"MISFIT" Willie B. Williams III

and church folk are talking about this new uh about this person who's caused all this havoc now rightfully so saul has killed people he has put people in prison so in acts chapter 9 jesus is trying to tell ananias i need you to go and minister and baptize this man and ananias says nah this one don't deserve baptism this one right here i ain't gonna have no bible study with this person i'm no i'm not gonna minister this this is not gonna happen jesus i don't think you know about the person you're trying to save that's where we are in the text then ananias answered lord i have heard by many of this man how much evil he have done to the saints at jerusalem everybody's talking about him and here he have authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name but the lord hath said go thy way he's a what kind of vessel he's a he's a chosen vessel now i'm tell you what's what's very difficult in coming to christ if you come to christ and nobody know you if you if you come to christ and nobody know you you have a you have a much better welcome right if you walk in a room and nobody knows you how do most people treat you hey they matter of fact they soften their voice hey you know like when people don't know you they talk to you like they out of breath hey how you doing welcoming come and they're hospitable they're hospitable matter of fact they'll give you the first seat right you walk in the house and you don't know nobody they don't know how to really treat hey people come up and they introduce how do you how do people treat you when they know you the reason why some of us we don't want to go back to our high school reunion the reason why we don't want to go back to the old neighborhood because when you walk in a room everybody turn and be like ah and they say that they say that because they have memory about you so it's difficult coming into christ and everybody knows your reputation before you got baptized like sometimes it's difficult when kids grow up in the church sometimes there's kids going to church because if when children grow up in the church sometimes it's the adults that don't allow the children to change and what do they say when they see little kids i knew you and you was running hey stop bringing up the 80s stop bringing up the 80s stopped bringing up the night i didn't move from that lifestyle i don't do that you was you we used to pray about you right we really didn't think sometimes your home church has a difficult time believing that you've changed transformed or made any kind of adjustments in your life so sometimes the people who saw you grow up they have a very difficult time receiving that you're really about jesus christ imagine imagine if before you got baptized everybody knew about what you used to do and then notice this we're in acts chapter 9 he haven't even heard the gospel yet jesus is over on the other side of town trying to encourage the bible teacher don't quit on me now we i got another one that's ready to be saved the bible the bible school teacher uh ananias nine ain't showing up to bible school on that day if he show up then i i'm not i don't jesus i don't think you know about this man and then you know what he talks doing to jesus he starts telling jesus about all the wickedness of the person that jesus is trying to send him to some people would talk to jesus about you not in prayer but to say god this and they and talk about their enemies and god said no no you know what you realize is i already got a plan for the person you talk about and could it be that the person that you don't want to that you are afraid of or the person that you talking about you'd be surprised that one day the lord has sent that person to you to study with and you got you got to deal with your own comments to the person that you were talking about welcome to bible class all right welcome welcome and i'm glad that you're giving your life to christ imagine have you ever taught somebody and they they received jesus but you didn't believe it have you ever had a friend come in and somebody tell you hey listen i gave my life to christ and you was like [Music] [Applause] no no you haven't right so he says no he's a chosen what before we move any further i need you to understand something and the reason why we're bringing this up tonight you can in this text in acts chapter 9 we're dealing with somebody who has not heard the gospel and is not baptized and in acts chapter 9 jesus is telling a christian that an unbeliever is chosen be very careful how you treat people who's still in the world and you didn't count them out and you didn't put an x on them and matter of fact you didn't quit on them because they didn't they didn't mess up and they didn't done so much stuff you said ah forget them jesus is telling ananias hey listen i need you to understand that this unbeliever who's causing all of this havoc i chose him and he don't even know me yet and i need you to teach him about me because i got plans for him sometimes there are people that are out in the world and god is looking at that the guy's looking at that girl on that that table top and god is saying oh i got plans for her and that man that's running from city to city and town to town and he running from all of his responsibilities and he creeping out in the middle of the night because he's gonna get in the car he finna he's gonna get out god said ooh that person right there at three o'clock in the morning i got plans for him and that child right now that's in school he's fighting and nobody can restrain and he don't want to listen to nobody here and everybody's saying ah you didn't just ruined your whole life hey uh i'm sorry i was having a conversation stop judging the living stop judging the living you going to hell no what for you you going to lose i'm still living i'm still living don't judge me yet don't judge the living because god can still do a thing right god can still do a thing and so the bible says he said he's a chosen vessel to bear my name before the gentiles and kings and the children of israel i'm going to show him how many great things that he must suffer that's in acts chapter nine and so uh he he he sends and ananias to go teach him very quickly i want you to turn your bibles to galatians galatians chapter one in galatians chapter 1 and i want to look at verse 18. in galatians chapter 1 and verse 18 then the bible says in verse 18 then after three years i went up to jerusalem to see peter and i bowl with him for how long 15 days so in acts chapter 9 jesus says to ananias hey i want you to go teach somebody and and i said i don't want to fool with him by the time you get to galatians chapter 1 he has been baptized and it's been three years since acts chapter nine y'all see that so it's been three years it's been three years since acts chapter nine since he was baptized do you know what has happened to saul now his name is changed to paul and he's been preaching the gospel for the last few years he shows up to jerusalem that we are the verse the bible says we sho he shows up to jerusalem to meet who he shows up to to jerusalem to meet the apostles look at verse 18. then after three years i went up to jerusalem to see who see peter and i bowl with him about what about a good two weeks amen 15 days if you want to be specific with the word of god hey i spent about a good i spent about a good two weeks with peter i never met peter before peter didn't know me i didn't know peter i got baptized i got saved and i started