In this piece we will be considering something very important and I will be trusting God for grace to be able to bring to us the counsel of God. We are examining: A Chosen Heart That Fulfills Ministry. There are a few keywords in the title, the first one being ‘chosen’. We're not looking at a called heart or a heart that is called. The Bible says, “Many are called…” but our focus in this piece will not be to celebrate our calling or the called ones. “Many are called but few are chosen.” So, it is better to be chosen than to be called. What makes you different from every other person, by the way, every other person is called. So, you don't go about saying, “I am a man that is called,” it is not enough to be called. “Many are called…” Now, if few are chosen, what happened to those who were called but were not chosen? Yet in this piece, we want to see a chosen heart that fulfills ministry; making it like a prerequisite, a requirement to fulfilling ministry. And I want to start with fulfilling ministry before we go on.
If I were to ask you for instance to help me do something, and then immediately you stand up and start doing it, does that show you have fulfilled the task? You have not fulfilled the assignment, but have only started the assignment. So, it's not enough for you to start the assignment, the question becomes, have you completed it? So, if you will ever complete any assignment that God gives to you, then we are shown here that there is a prerequisite for it. There is a requirement for it; you must not just be called; you must get to a chosen state. And is not just about you, the beautiful you that everybody sees around, we are talking about the heart you, do you understand?
Let's start looking at the book of Acts of Apostles chapter 1 from verse 16, “Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled [completed, accomplish] which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; 17 for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.”
In those days when they said 12 people were disciples of Jesus, Judas was also numbered with them. When Jesus said to Peter, and the rest, “follow me, and I will make you” I'm sure Jesus also said to Judas, “follow me, and I will make you,” and Judas followed. Not everyone follows easily, but Judas began following; that means he had done something important. He was already beyond his peers. Many people in this generation did not recognize that Jesus was the Son of God; many people didn't see a need to follow Jesus, if they saw it, we wouldn't have to have disciples, we would have seen, like 12,000, or 120,000 disciples of Jesus. Do you understand? Among the 12 that saw Jesus, he was numbered among those who saw. It is not enough that now you have seen, what have you seen? The need to follow Jesus.
Of course, that could make your life to be better than the people around you, but that’s not what God has purposed for you. That's not the ultimate; that you have seen a need to follow Jesus is not enough. Many people have done it in the past, but nothing great happened to them. So, The Apostle said, “He was numbered with us and obtained,” like somebody obtaining a certificate; somebody receiving, he received a part in this ministry. Assuming this ministry can be divided into 12 parts, he also had a part that he could call his own. They could see his footprint in the ministry, don't forget he was the treasurer. He was the one keeping the money. Anytime Jesus needed to help any poor person, Jesus would tell him, “Go and give him something”. So, he would take the money, and give it to somebody that was in need. What do you think happened to the person that was in need? The person would rejoice — thank God.
Bible says, “When the people saw the things that Jesus did, they glorified God who had given such power to man.” So, each time Judas was picking money and giving to the people that Jesus asked him to give, the problems of the people were solved, and people were glorifying God, because of what Jesus is doing. He was indeed part of the ministry. He had helped a lot of people as the one in charge of Jesus’ bag. In those days when he was walking behind Jesus, they were going to places, people who saw Judas would have said, “Brother Judas, well done. How is ministry?” He might have also responded, “We thank God; God is helping us.” So, for years, he was in the ministry. You can't be in a ministry for over three years and not have contributed to the ministry. We can say he sweated for the ministry.
He had a part in the ministry, but our goal is not to have a part of any ministry. You don't want to go about telling people, “Do you know the wave in the church today, the wave of giving, we were the ones that started it.” And they're like, “Is it true?” They are simply saying “is it true” because you don't give again; you have stopped giving. “This holiness thing they're talking about, we founded it: we pioneered holiness in the church. There was no holiness until we started talking about it,” and people look at you when you are talking, there is nothing holy about you, that means you had a part in the ministry; you had, but not you have. You had contributed something to the ministry, not that you are contributing.
