Lot do. We thank you for your word today. We thank you for
the way you help us, so you lead us, the way you speak
to us, the way you guide us. We give you the honor for
it in Jesus' name. Everybody said, Amen, Amen, Amen. Good
to see all of you this morning. Aren't you proud of that group of
students. It was a great year and the great commitment that they made to
be a part of what we were doing. And of course we'd love to
see you, and we're hoping to launch year too, so they we'd have
a second year and if you want to be a part of first year again,
that's Monday nights six thirty to nine, and we have a lot of
fun together. I want to dive into the word talking a little bit about
your call to the ministry this morning, and we can start out of John
twenty one. Let's dive in there together. John twenty one. This is
the call of Peter to ministry. Afterward, Jesus appeared again to his disciples.
This is verse one, by the Sea of Galilee. And it happened
that Simon Peter who was also Simon Peter and Thomas. I'm sorry, Nathaniel
from Cana and the sons of Zebedee and two witter disciples. They were together
and Peter said, I'm going to go fishing, and so Peter takes them
out and goes fishing with him. Early in the morning they come back.
They fished all night, they caught no fishies. And early in the morning
Jesus is on shore, and the disciples didn't realize it was him. He
calls out, friends, have you any fish? They didn't have any fish.
They'd fished all night, caught no fishies. So they said no.
He said, throw your net on the right side. Some translations say on
the other side of the boat, and you'll find some. And when they
did, they were unable to bring in the net because of the hall of
the fish. And so then the table whom Jesus loved, which is John.
He's writing this said to Peter, it is the Lord. And as
soon as Simon heard it was the Lord, he throws his coat on his
robe and he jumps in the water. He's swimming to shore. The other
disciples following the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were
not. They were only about one hundred yards away, a football field away.
And when they landed they saw a fire of burning cools already there with
fish on it and some bread, and Jesus said, bring some of the
fish you've caught. And so Simon Peter climbed back in the boat dragged the
net ashore full of a large fish, one hundred and fifty three of them.
And even so the net was not torn. So this there's stories here.
God gave them a giant catch. It was a These were large fish.
But even then the net wasn't torn. So what God gives you doesn't
get away. That's good, right. So Jesus said, come and have
breakfast. And remember he already had fish. So he already had fish.
Where'd he get the fish? Did he have a fishing pole? Jesus knows
where to get fish. Jesus knows how to meet your supply, right,
and so come and have breakfast. Know the disciples there to ask who you
were, because they knew what the lord. So he gave them bread and
the same with the fish. This is the third time he's appeared to them.
And when they finished eating, then he says to Simon Peter, and
this is we talked about it last week. If you were here, He
reiterates his CaAl to ministry. He reiterates his sanctifying Peter under ministry, and
this is a ministry call to all of the eleven as he's setting them apart
for ministry. And he says, comparing the fish to his love. So
we know Peter had gone back to fishing, and yet there was a call
on his life to pursue what God had called him to, and that was
away from fishing and to live a set apart life to expand the Gospel of
the Kingdom. And so he says contrasting the fish to his love. He
says, Peter Simon, son of John, do you love me more than
these? More than the fish? And the word in the Greek is do
you a gop amy? Do you unconditionally love me? Are you in covenant
with me? Are you going to lay down your life for me? And
Peter replies, Lord, you know that I folio you. We're close friends,
we're buddies. I really like you a lot. I care about you
sincerely. So that's what's happening in the Greek. You don't see it in
your translation, but that's what's happening in the Greek. He's saying, do
you a gop amy? And Peter's saying, Lord, I fileo you,
and he says, still, he says to him, feed my lambents.
You know, even the Word declares over us freely you've received, now freely
give. You know the scripture freely you've received, Now freely give. And
this is you know, this is we can see some things happening here.
Even though the Lord recognizes his love for him is not at the level of
the Lord's love for Peter, he still declares something really powerful over him,
something meaningful. It's actually it's actually being called into the most powerful, wonderful,
glorious thing on the planet. Is to know that God has called you
to some form of ministry. God has called you to represent Jesus. God
has called you to manifests the glory of God in the earth. God has
actually set you apart in your generation. It's not a bad thing. It's
the most glorious thing. Yeah, maybe we shun it. Maybe we think
it's terrible, Maybe we think it's hard, Maybe we think it's miserable.
