Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 864 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- Brother Phil Enlow: Praise God! I'm so glad we got something to come together about and to rejoice in that doesn't depend on us and what we are. I don't know, I just have some thoughts that have come to me, and all I can do is just try to give 'em out and trust that the Lord will take 'em and use 'em. I don't know how long this will be and it's not complicated thought. But turn if you will to Acts chapter 10. I'll just use it as a jumping off point.

Acts chapter 10, we have the account of the conversion of a Roman centurion named Cornelius. A centurion was, of course, a soldier who was in charge of other soldiers. And, the Scripture says in verse 2 that, "...He and all his family were devout and God-fearing." (NIV). And it lists some things he did. He gave generously and basically what was communicated was that this was a guy who believed there was a God, and worshipped and did what he knew. And there was something in him that was stirred to seek after God.

And so, all of a sudden he has a vision. And he saw an angel of God coming to him and talking to him. And, 'course, that startled him. He said, what is it, Lord. The angel said, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God." Now I don't think the Lord is intending to convey that he was earning something by doing this, but rather that this...God was recognizing the expression of his heart, as one who was seeking God and simply doing what he knew to do.

And so now he gets the instruction. "Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea." And so he gets some men together, and they set out on their journey.

It's neat how when you see when the Lord arrange things, He's got things all timed out just right. The next day in the middle of the day Peter gets hungry. And so they had some of the people of the household whose responsibility it was to take care of the food...they go to prepare something for him. And so while he's waiting, he goes up on the roof to pray.

And, so it says while he was up there, "...He fell into a trance." In verse 11, "He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air." Now, of course, this was...virtually everything in the sheet was something that a Jew was forbidden to eat. So this was...God was trying to communicate something new and something very special to Peter to prepare him for what was coming.

"Then a voice told him, Get up, Peter. Kill and eat. Surely not, Lord! Peter replied. I have never eaten anything impure or unclean. The voice spoke to him a second time, Do not call anything impure that God has made clean. This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven." So Peter is wondering, what in the world is this all about?

And just about that time, the Lord had it timed just right, the men were at the front door knocking on the gate and the Lord said to him, "Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them." Boy, I'll tell you when the Lord, arranges something, it just happens the way it supposed to, doesn't it? ( congregational response ).

We have a wonderful God! My God, we are so anxious and uptight...and I guess I'd have to raise both hands on that one...about so much. And we have a God that knows what He's doing, knows when to do it, and how to do it, and He's promised to get the job done, hasn't He?

"Peter went down and said to the men, I'm the one you're looking for. Why have you come?" And so they tell all about what happened with Cornelius. "Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests." And they start out and he gets to Cornelius's house. I don't want to try to read every word here, but you know the account. Cornelius falls down at his feet and Peter says, stand up. I'm only a man. And that's something we need to remember that we are never the center. We're only vessels, at best.

( coughing ).

Pardon me. I hope I won't have to do that too often, but that's part of the...part of living down here, isn't it sometimes? Praise God! So anyway, so Peter goes in and finds "...A large gathering of people." And so he mentions this, he says, "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him." So anyway, Peter makes the point that, look, you understand that you're a Gentile, you know that for us Jews, we don't even go visit a Gentile. And so something unusual is going on here, but I want to tell you that God showed me something, and he explains about the vision...that God had showed him that that was okay.

And so anyway, it comes down to the point where he begins to give the message. He tells what the message of the Gospel is, but at the beginning, he says this. Verse 34, "Then Peter began to speak: I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right." And so on that ground he begins to share the simple truths of the Gospel and, the Lord, knowing that Peter would have a problem with this, He doesn't wait for him to give the instruction and then wonder what to do. God pours the Spirit out upon them and honors the faith of those who were sitting there drinking this Word in and simply puts His stamp of approval on this to the point where when they report this to everybody else, they said, what were we supposed to do? God poured His Spirit out on them just like He did on us. So who are we...what are we gonna tell God He's wrong?

But the point, the central point here that brought my mind to this passage, is this simple principle. God does not show favoritism. To put it another way God has no favorites.

( congregational amens ).

And I think that's something that has an effect upon every one of us in one way or another, whether we may realize it or not. We have a way of sort of categorizing ourselves, as human beings. Have you ever met anybody who just declared that they were average?

( laughter ).

