Message summary
What was preached
Pastor Marcos Góes began with the story of a man chased by thieves who hid in a crevice and was protected not by an angel, but by a small spider that spun its web across the entrance and fooled his pursuers. From that illustration he introduced the theme of the morning: the God of the unlikely, who uses unexpected means and unexpected people to act.
He read 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, pointing out that God did not call many who were wise, powerful, or of noble birth, but chose the foolish, weak, and despised things of the world to shame the wise and the strong, so that no one may boast before him, but only in the Lord.
The preacher walked through biblical examples of unlikely people God used: Abraham, who left Ur of the Chaldeans without knowing where he was going; Moses, a fugitive who had killed a man, called while tending sheep; Gideon, the least of his tribe, hiding in fear; Mary, a teenage girl chosen to be the mother of the Savior; and Saul, a cruel persecutor of Christians who became the apostle Paul. Finally, he pointed to Jesus himself, seen as unlikely for coming from Nazareth and being a carpenter’s son.
Marcos Góes shared his own testimony at length: he left a stable career as a draftsman to depend entirely on God in ministry, going through times of deep financial distress. He told of concrete episodes, such as an overdue electric bill that was resolved by an unexpected invitation from his father-in-law, and a moment when, with no money at all, he heard God’s voice calling his name at an ATM and found an unexpected amount deposited in his account.
He explained that depending on God brings distress, but that this distress is where faithfulness is proven, and that God allows a person to come down to the last thread without letting them fall, because his hand always holds them up. He concluded that God is not an accessory for moments of need, but a constant presence in the whole life of those who depend on him.
At the end, he invited the church to self-examination: if any heart had drifted from God’s purpose, that was the moment to return to its first love. He gave an altar call and prayed for those present, asking for renewal, peace, and assurance in God’s promise, and closed by affirming that all are called to be the unlikely ones God uses.
“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
1 Corinthians 1:27 (NIV)
This summary is prepared from the service transcript, with the help of artificial intelligence. The full sermon is in the video.