Maybe we think it's a heavy calling. Maybe we think it's something we don't
want, not realizing that it's the most glorious thing ever. It's the most
glorious thing ever to be set apart under God for ministry. And so even
though Peter's heart wasn't perfected, remember just yesterday he was denying the Lord three
times. So even though Peter's heart wasn't perfected in love, God foresees that
the love that he has for him is going to release ministry through him to
touch others. And certainly Peter touched thousand and of course wrote part of our
scripture, part of what we see as scripture, part of what we have
in our Bible was written by Peter, but it is used to touch and
raise up and minister and birth and plant churches and impact the entire world for
the Kingdom of God. He says it again, Simon, son of John,
do you love me? And you know he's saying, do you love
me more than these? And he says, Lord, you know that I
love you, And Jesus says, take care of my sheep. So first
it's feed my sheep, and then it's take care of my sheep. The
third time he said, and again he says the second time it's agape and
falleo again, and then the third time the Lord lowers his question. He
lowers his question, recognizing Peter's love is brotherly, but knowing that that's enough
at this moment. That's enough at this moment. So he says, Peter
Simon, son of John, do you flao me? And Peter was hurt
because Jesus asked him the third time do you love me? And he says,
Lord, you know all things, you know, I flayo you,
and Jesus says, feed my sheep, Feed my sheep. It's a stirring,
right, it's a stirring and so many of us have felt that stirring.
And it could be it could be that's how a ministry call started with
you. It could have been you noting a need, or you praying about
something, or you in a worship service or in a conference or setting under
the teaching of the Word, or or just observing someone struggling and the Spirit
could have spoken to you. Because the ministry call you are. You're literally
vulnerable to the ministry call. The moment you give your life to the Lord,
he's not running around looking for you know, just certain people that have
just this certain dimension about them and they just have this certain passion or this
certain love for him, or certain ones that pray four hours a day,
and it's truly known that they have this great agape for God. And so
he's going to come and call them the ministry. The moment you come to
Jesus, he's calling you the ministry. He's calling you the ministry. And
we see this in scripture, right, First Speed four to ten says that
each of us receive each of us receive gifts. Each of us receive gifts,
and that we're to use those gifts to build up one another. We
were to use those gifts to serve one another. First Peter. That's First
Peter. First Corinthians. First Corinthians twelve, twenty eight through thirty one.
There's a whole list of gifts here, like it's a giant list. It's
longer than the gift list in Ephesians four. Where Ephesians four we have the
apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher, evangelists. This is a longer list.
This includes ministries of helps. This includes ministries of administration as well as
apostle, prophet, pastor, leader, et cetera. Right, and then
we got Romans chapter twelve. Romans chapter twelve, right after he tells us
to renew our mind right. He starts in verse three saying that each one
of us receives a gift and we receive the faith to operate in that gift.
And then he goes on the list seven motivational gifts that are ministered through
the members of the Body of Christ. Up Here in verse twenty eight,
he says that God sets us in the body where he wants us to be.
God is the one who chooses where he wants us to be. Set
in the body might be better that way, instead of sitting, God sets
us in the body where he wants us to be. And that every single
gifted one is important, every single minister is important, every single ministry is
important. And one of the things that we've been we've been sharing and discovering
is that your financial provision. God has directly connected your financial provision to your
loving what he's called you to, because as you love him, you also
love what he's called you to. You can't love him and not love what
he's called you to, even if your love is falleo. To love him
is to love what he's called you to, and God has to God has
connected every Christian's financial well being to them giving attention to what he's called them
to, every single believer, every single So even you know Matthew six,
everybody say, Matthew six, you know it really well, Matthew six thirty
one. I don't want to quote it wrong. So I snapped a picture
of it. I don't think we have it back there, Okay, can
I look well? Okay? Hah Lulujah. Isn't God good? So do
not worry saying what shall I eat, what shall I drink? What in
the world am I gonna wear? But the pagans run after all those things.
The pagans run after all those things. In other words, the young
believers, those that don't have a father, they esteem those things as the
supreme thing they should be running after. But You're heavenly fought knows you need
them. Gabriel can give me a little bit more. Your heavenly father knows
you need them. So seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, his Kingdom
of Heaven on earth. The kingdom is always the Kingdom of Heaven and the
Kingdom of God. And it's always It's not like seeking the Kingdom of heaven
above, it's seeking the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Seek first, the
establishing of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, in my family, in my
business, in my relationships, in my church. How do we know it's
not seeking first the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God ethereally in the
heavens. Because Jesus said, so, Jesus said, when you pray from
no, this is the truth. Pray this way, thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth. It's always been done in heaven. His
will's always been done in heaven. We're not seeking his will in heaven.
