It's A Personal Thing

It’s A Personal Thing
By Rev. Robert P. Elkins
All Scripture verse taken from the NIV Bible unless otherwise noted

1st Samuel 17:37-40
“37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you."
38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.”

When I did my first sermon many years ago when I was working as an associate pastor under the direction of Rev. William Hays the pastor of an Assembly of God church in the western New York area. At that time I told the congregation of that church that the Lord had given me a very personal word of instruction when he called me into the ministry. He led me into [Matthew 11:29] “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your soul”. The revelation the Lord gave me from this was simple and straightforward, “Robert, you do as I direct you. Don’t worry about anyone else, I’ve made him or her the way they are and I’ve made you the way you are. If you’re going to do my bidding you’ve got to be yourself and not try to be anyone else”. I knew from the very beginning that I was called to be something different. You have no idea how often I’ve questioned God, “Are you sure this is the church you want me to be in? Did I go to the wrong place? Maybe I misunderstood you. God do you realize that this is a Pentecostal church, wouldn’t I be more comfortable in a little more orthodox setting?” And I keep getting the same response to my questions, “You are to be where I placed you and for now it’s at this church. A time may come when I call you elsewhere but for now this is where I want you” I kid you not, when my wife, Mary, and I first started to go to that church I even looked in the phone book to see if maybe there was another church listed with the same name and maybe I went to the wrong one to begin with. And when the Lord said he wanted me at that church he meant it, I was there for over five years before moving elsewhere.

After Pastor Hays left another man came in as the senior pastor, Rev. Stan Thurber and I truly loved him and his style of preaching. I tried comparing myself to Pastor Stan and mimicking his preaching style and it didn’t work at all. When you looked at the two of us we were as completely different as two men can get. I would go in the sanctuary when there’s no one else around and I would try to deliver a sermon with all the energy and animation that pastor Stan used in his delivery and I couldn’t do it. When I saw that this wasn’t happening I prayed about the situation, I tried to explain to the Lord as to how I wasn’t able to give a fiery sermon like Pastor Stan did and that I needed the Lords assistance to develop the style of a true Pentecostal minister. And after my prayers went out the Lord did respond but not in the way I expected, he said “Nice try David, you can’t wear Saul’s armor, remember what I told you from the very start … “be like me for I am gentle and humble in heart”. And I’ve cried out; “Father the people love Pastor Stan and his delivery of a sermon, he’s a preacher and he’s an evangelist.” And I further heard his voice say; “I’ve called you to be a preacher teacher, not a preacher evangelist. Be like me for I am gentle and humble in heart. Do the job I’ve called you to do, that’s all I ask for. ”

I don’t doubt that there have been countless preachers over the eons who have compared themselves to others and have come away feeling at least a little bit inferior to the person they selected as their role model. We can only imagine how many preachers have said: “If only I could deliver a message like Billy Graham” or “Why can’t I preach like Joyce Meyers or the great preacher, from the late 1800’s Charles Spurgeon who at that time had a congregation in London England of over five thousand people. I also don’t doubt for a second that once those seeds of doubt or inferiority set in and maybe even a touch of jealousy, that the Father of Lies is sitting in the background saying to himself; “I’ve got another one questioning the calling God’s placed upon his life. If I can just turn the screws a little bit more it will be one more ministry I don’t have to worry about anymore. He’ll quit in frustration or be unproductive and that’s all I need.”

And that doubt or that questioning can indeed lead to jealousy and that jealousy can and usually will harm, hurt or destroy a ministry that was God ordained but the human side of man allowed Satan to gain entrance and tear down and destroy from with-in. Each preacher, no; each person, has to realize that the reason the Joyce’s and the Charles’ and the Billy’s are so successful is because they are unique and special, and God made them that way. If every minister of the Gospel ministered in the same way, if they all had the same gifts and talents, then the awe inspired sermon would cease to be awe inspiring. If every minister were to have the same style of delivery for his sermon, and then all sermons would be identical and commonplace with nothing special about them and the fickle public would look else where for its inspiration.