So, it's not enough for us to say, “I have tried; there is something that I've done”. But the question is what God has called you to do, have you finished it? Not that you scratched the surface; not that you were busy; not that you were just entangled or tagged along. Indeed, you started the work, and you finished it. Jesus was speaking in John chapter 17, “The work that you gave me to do, I have finished it”. Apostle Paul also wrote to Timothy, “I’ve finished my course; I have fought a good fight, now, I am departing.” How many of us can tell ourselves based on how the trajectory of our spirituality is going, we can surely see ourselves like Apostle Paul saying, “I have finished my assignment”?
Take for stance, I'm in Abuja, and somebody says, “Can you please go to Lagos?” I accepted and board a bus that is going towards Yobe, and you are like saying, we do believe one day as the bus is going towards Yobe, it will get to Lagos, will you hope so? What is the reason? I have boarded the wrong vehicle; I am on a path towards the wrong destination. Where I was asked to go is not where I'm going. Sometimes, you might not have arrived at your destination, but people can see that your progress is positive. Your life is moving towards where God has ordained you to go. People will hope with you; they would say, “this brother is going to happen, it is just a matter of time.”
But when you see a man that is going off course, you see somebody whose trajectory is not going in line with a dream that God has shown him in the beginning, you cannot join the person in hope that the life of such will become better. Except you are asking God to help him to repent; to change the direction. From verse 18 of Acts chapter 1:
18 (Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out. 19 And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘Let his dwelling place be desolate, And let no one live in it; and, ‘Let another take his office.’
You know, one would have imagined that the Scripture would say: “Let his dwelling place be desolate, And let no one live in it; and, ‘Let no one take his office.” The dwelling place can be discarded. But the office is an assignment; it cannot be discarded. You see, the reason God created you, and sent you to this earth, perhaps, sent you to this Abuja, or Nigeria, or sent you to this generation, that purpose cannot be discarded. God could throw away anything, but that purpose cannot be thrown away. If you fail God, another person will rather do that thing. The Bible says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”
At one point in time, God spoke an assignment into your life; so, the assignment of God for your life is the Word of God that has been sent to you. That word can never go back to God without fulfilling its purpose. If God sent His Word to you, but you refused it, the Word will go to another person. The Word can’t return to God, because God forbid that God has spoken, and what He has spoken did not get done. No man is indispensable or irreplaceable to God. God replaced Moses with Joshua; God can replace anybody with anybody. Do you understand that? When God has an agenda, God said, “My purpose shall stand.” People may fail, but God’s purpose shall stand.
There was a reason why Judas was enlisted; there was a reason why Judas was numbered among them; there was a reason why Judas took part or had a part of the ministry. The reason was not for him to commit suicide. Jesus didn't call him so that he would die unfulfilled. Jesus called him for an assignment, because he failed, another must fulfil the assignment. God has proposed it, and far be it from God that God changes His mind concerning His agenda.
God established priesthood. When Eli and his children misbehaved; God didn't cancel priesthood; God only cancelled out their family, and Samuel was enlisted. A man who was not a Levite, he was from the tribe of Ephraim. Do you see, God will rather change people instead of His plan? So, you cannot constitute yourself as a stumbling block or a nuisance in the purpose of God. Everybody is expected to do the work of God, whether you're a member of this church, or you're a member of another church, all of us across the world are expected to fulfil God’s agenda under Christ on the earth. But if you behaved as a nuisance in ministry, God will rather change you than change the purpose.
If Judas were alive, God could have kept him alive, so that we can assume that whether you do well or you don't do well in ministry, you remain, but he was taken out of the place. He was encumbering the ground, God needed to remove him so that another who is more efficient and effective can take his place. My prayer is that none of us will be replaced in the purpose and plan of God in the name of Jesus. The agenda was clear, this man, his house would be desolate, no one would go there anymore. But his assignment cannot be desolate.
