(Youth Conference 2006) How God Selects and Prepares Us — Zac Poonen

Rejecting Cultural and Denominational Prejudices

The first thing I want you all to know is we have to get rid of a lot of wrong concepts that we have absorbed from our culture, which is basically Hindu in this country, and from the Christianity that we have seen around us.

We may come from various denominations, and if you don't fight a battle to get rid of your cultural prejudices and the traditional prejudices you have from the Christendom particular branch of Christianity you grew up in, I'll tell you something, you will never become the type of man or woman of God that God wants you to be.

I'm saying this from my own experience. I decided when I became a Christian as a young man, I was 19 years old, that I would not be an Indian first, but a Christian first, and then an Indian. So if there's a conflict between Indian culture and what the Bible taught, I would choose the Bible, and if there was a conflict between what my particular church denomination taught and what the Bible taught, I would choose the Bible.

If you make that decision, you will discover different things, habits, maybe which your parents have followed, which your particular culture in your part of the country follows, which you have to decide you're not going to follow.

Looking to Jesus and Laying Aside Every Weight

You're going to be different because you've got one example, that is Jesus Christ. So the best advice I can give you young people is to look onto Jesus and run the race, like it says in Hebrews 12, verse 1 and 2.

And when it says, turn to that verse for a moment, you've got a notebook and a pencil, please write so that you remember later on what you were told, you can't rely on your memory. Hebrews 12, verse 1 and 2, it says here, let us lay aside every encumbrance or weight, everything that hinders us from following, and sin.

Now sin we can understand, something which our conscience tells us is wrong. What are these weights or encumbrances? Sin is like a chain that ties our leg, you can't run the race if you've got a chain tied to your leg, tied to some tree or post, you've got to break those chains.

Weights are, you know if you come to a 100 meters race and your pockets are full of heavy stones, you're not going to run very fast. So you've got to get rid of weights, and weights refer to many things, but some of those things are these prejudices we have because of our culture or tradition or church background or whatever it is.

Anything which doesn't look evil, but which can hinder you from running the race is not enough to just get rid of sin. I'll tell you this, if you take it seriously, you may be different from a lot of other young people because they don't take some of these things seriously, but you'll find in the long run that your life really counts for God, because you're not going to be like the others.

If gossiping is a part of your culture, get rid of it, and seek to fellowship with those who are more interested in prayer meetings. I believe a lot of you young people should organize prayer meetings, and don't just call everybody.

Selective Fellowship and Pursuing God's Approval

In fact, one of the most useless prayer meetings is where you call everybody. You can only pray with those who have a burden. When Jesus went in to pray for Jairus' daughter who was dead, he even sent out nine of his disciples.

He said, you know, we don't want you here. Imagine, nine of his disciples being turned out of the room. He said, I only want Peter, James, and John. A lot of people are offended with Jesus, and a lot of people are offended with us when we select some people and don't select others, but that's fine.

We're not here to please the world. We're here to please God and accomplish something for God before we leave this earth. And I want to ask you, how many of you are serious about saying, I want to accomplish something for God before I leave this earth?

I remember when I was a young Christian and I read the biographies of these missionaries who went out to difficult places, and it was very difficult for them over there. Their lives challenged me as a young man, and I said, boy, these fellows really accomplished something for God.

What am I doing? I want to accomplish something for God before I leave this earth, and I decided that when I was 21. And I decided that no human being on the earth, no preacher, no group, nobody is ever going to hinder me from accomplishing what God wants me to accomplish before I leave this earth.

And because I made that decision, I look back on my life today with some satisfaction. And I've made a lot of enemies in Christendom. I couldn't care less. I know God is my friend. I know the devil hates me like anything, and that's a great compliment to me.

And I want to say to you, your life can count for God if you decide now when you are young that you are going to be different from other young people. Even other young people in your own church who are half-hearted, worldly, compromising, and many other things that hinder them from being disciples of Jesus.

But if you're one of those people who want to be popular, I'd say forget about being a disciple of Jesus. Just forget it. You can sit through this camp, but you'll be wasting your time, and you'll be wasting your life.

Wholehearted Repentance and Perseverance Against Sin

So, lay aside every weight. One of the things that you need to discover during these days, these two days, Lord, what are the sins that are hindering me from following you? I want to fight them, battle them.