God allows some ministries to grow and gain worldwide acceptance and some to remain small and local with a plan and purpose for them both. Some one like Billy Graham knows and understands this principle. When a Billy Graham crusade is coming to an area, months in advance there are training seminars to instruct the assistants on how to minister to the throngs of new believers that will come out of that crusade. The Graham ministries realize that once their job is done and that’s getting the salvation message to the masses, that these people will need to be directed to a local church. And it’s that local church that will feed and nurture that new Christian in the faith. Should there be trials and setbacks in the life of the new believer Joyce or Billy aren’t going to be there to minister to that new believer, they won’t be there to walk them through the Bible, to pray with them, to meet and share a cup of coffee or take a phone call in the middle of the night. If there is an illness or a family crisis they won’t be there to anoint them with oil and pray over them. They’ve moved on to the next location and they are doing what God has called them to do, plant the seeds and get another crop of believers started on the right path. Personal ministry after the seeds are planted is up to the local minister; it’s up to the local fellowship because that’s where the feeding in both physical and spiritual needs is going to take place. That’s where instruction is going to come from, that’s where the new believer will be guided to Christian maturity, where they will be baptized and nurtured and hopefully released into a ministry of their own.

The Apostle Paul understood this principle when he wrote to the church in Corinth these words. “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants, not he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” And so after hours and hours of prayer the Lord has allowed me to understand this principle as well. Once I stopped questioning and doubting and once I started to listen to the Lord’s voice with an open ear and a closed mouth he spoke very clearly to me, God always answers prayer, sometimes all we have to do is listen and stop doing all the talking. Many of us want open communication with God but we only want it if we can be his advisors.

Pastor Stan Thurber had been given a mandate and ministry. To start with, he was given an anointing to preach and be very animated while doing it. And God has told me, that’s Pastor Stan’s ministry, not mine. Pastor Stan has been given a holy mandate to preach the words of Jesus, Pastor Stan preaches from the portions of scriptures we could call the “Red Letter” portion, and he does so wonderfully. But God has told me that that is Pastor Stan’s ministry, not mine. And God then told me that Pastor Stan was doing exactly what he’s been mandated to do, he was following his Masters voice and if God wanted two Rev. Stanley Thurber’s he’d make a second one and that second one wasn’t going to be me. Our Lord has told me that I’m to do what I’ve been anointed to do, preach and teach, Pastor Stan is to do what he’s been anointed to do preach and evangelize, and God himself will take care of the details, it’s not my concern. I’ve heard the Lord’s voice say to me; “I make people unique, one at a time, I don’t need mass production to accomplish my will, I just need faithful servants who listen to my voice.”

Every once in a while I’d start to compare myself to another person, or I’d start to think that maybe I should try to do as I see so and so doing and I’d hear that voice in my spirit again. “Robert, you’re doing it again … be what I made you to be, not what you desire. I made you what you are, be content in that and stop searching for a better road to follow, you just stay on the road I’ve called you to take”.

Beloved I’ve got to tell you that I’m now very content with who I am, what I am and where I am. I can watch and hear someone give a forty-five minute sermon with no notes at all and say in all honesty, “that’s wonderful”. No longer do I say, “that’s wonderful, I wish I could do that”. I’m at total ease to sit down, pray to my friend Jesus and ask for guidance, search the scriptures, scribble down pages of notes in my own particular brand of chicken scratching. And then spend hours typing on the computer to get a finished sermon. My lovely wife will attest to the fact that for every sermon I produce under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, what you get, as a forty-minute finished product is the end results of a minimum of twelve to sixteen hour labor of love. And now that I have a cat that likes to assist me on the computer some of these take a lot longer. I study, I read, do some research, type, edit, re-edit, and then do it all over again and each time change a word here, add a word there, but that’s the way the Lord designed me, that’s the style he has led me to. My mind is always busy. Sometimes it’s racing ahead so fast that I loose contact with it and don’t know where it went. If you had ever sat in on my Sunday school class’ you could attest to this with no problem.

