Joseph Prince - God Uses People Who Aren't "Good Enough" (01/26/2026)
We easily become self-occupied, leading to shyness, anger, bitterness, entitlement, and hurt because we focus too much on ourselves instead of Christ. The Bible's purpose is to free us from self-occupation by occupying us with Christ's beauty and glory. Like the woman at the well, once she encountered Jesus knowing her fully yet loving her, she was liberated from self-focus, became bold, and evangelized—showing how revelation of Christ's love transforms us from inward preoccupation to outward radiance.
The Root Problem: Self-Occupation and Its Effects
Why are we so easily conscious of ourselves, shy, angry, bitter, feel that we have a sense of entitlement? Why do we… You know why? We are too self-occupied. We get hurt because we are too self-occupied. We don't know how to set ourselves free.
We think about ourselves all the time. Every little pain, every little discomfort in our mind, in our thoughts and all that shows that we are very self-occupied. And the whole purpose of the Bible is to free you from that and to keep you occupied with Christ, His beauty and glory. Amen.
Like the woman at the well, she was self-occupied. Why? She came in the afternoon, in the mid-afternoon when the sun is so hot. Many of you have been to Israel, all right, especially during the summer days. Wow, I'm telling you, it's very hot during a noontime.
And the Bible gave the timing. So, she came there when it's really hot. Most women would go draw water from the well early in the morning or late in the evening. But she went in the noontime and Jesus was there sitting down after a long journey.
Jesus' Encounter with the Self-Occupied Woman
And you count the words Jesus spoke, only seven words to her. All right? Only seven words. One of them is, the woman says, we know that when the Messiah comes, He will tell us all things. Jesus says, I who speak unto you, I am He.
Okay? Now, He sat down and the Bible says He was tired. Don't forget, He came as a man. Amen. In this man is the whole Godhead. Okay? In Him are hid all the treasures of Godhead. But then, He didn't come to manifest Himself as God. The Word became flesh. The Word was God. And the Word became flesh. So, He came fully as a man. Without sin.
So, the woman came in the afternoon. And you know the story, how He asked her for a favor. Amen. And she says, how come you are a Jew? You asked me and all that. And then finally, He says, the water that I'll give you a drink of it, you will never thirst again.
Then she says, and I call your husband here. I have no husband. And Jesus says, you're right. You had five husbands and the one that you're living with is not your husband.
You see, Jesus had to tell her, I know all about you, in order to make her really feel loved. Because when people think that you love them, but they think in their heart, you don't know who I am and what I'm hiding. They don't really feel loved. They think that you love the facade.
But Jesus needs to tell her, I know all about you, and I'm still here. I love you. That is love. And then He read, you know something? He revealed Himself to her as the Messiah, I who speak unto you. I am He.
Then she knows, the Messiah is talking to me. Jesus, the Anointed One, the Promised One, down to the pages of the Bible, is now here and telling me He knows all about me, and He loves me. This is John chapter 4.
Contrast: The Woman at the Well vs. Nicodemus
John chapter 3. A ruler of the synagogue came to Jesus. Jesus never say, I am the Messiah to Him. With all His erudite learning, and His name is in the Who is Who, in the Jerusalem pages of the VVIPs, and the VVIPs.
Jesus tells Him, you know, with all your knowledge, you have to be born again. To her, He never used the word born again. He revealed Himself to her. He didn't reveal Himself to the Master of Israel. Someone who is a theologian of theologians.
Do you get it? He loves the lowly-hearted. Recently, I am reminded again of pride. You know, I find that God hates pride. I think it is the mother of all sin. Because if you take this fruit, you become like God.
Actually, they were really godly, made in the image of God. But then they try, by their works to become like what they already are. That's pride. Amen. I mean, the devil who was tempting them, he himself fell because of pride.
He looked himself in the mirror every day and said, mirror, mirror on the wall. Who is the fairest of them all? Okay? And he's the most beautiful of all the archangels. Alright? At least the Bible talks about his beauty, doesn't talk about the beauty of the rest.
I'm sure that all of them are glorious and beautiful. But he was obsessed with his beauty. Ladies, certain level of vanity is not what I'm talking about. Alright? But it's like pride. You know? It's like, I don't need God. I can do it myself. It's pride.