Some of those sins are so deep-rooted in our flesh, it may take you many years to get rid of them. Never mind. Say, Lord, if it takes me 10 years to get rid of this sin, I'm going to fight it for 10 years and get rid of it.

Don't give up. Don't ever, ever say, OK, I've struggled for 5 years, I couldn't get victory. No. Determine that you're going to get victory over everything that your conscience tells you is wrong, even if it takes 10 years.

If you're not filled with the Holy Spirit, pray what I prayed when I was a young man. I said, Lord, if it takes 10 years for me to be genuinely filled with the Holy Spirit, I'm going to cry out to you till I get it.

You know, God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. If you don't seek Him wholeheartedly, I'll tell you right now, you won't find Him. If you're about to please this person and that person and do this thing and the other thing as a priority in your life, you might as well forget it about being a disciple of Christ.

But I hope that some of you at least, I don't expect, I'll tell you honestly, I don't expect all of you to respond to this word because there are a lot in a group like this, about 160 young people, there are always a number of people who are just not interested in listening to the word of God.

I know that. I know that from years of experience. And I know that there'd be a number of people who go out from here and they'll be attracted by something in the world and their friends and all that.

I say, please go ahead and do that. Go your way. But I'm speaking to the few here who are serious and say, I'm not going to let my friends influence me. I'm not going to let the world influence me. And I'm basically speaking these two days only to the rest of you, to those such people.

The rest of you, this is a picnic. Have your picnic and go home. But those of you who are serious about following the Lord in this crowd, I want to encourage you to take these days seriously. And I'll tell you this, when you stand at the judgment seat of Christ and you look back over your life, you'll thank me for what I told you.

If you take it seriously, you won't have any regret in that day. That's what I live for. I say, Lord, I don't care what anybody in this world thinks about me. They're not going to sit on the judgment seat judging me in the final day.

It's going to be you. You're the only one. And when I stand before you in the final day, you're not going to ask somebody for his opinion about me. You're not going to ask somebody, what do you think of Zach?

He's not going to ask anybody. So why should I bother what other people think? I only want to know that Jesus, who knows every detail of my life, my private life, my thought life, my attitudes, everything.

I want him to be happy. And I really want to speak only to those young brothers and sisters sitting here who are serious about that. I'll tell you something. It doesn't matter if your parents think that you're the black sheep of the family.

I've seen a lot of black sheep of the family who turn out to be the most wholehearted disciples of Jesus. Like the Apostle Paul, who was killing Christians. You're not as bad as that. Think what he became.

Or Peter, who denied Jesus three times, saying, I don't even know Jesus. None of you have ever committed such a sin. But he became the greatest apostle. So God's got great hope for those who have failed a lot.

If they will acknowledge their failure and say, Lord, people in the church don't think much of me. And people in my home don't think much of me. But that's okay. I want to live before you and please you.

And you'll see that God will accomplish something through your life. So, lay aside every weight. And lay aside every sin. That's the thing that you need to think of during these days. How can I lay aside every sin?

And then, how can I lay aside every weight? And look unto Jesus. It says in the next verse, fixing our eyes on Jesus. He is my example. I look at Him. And how am I to look at Him? I'm to look at Him as the one who is...

Jesus as the Author and Perfecter of Faith

The author of my faith means the one who has produced a little faith in me. You fellows wouldn't be here. You folks wouldn't be here. If Jesus had not produced some faith in you. The author means somebody who wrote some faith into your heart.

Don't take the credit for yourself. Jesus wrote that faith in your heart. And He who began that book will complete it. He'll finish the last page. I believe that. He's the author of my faith and He's going to be the finisher.

Perfecter of my faith. And then I have to look at Him as one... Listen, how am I to look at Him? There are two ways in which I must look at Him. First of all, I must look at Him as one who endured the cross.

Now that's not something you hear much about in Christianity today. Enduring the cross. People talk about enjoying. But the real joy which never disappears 365 days of the year. 24 hours a day is this joy.

The joy which the world gives you. Even the joy you get out of some answered prayer or some prosperity or some healing. I tell you that joy will not last 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. But if you take up the cross and die to yourself.

And decide to follow Jesus. You'll have a joy. I'll tell you from my experience that you have 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. That's how it was with Jesus. Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross.

