Least Likely to Succeed

Scripture text: Joshua 1:8—This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

When I was in high school it was tradition that the student counsel would go around and ask for the students to vote on who they thought was the most congenial, most popular, most likely to succeed and the dreaded, least likely to succeed; and then, would make a notation in the yearbook of the people who received the most votes in those categories.  I don’t know if they still do anything like that today, but I can imagine most high schools still practice that tradition.  Now I was pretty much a nobody in school, just an everyday average student.  Wasn’t very popular, not the smartest, not the coolest and as a matter of fact there were probably more students who didn’t know my name than those who did.  I really was pretty much a nobody but at least I wasn’t the kid that was voted least likely to succeed.  What a real loser that kid must have been, or at least I’m sure he/she felt like a total loser when “LEAST LIKELY TO SUCCEED” appeared underneath their picture in the yearbook.   How totally horrible!

Have you ever felt you were a nobody?  Ever thought you’re not good enough, big enough, smart enough to be successful?  Yeah, we all have at times.  Every single person in the whole world has had failures and problems, oh that is except for God’s people, right?  God’s people especially the biblical heroes are perfect, strong, wise, fearless and never make mistakes, right?  Not so.  As a matter of fact most, if not all, of the people God chose to do his work were pretty much nobodies.
We have...

Abraham and Sarah who were way, way, way past the age of bearing children and probably too decrepit to do anything, right?  Oh but wait aren’t they the ones who birthed an entire race, the jews?  Talk about success.  Out of his loins came the rest of our biblical heroes, including Jesus.

Next we have Moses.  How could he succeed.  Oh yes, he was raised in the Pharoah’s palace, had the finest teacher’s but how could Moses ever lead God’s people out of Egypt or be God’s spokes person, he was a stutterer.  That’s right he stuttered, and not just a little.  He even said...O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou has spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue and that’s why God sent Aaron to go along with him to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt, to be his mouthpiece. Besides all that he was a murderer and a fugitive.  How could God possibly use something like that?
What about David, the puny little shepherd boy.  How in the world could God use a mere boy to do his bidding.  What could he possibly do to bring glory to God.  He certainly wasn’t giant killing material or kingly at all. Yet David become the greatest king to ever walk the face of the earth.  He did kill a giant and single-handedly delivered the nation of Israel out of the hands of the Philistines.

How about Esther the plain Jane queen.  Just a little orphaned Jewish girl with no parents and no money living in a strange land.  Out of all the girls in the land Esther had the least going for her especially when it came to being chosen as the new queen.  There’s no doubt in my mind that all the other candidates made sure they had fancy hairdos, exquisite gowns made of the finest silk, they adorned themselves with the finest jewels, make-up and sweet perfumes before stepping foot in front of the king, but not Esther.  No, she chose to be plain, simple and shamefaced, and Godly.  Nonetheless the king chose her.  He saw something more beautiful in her than in any other.  It was her simple honesty.  She didn’t put on heirs or try to be something more than what she was.  She was not trying to cover anything up.  She was just Esther and because of her integrity and willingness to be Godly instead of like all the others, God was able to use her to save her entire race from death.  

Then there’s Ruth.  The bible says that an Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord forever.  In another place it says...on that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever.  Well, guess what, Ruth was a Moabite.  So then how come she has an entire book of the bible in her honor?  How could God use her for anything?  After all she wasn’t even a part of his people.  Yet, incredibly enough God did use Ruth because of her dedication to be like the people of God and you know what she was, she was King David’s (Jesus’) great, great, great, grandmother.  Imagine that a lowly Moabite in the lineage of Jesus.

What about Rahab.  She was an harlot.  Talk about the least likely to succeed yet God used her to help his people conquer the nation of Jericho and by doing so she also saved her own family.  And the bible says that she (and her seed) dwelleth in Israel to this day.  She wasn’t even a part of God’s chosen people, but when she allowed herself to be used of God to harbor the spies she made a name for herself and preserved her family to the end of time.

Gideon, from fearful to fearless.  Threshing wheat in the middle of the night so the Midianites would come and steal it away.  He was pretty spineless and when the Lord came and greeted him he called him a mighty man of valour.  There’s no way.  Gideon was a fraidy cat.  When the Lord said he had a job for him to do, the first thing Gideon said was ...oh no not me, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.  He basically told God I can’t do anything for you.  I don’t have anything to offer you.  You might as well find someone else for this mission.  Gideon had such an inferiority complex that he even fleeced God, not only once, but twice to make sure that God had indeed chosen him to save Israel.  Gideon may not have had any faith in himself but after proving God he went on to not only save the people and deliver them out of the hand of the Midianites but he was one of the greatest judge’s Israel ever had.

