Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
One of the most beloved verses in the Bible is
Romans eight twenty eight. So verse you've probably heard many, many,
maybe hundreds of times. It's one of the great promises
of the Bible. And it says this, we know that
in all things God works for the good of those
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who love him. And usually we stop right there, we
leave off the second half of the verse, and we say,
what a great promise. We know that in all things,
not just the good things in life, but even in
the bad things, the ugly things, the terrible, the tragic
things of life. In all things, God works for the
good of those who love him. Doesn't say they're good.
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There's a lot of bad in life. There's a lot
of bad things happening in your life, not all things
that happen to your good. But God says all things
God works them together for good. He can bring good
out of even bad for those who love God. And
usually we stop the verse right there. But the rest
of the verse says this, we know that in all
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things God works for the good of those who love Him.
Who have been called circle the word called, who have
been called according to His purpose, and circle the word purpose,
circle called and circle purpose and draw a line between
them because calling and purpose go together. Now, if I
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were to say to you, what do you think of first?
When I say the word call, make a call, get
a call, be called, you think of a telephone and
maybe they calling out for pizza, you know, something like that.
When I have to be honest with you, a little
true confession, as your pastor, I don't like telephones. I
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never have because telephones to me represent two things. Number One,
they represent an interruption. And maybe they don't seem like
an interruption to you, but if you were a pastor,
you would be on call twenty four hours.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
A day, like doctors are.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I get calls twenty four hours a day, often in
the middle of the night, and so when the phone rings,
it usually means it rings when I'm busy or I'm relaxing,
or I'm studying, or I'm sleeping, or I'm talking with
somebody else or whatever. But it represents the interruption. The
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second thing reason I don't like it is because in
my case, it often.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Or normally means bad news.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Somebody's calling to tell me about somebody's just died, somebody's
just lost a loved one, somebody's gone been rushed to
the hospital. Somebody's just found out a cancer test. And
as a pastor, of course, I deal with people in
pain literally every day of my life. And so when
the phone rings, I'm not thinking I wonder if I
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just won the lottery. First place. I don't use the lottery,
which you shouldn't either. By the way, if you want
to do the lottery, here's what you do. I'm outside
and just give me the money, okay, because you're not
going to get anything out of it. I might as
well put it to use and use it for the
peace plan. But but you know, let's say the phone
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rang one day and you thought this is an interruption
or it's going to be bad news. But somebody who's
calling to tell you had just inherited fifty million dollars.
You would not want to miss that call. What if
God called you? Let me give you a little tip.
When God calls, you do not use call waiting. When
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God calls, you do not put it on the answer voicemail.
When God calls, you do not let it ring and
ring and ring and ring. Pick it up on the
first call. When God calls you. Now, the Bible says
you have already been called. You have been called according
to His purpose. A couple verses down from that verse
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Romans eight thirty, it says this, look here on the screen.
Those that God predestined he also called, and those he
called he also justified, and those he justified he also glorified.
Now that's a lot of big theological words. But the
word I wants to focus on as we begin live
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your calling is that word called. The Bible says you
have been called by God. What does that mean? The
word in the Greek is the word kalao k a
l e o calaioh. It's almost like calleaioh call. And
the word calaoh means God is calling you. And it's
used about one hundred times in the New Testament, over
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one hundred times, and most of the time it's talking
about your assignment in life, your purpose in life, your
mission in life, the reason God created you. It is
called your calling. The Greek word is the word calaoh
for calling. The Latin word is another word you've heard
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of for calling, and it is the word vocation. You've
heard of that a vocation. Vocation comes from the Latin
word vos vosa. It means to speak, it means to call.
We get the word voice, we get the word vocal.
Vocalized comes from the word vocation. It is your calling.
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So your vocation and your calling are the same thing.
Now here's the problem today. The word vocation has been
so reduced and so minimized to just mean my job,
my career. Your calling is not your career. Your calling
is far.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Far, far far far far.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Far more significant, far larger, far more all encompassing than
your career. So your vocation is misused when you say
my vocation is my job. No, you have a job,
but your vocation is your calling in life. And we
are going to study that. The Bible, this book is
the story of God calling people, and the whole Bible
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is about God calling Noah, God calling Abraham, and Abraham responding,
God calling Moses for a purpose in life, and Moses responding,
God calling Nehemiah, who was a builder, God calling Isaiah
and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel and Hoseiah and Joel,
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and God calling David, and God calling Solomon. In the
New Testament, God calling Peter and Paul and Mary. And
if you laughed at that, you are incredibly old. Okay,
some twenty something Peter Paul Mary, I don't get it.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
I don't get it.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Okay, God calling Paul, and God has a call on
every person's life. Now, as your pastor, m my prayer
for you is this Ephesians chapter one. My prayer is
that light will flood your hearts. You know when we
sing that song open the eyes of my heart, Lord,
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you know that song that's from this verse, that's from
this verse. My prayer is that light will flood your hearts,
and that you will understand the hope, the hope that
was given to you when God called you. Now understand
the calling on your life. When you understand you, when
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you understand your call in life, is going to give
you incredible hope. And he says, I want you to
understand that. He says, when you do, when you understand
God's calling on your life, then you will discover the
glorious blessings that will be yours together with all of
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God's people. So let's look at eight things I need
to know about my calling in life? Why God put
me here on earth?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Right? He's down number one.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
The first thing we learned from God's word is this,
my calling is a gift from God. My calling is
a gift from God. I don't earn it, I don't
deserve it. I don't work for it. I don't bargain
for it. I don't barter for it. It's just a
flat out gift of God's grace. It is His present
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to me. When He created me, he called me, and
it's all by grace. Galatians Chapter one says this, God,
by his grace through Christ, has called you to become
his people. Now circle the phrase by his grace. What
is grace. Grace is undeserved kindness. Undeserved kindness. It's when
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God gives you what you need, now, what you deserve.
If we all got what we deserved, we wouldn't be here.
The fact is, God says, I give you what you need,
not what you deserve. Grace is the fact that God
knows every dumb mistake you're going to make in life,
and he still chose to create you. He knew all
the times you were going to disobey him, and he
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still chose to create you. That is the grace of God.
The fact is grace is that God knows all the
things I've done, and even when I was thumbing my
nose to him and rejecting him. God was saying, I
love you, I love you, I love you. Now your
calling is actually a part of your salvation. The calling
to Christ is also the calling to your purpose. Two
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Timothy one nine says He has saved us and called us.
Notice they go together, saved us and called us to
a holy life, not because of anything we've done, but
because of his own purpose and grace, his purpose and
his grace. So God give gives me a calling in
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life simply because he wants to give me a calling life.
I don't deserve it. He just gives it to me.
Now circle the word purpose that verse, because that leads
us to the second thing we learn, and is this.
I am called for God's purpose, not mine, but God's.
