The Gift of Rejection // Nona Jones

rejection is a gift y'all you're crying over who left you out in that field but you have forgotten who has never left you Jesus said I will never leave you and I will never forsake you to leave someone is to physically separate yourself to forsake someone is to emotionally separate yourself Jesus has made you a promise that he will never physically nor emotionally separate himself from you so when you find yourself in that field of Abandonment that field of discard that field of being cancelled that field of being ostracized that field of not being invited that field of not being wanted you are not in that field by yourself because Jesus is with you it is such a blessing such a privilege such an honor to be here let me tell you something so Bridget said uh my husband and I Pastor a church in Florida um after a service last night I called my husband and I told him that I was moving my membership to Gateway so you can imagine how that conversation went uh you know this is my first time here but man the presence of God is all over this place it's all over this place um last night was just such a powerful kickoff the message brid it just resonated in my soul down to my bones and I am ready to preach today before I do that though can we give God praise for Debbie because you know people see this right like they they walk into the successful chapter and they think that's the whole story but I haven't even talked to you deeply about the past last almost 25 years in Ministry I bet there's some stories you can tell me of times when things didn't go the way you planned people walked away who you were counting on times when you were before the Lord with tears in your eyes and you had to walk into the building with a smile on your face and nobody knew I bless God for you and I pray that your ladder will be so much better than your former the last 25 years are going to see seemed like you were just getting started yeah I'm so honored to be here at this church the reputation of Gateway obviously precedes it so it's just an honor to be here um before I get into the word I do want to do just a couple quick housekeeping items um if you would like to connect with me after church if you want to stay connected with me you can actually join my digital community and it's super easy to join you just text my name Nona to 33777 and you will get opted in to my digital Community I send a newsletter out every week that is filled with inspiration and encouragement I just share whatever God has laid on my heart to try to encourage you and equip you to live out the call on your life I also will do just free classes and provide free resources and things like that so again if you want to connect with me super simple just text Nona to 33777 also y'all this year I am releasing what I believe is the most important book I've ever written and it's called The Gift of rejection it's coming out in October and I know it seems like that's a long time away um but I wanted to tell you about it because if you have ever wrestled with the pain of rejection this book is not only going to help you understand rejection at a like a granular level but y'all it's going to help you get free I don't care how much money you have how beautiful you are how powerful you are the thing that unites us all is that we have all had to deal with rejection and the thing about this book y'all is again I know it's coming out in October that seems like forever away but pre-orders let the Publishers know that it's a message that people want to hear so I want you to just be able to scan the QR code uh if you want to order the book you can scan the QR code the pre-orders would be a blessing to me now all of that said I'm ready for the word I was told that the scriptural anchor for this Gathering was was Acts 4:31 and Bridget did a masterful job last night of of teasing some truth out of it um it tells us that uh when Peter and John had prayed that the place in which they were gathered together it was shaken and that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they continued to speak the word of God with boldness and that has been that has been the catchphrase the catch word for our time together but I think if we were honest even though as Daughters of the most high God we're supposed to walk boldly in our calling we're supposed to stand boldly in our identity I think if we're honest the thing that causes us to not have boldness is one word rejection we're afraid of what will happen on the other side of being bold we're afraid of who's going to walk away we're afraid of what they're going to say about us and so uh I came here today to encourage you because I know that even though we all look so beautiful there are people in this room right now who have had words spoken over you you've had circumstances happen to you that have deeply wounded you in the case of rejection and you want to stand boldly you want to live out the call that God has on your life but that wound is like it keeps reminding you you better not do that nobody wants to hear what you have to to say you know what they said about you before and so what I want to do today is I want to encourage you because you see the thing about rejection is that in order to even experience rejection you have to first have had the hope that you were accepted like think about this you don't feel rejected from a job you didn't apply for you don't feel rejected by a man that you weren't attracted to you don't feel rejected if another person's parents don't accept you as their child so when rejection happens it doesn't just injure our pride rejection breaks our heart because it shatters hope and so for those who take notes I'm going to teach out of my forthcoming book the title of this message is the gift of rejection the gift of rejection I know you're thinking right now NOA how can you say rejection is a gift when my father hardly has a kind word to say to me or about me how is that a gift or Nona how is it a gift that the man that I gave the best years of my life to left me for another woman how is that a gift no no how is it a gift that I worked my butt off on that job and I still was denied a promotion how is that a gift or how is it a gift that the person who I thought was my closest friend and Confidant betrayed me how is that a gift because you see gifts are good gifts bring happiness rejection is none of that well my prayer is that by the end of this message you will come to see rejection with new eyes and not only that my prayer is that the power of God will heal