Let's continue from verse 21:
21 “Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” 23 And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed, Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed.
They have proposed two, but they were looking for one. They couldn't just look and say, “who among these looks apostolic or nice, they were not going to be doing that. They gave the prerequisite: you must have been following Jesus from the beginning, and you stayed till he left; you didn't abandon Him. Because if you had abandoned Him one way or the other, you may not be faithful till the end. It says: “And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all.” We're looking at a chosen heart that fulfils ministry. Judas had started the ministry, the Bible says, “He had a part but couldn’t fulfil it. But there is now a need for a heart to be chosen, and that heart will fulfil the ministry with the rest.
“You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen…” If you notice that they didn’t say, “show us which of these two you will love to choose.” As if God was just thinking. “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen,” ‘we can only see them, two of them look okay to us, Lord, we know it is not about the looks’. Lord, you are the one who specializes in understanding and understudying the heart: Show us amongst these two which one you have chosen 25 to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his place.” 26 And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles. That means he became the twelfth apostle.
Look at it: He had been following Jesus from the beginning. Matthias and Joseph had been following Jesus, from the beginning to the end, but there was nothing particularly loud that we got to know about them. They were quietly following Jesus, and let's emphasize on Matthias; even though he had been following Jesus from the beginning, there was no time that he was called or named an apostle. He was just a disciple. Yet, God was working on him for such a time as that; he was unknown; He was hidden, but yet, he was prepared.
The Bible says, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” Guess what, you could be chosen by God now, but we don't know, it is possible that somebody could also be rejected by God, but we will not also know. But if the work of God will be completed amid God's people, then the person or the persons that God would use, will not just be any kind of person, they will be persons whose hearts are right before God. They said, “Lord, you are the one that knows the heart of the people.” They didn’t say, “Since Jesus ascended, we did our meetings four times every week, how many of us attended all the four weekly programs?” They didn't use those parameters; it could be deceitful.
Joseph and Mattias qualified, they attended all programs, they went everywhere, they were following, and they were listening. They were catching revelation. When Jesus was talking to them, they were learning. So, it's not enough that you were there and were learning. The Bible says, “All of them were baptized into Moses” they were under the same baptism, but all of them didn't believe. Both of them followed Jesus, but the lot didn't fall on Joseph, it was Mathias that was chosen. Can we say it was just a random thing, or it is the state of the heart of the two of them? So, you may call yourself a disciple of Jesus, really people can say, “you attend meetings a lot”. Even meetings at night, you are there. It is not enough that you are always attending meetings like brother Joseph, you must be like brother Mathias whom God has chosen because of the heart. Do you understand that?
Acts of the Apostles chapter 8 from verse 14:
Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
The apostles got to know that the people of Samaria believed in Jesus. So that they don't just remain as mere believers, but men and women who have a fire burning inside them, they sent Peter and John to go and impart them with some spiritual gifts. The Bible says they impacted them, but that is not our focus in this text. Let’s continue from verse 18: And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” Now, I don’t know how that sounds to us.
The apostles were laying hands on people, and as soon as they do that, people were falling under the anointing and they were speaking in tongues. The whole place was getting rowdy. Once they touch you, you fall down. When Simon saw it, he said, “Men of God, brethren, this work you are doing is a great work, please, take this N2.5 million and give me this power so that anybody that I also lay hand on will also receive the Holy Spirit,” he didn’t say, “Give power so that whosoever I lay hand on will receive demons.” Did he not look like a man that had good intentions?
“But Peter said to him, your money perishes with you, because you thought…” the Bible says “as a man thinks in his heart so he is”. “Because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! 21 You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God.22 Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”
Somebody may remark: How Did Peter see the man’s heart? It is by the Holy Spirit, because the matters of the heart is not a thing you quickly see, people look good outside, but on the inside, so much could be bottled up. But this man was not rebuked because of something that he did, he was rebuked for the things that were going on in his heart. The state of his heart was the basis for his rejection. So, if this man would perish, it is not going to be by anything other than because of the nature of his heart.