I'm not called for God's God's I'm not called for
my plan in life. I'm called for God's plan. God
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did not make you for you. You think God created
you just to live a selfish little life of self centeredness.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
It's all about me, me, me, me, me. Are you
kidding me? No?
Speaker 1 (10:29):
God didn't make you for you. You were made by
God and you were made for God. And until you
understand that, life's never gonna make sense, and you're gonna
get bored, and you're gonna get frustrated. You're gonna have
all kinds of difficulty because you don't understand. You were
made for God. I am called for God's purpose. God's
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calling is about His plan for my life, not my plan.
His dream for my life, not my dream. His purpose
for my life, not my purpose, or my parents purpose,
or my boyfriend's purpose, or my husband or wife's purpose,
is for God's purpose for my life.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Now.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
A good example of this is the story of Jacob
and Esau.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
In the Bible. They were twins.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
There was a guy in the Bible named Abraham and
he had a son named Isaac, and Isaac had two
sons who were twins, Jacob and Esau. Now, in those days,
the firstborn child, particularly the firstborn son, got all of
the credit, got all of the glory, got all of
the love. The firstborn son was the one who he
would inherit the family inheritance.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
And it's like you're special.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Number one, you're great, and number two, Oh, we're glad
you're here too.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
It was kind of like an aside. God didn't like that.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
And in the case of Esau and Jacob, Esau was
the firstborn son, and God said, you know what, I
have a calling for Esau's life, and I have a
calling for Jacob's life.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
But just because I want to do this, we're going
to reverse it.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
And I'm choosing Jacob to get blessing of the firstborn son,
even though he was born second. And he told this
to their mother, Rebecca, before she even delivered. In Romans
chapter nine, it says this before the two boys were born,
God told Rebecca, the older will serve the younger. Now,
that's exact opposite of culture. And this was before the
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boys had done anything. In other words, they didn't deserve it.
They hadn't merited anything good or bad. God said this
so that the one chosen would be chosen because of
God's own plan as his purpose. He was chosen because
he was the one God wanted to call, not because
of anything he did. Unfortunate that I learned my call
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in life at a pretty pretty young age. I hadn't
done anything. I hadn't deserved anything. I certainly wasn't worthy
of any kind of call. When I was sixteen years old,
I was actually working at a camp in northern California, up.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
In the mountains and the Redwoods. And one night I went.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Back to my cabin and I got down on my
knees and I said, God, I don't understand it all,
and if you're there, don't I just I want to
trust you, and so God, I need to know what
you want to do with my life. And I pray
a prayer that night and said, God, I'm signing my
name on the check. I don't even know what the
amount is, but I'm saying to you, I'm yours and
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I'm going to serve you the rest of your life,
and I'm going to fulfill the calling you have for me.
And I prayed that prayer and as soon as I
finished praying that PRAIERD, do you want to know what's happened?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Nothing?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
No angels came down and flapped their wings. There's no
blinding light, no thunder, no lightning. My hair didn't turn
white like Charleston Heston. You know, It's like nothing happened.
But that was the turning point in my life when
I recognized God's rite and call on my life.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
And from that moment on.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I became by vocational, which means I would have a
job in which I would put food on the table,
and I would have a job in which I would
pay all my bills. But I would also have a calling,
and my career and my calling might match sometimes but
might not match other times, because my calling was from
God and the career was just how I was making
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a living at that point. Career makes a living, calling
makes a life. And so from that point on, I
was by vocational the rest of my life, and I
did a number of different jobs even though I had
this call on my life. At one point, I was
a dishwasher. At one point, I was a cook. At
one point, I was a lifeguard for three years. At
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one point I worked in a butcher shop that was
a whole lot of fun. At one point I picked fruit,
I picked grapes, and I picked pears. At one point,
I was an editor of a magazine. Another point, I
taught college. I actually taught college. At one point, I
was a youth pastor, and then for the last thirty
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years I've been a pastor.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
My job has.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Changed many, many, many times, but my calling has never changed.
Regardless of what my job was, you have a calling
that is unique to your life, the Bible says in
Ephesians two ten for we are God's workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus to do good works. In other words, we're
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made for a purpose to do good works which God
prepared in advance for us to do. Now, this verse
is filled with some important truth, so let's look at it.
Versus says, we're God's workmanship.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Circle.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
That word, the word there in the Bible, in the
Greek is the word poem. It's the word we get
poem from. You are God's poem. You are God's work
of art. You are God's craftsmanship, workmanship. Many translations of
the Bible translate this. You are God's masterpiece. He said, well,
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I don't think i'm much of a masterpiece. Well, then
you don't realize how much value God has put in
your life. He said, well, I'm not a masterpiece. I'm
pretty beat up piece of junk. You're not junk. Jesus
didn't die for junk. If you look at Jesus on
the cross, arms outstretched and his nail pierced hands, and
he's saying, this is how valuable you are. This is
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how valuable I'm You're valuable enough to die for. You're
not junk, because God doesn't create junk. Jesus doesn't die
for junk, and the Holy Spirit doesn't live in junk.
You are a masterpiece. You're God's masterpiece. But it only
shows when you fulfill your calling. If you try to
be what somebody else wants you to be, you're gonna
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miss it, and your true beauty, your true greatness, won't
come out. You are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
To do good works.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Those good works are your contribution to the world. You
were not put on this planet just to breathe and
take up space and die. You weren't put here to
simply be a consumer. Oh there's a new kind of makeup.
I think I'll get that. Oh there's a new clothing,
I'll get that.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Now.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
You were put here to be a contributor, to make
a contribution with your life, and the Bible calls your
life contribution, your good works. It's part of your calling.
Now here's the cool thing. We all have different good works.
Your contribution, your good works are going to be different
than my contribution. My good works and my contribution good
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works are going to be different than the person sitting
next to you. And God makes us all different, gives
us all different callings so that everything in the world
gets done.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
It's all a part of it.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Your God's workmanship, created to make a contribution which God
prepared in advance. That prepared in advance for us to
do that means a long time before you thought of it,
God had thought of your calling. In fact, here's the
third principle. Number three, God chose my calling before I
was born.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
My calling is a gift from God.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
I'm called for God's purpose, not mine, and my calling
was before I was born. God chose it. Let me
show you some verses on this. Galatians chapter one, verse fifteen.
Paul says, it pleased God in his kindness to choose
me and call me even before I was born.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
What undeserved mercy.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Here's another example, Jeremiah and Jeremiah chapter one, verse five.
Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all
about you, before you saw the light of day. I
had holy plans for you. God called you before you
were even born, and the Bible says God uniquely shaped you.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
You are a custom made baby.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
So don't overestimate what God or underestimate what God wants
to do in your life. Isaiah forty four, verse two
I am your creator. You were in my care even
before you were born. It says three things. First, it says,
I am your creator.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
What does that mean?
Speaker 1 (19:26):
It means you're not an accident. You were uniquely chosen,
created and called by God. He said, why is it
important for me to not think I'm an accident? Because
if you think you're an accident, you're going to live
like it, and you're going to accidentally just kind of
go through life without any purpose, without any direction. You're
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not an accident. I am your creator. You're not an accident.