every wound that you carried into to this place from the rejection that people gave to you father as your daughters we stand here under an open heaven we don't need to hear a word from me we need to hear a word from you God and so I decrease in this moment and ask you to stand tall in me Holy Spirit speak what you will have your daughters to hear that they will stand boldly in the calling to which they've been called in Jesus name I pray amen I want you to turn with me to the book of 1 Samuel I'm going to be in 1st Samuel chapter 16 and we're about to walk into a a scene where a man named Samuel he's a prophet God spoke to Samuel and told him that uh he was no longer happy with Saul being King and so he told Samuel that he had chosen a new King in one of the sons of a man named Jesse and so Samuel makes his way to Jesse's town because the thing is God didn't tell Samuel which son he was choosing he just said he was choosing a son and so he makes his way to to Jesse's town but the thing you have to know about Samuel is that he was a true prophet and so everybody knew that when Samuel was showing up on the scene he was bringing conviction and correction and so what happened was when Samuel approached the town the Elders of the Town saw him and they became afraid and so picking up in 1st Samuel uh chapter uh let's see 16 beginning at verse 5 the Bible says that Samuel said to the elders yes in peace I have come to sacrifice to the Lord he says consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and he invited them to the sacrifice when they arrived Samuel saw elab and thought surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord but the Lord said to Samuel do not consider his appearance or his height for I have rejected him the Lord does look at the things people look at people look at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart so then Jesse called abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel but Samuel said the Lord has not chosen this one either Jesse then had sha passed by but Samuel said nor has the Lord chosen this one Jesse had seven of his sons passed before Samuel but Samuel said to him the Lord has not chosen these so he asked Jesse are these all the sons you have oh there is still the youngest Jesse said he is tending the Sheep Samuel said send for him we will not sit down until he arrives we need to slow down for a moment and catch what just happened so Samuel tells Jesse to bring all of your sons for a sacrifice after presenting his seven sons to Samuel Samuel says God has not chosen any of these are these all the sons that you have without batting an eye without missing a beat Jesse says oh yeah there is still the youngest he is out in the field tending the Sheep you know the thing that hurt so much about rejection is that it isn't accidental it happens on purpose you see in this scene what we find is that Jesse's youngest son was not out in the field because nobody knew where he was they knew exactly where he was they just didn't invite him has anybody ever been there before where you feel like you've just been left out in a field by yourself well I want to tell you a little bit about me I was born to a mother who did not want to have children her and my father were married for about 13 years before she found out she was pregnant with me and my father was excited because he always wanted to have children but she was angry to make matters worse halfway through her pregnancy my father started to have stomach pain and so he went to the doctor to have it diagnosed and they diagnosed him with terminal stomach cancer they gave him six months to live but my father because he wanted so badly to be a dad he fought as hard as he could against that diagnosis and he lived until about two months shy of my second birthday shortly after the funeral my mother met a guy who promised to take care of her and take care of me if she would just move across the country and so she moved us across the country but that relationship fell apart shortly after we moved my earliest memories are a string of men coming in and out of her life and in and out of my life until I was about maybe 5 and a half years old and she met a guy who became her living boyfriend I didn't like him from the beginning there was something about him that that scared me and I told my mother I said Mom I I don't I don't like him and she said just give it time give him a chance he's a good guy I'm going to put a pin in the story for just a moment mothers do not force your children to be around people that they are not comfortable with you see children have pure spirits and so they can pick up on things that your loneliness causes you to miss but I told her I didn't like him and she said give him a chance well her sister passed away and she had to go back home for the funeral and I begged her to take me with her but she couldn't afford another plane ticket and so she said just just stay here I won't be gone that long I begged her to take me with her the first night that she was gone he assaulted me and he told me after it was over he said you better not tell your mother what happened because she'll get rid of you and I was so scared that for two years I didn't say anything as he repeatedly abused me but one day I was driving in the car with my mom at night and I was just so hurt by all the was happening to me that I couldn't take it anymore I was about 8 years old and I remember I said to my mom what he had done and as soon as we got home she not only beat him into the floor but she had him arrested now the way that you responded there is the way that I responded until the day of his release from jail she took me with her to pick him up and brought him back back home for he repeatedly abused me again Not only was he sexually abusive but my mother became physically and verbally abusive she would regularly tell me that I was a mistake that she should have never had me that she should have gotten rid of me that I was a burden she would regularly tell me how much she just didn't wish that she had me how I was so horrible and how everything was my fault and I remember from a young age wondering what did I ever do that was so bad that she chose him over me As I Grew Older my mom would continue to remind me how much she didn't want me my mom would go days and weeks without speaking to me as a child and As I Grew Older I moved out and went to college she would go months and years without speaking to me and I kept asking myself what did I do to deserve this as I got older the pain of Rejection it was such a weight