DARE TO BE DIFFERENT Preaching

Malachi 3:18 NASB

Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those
who serve God and those who do not."
Life is designed to be full of differences. At kapag walang challenge or dare, there is no excitement.

Story: I remember joining a training wherein we were dared to do something weird. From our
hotel where we had our training, we went out with only one shoe leaving the other foot bare.
And we eat outside. Of course, people were looking at us and find us weird because we were on
our best get up. But we found it very exciting and enjoying.

No one on earth are the same as you.

In fact, someone said this

“No one on earth has lived through the exact the same experiences you have and no one
thinks exact the same thoughts you do”

This is how God designed us all, we can be used differently by God to fulfill His purpose.

What if life has no differences?

One kind of face?
One kind of food?
One type of work?
One course?
Only one side of seat in the jeepney?
Same faces of person you like to marry?
One design of dress, shirt, pants?
One side of foot – all left or all right?

But this is not just what life is all about. God wants us to live is a life that makes a whole lot of difference from the rest of
the people. It’s not just an option, but God intended it that way.

Psalm 8:4-8 NASB

4 What is man that You [a]take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
5 Yet You have made him a little lower than [b]God,
And You crown him with glory and majesty!
6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
7 All sheep and oxen,
And also the [c]beasts of the field,
8 The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,
Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

How many of you can remember the how the Israelites were used to be slaves in Egypt? We can read that in Exodus.
Yung mga nagfollow sa ating Bible Reading Plan gets to read them kasi andun tayo sa ating reading ngayon.

Israel is a very unique nation and God intended them to be that way as they are God’s chosen people. But then there
was a time that they begin to lose their uniqueness. From the time that the family of Jacob migrated during the time of
Joseph, they became like the Egyptians. They acquired their lifestyles. Their food and ultimately their god.

Naalala nyo nung natagalan si Moses pagbaba sa Sinai, they made a golden calf like that of from Egypt?
In Egypt, a bull, Apis, was sacred to the god Ptah and emblematic of him.

Now they became slaves. They begin to cried out to the Lord and with God’s mercy, He wanted to rescue them. So He
called Moses to do a MISSION IMPOSSIBLE. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE because there is no way that Israel can escape the
power of Pharaoh because back then, they were the most powerful nation. The most formidable forces is Egypt.

So what did God said,

7 The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have
given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. 8 So I
have come down to deliver them from the [e]power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up
from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the
place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and
the Jebusite. 9 Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have
seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.
Klaro ang promise ni Lord.
Fast forward, God sent plagues because Pharaoh was so stubborn. But it wasn’t just so Pharaoh will let Israel free. But
this is what He said,

Exodus 8:3 NASB

"I will put a division between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign
will occur."
And we know the ending of the story that after the death of the firstborn, Pharaoh gave up and let the people of Israel
go.

Now this people journey towards the promise land and that distinction remain. God provided them the cloud of glory by
day against the heat of the sun and a pillar of fire by night against cold. He provided them food, water, shelter and
everything they needed. What a distinction? This is the reason why Israel was highly feared by other nations.

BUT PRAISE GOD, we have been made one with God’s promise through Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:14 NASB

in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles,
so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Galatians 3:28-29 NIV
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you
are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs
according to the promise.
Sadly, despite of what God has provided and given them, they choose to be common. So God has to continuously test
them so that their identity will be kept.

Let’s read Numbers 13:

1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, 2 “Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which
I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among
them.” 3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the [a]command of the Lord, all of them men who were
heads of the sons of Israel. 4 These then were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; 5 from
the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; 6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; 7 from the tribe of
Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; 8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun; 9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti
the son of Raphu; 10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; 11 from the tribe of Joseph, from the tribe of
Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi; 12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; 13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur
the son of Michael; 14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; 15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of
Machi. 16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; but Moses called Hoshea the son of
Nun, Joshua.

17 When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up [b]there into the [c]Negev; then go up
into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they
are few or many. 19 How is the land in which they live, is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live, are
they [d]like open camps or with fortifications? 20 How is the land, is it fat or lean? Are there trees in it or not? [e]Make an
effort then to get some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.

21 So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, [f]at Lebo-hamath. 22 When they
had gone up into the Negev, [g]they came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the [h]descendants of Anak
were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

23 Then they came to the [i]valley of [j]Eshcol and from there cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes; and they
carried it on a pole between two men, with some of the pomegranates and the figs. 24 That place was called the valley of
[k]Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut down from there.

The Spies’ Reports

25 When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days, 26 they proceeded to come to Moses and
Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel [l]in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back
word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 Thus they told him, and said, “We
went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28
Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw
the [m]descendants of Anak there. 29 Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the
Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.”

30 Then Caleb quieted the people [n]before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for
we will surely overcome it.” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the
people, for they are too strong for us.” 32 So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had
spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its [o]inhabitants; and all
the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. 33 There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the
Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
Numbers 14:
1 Then all the congregation [a]lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept [b]that night. 2 All the sons of Israel
grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of
Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our
wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” 4 So they said to one
another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel. 6
Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; 7 and
they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an
exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which
flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be
our [c]prey. Their [d]protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” 10 But all the
congregation said to stone them with stones. Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of
Israel.

Moses Pleads for the People

11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the
signs which I have performed in their midst? 12 I will smite them with [e]pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make
you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”

13 But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from
their midst, 14 and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O Lord, are in the midst of
this people, for You, O Lord, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of
cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if You slay this people as one man, then the nations who have heard
of Your fame will [f]say, 16 ‘Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath,
therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ 17 But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have
[g]declared, 18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He
will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children [h]to the third and the fourth
generations.’ 19 Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You
also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

The Lord Pardons and Rebukes

20 So the Lord said, “I have pardoned them according to your word; 21 but indeed, as I live, [i]all the earth will be filled
with the glory of the Lord. 22 Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in
the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, 23 shall by no means see
24 But My servant
the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it.
Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully,
[j]I will bring into the land [k]which he entered, and his [l]descendants
shall take possession of it.

In time of Jesus, He is the Master of dare? But His dare isn’t just any dare for fun. It was a challenge so we can live a life
to the fullest. If fact, we can see that every word He said comes as a dare.

Example:
Matthew 19:21 NASB
Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
Matthew 14:25-29 NASB
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples
saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in
fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said.

Luke 14:26 NLT

"If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison--your father and
mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you
cannot be my disciple.
John 11:38-44 NASB
38 So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, *came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
39 Jesus *said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, *said to Him, “Lord, by this time [a]there will be
a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus *said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the
glory of God?” 41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have
heard Me. 42 I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the [b]people standing around I said it, so that they may
believe that You sent Me.” 43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.”
44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and
his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them, “Unbind him, and
let him go.”

Which is harder to do? To call the dead or to unwrap the dead?

If I will use a BIBLICAL TERM TO THE WORD DARE, it is FAITH!

Many Christians today lose that FAITH TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

This is the reason why the 1st century church was moving in power, because they DARE TO BE DIFFERENT. THEY
RECEIVED THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. THEY PREACHINGS WERE NOT USUAL. IT WAS SUPERNATURAL.

I will end this message with this story in God’s word.

John 6:5-11 NIV

5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where
shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already
had in mind what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages[a] to buy enough bread
for each one to have a bite!”
8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up,
9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go
among so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat
down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and
distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

Today, I dare you to make a difference.

Today, I dare this ZEAL YOUTH CONNECT to make a difference.
Today, I dare every leaders of this youth group to make a difference.
Today, I dare everyone of you to make a difference.