When I first started doing sermons at that little country church on the ride back to our home I’d say to my wife, Mary, “ I hope they understand what I’m trying to say” or “I hope I delivered the Lord’s message the way he wanted it to be done”. I don’t say that any longer. I’ve heard the Lords voice in my spirit say; “allow my Spirit to guide you and don’t worry about the people, I’ll take care of that end. If the message only reaches one person it’s the one I wanted it to go to. I am gentle and humble in heart. Remember, Ill take care of the details, you just do what I’ve told you to do.”

I don’t really know why it works the way it does but it does work. The more I seek His face, the more time I spend on my knees before His throne, the more time I remain silent and listen for His voice rather than talking and hearing my own. The more I do these things the more content I become in myself and the ministry God has called me to. The more I give, the more God gives back. The more I yield to Him the more he pours out to me. The more I open the door of my heart, the more He enters this house not made with hands.

And that my friend is the meaning of the message God wants you to hear or read today. We serve a very unique God, a God who makes very unique people. The Bible is filled with examples of how God in his infinite wisdom, makes one person at a time. Even when God creates twins in the womb, or those amazing multiple ready to use full families of three or more children. Each one is made one at a time, totally unique and totally special in God’s eye. They may come with the same hair or eye color but they are unique. They may come with the same height or weight but they are unique. They may come with the same laugh and giggle, but each one is unique. Each and every one of us here today was made by God to be his special touch of uniqueness and is totally special in the eyes of God. No matter who you are, how many are in your family, what your family is like, rich or poor, it makes no difference to God; you are still special in His eyes.

The Apostle Paul tells us in the 12th chapter of 1st Corinthians that the body … both the human body and the body of His church, although one in appearance is still made up of unique and special parts. Paul asks, are all a hand or all a foot? And then he answers “No” of course not. And even then for most of us, we have two hands or two feet but if these two hands or feet are placed side by side they are each different to some degree. Each of us that has ten fingers will have and ten totally unique fingerprints on those fingers. There will never be two that are alike, each finger was made to be unique, too be different even when it looks like it’s the same as the one next to it. That’s exactly what God did with people too, he made them to be different, to be just what he wanted. I know for some of us it’s been a while since we’ve been able to look in a mirror and gaze at what the Lord has given us without the cover of clothing and say, “My Lord, you do good work”. For those like myself, mean old Mr. Gravity has kicked in and things have started to head south. But visualize if you will a little baby. One with a fat little belly and rosy cheeks, top and bottom. Look at those thrashing legs and arms, right there ready to be hugged and snuggled. And look at how unique this child is. And yet there’s only one of them made exactly like that one child. That child may not be perfect as the world looks at perfect, but this and every child is unique and special in the eyes of God.

This holds true for all of us, every single one of us. As I said before, Pastor Stan and I don’t preach the same. Does this make either of us wrong or at fault? No. It just means that we are both unique and special in the calling we’ve received from our Lord. When I pray, usually I’m quiet and somewhat reserved in my use of words. Many times I’m almost at a whisper level and in the eyes of some, maybe short of words. On the other hand now when my wife Mary prays she always uses eloquent words and charming soul soothing phrases, she covers all the topics and dotting all the I’s and crossing all the T’s. Does that mean that one is better than the other is? No, it means we are both special and unique in the way we pray. For some when they pray, they have a voice that resonates from the ceiling and the rafters as they call out to God in the old Pentecostal fashion of praying. Because I’m quiet and this other person is not does that mean one of us has more access to the ear of God? No, I don’t think so. The Book of James tells us that the prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective. God doesn’t care about volume or lack of it. God doesn’t care about eloquent wording or lack of it. God doesn’t care whether our prayers are long or short, loud or quiet, eloquent or elementary. God’s looking at the heart of the one who is doing the praying; he hears all the prayers regardless of how they are presented to him. Each person and each pray are unique and special.