my christian journey but here's the thing i'm preaching now come on church i'm preaching now and as i'm preaching now peter don't know me i didn't know if you know but there are cliques in the church you got to be in certain circles when i first started preaching they would ask me did you go to southwestern no ma'am i didn't go oh you probably can't preach okay but wait a minute hold on hold on hold on you don't know that you don't know that yet hold on hold on slow down you don't know sometimes when you climb up some other way people look at you differently because as peter got into the ministry paul i don't remember you walking with jesus see i've walked with jesus okay now now if you was peter and you needed to preach boy you could you can lay something in church y'all don't i walked with god that's that's what peter could say no i can't say that i read about god i can say that i heard the stories about god now peter said i was there defeating of the 5 000 i was breaking off the bread and the bread bristled a little bit and fell a little bit and i remember we dipped it up and gave him the fish and he can give intimate details that paul can't give see peter can say i was there peter said listen out of all the apostles i walked on water that's a gospel service somebody getting saved tonight right ain't somebody getting saved tonight somebody getting saved tonight peter could say i walked with god and i i did i slept and i prayed with jesus paul said listen i have an experience with jesus but it's none of which i'll have so one day nobody asked me to nobody it's not it was a requirement it wasn't a requirement but the bible says and peter's telling you about i mean paul telling you about what he did don't call me saul no more have you ever been saved and you have to tell people hey drop them nicknames hey no don't send it to that email no more big nasty 1254 don't send it to that i don't use that either i got saved and i don't don't use them emails no more i got i got a new you know love god at gmail.com i love god at gmail.com yes i'm changing my life around and so and so nobody told him to he didn't have to but he's not in the clique he's not in the clique but he he preaches and i got you got to understand this is the first century church there are not a whole lot of preachers you got the you got the 12 apostles right and you got disciples and the church is growing but for the first time since acts chapter 1 you got the next apostle which is paul he's the 13th apostle judas died that was to uh now he's the 14th he's the 14th apostle because judas died in acts chapter 1 they appointed a new apostle that was number 13 and paul the apostle is number 14. he's the 14th apostle and imagine they are only living now there are only 13 men on the earth in galatians chapter 1 that can walk around and say god chose me to be an apostle because you have to be appointed and chosen for that position and paul said i was chosen by god but not like the rest of y'all so y'all spent all that time with jesus y'all have never seen me before but i'm a pastor i didn't climbed up some other way right uh no no i graduated uh but mine was online so i didn't no i wasn't in school with y'all what school did you go to no no mom was online yeah i was uh i was i was you know distant learning he goes up to see peter and the bible says peter welcomes them in hey man come on in hey and it's been about a good two weeks about a good two weeks talking i'm sure peter shared some things with him that peter that paul enjoyed hearing imagine if you had the opportunity to spend two weeks with with peter when you ask some questions okay man what's going on so i heard okay so the text says the bible says you did that is that true okay so when you cut his ear off like was you going for the neck or was you like what really happened imagine that no two weeks of conversations you would have right the conversations you would have with peter so so the bible says he goes up and i need you to understand peter is church of christ famous have you ever been church famous peter is church of christ famous and so paul get the opportunity to spend two weeks with somebody who now now peter ain't popular in roman empire they would say peter who we don't we don't know him but when you church famous see when you church famous you show up to worship late and then you come in after everybody sit down what's going on no no no no no no you're good you're all good can i sit right here okay no no good to see you doc no good just and the and the hugs and the embrace because you church famous right they treat you like nobody at work but when you got off work and came to church you church famous and so now he spent his time in three years he went to jerusalem to see peter and abode with him 15 days but notice what he says but the other apostles now now i want you to notice this and i want to walk slow with this because like i said our lesson tonight is dealing with misfits sometimes you don't fit in so you would think that if word got out that god chose another apostle wouldn't you want to come see him how long how long has he been chosen it's been three years matter of fact it's been three years none of y'all have taken the time to come see me so let me come to jerusalem i gotta understand my ministry didn't start in jerusalem matter of fact i met god in damascus y'all been in jerusalem right y'all been in jerusalem my ministry started in damascus so we were already in two different places word got out that i was saved and god chose me and i have this ministry but none of y'all wanna come see me that's cool i'm here when i make it to jerusalem when i make it to jerusalem guess what none of the other apostles come to see me maybe thaddeus was running the gospel meeting and thomas was doing a revival i don't know james and john you know maybe they were doing some missionary work on the outskirts but nobody came to see nobody came to see paul notice how he mentions it in the text but other but other of the apostles i saw what none of them saved james the lord's brother it was good that jesus's brother and hopefully you all know that jesus had brothers and sisters it's good to know that jesus brother came to see him don't the only other the only other brother that came to see me was jesus's brother but the other apostles and other disciples none of them really fooled me have you ever felt like you don't fit in and you trying your best but it seemed like you saved and everybody else is saved but you just sitting there and it seemed like they all get along with each other and then there's another group and they got their thing going on and you can go in between both circles but you're you don't have your own circle so you're like ah okay okay uh i'm not tripping because it's good to be saved right as long as i'm saved i ain't got to worry about what would click click on me and maybe help me lord then he says this in verse 20 now the things which i write unto you behold before god i'm not lying to you so now he's about to open up isn't it good that you can read the bible and you can have somebody say let me tell you how this really feels sometimes we paint a flowery picture of the gospel and church and christianity but sometimes you need somebody to tell you hey listen let me tell you about some things that ain't pretty in the church and this is paul he says listen i'm i lied not afterwards i came to the regions of syria and sicily and was unknown by what now you got to understand before paul was baptized