We're seeking that his will in heaven would come on earth. This is what
it is to have a heart after the kingdom. It's the Kingdom of Heaven
on earth. Then all these things will be given to you as well.
So here's what we know. When we elevate our ministry and we make from
you can't you only got twenty four hours in a day. Can't You can't
elevate your economics, and you can't elevate your pursuit of clothing and housing and
elevate your suit of stuff to the extreme and then have time for ministry,
have time to fulfill your ministry. You can't do it. You're going to
have to de elevate. You're going to have to de elevate your pursuit of
stuff. You have to de elevate your pursuit of wealth and stuff and provision
and clothing and whatever that is. You've got to de elevate it so that
God can make up the difference for you. Because when you de elevate your
pursuit of this and you escalate, and you raise up, and you elevate
the call of God on you for ministry, then God makes up the difference.
God makes up the difference. Now, He's tried to say this in
a thousand different ways. In Isaiah fifty eight eight, he says, this
is the fast that I've chosen. I've chosen a fast for the righteous.
It's not just a fast of omitting food for the sake of omitting food.
It's not just a fast for omitting drink. The fast that I've chosen is
that when you suffer, the suffering that pleases me is a suffering that turns
your attention from you and your stuff and your needs and your focus on it,
and you turn your attention to others who have a need. And if
you'll break your bread for the hungry, and if you'll share your clothing with
the naked, And if you'll open your house to the needy, and if
you'll care for others. Where's the verse? You got it, Devin?
Throw it up there. Let's read it. Let's see if I'm true?
Is this not the kind of fast that I've chosen to listen to? Change
of injustice? Unto the untie the cords of the yoke, Set the oppress
free, and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with
the hungry, to prepare it, provide the poor wonder with shelter when you
see that they get to clothe them, And then not turn away from your
own flesh and blood. Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear. Then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Can you water
me heath that waters shall be watered? Proverbs eleven, twenty four and twenty
five. The Word of God is literally filled with these. Scripture Isaiah sixty,
horizon, shine, for your light has come, for the glory of
the Lord has risen upon you. Gross darkness will cover the earth, but
the Lord will shine on you. Then strangers will come and care for your
flocks. Then the nations will bring riches to you. The Word of God
is full of this stuff, encouraging you to fulfill your ministry. That when
you fulfill your ministry, God will take care of you. Now, most
of us are not called to vocational ministry as Peter and the eleven were.
Most of us aren't. But the most common ministry calling in the Body of
Christ and across the Body of Christ is the shepherding ministry, the pastoral ministry.
This is the most common. The pastoral ministry is a very common ministry,
and I I believe that the pastoral ministry is as it was with Moses.
It is a calling on those to lead, pastor shepherd and care for
even as small as ten people. So I think that even in our congregation
we have roughly six to seven hundred people that call this their church, we
could have seventy pastors here seventy pastors. Now, some of us are already
engaged in pastoral work because we care for trail life, and we care for
you know, some aspect that we're leading a connect group, and so we
probably have several that are fulfilling and not even realizing that they're fulfilling a pastoral
aspect. But a pastoral aspect in its smallest dimension, is caring for ten
people. It's not like, well, I'm a pastor at heart. I
got this thing. You know, I've saw three people in the four year
last week and one of them look thirsty. I went and got I'm a
drink and I'm doing this thing. I'm really caring for I'm really caring for
folk. No, it's actually having ten people that, as Peter was called
to that you actually feed them, You actually care for them, you actually
strengthen them, you actually edify them. You Actually it's feeding and caring.
It's serving, it's ministering to ten. Now why do I say that?
Because of Exodus chapter Exodus chapter eighteen. Right, this is what this is
what Moses needed, and this is the wisdom that God brought Moses. You
remember it. So Exodus chapter eighteen, we might have it. Can we
go to it? If we've got it, we can go to it.
Moses father in law replied to Moses, what you're doing is not good.
You and these people who come to you are only going to wear yourselves out.
The work is too heavy for you. You can't handle it alone.
Listen to me and I'll give you advice, and may God be with you.
