This sermon emphasizes God's choice of the foolish and weak things of the world to confound the wise, highlighting the importance of humility, honesty, and dependency on God. It challenges the worldly concept of upward mobility and calls for a genuine surrender to God's wisdom and guidance, acknowledging our own foolishness and weaknesses. The message encourages a deep desire for God's enduring plans to be fulfilled in our lives, leading to true satisfaction and reliance on God's mysterious ways.

Welcome to the Lord's Challenge with Joshua Daniel. The Layman's Evangelical Fellowship International is a ministry reaching people from all walks of life since 1935. After a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ at the age of 16, Joshua Daniel has been declaring the marvelous deliverance from sin, which is freely given to all those who turn to the loving Savior. Wherever this message has gone, broken relationships have been restored, sickness healed, ill-gotten money returned, and thieves turned into givers. We now invite you to watch and receive the invaluable blessing that God has for you. 1 Corinthians 1, 1 Corinthians 1, but God has chosen, 27th verse, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world and things which are despised has God chosen. Yea, and things which are not, that simply don't appear to exist, they're a pile of beans. A hill of beans. They're not, they're fit for nothing. To bring to naught things that appear formidable, that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. How amazing. You know, folks, when there is any hard assignment or position, especially in a situation which appears to be a crumbling one, who is the kind of person whom you would choose? The most brilliant person. The person who is a top-notcher. A person who has got few to compare with him or her. Now that's the kind of person you and I would want to choose for a situation that requires retrieval from an awful abysm. Well, you know that sometimes we can choose very falsely, based on rhetoric, and based on huge promises, which seem to be just in keeping with political platforms. People like to have it so. But you know, when we come to the things of God, we have to be very real. Honest. You see, a certain amount of basic honesty is required. When a man gets a zero, he must say, Hey, I flunked the exam. You know what I got? The grand total of zero. Why? What's so humbling about acknowledging a fact? You see, I don't find it so difficult to acknowledge facts, you know. They may go right against me. They may set me apart as a foolish fellow. Notwithstanding, truth is truth. Fact is a fact. You can't turn fiction into fact, or fact into fiction. So there you are. Whom would you choose? You and I would go and choose the fellow who is voluble. That is, free with his rhetoric. Could talk well. Okay. And then we would see the flashy fellow. You know, flashing your wares or flashing your little talent. You know, you can take in a lot of people that way. Outward show. If you come to the bottom of it, a lot of it is outward show. And isn't it Shakespeare who expressed it this way? All the world is a stage, and men are but actors on it. So I'm an actor, right? I don't want to be an actor. I want to be real. You see, if I am only an actor, my wife would know that right away. My children would know it, and soon everybody would know it. Oh, this fellow knows how to play. Play around. He thinks the whole world's a stage. You know? We put on an act. That's the plain fact. But acting won't work too long. You can't maintain that same pose and that same strain of acting. How long? The truth will be out. So, but God says, I'm going to choose this foolish vessel. Maybe he will get a little honest about it and recognize his dependency upon me. You know, very clever people depend upon their lies and their acting, as I said, and their superficial glitter. That's clever people. But, you know, sometimes you see the foolish fellows, they're sitting in a corner, you know, so grumpy or downcast or gloomy, or as though they have just tumbled out of bed. You would say, hey, not that fellow. No, no, no, no. Not that fellow. Oh, here somebody is so flashy. I want this other person. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. All right. There is an assignment also attached to it. You see, the world by wisdom knew not God, says the Word of God. You know, we have got a lot of wise people, and I am just seeing the measure of my ignorance. I'm just discovering it rather late, don't you think? Eugenics, which were employed back in the Spartan days, by which babies who appeared to be weak were killed, and the Teutonic tribes, Teutonic tribes are the tribes of northern Europe, especially the German and the British and their ancestors. Okay. The old barbaric Scots also killed both their weak babies and the mothers. They said, eugenics. Of course, they didn't talk in terms of science in those days, but the idea was we must reproduce a master race of brilliant people, top people. So, 400,000 people were killed in Germany. 400 people. These fellows are useless. They are mad. They are insane. They are useless. What kind of babies will they produce? So, get rid of them. 400,000. And then 400,000 were sterilized, okay? And 200,000 were killed. Just killed. Like rats or women. 200,000 eugenics. That is the wisdom of the world. Let's produce a master race. Let's produce some real, wise-thinking, able people. The Bible tells me we are fools for Jesus' sake. We are fools for Jesus' sake. Now, do you want to be called a fool? 1 Corinthians 4 chapter and the 10th verse. 