The Not So Blank Canvas

[00:00:00] If you have your bibles, I want to turn to the book of Jeremiah. [00:00:04] Book of Jeremiah, chapter one. [00:00:11] I'm going to read verses four through seven. [00:00:17] Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, before I formed you in the belly, I knew thee. [00:00:30] And before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified, or I set you apart, and I ordained you a prophet unto the nations. [00:00:43] That's the word of the Lord. [00:00:47] Then said I. Ah, Lord goddess, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. [00:00:58] But the Lord said unto me, say not that I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee. And whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak again in Jeremiah. Very familiar. 29 and eleven. [00:01:18] For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord. [00:01:22] Thoughts of peace and not of evil. To give you an expected end. [00:01:29] For a few moments today, the help of the Lord, I will preach this thought. The not so blank canvas. [00:01:40] We'll get there. Let's pray together. Lord, we love you so much. Today. We give you honor in this house. We adore you. We extol you. Today you alone are king and worthy of all. Today, God, just anoint these lips of clay for a few moments that I might preach acceptable words unto your people, that we might all be better be changed, be more like you want us to be. [00:02:08] Touch our lives today through your word, Lord. We ask it in Jesus name. And everyone said, amen. Clap your hands real good to the Lord one more time. [00:02:18] Hallelujah. [00:02:20] Hallelujah. [00:02:22] You can be seated. God bless you. The not so blank canvas. [00:02:29] Many times we talk about, and I've said it to people when I have baptized them, and I'm bringing them up out of the water and knowing that now the blood has been applied, they have been washed from the sins of their past. I would often say things like, it's just a blank slate now. It's a blank canvas. [00:02:50] This is new life. That's why we refer to it as new birth. Being born of water, being born of the spirit. And we're in Christ now because we're new creatures. And so all that past can be left behind and you can begin to start fresh. But really, it's a not so blank canvas, because what God sees, no one else does see. [00:03:16] I was listening to a song this week and just writing, and this thought came to me for this message today. But in the song, the woman's singing. She's singing to the Lord, and she's talking to him. She says, you see the me that no one does. [00:03:35] God sees you. [00:03:38] God sees you. And he sees that you're not just a blank canvas. When we think about the blank canvas, we think about nothing. There's nothing there. [00:03:52] Sometimes people refer to themselves like that. I'm just nothing. [00:03:56] I'm not accomplishing anything. I don't mean anything to anybody. I'm just nothing. [00:04:01] But the eyes of the Lord would say something different because he sees what no one else can see. [00:04:09] You know, every masterpiece, when we think of canvas, we think of artists and paintings. Every masterpiece starts with a not so blank canvas. [00:04:22] Put up that first picture, brother. See if you know who this is. Oh, well, I guess they couldn't take pictures back then either. [00:04:33] I didn't size those when I shared them to the computer, so. But I bet you know who that is. [00:04:40] Mona Lisa. Da Vinci. [00:04:43] And, you know, when he didn't just sit down one day and go, hey, look at that. [00:04:52] It was in his mind. [00:04:54] There were probably many sketches that he went over before he sat down in front of a blank canvas, a canvas that maybe was like this, nothing on it, until the master began to do his work. [00:05:10] And with every stroke, it became clearer what he intended for this masterpiece to be. And it has stood for ages as an icon in the art world. The Mona Lisa put that next picture up. [00:05:26] Starry night. One of my favorite paintings, van Gogh. [00:05:32] And, you know, van Gogh didn't just sit down one day and say, man, I gotta turn out some work. [00:05:38] Art, painting. If you read about Van Gogh's life, he was. He had struggles, he had troubles, but he was a master at what he did. And I'm sure there were many sketches, many thoughts. He saw it in his innermost being, in his mind's eye, what he wanted to put down on the canvas. So one day he takes a blank canvas, nothing on it, no value to it, doesn't mean anything. He probably has dozens of them just lying around. [00:06:07] But as he began to work that brush and to bring in those colors, the swirls, all the design, the things, what was inside his mind was coming to life, what he meant it to be, what he wanted to show to the world, to the public, to those that loved his art, he said, this is what I'm trying to get you to see, what I see. [00:06:31] You could stand and side by side with someone who is an artist and look at that and be like, I see a blank canvas. [00:06:41] They would say, but I see my next masterpiece. [00:06:44] People like me who are not art, or I'm not