Pride, Selfishness, and Believing the Best
The reason why marriages break down is because of pride. Selfishness. Amen. I'm looking out for number one. Hey, when you, your, your joy, you should find your joy in sacrifice. You should find your joy in loving. You should find your joy in serving.
Love, 1 Corinthians 13, love believes the best of every person. Our natural tendency to believe the worst. Something happened, the person is involved, love. I know it's you. And it's very unfair.
Recently, my son had a, had a conference with. his father, mother, sister. Twelve years old. And he says, I just want to share, you know, that you all tend to blame me first when something goes wrong. He's the youngest, right? So, you know, wow. He's come to the age where he can speak for himself.
And I said, when, when, when did I do that? Yeah, you know, that day, we went out together, we bought soya bean, right? You carry one packet of soya bean, right? And I carry another packet. Remember that? We went to the toilet together, okay?
And then later on in the car, I realised, hey, how come there's only one soya bean? Justin, where's yours? Actually, I, I put mine in the toilet toilet. To wash my hands, alright? He was still holding his. But I was quick to say, he said, remember, right? It was yours, but you pointed to me. And you say that, you know, Justin, Justin, Justin.
And, and then told the sister something else. You also, you know, it's like, all of us, very quick to find him. Of course, in our mind is that you are the youngest and more subject to making mistakes and things like that, right? Which has some track record before, right?
But then, even then, I think to myself, you know, the, the, the verse in 1 Corinthians 13 says, love believes the best of every person. Right? I think it's important that they see that in our lives. It's not so much our sermons, you know. It's not all our preaching to them, you know, that makes an impact.
It's what they are saying. If you preach one thing and you're living another way, they are, they are observing. Every day, you know, it's a living example. Huh? Are you with me so far? You understand? Okay, that's why the Bible says, you are letters read of all men.
You Are Epistles Read by All – Radiant Lives
I'm going to show you this in 2 Corinthians 3. It says, do we begin again to commend ourselves? Paul is writing this. Or do we need, as some other people, episodes of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?
You see, when I want to go to a certain location, do I need you all to send me letters of commendation about me? So, I come to you with letters of commendation from this VIP, from this. Roman centurion, from this person, from that person. Do I need that?
For other pastors of churches, I must gather all this before you welcome me. Paul says, do I need letters of commendation from you or to you even? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men.
I love this. You know what he's saying? Guys, you know what, what commands my ministry to people? When they look at you. Paul is saying, you are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men.
He's saying, my recommendation for my ministry comes from people reading you. They look at your lives, they look at you and they see, they say that this is a love letter. I know this guy. He's not transformed. Look at his family.
When they look at your life. Okay? Amen? You are the Bible that people read. You read your Bible, people read you. Amen? It's got to reflect.
They got to look at you and, and, and, and one thing you cannot, you cannot take away. I always tell the pastors this also. And when, when we choose people and all that for, for certain roles and all that, we always tell, I always say this, look for people who are radiant.
I don't care their age. I don't care their sex. I don't care whether male, female, young, old. I don't care about all that. I want to see, even in, in, in, you know, they are graying and all that, but there's a twinkle in their eye, there's a shine.
Even if they are young, they seem inexperienced and all that. But when they lead worship, there's a shine. I'll tell you this, there's something that you cannot hide. Amen?
Because if there's no shine, he could be practicing some sin behind closed doors, or he has some wrong affairs, or she might be involved in some depressive thoughts and all that. But on Sunday, just come here and just sing and smile. But then there's no shine.
They can smile, but there's no shine. I'm not talking about handsome. I'm not talking about beautiful. Nothing to do with the physical. I'm talking about the shine. Amen? And there's something you cannot hide.
Ecclesiastes says, a man's wisdom makes of his face to shine. Amen? They look to the Lord, the Psalmist says, and they are radiant. You know what's radiant? It's amazing. I've seen people who are radiant. It's like the face is shining.
And many of you don't know, no? You don't realize, many times I'm preaching, I'm preaching, I want to stop and take a picture of all of you. Because as God's Word is being opened, you don't, you don't realize your face is shining, you know? And all of you look beautiful, I'm telling you.
Carriers of Blessing and Glory Through the New Covenant
Have you seen ladies, you know, uh, that are involved in things that are not, they're not supposed to be, or they call it ladies of the night and all that? They want you for the money. And you're reminded of the woman at the well. How Jesus loves people like this. And they need the Lord. Amen?
