CONTRARY TO HUMAN EXPECTATION
by Gary Keller

Matthew.l3:53-58 "And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished
these parables, he departed thence. And when he was come into his own
country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were
astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty
works ? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary?
And His brethren, James, and Joses, and Sin, and Judas? And his
sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these
things? 57 And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A
prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own
house. And he did not many mighty works there because of their
unbelief."

I would like to extract my thought from the fifty-fourth verse.
He taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished,
and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works?

There's something unique about the preached word of God which the
Lord shows in the foolishness of preaching. I heard a story of a
particular service where there were about 30 Spanish speaking people.
The minister that was preaching did not speak Spanish and neither did
he understand the language. However, he preached in English to the rest
of the congregation and when the service was over the altars
were filled with English and Spanish speaking people. They came up to
him through an interpreter saying-that they enjoyed so much the word of
God that he had preached and they did not understand English. They
comprehended it! Somewhere between the preacher's mouth and the
hearer's ear, God gave understanding. That can happen in this service
today. You may be rich, poor, ignorant, wise, whatever portion of life
you may have come from through the preached word of God. God can touch
children and senior citizens in the same service. It's unique-the
preached word of the Lord! I love what the Word of God can do. It can
move a person toward the altar, a place of communion with God.

The denominal world has three basic reasons why they come to the
altar in their lifetime. First, they bring their children to the altar,
second, they get married at the altar; and third, they get buried from
the altar. So the altar is a place where you're hatched, attached,
and dispatched from. However, contrary to the human expectation, the
altar for us is more than a place of just dedicating babies, being
attached in marriage and a place where we bring the casket and set
it before the audience for the last wake. I thank God today that the
altar can be a place of communion with Him, of confession of sins, and
of blessing. It can be a place where you can take a short trip down an
aisle which will become a runway to victory for you to find something
deep in the Holy Ghost for your soul.

We're serving a God today that is a very paradoxical God. By that
I mean, if you were to hear Him preach or read the messages delivered
in the gospel writings, you would wonder with the carnal mind if he
really understood everything he was talking about. The carnal mind is
enmity with God; therefore, the carnal mind can not comprehend
spiritual things. Jesus in his ministry for a Pharisee, Sadducee, or
common man to hear Him, that were not aware of the deity and
Messiahship that rested upon him, many of the statements the Lord made
and the parables He gave, did not make much sense to the average
person. They looked at a man that spoke about mansions, a place that he
was going to build, yet He did not even have a place to lay his head.
He had to confess one time that the foxes have their dens, the birds
their nest, but the son of man had no place to lay his head. But this
man who didn't have a home, owned no such place, walked about talking
about missions. It was a paradox! He was a paradoxical God. In His word
we find scripture that declares if a man will humble himself he shall
be exalted, but if a man exalteth himself, he shall be abased. There
are so many that say give me my crown, my blessing. Give me the
inspiration of hearing another sermon, I love to wear the crown; but if
you're really going to wear the crown throughout eternity you must pick
up the cross. The entire basis for living for God is denying ourselves,
taking up the cross and following him. That is where the security for
eternity really is, getting under the load of the cross that we might
wear the crown. I'm not interested in the crown, glory or fame down
here. I want to get under the cross, live my life for Jesus Christ that
I might obtain in that day of resurrection the eternal crown of life
hereafter.

The Lord in his paradoxical ways, talked about narrow roads that
lead to grand places. He talked about a narrow path at the end of which
is eternal life. Then he talked in another paradox about a wide
boulevard that leads to the dead end of hell. There are many that are
on that broad road, that wide highway, it is the popular road to take.
However, it leads to death and the end of it all is torment. This is
why we preach today, and have morning worship service. We admonish you
to take another look, contrary to human expectation, the narrow road is
the right road. It may not be paved or have all the signs and luxuries
of the freeway to hell, but if you get on the narrow road, contrary to
human conception, it will lead you to life hereafter.