an artist. I appreciate art, I like art, but I am not artistic. And. But I do love art. I love to see what the artist is trying to say, because you or I had no influence in what he was painting. He sat down. He is the master of his craft, and he does what he wants to do, and he designs what he wants to do. And maybe even as he sits down in front of a canvas, a blank canvas, he looks at it and he says, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you. I know the plans that I have for you. I know what I want to see out of you. I want to tell you something today. That the Lord, he sees the one that nobody else sees. [00:07:36] He sees in you what nobody else even understands. The vision of the master sees past the blank canvas. He sees what it will become under his hand, that beautiful work of art, that masterpiece. And so the scripture would declare to us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, that he is the potter and we are the clay, and he is molding us and shaping us into whatever he wants us to be. [00:08:07] I'm telling you today, God's talking to you. The Lord is speaking to someone today because many times you have looked in the mirror and simply saw this. [00:08:18] I guess I will never amount to anything. [00:08:21] I guess I won't be nothing compared to everyone else in this world. But the Lord is saying, I knew you when you were a blank canvas. I knew you before you were formed in the belly. I knew you before you came forth from the womb. And I'm telling you, I had plans for you. Come on. I had thoughts that I think toward you. And you may feel like even today, maybe sitting in the church and have sat in the church for years and you feel like your canvas is still undeveloped. But God, he never stops working, even when I can't see it. You may think it's just a blank canvas. You may think that it's nothing. It's just like every other one that was on the shelf. But God sees exactly what's going on this canvas. God sees exactly what's going on in this canvas. And he knows the gifts and the callings and the ministries and the desires and the works that he wants to do through you, because in his eyes, you're a not so blank canvas. [00:09:29] When we go back to what Jeremiah was saying, he said, he's testifying. He's telling the people, he said, this is my story. The word of the Lord. The Lord spoke to me. [00:09:40] And he said, before anybody held you, named you, fed you, taught you, loved you, hugged you, fed you, before anything ever happened to you in this life. I knew you. [00:10:01] I already knew. I knew. I knew the day you would take your first steps. I knew the day that you would come forth. I knew everything there was about you when you were just to the world, a blank canvas to me. I already knew what I had appointed for you before you ever came out. I sanctified you. I had already set you apart in my mind. I had ordained you a prophet. [00:10:30] The nations. How already God sees in us what we don't see in ourselves. [00:10:38] He's talking to Jeremiah now, many, many years later, and he comes to him and speaks to him, begins to tell him, listen, Jeremiah, before you and I ever had any relationship at all, I knew who you were. [00:10:51] It reminded me of when Jesus was calling his disciples. And when he met Nathaniel, he said, oh, an israelite in whom is no guile. And he said, how do you know me? [00:11:01] He said, before that, philip went to call you. He said, I saw you sitting under the fig tree before you ever saw me. I already saw you. And I already knew everything there was to know about you. I know who you are. And he said, oh, my lord and my God. He knew that it was the Lord speaking to him. But I'm telling you, this is the way that it works with Goddesse. He has seen you under your fig tree. [00:11:26] He has seen you on your bar stool. He has seen you in your back alley. He has seen you in your closed room. He has seen you in your addiction and in your depression and in the things that you don't want nobody to know about. He's seen you in every place, yet he still loves you, and he still calls you. [00:11:48] Let whosoever will come and take of the water of life freely. For the promise is unto you and your children and all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And God is collecting up all these canvases that look blank to us. And to us. They just like every other one that was sitting on the shelf, and they're not worth very much. But he knows what he's going to put on, every single one of them. Somebody's going to be a missionary. Somebody's going to be an evangelist. Somebody's going to be a pastor. Somebody's going to be a youth leader. Somebody's going to be working in the altar. Somebody's going to be a prophet. Somebody's going to be working for the kingdom. [00:12:28] And when God comes into your life like that, and the word of the Lord just suddenly comes to you and says, hey, this is how it is he didn't really ease into the conversation. The Lord didn't. [00:12:41] I don't know where Jeremiah was at that day. [00:12:44] David was just sitting out on the hills watching the sheep when they sent for him. Maybe he was just got