Why Do The Seemingly Ordinary, Rise Up?

Have you ever thought about those seemingly ordinary people that go above and beyond for causes that would change our lives?

• Why did they do what they did?

• Why do they care?

• What makes them so strong?

• How could they bear so much?

• Were they born that way?

• Did they already know they would be special?

• In the face of death, how could they RISE UP?

Well, one of the most exciting things about God, time and time again throughout the pages of scripture is the fact that we see God using the ordinary people just like you and I, to accomplish his will and get his work done. Those ordinary people carry crosses instead of carrying swords. They are led by an indomitable Spirit with a force of strength and guidance; they are the quite spirits, the seemingly small individuals, willing to take God’s call.

The Jesus we follow did not call us to be successful. In fact he said “If you follow me,

• You might just be regarded as a failure because you follow me.”

• You might not be famous.

• You might not have the best of things.

• You might not be rich.

• You might not have a home,

• But what God has in store for you is special in a spiritual way.

Judges 6:1-3 states “And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds. And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them.

My Message today is ……. Why Do the Seemingly Ordinary, Rise Up?

Today we will discuss a young man by the name of Gideon, but before we get started let’s talk a little about a few special ordinary individuals that would bring about change according to God’s grace.

Let’s first look at Moses. Moses was barely three months old, he was placed in a tiny basket barely escaping death. He was just a child, like any other child, and you wouldn’t have known that he was chosen to deliver his people. And the staff that Moses would carry was only a piece of wood, nothing special until it was touched by God, and then it was an instrument through which God performed Great miracles.

• Moses, God said, he is my deliverer.

Then there was David. His own father didn’t think that he could possibly be a King. After all he was just a shepherd boy. But when God looked at David, He didn’t see a shepherd boy, but rather he saw a man after His own heart. And those five smooth stones in the stream near the valley of Elah were not that special either, but when God got a hold of them AND PUT THEM INTO THE HANDS OF a shepherd boy by the name of David, they became powerful projectiles that would slay the GIANT enemy of the Israelites, Goliath.

• David, God said, he will be my King.

Oh, but let’s look at Esther. Esther was a slave girl in a foreign land. Who but God would have looked at her and knew her destiny. She was a slave girl with a will and strength that could only be given by God. Her Everlasting words rang true today, “If I Perish, I Perish”.

• Ester, God said, she will deliver her people from certain destruction..."

And then there is the woman at the well, she had been through five unsuccessful marriages, and was now living with a man. And she comes to draw water from the well at the hottest part of the day, because she can no longer bare the stares, whispering, and cold shoulders of the other woman in the town. Most people would not have looked at that sad and lonely woman walking down that hot dusty road and picked her out to do anything significant. But Jesus is not most people, and when he saw her approaching on that hot and sunny day.

• He said, "She is the one who will take the Gospel to her town."

But let’s not stop there. We all may know the story of Saul, who became to be named Paul. I am confident that the early church did not hold weekly meetings to discuss how they could convert Saul, because they felt that he had so much potential for Jesus Christ -No- They were afraid of him (and rightly so).... But the Lord doesn’t make decisions based on outward appearances, the way we do! People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at a person’s thoughts & intentions.