everywhere he went he was respected and feared now that he didn't gave his life to jesus christ people over there so peter is church of christ famous but paul who you we don't we don't know you we don't we don't remember was you there on the day of pentecost when they preached no you missed that meeting you missed all them revivals in acts chapter four in acts chapter five when thousands of people got baptized you wasn't there you remember when the church got their first deacons you remember when they called the church meeting and in acts chapter six they called the first they got no that's right paul you weren't even there either matter of fact paul you killed one of the you helped to kill one of the first deacons we had in the church oh is that you what happens when your bad reputation is better than the new one you're trying to create so he's here and he says i i was unknown by face unto the what unto the churches you know what he did he said i went from church to church to church to church to church and it was almost like i didn't exist somewhere and i feel it i don't want to go to a place where i feel invisible i want to mean something i want to mean something to somebody so it feels some kind of way when you walk into a room and everybody barely glances and then you see the reaction when other people go in the room sit and you're looking and saying i want that reception one day did somebody want somebody wants to be around me why is he writing this this is an intimate if you haven't looked at galatians before this is an intimate letter where he's saying i'm not lying to you notice what he just said read earlier i'm not lying to i know you think i'm lying i'm not lying to you everybody's ignoring me read this and pray about it and go to bed that's the scripture for tonight everybody's ignoring me the bible says but they had heard only that he was persecuted us in times past now preaches the faith which was once destroyed which once he destroyed and they glorify god so they're talking about him but when he walks in the room nobody acknowledges him his reputation is hey did you hear about that guy and not knowing he right there hey did you hear about that guy that was running you know messing around with the church and causing all that happen did you hear he got baptized ain't that something well look at god can you imagine the comments he's heard about himself have you ever had somebody talk about you and they didn't know it was you and you were sitting right there and you were saying no no finish i want to hear everything have anybody ever done that you just have you ever just been around the corner you heard somebody talking and you could have just stopped it by walking around you but you said no no no i want to i want to catch all of this i want to see have you ever been curious what somebody thinks about you and have you ever been shocked that the people that you thought were kind of cool with you they really don't like you you start to feel like well i guess i don't really fit in and then you kind of low-key withdrew from them i mean you didn't say nothing you didn't do nothing but you just kind of low-key like y'all don't really like me like that y'all not really you don't really fool with me like that because when you're not around people speak freely and they share their real thoughts so he's there they don't know it's him and he listening to real thoughts okay hey did you did you hear about that sinner they got baptized and i can imagine paul's saying okay okay so this is this is how church folk talk see they gossip in the first century too this how this how that's how church folk talk when they think you're not around he said but it's cool they will glorify the next verse the bible says and i'm sorry in chapter two uh let's let's skip down to verse six galatians chapter two and verse six and the bible says but of these who seem to be somewhat now notice the language can i get a different translation on this let me let me get let me get a new living on this i want you to see the verbiage and i want you to see the language that king james version sometimes cleans it up but you need to be able to see like the raw version of what he's saying because he said i ain't gonna lie to you i'm i'm about to give all y'all a real i just warmed up in chapter one i'm about to give it to you i'm about to give it to you real in chapter two right y'all just keep reading in chapter two uh in verse six i read in this verse until that other one comes up the bible says but of these i want you to notice the language but of these who seem to be somewhat right whatsoever they were you could you can sense a little attitude in the verse it make no matter to me come on y'all gotta y'all gotta feel the flow of the text i i don't know who they thought they were they i guess you know maybe they were somebody to the to the people in the church i don't know it don't matter to me i love god god is the only one that's important to me he said he says god accepts no man's person for they seem to be somewhat in conference adding nothing to me we're in verse six uh we're in verse six so let's read this again it says um but we refuse to give in to them we refuse to give in to them for a single moment we wanted to preserve is is that yeah we wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you and the leaders of the church had nothing to add to what i was preaching i'm over here preaching and delivering the gospel all through and these people who seem to be they wasn't helping me preach the gospel they were just really a stumbling block like we all in the church but i ain't hanging out with them after service this is we're not really connecting and the leaders of the church had nothing to add to what i was preaching by the way by the way their reputation as great leaders made no difference to me y'all see that it made no difference to me for god has no god has no favors next verse god has no favors instead they saw that god had given me the responsibility of preaching the gospel to the gentiles they saw it they they knew i had an anointing over my life they knew i had a gift sometimes in the church people don't like you they just want your gift they will call you for your for your gift and after you finish blessing the church with your gift then all of a sudden you'll find out nobody got nothing really to say to you all right well we see you next sunday you coming you you're going to do this you're going to do this again and so you got a lot of gifted people in the church who are tired because they feel invisible you only you only call me and shout at me for my gift but never about me and so he says they saw that god had given me the responsibility they saw the task they saw my ministry of preaching the gospel to jesus just as he had given to peter now why does he bring up peter he said hey listen the way they treat peter god clearly has shown them that the same thing he gave peter the same thing he gave me treat me with the same respect there's no difference between peter and me church christ famous there's no no difference y'all see y'all see what god has done with peter and clearly peter's ministry is evident but god has given me an equal amount of ministry not the same but god has blessed me too and then he says peter the responsibilities of preaching to the jews for the same god who worked through who who worked through who who worked through peter as the apostle to the jews also worked through me as the apostle to the gentiles he says now