You were in my care. That means you're deeply loved.
You were in God's care when you were in the womb,
he says, even while you.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Were growing inside your mother.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
You realize this is why abortion is wrong, because that's
not a fetus in that mother. That's a baby that
God has already numbered that baby's days.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Chose that baby to be born.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Accidental parents, yes, accidental babies.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
No.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
God chose to create and call you before you're even born.
So you weren't a fetus before you were born. You
were a baby already chosen, already called, and already created
by God for a purpose and a calling and then
it says you were in My care before I was
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even born. God plans you before you're born. Now, there's
a fourth thing that the Bible teaches us about your calling,
and it is this.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
This is a big one.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
My sins and my mistakes don't change my call. Oh,
I'm so glad for this one. My sins and my
mistakes don't change my call, God's call for my life.
It doesn't matter how messed up your life has been,
whether you messed it up or somebody messed it up
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for you. No matter how screwy it got, how difficult
it became, no matter how many dumb decisions you've made
in the past, it hasn't changed God's call on your
life at all. The call that God gave you before
you were born, the call that God gave you when
you were saved and reaffirmed when you're saved, is a
calling that God says it's there forever. It's a permanent calling,
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and God doesn't change it now. A good example this,
of course, was Paul. I mean he was Paul was
a pretty rude dude in a crude mood before he.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Became an apostle.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
God called him to be an apostle, and in one
Timothy Chapter one, Paul says this, by calling me into
his service, Jesus has judged me trustworthy, even though I
used to be a blasphemer and a persecutor and contemptuous. Mercy, however,
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was shown me because while I lacked faith, I acted
in ignorance. I love that phrase, the honesty there. While
I lacked faith, I acted in ignorance.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Then I did a lot of dumb stuff growing up.
How many of you would admit I did a lot
of dumb stuff growing up. Okay, I did a lot
of Okay, that's apostle training. Okay, congratulations, Okay, do you
know what Paul was. Paul was a terrorist before he
became an apostle. He was a religious terrorist. He was
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going to people's homes, dragging him out in the street,
throwing him into jail, killing people. He was a murderer,
God said Paul. That didn't change the call that I
had for you from the day you were born. I
had a plan for you, and even the bad stuff
fits into the plan. The fact that I love most
about God is that he never wastes anything, and he
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fits it all into his plan, even my sin, even
the stupid decisions that I've made that I will regret
the rest of my life. God says, you know what,
I'm going to even put that in the plan. We'll
make it work. I can bring all things can work
together for good for those who love God, who are
called according to His purpose.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
I can fit that in there too.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
And not only can God say, your sins and your
mistakes don't change your calling. The sins of other people
against you don't change your calling. Some of you may
feel a little bruised, a little battered, a little beat
up by the world. Maybe you had somebody who was
unfaithful to you. You had somebody walk out of your life.
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You had somebody be but betray you, reject you. Some
of you have been molested, some of you have been raped.
I'm sorry, I am, but you know what, that did
not change one bit of your value. And that did
not change one bit of God's call on your life.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
It has not changed.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
You are still God's workmanship, God's masterpiece created in Christ
Jesus to do good works. And you know what, God says,
you know what, I can even take the ugly stuff,
and I'll take.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
The stinger out of it.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
And you know what, I'll even bring good out of
it in your life if you'll let me. The Bible says,
my sins and mistakes don't change God's call. I want
you to write this down on your outline. God has
no Plan BE for me. A lot of people think,
you know what, I really screwed up on that one.
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Therefore I got to live with Plan B the rest
of my life. No, you don't, It's part of Plan A.
God has no Plan B for me. When I think
about this, I think about Chuck Coulson. Chuck Colson was
one of the most powerful men in the world in
his day. He was assistant to the President of the
United States of America, and then he got involved in
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a scandal, Watergate, and he went to prison, and in
prison he found Christ, became a believer, saw the need
for people in prisons to know the Lord. Started prison Fellowship,
Whi's now in like one hundred and fifty sixty countries
has blessed millions of people. But when God created Chuck Colson,
he knew he would be going from the presidency to
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prison and back out all in one life. And he said,
I'm going to fit it into the plan. I'm going
to fit it into the plan. Number five. The fifth
thing we learned about God's calling is my calling is permanent.
This is a further extension of what I just said
and what I mean. Permanent means nobody can take it
from you. When you were growing up, your parents tried
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to probably make you something that you didn't really want
to be, or your girlfriend or your boyfriend tried to
make you something you didn't want to be, or your
boss or somebody in your life. You're always trying to
pressure you and conform you to take away your true calling.
Your calling cannot be taken from you. Satan can't take
your calling away from you. You can't take your calling
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away from you. Other people can't take your calling away
from you, and God won't because he says I've given
it to you permanently. The Bible says in Romans eleven,
verse twenty nine, God's gifts and his callings are read
it with me irrevocable circle that they cannot be taken away.
They are permanent. The calling on your life is never
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ever gonna change, no matter what you've done, no matter
what you've messed up. The expression may change, the timing,
the when, the war of the how, but the calling
will not change. You still have the same gifts God
gave you from the beginning. Now, what does this verse
teach us? If my calling is permanent, it means this
my job is not my calling because your job changes.
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How many of you have ever changed jobs? How many
have ever lost a job? How many have ever been unemployed? Yeah,
you're going to have many many jobs in life. Your
job is not your calling. Jobs change all the time.
Calling never changes. This is an eye opener for some
of you. The Bible says God's gifts in his call
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can never be withdrawn, so no matter what happens, they're
permanent in your life. Number six very important point. My
calling is connected to others. My calling, my assignment from
God in life, my purpose, my vision, the dream God
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has for my life is connected to other people. What
I mean by that You cannot fulfill your purpose in
life by yourself. It is impossible. You can only do
it connected to other people. Calling and community go together.
You cannot be what God wants you to be. You
cannot fulfill what God wants you to fulfill. You cannot
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enjoy your destiny on your own. You have to do
it connected to other people. It's like the parts of
your body. They're worthless unless they're connected. You have an eyeball,
which is extremely gifted. It has the ability to take light,
translate that to your brain and you see things. But
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an eyeball outside of a socket is worthless. It can't
see anything because it's not connected. You have an ear,
which is an amazing gift of God, where your ear
can take waves turn them into impulses to your brain,
and your brain here sounds. If your ear is disconnected
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from your body, it's worthless. That ear can't hear anything
unless it's connected. You have a hand, and that hand
has an amazing ability to grasp, to write, to fix things.
But that hand, if it were cut off, it has
no use. A hand has no power, no talent, no ability,
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no purpose without being connected to the body. You have
to be connected to the body to fulfill your calling.
