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You Are Not Anybody's Second Best, You Are God's Best

Pastor Wesley Sing, 31 January 2025, 209 min

Teaching series: Ten Days of Prayer and Fasting

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Sermon outline

God chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world and loves you as He loves His Son, so you are not anybody's second best but God's best, set apart for His purposes.

Main text

  • Ephesians 1:3-6

Opening

The Faith Chronicle, "Understanding Grace", is read first: there is no guarantee of a stress-free life, but when you are at peace in a situation that should be causing you stress, that is the Holy Spirit telling you God has your back. The congregation is brought forward from the back rows and makes the month-end confession together. After praise and worship another pastor gives thanks for the fast, reads of King Uzziah, and receives the offering from Deuteronomy 28 before Pastor Wesley comes to teach.

  1. Grace for a calm and confident life

    Grace and peace are God's gift to the saints, grace to walk calmly and confidently. When a situation arises, do a check: is this from God, or is the enemy sending stress signals? When the world around you is going crazy, recognise the thief who comes to kill, steal and destroy, put on the armour of God and activate grace to overcome.

    “The way to know if something is from God is when you are peaceful, despite the fact that the situation should be causing you stress.”

    • 1 Corinthians 1:3-5
    • John 10:10

  2. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success

    In thanksgiving for the fast, a pastor reads of Uzziah, who became king at sixteen, did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and sought God in the days of Zechariah. The principle is consistency: as long as you seek the Lord, He gives success and pours out His presence. Like the one leper of ten who came back to give thanks, the church is called to come with a grateful heart.

    “As long as you seek the Lord, God will give you success.”

    • 2 Chronicles 26:1-5
    • Luke 17:11-19

  3. All these blessings will come on you

    Before the offering, Deuteronomy 28 is read as the word for a year of double blessing and great grace. There is a requirement, obeying the word, and a promise: blessed in the city and the country, coming in and going out. The enemies the Lord defeats are the enemies of lack, sickness and insufficiency, and what He defeats stays defeated.

    “When there's an atmosphere of expectancy, the Lord moves freely.”

    • Deuteronomy 28:1-12

  4. Why we meet tonight is threefold

    Pastor Wesley gives three reasons for the closing meeting. First, to bring to fruition what the Lord has already started in your life. Second, to stand together in unity for breakthrough and deliverance, because some things only come out through prayer and fasting. Third, to set the direction and set the families apart for God's purposes.

    “I do not see young, I do not see old, I do not see busy, I do not see stagnant. I see sons and daughters of purpose.”

  5. Set apart for God's purposes

    Paul was "employed by the delightful resolve of God", and so is every believer, whatever surname, family or circumstances they were born into, whatever their bank balance or car. The devil isolates to alienate you from God, but when God sets you apart there is a separation so He can work on your character away from the clutter and noise. The fast was that separation from food and from people and things you would normally associate with.

    “You may have been fasting for a thing, but I think as we have gone through the days, you've realized just how important your life has been.”

    • Ephesians 1:1

  6. You are not anybody's second best, you are God's best

    Reading Ephesians 1:3-6 from the New King James and then a paraphrase, he shows that God associated us in Christ before the fall of the world, so you were planned before Adam. He is the architect of our design, and His love for His Son is His love for us. We are servant and son, soldier and son, seated with Christ as co-heirs, so whatever career you are in, ask the Lord what His purposes are in it.

    “You are not anybody's second best. You are God's best.”

    • Ephesians 1:3-6

  7. When you dig in privately, He rewards you openly

    Of more than twenty testimonies from the fast, he shares a few. A young actress who had sent out her CV and auditioned with nothing to show was offered a television role outright, without an audition. A young software developer, told the job he applied for was already his, panicked and took a lecturing post, then took a better job in Johannesburg, and then Amazon called with double that again, with his move paid for. A faithful mother received help with her children's schooling. Just because it did not happen in our time does not mean God was not working.

    Illustration: The young developer phoned on the Monday saying he had a bombshell and needed advice. It was Amazon. "You cancel all that. You're going to Amazon."

    “Just because it didn't happen in our time didn't mean that God was not working.”

    • Matthew 6:6

Putting it into practice

  • When a situation arises, check whether it is from God or the enemy, and let peace be your guide
  • Keep studying the notes on the Lord's Prayer from the fast
  • Walk through the year with the mindset that you are God's best
  • Take communion at home with your family weekly or even daily
  • Celebrate tomorrow what God has already done, instead of going back to begging

Closing

He calls those who want to give their lives to the Lord or rededicate them to the front, telling them to remember 31 January 2025, and leads the prayer of salvation. The church takes communion, families come down together to be anointed and set apart, and he calls for those with chronic pain, sleeplessness and other needs to come for prayer before blessing the congregation and sending them out to celebrate.

Declarations to say aloud

  • Holy Spirit, thank you for bringing me through this month of January. I have learnt and understood your Word, and I am growing to understand this graced life. All that I will need in this life, Jesus has already provided. I have the peace of God, shalom of God, and I know He will keep me in perfect peace as I keep my mind stayed on Him.
  • Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness. Thank you, Lord, that we are ready to receive the outpouring of your Holy Spirit, the refreshment from your grace tonight. Thank you tonight, Lord. We shall never be the same.
  • Father, I come to you in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord, I give my life to you. I've heard your word, and Father, I am obedient now. Your word says that if I believe in my heart and if I confess with my mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, that you are faithful and just, and I am saved. And Lord God, I accept you as my Lord and Saviour tonight. I rededicate my life to you. I cast down, I renounce all the idols in my life. Lord, remove them from me. I endeavour from this day to live for you. I endeavour to set myself apart for your purposes and for your glory. And right now, I am a child of God. I am born again. I am made new. I plead the blood of Jesus over my life. From today, I am made as white as snow. Everything that happened yesterday is gone. All that matters is right now. I am white as snow. I am cleaned. I am washed. I am a child of the Most High God. Thank you, Lord God, for your saving grace, for now I am your child.

Worth remembering

  • “You are not anybody's second best. You are God's best.”
  • “I see sons and daughters of purpose.”
  • “God doesn't need our permission to bless us.”
  • “Just because it didn't happen in our time didn't mean that God was not working.”
  • “When the Holy Ghost has truly touched your life and he's marked your life, you can never truly go back.”

Every scripture in this message

  • 1 Corinthians 1:3-5
  • John 10:10
  • Isaiah 26:3
  • Luke 17:11-19
  • 2 Chronicles 26:1-5
  • Psalm 107:2
  • Deuteronomy 28:1-12
  • Ephesians 1:1
  • Ephesians 1:3-6
  • Matthew 6:6
  • Romans 10:9
  • 1 Corinthians 11:23-25

In this message

Main text

  • Ephesians 1:3-6

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