listen i've been called to do a work next verse in fact [Applause] james peter and john and i didn't say this but they were known as the pillars of the church i didn't give him that title the church did who were recognized known as the pillars of the church recognized the gift of god given to me so he said listen after a while nobody could deny that god was using me after a while nobody could deny that there was a blessing and anointing over my life the bible says they had accepted barnabas and me as their co-workers don't they feel good after a while that when you start working and laboring you say one day somebody will see my labor it doesn't feel good to be overlooked even in the lord's church i do this i do that i do that it's like nobody cares every now and then it's good to be recognized he said finally peter james and john who they say were pillars of the church they recognized me as a co-worker can you imagine how that must have made paul feel y'all were talking about me all this time now i get accepted in the peter james john fan a group club right i get i get the benefit package and the bible says and they encouraged us to keep preaching to the gentiles while they continue their work with the jews so i got recognized for my work i got recognized for the labor uh that i was doing that must have felt good and then the bible says in verse nine when james uh peter and john who seem to be pillars receive that grace this is coming from the king james you see the grace that was given unto me they gave to me barnabas the right hands of fellowship so even how the king james version put it is basically we're now accepted in it's more it's more than they just accepted me that right-handed fellowship is something that you don't extend to unbelievers that means that we're gonna we walk together because of the god that we serve and we believe that the same gods that's working in us is working in you that's the right hand of fellowship when we use the word fellowship in the church it doesn't mean that we finna eat it includes eating but it doesn't mean that we just finna eat fellowship means that our belief and our faith are aligned and we walk together right that's what that means so they gave him the right hand of fellowship because they believed that god had given him the same thing that god had given them and so the bible says in verse 10 only they would suggest that we remember the poor their only suggestion was that we keep helping the poor which i have always been eager to do but when peter came to antioch so here's the thing he goes before the apostles they've been apostles longer than him so you may want to call him the apostle uh uh little brother and he says that's cool you know i'm glad i got accepted by them it felt good to be embraced he said but now you know peter ministers in jerusalem i need y'all to understand peter ministers in jerusalem but when he came to antioch i was there too and when he came to antioch he said i had to get in peter's face didn't he tell you in chapter one i ain't lying to you i know you think i'm crazy i ain't lying to you but i had to check peter now here's the thing i know what peter do when he get mad and if you know your bible you know what he do too he cuss and he pull out knives right when peter get mad you know what peter do but you ain't gonna do that to somebody like paul who used to kill people right right so paul said you know you know you cut people but i take people out so you know you you you know you poke at him but you know i i go the extra mile you you talking to somebody who's at a whole nother level and notice the language of paul i don't care who you are you ever seen somebody who who just got baptized and they said oh brother such-and-such is here hey where brother sisters are gonna have to get yeah matter of fact let me tell you how you can get real humbled if you think you church of christ famous let me tell you how you get real let me tell you how you get real humble you get real humble by going uh to a homecoming or fellowship where they serving food and you get in line and you got a new convert on that line and the preacher come by and they say hey listen one scoop for everybody you need to keep it moving he said well i'm the preacher hey listen i don't know who you are one scoop for everybody and you need to keep it moving they will check you in the line you're not special in this line you were special over there but over here my preacher gave me this ministry and i'm gonna do the one school and you're not free to get me in trouble i don't know who you are right you ever want to feel humble when you just get that one piece of chicken but sister i i preach that that oh man you have to go you have to come back i'm sorry these are this is these these are the rules right he comes with that spirit is i don't really care who y'all think he is have you ever had to address somebody and you knew it was going to make you a misfit you and your family and something's going on at the at the event of a family and you was like ah auntie can i talk to you and it was like ah you always gotta say something have you ever been have you ever held tried to hold your tongue because you didn't want to be the one that was always saying something you actually just want to just get along and be and something in your spirit said i gotta say something but every time you say something the whole room say ah there go you again that's one thing when it's your family it's another thing when it's your church and you amongst other christians and have you ever had that feeling where other christians don't even want to hang out with you and here's the thing you know you got your sins you trying to live right but you're not trying to live like that so you don't fit in with those christians because they they don't mind cussing in line and they don't mind going out and partying and doing all the girl we finna have a good time nah i'm trying to live for god so you can't go with them and then you got your friends that are in the world they don't know jesus at all and you can't go with them and you don't fit and then you realize like man i don't and you you know you hear the preacher say you need to be around a good group of people that'll help you uh grow stronger and and then you're looking around be like man i don't i don't see a whole lot of people you know i see i see sister wall but she's 88 she's not in the mood you know she gets sleepy at 5 30 like we die we limited on what we could do together so you know he said now i need to understand to which to withstand paul at the face means that everybody that peter is cool with in order for paul to address him in the face everybody who peter is cool with if this turns left that means that whoever's on peter's team is not going to be against paul and paul don't care paul said i saw something that was wrong and i need to talk to you i don't care if you're a preacher i don't care who you are it's not to disrespect you but what we're not going to do is we're just not going to be wilding out doing wrong i need to talk to you and because he has seen publicly paul had to address him publicly the bible says he says uh but when peter came to antioch i had to oppose him to the face for what he did was very wrong and peter's a gospel preacher walked on water yes i did raised the dead i saw jesus do it fire came down peter got testimonies but paul said yeah but today is not a good day for you peter i don't care how long you've been in the church every christian got a bad