up. Maybe he just finished his breakfast. Maybe he's getting dressed, and all of a sudden, hey, Jeremiah. [00:13:00] The Lord's going to come knocking. He's going to come speaking. He's going to come talking. He's going to come declaring. He's going to come promising. He's gonna come telling you, I've got plans for you. I've seen you, and I know you. I knew you before you knew me. And I'm here to tell you now that even though you can't see it, everybody was like, what many men of God were like that when God spoke to Moses? Hey, Moses, I want you to go tell Pharaoh. Let my people go. Oh, I'm slow of speech. I can't do this. You maybe send somebody else? [00:13:33] Just send Aaron. Send my brother. Send him. That'll be fine. God got upset with him. [00:13:38] I made the mouth. I made the tongue. Who made these things? I did. God knows how to take people, and he sees in us what nobody else sees. He sees what we don't even see. He sees what those closest to us don't even see. [00:13:55] You ever known anybody that you were close to and you knew they didn't see anything in you? [00:14:03] That's a bad feeling. When somebody looks at you and goes, you'll never amount to anything. [00:14:11] That's tough. [00:14:13] But, you know, I believe there's something else in there. [00:14:18] Let me tell you, when you get connected with your creator, you'll find out what it is. [00:14:23] When you let God begin to work in your life and accept the word of the Lord and believe what he's saying about you, that you can be new creature in him, that you can do all things through Christ, that gives you strength. Let me tell you that he that believeth all things are possible to him that believes. [00:14:40] All of a sudden, that canvas gonna start taking shape. [00:14:43] You're gonna feel the strokes of the brush. As God begins to work, he sees what no one else sees. He sees the me that nobody else does. [00:14:54] Let me tell you. Whoo. I remember when God spoke to me. He wasn't very subtle about it. It was very in my face. Here I am. What are you going to do? But he said, I had already heard you. [00:15:09] I told you this testimony. Many of my people know this. But the night before that church service, I had decided I was not going back to church. And I had made the statement across my lips. It came out of my mouth. I told this person, not going back to church. And she said, well, it's good to go to church, and it's good to serve the Lord. I said, I know it's good, but I cannot do it. [00:15:31] That's where I left it. And the next night, in the middle of the scripture, the Holy Ghost was moving. And Sister Rebecca Crider was moved on by the Lord. She stopped the music. She said, the Lord gave me this scripture for somebody here tonight that if a man knows to do good and does it not, to him, it's sin. It's James 417. [00:15:51] And I heard it. And Sister Everhart said, say it again. And when she said it the second time, there was just like a voice right here. Everything else, the room got quiet. This voice got right next to my head. It said, I heard you last night. [00:16:04] That's my answer. What are you gonna do? I'll tell you what I did. I went to the altar and I said, here I am. I'm under your hand, whatever you wanna do, because I believed. And when that voice said in my head, when she said those words, if you know to do good, all I could hear was myself saying, I know it's good, but I can't do it. And then the Holy Ghost just said, I heard you. Before you knew anything about me, before you knew this night was coming, I already knew it was coming. That's my answer. What will you do? And God began to take this blank canvas, this not so blank canvas, and begin to paint the steps of my life and to order my steps in his word and to make me to be what he called me to be. I did not start pastoring the next day. It was many, many years later that I began to take up this office of pastor that God called me to. But all along the way, God was working the strokes. God was painting the picture, putting the colors together, doing everything that he saw in his mind's eye, everything he knew about me before I ever knew him was now coming to pass. [00:17:12] And regardless of what God saw in me and what he knew about me before that night that I repented, was baptized in his name. He still loved me, and he still called me. Jesus knew all about the woman at the well. At the well. But he still offered her living water. He knew that she had had five husbands. He knew that she was living with a man that was not her husband. And it did not stop the offer because he said, I know what everybody else sees. I know when they look at your canvas, what they see. He said, but I see something more. And he said, and if you would just take this living water, you'll never thirst again. I'm telling you today that God's talking to you in this house, that you've kind of resigned yourself as to being nothing, sitting back and hiding in the shadows. I'll never really amount to anything. But I want you to know today that God's not done with your story. [00:18:11] It might look just like every other canvas, just blank with nothing in it. But God