If You Can Use Anything Lord You Can Use Me
Pastor Erickson preaches from Mark 7 and Matthew 15, where a Syrophenician woman with no claim on Israel's bloodline begs Jesus for the crumbs and receives a miracle for her daughter, and he shows from the women in the genealogy of Christ that God uses the least likely. He tells people that their past and family background do not limit them, and he calls them to find their identity in Christ, worship in desperation and receive the Holy Ghost.
The message in 6 points
If you can use anything
He reads Romans 14:17 and Mark 7:27-28 and takes his title from an old church song. Some feel they should be further along by now, but he says God never needed great people to do great things, only willing vessels.
35:42Joy without a pedigree
Back from preaching in Papua New Guinea, he describes believers with almost nothing who come to church full of joy and expectancy. They have no great bloodline, but they understand that receiving the Holy Ghost and being baptized in Jesus name gives them what they need.
38:45The least likely in Christ's family line
Israel prized genealogies, yet Matthew's list of Jesus' ancestors names Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the wife of Uriah and Mary, women with hard stories or the wrong background. God is no respecter of persons and always uses the least likely to do the most in his kingdom.
44:54Even the dogs eat the crumbs
Blending Mark 7 and Matthew 15, he tells of the Syrophenician woman whose daughter was vexed by a devil. The disciples want her sent away and Jesus is silent, but she keeps worshiping and asks only for crumbs. Jesus praises her great faith, and her daughter is made whole.
1:02:10A new heritage
Our natural heritage is not what matters, because anyone in Christ is a new creature. Like a costly thoroughbred bought for its bloodline, we have been bought with a price, and just as Joseph adopted Jesus, Galatians 4 says we are adopted as sons and heirs of God.
1:11:42Righteousness, peace and joy
The kingdom is righteousness toward God, peace with others and joy within, all in the Holy Ghost, and joy is the hidden battlefield where many lose ground. He urges people to know who they are in God, worship like the Syrophenician woman, and be baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost.
1:19:33
In his words
“I don't know in the word of God where, where God ever used anything great to do great things, but he was always using someone who was a willing vessel.”
“It's always the least likely that God is using to do the most and to do the greatest in his kingdom.”
“We have been bought with a price. For the very least likely, we have become absolutely the most likely.”
Taken word for word from the video, with punctuation added.
Scripture
He reads
Romans 14:17
17For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
King James Version.
Mark 7:27-28
27But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. 28And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.
King James Version.
Mark 7:24-26
24And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. 25For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: 26The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
King James Version.
Matthew 15:22-28
22And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 23But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. 24But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 25Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 26But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. 27And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. 28Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
King James Version.
Mark 7:30
30And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.
King James Version.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
King James Version.
Psalms 107:2
2Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;
King James Version.
Galatians 4:4-7
4But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
King James Version.
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