Chosen And Sent - Part 2 by Pastor Philip Olubakin: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Identity: The Biggest Problem in the World

John 15:16

God chose you. He did not choose you because he had no other options — he chose you purposefully. John 15:16 in the Amplified version says he appointed, placed, and purposefully planted you. You are not randomly chosen. You are not an accident.

Your parents may have been accidental parents. You are not an accidental child.

Whatever words were spoken over you in childhood — by teachers, siblings, peers — those words built strongholds in your mind. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. A stronghold is not a demonic force outside of you — it is an accumulation of wrong thinking inside you. It is imaginations. And it has to be pulled down.

You Are Commissioned, Not Just Chosen

John 20:21

Jesus said: as the Father sent me, so I am sending you. That is the weight of your commission. It is not just that God chose you. He sent you from himself. There is a difference between being sent by someone and being sent from someone. You came from God. You are not just an emissary — you are his own.

John 1:6 speaks of John the Baptist as a man sent from God. That language is now yours.

• You have a promise of his presence — Matthew 28:20 says he will be with you always, even to the end of the world.
• John 8:29 — Jesus said, he that sent me is with me. The one who sends does not abandon the sent.
• Philippians 2:13 — even the desire to pray, the desire to worship, the desire to stay with God — God put that in you. You did not work it up yourself.

Your consignment is in the place of your assignment. What God has for you has been sent to where he has sent you. You will not find your provision standing still — you will find it at the place of your mission.

The Man of Gadara — A Picture of Being Sent

Mark 5

After Jesus delivered the man of Gadara, the man begged to leave with Jesus. Jesus refused. He told him to stay back and tell what had been done for him.

Jesus never returned to Gadara. He left one man there, and that man went through ten cities publishing what Jesus had done.

Jesus does not need to come to your street — you are already there.

Why should Jesus go to your family? You are there. Why should he go to your workplace? You are already placed. That is what it means to be saved and sent. The demon-possessed man of Gadara — 2,000 pigs could not contain what was in him. But one human being handled it. That is the distance between an animal and a person made in the image of God.

Dealing with Strongholds in the Mind

A lot of people carry low self-esteem not because they chose to, but because of words that were spoken over them that formed strongholds. Words about being too loud, too quiet, too slow, not smart enough. The dangerous part is that the mind holds onto what comes after the word "but." Everything said before the "but" is cancelled. Only the criticism remains.

You have to take those words captive. Cast them down. They are not the truth about who you are.

• An addiction to validation disqualifies you from kingdom usefulness. People addicted to approval cannot do much for God.
• God works with the few. The majority is not always right. When everyone goes one way, it does not mean that is God's direction.
• Popular does not mean right. You must have your own convictions and be willing to stand in them alone when necessary.

Character Is Required for Commission

Luke 2:48-51

At 12 years old, Jesus knew his assignment. He stayed in the temple while his parents searched for him. When they found him, his response was, "Did you not know I must be in my Father's house?" He knew who he was and what he was here for. Yet verse 51 says he went back to Nazareth and was obedient to his parents — parents who did not understand what he understood.

The ability to be knowledgeable and still remain obedient is a sign of genuine character.

Disobedience to parents is a sign of the end times. The Bible lists it as one of the marks of the perilous days. Someone who cannot be placed under authority has not developed the character to carry a commission.