This paradoxical God said that if a man seek to save his life
he'll lose it, but if you'll lose your life you shall preserve it.
People cannot understand, you will never be able to understand,
everything that goes on in an Apostolic service until you're born again
of the water and spirit. But if you get the Holy Ghost deep down in
your soul then you'll understand why someone wants to clap their hands,
raise their hands, leap for joy, dance in the Holy Ghost, or cry out
loud with exuberance. What is it? It's contrary to the human
expectation, but if you get this Holy Ghost power deep down in your
soul it'll make you move, run, and dance unto the Lord. It's a
beautiful experience, this glorious experience of the Lord.

Then God takes you through things, when you are born again of the
water and spirit you're put into a different kingdom. Really there is a
war going on, a vicious war in the spirit. There is a struggle, a fight
that is involved between God's kingdom and Satan's kingdom. I want to
say it very plainly today, you're either in the church or you're not in
the church. There is no in between. You're either saved and going to
heaven or your not going to heaven. Jesus said, I would that thou wert
hot or cold but because you are neither, I'm going to kick you out of
the kingdom. He doesn't want anyone just hanging around or hanging on
which is why somebody wrote the song that we sang when we were a kid,
"Get in, Get our, or Get run over." The church is moving on. It is
going forward. God's kingdom is alive and vibrant. You're either going
to be part of it or you're not going to be any part of it. You can't
hang onto fringes and make it to heaven. You're either ready or you're
not. You're either going up or you're going down, you're either going
to live in eternity with God or Satan. I want to choose the right road
and live with God throughout eternity.

God's kingdom versus Satan's kingdom, the Bible states that which
is born of the flesh is flesh but that which is born of the spirit is
spirit. You may say not everybody out there is of the persuasion you
are. Listen, it's not my persuasion but it's what the Bible says.
This Bible declares a man must repent of his sin, be buried in the
lovely name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and receive the gift
of the Holy Ghost.

If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are half saved and
to them that are lost. If you're lost in this place, let me give you
direction. Let me point the way. Repent of your sins, be buried in His
name, and God will fill you with the Holy Ghost and you will speak in
tongues as the spirit of God gives the utterance.

To be spiritually minded is life and peace. That's the kingdom of
God, but to be carnally minded is death. There's a tremendous division
between the spiritual and the carnal. There's an absolute line between
what is right and what is wrong. It's either white or black, right or
wrong. I thank God we can have a spiritual mind and live a peaceful
life for God.

Every once in a while a senior citizen of the Michigan district,
a man of God that I love so much, Bro. Starr, will address the
ministers. He will inform us over and over, it's almost a standard
procedure in a ministers meeting that Bro. Starr will look at us and
say, "I want to tell you that God gives us the best in this life and
the life to come." You don't move down to Pentecost - you move up to
Pentecost. God gives you the best down here while we're going over
there. I love this experience that I can lay my head on a pillow at
night and not worry about a bomb going off because my soul is right
with God. To be spiritually minded is life and peace but to be carnally
minded is death I wouldn't want to live in that kind of a lifestyle
where my mind was in the gutter and corrupted with this world and the
fears of torment and the hell people live in. Don't live that way
anymore. Come out from among them and be separate. Allow the Lord God
to make you a child of His.

We're serving a God, it may be contrary to the human expectation,
but if you'll raise your sights a little bit and see what God has
ordained for you to have, you can live a victorious life in this world.

The Devil also works in @ paradoxical way. Just look at his
billboards. Take for example, Marlboro Country, welcome to Marlboro
country, what does he show you? He shows you a cowboy with his leg
across the saddlehorn sitting on a nice looking horse with some cows
grazing in the background and he's taking a drag off the Marlboro.
Welcome to Marlboro country, that's what the devil shows you. He
doesn't take you to the hospital in Indianapolis where I was, he
doesn't take you to that hospital room where there's a sign on the door
and above the patient's bed that says No Smoking. He doesn't take you
to that room where that man writes on a pad of paper asking for a
cigarette. His chin and his throat are gone. He breathes through a hole
in his throat and if you would give him a cigarette he would breathe
that through the hole. The devil doesn't put that on the billboard. He
wants you to see Marlboro country-or weekends made for Michelob. He
wants you to see the billboards that talk about the alcohol and the
vodka, and show you something that would attract you to it. He doesn't
want you to see the broken home, the disease, and the corruption on the
other side of the billboard.