“Then Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.”25 So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.”
It looks as if they just left the man. The Bible never mention that he became useful in the hand of God. What was the basis of his rejection? His heart! Apostle Peter said, “Your heart is not right before God.” So, do we think the man was rejected at the point he was bringing money? I think he had been rejected even before he came. So, whether you will be chosen by God or rejected by God, it's not about the action of now; it is about what has been. At the moment, you could look so holy or sanctimonious. “Brethren, I want to bless God because God has been good to me, let somebody shout halleluiah!” You could look spiritual you could be so spiritual that all the language of the Spirit, you know it. And you could be in the midst of men of God and brethren, and they could mistake you for somebody that is burning for God.
But let the truth be told, men could be confused about you, God is cleared — by your heart you are accepted, and by your heart, you are rejected. In verse 22, apostle Peter said to him, “Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.” But what must be done for forgiveness to come? It says repent; change the way you think in your heart. He said, I can see that there's so much bitterness inside of you. As we lay hands on people and they received the Holy Spirit, instead of you to rejoice in the Lord, you are embittered. I perceived brother Simon was saying in his heart, “What's special about your hand; what's special? What you're doing, I can do it too. I know how many years I've been in this spirituality; he was a sorcerer. I've been consulting gods, what is special about them? Are they the only ones that can do it? If they can do it, I can do more. If they can just give me that power, I know there is a little paper they need to just give me, I know once they give me that paper, I will do more than they are doing. Even though what he wanted to do was the work of God, he was going to do it with bitterness in his heart, and because of that, he was rejected.
One thing I've come to realize, if you look at this Simon, he had been a sorcerer, a spiritist, but he wanted to do the work of God and perhaps fulfil a ministry. He was rejected, and we didn't hear anything about him again, therefore, he did not fulfil ministry. So, it is not enough that we say, ‘we are also called.’ When they say, “Gather all the people that worship God on the earth,” you could also say, “I worship God too”. It could be a small god, 'but god is god'. Then you also gathered among them. But when it becomes a matter of ‘this is something that God would have you do in your life: you just need to accept Jesus as your Lord,’ then you refuse to accept Jesus as your Lord, so you were not able to cross to the line that would mark your fulfilment in life.
So, the very thing that God is looking for is not just that you were once part of them, but do you have the heart that is right? There was a time brother Gbile was sharing his testimony, he said for many years in his ministry, then he was already doing fine, and God told him then that He was putting him on probation. And he was like asking himself, what about the many years I've been doing ministry? God said He was putting him on probation. And why? The Lord said to him, “Because many people that He has committed His power to, have betrayed Him. So, He can't just trust people with His power.” After many years, more than 15 years, God appeared to him and said, “I can now begin to trust you” meaning I just want to start trusting you. But to many, he was already doing well as a man of God; a friend of God after consistent 20 years or more in ministry. But then, God told him was on probation.
Probation is like “if you mess up, I will remove you.” I will not give you the real power, I will just give you something that makes you feel “you are there.” Look and see, could you also be placed on probation? You are like “I'm called; I'm a teacher, but yet you're on probation. What I'm saying is this, it took him many years for God to tell him “I can begin to trust you.” So, who told you that God has trusted you and He has released all the power to you, all the grace He wants to release? There is nothing you see around your life now that it is the fullness of what God has in store for you. Bible says, “Eyes have not seen it, ears have not heard it, and It has not entered into the heart of any man the things that God has prepared for them that love him.”