is working. God is painting. All I see, I see a. I don't know how much this thing costs. Let's just say $12.99. I see a $12.99 canvas. That's probably high, but anyway. But God sees priceless. [00:18:30] Priceless, because I purchased this canvas with my blood. Oh. And I'm going to write their story with my word and with my love and with my compassion and with my anointing. [00:18:42] Ha. You ought to lift your hands to the Lord and thank him for what he's doing right now. [00:18:48] Oh, listen, he told Jeremiah, he said, I have ordained you, no matter what you fail to see, and no matter what others fail to see, God sees your canvas. God sees your life, and God has a purpose for you today. [00:19:11] Verse seven. [00:19:12] When the Lord is telling him, he's told him what you're going to do, and he said, I'm a child. [00:19:20] But God said, do not say that I am a child. [00:19:26] When Jeremiah said, I'm a child, he's saying, I'm nothing but a worthless blank canvas. [00:19:36] But God's telling him, don't say that. [00:19:40] You need to stop reinforcing the self imposed limitations in your life. [00:19:48] Stop riding down the road saying I'm just a loser. [00:19:53] Stop waking up in the morning saying I'm a failure. [00:19:57] Stop saying I'll never amount to anything. Stop saying I can't do it. Stop saying God can't use me. Stop saying God doesn't love me. Stop saying I don't have a place. [00:20:09] Stop saying the things that limit the hand of the master. He's trying to paint a masterpiece with your life. And I'm telling you right now, the Holy Ghost. Stop saying it. [00:20:22] Don't say when. I'm just an old addict. I'm just an old depressed person. I'm just an old thief. I'm just an old liar. Quit saying it. Quit naming these things that God's calling you out of. [00:20:36] The Lord's telling him, I sanctified you. I set you apart and I've called you to be a prophet to the nations and let me just let you in on this. God cannot lie. [00:20:51] And when he told Jeremiah, this is what you're going to do, he said, don't be afraid of their faces. Don't be afraid of what you're going to do. I'm going to be with you. I'm going to fill your mouth. I'm going to command you. And whatever I command you, you're going to speak it. That's what you're going to do, because you can do it. I wouldn't have called somebody that it was for somebody else. I wouldn't have called somebody that couldn't do it. I know what you can do. If you will just let me work in your life. [00:21:23] We've got to stop building these walls, barring the door, stopping our ears and speaking with our mouth. The things, the negative things that stopped God from finishing our canvas to Jesus. It's not blank. [00:21:45] He knows the plans that he has for you. [00:21:50] He sees the worth. [00:21:55] Oh, you. [00:21:57] It's been a long time since you heard anybody say that you're worth something. [00:22:04] You're not worthless, you're not garbage, you're not a failure, you're not a fraud and you're not a fake. [00:22:14] Been a long time. You heard anybody. Somebody looked at you and said, you have value. [00:22:20] You have value to the king, you have value to the kingdom. Come on, somebody. [00:22:28] But God sees your worth and he sees your purpose and he sees your potential. [00:22:39] He sees everything that's in us and what we can be if we let him work. For it is not by power and it is not by might. It is not by my own strength, it is not by my own plans, but it is. Bye. His spirit, saith the Lord. And when we will give in to the working of the spirit in our life, when we will let the spirit lead us and guide us into all truth, when we will let the gifts of the spirit begin to operate in us, friend, we will be what God called us to be. [00:23:14] Go on, clap your hands and shout to God for a minute. [00:23:17] God knows what he is doing. [00:23:22] God knows what he's doing. [00:23:25] God knows what he's doing. In one Samuel, chapter two and verse eight. [00:23:36] This is at the birth of Samuel. [00:23:39] But his mother was singing a song and a praising the God. [00:23:44] Here's Goddesse. What he does, he raises up the poor out of the dust. [00:23:52] In other words, he finds people at the lowest point in the dust. [00:24:01] And many times in those days they referred to beggars. They would sit in the dust. [00:24:07] People would throw dust on their heads in grief when things were went wrong, or in death in sorrow. They would tear their garments and throw dust on their head. He said, I found them when they're destitute, in dire straits, grieving, sad, depressed, cast down. But he raises the poor up out of the dust. [00:24:32] He lifts up the beggar from the dunghill. [00:24:40] Dung hill is waste. [00:24:43] I don't know. [00:24:46] I know that there are scriptures that talk about famines that were so bad that they were selling doves dung for people to eat. [00:24:54] I would have to be very hungry. [00:24:57] He said, I. [00:24:59] I'm taking them from these filthy places, places from these places of starvation, from these places where they're just wasting away and they don't know what else to do, and so they're just