The Bible calls the church the body of Christ, the
family of God, but it calls it the body, and
we're all members like a hand, eye, nose, feet, everything
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connected to the body. Look at this verse on the
screen Roman's fourteen seven. None of us lives to himself alone,
and none of us dies to himself alone. You gotta
be connected. How do you get connected to a church family.
It's why we talk about small groups all the time,
because in that small group there's a connection there where
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you learn from other peop people. They help you in
your weakness, you help them in their weakness. Let me
show you a couple verses Pesians.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Four to four.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
We are all one body, circle, that all one body.
We all have the same spirit, circle, same spirit, and
we have all been called circle that all been called
We're all one body, all have the same spirit, all
been called to the same glorious future.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Hope.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
It is only in connection, in community that I will
fulfill my calling Hebrews three to one. Brothers and sisters,
you are a holy You are holy partners in a
heavenly calling. The other people in your small group are
partners in a heavenly calling. We're better together, We're better
as a team. That's why church, you have to be connected.
(30:53):
We'll talk about this more in the future. Number seven,
God empowers what he calls me to do. That's the
seventh thing I need to know about my calling, that
whatever God calls me to do, he's going to empower
me to do God empowers what he calls me to do.
In other words, if God has given me an assignment
(31:13):
in life, He's going to enable me to do it.
He's going to equip me to do it. He's going
to empower me to do it. He's going to strengthen
me to do it. He's going to give me the
ability to do it. God would never ask you to
do anything with your life that he doesn't give you
the power to do.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
So here's how it works.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Once I understand that God has a calling on my life, okay,
and I understand that, what I do is I commit
myself to him. And when I commit myself to God's
calling for me, God, whatever time I've got left on
this earth, I want to use it to fulfill your
calling for me. Whether it's a week, a month, years,
(31:54):
or whatever decades, I commit to your calling for my life.
God commits his resources to help you do it. He said,
I don't even know what it is. I commit to
your calling for my life. God says, then I will
commit the resources what you need to get it done.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Look at this verse Ephesians four to one.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
I urge you to live the life to which God
called you. Now notice the calling is a lifestyle, and
you are to live the life to which God called you.
Now here's my prayer. Second Thessalonius, chapter one. This is
(32:37):
why we always pray for you, asking our God to
help you. That's in power, to help you live the
kind of life he called you to live. God says,
if I call you to live this kind of life,
I'm going to help you with the power.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
We pray that with his power.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
God will help you do the good things you want
and perform the works that come from your faith. Notice,
do the good things and perform the works. That's the
good works we were talking about earlier. And God says,
I will give you the power. You can count on
God to give you the strength you need. First, Tessaloni
is five. The one who calls you is faithful and
(33:18):
he will do it. He'll give you the power to
help that person. He said, I've never helped anybody. He'll
give you the power to help somebody else. And here's
the last point. There's a prize. There's a prize for
living out my calling. God has promised the reward for
those people who discover and live the calling he made
(33:40):
them for here on earth, and that reward's going to
last forever Philippians three fourteen. I press toward the goal
to win the prize circle, that to win the prize
for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus,
What is the prize?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Oh man?
Speaker 1 (34:02):
It would take me months to explain all that God
wants to do in Heaven for eternity with you, But
let me just say this. The prize is that you
get to share in everything God has in heaven. You
get to share in his kingdom, you get to share
in his glory, you get to share in his power.
(34:24):
It all becomes yours. You See, life on earth is
a test. Why didn't God just create you and take
you to heaven? If you're going there anyway, why didn't
just take you there first? Because He puts you here
on earth to test your faithfulness. And he gives you
a few things and puts them in your care, opportunities, relationships, things,
and he says, let's see what you do, and if
you're faithful of the little then I can trust you
(34:46):
with all of my riches and all of my power
and all of my glory in heaven for eternity. Faithful
little you'll be faithful much. This is a test, and
God is testing to see if you are going to
fulfill the calling he put you here on earth to fulfill.
And if you do, then He's gonna share with you
(35:07):
everything that is his. This is the most amazing thing.
Look at the next verse one the Salonians two twelve.
Live the kind of life that pleases God. Who calls you,
who calls you to share? And what are we going
to share? Who calls you to share in his own
(35:30):
kingdom and glory. That's amazing that for eternity God will
share his kingdom and his glory if I live out
my calling. It's hard to even explain this, get your
wrap your head around it. So let me just say,
like this, Imagine on Broadway in New York City, a
giant marquis lit up at night with bright lights and
(35:51):
it says, now, starring for eternity Jesus Christ co starring
your name, you will share in His kingdom and glory.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Now you got my attention.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Now I'm interested in fulfilling my calling.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
I don't want to get Tavin go.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Did you famil your They didn't even know I had one?
Well you do, and if you fulfill your calling in life,
and you do what God.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
You make the most of what you're giving.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
God says, you're going to share in My kingdom in
glory forever.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Are you interested in that? I am? I am.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
That is a big time prize that goes on and
on forever. Now, we talked earlier about answering the phone
if God called. The fact is God has already called.
He's already called you. That phone has been ringing in
your life since the moment you were conceived. Are you
(36:56):
going to pick up the phone? It's been ringing. God's
call for you has been ringing from the point of
your conception, and so you've just been ignoring it.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
Ring, ring, ringing.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
God said, I'm not hanging up. Will you pick up
the phone? And today say I'm going to begin to discover, develop,
and live the call that God made for me. That
I will learn what on earth am I here for?
And I will spend the rest of my life learning
to do that. Let's vow for prayer as we close.
(37:43):
Pray this prayer in your heart. Dear God, thank you
that you created me, that I'm not an accident. Thank
you that I've been in your care even before I
was born. Thank you that you're not just created me,
but you have called me. You have a purpose and
(38:04):
assignment for my life. I'm not here just to waste time.
Thank you that you called me for your purpose. I
want your plan, not mine. Thank you that that plan
began from the moment of my birth. And even though
I made many mistakes and I've senn a lot and
(38:25):
other people have hurt me, it hasn't changed my call
one bit. Thank you that my calling is permanent, and
I realized today that I cannot fulfill my purpose disconnected.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
I need to be connected to.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Others in your body, in your family, with the same
spirit and the same calling. I thank you Lord that
you've promised to give me the power to do what
you've asked.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Me to do.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
That you won't ask me to do something you won't
enable me and strengthen me to do. Lord, I want
that prize in life. I want to live the rest
of my life that Monday I may share in your
kingdom and in your glory.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
If you've never.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Invited Jesus into your life, said Jesus Christ, come into
my life now. I want to learn to love you,
and trust you and serve you in your name, I
pray amen
One of the most beloved verses in the Bible is
Romans eight twenty eight. So verse you've probably heard many, many,
maybe hundreds of times. It's one of the great promises
of the Bible. And it says this, we know that
in all things God works for the good of those
(00:21):
who love him. And usually we stop right there, we
leave off the second half of the verse, and we say,
what a great promise. We know that in all things,
not just the good things in life, but even in
the bad things, the ugly things, the terrible, the tragic
things of life. In all things, God works for the
good of those who love him. Doesn't say they're good.
