Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. If you enjoyed today's message, why don't you be a blessing and share it with a friend? We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life. Well, God bless you. It's a joy to come into your homes. And if you're ever in our area, please stop by and be a part of one of our services.
I promise you, we'll make you feel right at home. I like to start with something funny. And I heard about this man. He was driving through an intersection that was monitored by cameras. If you ran the light or broke the law in any way, would take your picture, you'd receive a ticket in the mail.
So he made sure to go through it extra slowly, not break any laws, but he noticed the camera flash, took his picture. He thought that's not right. He turned around and drove through it again, even more slowly. Once again, it took his picture. He thought, this thing's messed up. They cannot give me a ticket.
Out of spite, he drove through it three more times, each time waving at the camera with a big smile. A week later, he received five tickets in the mail for not wearing his seatbelt. Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today, I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess my mind is alert.
My heart is receptive. I'll never be the same in Jesus name. God bless you. I want to talk to you today about called into the house. Sometimes we're doing the right thing, but it doesn't seem like it's making a difference. We're being our best, honoring God, but we're not making much progress, not getting good breaks. Our dreams aren't coming to pass. It seems like we're being overlooked.
And it's easy to get discouraged, think God must have forgotten about us, especially when we see other people who are being blessed, promoted, meeting the right person. Thoughts tell us it's because they're more talented. They're more attractive. They come from an influential family. Just accept where you are.
These thoughts try to make us feel insignificant, push us down, so we'll settle for mediocrity. This is what happened to David in the scripture. He was the youngest son of a man named Jesse. He had seven older brothers. And as a teenager, he got stuck out in the shepherd's fields taking care of his father's sheep.
He spent his days feeding the animals, cleaning up their mess, protecting them from harm. It was boring, lonely. His brothers were in the military where it was exciting and prestigious. They wore a uniform each day, had respect and honor. When they passed by, people admired them. Nobody thought of David. Nobody celebrated him. In their eyes, what he was doing was insignificant.
They discounted him, thought, oh, that's just David. He's the youngest, he's small, he's not talented. He'll never do anything great. They looked on the outside. What they couldn't see was what was on the inside. David had a heart after God. He didn't complain. He didn't slack off because nobody was watching. He didn't get bitter, go around with a chip on his shoulder.
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Chapter 2: What does it mean to be called into the house?
He discounted David, saw him as insignificant, didn't even bother inviting him in. Just because people leave you out doesn't mean God leaves you out. People may overlook you. They may judge you by the outside, your height, your weight, your skin color. God looks on the inside. The good news is God has the final say. Promotion doesn't come from people. It comes from the Lord.
People may bypass you. They may not give you the time of day, but they cannot stop what God has ordained for you. If you'll keep being faithful, honoring God, he'll take you from the background to the foreground. People may try to push you down. God will lift you up. They may try to hold you back. God will thrust you forward. People don't determine your destiny. God does.
When Samuel heard that Jesse had another son, he asked him to go get him. Jesse sent a messenger out. I can imagine David sees this man way off in the distance coming toward him full speed. David thinks, is something wrong? Is there an emergency?
Chapter 3: How can we overcome feelings of being overlooked?
The messenger shows up and says, David, your father needs you immediately. Come with me. They take off running together back to the house. When David arrived, the moment Samuel saw him, he said, that's the one. He's the next king of Israel. All those years David spent out in the shepherd's fields, he felt ignored, insignificant, looked down on.
His family discounted him, didn't give him any credit. It looked like that would be his destiny, but in one moment, everything changed. What happened? He got called into the house. People ignored him. God said, I have my eye on David. People discounted him. God saw his potential. They looked on the outside. God looked at his heart.
He saw David doing the right thing when the wrong thing was happening. He saw him being faithful even when it looked like he wasn't going anywhere. You too may feel like you're being overlooked, left out. The people that should be for you should be cheering you on, doing just the opposite, discounting you, trying to push you down. Don't worry, your time is coming. God is watching you.