looking for anything to try to fill it. But he said, I'm going to take them away from those things and I'm going to set them among princes. [00:25:24] I'm going to put them with the royalty. I'm going to make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them. In other words, God's saying, because the earth is mine and the fullness thereof, and it don't matter what nobody else sees, I'm going by what I see, and I can do whatever I want to do with whoever I want to do it with. And if I want to call them out of the dust, I'll call them out of the dust. And if I want to call them out the crack house, I'll call them out of the crack house. If I want to call him out of the back seat, I'll call him out of the backseat. I know I'm being a little bit plain, but I'm trying to get you to see something here that God sees, and he knows where you've been, but he's trying to tell you today that I am painting your canvas, that I am about to do a masterpiece. I'm about to work a work in your life that nobody else is going to believe, because I see the you that nobody else sees. [00:26:23] I see who you can be washed in my blood. I see who you can be filled with my spirit. I see who you can be with my word in your mouth. [00:26:37] He sees the you that no one does. [00:26:45] In scripture, there's a lot of not so blank canvases that surprised I'm sure a lot of people in their day. We have the benefit of the story. So to us, it's like, that's just the story. But I've said this many times. You know, when you're reading those things, you've got to remember that this was their life. This was real life. Think about all the things they were feeling or thinking as these stories begin to unfold. [00:27:14] In the book of Ruth, you'll find that Ruth was married, the son of Naomi. She had a brother in law and a sister in law. And while they, Ruth and her husband had left Bethlehem, they went to Moab. [00:27:33] That's where she met her husband and married. But while they were in Moab, Naomi's husband dies. [00:27:40] Ruth's husband dies. Her sister in law's husband dies. [00:27:45] The sister in law, she heads back to Moab, back to her people. And Naomi says, I'm going back to my people because I have heard that there is food in the land. And so I'm going back. And Ruth said, well, you ain't going without me. Now I'm paraphrasing. [00:28:03] She said, where you go, I'll go. Your God will be my God, and your people will be my people. I'm not leaving you. I'm going with you. And so Naomi suffered her to go. Now, she was not an israelite. She was not a jew. She was not under the law, and she was not part of the promised people of God's covenant at that time with them. [00:28:30] But she went. [00:28:32] And when she gets there, she ends up meeting a man by the name of Boaz. And I'm not going to go through the whole story, but she ends up marrying Boaz. He is a man of Bethlehem, Judahez. [00:28:43] And then this woman, this Moabitess, Ruth, she gives birth to Obed. [00:28:51] Obed is the father of Jesse. [00:28:54] Jesse is the father of David, the king of Israel. [00:28:58] What people saw in Ruth, the Moabitess was the outsider, the foreigner. [00:29:11] But what God saw was the great grandmother of David, king of Israel. [00:29:18] He sees the you that no one does. [00:29:21] She never would have thought she would have ended up married to another man. Maybe she thought, I'll live here with my husband, and we'll raise our family. But that canvas, that picture wasn't what God was painting. And so there was a not so blank canvas for Ruth. And God began to work. And while other people saw this foreigner coming back into their land, God saw the great grandmother of his, King David, the king of Israel. [00:29:50] We're going to keep. Just put a little pen right there in Ruth for a second. Boaz, his father was salmon. [00:29:59] That was his father his mother was Rahab. [00:30:07] Yeah, that rahab. [00:30:09] See, everybody? [00:30:11] I don't have to put that little connotation there, because you know who I'm talking about. Look at Joshua two and one. [00:30:18] This is where we're first introduced to Rahab. She was living in Jericho. Israel was coming into the promised land, and Jericho was about to fall. Joshua, the son of nuns, sent out of Shittim two men to spy, secretly saying, go view the land. Even Jericho, they went, came into a harlot's house named Rahab, and they lodged there. Go to Hebrews. [00:30:41] This is how she's remembered in the faith chapter. By faith, the harlot, Rahab perished not with them that believed, not when she had received the spouse of peace. And then James, he doesn't get off of it either. Likewise, also, was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and sent them out another way? [00:31:03] I don't think that the New Testament writers are doing that as a slam to her, that they're trying to bring up her past. [00:31:14] I think they're trying to show people it doesn't matter where God found you, when you let him work, when you have some faith in God. And if you'll read Rahab's story, she tells those spies. She says, we know that your God is the only God, and we know what he's done. And she was already professing faith about the God of Abraham and of Isaac, of Jacob, and she was having faith in God already. And so now you find out that Boazden was the son of a former harlot. [00:31:54] SolomOn was his father. [00:31:56] So Boaz is the son of Rahab. He is great grandfather to David. [00:32:02] But let's look now at RutH, this woman who is a foreigner, an outcast. Let's look at Rahab, this woman who was just oil it and see what happened. [00:32:18] In Matthew, chapter one, it says, the book of the generation. [00:32:23] Very important, this first verse. The book of the generation of Jesus ChriST, the son of David, the son of AbrahAm. He's saying, here is the lineage of Jesus ChriST the savior. Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac, Jacob. Jacob begat Judas and his brother. Judas begot Pharez, and Zara of Thamar, and Pharez begat Ezram, and Ezram begot Aram. Aram begot amminadab. Amminadab begot Nason. Nason begat salmoN, Boaz's dad. Salmon begat boaz of Rahab, and Boaz begat obed of Ruth, and obed begot Jesse. [00:33:07] Hmm. [00:33:09] This is the lineage of JeSus. [00:33:13] You have no idea what God is trying to paint in your life. [00:33:19] Do you think that Ruth wasn't even known about the messiah? [00:33:28] She had no idea. Rahab knows nothing about the Messiah. But God is painting them into his story. And he found one in a foreign land, and he found one in a foreign land, and they had all these other things that were going on in their life, and nobody saw what God saw. But God saw the grandparents and the great grandparents of the king of Israel, David, a man after God's own heart. He saw in the lineage of Jesus Christ, the savior, the lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world. He saw these women. [00:34:05] And I know you think there's no way God could do that with me, and he won't, as long as you think like that. [00:34:13] But Ruth went ahead and married Boaz, and Rahab went ahead and married Simon. They say, historically, what most agree on is that Simon was one of the two spies that came to her house because they were sent back to get her when they invaded Jericho. They said, go get her and her family and get her out of here. And so they believe that Simon was one of the two spies and that him and Rahab formed an attachment and later were married and gave birth to Boaz. [00:34:46] You just have no idea what God is trying to do in your life. [00:34:52] That canvas that seems so blank and worthless. God sees so much more. Oh, God sees so much more. He knows what he can do with you. If you will just go. Ruth said, where you go, I'll go. And your God will be my God. Rahab said, your God is the only God. And they proclaimed faith in God. And look what God did in their life. [00:35:20] These women. [00:35:22] God saw in them what no one else could see or imagine. But their faith in God caused what God saw to come to pass. We could talk about David in first. Samuel 16, seven. When Samuel went to anoint him, God had to instruct Samuel because he says, samuel, you're going to be looking at the canvases all wrong. [00:35:44] He said, samuel, don't look on his countenance or his height or his stature. Don't look what's already on that count, because I refused this guy. [00:35:53] The Lord does not see as a man sees. Man looks on the outward, but God looks on the heart. [00:36:00] And that's not a loophole to do anything you want. [00:36:03] It's just saying God sees the youth that nobody else sees. And they called for the youngest, David. He was a lad. The scripture refers to him as a lad, a youth. [00:36:15] Saul couldn't see it. [00:36:17] In chapter 17 and verse 33, Saul says to David, you can't go out to fight the philistine. You are a youth. You are but a youth. You're nothing but a youth. That's all I see. I see nothing but a cheese carrying, donking, riding little boy. [00:36:37] But he's a man of war from his youth. [00:36:42] Whoo. [00:36:44] All I seed is a little boy. [00:36:48] His brothers couldn't even see him. They just thought he was being naughty and got onto him. [00:36:55] Goliath couldn't see it. When Goliath looked about. He sees David disdained him, for he was but a youth, and ruddy and of a fair countenance. That's all that they could see. They could see nothing more than a child. A shepherd boy with a sling and a bag of rocks. [00:37:20] But God saw what nobody else saw. [00:37:24] Let's back up to when Saul loses the kingdom. Look what Samuel said. One Samuel, 1314. And you'll see the progression, Saul. Your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought him a mandehead. Everybody say amen. [00:37:42] But he anointed a youth. [00:37:46] I'm looking for a man. [00:37:49] A youth. A child. [00:37:52] Ruddy young shepherd boy. The youngest out of his brethren. [00:37:57] There's a progression from child to man. He says, all you see is a child. But I see the Mandev. I see the man after my heart. I see what he's going to be. And you start reading the story, you'll see that David behaved himself wisely, going in and going out and found favor with all the people. He was growing into exactly what God