When you start looking at God, He wants you to see the glory, but
if you ever get on the other side of the blood of Calvary and see what
this is all about, it is joy unspeakable and full of glory. The kingdom
of God is not meat and drink but it's righteousness, peace, and joy in
the Holy Ghost. And may I say, just being honest, I see a lot of people
around Pentecost that have righteousness but not much peace and joy.
I've got news for you, if you've got the Holy Ghost, you'll have more
than righteousness. You'll be glad when they say let us go to the house
of the Lord. There'll be joy and peace in your experience. If you don't
get a little joy or peace once in a while, I wonder about your Holy
Ghost and your experience. If you get a genuine dose of the Holy Ghost
power its righteousness, peace and joy. I've got joy like a river. Let
the Holy Ghost bless you doubly.

You may be facing a mountain, not a molehill. How many times have
we heard or sung that old song, "Little is Much if God is in it".

I read a story about the adrenalin in this human body. While Bro.
Larson was preaching a watch-night service, he walked over to the piano
and said that he was going to pick it up. I felt so much of the power
of God I thought he was really going to. He went over and got
a hold of it and I thought, "It's coming up!" He said he was going to
do it and I thought he was.

I read a story in time magazine a few years ago in which two
older ladies, sisters whose husbands had died, were living together and
their house caught on fire. The only real treasure they had was their
piano and an old upright piano. In this fire, they went to the neighbor
to call the fire department and then they realized that the piano was
in the front room. They went back into that house, one on each end of
that antique piano. That was family pride. They carried it out onto the
front porch, down the three front steps, and put it in the front yard.
After the fire was put out one of the firemen asked, "Who moved the
piano for you?" They said, "We did". The firemen asked to see if they
could move it back. They got a hold of it and couldn't budge it. But
there was something called adrenalin that began to flow that caused
them to not care that it seemed impossible. They just wanted it out
of the burning house. So they got a hold of it, the adrenalin started
working in those ancient parts and they picked it up. I'm trying to say
to you that you may have a problem that seems impossible. Great! That's
beautiful! Because that is the realm in which God works.

With God nothing shall be impossible, for when deliverance comes,
you won't say look what I did. You'll say look what the Lord hath done.
He healed my body, he touched my mind, he saved my soul, he delivered
me from the habit, he saved my family. Look what God has done.

Oh Lord, Holy Ghost, I'm asking you to give us an infection of
spiritual adrenalin that we might obtain the beautiful promises of
the Holy Ghost. That's why Shampoos could take a jawbone of a donkey
facing ten thousand Philistines, who had their swords, shields, and
spears. Shampoos looked around for something to fight with but he was
completely surrounded by the enemy of his soul, body and mind. Nothing
laying there but a dead carcass of a donkey. He reached in, took the
jawbone off, and said come on. When the battle was over, there were one
thousand dead Philistines and one man of God that was still alive.

Little is much if God is in it. Don't despise the day of small
things. Shampoos had a victory with that jawbone and then threw it
away. He then turned to God and said, "God, have you delivered me from
mine adversaries to let me die of thirst". God's answer was no but
you're going to have to go back to that jawbone because I've hollowed
out a spring of water and it's in that same thing that brought you
deliverance.

Some people are looking for some new-fangled idea to excite their
soul. Let me tell you it's the same basics. There is no new thing under
the sun. You've got to come right back to God. If you've had some
victories and thrown some things away that brought you victory at one
time and you find yourself in a dilemma, why don't you go back
and get a hold of that jawbone, and let the thirsty soul of your being
find its rest in God? Little is much if God is in it. If God is in the
jawbone you can kill a thousand men, if God is in the jawbone you can
find waters. Not only was the beautiful strength to combat the enemy
there but the beautiful simplicity of refreshing was there. I
love God for his mercy and love to us today and it's reaching for us.