The things that God has in stock for you, you have never thought about it. So don't think you are doing fine because of your dream: whenever you dream, your dream come to pass you are still dreaming. God said to Miriam and the rest, “If there is any prophet among you, I the Lord speak to such a prophet by dreams, but not so with my servant Moses, I speak to him face to face as a man speaks to his friend.” So, if you are celebrating dreams, maybe you may need to also be trusting God for visions. You know there's a group of people that the Bible says will dream dreams they, to others the Lord said, they will have visions, while others will prophesy. So, which one do you want? Imagine it is only one you can pick. Which would you pick? But should you want to ask me the same question, what I will pick is the vision?
There's a difference between vision and dream. I've come to realize that anybody could dream but vision is advanced. For you to dream you need to sleep but to see vision, you don't need to sleep. It takes a degree of maturity. Every time God wanted to speak to Joseph, the husband of Mary, God spoke to him by dreams, but other people in the Bible who attained maturity with their walk with God had visions. Do you understand? Anyone can dream and doesn’t know the meaning of the dream. But visions come with some clarity. What I'm saying is this. All these experiences are in stages. Don't start feeling good because every time you dream it comes to pass. It is okay but that is not all. God still have visions for you. There are revelations. Apostle Paul said, “These things I teach, they came by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Jesus was opening things up to him. He was seeing things. And then, you are able to prophesy. There are levels.
So, if all you do now, you think God has called you into ministry, you dream dreams, God can still make you to prophesy. So, why are you plateauing and assuming you are fulfilling ministry already? No! You are just having a part of the ministry; you need to obtain the full ministry. Matthew chapter 22 verse 14, see what the Bible says, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” If you look at the story that led to this point, there was a wedding, and before the wedding, there were invitation distribution. Even though it's good to be invited, there's no big deal in being invited. Look at it, this man was invited to the occasion. But when the person that invited him now began to look around, he noticed that one person did not dress for the occasion. Even though the invitation brought the person, the state of the heart of the person which is manifested in his appearance, was not right. So, he was chased out, “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
So, I will not celebrate that I was invited for the wedding, but that I have seen the wedding finished. Until the end of the wedding when the groom can shake you and say ‘thank you for coming,’ If you go in the middle of the occasion, you cannot say you fulfilled the wedding invitation. Do you understand? It is not enough that you just honour the invitation. Looking at the man that was disqualified, let us say he didn't know he will be disqualified, assumed he knew he would be disqualified; he would have tried his best so that he is not put to the open shame. Imagine he was honorably invited but shamefully carried out, why? He didn't look right; his appearance was. It was the cloth of the people in the location, but it is our heart that God is examining.
Why did you invite people to the occasion and now you are going to be checking who does not look right? That means God can invite you to ministry without checking you too much, but only to check you in the ministry. Apostle Paul said, “I'm the least of all that should be called apostles, but thank God for His grace.” Later on, he said, “I laboured more than every other person, yet not I but the grace of God.” Look at it, he was a bad person yet Jesus intercepted him knowing he was bad. Do you think Jesus wanted him to come into the ministry and be bad in the ministry? Do you think Jesus was going to use him with that state of heart? Do you know what happened to him immediately? He lost his vision, he couldn’t eat for three days, three days is enough for a glutton to begin to change. If you didn’t eat for three days as a glutton, it was enough to begin to retrospect and repent. I can't continue like this.
He went through a process that changed his heart. Moses likewise had a kind of heart, but God had to take him to the wilderness where he became the meekest man on earth. That was when God could now use him in the ministry. Do you see the point? God can call you with your bad habits. But once you have come into the fold, you are not expected to remain with your bad habits. Otherwise, the same God who called you will send you out of His vineyard. Do you understand? So, God can call you the way you are, but you are not expected to remain the way you are — there must be a change. Sometimes look at what Jesus did. Jesus found many of the women in His ministry unfitting, some were possessed by demons, and another was like a public prostitute. Yet, many of them became pillars in the work of God. They didn’t remain the way they came.
