Untitled Sermon

PRAY. As you take your seats, greet somebody and tell them that God is Good.

It has been just over a month since I last had the opportunity to share with you. Last time I spoke, my message was entitled Worrier To Warrior, which the main point was, Don’t Be a Worrier, Be A Warrior. We learned about Gideon and explored how his identity wasn’t that of a worrier, but a warrior. Warriors put their trust in God, worriers lack trust for Him. Warriors rely on God, worriers don’t. Through the battles Gideon faced, we learned that a warrior replaces their focus from the opposition, and towards the Almighty One. And lastly, Warriors release everything to the one who is omnipresent (everywhere), omnipotent (almighty), and omniscient (all-knowing). Don’t be a worrier, be a warrior. Tune into YouTube if you want to catch my last message.

Let me preface my message today with a story. My first summer after finishing high school, I went looking for a job. Now, I had already worked as a theatre technician for a while in high school, and I spent two days as an employee at Chow King. Clearly it wasn’t a favorite job of mine. After some time, I went on the internet and applied for a job at Toys R Us. It was the first time that I can recall actually applying for a job. I put in all the necessary information, job skills, job experience, minus Chow King. All that stuff. And then came a section marked availability. In that section was a box for each day and I was supposed to mark what times I would be available to work. I had the liberty to say when I was and was not available. I wasn’t in school at the time, and besides Sundays at church, my availability was fairly wide open. I figured that with a wide availability, I would have a good chance at getting that job. Fortunately, I got the job. But that was a long time ago.

Anyways, I share this with you because I want to talk about being available.

What does it mean to be available? Let’s take a look.

Merriam-Webster defines the word available as: present or ready for immediate use. But let's take a deeper look at the word. If you notice, the word available can be broken up into two words, Avail, and Able.

Merriam-Webster defines avail as: to be of use and Able as: having sufficient power, skill, or resources.

Putting those two definitions together, you might define available as: one who is of use and having sufficient power, skill, or resources.

But for purpose of this message, my definition of available, and the main point that I want you to take away is this:

Be available to be used by God.

Why, you ask?

POINT 1: God Wants Your Availability

Let me start by saying that God desiring our availability is not saying that God needs our availability. For it says in

Acts 17: 24-25 NIV

24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.

25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

God gives us the freedom of availability, but desires it to be used for Him.

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to:

Matthew 4:18-22 ESV

18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

19 And he [Jesus] said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.

22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Some context here. Prior to the calling of his first disciples, Jesus had just been baptized by John and then tempted in the wilderness by the devil. Now Jesus’s ministry was ready to begin.

When Jesus called out to Peter and Andrew to come follow him, they were quick to respond. Dropping their nets and immediately following Jesus. James and John did the exact same thing. Both times, the disciples' responses were immediate. There were no questions asked. These same immediate responses are also accounted for in the Gospels according to Mark, Luke, and John.

Say I come up to you, my friend or family member, and I simply ask you to come follow me, I want to show you something. How might you respond? Maybe your initial response is what? or why? Or maybe you’ll ask where we are going? Not so much a straight answer.

Parents, say you're in the other room and you call out to your children to come meet you. What response do you get? Could it be a loud and distant, Yes mom? Or Yes dad? Yet, you don’t here or see anyone coming. It’s hardly ever an immediate decision to come straight to you.

And how about you working professionals out there? Say someone desires to meet you, maybe for lunch, an event, or just to connect over coffee? What is the first thing that comes to mind? Oh let me check my schedule! So you check your scheduled and come to find out, you’re not immediately available. So what now? We go ahead and schedule a time to meet up. But when that time finally comes, you might be so wrapped up in your schedule that you forget, and have to reschedule, and in time, the meet up just falls through. Or even worse, your response is simply an excuse.

Nowadays, we’re less quick to respond because of our availability, and oftentimes more quick to delay or share excuses or other reasons as to not be available.

The disciples didn’t hesitate when it came to answering the call of Jesus. They dropped their nets, and in the case of James and John, they even left their dad. They said See ya, bye! The disciples’ give us an example of when God calls, we should quickly respond as available.

So God wants your availability, but maybe you feel like you’re not available because you’re not sure you are capable of doing whatever God calls you to do. This leads me to my next point.