day you got a day where you wasn't your best and paul said today i gotta call you on that day today you are not doing today you are not being what god has called you to be and i gotta call you on it and i don't care how long you've been an apostle you got better stories than me your testimonies may be greater than mine but today you're very wrong the bible says he says he was very wrong when he first arrived paul had noticed he was eating with the gentiles and when he was eating with the gentiles who would not circumcise but after when some friends of james came you know james rolled with a crew and the bible says they were all eating maybe they was in a church cafeteria i don't know and james rolled in the spot with his crew you know church thugs y'all know that's a real thing that's a real thing church dogs is a real thing you gotta they'll catch you they will catch you hem you up and they rolled in and when peter saw that james and the crew rolled up the bible says uh but after when some friends of james came peter wouldn't eat with the gentiles anymore peter got all his stuff and he withdrew from the gentiles i ain't fooling with y'all now imagine a gentile saying yeah but peter and all of a sudden peter ignoring now paul over there in the cut and he watching this whole thing like nah you ain't finna treat these newcomers like this he was afraid uh not the ian peter wouldn't eat with the gentiles anymore he was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision this gospel preacher who preached in acts chapter 2 and 3 000 souls got saved on the day of pentecost is afraid of some jews because they differ on the subject of circumcision he jumps up from the table and paul over there in the cut i'm telling you there's two types of thugs there levels there's levels to this thing and then thug life you know peter get at you but paul on another level paul don't care who walked in the room and paul sees this and he says no this ain't right this needs to change ain't the bible good are we in the bible just saying another bible as a result amen as a result other jewish believers follow peter's hypocrisy see when they saw peter jump up the bible says there's some other jew paul in the back and he watching this whole movement saying no somebody got to say something but i know if i say something i ain't gonna fit in and even barnabus was led astray by the they got to understand something this had to hurt paul because paul rolled with barna barnabas is the one that actually helped and developed him as a christian so imagine have you ever lost respect from somebody that you thought was a spiritual giant but here's what christianity would teach you stop putting anybody on pedestals and everybody humble yourself at the throne of god so he looking at peter who used to be a pillar and now uh he didn't disappointed me and then barnabas my the one who helped developed him in christianity is going away with the hypocrisy too and now you don't fit in because sometimes in christianity you are by yourself in a crowd full of christians and there's nobody that really understands you there's nobody that really and i want you to understand you're not the first christian that felt like nowhere no matter where you go no matter who you talk to you just don't fit in wherever you go you're not the first and this is paul and i've been chosen by god to be an apostle and everywhere i'm really not fitting in because if they're not talking about me they're telling me you know i'm having to wait to be accepted it takes years to get in the circles or these clicks in the church they look you up and down and test you of whether or not they really want you to be in their world and they really think that they're superstars that's a that's a horrible thing when you think you're a superstar and you're really not but sometimes in the church we will make events people and places like it's and i can imagine people in the world that get baptized and come in and be like i mean y'all i mean this is cute but if y'all really want to do it you know the world do it a little bit better if you if y'all really want to sometimes the stuff that impresses us because we just in our own world so he sees this hypocrisy next verse when i saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message i said to peter in front of all the others since you a jew by birth have discarded the jewish laws and are living like a gentile now now peter you got bacon on your breath yo you over there enjoying the life of the gentiles but when the jews walk in you want to act like you don't eat meat and you enjoying all the festivities and the spices and the ham hocks of the gentiles you're over here living like a gentile why are you now trying to make notice the text knows what it says why are you now trying to make these gentiles follow jewish traditions you and i are jews by birth not sinners like the gentiles wait a minute peter you should know better than this you should know better than the bible says [Music] knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith of jesus christ even we have believed in jesus that we might be justified by faith says hey listen you know this is wrong very quickly turn your bibles to acts chapter 13. acts chapter 13 in verse 44. acts chapter 13 and verse 44. i want you to look at this and uh we're looking at these other versions and the next sabbath day came almost the whole city so here we are in acts chapter 13. we've passed that event uh uh paul is already having some issues with the apoc he's not getting along with all the apostles some of them don't even want to see him i'll take the time to see you here we are in acts chapter 13 and now he's come to a city and the bible says at this point almost the whole city comes out right it's the sabbath the next sabbath day came almost a whole city together to come hear the word of god paul about to preach he is about to preach amen and right when he getting ready to preach he got his little you got his little preaching tile and and he got his good preaching sandals on because that's going to help him dig into the word right got his little cloth on he ready to get it the bible says in verse 45 but when the jews saw the multitudes they were filled with what we in verse 45 but when some of the jews saw the crowds that's what it was see you didn't mind paul preaching in the little corners and when you thought nobody but all of a sudden what's happening with paul the crowds are getting bigger people are starting to a whole city came out just to hear preaching oh you anointed paul oh you truly god truly has his hand over you but the problem is didn't we just read in galatians chapter 2 he says i was a jew by birth now here's the thing i may get it that other people may not receive me i may get it that there may be some you know uh people that don't like me or whatever the case may be but not my own people not my own people not not not those who i'm connected to the bible says but when some of the jews saw the crowds they were jealous so they slandered paul and argued against whatever he said y'all see that in the text look at ver i'm gonna read again another version contradicting and blaspheming spake against those things which were spoken they contradicted and they blasphemed they slandered they argued on whatever he said if paul said left they said right imagine trying to preach and you got a group of people in the crowd saying that ain't the bible uh sure let's keep somebody get come on get them get that group