You must be the people's representative before God. This is what a leader
does. This is what a shepherd does. And Moses was, as it
were, the chief shepherd over the people of Israel. There were two million
of them. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes
to him. Teach them His decrees and instructions. Teach them, teach them
His decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and
how they are to behave. This is what a shepherd does. This is
what a leader does. This is what I called out one does. And
select apable men from all the people, men who fear God, trustworthy men
who hate disown His game, and appoint them of officials. Over thousands,
hundreds, fifties and tens. Everybody say thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.
This is interesting. The shepherding call is over tens, fifties, hundreds
and thousands. Now what happened is what happens is when we hear in our
spirit men the calling of God upon us, like Peter did because of American
Christianity. Because of Western Christianity, we conclude, Oh, I'm called to
thousands, or maybe I'm called to hundreds. Therefore, I need to sell
my fishing business, I need to get rid of my nets. I need
to let the boat in the pole go right. Whatever it is, because
I'm called. Since I'm called, it must be a vocational calling. That's
the conclusion in the American Western Church. And so what happens is we may
have lots of reactions that we may rebel, we may be afraid, we
may not really embrace it. We may run away, we may be angry,
we may be frustrated. We don't see it as the coolest thing on
the planet. We see it as what I just got a four year degree
in college. I got to do what I was going to do, computer
sciences, going to do engineering, I was going to do. I'm going
to be an elementary teacher. So instead of embracing it, we may turn
away from it because we think it's one of these things, not realizing that
there's seventy of us in this congregation who are called to pastoral ministry called as
shepherds. Now the word pastor, the word pastor. Let's go to First
Peter, chapter five. The word pastor in the Greek is the word poyman,
and the word poyman in the Greek is the word shepherd. So pastor
is shepherd. Jesus is the chief shepherd of the flock. A shepherd feeds
the sheep, guards the sheep, cares for the sheep, leads the sheep.
A shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep. A shepherd is
thinking about the sheep. Now, this is what Jesus is. So pastor
is not a bad calling. The office of prophet, that's great, The
office of evangelist that's super, the office of apostle that's amazing. Are you
with me? But the office of pastor that's a pretty good thing. And
that office could be You could have that calling on you and you're only called
to serve ten the rest of your life. Your calling is to serve ten.
And that's not a bad thing. That's not a dishonoring thing. That's
a glorious, glorious thing. And if you elevate your calling, then God
will elevate you. But if you shirk your calling and you don't want to
embrace your calling, or you're confused about your calling, thinking, I don't
want to embrace this, because if I embrace this, I got to sell
out everything. I got to leave my business behind every I can't do that.
My wife had killed me, the children would cut my legs off.
I mean, this is not gonna happen, right, So you're frustrated.
How in the world do I fulfill this? What do I do with this?
First Peter Chapter five, to the elders among you, elders, Oh,
he calls them elders, now elders. To the elders among you,
I a peal as a fellow elder. Oh, Peter, I thought he
was called as a shepherd of the flock. I thought he was an apostle.
John twenty one. We just read that he's called the shepherd the flock.
You're going to see. What they were doing is they were calling elders
shepherds, and so some of these churches would have had a whole bunch of
elders shepherds. To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder
and the witness of Christ sufferings who also will share in the glory to be
revealed, be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, watching over
them, not because you must, but because you're willing, and not because
you're getting paid, by the way, as God wants you to be,
not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve, not lording it over those
intrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief
Shepherd, that's ployman, you mean Jesus is just a lowly pastor, well
yeah, but he's also the chief prophet, the chief apostle. It's okay,
don't get hung up on this. I just want you to see when
the Chief Shepherd appears, you'll receive the crown of glory that will never fade
away. There's a crown of glory for you, and it's not just for
It's not just for these guys. The crown of Glory is not just for
the TBN guys that are on a pulpits on a platform somewhere. The crown
of Glory is not just for the day Star guide. It's not just for
the guy in Texas but twenty thousand, hello, somebody. The crown of
glory is for those who receive a download from the Holy Spirit and then they
lean into that and it may be a calling to ten, a calling to
ten. This flock right now needs seventy pastors, seventy people who are called,
who recognize the calling on their lines, who will devalue a little bit
their pursuit over here in this realm, so that God can make up the
difference by blessing them and giving them increase, so that there's no lack in
their lives whatsoever, so that their well being is just as cared for as
the guy over here with no calling whatsoever. Not that you can't find that
in the believer circle, but you could find it out here in the world
circle. Who's pouring his whole life, the young believer, the pagan's pouring
his whole life and the stuff. And the believer he's serving God, he's
following the Holy Spirit, and he's pouring his life into ministry and caring for
others. And then the Lord just shows up and says, hey, just
throw your net over there. But it calms by embracing this calling, even
at this lower numeric level. And this is for ladies as well as men.