(00:42):
There's a lot of bad in life. There's a lot
of bad things happening in your life, not all things
that happen to your good. But God says all things
God works them together for good. He can bring good
out of even bad for those who love God. And
usually we stop the verse right there. But the rest
of the verse says this, we know that in all
(01:03):
things God works for the good of those who love Him.
Who have been called circle the word called, who have
been called according to His purpose, and circle the word purpose,
circle called and circle purpose and draw a line between
them because calling and purpose go together. Now, if I
(01:23):
were to say to you, what do you think of first?
When I say the word call, make a call, get
a call, be called, you think of a telephone and
maybe they calling out for pizza, you know, something like that.
When I have to be honest with you, a little
true confession, as your pastor, I don't like telephones. I
(01:44):
never have because telephones to me represent two things. Number One,
they represent an interruption. And maybe they don't seem like
an interruption to you, but if you were a pastor,
you would be on call twenty four hours.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
A day, like doctors are.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I get calls twenty four hours a day, often in
the middle of the night, and so when the phone rings,
it usually means it rings when I'm busy or I'm relaxing,
or I'm studying, or I'm sleeping, or I'm talking with
somebody else or whatever. But it represents the interruption. The
(02:22):
second thing reason I don't like it is because in
my case, it often.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Or normally means bad news.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Somebody's calling to tell me about somebody's just died, somebody's
just lost a loved one, somebody's gone been rushed to
the hospital. Somebody's just found out a cancer test. And
as a pastor, of course, I deal with people in
pain literally every day of my life. And so when
the phone rings, I'm not thinking I wonder if I
(02:48):
just won the lottery. First place. I don't use the lottery,
which you shouldn't either. By the way, if you want
to do the lottery, here's what you do. I'm outside
and just give me the money, okay, because you're not
going to get anything out of it. I might as
well put it to use and use it for the
peace plan. But but you know, let's say the phone
(03:11):
rang one day and you thought this is an interruption
or it's going to be bad news. But somebody who's
calling to tell you had just inherited fifty million dollars.
You would not want to miss that call. What if
God called you? Let me give you a little tip.
When God calls, you do not use call waiting. When
(03:34):
God calls, you do not put it on the answer voicemail.
When God calls, you do not let it ring and
ring and ring and ring. Pick it up on the
first call. When God calls you. Now, the Bible says
you have already been called. You have been called according
to His purpose. A couple verses down from that verse
(03:57):
Romans eight thirty, it says this, look here on the screen.
Those that God predestined he also called, and those he
called he also justified, and those he justified he also glorified.
Now that's a lot of big theological words. But the
word I wants to focus on as we begin live
(04:17):
your calling is that word called. The Bible says you
have been called by God. What does that mean? The
word in the Greek is the word kalao k a
l e o calaioh. It's almost like calleaioh call. And
the word calaoh means God is calling you. And it's
used about one hundred times in the New Testament, over
(04:40):
one hundred times, and most of the time it's talking
about your assignment in life, your purpose in life, your
mission in life, the reason God created you. It is
called your calling. The Greek word is the word calaoh
for calling. The Latin word is another word you've heard
(05:02):
of for calling, and it is the word vocation. You've
heard of that a vocation. Vocation comes from the Latin
word vos vosa. It means to speak, it means to call.
We get the word voice, we get the word vocal.
Vocalized comes from the word vocation. It is your calling.
(05:23):
So your vocation and your calling are the same thing.
Now here's the problem today. The word vocation has been
so reduced and so minimized to just mean my job,
my career. Your calling is not your career. Your calling
is far.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Far, far far far far.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Far more significant, far larger, far more all encompassing than
your career. So your vocation is misused when you say
my vocation is my job. No, you have a job,
but your vocation is your calling in life. And we
are going to study that. The Bible, this book is
the story of God calling people, and the whole Bible
(06:08):
is about God calling Noah, God calling Abraham, and Abraham responding,
God calling Moses for a purpose in life, and Moses responding,
God calling Nehemiah, who was a builder, God calling Isaiah
and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel and Hoseiah and Joel,
(06:29):
and God calling David, and God calling Solomon. In the
New Testament, God calling Peter and Paul and Mary. And
if you laughed at that, you are incredibly old. Okay,
some twenty something Peter Paul Mary, I don't get it.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
I don't get it.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Okay, God calling Paul, and God has a call on
every person's life. Now, as your pastor, m my prayer
for you is this Ephesians chapter one. My prayer is
that light will flood your hearts. You know when we
sing that song open the eyes of my heart, Lord,
(07:10):
you know that song that's from this verse, that's from
this verse. My prayer is that light will flood your hearts,
and that you will understand the hope, the hope that
was given to you when God called you. Now understand
the calling on your life. When you understand you, when
(07:30):
you understand your call in life, is going to give
you incredible hope. And he says, I want you to
understand that. He says, when you do, when you understand
God's calling on your life, then you will discover the
glorious blessings that will be yours together with all of
(07:51):
God's people. So let's look at eight things I need
to know about my calling in life? Why God put
me here on earth?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Right? He's down number one.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
The first thing we learned from God's word is this,
my calling is a gift from God. My calling is
a gift from God. I don't earn it, I don't
deserve it. I don't work for it. I don't bargain
for it. I don't barter for it. It's just a
flat out gift of God's grace. It is His present
(08:24):
to me. When He created me, he called me, and
it's all by grace. Galatians Chapter one says this, God,
by his grace through Christ, has called you to become
his people. Now circle the phrase by his grace. What
is grace. Grace is undeserved kindness. Undeserved kindness. It's when
(08:49):
God gives you what you need, now, what you deserve.
If we all got what we deserved, we wouldn't be here.
The fact is, God says, I give you what you need,
not what you deserve. Grace is the fact that God
knows every dumb mistake you're going to make in life,
and he still chose to create you. He knew all
the times you were going to disobey him, and he
(09:10):
still chose to create you. That is the grace of God.
The fact is grace is that God knows all the
things I've done, and even when I was thumbing my
nose to him and rejecting him. God was saying, I
love you, I love you, I love you. Now your
calling is actually a part of your salvation. The calling
to Christ is also the calling to your purpose. Two
(09:33):
Timothy one nine says He has saved us and called us.
Notice they go together, saved us and called us to
a holy life, not because of anything we've done, but
because of his own purpose and grace, his purpose and
his grace. So God give gives me a calling in
(09:54):
life simply because he wants to give me a calling life.
I don't deserve it. He just gives it to me.
Now circle the word purpose that verse, because that leads
us to the second thing we learn, and is this.
I am called for God's purpose, not mine, but God's.
I'm not called for God's God's I'm not called for
my plan in life. I'm called for God's plan. God
(10:17):
did not make you for you. You think God created
you just to live a selfish little life of self centeredness.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
It's all about me, me, me, me, me. Are you
kidding me? No?