right there because they they disrupt and jesus said that ain't what jesus said listen i i'm an apostle and imagine you're trying to tell people about the gospel can you imagine this is what paul faced he's literally trying to preach the gospel and he can't even finish his sermon because not that they disagree with what he's saying they looked at the crowds and they were actually jealous of him do you know why sometimes you don't fit sometimes you don't fit in the church because they jealous some people don't like your gift some some people and it's not that everybody's uh jealous some people just don't get along with you they don't like what god is doing with you some people are mad because god hasn't answered their prayers and he see that he that he's answering yours some people can literally be angry because you are ahead of them in the line and it has nothing to do with you you're literally just and what they don't realize they may even be next in line to get the blessing but because they so focused on you they start hating on you they'll miss their own blessing they're jealous and they start arguing look at what the next verse says after notice and some of you may not have never realized this before after verse 45 the apostle paul made a ministry life decision that changed the course of his ministry thereafter verse 46 i want you to notice the first word then then means because of that this happened right then paul and barnabas spoke out boldly and declared it was necessary that we first preach the word of god to you jews but this is above means you about to make a life decision we finna i'm we're not going to keep doing this anymore but since you have rejected it and you want to keep coming at us at this point paul tied i'm not uh we we are just in ministry from this point forward we ain't gonna do this the same but since you have rejected it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life that's what he know you met when the preacher said well since y'all don't want eternal life that's when you know the preacher mad see okay so y'all don't want to go to heaven i'm finna get my little bible and get out of here cause y'all don't want to hear a good gospel preaching from god i'm out of here that's when you know the preacher mad somebody somebody pray for the preacher notice this it says we will offer it to the what we will offer it to the gentiles let me read this in another version lo we will turn to the gentiles i need you to understand after this paul the apostle and barnabas left left from ministering to the jews and for the rest of paul's ministry he focused on gentiles do you know what that means that means he went to different cities he went to nations that spoke in different languages he spoke to people who did not grow up like him he went into the wilderness and he went into the far off places he went to rome he he went to ephesus he went to corinth he went to these places that the apostles had never been to because the apostles don't go to the gentiles but after this embarrassment and y'all keep charging me do you know what sometimes i feel sometimes i feel that god don't want you to fit in in certain places so you can go where he wants you to go and you'll end up being at a place and say you know what i would have never thought to be here doing this and operating like this and you know what you would not be closer to your calling if you fit in where you were sometimes god will allow you to be uncomfortable so that you can make the the right life decision have anybody ever turned to god because you were tired and then you and then you said hey listen i'm getting my i'm i'm going back to church i'm giving my life back to jesus because it ain't working out because you don't fit in the world because you know too much bible you don't fit in the church because they too judgmental and you know that's not that spirit is not what god has caused it to be you can't leave the church because you know too much bible i know i post i know what i'm supposed to do god but god i don't know where i fit and maybe god don't want you to fit maybe you're supposed to be the disruption maybe you're you're the one that when you walk in the room you're supposed to you're supposed to prick the conscience of everybody that walks in the room because when they see you they say ah put it up she's here everybody okay we can't we can't have any fun maybe maybe that's what god needs you to be what if god needs you to be a misfit and god don't need you to fit in the bible says from that point forward he decided i'm moving my ministry i'm i'm changing i'm changing my ministry we have a few scriptures i want us to to go to uh very quickly i want you to turn to luke chapter 6 verse 26 for those of you are taking notes i want you to put those notes as we we bring this to a close i want to give you a few scriptures that shed a light on this in luke chapter 6 and verse 26. we could pull up that other version too i'm gonna read this in the king james version woe unto you and then we'll read another translation woe unto you when all men do what come on luke chapter 6 and verse 26 what unto you when all men do what speak good about you listen can i i hope to bless somebody when everybody sings your praises you're in a bad place we all just love her is the best man i have when everybody i'm i'm not saying that nah you know everybody shouldn't dog you you might be doing you might be doing something wrong if everybody got something but listen here's the thing though if everybody's singing your praises i feel sorry for you you know why because you're being lied to everybody don't like you and i need you to know that everybody don't love you and the moment that you can start accepting i'm talking about in the church i ain't talking about in the street i'm talking about everybody in the church don't love you everybody in the church don't like you and if everybody here speaks well of you [Applause] you're you're in trouble right what sorrow look at look at the universe what sorrow awaits you who are rich i'm sorry or above that and remember their uh their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way what sorrow awaits you who are rich for you have your your only happiness now so jesus is doing some teaching and he says in the middle of that verse how did they treat the ancestors they treated it the same way i need you to understand you not the first person that feels like you being talked about and you ain't gonna be the last person and you know what you working real hard for people to like you i know you are ain't you working real hard and you going around ain't you going above and beyond you're going above and beyond and trying to be there for everybody and jesus already told you stop that because it ain't no matter what you do they still not gonna like you and you over there crying in the bathroom i do everything for everybody somebody said you're wasting your time the moment you can accept that everybody won't like you you'll actually start living in peace have anybody ever said this before i don't like you i don't like you either i mean i love you i don't like you either so yeah we good ain't that ain't that empowering when you be like oh you ain't gotta like me you're you're not gonna be you're not gonna be my friend anymore then take your little raggedy ball i wanna play with you that's what i said when i was young yeah don't take your little raggedy ball i won't play with you don't know okay i got my own ball my brother my brother can beat