His joy was of full joy. Fullness of joy. And that came because He endured the cross. And He knew that if I go this way, I'll get joy all the time. And He chose that way because that is the will of the Father.

To take up the cross means basically that I don't do my own will. But the will of God. You know, a lot of people talk about taking up the cross. And many people say, what does it mean? Here it is. Think of a cross like this.

This is the picture of a cross. My hands crossed. This is my will. This is God's will. Going in different directions. And where my will crosses God's will. And I die to my will and I choose God's will.

That is the cross. In some situation where you're tempted. And your conscience or the Holy Spirit says, this is the way Jesus would react in this situation. This is what Jesus would do in this temptation.

And you hear another voice, which is the voice of your flesh, saying, no, you'll get some enjoyment if you go this way. You need it, man. You need once in a while to enjoy yourself. That's this, your will.

And there's God's will. And at that moment, you're all alone. You're going to make a choice. You're going to make a choice to either forget about the cross and do your will. Or you're going to deny yourself and die.

And to die means to die to your choice. And do the will of God. And you keep doing that. And you'll become a man of God. A woman of God. Otherwise you can come to ten thousand camps like this. You'll never get anywhere.

You'll be just the same old person. Defeated, frustrated, like 90 of believers. Perhaps 95%. There are very few believers who can say, I have a very satisfying Christian life. You go and ask people honestly, do you have a satisfying Christian life?

I guarantee 95 will tell you no. Even people who have been believers for 30, 40 years. You ask me, I say yes. I have a very satisfying Christian life. I'm not all that I should be. I haven't become like Jesus.

I've got a long way to go. But according to my present level, I'm very satisfied. Because I made a decision years ago that I'm going to choose God's will wherever I know it. There may be many areas where I don't know it.

That's okay. God doesn't hold me responsible for what I don't know. Just like you will not get a 10th standard examination paper when you're in the 5th standard. Because you're not supposed to know certain things in 10th standard.

So, I'm not bothered that I don't know certain things in a higher class, which I have not reached yet. But according to the present level of my understanding, I want to have a clear conscience. And that's all God is asking of you too.

Please remember that. That's what it means to endure the cross. The other thing it says here, he despised the shame. There is a shame in being a wholehearted disciple of Jesus. And you folks who are in college and in school know that.

People will make fun of you. Because, I know, when I was working in the Navy, they used to call me a Holy Joe and all types of names. They used to see me carrying my Bible in a little plastic bag. And they'd make fun of me.

One person asked me, one of my juniors, Sir, are you an insurance agent? Always going around with this every day out of the ship. I said, yes, I'm an insurance agent. I insure people for eternity. So that they have eternal life.

Good opportunity. I mean, he asked for a testimony from me. I gave him. I gave him the Gospel. So, if you are different from the others, you'll find that you don't have to go and preach to others. They'll come and ask you something and then give them the Gospel.

I'd stand around in those naval parties, holding a glass of orange juice. And everybody else is drinking whiskey or rum or something like that. And they'd say, wait, what's this? You're drinking orange juice?

Why? You asked for it, brother. I'm going to give you now the answer. I'll give you the Gospel. Alright, keep a Bible on my table. Now, what's this? You're a Holy Joe. Okay, you asked for it. I'm going to give you the answer now.

So, you know there are many ways where you don't have to go and preach to others. They themselves open their mouth and ask you something if they see that you're different. And there's a shame attached to being a Christian.

Publicly Bearing the Shame of Discipleship

Don't be afraid of that shame. Don't be ashamed to be known as a disciple of Jesus. Jesus said, if you are ashamed of me on this earth, that means in your office, in your college. You don't want other people to know that you're a disciple of Jesus.

You want to laugh at the dirty jokes that everybody else laughs at because you want them to think, you're just like one of those disciples of the devil like all the others who laugh at those filthy jokes.

I'm also a disciple of the devil like you fellas. I laugh at that. And Jesus is standing there. He's not angry. He's sad. Sad that you let him down. That's fine. Repent and say, Lord, I never want to do that again.

I want people to know that I belong to you. I don't have to go around with a big badge saying I belong to Jesus. I think it's more by my life. You know, if they see that I have a consideration and compassion for poor people and to those who are sick or discouraged that I can go to them and say, hey, would you like me to pray for you?

There are many ways. Making it known that I'm a Christian. Whatever. One of the goals I had was as soon as I got transferred to a new place or a new ship, I wanted everybody to know as soon as possible that I was a Christian.

