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