Nothing, not even jealousy, can stop God’s plan from coming to pass for your life. He knows how to give you the victory and make all things work together for your good.
Morning Prayer with Pastor Sean Pinder
Victory Through Rejection
Good morning. This is Minister Jeffrey with you today on the Morning Prayer broadcast once again and today we're talking about an event that happened in the life of the Apostle Paul and we're going to see through Paul that even though Paul suffered rejection sometimes he was able to triumph mightily and we're going to see how he did that today. I'm excited about it. I can't wait to share it with you guys. But before we do that, we're going to open up with praise and worship this morning. Let's worship God together. Because I'm going to see a victory. I'm going to see a victory for the battle belongs to you Lord. Sing with me Church. Because I'm going to see a victory. I'm going to see a victory for the battle belongs to you Lord. Because I'm going to see a victory. I'm going to see a victory for the battle belongs to you Lord. Because I'm going to see a victory. I'm going to see a victory for the battle belongs. Come on, singing the weapon may be formed. Listen here, sing. The weapon may be formed but it won't prosper. And when the darkness falls, it won't prevail. Thank you Jesus. Because the God I serve knows only how to triumph. And my God will never fail. Father God in the name of Jesus, Melanie and I join our faith with the wonderful people of God today. Lord, whatever they need in their life I pray that you would give them the victory. In the name of Jesus, Lord comfort your people today. Lift your hands to heaven everyone and just receive the victory from heaven. I believe God wants to turn some of your situations around. I believe some of you have been suffering rejection. You have suffered hardship and heartache. God wants to turn it around and give you the victory today. Praise him for it. Thank you Jesus for victory in the midst of hardship and persecution today. Lord God, we give it all to you. Lord, anoint these lips of clay. Let people not hear me today. Let them hear Jesus Christ and let the word be so simple that even a child can understand what the Lord is saying to his church today in Jesus mighty name. Amen and amen. So today we're talking about victory through rejection. I gotta say that again. Victory through rejection. Oh, we all like to talk about victory. We like to talk about the breakthrough. We like to talk about overcoming our enemies and defeating our enemies and being victorious more than a conqueror, right? But nobody likes rejection. I don't like it. You don't like it. Nobody likes it. But you know sometimes God uses rejection to accomplish his will in our lives. Amen. We're going to see that today in the life of the Apostle Paul. We're going to Acts chapter 13 verse 38 again reading from the new living translation. Paul said, "Brothers, listen, we are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus, there is forgiveness for your sins." Isn't that good news? Amen. Everyone who believes in him is made right in God's sight. Something the law of Moses could never do. Be careful. Don't let the prophets' words apply to you for they said, "Look, you mockers, be amazed and die. Fry am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn't believe, even if someone told you about it." He's quoting Habakkuk chapter 1 verse 5. But that's not our focus today. What he's doing, he's preaching the gospel. He's preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. And he says, "Everyone who believes in Jesus is made right in God's sight." Isn't that good news? Amen. And that applies today as well, just like it did in the day when Paul preached it. Glory to God. Acts chapter 13 verse 42. As Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue that day, the people begged them to speak about these things again the next week. So the people are wanting to hear it. They're excited. They like what they're hearing. They want to hear some more. Many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas. And the two men urged them to continue to rely on the grace of God. You know, you have to be careful when God starts doing a new thing in your life. It's exciting. It's new. And we love it, you know. And sometimes we have to be reminded, we got to rely on the grace of God, you know. We got to make sure that we're still reading our Bibles. We got to make sure that we're still spending that time in prayer. Because we have to rely on God's grace because the tough times are coming. Amen, you know. So we have to do that. Verse 44, the following week, almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord. I mean, things are going great. People want to hear it. You know, they're following Paul and Barnabas. An entire city almost came out to hear them preach the word of the Lord. Sounds like they're being successful, doesn't it? But, but watch what happens next in verse 45. But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous. So they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said. The Bible says, be sober, be diligent, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Anytime a move of God is happening, people are getting saved, people are getting touched, you can count on the enemy, rearing his ugly head, trying to mess things up. And that's exactly what you did right here. And verse 46 says, then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, it was necessary that