said he would be. The king, the worshiper, the warrior, a man after God's own heart. [00:38:27] He sought a man, but he anointed a boy to grow into it because he saw what nobody else saw. [00:38:34] All they saw was that blank canvas. But he saw the not so blank canvas. I'm just about done. [00:38:43] You could go into the New Testament and you could begin to talk about Saul of Tarsus. [00:38:53] Saul of Tarsus was a persecutor of the church of Jesus Christ. [00:39:00] He had stood by and condoned the stoning of Stephen. He had locked people up, caused him to recant. He had tortured people, instilled fear in many people where people did not even want to have anything to do with him. He was thorn in the side of the new church. [00:39:20] But one day, and I'm sure that the church would have thought, God, kill this guy. [00:39:29] I am almost certain that somebody prayed for Saul to die, because even his disciples walking with him said, hey, we'll call fire out of heaven and burn them up if you want us to. [00:39:40] I mean, they still were learning that gray stuff, but what they saw was the persecutor and the destroyer. [00:39:51] But God saw the evangelist, the church builder, the apostle, the prophet. [00:40:02] He saw the revelation that Paul would have. [00:40:08] He said, I'm not even going to call him Saul. He's going to be Paul from now on. We're going to call him Paul. [00:40:14] And changed that name, and it took a moment. People were still afraid of him. But that's what God does. God doesn't want to take you out. [00:40:22] He wants to see you do what he's called you to do. He sees you like nobody else does. He wants you to fulfill what he's got for you in his life. [00:40:34] That's why Romans five. Look what Paul would write in romans five and eight. God commended his love toward us. I'm sure he's thinking of him, of his own self. He could have said, God commended his love toward me, that while I was a sinner, Christ died for me when I was that canvas, and nobody could see anything but what I was doing. But God saw past that. [00:41:05] And that's why Paul would write in one corinthians, chapter six, to give us all hope. [00:41:12] First Corinthians, six, nine. Don't you know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? [00:41:19] Don't be deceived. Neither fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. [00:41:34] But he's writing to the church, to the saints, to those that God called to be saints. [00:41:40] And he says, and you understand now because he says, and such were some of you, God found you in all those things, but now you're washed, but you're sanctified, but you're justified. In the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit, our God. [00:42:00] In him, we are new creatures. Old things passed away. All things are become new. God can wash the canvas and paint his masterpiece if we will. Let him. [00:42:14] We're hard on ourselves, but God is merciful. [00:42:18] I'm just about done. Hang with me. [00:42:22] Feel that. Like there's value in each one. These last two. In Luke seven, Jesus went to the house of Simon to eat. In verse 37, it says, a woman in the city which was a sinner. [00:42:37] Everybody in the city knew she was a sinner, but when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisees house. She brought an alabaster box of ointment. She stood at his feet behind him, weeping. And began to wash his feet with tears. Wiped them with the hairs of her head. Kissed his feet. Anointed them with ointment. [00:42:56] They all knew she was a sinner. And that's the only canvas they saw. [00:43:01] The worthless, blank canvas. Worthless. [00:43:07] But Jesus did know, Simon thought. Well, if Jesus was all he said he was. He would know what kind of woman's touching. He knew what kind of woman she was. And he didn't care. [00:43:16] Because he knew that she had faith. [00:43:20] And he ended up telling her, your faith has saved you, and your sins are forgiven. And her life began to be something altogether different. Let me tell you, God is trying to call people. [00:43:35] Have faith in me. Come to me. Come like you are. Don't worry about what nobody else knows. You just come like you are. Because I see the you that nobody else sees. And finally, in John, chapter eight. [00:43:54] John, chapter eight. And verse three. The scribes and Pharisees bring unto him a woman taken in adultery. [00:44:00] When they had set her in the midst. They say unto him, master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now, Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. [00:44:14] They should have just kept it there if they really wanted to do something. Because they messed up when they went to the master of mercy. [00:44:20] What do you say? [00:44:23] This, they said, tempting him. That they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger he wrote on the ground. As though he had not heard them. [00:44:33] You know, many people have talked about what was Jesus writing. [00:44:38] Maybe he was writing the story of her life. [00:44:42] Maybe he was writing what was coming next. There's been all kind of things. He was writing down their