This list of these “LEAST LIKELY TO SUCCEED” goes on and on.  We have Peter, James and John, just mere fishermen.  Not educated.  Nothing special about any of them.  Yet God said of Peter on this rock I will build my church.

We have Saul the Persecutor who became Paul, the Apostle.  How could God use a persecutor of the name of Jesus and of the church for anything good?  Yet, we know and it’s recorded that Paul preached the gospel to more people than just about any other apostle and wrote the majority of the new testament.  When God told Ananias to go to Paul and lay his hand on him that he would receive his sight after Paul’s enlightenment on the road to Damascus, Ananias said “Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name”, but God said, “he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel”.

Then there’s you.  Yeah that’s right, I said it, you.  Now when I look at you guys I see beautiful, helpful, friendly, popular, smart young ladies who I vote to be the most likely to succeed. However others, maybe even yourselves, see you as nobodies and truthfully to the world there is nothing special about either of you at all.  There’s nothing special about me, or anyone else here.  As a matter of fact if you take a look at all of God’s chosen people, you will notice that there aren’t very many who are super special.  There aren’t very many famous ones, or raving beauties, not many millionaires, or heavy weight champions.  We’re all just everyday average people with not much to boast about, and truthfully in today’s society most of us are classified as underdogs and for the most part none of us are very popular.

So why do you suppose God chooses people who are voted “LEAST LIKELY TO SUCCEED”?  For one reason.  Glory.  

You see God is notorious for using nobodies for his service because when God takes a small, not so special person and uses them in a great way, his glory is shown more brightly.  If God were to use prestigious, or mighty people to do his bidding others could say that it wasn’t God that did the work at all but that it was the person who was able.  However, when God uses someone who couldn’t otherwise possibly do the job others believe and know that God was responsible for the victory.  When God uses nobodies to do his work he get’s all the credit for the success.  That’s glory.

And, when you allow yourself to be used by God, in spite of your failures, faults and imperfections, you go from being the “LEAST LIKELY TO SUCCEED” to the God’s champion.

You aren’t a loser just because you or others view you as one.  God views you as the APPLE OF HIS EYE.  Take a closer look in your mirror, now what do you see?

IN GOD’S HOUSE YOU ARE VOTED THE “MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED”!!!

God's Top Ten and Then Some

Rules, rules, rules.  Sometimes it seems as if that is all there is to life.  You can’t do this, you must do that.  You recently went back to school where they have a lot of rules.  No running in the halls, no chewing gum. No candy.  NO CELLPHONES! You must be in class when the bell rings.  No hitting, fighting, or touching.  Homework must be turned in on time.  There is a rule for everything.


Scripture Text:  Exodus 20:3-17 (the ten commandments)

The same is true in our spiritual life.  There are toooooooo many rules.  But really is that true.  I know I just read a whole bunch of scripture that said do this, no, don’t do that.  I mean when you stop and think about it, it seems that there is no way you will ever be able to do this living for God thing right.  There is just to much to know and do, or should I say not do.  I mean really, Is that all there is to living for God, rules?  No, not at all.  There are many benefits to living for God too; however, today we are going to talk about some rules; not only the top ten commandments, but also a few others that narrow the top ten down.  So let’s take a look at some scriptures that narrow these ten down a little, maybe that will make it seem a little easier on us.

Matt. 22:36-40 (the greatest commandment).

Okay that’s a little easier there are only two things here to remember.  God is #1 and we should love our neighbor as ourselves.  That’s much better.  There is one of those two things I want to discuss today.  We all know we must love the Lord thy God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and that the bible says that the only way to show/prove that we love God is to keep his commandments.  So today I want to show you that there is virtually one commandment that we must be committed to keeping and that’s where the love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  The one rule is called The golden rule.  It’s the rule to live by.

Matt. 7:12 (the golden rule) (this is your memory verse)

So let’s discuss this golden rule and see if we can really determine what it means.  If we can get this one rule down, we will have kept the entirety of all the commandments without fault.  It’s so simple “we should do unto others as we would have them do to us” and let me just say that if we don’t follow this rule, then we are prone to Murphy’s law of “what goes around, comes around”.  Meaning that whatever we dish out, we are going to get in return.  If you lie about someone, you are going to be lied about, etc.

There are some people with the mentality of:

Do unto others before they do it to me.  Well, I’d better get a jump on the situation and get what I want before they do. Is that a right attitude to have.  Absolutely not.  That is not the Golden rule.

Do unto others as they do unto me.  Well, they did this or they did that, so I’m gonna do it to them.  I’ll show them.  I’ll get them.  Is that God’s will?  Is that a right spirit?  No, God said that vengeance is his.  If someone does his child wrong he will take care of it.

