, 1999 * First Sermon Service * Mt. Zion Baptist Church-Nashville, Tennessee

INTRODUCTION:

Many of you sitting here today have come to know Rodney and me as the "Marriage Ministers". We have spent many hours teaching and counseling many of you in one form or another about marriage, covenant relationships, and relationships in general. However, if you came here tonight expecting a sermon on one of those topics, not that they’re not important mind you, but God said, not so.

You see, it’s important to learn some basic fundamental principles about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, before we are able to go on our spiritual journeys developing relationships of any kind. So allow me, if you will, to speak briefly about another subject we can all relate to in one form or another-a God kind of relationship.

PRAYER

THEME OF THE TEXT: Turn with me if you will to the first chapter of the gospel of Luke. It reads as so from the New International Version beginning at verse 26:

" In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the House of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." "How will this be’, Mary asked the angel, "Since I am a virgin?" The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God."

Let’s look at (v.38) as well " I am the Lord’s servant, Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said."? Then the angel left her.

I have chosen as the title of my text, "The Master’s Choice

The word Master is significant in my title as God is introduced here because it indicates that the creator has already accomplished everything on earth. . He knows the world inside and out, top to bottom, east to west. God also knows us the same way. He is supreme.

If you want to examine the word Master from a different angle, we can say that God has already matriculated in every area known to man and all creation. So when the Master chooses one of his children for assignment, it’s not because God can’t get it done without us, it’s because God is placing us in position to be blessed.

I’m sure everyone knows someone in their community, on their jobs, in their neighborhood, in their families and yes, even in the church that is struggling with feelings of being "not good enough". Perhaps it’s because of past mistakes you just can’t seem to shake, or maybe it’s because you’ve done this, you’ve done that or you’ve should have gone here, when you’ve really should have gone there. You just feel as if God would be making his first miraculous mistake if he chose you to do anything.

Maybe you’re the kind of person that knows God has designed an assignment just for you. It’s not necessarily significant from the world’s perspective or particularly grand, but you keep finding excuses and reasons, legitimate or not, why you can’t, you don’t want to, you don’t have the skills, the physical ability, the education, and the spiritual smarts, so on and so forth.

Perhaps you fit into this last scenario. You are working according to knowledge and what you believe to be your purpose, but someone in the crowd always has something negative and discouraging to say about you. You know, the yuck mouth people. You always seem to do too little, too late to satisfy these people or a certain someone. As a matter of fact, you just go about your business everyday, in every way minding your own business and hoping these people or a certain someone will buy a clue and leave you alone.

What it boils down to is this, no matter what you do, people or this certain someone are always positioning themselves to tear down what you have been trying so hard to build up for so long. Your self-esteem has seemed to hit rock bottom and you keep asking yourself, "How in the world can God use me?"