you up here you go there so so the bible's letting you know hey listen we're not here if that's true if that's if that scripture is true or i want i want to read it again verse 26 if if that scripture is true then woe to you when all men speak well of you what sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds the ancestors they went through the same thing but if the crowd praises you that means this if i'm gonna keep preaching the gospel i gotta be okay with people not liking me just gotta be okay with it i can try to speak softer because they didn't like i was screaming and they felt like i was talking about i can i can change my presentation i can stop looking at y'all because somebody thought i was i was poking it so then when i preach god is so good isn't he he's he's so good somebody said brother with him come on back down you over there you're jumping through hoops trying to appease people and you know what happens when you try to appease people you lose yourself you get lost trying to make everybody like you love you care about and when they're not gonna do it anyway so if that's true if that's true for me then guess what that got to be true for you brother i'm saying i ain't even do nothing you don't have to you don't have to people not liking you they don't need a legitimate reason they just need an object when they saw when they saw you on site they they already determined their mind i don't like her who she thinks she is why why he why he act like that he act like that he won't act like that he he doing too much maybe he grew up with too little and he making up for lost time get out that man business you know what i'm saying people have already determined what they gonna do with you when they saw you and they didn't even know your name they just they just decided i don't like tall people it's just what it is it's happening very quickly james chapter four i want you to take these scriptures to your heart study them i want you to pray about them i need you to receive them so that you you can stop trying to fit in and what i'm trying to tell you this evening maybe it's okay for you to be a misfit james chapter four and verse four james chapter four in verse four your adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world listen are you trying to be a friend of the world hey do you know if you're a friend of the world you're enemy with god that's what the scripture is saying hey stop trying to be a friend of the world whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the what is the enemy of god here's the thing god said listen that's never going to change it's never going to change which means this either you got to be okay with being a misfit and being with me or you being with the world but i promise you you can't be with us both you're not going to fit in you're a christian you're a child of god you are not going to fit in you've been going at church for 25 years you're not going to fit in listen you're not saying that's my family i thought but yeah but your uncle don't like you yo yo grandma always skipping over and give you the bad biscuits and give the rest of the family cause yo because you remind you and my grandma of her husband she on like you look just like cecil [Applause] your features are strong your features are so strong you look just like and some people will mistreat you because you remind them of someone they have not forgiven it has nothing to do with you do you know how many children are going through certain because they look like their mother or their father and the and this side of the family mistreats them because you look like the person we haven't forgiven hey you're a misfit and what i'm saying for some and this don't pretend to everybody in church because some people say no i got my friends i got this hey that's a blessing if you had that but for some of us we don't fit in nowhere very quickly ii john chapter 15. no i'm sorry john chapter 15. [Laughter] john chapter 15. i always make sure you use on your toes [Applause] the bible says in verse 18 if the world hates you hold on to the scriptures church because you're gonna come to a season when you didn't do nothing and something's gonna happen and it ain't gonna make no sense and i'm saying stop trying to make sense of not fitting in it doesn't have to make sense sometimes you just won't fit in sometimes they won't like you that sometimes they won't invite you to come everybody else when they don't want you they don't want you to come and you thought you i thought we were closer than that get over your feelings you're a misfit you're a misfit and you're a christian and they're christians too it's just sometimes they don't mesh i believe that peter died in the lord i believe that paul died in the lord but they didn't work together we need to remove the notion that we all got to like each other i want i want to go to a place where everybody like me man the only place i know that is at the bill collector office when you pay bills then they'll like you they'll treat you nice pay your bills go go go pay your water bill tomorrow and they'll like you you got to do something for it ain't genuine be right be at peace be at peace with everything not working out with everybody be at peace with that sometimes friendships end paul had to walk away from mark i can't work with you no more and they had to separate hey we can both go to heaven but this this might be the end and it doesn't mean that you're a horrible person don't mean i'm a horrible person sometimes it just don't fit sometimes your desire to be connected to people is greater than your personality that connects so you desire to get along with everybody but your personality doesn't fit the room so here's what's important about church you shouldn't be here because everybody likes you you should be here because you have a ministry a calling and a purpose that's what keeps you rooted in the church other than that we all would leave preaching included we out of here cut the lights off these these church folk right wouldn't we all leave we out but something greater has to keep you in the lord's church and i promise you it it ain't it it ain't friends we ain't all that cool right i mean we cool but we you know for some of us you know hey hey sis yo hey brother how you doing you know we ain't all that deep so it got to be your calling got to be your minute god has brought you here for a reason to minister and help somebody go from darkness to light the whole purpose of church is to help people go from darkness to light that's it and if you're not helping somebody go from darkness to light you're a stumbling block here who are you praying for who are you reaching out to who are your ministry we should be helping people go from darkness to light he says you you didn't choose me i chose you i appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit so that the father will give you whatever you ask hey listen i brought you into the kingdom and i'm telling you how the kingdom operates everybody don't like you here everybody everybody don't want to be around you look at verse 19 if you were of the world the world would love his own but because you are not of the world i have chosen you out of the world therefore the world does what hey listen it's gonna happen there's nothing that can ruin a relationship or even a romantic relationship faster than jesus christ hey what's going on with y'all first corinthians chapter six this is what's happening [Music] the holy spirit is why we not