You could be invited anyhow, but now that you've come into the fold, you are now following Jesus, something must take place in your heart that changes you, that turns you into a new man, a new woman who thinks differently. 1 Samuel chapter 16:2-9, and Judges chapter 7. Saul was the king of Israel, but he was misbehaving. God was done with the attitude of king Saul — he repeatedly misbehaved. And God said He had found David, a man after His heart. But when God gave the assignment to prophet Samuel to go and anoint one of the sons of Jesse, when Samuel got there, the Bible says, the elder brothers, they started coming out and they were looking good; Eliab was the first one. So, he came, and being the firstborn, since God had said “a king would come from this house”, who else if not the first son?
He came boldly, and the man of God was also about to anoint him because he was looking it. But God said, “No, don't do that, I have rejected him.” So, anybody is either chosen or rejected, but it is not a matter of it just happening, it has been before. You could look like a king now, but before today, you have never been right before God. Forget about this ceremonious, sanctimonious, this appearance, in your inner core, you disobey God in your heart, you disrespect God in your heart, and you take God lightly. In your knowledge, you don't retain God. You look spiritual, but God is not in your heart. I know your heart; I have rejected you. You look okay, people can on their want to anoint you.
God said to Samuel, “For men look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.” So, for you to be chosen by God so that you will fulfil the ministry that God has ordained for you, please, we are not doubting it that God has called you, but if that will happen, you must transit from being “I'm called to I am chosen by God”. Do you understand? You must tell yourself, I'm not just called by God, I am chosen, I'm chosen by grace. God has chosen me because God has found my heart right.
God comes down to all of us. He comes down to your church, He comes down to your business, to your marriage, to your ministry, and everything you are doing. God walks in the cool of that business. God walks in the cool of your marriage, have you been disloyal, and unfaithful to your wife? God is walking. What is God looking for? God is reviewing you as He's walking. You may not even know, Jacob said “God was here and I didn't know it.” God could come in the cool of the day to look at how you are treating your family, and your children, and is marking your heart. Are you a heart that can’t raise children? Are you a heart that cannot be a good father or a good wife? Are you a heart that can’t pastor a church, God is reviewing your heart.
Sometimes, people can get carried away by your attitude or your activities. But God is checking your heart; when you are singing, and everywhere is looking like Holy Ghost is coming down, God is passing and He's looking at your heart. Every time you are doing something important in the work of God, God is reviewing your heart. So that later on when you will be chosen, God wouldn’t resist your progress. The Bible says, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” When He sees that you are humble, He will say, “Move to the next line”. Go, you are ready; you are chosen.
In Judges chapter 7, Gideon was already chosen by God. And then there was an assignment that needed a lot of people to finish and accomplish. So, Gideon gathered almost 300,000 people, and he felt with this number, they should be enough for the battle. But God interrupted and said, “These people are too many for Me to use.” “God, the task ahead is big. It is better it is only you than you are with the wrong people.” You are rather few than too many, but with the wrong. God said, “These people are too many for me to deliver Israel with, lest they claim in their hearts ‘by our strength, we have done this’”. They've not done it, but God said, “lest they do it,” so, I didn't even want. Let it be clear to everybody that it is not by power nor by might, but by my Spirit says the Lord.
So, God does not want somebody whose heart will be wrong in the future. So, you are asking, “how come I am not progressing in life”, it could be that God is not so sure about your heart. God does not want a situation where in five years’ time, you would say “you see, the worst people in the world are Christians, the worst people are Jesus’ people.” If God knows you will say that, He will not allow you to be great. Lest you become so great that in your fall you would cause the fall of many because you are so great. If a small thing should fall down, it does not affect so many people. But if you have gone so tall and so huge, if you fall, you are going to break other people and other buildings around you.
So, if God is stopping your progress, it could be that your heart is not right. It could be that you will claim credit for your growth and progress. In the long run, when everybody is celebrating your progress, you would say, “what are you saying, I tried, you know, I did so much.” And you will never mention God in your statement.
I pray that God will help us in Jesus’ name!