I never wore a badge at any time. I was not permitted with my naval uniform. You couldn't wear badges. I looked like anybody else, but if they came to my room, they'd see a maybe a calendar or Christian calendar or something there that made it known that I was not this run-of-the-mill usual type of Christian.

I was a disciple of Jesus Christ. And you know, the result of that is some needy person would come to me and get converted. Because they knew that here was one person I could go to when I have problems.

So that's the advantage of being known as a Christian and despise the shame. There is a shame, but Jesus despised it. Oh, now watch that. That's nothing. Here is the world making fun of me and here is God and the angels delighted with me.

That's great. So, if you despise the shame and you take up the cross, you can follow Jesus. That's why, in other words, look at the way Jesus lived his earthly life. That's the first thing we have to look at Jesus in.

Christ's Authority and the Conditional Nature of God's Promises

The second thing is look at Him seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12. We have to see Him as one who's now got all authority in heaven and earth. And if you really seek to please Him, I'll tell you something.

Do you know that when you listen to God, God will listen to you? Isn't that good? I remember in my younger days when I disobeyed God in something for one and a half years. It was water baptism. And I knew I had to take it and I didn't take it.

Every time I knelt down to pray, I would feel God was saying to me, You're not listening to me. Why should I listen to you? Do you know why many of your prayers are not answered? God's saying, You're not listening to me in that area.

Why should I listen to you? It's a wonderful thing to listen to God. Because God will listen to you then. That's the secret. If you honor Him, He will honor you. If you dishonor Him, He will dishonor you.

Those are laws. He gives grace to the humble. He resists the proud. It's up to you to decide whether you want grace or not. You see, the promises of God for us are conditional. Conditional means, there's a condition.

Even forgiveness of sins, even though it's free. Nobody has to pay anything for the forgiveness of sins, yet 90 of the world is not converted. Why? Because even for that there's a condition. Condition is you must repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So right from the beginning of the Christian life, you can have everything from God, but there are certain conditions. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Looks like an unconditional promise in Hebrews 13.

But it is conditional in the sense that it's not for all unbelievers. It's only for believers. So you've got to become a believer for that promise to be fulfilled. Otherwise God will forsake you. So every promise in a sense has got a condition.

Please remember that. And those promises will not be fulfilled unless you fulfill the conditions. If you honor Him, He'll honor you. You don't honor Him, He's not going to honor you. So, if you say, Lord, I'm going to listen to you.

He's going to listen to you when you pray as well. Let me show you this verse. Hebrews 5. It tells us why God heard the praise of Jesus. Hebrews 5. It says in verse 7, In the days of His flesh, referring to Jesus Christ, He offered up prayers and supplications with loud, loud, actually strong crying, not loud, strong crying and tears.

Jesus' Reverent Obedience and the Fight Against Sin

That means in His heart there was a cry. Sometimes there were tears. Can you imagine Jesus praying with tears in His eyes? And He wasn't praying with tears because somebody insulted Him or called Him the devil.

We weep sometimes because somebody treated us badly or somebody insulted us or we didn't get what we wanted. Jesus never wept once because He didn't get what He wanted. And I decided long ago in my life, I will never weep because somebody treated me badly or I didn't get what I wanted or something went wrong in my life or anything that affects me like that, all these earthly things.

I'm never going to shed a single tear. But I am going to weep if I sin in some area, in my thoughts or in some area where other people didn't see it, but Lord, I slipped up there. I am going to weep and cry at night on my pillow and ask God to help me.

That's what it means to follow Jesus. I've heard, you know, every camp I go to for young people, one question is, why can't I get victory over sin? I'll tell you, you pray like Jesus prayed, you'll get victory over sin very quickly.

When was the last time you wept on your pillow at night and said, God, I'm sinning, please help me. You've never done it? Ha! You want victory over sin? You won't get it. In a hundred years you won't get it.

How can you get it when you're not earnest? God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. He says, you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. And so it says here, He prayed with strong crying and tears to the One who was able to save him from death.

Not physical death. Jesus was not afraid of physical death. In fact, it says He delivered people from the fear of death. So how could He be afraid of physical death? Martyrs have gone to the plains and to lions to be eaten by them.