1 Corinthians 4 chapter and the 10th verse. We are fools for Christ's sake. But you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honorable, but we are despised. You know, this upward mobility as it is called. Upward mobility. A balloon. You put more hydrogen into a huge balloon, the higher it flies. You know, folks, empty vessels make the most noise, they used to say in the old days. Okay, anyway. But there is a kind of wisdom which makes people fools. And there is a kind of wisdom that says, Lord, I am a fool. I need to know the way. I need you to direct my life. This is not just a matter of Sunday talk. This is not just a matter of a club affiliation. You see, what is happening today is reducing our relationship to Jesus to a club affiliation. You know, my dear friends, I was a member of a club, a tennis club. And there was a clubhouse where people would be playing their cards and eating and having their cups of coffee or tea. I never cared to go to the clubhouse, although it was just 30 yards away from the tennis court, 30, 50 yards away. I thought it is an idle occupation to be sitting around with these fellows. So I would have my brisk game of tennis, and off I would go on my old bicycle. So, folks, there is a kind of wisdom which says, Oh, Lord, I am weak, but you are strong. Just like we heard now in the song, lead me from all wrong. I'm foolish. That's exactly what I seem to choose, the glittering thing. All that glitters is not gold. But that's exactly what I go and choose. So I run after a mirage. I run after false dreams. I want reality, whatever it takes and whatever it costs. I want to see my foolishness. Now, what's wrong about that? I want to know my foolishness, and I don't want any delay about the matter either. Because the more I defer and delay, I am going to lose valuable opportunities and time to glorify God. So we are fools for Christ's sake, we are told. Now, this upward mobility which we are talking about, it's a big house, a big car, a big show. You know, a big paycheck. All right. There are certain things which are necessary. But there are certain things which must not become the center of our focus. Now, this upward mobility does not include any moral issues. Upward mobility requires you to get undressed. Upward mobility requires you to keep up with the crowd by exposing yourself. Now, is that upward mobility? No. It is a mind that is hellward bent. But you know how wrong we have become. I do not know how true this is, but someone said to me, Do you realize that the presidential prayer was cancelled or something? Whether it was cancelled or whatever, I am not sure, because I have not gone into it. But if that had happened, what does that show? That shows a mental immaturity. That's all it shows. You can't play with a nation. You can't play with truth. Whoever made that decision, was it upward mobility? No, it wasn't. How many times Abraham Lincoln called the nation to prayer during that awful conflict where freedom was the issue and it seemed to be almost going out of the hands of the president. My dear people, I have been in the days of prayer in the last war when all the soldiers would march in and their officers all ready to go to the front to be killed by Japanese bullets and ambushes. And I used to sing those, you see those young fellows, British Tommies and American G.I.'s sing and conduct themselves with reverence. What a tragedy. There is no upward mobility where morality is concerned. Today the big issue seems to be, the debating point seems to be, who is going to be our next bishop or preacher? A homosexual? That might be the right choice. Is that a matter to debate? A man who can't control himself, a man who cannot conduct himself as a responsible member of society, do you mean to put such a man in the platform or in the pulpit? Is that a debating point? Is that upward mobility? No, not at all. That is a renunciation of all sense and moral perception. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. Let us pray. Loving Father, that you should be mindful of people like us, ordinary people. There are so many brilliant people, Lord. People with such wonderful brains. Oh, a fellow like me is a kindergarten boy. Oh, my Father. But how is it that you say that you choose the foolish things of this world, the weak things, the things which are based and despised? We see it in the Scripture, we see it in history, how the resurrection power takes over and begins to motivate, to discipline, to purify our thoughts, our thinking, our whole frame, our makeup, so that we fit into the plans of God. Oh, Father, we want those enduring eternal plans to be fulfilled in our lives. We don't want to be like a whiff of chaff. With one little breath, oof, it's blown off. All our dreams and all our efforts. No, no, no. We want the builder and the maker to be God, the Almighty, the eternal Savior, that there will be something coming out of each one of our lives that will endure through eternity. We ask this in Jesus' holy name. Amen. Well, satisfied, I'm satisfied. Said it would be my comfort, said it would be my guide. Well, well, I looked at my hands, my hands looked new. I looked at my feet and they did too. And ever since that wonderful day, my soul's been satisfied. Well, satisfied, I'm satisfied. Said it would be my comfort, said it would be my guide. Well, well, I looked at my hands, my hands looked new. I looked at my feet and they did too. And ever since that wonderful day, my soul's been satisfied. Well, the Lord moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. You know, he plants his feet on every step and then he rides on every storm. Well, he made my feet for running girls and my eyes, he opened up wide. He picks my tongue so I can say, praise God, I'm satisfied. Well, satisfied, I'm satisfied. Said it would be my comfort, said it would be my guide. Well, well, I looked at my hands, my hands looked new. I looked at my feet and they did too. And ever since that wonderful day, my soul's been satisfied. Well, I was riding yonder in the valley, girls. I was wandering all alone. It was there I met my Jesus, where, you know, he claimed me for his own. Then he poured his arms all around me there and then he drew me up to his side. Oh, yes, I'm satisfied. Well, satisfied, I'm satisfied. Satisfied, Jesus. Said it would be my comfort, said it would be my guide. Well, well, I looked at my hands, my hands looked new. I looked at my feet and they did too. And ever since that wonderful day, my soul's been satisfied. Well, satisfied, I'm satisfied. Satisfied, Jesus. Said it would be my comfort, said it would be my guide. Well, well, I looked at my hands, my hands looked new. I looked at my feet and they did too. And ever since that wonderful day, my soul's been satisfied. This program is brought to you by the Layman's Evangelical Fellowship International, an interdenominational missionary and prayer group working for revival around the globe. We invite every lay person to become God's ally in changing his or her corner of the world. Please write, and if you have a prayer request or concern you would like to share, please do let us know. You can email us at post at lefi.org or visit our website at lefi.org. Our mailing address is LEFI, PO Box 1072, Armidale, WA 6992. Until we meet again next week, may God bless you.