This is for ladies as well as men. God gave young each show
this revelation in soul Korea, and he began to loose the women. He
began to loose the women to lead the women. He began to loose the
women to care for the women. He began to lose women pastors and women
shepherds to call, to care, to feed, to nourish the women.
And the church exploded. The church exploded because the same anoyting works in upon
and through the ladies of the house. Say with me this morning, when
you're in a really powerful holy Spirit time, holy spirit's moving like Craig recognized
it this morning. Then there's downloads in the spirit room that take place,
and like you're getting stuff in the spirit. And that's many times where these
callings come and are made really true to the heart. But then we exit
those doors back into the pressure of life, bookkeeping, accounting, bills,
construction, flat tires, worn out cars, taxes are due, sprinklers don't
work, child in peril. We exit those doors back into the pressures of
life. And it's easy to suppress what the Lord said when we were in
that chamber of intimacy and we felt him write something on our heart. But
those things are the most precious things. Those words over you are the most
precious things. And the callings in the ministry, like first Timothy three says
that to be called into the responsibility of leadership, it's a noble thing.
It's like a super noble thing. But we get outside of this building and
we forget about that noble thing, or we let the cares of this life
put it down and silence it, or we let the contention of our spouse
or our family, or our own financial needs, we let it dictate,
and then we don't give it the place. And if we don't give it
place, then God's grace never does really show up. And if God's grace
never really shows up, then we look back at the decisions we made,
and we think, oh, I made the right decision. We could have
never afforded to do that. I could have never put more time into that.
I couldn't have had a small group. I couldn't have had this.
I couldn't have had that. I couldn't have ministered to more people because we
didn't have the well being to do it. We didn't have the wherewithal,
We didn't have the resource to do it. You didn't have the resource because
you never devalued your toil over stuff, so the resource never showed up.
The resource doesn't show up. First, the word shows up. And then
you embrace the word. And as you embrace the word and come into obedience
to the word and devalue your pursuit of what the pagans are pursuing, then
the grace shows up. That's when the grace shows up. And now all
at once, this is more than this would have been. And this is
the calling on Israel. From the very beginning, he's like, don't you
know, if you'll just pay attention to me, I want to make you
the head and not the tail, the head only and never never, the
tail above only and beneath. Don't you know that you're going to lend to
the nations and never borrow, and never borrow. But we're so drawn to
keep toiling. We're so drawn to keep toiling and keep toiling, and keep
toiling, so the grace never fully shows up. Hands up, heads about
everywhere across the room. Today, Holy Spirit, we just welcome you to
help us, and we welcome you to root over us. You're watching online
as well. God's ministering to our hearts. He's called us and set us
apart, some as shepherds, some as shepherds, but all in the ministry.
All in the ministry in some capacity or another, In some way or
another, we are body member builders. We are edifiers and strengtheners. We
are teachers and leaders, We are helpers. And we run to this,
we don't run from it. From this moment on, say it with me,
Say it over your own heart, Say it to Father. I run
to the ministry, not from it. I run to your calling over my
life, not from it. From this moment on, I renounce disdaining what
you've called me to. I renounce disdaining your call on my life. I
run to it and not from it. I run to it and not from
it. As much as I understand what you've called me to and what you've
already shown me. Right now, I run to that which I know,
and I rekindle the words spoken over me in the intimate place. And no
more will I shun it, hate it, run from it, disbelieve,
doubt it, rebel against it. No more will I fight it. No
more will I kick against it. No more? Will I not pay attention
to it. No more will I elevate the needs that are natural? No
more, no more, no more, no more will I let those get
elevated. No more, no more, Father, use me, use me
in a powerful way. Use me in a powerful way, even if it's
in helps, even if it's just with ten. I submit myself to you
in Jesus' name, and everybody said, prayer. Team to the front real
quick. As we close. We want to give you one more opportunity before
we leave. And as we're leaving today in worship, if there's something in
your life that needs to be set aside, left at the cross, left
here at the church, come and be prayed for. If you're here giving
your life back to the Lord, come and receive an assurance of salvation.
If you're here this morning and this word was for you, this word was
for you, come and seal it in prayer. Come and seal it in
prayer, and let the Holy Spirit minister to you more fully before you leave
the room today in Jesus' name, God bless your church.