Singing a song, there was no fear in them. Jesus was not afraid of physical death. There was only one death that Jesus was afraid of, that is spiritual death. That means the smell of spiritual death. You know how our nose can pick up a bad smell.

Even though the bad smell may be coming from a hundred yards, two hundred yards away. You say, I pick it up something and I move away from that area. But Jesus was sensitive to sin like that. He didn't have to go and plonk Himself into that muck before He realized His sin.

He picked it up from a long distance. Hey, that's sinful. And He turned away. That's how He hated sin. And so it says here, that smell of death, He would avoid it. Far away. There's sin there. That's why He never sinned.

Because He'd pick up a smell there. Hey, hey. That's not too good. And you pick up that smell too. But if you keep indulging in it, you lose that sense of smell and then you begin to sin. You tell lies.

After some time, you lose the sense of sin in that area. If you lust and don't confess it, well, you lose the sensitivity there. But Jesus was, He prayed, Oh Father, keep me from this, keep me from sin, which ends in death.

And it says He was hurt because of His godly fear. How do we know He had a godly fear? Because He shrank away from sin. As soon as there was a smell of it, He turned away from it. I don't want it. I don't care if everybody, all my friends go that way.

I don't want it. Think if God can find in this crowd young men and women like that. I tell you, it will delight the heart of God and India will have some man of God, some woman of God, 10 -15 years from now.

It takes 10 -15 years. You're not going to be a man of God tomorrow. But if you make that decision now, 10 -15 years from now, India will have a man of God and a woman of God. But, I don't know. I've been so disappointed with so many young people I have seen.

They all follow the crowd. Or they follow Jesus for a while and then they find it's too difficult to go alone, this lonely way. I found my Christian life very lonely. But I decided to stick it out. Because I looked at Jesus and I can imagine in Nazareth there was nobody else who was interested in living an absolutely pure life except Jesus.

He's a young man, 18 -19 years old, 20 years old. Not a single person in Nazareth was interested in living a holy life. He was lonely. And I used to look at his example as a lonely person. I used to remember when I was on the ship, I was a lonely person.

The only one in the whole ship who was interested in living a holy life. I said, fine. I have one example at least in Jesus. Doesn't matter if I don't have other examples before me, but I have Jesus as an example.

I'm going to follow Him. And I cried out. I said, Lord, preserve me, preserve me, preserve me. You need to cry out. If Jesus needs to cry out and to be protected, do you think you're going to get it any other way?

I'll tell you the answer to many of your questions is you are half-hearted. That's why you don't get what you're asking for. Why you're not filled with the Holy Spirit? You're half-hearted. How will I know when I'm filled with the Holy Spirit?

You'll know automatically if you're whole-hearted. How will I have victory over sin? You're half-hearted. That's why you don't get it. In fact, so many questions that young people ask. One answer. You're half-hearted.

You want to be half-hearted and get all that God wants you to have? No. It wasn't like that for Jesus. It's not going to be like that for you. You want to please your friends and get all that God wants you to have?

Forget it. Spend your life pleasing your friends. But you're not going to get anything from God except a few crumbs. A few drops. If you're satisfied with that, fine. I'm not satisfied with drops. I want to live under the river falling from heaven.

I want all of God because I have only one earthly life. And you folks are so lucky that you can hear this when you're young. Imagine 16, 17, 18, 20, 25, even if you're 30. Think that you can hear these things now and live the rest of your life for God.

You won't regret it. Don't be offended. If you're corrected by all the brothers. I tell you, I have been corrected so much. I've been humiliated publicly. I just bowed my head. The Lord said, Shut your mouth.

You're a young man. Shut your mouth. Humble yourself and accept it. And I accepted it. For many years, not one or two times. It broke me. And it made me the man I became. I want to say to you, dear brothers and sisters, Take it seriously, this matter of following the Lord.

Healing, Confession, and the Prayer of the Righteous

Let me show you another verse in the book of James. You know it's the next book? James chapter 5. Very often people pray for healing and nothing happens. We all have that experience. It says here in James 5 verse 16 Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.

I see from there that God's will for us is physical healing. I have believed that for many years now. I'm not saying that I'll never have a backache or never have a cold or a headache. I'm not talking about that.

But I do not believe that God wants us to be physically incapacitated so that we cannot serve Him. I mean, Paul had a thorn in the flesh, some type of sickness. But it didn't hinder him from serving the Lord.