we first preached the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles. For the Lord gave us this commandment when he said, I have made you a light to the Gentiles to bring salvation to the far end of this corners of the earth. Verse 48, when the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message, and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers. So you see, the Jews started to stir the crowd up. They were jealous. They started to spread lies about Paul and Barnabas. And they argued against anything he said and got the crowd all stirred up and confused, you see. And so Paul said, okay, we took it to you first, which is what we were supposed to do. Now we're taking this gospel to the Gentiles. And when the Gentiles heard that they were glad, how many of us today are Gentiles, amen. You know, I am, many of you are, you know, you weren't born a Jew, right? And so the gospel has been open to us, and that's exciting news. And we're all happy about that. But look what happened. It came as a result of rejection. You see, watch this. Verse 50 says, then the Jews stirred up the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town. They ran them out. How about that? Everything was going great. And then these leaders got jealous. They stirred up the influential people and they ran them out of town. And what did they do? They shook the dust from their feet off as a sign of rejection and went to the town of Iconium. Mark chapter 6 verse 11, Jesus said, this is the King James now, whosoever shall not receive you nor hear you when you depart thence. Shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. "Verily, I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city." So that's what Paul and Barnabas were doing here. They were shaking the dust off. You know, they were moving on. You know, sometimes we, we tend when things don't work out in a certain location or a certain way, we tend to kind of, you know, want to hang out there and, and, and, you know, get sad and discouraged. But, but, but, you know, we, we got to shake the dust off and move on. Amen. And the Bible says in verse 52, the believers were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. So now look what happened. Paul was preaching the gospel. People were believing. They were getting encouraged, you know, and then these wicked people came in and messed everything up. They started stirring the crowds up. They got people to, to think evil of Paul and Barnabas. And before you know it, they were kicked out of the whole town. But guess what? They took the gospel and they moved on. And Paul, the Apostle Paul wound up writing most of the New Testament. He is the Moses of the New Testament. And how did it happen? It happened through rejection. So sometimes, I, I believe a lot of you on this program have been rejected, you know, and I want you to be encouraged you today that sometimes rejection is God's way of working his will in your life. You see, and it was through rejection that the word of God spread and the gospel was preached to more people. See if the devil had known any better, he should have left him be, you know, but the devil doesn't know everything. Amen. Amen. So if you're listening today, maybe you have never accepted Christ as your Savior. Maybe you've been rejected. Maybe people have tossed you aside. I want you to know Jesus loves you. He cares about you. And I want you to pray this simple prayer with me. Just say, Father God, thank you that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins. Lord Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart, change me from the inside. I turn my back on the world, the flesh and the devil, and I ask you to be my Savior and Lord now and forever in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Glory to God. Listen Saints, before you go, I want to ask you this. I want you to become a partner with this ministry. If you've never given, or if you only gave one time, and you know this ministry, this morning prayer broadcast, the Thursday Night Live, the Sunday morning services, it's been a blessing in your life. I'm asking you, partner with this ministry, partner with us. Pray about it and say, Lord, is this something you want me to do? Ask God to partner with us. What is a partner, Pastor Sean? A partner is somebody who's committed to standing with us as often and as much as they can. Give monthly if you can. Give weekly if you can. We cannot do this without you. God designed us to work together to fulfill and accomplish His will. God will bless your life for helping get this broadcast around the world. We love you. We will never take you for granted in Jesus name. Give in this offering right now. Visit us online. Sean Pinder.net/give. You can also give through the ministry PayPal account that addresses PayPal.me/SeanPinderMinistries. You can also give through the ministry's cell account. The ministry's cell email address is info@SeanPinder.net. You can also give through the ministry cash app account. The ministry cash app address is the dollar sign, Sean Pinder Ministries. You can also text to give all you have to do is text the letters SPM to the number 45888 and a link will automatically be sent to you. You can also mail your donations into the ministry. Just remember to make your checks and money orders out to Sean Pinder Ministries PO Box 2726 McKinney Texas 75070. And never forget, May past day, may we love you. We will never take you for granted. We appreciate you. God bless you. [Music]