that I wore it like a coat and it B it bored a hole in my heart it bored a cavernous hole in my heart that I tried to fill with friendships and relationships with people who could not care less about me these are people who would give me the crumbs of attention and I would latch on to the crumbs of attention because rejection had taught me that I was not worthy of more I wouldn't even make a demand on a relationship y'all I wouldn't ask for help I wouldn't ask for anything because re reection made me believe that if I made a demand on the relationship that they would walk away and in the rare instance that I did make a demand on the relationship their prompt disappearance only proved that I was right has anybody ever been there before am I the only one but the thing I came here to tell you today is that even though my mother left me out in the field of childhood adolescence young adulthood adulthood marriage and motherhood even though she left me out in that field by myself what I came to realize is through the power of God even though she meant to discard me God used that rejection to train me and see I'm going to take us back to the text because I need you to see something that often gets overlooked in this story you see the Bible tells us that that youngest son of Jesse was a young man named David see many of us know of David because of David and Goliath right we know him being the young Shepherd boy who slayed the Philistine giant but I need you to find something in this text if we go over just one chapter from where we started to 1st Samuel chapter 17 beginning at verse 32 what we find is that Jesse sent David to the battlefield where the Israelites were lined up against the Philistines and it just so happens that David's brothers were in the Israeli Army and so David goes out there to take them lunch and what happens is while he was out there he overhears Goliath taunting the Israelites and David is like who is this uncircumcised Philistine to taunt the people of God and so David goes over to Saul and he says I will fight him beginning at verse 32 David says to Saul let no one lose heart on account of this philistine your servant will go and fight him Saul looks at him and he says you are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him you are only a young man and he has been a Warrior from his youth but David said to Saul your servant has been keeping his father's sheep when a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock I went after it struck it and I rescued the sheep from its mouth when it turned on me I seized by its hair I struck it and I killed it your servant hath killed both The Lion and the bear this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them because he has defied the armies of the Living God the Lord who rescued me from the Paw of The Lion and the Paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine you see what you didn't catch in this story is do you remember where David was the day that Samuel came to Jesse's house he was out in the field by himself tending sheep but David wasn't just out there tending sheep he was out there getting prepared for Goliath see I have news for you when you are living your life to please God even people's rejection of you will serve God's purpose for you that field that was supposed to be a place of his discarding actually became his training ground and I came to tell somebody today that I don't care who left you out in that field that is not to your detriment that is to your good you know we often like to quote Jeremiah chapter 1 and5 to uphold the sanctity of Life beginning at conception but if you actually read what that verse says it says something so much more profound you see it says Be before I formed you in the womb I knew you before the sperm met the egg I called you before your mother knew your father I set you apart and so if the god of the universe has decided that you are necessary for creation how dare we allow somebody who doesn't have a heaven or a hell to put us in to make us think that we don't matter I need you to hear me rejection is a gift y'all you're crying over who left you out in that field but you have forgotten who has never left you Jesus said I will never leave you and I will never forsake you to leave someone is to physically separate yourself to forsake someone is to emotionally separate yourself Jesus has made you a promise that he will never physically nor emotionally separate himself from you so when you find yourself in that field of Abandonment that field of discard that field of being cancelled that field of being ostracized that field of not being invited that field of not being wanted you are not in that field by yourself because Jesus is with you but here's the thing rejection is a gift that will make you better if you open it or bitter if you don't when I think back over my life y'all I am so grateful for every rejection that I've experienced because I can now see how the power of God was able to make that pain work for my good and His glory there's four lessons that I want to leave you out of David's life that I pray will help you understand the gift of rejection because no matter what field you were left out in it's not going to kill you it's going to make you stronger I'm declaring that prophetically today the first thing I need you to understand is that the gift of rejection positions you for purpose you see the Bible tells us in 1st Samuel chapter 16- 14 after David was anointed the next king of Israel it says that the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him Saul's attendance said to him see an evil spirit from God is tormenting you let our Lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the Lear he will play When the evil spirit from God comes on you and you will feel better so Saul said to his attendants find someone who plays well and bring him to me one of the servants answered I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the Lear he is a brave man and a warrior he speaks well and he is fine looking and the Lord is with him then Saul sent Messengers to Jesse and said send me your son David who is where the thing I love about this text is that many times we feel rejected because the king didn't choose us we feel rejected because the person with the platform the person with the power the person who we thought was the way didn't choose us but what I need you to see in this text is that it wasn't the king who chose David it was a servant in the king's court you see this is why I don't get all upset if somebody with a platform