He lived with that sickness, but he served the Lord wholeheartedly. I'm not saying that we'll have perfect health until we get to heaven. But I don't believe it's God's will that I should have any sickness that hinders me from completing God's plan for my life.

But it says here I must confess my sins. If I have hurt you, I must confess to you. If I have hurt God, I must confess to God. And then I must pray. And then it says in the next verse Actually, the same verse.

It's all one verse. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. In the King James Version, it says the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man. First of all, it's got to be fervent.

Wholehearted. You really mean business with God. And the other is you must be a righteous man or woman. It doesn't say here that the prayer of every believer will accomplish much. That's the reason why a lot of believers pray and nothing happens.

But when a righteous man prays fervently, it says here, it accomplishes a great deal. Is there a difference between a righteous man praying and an ordinary believer praying? World of difference. So then you say, oh that's easy then.

I'll just go to a righteous man and ask him to pray for me. Well, his prayers won't accomplish anything if you've got sin in your life. You can get the most righteous person in the world to pray for you.

It says that Jesus prayed for some people and they were not healed. Do you know that? It's the last verse of Matthew 13. Jesus prayed for some people and they were not healed. He couldn't do much there because they were unbelieved.

There was sin in their life. So even though God may want something for you, He won't get it. Because you're not serious in your Christian life. And somebody else who is far more serious than you are, he gets a lot more or she gets a lot more than you get.

Partiality in the Church and God's Impartial Choosing

Now I'll tell you something, there is no respect of persons with God. You know, I have seen something in our churches. In many, many of our churches, there's a lot of partiality. There's a lot of partiality, even among the elders.

And so certain people get certain benefits because they are on good terms with the elders. And the elders like them. And the elders don't like certain other people. Now, that's because those elders are not godly.

We have a lot of elders in our churches who are elders, but they are not godly. But you say, how did they become elders? Well, that's because in a class of three-year-olds, a four-year-old is an elder, even though he's not mature.

So elder is a relative thing. If everybody is immature, then somebody who is not godly is fit to be an elder. But, because of that partiality, some of you, who are in the good books of your elders in your churches, may get certain benefits and certain advantages, which other people may not get.

And I've seen something. Those who get those benefits are not usually spiritual. And then some of you may feel, I'm not on good terms with my elder. He always has a grudge against me. Well, forget it.

So what? Maybe he's carnal. Maybe your elder is carnal. Can an elder brother be carnal? Sure. Can an elder brother be partial? I think a lot of our elder brothers are partial. I'll tell you that honestly, because I've seen it.

And you don't happen to be in the good books of your particular elder. And so you get sort of pushed out in this way, that way. But does that mean god will push you out? No. He doesn't make a difference what your elders think of you, what your parents think of you.

Your parents may be partial to some of their children and treat you a little different. So what? Just make sure that god, with whom there is no partiality, accepts you. And I tell you, you will shine much better in god's purpose than all those people.

Who your elder brothers are partial to. And you'll see that in the long run. Those brothers and sisters whom your elder brothers are partial to may get some benefits temporarily in the church. But you will be the man of god and the woman of god.

You may be not in the good books of your elder. It doesn't make a difference. I'll show you an example. Let's turn to 1 Samuel in chapter 16. In 1 Samuel chapter 16, if you read the Old Testament history, you know that god had rejected king Saul from being king over Israel.

And he wanted to select a new king. Now that was not god's original plan. When Saul was anointed as king, David was not even born. Is that written somewhere in the Bible? Does any of you clever people know?

How do we know that David was not born when king Saul was appointed elder? I'll tell you. If you read the Bible carefully, you read that Saul reigned for 40 years over Israel. And after Saul died, David became king.

And it's written further down that David became king when he was 30 years old. So, just do the math and tell me, was David alive when Saul became king? Hmm? Was that too tough for you? No! Saul was king for 40 years and David became king when he was 30.

So David was not even born when Saul became king. So it was not that god already had David in mind. No! He had Saul in mind. And 10 years later, when he saw that Saul is going the wrong way, he allowed David to be born.

Do you know that god may have a plan for your life? And like I said, you may be the favorite of the elder brothers in your church and you get some privileges and all. God will set you aside like Saul and he'll pick somebody else whom you don't value and whom maybe your elder brothers don't value also.