POINT 2: God Wants Your Availability More Than Your Ability

Take a look at the life of Moses. God had a call on his life, and when time came for him to be used by God, he was available. But being available to be used by God did not come with ease. Moses expressed some initial doubt in himself…

Exodus 3: 11 NIV

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

God reassures Moses in promising that He will be with him, but Moses insists on his self doubt with the addition of fear of ability to speak…

Exodus 4:10 NIV

10 Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

In Exodus 4:13, we even read that he pleads for God to send someone else. While Moses was available to be used by God, he kept weighing himself down with lack of ability.

Sometimes, when we're called to do something specific, be it called by God, or even asked to do some task at work, we get lost in the idea of wether or not we are able to do such things, that we forget that we were simply available in the first place. We lose sight of the opportunity to be used. But take heart, because when God calls, He equips. Surely you’ve heard the phrase, God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. But I like this saying from author Bob Goff.

He said it best like this, "God often uses the least qualified, most available people to get things done."

When we’re focused on being available to God, we don’t have to stress about the ability. He is able to equip us for the work which He has called us to do. Which leads us to my next point.

POINT 3: God gives the ability to those who are available.

Continuing with the story of Moses, after pleading with God to send someone else, God called his brother Aaron.

Exodus 4: 14-16 NIV

14 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you.

15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do.

16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him.

God’s call on Aaron was not a replacement of Moses, but an addition to Moses. This addition of Aaron was God’s way of equipping Moses to free the Israelites from Pharoah. And God affirmed his preparation for them in verse 15 when he said “I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do.”

Aaron’s availability here also shows the importance of being available to God with other believers. I’ll share more on this later.

Let me bring you back to the disciples.

Matthew 4:19 ESV

19 And he [Jesus] said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Once Jesus had their availability, he knew that He could equip them for something more. Jesus knew of their ability to catch fish, but wanted to equip them to be fishers of men. These men would go on to help spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The specific use of Peter would lay birth to the New Testament Church as described in the book of Acts.

The premise of why I share this message with you today is that being available means to surrender. It starts with surrender.

To be available is to surrender yourself to him.

When we surrender ourselves and make ourselves available, we are available to help spread the Gospel. If someone is able to share the Gospel, but not available to do so, the spreading of the Gospel stalls. The Gospel spreads with people who are available.

James 4:7 ESV

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

You may have heard the saying, If the devil doesn’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy. And to be busy it is to be buried under satan’s yolk. It’s so easy to get caught up on leaving Sunday being the only day that you’re available to God, because it’s the Lord’s Day. Well, let me remind you. God created all the other days too, and He wants your availability everyday. So what am I telling you? Am I telling you to give up everything that you’re doing and make yourself available to God? That’s not what I’m saying, though if you do so, watch how God can use you. What I am saying is to just be available to God. How that looks for you is really between you and God. If you’re doing something that’s keeping you distracted from being available to God, go to Him in prayer, and He’ll guide you through it.

2 Timothy 2:21 ESV

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

When we’re readily available, free from distraction, we can be ready for every good work that God has planned for us.

To be available is to serve.

Recall the story of Moses and Aaron. When it comes to serving, I often feel like we focus more on someone's ability to do things, as opposed to someone's availability. If you flip the word around, it’s like I’m looking for someone who is Ableavail. And I am guilty of this as well. Oftentimes, when I need something to get done, and there are a lot of people around me, I often seek out those who may already know whatever task I might want them to do. In this way, I don't have to take the time to show/teach anyone what to do. But in hindsight, I miss an opportunity for someone else who simply might be available, and willing to learn a task.

When God called Aaron to assist Moses in speaking to the Pharoah for the Israelites freedom, God was demonstrating his use of abilities among his people.

1 Peter 4:10 ESV

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:

Philippians 2:13 ESV

For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

God is going to use whoever is available to serve, equipped with the abilities that God gave them, to do His work,

But let me pivot to another reason as to why I’m sharing this with you today. As you know, our time here at this location is coming to an end. I get sentimental thinking about. In fact, in less than two months, we’ll have our last Sunday right here in this room. And while many of our members are working behind the scenes to prepare us to mobile, it’s going to take a lot more hands to