You know, I'm just average. I mean, there's people down there, there's people above me and I'm just content, happy in the middle. No! Every one of us has some sort of self image about ourselves. We imagine that we're better than other people, and that's too often the case.

And so we look around and we see people that are disadvantaged, maybe they're morally looser than we are. We've grown up in a good home, particularly is this true if you grow up in the church. And you sort of come to have an image of yourself that is above everyone else and it's awfully easy to sort of bring that over into your spiritual thinking, and imagine that that makes you...gains you some kind of favor with God. And of course, the fact is, it doesn't. God does not have favorites. And many times that simple way of thinking that we have, is God's greatest barrier to working in our lives.

There's a prophecy in Isaiah in chapter 40 and I won't take time to turn over but it's a great prophecy of the coming of Christ into the world. And one thing he says that every mountain and hill will be made low. Every valley will be exalted. Well, I believe with all my heart just about every body fits into one of those categories. We don't have people that are kind of in the middle. People are either mountains or valleys and God has to deal with both kinds of people if He's gonna save 'em.

And so now this is the point where I was supposed to say, most of us are mountains. We have illusions as to what we are that get in the way of God's saving us and God's biggest problem with us, and I guess I would have to put myself in that category, is that we don't know the need that we have before God. And God has got to constantly work on us, I mean, even after we come to the Lord, He's got to work on us to keep us in that place where now it's a level place and we've made a way for the Lord to be free to work in our lives.

And that may explain some things to a lot of you, if you're that type of person as to why God continually has to bring you down, it's because you're up. And it's you and it's not the Lord. But you know, the great danger for someone growing up in the church is to look around and imagine that you sort of have an inside track on God, that because of the way you were brought up, and the way you live, and the fact that you don't go out and run and do all the things that the people of the world do, that you're somehow closer to God, and more favored of God, and it's not true.

( congregational amens ).

The most religious people Jesus had to deal with were the ones that gave Him the most trouble. And He looked some of them in the eye one day, and he said the tax collectors and the prostitutes will go into the Kingdom of Heaven before you will! Well, why is that? Because they vainly imagined that they had some qualifications based upon what they were in their own built-up sense of pride. But oh, God has to strip that mountain down, doesn't He?

( congregational response ).

And that may be the very thing that some people tonight here need. I don't know. I don't know why these thoughts came to me. I was just sort of laying there in la-la-land on Tuesday morning and still trying to figure out again what time zone I was in, and just suddenly these thoughts began to kind of simmer. And so all I know to do is give 'em out. But, I believe there's a real issue.

Paul was certainly perhaps the premier example of this though. I mean Paul lists his resume, if you will, spiritually speaking, in Philippians chapter 3. And it's the Scripture we've used many times, where Paul talks about the things that would seem to give someone an advantage, that is, that would cause someone to be one of God's favorites. And he says, here are all the things that I would have brought out and listed on my spiritual resume as qualifying me before God. God, here's my resume, for entrance into Your kingdom. I was born a Jew! Automatically that makes me one of Your favorites...or does it?

( congregational response ).

Well, scratch that one out. I'm not just a regular guy, though, I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I'm one of the really special ones. I really give it all...no, that won't work. Tribe of Benjamin, I mean it's right there. I can check back through the records and I know I go all the way back to Benjamin. Look what you said about...no, that doesn't work. And you go right down the list. The righteousness of the Law...I mean the way I live, surely that counts for something. And when he got to the end of the list, it was all pitched in the trash.

( congregational response ).

It was worth nothing. If that's what you're counting on, if you somehow live with an illusion that you're better than other people, that's what it is, it's an illusion.

( congregational amens ).

And if God brings you down, you better thank God.

( congregational amens ).

Because when it comes to His kingdom, man, we all start at the same place, and God doesn't have any favorites. Boy, if we come to Him with any pride, or self sufficiency, or anything of the sort, all we're doing...I mean God's gonna walk right past us to some poor sinner and say, come on in.

( congregational amens ).

God has no favorites. Oh Praise God! You know, if we ever see it, it should cause us to jump for joy. I mean, what in the world do we have to offer God? If something of our natural qualifications entered into this at all, God would be in our debt! You know, God doesn't owe you anything!

( congregational response ).

God doesn't owe you anything. He doesn't owe me anything. I stand by Mercy!

( congregational amens ).

If he owed me something, that would make me something great. I'd have something to boast about. Mercy gives me...lets me boast about Him!