Little is much if God is in it. That's why an old country boy,
Elijah, that carried a mantel and was hairy, was walking through Gilgal
and looked behind him and there was a bald-headed, staff carrying man.
The only resemblance between these two men was their names. Elisha, was
from the city, carried a staff, and was bald-headed. Elijah was from
the country, carried a mantel, and was hairy. He didn't want that old
cityslicker, which is probably where the term originated, following him
down to Bethel, Jericho, and across the Jordan. But after that long
journey and after the mantel had parted the river so they could pass
over, Elijah asked Elisha why he had followed him through Gilgal,
Bethel, Jericho and Jordan? And what was it he was after.

Elisha responded that he wanted a double portion of the spirit of
God that rested upon Elijah. Elijah said, "If you see me when I go
away, then you will receive exactly what you've asked for. A fiery
chariot swept down, picked him up, and carried him into the everlasting
heavens. But a mantel came floating back down and I love what Elisha
did. He left the staff and picked up the mantel. That's where we're at
today, a place where God's ready to move and pour out revival. It's
time to go pick up the mantel-and walk right back to the Jordan. I love
what Elisha said, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" And he smote the
waters and they parted.

Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His brothers, sisters,
and mother here with us? How can He do those great things? I declare to
you he was more than a carpenter's son. Yes, ye knows how to use a
hammer, chisel, plane, saw & sander. He knows how to build kitchen
tables, chairs and living room furniture. He knows how to fix a door
or wall. He was the carpenter's son. He was well-versed. But I want to
tell you today He was more than just a man. He also created the
mountains, seas, forest and everything that lives therein. He also
created man. Job said he hung the world over the empty space, over
the north, he hung it up on nothing. You can limit him if you want to
as just a carpenter's son, but I serve you notice he's more than that.
He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above anything that we think
or ask according to the power that worketh in us. The human mind will
limit you to say God cannot do it, but that's when God can work. The
devil will tell you that it's literally impossible, the situation
you're in, but with God nothing shall be impossible.

This kingdom began with impossible situations. It began with the
birth of John the Baptist, his parents were senior citizens. Elizabeth
had been barren all of her life. But I love what Gabriel said to
Elizabeth and Zecharias, "With God nothing shall be impossible". I
love what Gabriel said to Mary when she confessed to Gabriel she
couldn't have a Shield since she knew not a man. He said with God
nothing shall be impossible, the Holy Ghost is going to overshadow you
and that which is conceived in you will be of the Holy Ghost.

Sometimes we make things so complex but we must understand the
simplicity of how God operates. Our pastor mentioned it this morning
when he stood and said faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word
of God. Even while I've preached, there have been many needs in
different avenues met. If you'll allow the word that you've heard
to penetrate your soul, and let God give you an injection of Holy Ghost
adrenalin, he can revive, restore, and bless you. That is how revival
begins.

Maybe you're a sceptic and wonder how you can know there is a
God. Doctor Charles Guy, a Swiss Mathematician, programmed a computer
with all the necessary data Concerning evolution and man. The computer
gave the odds of 10 to the 326th power to one against this world
spontaneously just happening. That equation means it's impossible to
have just happened.

Some people would say if God is real and exists, why does he
allow this world to live in such deplorable state. Let's get this
straight, God created the world perfect! He created it clean, pure and
wholesome. It was Adam, our father, that sinned, transgressed, and
brought sin, sickness, pain, hospitals and death. God was obligated to
put two cherubims with flaming swords to protect the way of the tree of
life. For if Adam had gotten back to that tree in the deplorable,
sinful state he was in, and eaten of the tree of life, man would have
lived perpetually in sin. You may wonder why God hasn't already done
something, he has. He robbed himself in flesh, dethroned himself, and
became man. He was the supreme sacrifice for the sin of the world.
Yes, there's a God who has already done something.

I love the testimony of the young man who said to his preacher,
"Preacher, it dawned on me that if I would've been the only person on
the face of this earth, God would've come and died just for me." The
same is true today. God has died for you. Although there are so many
here and in this city, God gave his life for you. He died for you!
As a matter of fact, he said if ninety-nine are saved, I'm not happy
unless that one lost sheet is found. Won't you be the person today
that says, Lord, there have been so many human injections that have
caused me to miss out, I want to make everything right with you today.

Contrary to human expectations, God will meet you here today.