He sees your faithfulness, your dedication, your integrity. Like David, you're about to be called into the house. You're about to see doors open that you could never open. You're about to see vindication where God honors you in front of people who were trying to make you look bad.
You're going to see new levels of influence where people that once disrespected you, didn't give you the time of day, now they look up to you.
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Chapter 4: What lessons can we learn from David's story?
Now they admire you, ask you for advice. David was just minding his own business this day. As far as he was concerned, it was just another day at work, nothing special, taking care of sheep, keeping them from wild animals. Suddenly his whole life changed. It happened unexpectedly. You may think it's just another ordinary day going to work, coming home. You don't know what God is up to.
You never know when that messenger is going to show up saying you're needed in the house. You didn't see it coming. You weren't expecting it. Suddenly you meet the right person. Suddenly the medical report says cancer free. Suddenly you get that break that thrust you to the next level. You were called into the house. What's interesting is David wasn't dreaming about becoming a king.
He wasn't praying that one day he would lead a nation. He never thought he would defeat that giant and become an overnight national hero. He was a shepherd boy from a low income family. That influence, that kind of favor never entered his mind. What God has in store for you is much bigger than you've imagined. We pray for things that seem reasonable to us.
We ask for healing and protection to meet the right people. That's all good. But God has blessings that you've never asked for. If he showed you all that was in your future, it would boggle your mind. If you'll do like David and be your best where you are, you won't have to chase promotion. Promotion will chase you. You won't have to go after blessings. Blessings will come after you.
When you keep God first place, the scripture says you won't be able to outrun the good things he has in store. One of the keys is to stay faithful where you are. Don't wait till you get out of the shepherd's fields, then you're going to be your best. When you get a more significant position, then you're going to give it your all. You have to be excellent on the level you're on right now.
Pass the test in the small areas. If David would have slacked off, done a half-hearted job, he wouldn't have been called into the house. And if you're not excellent on your level, then you won't see promotion and increase. A friend of mine started pastoring a church in the hills of West Virginia in his late teens. Many Sundays, there were only seven people in the congregation.
He taught a Bible class each week with three people. Year after year went by and not too much changed. He had an incredible gift for ministry, very anointed, very powerful, but only a few dozen people really recognized his gift. Most discounted him, thought, ah, that's that young pastor. He doesn't have much to offer. He was very poor.
He drove a car that had holes in the floorboard where it had rusted out. You had to keep your feet up so they wouldn't touch the ground. He was not only the pastor of the church, he was the janitor as well. He would vacuum it, clean out the restrooms. He knew he had more in him. He knew he was going to make a greater impact, but he didn't slack off because he wasn't where he wanted to be.
He didn't say, when I get a bigger congregation, I'll be my best. When I get some recognition, when these people start realizing what I have to offer, then I'll give it my all. He was his best right where he was. Some people in this small town tried to discourage him, told him that he would never make it as a pastor. He was too poor, didn't have the training, the experience.
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Chapter 5: How does God see potential in us despite our circumstances?
And those things that are not changing, people dismissing you, those times where you feel like you're doing something insignificant, those are times of testing, times of proving where you have to show God what you're made of. That's when your character is developed. It's easy to slack off now. This doesn't matter. It's insignificant. Nobody is watching.
You have to pass small tests before God will release big things. If you're not excellent on the level you're on, you won't get to the next level. You may not like where you are. You know you have more in you. It's taken longer than you thought. but God knows what he's doing. He's closely watching you.
If you'll keep passing the test, staying faithful where you are, it's just a matter of time before you see that messenger show up suddenly, unexpectedly. Like Bishop Jakes, seems like another ordinary day, but the right person sees you and your whole world changes. Like David, somebody he didn't even know, the prophet Samuel came looking for him.