( congregational amens ).

That's the only boast I have. The songs that have been sung have all said the same thing. That's the only source of boasting that we have.

( congregational amens ).

That makes us all the same before Him. Praise God! You know, Brother Jimmy and I were sitting in a hotel room one night in Davao. And for whatever reason, we got to listening to a couple of clips from Ravi Zacharias on You Tube, and I loved one thing that he said, I wish I could remember it all, but the part that's relevant here is that God knows how to humble without humiliating. It's only grace that can do that...to take us down to the level we need to be, without grinding us into the ground and saying, you're worthless! He can bring us down to our true level of need, without taking away our value in His eyes. Thank God!

( congregational praise ).

We struggle so much to derive our sense of worth from what we are...and that is worthless! Whatever it gets us in this world, it's just 'course a lot of struggle, we're struggling against everybody else's ego, but it means nothing in the big picture. We need a God who can show mercy to us and the value comes from His love that was set upon us by grace alone. Oh how liberating it is. That's why Paul got to the point where he pitched all of his resume in the trash and said, I want to...I give all that up so I can have Jesus.

( congregational amens ).

And be found in Him not having my own righteousness, but His.

( congregational amens ).

And now my whole life is all about coming to know Him and coming to experience all the things that He has made available...that's been made available to me through Christ. And of course, Paul didn't stop there in his experience. He continued to be the kind of a person he was in a practical sense. If you've known the Lord any length of time, you know it's a process. You know it doesn't all happen at once, so don't get discouraged by that. The Lord's not discouraged. He's very patient with the crop. He knows how to plant it, knows how to water it, how to put the fertilizer to it, and He knows how to guarantee the harvest at the end. So the Lord's not anxious about finishing the job He's begun with us, but there is a job to do.

And so Paul, of course, we know how many times that we refer to the fact that Paul received great revelations and the natural tendency for any human being is to be puffed up about it. And the message the Lord gave me a while back about strange gifts...and God gave Paul a strange gift, didn't he? And that gift was a demon to give him a hard time. But Paul understood after a while, after seeking God that God was doing what was necessary to keep him at a level place where he didn't begin to think he was something.

All that natural tendency keeps wanting to kick in. That's...I'm sure there's a lot of other people here in the same category, but that's kind of where I am. God constantly has to do something to keep me this place, and that's just the way that it is. All we can do is say, thank You, Lord. You know what You're doing. So Lord it's You anyway. You're the One who needs to be lifted up.

( congregational amens ).

But I don't know if you're in this category tonight, but I pray that God will open your eyes, if there is...if you're living with the illusion that God shows you favoritism because of anything that's a characteristic of you, whether it's your nationality, your race, as men call such things...there's only one race, but anyway all these little categories we tend to put ourselves in as human beings, where we do it so that we can sort of lift ourselves up and put others down. God doesn't pay a bit of attention to any of that.

( congregational response ).

It means nothing in His kingdom. God can reach anybody. He sees us the same. He has no favorites.

( congregational praise ).

So you've got one category of people where God has to...they're mountains and God has got to cut 'em down. So if that's what's happening in your life, you'd recognize God's hand of mercy toward you. He's not doing it to humiliate you. He's doing it to humble you, so that you can have true life. You can have Jesus instead.

But of course you do have the other category. You got the people who are the valleys, and they're looking at life like this. Everybody else is better than me. They're up there and I'm down here. They're the ones that many times, who are really conscious of their needs. They know they're sinners...or life has just...they've seen the raw side of life. You know but for the grace of God, any of us could be in any kind of circumstance. We don't have anything to boast about.

But a lot of people go through this world and man they get the raw side of everything. And they're way down here, and they're weak, and they're sinful people, and they just...you know, it does something to your psyche when society categorizes you a certain way. You begin to think, I am worthless. I'm one of the low-down people. Oh, God could not possibly have anything to do with someone like me. And God...the need there is not for God to humble somebody, it's to encourage them, to lift 'em up, and give 'em a message of hope.

( congregational amens ).

One kind of person needs to be humbled and know they have a need. The other one has the need. They need to be encouraged to know that God loves them and doesn't make the difference that men make regarding their worth. And oh how the Lord illustrated that throughout His life. He went to the lowest of the low throughout His ministry.

( congregational amens ).