Speaker 1 (10:29):
God didn't make you for you. You were made by
God and you were made for God. And until you
understand that, life's never gonna make sense, and you're gonna
get bored, and you're gonna get frustrated. You're gonna have
all kinds of difficulty because you don't understand. You were
made for God. I am called for God's purpose. God's
(10:50):
calling is about His plan for my life, not my plan.
His dream for my life, not my dream. His purpose
for my life, not my purpose, or my parents purpose,
or my boyfriend's purpose, or my husband or wife's purpose,
is for God's purpose for my life.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Now.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
A good example of this is the story of Jacob
and Esau.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
In the Bible. They were twins.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
There was a guy in the Bible named Abraham and
he had a son named Isaac, and Isaac had two
sons who were twins, Jacob and Esau. Now, in those days,
the firstborn child, particularly the firstborn son, got all of
the credit, got all of the glory, got all of
the love. The firstborn son was the one who he
would inherit the family inheritance.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
And it's like you're special.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Number one, you're great, and number two, Oh, we're glad
you're here too.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
It was kind of like an aside. God didn't like that.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
And in the case of Esau and Jacob, Esau was
the firstborn son, and God said, you know what, I
have a calling for Esau's life, and I have a
calling for Jacob's life.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
But just because I want to do this, we're going
to reverse it.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
And I'm choosing Jacob to get blessing of the firstborn son,
even though he was born second. And he told this
to their mother, Rebecca, before she even delivered. In Romans
chapter nine, it says this before the two boys were born,
God told Rebecca, the older will serve the younger. Now,
that's exact opposite of culture. And this was before the
(12:20):
boys had done anything. In other words, they didn't deserve it.
They hadn't merited anything good or bad. God said this
so that the one chosen would be chosen because of
God's own plan as his purpose. He was chosen because
he was the one God wanted to call, not because
of anything he did. Unfortunate that I learned my call
(12:44):
in life at a pretty pretty young age. I hadn't
done anything. I hadn't deserved anything. I certainly wasn't worthy
of any kind of call. When I was sixteen years old,
I was actually working at a camp in northern California, up.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
In the mountains and the Redwoods. And one night I went.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Back to my cabin and I got down on my
knees and I said, God, I don't understand it all,
and if you're there, don't I just I want to
trust you, and so God, I need to know what
you want to do with my life. And I pray
a prayer that night and said, God, I'm signing my
name on the check. I don't even know what the
amount is, but I'm saying to you, I'm yours and
(13:26):
I'm going to serve you the rest of your life,
and I'm going to fulfill the calling you have for me.
And I prayed that prayer and as soon as I
finished praying that PRAIERD, do you want to know what's happened?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Nothing?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
No angels came down and flapped their wings. There's no
blinding light, no thunder, no lightning. My hair didn't turn
white like Charleston Heston. You know, It's like nothing happened.
But that was the turning point in my life when
I recognized God's rite and call on my life.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
And from that moment on.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I became by vocational, which means I would have a
job in which I would put food on the table,
and I would have a job in which I would
pay all my bills. But I would also have a calling,
and my career and my calling might match sometimes but
might not match other times, because my calling was from
God and the career was just how I was making
(14:24):
a living at that point. Career makes a living, calling
makes a life. And so from that point on, I
was by vocational the rest of my life, and I
did a number of different jobs even though I had
this call on my life. At one point, I was
a dishwasher. At one point, I was a cook. At
one point, I was a lifeguard for three years. At
(14:47):
one point I worked in a butcher shop that was
a whole lot of fun. At one point I picked fruit,
I picked grapes, and I picked pears. At one point,
I was an editor of a magazine. Another point, I
taught college. I actually taught college. At one point, I
was a youth pastor, and then for the last thirty
(15:08):
years I've been a pastor.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
My job has.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Changed many, many, many times, but my calling has never changed.
Regardless of what my job was, you have a calling
that is unique to your life, the Bible says in
Ephesians two ten for we are God's workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus to do good works. In other words, we're
(15:32):
made for a purpose to do good works which God
prepared in advance for us to do. Now, this verse
is filled with some important truth, so let's look at it.
Versus says, we're God's workmanship.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Circle.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
That word, the word there in the Bible, in the
Greek is the word poem. It's the word we get
poem from. You are God's poem. You are God's work
of art. You are God's craftsmanship, workmanship. Many translations of
the Bible translate this. You are God's masterpiece. He said, well,
(16:07):
I don't think i'm much of a masterpiece. Well, then
you don't realize how much value God has put in
your life. He said, well, I'm not a masterpiece. I'm
pretty beat up piece of junk. You're not junk. Jesus
didn't die for junk. If you look at Jesus on
the cross, arms outstretched and his nail pierced hands, and
he's saying, this is how valuable you are. This is
(16:30):
how valuable I'm You're valuable enough to die for. You're
not junk, because God doesn't create junk. Jesus doesn't die
for junk, and the Holy Spirit doesn't live in junk.
You are a masterpiece. You're God's masterpiece. But it only
shows when you fulfill your calling. If you try to
be what somebody else wants you to be, you're gonna
(16:52):
miss it, and your true beauty, your true greatness, won't
come out. You are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
To do good works.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Those good works are your contribution to the world. You
were not put on this planet just to breathe and
take up space and die. You weren't put here to
simply be a consumer. Oh there's a new kind of makeup.
I think I'll get that. Oh there's a new clothing,
I'll get that.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Now.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
You were put here to be a contributor, to make
a contribution with your life, and the Bible calls your
life contribution, your good works. It's part of your calling.
Now here's the cool thing. We all have different good works.
Your contribution, your good works are going to be different
than my contribution. My good works and my contribution good
(17:43):
works are going to be different than the person sitting
next to you. And God makes us all different, gives
us all different callings so that everything in the world
gets done.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
It's all a part of it.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Your God's workmanship, created to make a contribution which God
prepared in advance. That prepared in advance for us to
do that means a long time before you thought of it,
God had thought of your calling. In fact, here's the
third principle. Number three, God chose my calling before I
was born.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
My calling is a gift from God.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
I'm called for God's purpose, not mine, and my calling
was before I was born. God chose it. Let me
show you some verses on this. Galatians chapter one, verse fifteen.
Paul says, it pleased God in his kindness to choose
me and call me even before I was born.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
What undeserved mercy.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Here's another example, Jeremiah and Jeremiah chapter one, verse five.
Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all
about you, before you saw the light of day. I
had holy plans for you. God called you before you
were even born, and the Bible says God uniquely shaped you.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
You are a custom made baby.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
So don't overestimate what God or underestimate what God wants
to do in your life. Isaiah forty four, verse two
I am your creator. You were in my care even
before you were born. It says three things. First, it says,
I am your creator.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
What does that mean?