doesn't choose me because I've seen too many times that my name will end up in rooms that I don't even have access to and when God is for you it doesn't matter who does or does not know your name he will place your name in situations that don't even make sense when you set your heart on pursuing God he will make people find you who don't even know that they're looking for you rejection will position you for purpose I'm going to tell you a true story y'all uh some years ago I worked for a large corporation and I was not hired as a spokesperson for the corporation but the communications team found out that I was a speaker and so they started to ask me to do some different conferences and events for the company and at first my manager thought it was great she was like oh that's wonderful you you do such a great job well when performance review season came around uh she gave me an an excellent rating but she said you know we're going to need to shut down all of these uh speaking engagements that you're doing I need you to focus on your core work I was so confused because I loved what I was doing and and and and exposed me to so many things and I just was so confused I was like why I said what am I doing wrong what you need me to do more of and she said oh no it's it's not that I just need you to focus on your core work well come to find out she had went to the director of communications and she said that she felt she should be the one Speaking not me so she shut that door but what she didn't know was I was covered by the blood of Jesus let me tell you what happened so when I was speaking on behalf of the company uh I would I would do all of these conferences and events and people would see me and they would like reach out to me and say hey can you speak at this thing can you speak at this thing and they would start to do that and I would say well hey I can't speak on behalf of the company anymore and they started to say well can you speak as you like like we want you like we don't really care if if it's the company we we want you and so I went to the communications manager and I was like can I speak as me and they were like well sure as long as you're not you know using your title or using the company name that's totally fine here's the thing when I was speaking on behalf of the company I couldn't get paid but when I started to speak as Nona Jones it got to a point that I was making as much in speaking fees as my corporate salary so my manager thought that she was closing a door but she didn't realize my God owns the house and so you you can close a door he'll kick down a wall you can put the wall back up he'll tear the roof off which is why you don't need to place your confidence in anybody's support anybody's approval I don't care if they said no I don't care if they said it's not your time if God is for you no one can be against you period the thing you have to train yourselves to do my sisters is when rejection happens ask God Lord what are you positioning me for what are you positioning me for he walked away what are you positioning me for they denied my application what are you positioning me for she said she won't help me God what are you positioning me for the gift of rejection positions you for purpose the second thing we learn out of David's life is that the gift of rejection reveals people's role in your destiny you see many of us think that something is wrong with us because somebody walked away from us we think that that we're defective that we're the problem but I need you to understand that there are two types of people in your life there are those who are attached and those who are assigned when a person is attached to you they are connected to you for as long as the relationship benefits them as long as you are channeling benefits in their Direction they will stay attached to you but the moment you stop channeling benefits in their Direction they will detach from you the mistake that we make is when a person starts to detach from us it triggers our insecurity and so we start doing everything we possibly can to get them to stay but the second type of person is a person who is assigned to you this is a person who is not with you for what they can get out of the Rel Rel ship they are with you for what they can contribute to the relationship and the mistake that we make is when that attached person starts to detach we shift our energy from the assigned person to the attached person and that is the worst mistake that you can make is giving assignment energy to an attached person the thing that I have had to learn in my life is that when somebody starts to detach bye baby bye God bless you your assignment is over our season is done no ill will no hard feelings your role in my story is over you see we actually see this we see this in our text you see in 1st Samuel 16 beginning at verse 10 when when David finally shows up on the scene when somebody finally gets him out of the field and he comes on the scene we remember remember that Samuel asked Jesse hey where is your other son so they go get him and they bring him when he showed up the Bible says that he was glowing with health he had a fine appearance and he had handsome features then the Lord said to Samuel rise and anoint him this is the one so Samuel took the Horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers and from that day on the spirit of the Lord came power ly upon David I believe that the reason why God had Samuel anoint David in the presence of his brothers was to prove to David and his brothers that it doesn't matter if you leave me out in the field God knows where I am and see what some of us are trying to do is we're trying to convince people who left us out in the field to come get us but the thing you have to understand is even if they leave you there God knows your location so that's okay that's okay it doesn't matter you can leave me wherever you want to leave me because when the spirit of God is on your life and the favor of God is on your life that's a Divine GPS your destiny will find you you know I find it funny because many times we like to quote Psalm 23 we love the 23rd psalm but verse 5 of the 23rd psalm says he prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies and what some of us are doing is we're trying to make our enemies freemies we're trying to make them stay in our life when God is trying to make your enemies your audience let them watch let them watch let them watch no you can sit in the balcony you can't be on the front row but you can sit in the balcony and you can watch the gift