Our job is to “Do unto others as I would have them do unto me”.  Do you need forgiveness? Do you need mercy because you have done something really ugly.  Most likely! So as a rule we must be forgiving and merciful to others.  We must treat others right according to how the bible tells us to.  Do they deserve to be treated right?  Not always.

What it really boils down to is not how others treat us, but how we treat others.

In Remembrance of Me

This lesson is perfect for Veteran's Day and even Memorial Day.

Notes:  This lesson involves taking communion.  Please make sure this is okay with your pastor and the children's parents first as communion is a very important and very deep subject.  Please note that the lesson can still be taught even if the children are not allowed to actively partake in communion. 


Even if you are not taking communion you can still bring a snack for the children that consists of unleavened bread (pita bread works well) and grape juice.  You might include some grapes and cheeses as well.

Happy Veteran’s Day (Memorial Day).  You know when I was your age Veteran’s Day was an important holiday.  School was closed, businesses were closed, banks were closed, and although the governmental departments still observe Veteran’s Day every year, most businesses are open and school is still in session.  Many people no longer observe Veteran’s Day.  How come?  Do we no longer believe it’s important to honor our veterans?  Have we forgotten what Veteran’s Day is all about?

I know this doesn’t quite sound like a Sunday School lesson but you will see in a minute where this is going.

What is Veteran’s Day?  It is the day we set aside every year to honor those military men and woman who have given up their freedoms, desires, homes, time and often times their lives for our freedom.  We celebrate the memory of fallen heroes.  We set aside November 11 every year in remembrance of them for what they’ve given up so that we might have a better way of life.

Now as far as Sunday School, is there anyone whom we should set aside a day of honor and remembrance?  One who gave his own life for our freedom.  One who gave up so much that we might have life and more abundant life.  Yes, Christ Jesus!

Now every day is a day that we are to honor and reverence God, but there is a time that we should set aside to remember what the Christ did for us.  Today we are going to honor Jesus.  He is the ultimate Veteran who gave his all for us.

IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME...

Scripture Text: Luke 22:15-20
Matt 26:30
1 Corin. 11:23-29


Jesus told his disciples, I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.

He told them that we was going to be killed (for the sins of the world), and he blessed and brake bread and offered it to them.  He gave them wine to drink.

He said, this bread is like my body which is going to be broken for you.  And the wine is like my blood which will be poured out for you.  I will be beaten, spit upon, and bludgeoned for your sakes and for the sake of the whole world.  I willingly (like a good soldier) give myself for this cause.  The cause that the souls of men might be freed from the bondage of sin.  The number one reason I am giving my life is so that repentance and remissions of sins be preached in my name offering liberty to the world.  I give my life for your freedom.

You see Jesus Christ is the ultimate veteran.  He gave himself as the ultimate sacrifice for his brethren and countrymen.  He gave his life for freedom.  Freedom from sin, freedom from death, hell and the grave.  He paid the highest price so that we could have life and more abundant life.

He said to his disciples, please don’t forget me.  I want you to remember what I have done for you.  Remember the price I paid for your freedom.  Don’t forget that it was I that gave you the freedoms you have so...

...do this IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.   Do what?  What are we to do in remembrance of the beating of that body and the shedding of his blood?  We are to set aside a time of remembrance in honor of him.  A spiritual Veteran’s Day so to speak and on that day he said that we should take bread and break it (in remembrance of the beating and the giving of his body for us).  We should take wine and drink it in remembrance of the blood he shed for remission of our sins.  For our freedom of sin.

We are warned in scripture (1 Corin. 26-29) that this observance of our Spiritual veteran’s day is not to be taken lightly or half-heartedly (like some have done to our country’s veteran’s day in recent years), but we are to be serious knowing that we are putting Christ’s sacrifice in remembrance.  That it is not just another celebration, not just another time to get together and eat and drink, but it is to be done with the utmost respect and reverence of our savior’s sacrifice, remembering the beating he took for us.  Remembering the price paid for our sins.  Remembering that it’s because of him we are able to escape death, hell and the grave and that we are set at liberty from the one who would take captive our souls.

This is not something we do everyday of the week or even once a week, but just like our country’s veteran’s day, we here do this usually once a year.  However, the bible says that whenever you do this (whether it’s on a day like today, or on New’s Years Eve as we often do), it is only to be done in remembrance of Christ for his sacrifice and we are warned that if we do this without sincerity and unworthily we eat and drink damnation to ourselves.  So this is serious business.

Today in honor of our spiritual veteran’s day, let us put our savior’s sacrifice in remembrance.  Let us honor the ultimate veteran, the hero of our soul, Jesus Christ.

First let us pray....(this is where the act of communion would take place, if allowed.  If not, you may lay out a snack of pita bread, cheeses, grapes and grape juice for the children to enjoy.)