Speaker 1 (19:26):
It means you're not an accident. You were uniquely chosen,
created and called by God. He said, why is it
important for me to not think I'm an accident? Because
if you think you're an accident, you're going to live
like it, and you're going to accidentally just kind of
go through life without any purpose, without any direction. You're
(19:48):
not an accident. I am your creator. You're not an accident.
You were in my care. That means you're deeply loved.
You were in God's care when you were in the womb,
he says, even while you.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Were growing inside your mother.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
You realize this is why abortion is wrong, because that's
not a fetus in that mother. That's a baby that
God has already numbered that baby's days.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Chose that baby to be born.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Accidental parents, yes, accidental babies.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
No.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
God chose to create and call you before you're even born.
So you weren't a fetus before you were born. You
were a baby already chosen, already called, and already created
by God for a purpose and a calling and then
it says you were in My care before I was
(20:40):
even born. God plans you before you're born. Now, there's
a fourth thing that the Bible teaches us about your calling,
and it is this.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
This is a big one.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
My sins and my mistakes don't change my call. Oh,
I'm so glad for this one. My sins and my
mistakes don't change my call, God's call for my life.
It doesn't matter how messed up your life has been,
whether you messed it up or somebody messed it up
(21:10):
for you. No matter how screwy it got, how difficult
it became, no matter how many dumb decisions you've made
in the past, it hasn't changed God's call on your
life at all. The call that God gave you before
you were born, the call that God gave you when
you were saved and reaffirmed when you're saved, is a
calling that God says it's there forever. It's a permanent calling,
(21:38):
and God doesn't change it now. A good example this,
of course, was Paul. I mean he was Paul was
a pretty rude dude in a crude mood before he.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Became an apostle.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
God called him to be an apostle, and in one
Timothy Chapter one, Paul says this, by calling me into
his service, Jesus has judged me trustworthy, even though I
used to be a blasphemer and a persecutor and contemptuous. Mercy, however,
(22:15):
was shown me because while I lacked faith, I acted
in ignorance. I love that phrase, the honesty there. While
I lacked faith, I acted in ignorance.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Then I did a lot of dumb stuff growing up.
How many of you would admit I did a lot
of dumb stuff growing up. Okay, I did a lot
of Okay, that's apostle training. Okay, congratulations, Okay, do you
know what Paul was. Paul was a terrorist before he
became an apostle. He was a religious terrorist. He was
(22:48):
going to people's homes, dragging him out in the street,
throwing him into jail, killing people. He was a murderer,
God said Paul. That didn't change the call that I
had for you from the day you were born. I
had a plan for you, and even the bad stuff
fits into the plan. The fact that I love most
about God is that he never wastes anything, and he
(23:11):
fits it all into his plan, even my sin, even
the stupid decisions that I've made that I will regret
the rest of my life. God says, you know what,
I'm going to even put that in the plan. We'll
make it work. I can bring all things can work
together for good for those who love God, who are
called according to His purpose.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
I can fit that in there too.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
And not only can God say, your sins and your
mistakes don't change your calling. The sins of other people
against you don't change your calling. Some of you may
feel a little bruised, a little battered, a little beat
up by the world. Maybe you had somebody who was
unfaithful to you. You had somebody walk out of your life.
(23:58):
You had somebody be but betray you, reject you. Some
of you have been molested, some of you have been raped.
I'm sorry, I am, but you know what, that did
not change one bit of your value. And that did
not change one bit of God's call on your life.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
It has not changed.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
You are still God's workmanship, God's masterpiece created in Christ
Jesus to do good works. And you know what, God says,
you know what, I can even take the ugly stuff,
and I'll take.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
The stinger out of it.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
And you know what, I'll even bring good out of
it in your life if you'll let me. The Bible says,
my sins and mistakes don't change God's call. I want
you to write this down on your outline. God has
no Plan BE for me. A lot of people think,
you know what, I really screwed up on that one.
(24:56):
Therefore I got to live with Plan B the rest
of my life. No, you don't, It's part of Plan A.
God has no Plan B for me. When I think
about this, I think about Chuck Coulson. Chuck Colson was
one of the most powerful men in the world in
his day. He was assistant to the President of the
United States of America, and then he got involved in
(25:19):
a scandal, Watergate, and he went to prison, and in
prison he found Christ, became a believer, saw the need
for people in prisons to know the Lord. Started prison Fellowship,
Whi's now in like one hundred and fifty sixty countries
has blessed millions of people. But when God created Chuck Colson,
he knew he would be going from the presidency to
(25:39):
prison and back out all in one life. And he said,
I'm going to fit it into the plan. I'm going
to fit it into the plan. Number five. The fifth
thing we learned about God's calling is my calling is permanent.
This is a further extension of what I just said
and what I mean. Permanent means nobody can take it
from you. When you were growing up, your parents tried
(26:01):
to probably make you something that you didn't really want
to be, or your girlfriend or your boyfriend tried to
make you something you didn't want to be, or your
boss or somebody in your life. You're always trying to
pressure you and conform you to take away your true calling.
Your calling cannot be taken from you. Satan can't take
your calling away from you. You can't take your calling
(26:24):
away from you. Other people can't take your calling away
from you, and God won't because he says I've given
it to you permanently. The Bible says in Romans eleven,
verse twenty nine, God's gifts and his callings are read
it with me irrevocable circle that they cannot be taken away.
They are permanent. The calling on your life is never
(26:48):
ever gonna change, no matter what you've done, no matter
what you've messed up. The expression may change, the timing,
the when, the war of the how, but the calling
will not change. You still have the same gifts God
gave you from the beginning. Now, what does this verse
teach us? If my calling is permanent, it means this
my job is not my calling because your job changes.
(27:10):
How many of you have ever changed jobs? How many
have ever lost a job? How many have ever been unemployed? Yeah,
you're going to have many many jobs in life. Your
job is not your calling. Jobs change all the time.
Calling never changes. This is an eye opener for some
of you. The Bible says God's gifts in his call
(27:31):
can never be withdrawn, so no matter what happens, they're
permanent in your life. Number six very important point. My
calling is connected to others. My calling, my assignment from
God in life, my purpose, my vision, the dream God
(27:51):
has for my life is connected to other people. What
I mean by that You cannot fulfill your purpose in
life by yourself. It is impossible. You can only do
it connected to other people. Calling and community go together.
You cannot be what God wants you to be. You
cannot fulfill what God wants you to fulfill. You cannot
(28:14):
enjoy your destiny on your own. You have to do
it connected to other people. It's like the parts of
your body. They're worthless unless they're connected. You have an eyeball,
which is extremely gifted. It has the ability to take light,
translate that to your brain and you see things. But
(28:35):
an eyeball outside of a socket is worthless. It can't
see anything because it's not connected. You have an ear,
which is an amazing gift of God, where your ear
can take waves turn them into impulses to your brain,
and your brain here sounds. If your ear is disconnected
(28:56):
from your body, it's worthless. That ear can't hear anything
unless it's connected. You have a hand, and that hand
has an amazing ability to grasp, to write, to fix things.