of rejection reveals people's role in your destiny so stop trying to keep an attached person attached to you if they want to detach bye baby bye listen my oldest son plays basketball and anybody who plays Sports you know this there is a team roster there's only so many spots on the team if somebody steps off your roster all that does is open up a spot that God can fill instead of trying to make them stay ask God to bring the right person to your team the gift of rejection reveals people's rolling your destiny thirdly the gift of rejection will anchor your identity what do I mean by this we tend to think that it was our fault that somebody walked away it was our fault that we weren't chosen that we weren't invited that that they didn't stay with us we think it's our fault because we think something is wrong with us and so what we do in response to that belief is we try to contort ourselves to fit inside of the too small box of somebody else's opinion of us we change our personality we change our likes our Hobbies our interests we change all these things while trying to get somebody to stay with us but the thing you have to realize is that you can do everything that they ask you to do and they will still walk away from you and when you understand that truth you will get to the place that you say since you can walk away from me no matter what I do I might as well be who God called me to be we see this in our text when David showed up on the battle field in 1 Samuel 17 beginning at verse 28 the Bible says that when elab David's oldest brother heard him speaking with the men he was asking what was going on with with Goliath when he overheard him speaking with the men it says that elab burned with anger at David and he asked him why have you come down here with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness I know how conceited you are I know how Wicked your heart is you came down only to watch the battle David said man what did I do can't I even speak because David understood that if God is for you it doesn't matter who's against you the Bible says that he then turned away from elab to someone else and brought up the same matter and the men answered him as before what David said was overheard and reported to Saul and Saul sent for him the reason why Saul saw David is because David kept doing doing what he was already doing if he had allowed elab to shut his mouth Saul would have never overheard him and some of you in this room right now are not speaking what God has said for you to speak because you're afraid of being judged you're afraid of somebody saying how dare you say that you're afraid of somebody telling you that you shouldn't do that I came here to tell you today that if you are allowing a spirit of fear to mute you it ends today it ends today under the authority of Jesus Christ speak what God has said for you to speak and allow that rejection to Anchor your identity the last Insight I want to give you as my time is drawing down is this if you let it the gift of rejection will draw you nearer to God in second Timothy chapter 4 the Bible tells us that the Apostle Paul was in prison he was writing to Timothy and beginning at verse 9 he said do your best to come to me quickly for deas because he loved this world has deserted me he has gone to salonica cretians has gone to galatia Titus to Dalmatia only Luke is with me get Mark and bring him with you because he is helpful to me in Ministry he said Alexander the metal worker did me a great deal of harm the Lord will repay him for what he has done you too should be on your guard against him because he strongly opposed our message listen to this at my first defense no one came to my support everyone deserted me May it not be held against them but the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength so that through me me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it and I was delivered from the lion's mouth I was delivered from the lion's mouth it sounds oddly similar to what David said when he said that the Lord protected me from the Paw of The Lion and the Paw of the bear and I came to tell somebody in here today that instead of allowing rejection to make you turn inward and try to figure out what's wrong with you I need you to allow rejection to make you look upward and find out what's right with with God what is he positioning you for what is he wanting to do in your life what is he wanting to teach you about yourself and about other people I came to tell you today my sisters that if you accept the gift of rejection and you open it and you allow God to work through it there is no limit to what God will do in your life because we will all experience rejection but the power of God can make it work for your good and for his glory if this message was for you quickly I want you to stand to your feet quickly because in the presence of God I am declaring that today you're free we're not carrying this into tomorrow we're not carrying this pain into next week we're not carrying it into next month Heavenly Father we stand here in this place recognizing that you are here and because you are here your delivering power is here here God we declare right now in boldness that we are free from the pain of rejection God we see that it worked for our good and that you can make it work for your glory no matter who left us in the field God we forgive them for what they did because what we realize is they were simply a pond that was used to fulfill my purpose and so in this place right now I stand before you God in a spirit of humility and I speak Freedom over this room I speak Freedom over this room I speak No More Tears over this room I speak no more fear over this room no more will I feel inadequate no more will I feel unworthy no more will I feel like I am discarded because I have been chosen by the most high God today I am [Music] free we receive our freedom today and I need you to understand something sisters when you leave this place the enemy is going to meet you right outside those doors he's going to try to trigger shame he's going to try to trigger those memories but what I need you to tell him to his face is devil what you meant for evil God is going to use for good give God praise if you are free from rejection give God praise in this place Hallelujah glory to the Lamb of God be blessed and it is for Freedom that God Made You free walk in freedom God bless you

Channel: Nona Jones

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Length: 39min 12sec (2352 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 19 2024