names. Or writing down things that caused them to drop those stones. But maybe because he said, I've just, you know, I know what you see and I know what you say. But I got a whole different idea for this lady. And I'm writing her story. Because I'm the author and the finisher of her faith. Maybe that's what he was doing. Maybe he was painting the picture there of what she would be. But when they continued asking him. He lifted up himself and he said, he that is without sin among you. Let him cast a stone first. Cast a stone at her. [00:45:23] And again he stooped down and he began to write. [00:45:27] And they, which heard it. Being convicted by their own conscience. Went out one by one. Beginning at the eldest, even until the last. And Jesus was left alone. The woman standing in the midst. [00:45:38] When jesus lifted up himself, he saw none but the woman. He said, where are those thine accusers? Has no man condemned you? [00:45:45] She said, no man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. [00:45:56] Pharisees saw this woman through the lens of the law and wanted to stone her. [00:46:06] But jesus saw her through the lens of the lamb of God that was slain from the foundation of the world. [00:46:14] He saw her through the eyes of mercy and forgiveness and of grace. [00:46:21] He saw her washed and forgiven because he was the lamb of God, and he came to save his people from their sins. And so all they could see was death for her. But all he could see was life. Go thy way and sin no more. [00:46:37] Now, this woman is nameless. [00:46:42] In other words, it's just blank. [00:46:45] Maybe they never named her so you could just insert your own name. [00:46:50] This was me. [00:46:52] I was caught dead to rights. [00:46:55] But then Jesus, all people could see was how wrong I was and the wrong I was doing and the things I had made a mess of. And that's all that anybody could say. And they wanted to just kill me for it. But then Jesus, it doesn't say anything else about her. There's no record of her life. Go your way and sin no more. But maybe it doesn't tell us an occupation or who she married or where she went so that we could just understand there's endless possibilities. [00:47:30] Maybe she's one of the women who followed him all the way to the cross. [00:47:35] She was one of the women that began to follow and minister after him because she knew the mercy and grace that she had been shown by him. Maybe she was one of those that was crying Hosanna to the king. Blessed is he that comes in the name of the lord. Maybe she was the one welcoming him in as he began to ride in to Calvary. You know, I don't know. [00:47:59] But Jesus looked at her and saw what nobody else saw. [00:48:07] I think if Jesus had saw her and knew she was just going to go right back and do the same things, maybe he would have let them have their way. But he knows that if people will give me a chance, I can do what nobody else can do. Let's stand together. [00:48:31] Maybe this is the way you see yourself today. [00:48:36] It's the blank canvas, worth only the price that was paid to bring it here. [00:48:47] But I'll tell you this, that today Jesus sees the you that knows else does. [00:48:54] He sees how faithful you can be. [00:48:59] He sees how strong you can be. [00:49:02] He sees how kind and loving you can be. He sees that you can make a difference in somebody else's life. He sees that you could be great for the kingdom. [00:49:11] And if you could have faith in him today, you could begin to see the very first strokes of the masterpiece that he is creating. [00:49:22] Cause he loves you. [00:49:25] He died for you. [00:49:29] He filled you with his spirit. [00:49:33] He's preparing a place for you so he can come back and receive you unto himself. [00:49:40] I want to be the one that he sees. [00:49:47] I want to be the one that he sees. [00:49:51] While they're playing this morning, as they begin to play and to sing, I want you to take a moment right now, just for about five or 10 seconds, I want you to think and make a decision. Are you ready to be what Jesus wants you to be? [00:50:09] Are you ready to let him work in your life? Are you tired of looking in the mirror and seeing that blank campus? [00:50:20] Are you tired of speaking yourself and talking yourself out of the miracle that God wants to do in your life? [00:50:30] If that's you, I invite you to come meet him in this altar today. [00:50:35] Come meet the savior. Come meet the master. Come meet this great artist. [00:50:42] Come meet this king, this savior today in the altar, would you come and pray? [00:50:47] We've got some to baptize today, some that have been wanting to be baptized. And so we're going to be getting ready for that. And so if you need to be baptized in Jesus name, we have towels and. And we can get you ready for that. [00:51:04] If you need the Holy Ghost, there'll be someone to pray with you in this altar. [00:51:09] Maybe you just need to come and repent. Repent of your sins. God, I'm sorry for not trusting you, for not believing you. [00:51:17] Whatever it is today, don't leave here without letting the master touch your life.