God knows how to get you to where you're supposed to be. He's already lined up your Samuels who will search you out to be good to you. Well, you say, Joel, I'd love to believe this. Sounds good, but you don't know my situation. I don't come from a prominent family. Neither did David. I don't know anyone influential that can give me a good break, open a door. Neither did David.
I don't have a good position. I'm doing something that seems insignificant. So was David. If you see what you're doing is not important, not significant, most likely you won't do it with excellence. What makes it incredibly important is the fact that that's where God has you now. You're not there by accident. It holds the key to you rising higher.
Samuel won't come looking if there's not excellence where you are. You don't have to do it better than somebody else. Just do it to the best of your ability. Knowing you're not working under people, you're working under God. I talked to a lady recently. She had been sick on and off for two years. She had to take a leave of absence from her job. She's a registered nurse.
For over 30 years has been a model employee with the same company. She felt badly about having to miss so much work and Not having the income was difficult on her family. She's a single parent mom raising two children. After two years, she was cleared to go back to work. But when she showed up, her supervisor told her that she didn't have a job anymore. That position had been filled.
After putting all this time into this company, she was going to lose her benefits, her seniority, have to start all over. It seemed like those 30 years went down the drain. Her teenage children said to her, mom, you've always taught us that God is in control, that he's going to take care of us. These last two years, we haven't missed a payment on the house. We haven't gone without.
What makes you think that God is going to fail us now? She had spent years speaking faith and encouragement into her kids. Now those seeds of encouragement were coming back to her. Instead of being negative, thinking God's forgotten about me, never dreamed I'd be unemployed at this age, she believed that God had her in the palm of his hand, that he would open the right doors.
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Chapter 6: What should we do when we feel stuck in life?
Everybody loved my father. Afterwards, they'd want to come up and shake his hand. I watched in the distance, was so proud. I used to think I could never do what he does. He's so smart, so talented, so creative. I came back after college and spent 17 years working behind the scenes doing the television production here at Lakewood. I did my best to make my father look good.
But God doesn't want us to go through life just celebrating others. He wants you to be celebrated. I never dreamed I would do this. I never prayed that one day I would be up here. I didn't think this was in me. But when daddy went to be with the Lord in 1999, I got called into the house. I discovered talent that I didn't know I had. Now I'm no longer on the outside looking in.
I'm on the inside looking out. Here's my point. Sometimes thoughts will tell you, you belong on the outside. You know, that blessed life, that prosperous, abundant life, that's not for you. That's for those people that are more talented, that have more beauty, that have more than you. Don't believe those lies. You didn't get left out. You weren't shortchanged. God put greatness in you.
There are gifts and talents you've not yet tapped into. There are new levels in your future. Keep being faithful. Like David, your time is coming. You're going to be called into the house. My friend John here on the front row ran camera for us at Lakewood for over 20 years. He was always faithful, always had a smile, a kind word, somebody we could count on.
I noticed through the years that John moved very slowly. I thought that was just his personality. I didn't realize that he didn't have the strength. At 10 years old, he was diagnosed with that defective heart. Left side didn't work. Got to the place he couldn't walk upstairs, drive his car. Had to have medicine flowing into him 24 hours a day intravenously.
Last December, he was so weak, ended up in the hospital. The doctor told him that his heart had finally given out. His only chance of survival was a heart transplant. He was put on the waiting list. Typically, that takes up to a year. Problem is, John didn't have a year. Some of our cameramen sent him my message about how God can accelerate things, make it happen quicker than you thought.
That seed took root in his spirit. Three weeks later, the doctor called, said, John, we have a heart for you. He had the transplant. Today he's here. He says he feels better than he's felt in 40 years. He can climb stairs. He can drive again, laugh again, live again. John got called into the house. The good news today, God has your number. He has the heart you need.
He has the healing that belongs to you. He has the baby with your name on it. You may be on the outside, but God's about to bring you to the inside. Like John, you're going to look up and say, I feel better now than I've felt in years. Like me, you're not going to just be celebrating and admiring others. You're going to be celebrated.
Amen.
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