You know, I really believe every time I preach, God is writing on your heart. Every time I preach something, if I preach about the glory of the Lord, it will be reflected in your heart. I just preached just now about the radiance of Christ manifesting, manifesting through your life.
Guess what? He's written it on your heart. You will reflect it. Amen? Whatever you preach, God will write it in their hearts. And this is not by, with physical ink, not on tablets of stone that cannot respond, but with the Spirit of the living God.
The heavenly ink is the Spirit of the living God, writing on tablets of flesh. And then the world can read you. The world says, I don't know what is it, but there's something about you all. Every time you all come to my boutique, I don't know what is it, you all must keep coming, because people, after that, a lot of people come in.
The day in the morning you come in, the whole day people are coming in. I don't know what is it, but please come. You go to a restaurant, very quiet, all of a sudden people start coming in. Wake up and realise this is happening. And it's because you walked in. Amen?
Do you know you carry the blessing, people? You are a blessing everywhere you go. You are a blessing! Amen. Amen.
So he says, but he said, Pastor Prince, I'm not too sure, like, somehow I shared the Word of God, I'm not too sure whether the people get it or not. We must have such trust through Christ towards God. He will write it on their hearts. Amen. Amen.
Drop down. He says, it's not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.
Whenever you are serving the Lord, always remember this, your sufficiency. You say that I'm not enough. That's the word sufficiency. I don't think I'm enough for this task. I don't think I'm enough.
It's not about you. The sufficiency doesn't come from you. It doesn't come from your limited knowledge, your limited experience. Your sufficiency comes from Him.
If God gives you something that you can do yourself naturally, you will not depend on Him. No. He'll give you something sometimes that you find that, man, I need God for this. He loves it. He loves it.
Okay? God, our sufficiency is from God. Say it's from God. Who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant. Not of the latter, but of the Spirit. For the latter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The latter kills, but... Now, here's where it's very interesting. He says that, my ministry is the ministry of the new covenant. You know why God can write on your heart? Alright? Not on tablets of stone.
You know why? Because my ministry is ministry of the Holy Spirit. And not the latter. You know, God has His portions for every day. Just like manna has a portion that you can eat and feel strong and fulfilled and satisfied for a long time.
I believe that's going to happen to you. Make sure that the church you are in is a church that's fully under the new covenant. Not like one time, new covenant. Another time, old covenant.
Sometimes you have grace. Sometimes you have law. Sometimes you have the importance of what God has done. Sometimes the importance of what you are needed to do. It's all God and you. And, you know, it's like, there's a mixture.
You cannot put grace into old wine skin. The wine will ferment and the old, old goat skin, which is brittle, will break. Now you lose both grace and the law. That's the context that Jesus talked about. It's law and grace. Amen?
So, make sure that this, this radiant life, this epistles that's read by all men, your life transformed and all that is when you are under the new covenant.
Remember when God put them under the, under the old covenant? That was the Sinaitic covenant and God gave the Ten Commandments. You know what happened? 3,000 people died.
Now, another mountain, Mount Zion. God gave, not on Mount Zion anymore. No, sorry, not on Mount Sinai, but Mount Zion. God gave the Holy Spirit and 3,000 people were saved.
The letter kills. What's the letter? The law. The law. The Spirit gives life. Make sure that the ministry that we have here, the pulpit, you know that, is on the right mountain. Amen?
If you are preaching from Mount Sinai, you are killing people. Killing them softly with the law. Killing them softly with the law. Every Sunday. Healing them slowly. Now, we laugh, but it's true. The letter kills. It's not a joke, you know.
The letter kills. Sit under the old covenant and chances are death will set in. Death is not just physical death. Ultimately, it comes to death. Okay? It's death in depression. Death in your relationships. Death to your brain cells. Death to your body in terms of disease. Death in every area.
What kills? The letter kills. The letter kills. But the Spirit gives life. Drop down. The ministry of death, written and engraved on stones. Healing of animals was never engraved on stones. They were written on scrolls. That part of the law. Okay?
Those that you talk about observing the feast days and all that, circumcision, were never engraved on stones. The only part of the law that's engraved on stones are the Ten Commandments. And it was never designed to give you life. It was never designed to empower you to keep it.