getting along hey what happened to you i went to your family house and you didn't there the holy spirit is why we're not getting along everybody's not walking with the lord so you know we're having some issues because of jesus christ and him crucified sometimes that have so he says this because i chose you and i'm working on you and i'm doing some things in you you're not going to fit in this world anymore you wake up one day and you realize where are my friends and you ain't got no friends and the reason why you ain't got no friends cause you're a misfit you come to worship on sunday with the misfit church say proud proud member of the church misfit i fit in christ i don't fit i don't fit in the world there's a song that was just saying uh i'm in the world i'm not of the world i finally figured it out what it's all about yeah all right last scripture then we'll close first peter chapter two first peter chapter two in verse nine first peter chapter two verse nine you are chosen your chosen generation god chose you you here on purpose but then he also says you're a royal priesthood you're a holy nation but this is the part i want you to underline the reason why you don't fit in because you are peculiar you're not normal god is working on your heart right now and you ain't even the same person you was even a year ago god's transforming you and so now you got to even reintroduce yourselves to even to your loved ones because you're procuring your people god said i chose you to be this way somebody a little boy went to school and when he went to school he said you know he said daddy i ain't like everybody else he said everybody different than me he said son that won't make you special he said well i don't want to go back he said no no you have to go back because that's what make you special he said but he said but daddy my hair is different he said daddy my skin is different he said daddy i talk differently than everybody else he says he said son that's what makes you priceless you ain't no copy you one son i didn't send you in that school to fit in and blend in and disappear in the crowd when you walk down the hall you supposed to stand out you're supposed to walk differently you are supposed to look differently and you're supposed to talk differently and that is the dna of a christian you don't fit and sometimes even what you do with other christians even in the church sometimes you challenge other christians in ways that make them feel uncomfortable which is why they don't really draw to you you're you're sitting there questioning whether or not you're a good person based upon the people who call you stop doing that and then you have the audacity to ask god for peace and so god dried up your phone and then you want to get mad come on chuck you want to get mad that ain't nobody calling you but you ask god for peace god said well if you want some peace i gotta remove and make you not fit there was a old canaanite prophet who said mo money no problems okay tonight he was a canine he was a canaanite prophet mo people no problem sometimes god heard what you was praying for [Applause] and he put something peculiar in you that cause you not to fit so you can sleep at night now you sad and yeah you miss some people and maybe some things but don't forget your prayer don't no i don't want to deal with this normal okay i heard you and instead of god changing your environment because you didn't want to deal with that anymore instead of god changing that environment you know what he did he changed you and then he made you not fit in the environment anymore and the light that he put in you is now casting light in dark places you're here because god has a purpose for you but don't get distracted because the crowds are not chanting your name when you're here on purpose i have an assignment and when i'm finished with my assignment god won't let me preach no more i don't care about my gift for what i think i i got left in the tank when god said when god say i'm done that's there's a few more messages i i only have a few more messages left in me life is short i got a few more messages left in me and then god was your assignment is done i want to let you know you got an assignment too and your days are counting just like my days you get focused and we're here to fulfill an assignment we're here to love on people we're here to show god we're here to give a cup of cold water and give clothes to the naked and on judgment day i want god to say well done then you can come in the house and when you come in the house of the lord then you'll fit but right now when you're walking with god in this world you're a misfit and your walk is different your talk is different your attitude is different but that's okay it's fine everybody ain't got to like you and you know what god will do sometimes god will exalt you in spite of the sup the lack of support you don't even have what you need we we don't even have what other churches have and and god still allows us to do things and they sit on more god'll give you more with your lack of support and people hating on you and in the crowd and won't let you finish your sermon and god will still get the gospel out in places that they never imagined don't be distracted the message is over this praying time and maybe you got wrapped up in your feelings or maybe there's some things that they've been holding you back matter of fact maybe you've taken your eyes off jesus and you've actually turned your focus of church inward you've been selfish you've been trying to get people to work with you and like you and do these things when sometimes god already told you that don't always happen in the church and god gave us a biblical example of paul who didn't fit in matter of fact we have time to read it at the end of his life in timothy he gives this long list of the people who betrayed him he says alexander the copper smith did me much wrong didn't mean much evil and he left me do you know he said he says many have abandoned him the the the giving scripture that we give he said hey listen uh that whole phrase i robbed peter to pay paul that's his phrase which means he says i suffered because i was trying to help the church and they left me out hanging and didn't support my ministry and i thought i was i thought i was benefiting them by not getting paid or doing and they turned around and focused on themselves he got a whole bunch of pain where he just didn't fit in even to the churches he was preaching to if that's true for him that may be true for you but man if we all have the right perspective we can do some great things in the kingdom if there's anything that you desire to pray for this is your opportunity there's anyone that you need to pray for this is your opportunity if you're here on this evening then you realize you know what i think i've been walking and sin maybe i've had a little jealousy and anger in my heart or maybe i've been throwing a tantrum and i need to stop [Music] or maybe i'm the one that haven't forgiven some people and i'm the one hating on people not realizing that god is doing something great with me just is he doing great with somebody else or maybe you need to thank god for a quiet phone [Music]

Channel: North Colony Church of Christ

Views: 1,946

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Keywords: Church of Christ, Gospel, Acapella, North Colony Church of Christ, Willie Williams, Preaching

Id: Lk86OqPd-NA

Length: 78min 17sec (4697 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 08 2021