We don’t need to be looking at others and trying to judge ourselves by their standards. Be content in whom you are, be content in what you are. God has made each of us and he has a plan and purpose for each of us if we will only open the door of our heart and allow him full rule and reign over our lives. Psalm14:30 says; “A heart of peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones”. Wouldn’t every one of us rather have a heart of peace than being ate up on the inside by envy or jealousy?

And beloved that comparison can go it two directions. You can do as I was doing and say how you aren’t meeting the expectations you have by comparing yourself to someone, thinking you are inferior. Or you can go in the other direction and compare yourself to others and say to yourself; “I have far more talents to offer than that other person has ”. Because once you get to that level the next thing you’re going to hear is someone whispering in your ear. That old adversary of God loves it when you listen to anything other than “I made you in my image”. Believe me no one is better and no one is worse than anyone else. We are all the children of God and we are all unique and special.

Look around in a church … do you think you see anyone better or worse than you? If you think you do, I better start all over again from the beginning. From my vantage point in at the pulpit I can see some truly gifted people. I see gifted singers and I praise God for that. You would too if you have ever heard me sing. I can see gifted organizers, that’s a trait that many don’t have. I may see a gifted person who can keep many checking accounts all at the same time. I’m so poor in finances that I have to do everything by cash, when I reach in my pocket and there’s nothing there then I know it’s time to stop spending. I may see people gifted in childcare, I may see people gifted in humor, and people gifted in wisdom. I may see people gifted in generosity and gifted in caring. And I may see an old grump or two, but that’s okay also… we would need to work on that one. I’m sure I’d see teachers, greeters, prayer warriors and helpers. From my vantage point I could look across the room and see people gifted in every gift and quality the Lord wants in his church. But do you know what I don’t see? I don’t see two people who are exactly alike. I do see endless gifts and talents, from the pulpit I’d be looking at the children and I could see future teachers and preachers and missionaries. But I don’t see any two alike. Each person I would see is special and unique, some will carry a sword and armor and some will carry a sling and smooth stones. But all will cause the enemy to flee and with the metaphor, fleeing with his red tail dragging behind him.

If each of us will but go before the Lord humbly on bent knees and seek his face, asking him to reveal where our true gifts and talents are and then wait for his to answer we would all be amazed to hear what God may have to say. There may be some of you who are working in a ministry where they can shine and others may still be searching for that opportunity. Give it a try, call upon the Lord, then listen to his voice and then follow his direction. You are unique and special, stay that way. Seek and listen to sound wisdom, ignore criticism.
[Proverbs 11:9] “With his {and her} mouth the godless destroys his {or her} neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous escape”. (Emphasis mine)
[Proverbs 15:7] “The lips of the wise spread knowledge; no so the hearts of the fools”.
[Proverbs 18:2] “”.A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions
[Proverbs 18:5] “The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out.”
[Proverbs 14:1] “The wise woman builds her house with her own hands, the foolish one tears hers down.”

I encourage each of you hearing or reading this message to be bold enough to step out in some form of ministry. I don’t care who you are or how old or young you may be. Male or female, young or old, get involved in some form of ministry. If you fall flat on your face that’s okay, get up and try it again, maybe in a different ministry or maybe in the same one preceded by prayer and then renewed effort. I’m sure that there are no perfect persons, we all have flaws and we all will experience some type of failure in our lives but again, that’s okay. If you’re worried about the “I told you so” crowd, don’t be to concerned with them. None of them will be walking on any water today or tomorrow as far as that goes. I’d rather see everyone try and fail a few times than to never have tried at all. Each person is special and unique, don’t let anyone or anything cause you to question that. Ever! Always remember that you are made in the image of God and he doesn’t make any mistakes and he doesn’t make any junk. Be what God had made you to be, let your light shine in every way you can. You’re only as good as God can make you and needless to say that’s going to be very, very good.

If you’ve got any questions about what you should be doing, pray about it, God will tell you. He doesn’t hold anything back. Remember he’s the one that said that the time of harvest is now but he needed many workers to gather in his crop.

Grace & peace