He went to people who were disadvantaged by every possible way in their society. Let's just take one category and that's women. I mean, throughout history and throughout much of the world, there's been a huge disadvantage socially for women. They occupy a low position in society. I mean, you go to some places in the world today, and it's terrible the way women are oppressed.

And it wasn't a whole lot better in Judea of Jesus' day. And yet Jesus was surrounded by godly women who had a hunger for the Word of God. He sat there and taught at the house of Mary of Bethany, and Mary, remember, sat at Jesus' feet. Well, you didn't do that in that society. That was not a woman's place to be sitting there with the men listening to spiritual discussion. You know everybody in society would've said, you get the kitchen where you belong. But Jesus said, no, she's doing the right thing. She's chosen the good part.

And you look...constantly there was the heart of Jesus, reaching out. He didn't make these kinds of judgments and distinctions that others made. He went to the woman at the well. I mean, everything was against that transaction. She wasn't Jewish to begin with. She was a woman. That was against it. She was an immoral woman. This was not a woman who could even hold up her head in her own society, let alone a Jew, a rabbi! I mean everything in the world said this is ridiculous. But Jesus reached out to her with a message of hope!

( congregational amens ).

Praise God! Oh, the Jews had such a problem with things like this. You remember when Jesus went to Nazareth. And oh, he went to the synagogue, and he stood up to read. The Spirit of Lord is upon Me, and this day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears. Then He said, I want to tell you something. There's a true proverb, no prophet's without honor except in his own hometown, his own country.

He said, I'll tell you the truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah. You remember the great famine that there was. Jesus is making a point. There were many widows in Israel! Do you think that God had to go to Sidon, to a foreign nation to find a widow to help? No. There were plenty of Jewish widows. But God put His hand on this widow in a foreign land and sent Elijah there and took care of the situation. So He's saying. I favored this foreign woman over one of you.

Well, He said the same thing about Elisha. In the days of Elisha do you think there were no lepers in Israel. God had to go to a foreigner named Naaman to find a leper to heal? No! God's looking at people with a different lens than we view them. But He looks at us differently than we see ourselves. You might be one of these that's a valley that God needs to let you know that you are not what the Devil tells you you are. You are not what society tells you that you are. You have value before a holy God.

( congregational amens ).

God does not have favorites. Do you remember the occasion when Jesus went to eat with the wealthy Jewish ruler? I forget what he was...probably a Pharisee, but anyway he was somebody important...somebody who really walked in their ways, and according to their customs, and so he was a very proud man. And this fallen woman...terrible background comes in and just weeps at His feet. Her tears fall all over His feet. She washes His feet with her tears and she dries them with her hair, and kisses His feet. And there's just such a gratitude, a spirit of gratitude.

And what's the attitude of this religious guy? What's the matter with Jesus that He allows a woman like this to touch Him. But Jesus rebuked the other man. That's what I'm looking for, He said. That's not the words He used but that's what He conveyed. Oh, I'll tell you the Gospel is absolutely a leveler. If you think you're somebody, God's got to take you down a peg, and bring you to a place where you know, like Paul, you have nothing but yourself to offer God. And you don't need...you don't have...you're not part-way there. It's not like...you've been to Sunday School all your life, and church, and all you have to do is just take this little baby step into the Kingdom. Man, it's a chasm!

( congregational amens ).

Don't you ever think because you grew up in this church, or any one of our churches, or any other place where God is at work...don't you ever think that that gives you some kind of a leg-up on God, some special claim upon God. God doesn't show favorites...doesn't show favoritism.

But oh, if you're one that's seen the raw side of things, I'll tell you, God can reach down and lift you up and give you hope! God does not look down upon your weakness. He has everything that you need to set you on your feet on those streets of gold one day and dressed in white.

( congregational praise ).

You take heart from the simple truths of this Word and reach out to God in faith. Take hold of a simple truth. God does not have favorites! Where are you at tonight? You reach out to Him from your heart, He will hear you.!

( congregational amens ).

I don't care whether you're one of the high and mighty of earth or whether you're the lowest of the low. God has fixed it to where we all are concluded, as Paul said in Romans 11, under sin that He might have mercy upon all. That's the only ground anybody approaches God on. It's mercy, and there's mercy for everyone who will reach out to Him in faith...be willing to turn from their sins and put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He will hear and he will answer. Praise God!

( congregational praise ).

Return to Transcripts Page

---

---