By the law, no flesh can be justified. It was designed to show you that you are a sinner. And every time you try to keep it, your sin will come out. Every time you try to keep it, your sin will come out. Okay?
Here it says, the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones. Don't forget this. If anyone tells you he's not referring to this part of the law, tell them it is the only part of the law that is the ministry of death. Written and engraved on stones. Okay?
Back then, it was glorious. Even then, He was glorious back then, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of His countenance, which glory was passing away.
If you're under the condemnation law, the ministry of death, there is glory there, but the glory is passing away. That kind of revival where you use the law, alright, to condemn people, amen, to make them feel that they are sinners.
Listen carefully, the law was designed to make you feel like a sinner, yes, but the law is until Christ came. The book of Galatians tells us. And now the Holy Spirit does the job. Amen?
How will the ministry of the Spirit, that's the ministry of all of us, compare with ministry of death? That's right, different colours, you see? In the Bible, you can put different colours. Ministry of death, we put blue. Ministry of Spirit, we put whatever colour that is. Brown.
Okay, how will the ministry of Spirit not be more glorious? Can you see, the ministry of the Spirit contrasts with the ministry of death, written and engraved On stones. Okay? Can you see that? It's more glorious.
If that is not enough, the next verse, it says, if the ministry of condemnation had glory. Now, He calls the ministry of death condemnation. What you feel all the time, you sit under this kind of ministry, will be, you feel condemned, you feel condemned, you feel guilty, you feel condemned, you feel condemned, you feel condemned.
Condemnation Condemnation kills, my friend. Condemnation kills. If the ministry of condemnation had glory. Now, there are some revivals in the past, they used condemnation a lot. And still there was some glory.
But we haven't seen a revival of the New Covenant kind of revival. Amen? You ain't seen nothing yet. Alright? If the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more! More! In glory.
We have not seen anything yet. Imagine telling the people, sinners, listen, God is not counting your sins against you. Repent. Change your mind about God. Come to Him. Not go away from Him. He's not counting your sins against you.
To wit that God was in Christ. Reconciling the world unto Himself. Not imputing their trespasses unto them. So, we, the apostles, we beseech you by the grace of God. Be ye reconciled to God. Amen.
It's your move. God is not holding anything against you. All your sins are paid for in the body of His Son. Amen. Who is He that condemns? Amen.
So, ministry of condemnation contrasts with different colour. Different colour again. Alright? The ministry of righteousness. The ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
For even what was made glorious, the old covenant, had no glory in this respect. Cannot compare with the new covenant. Because of the glory that excels. We'll stop here.
Law vs. Grace – The True Theologian Distinguishes
And, uh, I just want to tell you this. This whole thing has got to do, make sure you understand what is law and what is grace. Martin Luther says it like this. Martin Luther.
Therefore, whoever knows well how to distinguish the gospel from the law, or grace, some places put grace from the law, should give thanks to God and know that He is a true theologian.
Martin Luther, who started the Reformation of which we just celebrated a few days ago. He said this. If someone knows how to contrast law and grace, he knows where law belongs, where grace belongs, he's a true theologian. Amen.
And you can go to Bible school and spend years there and not be a true theologian. You can't differentiate both. Or you try to go, let's have all together in one bag. No, you cannot. Amen.
Does that mean that we are not under law? There's license to sin? And that's always the fear, right? That's what they accuse Paul of. No. No license, no power of sin. Why? The strength of sin is the law.
In fact, when you are not under law, you find that sin becomes unattractive. And grace becomes attractive. And you are drawn more and more to the Lord. And the more you are drawn to the Lord, the more you love the Lord, you will fall out of love with all these things, supernaturally natural. Amen?
When you are truly under grace, you are conscious of His love for you, sin will lose its power. That woman at the well left Jesus, right? And she became so bold. She comes, come and see the man who told me everything about myself.
She didn't realize she became an evangelist. Amen. Amen. She was now bold. You know why? Because He knows all about me. He still loves me. He unveiled Himself as the Messiah to me.
And another thing, she is no more self-occupied. Going there quietly, looking around, she is now bold. Why? She is occupied with the One. The object of beauty that is lovelier than anything else, unearthed. And even in heaven, He is our object of beauty.