But that hand, if it were cut off, it has
no use. A hand has no power, no talent, no ability,
(29:16):
no purpose without being connected to the body. You have
to be connected to the body to fulfill your calling.
The Bible calls the church the body of Christ, the
family of God, but it calls it the body, and
we're all members like a hand, eye, nose, feet, everything
(29:37):
connected to the body. Look at this verse on the
screen Roman's fourteen seven. None of us lives to himself alone,
and none of us dies to himself alone. You gotta
be connected. How do you get connected to a church family.
It's why we talk about small groups all the time,
because in that small group there's a connection there where
(29:59):
you learn from other peop people. They help you in
your weakness, you help them in their weakness. Let me
show you a couple verses Pesians.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Four to four.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
We are all one body, circle, that all one body.
We all have the same spirit, circle, same spirit, and
we have all been called circle that all been called
We're all one body, all have the same spirit, all
been called to the same glorious future.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Hope.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
It is only in connection, in community that I will
fulfill my calling Hebrews three to one. Brothers and sisters,
you are a holy You are holy partners in a
heavenly calling. The other people in your small group are
partners in a heavenly calling. We're better together, We're better
as a team. That's why church, you have to be connected.
(30:53):
We'll talk about this more in the future. Number seven,
God empowers what he calls me to do. That's the
seventh thing I need to know about my calling, that
whatever God calls me to do, he's going to empower
me to do God empowers what he calls me to do.
In other words, if God has given me an assignment
(31:13):
in life, He's going to enable me to do it.
He's going to equip me to do it. He's going
to empower me to do it. He's going to strengthen
me to do it. He's going to give me the
ability to do it. God would never ask you to
do anything with your life that he doesn't give you
the power to do.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
So here's how it works.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Once I understand that God has a calling on my life, okay,
and I understand that, what I do is I commit
myself to him. And when I commit myself to God's
calling for me, God, whatever time I've got left on
this earth, I want to use it to fulfill your
calling for me. Whether it's a week, a month, years,
(31:54):
or whatever decades, I commit to your calling for my life.
God commits his resources to help you do it. He said,
I don't even know what it is. I commit to
your calling for my life. God says, then I will
commit the resources what you need to get it done.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Look at this verse Ephesians four to one.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
I urge you to live the life to which God
called you. Now notice the calling is a lifestyle, and
you are to live the life to which God called you.
Now here's my prayer. Second Thessalonius, chapter one. This is
(32:37):
why we always pray for you, asking our God to
help you. That's in power, to help you live the
kind of life he called you to live. God says,
if I call you to live this kind of life,
I'm going to help you with the power.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
We pray that with his power.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
God will help you do the good things you want
and perform the works that come from your faith. Notice,
do the good things and perform the works. That's the
good works we were talking about earlier. And God says,
I will give you the power. You can count on
God to give you the strength you need. First, Tessaloni
is five. The one who calls you is faithful and
(33:18):
he will do it. He'll give you the power to
help that person. He said, I've never helped anybody. He'll
give you the power to help somebody else. And here's
the last point. There's a prize. There's a prize for
living out my calling. God has promised the reward for
those people who discover and live the calling he made
(33:40):
them for here on earth, and that reward's going to
last forever Philippians three fourteen. I press toward the goal
to win the prize circle, that to win the prize
for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus,
What is the prize?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Oh man?
Speaker 1 (34:02):
It would take me months to explain all that God
wants to do in Heaven for eternity with you, But
let me just say this. The prize is that you
get to share in everything God has in heaven. You
get to share in his kingdom, you get to share
in his glory, you get to share in his power.
(34:24):
It all becomes yours. You See, life on earth is
a test. Why didn't God just create you and take
you to heaven? If you're going there anyway, why didn't
just take you there first? Because He puts you here
on earth to test your faithfulness. And he gives you
a few things and puts them in your care, opportunities, relationships, things,
and he says, let's see what you do, and if
you're faithful of the little then I can trust you
(34:46):
with all of my riches and all of my power
and all of my glory in heaven for eternity. Faithful
little you'll be faithful much. This is a test, and
God is testing to see if you are going to
fulfill the calling he put you here on earth to fulfill.
And if you do, then He's gonna share with you
(35:07):
everything that is his. This is the most amazing thing.
Look at the next verse one the Salonians two twelve.
Live the kind of life that pleases God. Who calls you,
who calls you to share? And what are we going
to share? Who calls you to share in his own
(35:30):
kingdom and glory. That's amazing that for eternity God will
share his kingdom and his glory if I live out
my calling. It's hard to even explain this, get your
wrap your head around it. So let me just say,
like this, Imagine on Broadway in New York City, a
giant marquis lit up at night with bright lights and
(35:51):
it says, now, starring for eternity Jesus Christ co starring
your name, you will share in His kingdom and glory.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Now you got my attention.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Now I'm interested in fulfilling my calling.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
I don't want to get Tavin go.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Did you famil your They didn't even know I had one?
Well you do, and if you fulfill your calling in life,
and you do what God.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
You make the most of what you're giving.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
God says, you're going to share in My kingdom in
glory forever.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Are you interested in that? I am? I am.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
That is a big time prize that goes on and
on forever. Now, we talked earlier about answering the phone
if God called. The fact is God has already called.
He's already called you. That phone has been ringing in
your life since the moment you were conceived. Are you
(36:56):
going to pick up the phone? It's been ringing. God's
call for you has been ringing from the point of
your conception, and so you've just been ignoring it.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
Ring, ring, ringing.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
God said, I'm not hanging up. Will you pick up
the phone? And today say I'm going to begin to discover, develop,
and live the call that God made for me. That
I will learn what on earth am I here for?
And I will spend the rest of my life learning
to do that. Let's vow for prayer as we close.
(37:43):
Pray this prayer in your heart. Dear God, thank you
that you created me, that I'm not an accident. Thank
you that I've been in your care even before I
was born. Thank you that you're not just created me,
but you have called me. You have a purpose and
(38:04):
assignment for my life. I'm not here just to waste time.
Thank you that you called me for your purpose. I
want your plan, not mine. Thank you that that plan
began from the moment of my birth. And even though
I made many mistakes and I've senn a lot and
(38:25):
other people have hurt me, it hasn't changed my call
one bit. Thank you that my calling is permanent, and
I realized today that I cannot fulfill my purpose disconnected.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
I need to be connected to.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Others in your body, in your family, with the same
spirit and the same calling. I thank you Lord that
you've promised to give me the power to do what
you've asked.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Me to do.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
That you won't ask me to do something you won't
enable me and strengthen me to do. Lord, I want
that prize in life. I want to live the rest
of my life that Monday I may share in your
kingdom and in your glory.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
If you've never.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Invited Jesus into your life, said Jesus Christ, come into
my life now. I want to learn to love you,
and trust you and serve you in your name, I
pray amen
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