Reclaim Your Calling - Called

i would love to invite you to stand at your local life church location if you're able to and what i want to do is i want to talk to you with a little bit of a different tone today i want to have a little different vibe this isn't pastor to church member this is someone who's been called by god to people who are called by god and i want you to feel the weight of this message as followers of christ you have been chosen by god set apart gifted enabled and empowered to fulfill a very unique calling you are called by god last week we built a foundation on what it means to be called and we looked at the very powerful very personal verse of the apostle paul writing from a roman prison in 61 a.d or so when he said in ephesians 4 he said therefore i a prisoner for serving the lord begged you to lead a life worthy of your calling for you have been called by god let that create a moment a holy pause that god wants you to live a life worthy of his calling you're set apart you're chosen church isn't just some place that we go it's not an add-on to our lives you are the church the called out ones to go into this world and to share the goodness and the grace and the love of jesus christ you're called by god to do that you're his church but what i know about some of you right now especially in this incredibly complicated and painful current cultural environment some of you you're just worn down you're physically drained emotionally depleted spiritually exhausted or discouraged because i know that if the devil can't destroy you he'll just try to discourage you and that's where some of you are right now i had someone ask me craig how do you overcome the discouragement how do you stay above it how do you not find yourself exhausted and battling with self-doubts and the spiritual opposition how do you keep your passion uh month over month and year over year and the only answer that i can give you is that i'm called to this i'm called to it this is my calling this is your calling the title of today's message is reclaim your calling and father i ask today by the power of your word in the presence of your spirit you would stir up your church god stir us up god with a spiritual passion to live a life worthy of the calling for when which you sent your son jesus empower us god to live out that calling as your church in this world we pray in jesus name and everybody said amen amen why don't you guys be seated where you are somebody say i'm called look at the person you're socially distancing from and say you're called now look at the person who was your second choice and tell them you're called to what are you called to if god has called you what are you called to a lot of people want to be called like to a job or to a task or to something significant and you might be called to a job or to a task or to something significant but i want to show you three things that scripture specifically tells you that you are called to i learned these things back in cemetery back in seminary years ago they all happen to begin with the same letter which there's bonus point in heaven when you have something that begins with the same letter what are you called to you're called to three things number one god calls you to salvation this is great news before god ever calls you to a job before he ever calls you to a ministry god calls you to himself this is great news jesus when he came he did not come to call the righteous scripture says but he came to call the sinners he didn't come for those who are healthy he came to call the sick to come into a relationship with him it doesn't matter what you've done it doesn't matter how dark your life feels you are called to jesus come to him as you are where you are he calls you to salvation to be transformed by the grace of jesus don't ever let that become old news you are called by god to salvation he also calls you number two he calls you to sanctification this is a fancy term that essentially means to be set apart it means to be different from this world we read it that god has called you to a holy life he calls you to himself he calls you to be set apart he calls you to salvation he calls you to sanctification and he calls every single one of you to service he calls you to use the very unique gifts that he's given you placed inside of you the gifts and the talents in his church as his church into this world he calls you to service he first calls you to himself then he calls you to be transformed and then he calls you to engage using what he's put inside of you to make a difference in this world he calls you to himself to salvation to sanctification and to service his calling for you then in service it may be very specific it may be very broad we looked last week at colossians 3 17 and paul said this he said whatever you do whatever it is whether it's in word or deed you do it all in the name of the lord jesus giving thanks to the god through him whatever you do however you serve wherever you are you do it for jesus the question is if you're called some of you're gonna say am i ready do i know enough am i good enough a lot of you you might not even really believe that you're called you might believe that you're called to salvation that your sins have been forgiven but you still can't really embrace that you're called to service that you're called every day of your life to make a difference and the voices might tell you but you're not ready and you don't know enough about the bible and what if they ask you some kind of question and then there's you know whole things like dinosaurs and you know what about keeping your salvation and are we living in the end times and you feel like i don't know enough and i'm not good enough and i still lost my cool when somebody drove by me on the highway and cut me off and you know depending on what side of the mask or no mass thing you're on you're about to lose your salvation on whichever side you are you know am i good enough am i worthy am i ready i love what the apostle paul said in first corinthians 1 26 he said brothers and sisters i want you to think of what you were when you were called some of you you need to remember where you were when you were called to salvation think of what you were not many of you this is so encouraging were wise by human standards not many were influential and not many were of noble birth this is encouraging because when you look at who god calls to salvation to sanctification and to service he calls those who are untrained those who appear unqualified those who look unprepared he calls those that the world would call spiritual nobodies to make a difference in this world i love the old saying that god doesn't call the prepared god prepares the called this should be good news for you you don't have to have it all together god doesn't call you when you're perfect and when you know it all he prepares you along the way because you're called to make a difference in this world and this is very very very very much my story and i want to share with you a little bit of the journey of my calling and maybe it will help you discover your own journey of calling whenever jesus called me to salvation i was an absolute complete mess how many of you can relate how many you can still relate i'm still a mess right exactly i i was far from god my lifestyle didn't represent anything that would look like a pastor or christian i was a business major in school i was lost and i was hurting and i was broken my fraternity got in a lot of trouble and so i decided to start a bible study both as a public relations movement because i wanted to know if there is a god i want to know about him and i just started reading the bible in matthew mark luke john i read all the way through to the book of ephesians and i read a verse in ephesians chapter 2 that says something i'd never seen before that you could be saved by grace and not by works i didn't even really understand what grace was but i liked the fact about not by works because i couldn't i just couldn't work myself up to be be good enough and i went out all alone literally feeling called by god it wasn't like i heard my name being called but there was like there was like a spiritual tug pulling me in the direction of heaven some of you that this may be the very place you are right now you can't explain it there's no external reason why but there's this spiritual drawing this calling this pulling that's taking you toward the things of god and that's exactly what was happening to me and i just knelt down in this little softball field in the middle of my university and called out to god if you're there just take my whole life if you're real i give it to you and what i can tell you is when i knelt down i was one person and when i stood up i was someone different god had called me to salvation that was the easy part then there was sanctification dear jesus help us all okay i was like i was so lost and so i was like i was a this is a true story i was a brand new christian i had a big brother in my fraternity who also unrelated became a christian so you know what we did we went out to get drunk to celebrate that's what we did true story you're not like you only know should i laugh at that is that funny i don't know i don't know either okay that's just what we did we didn't know any better and then someone said you probably shouldn't get drunk like oh okay and so i started trying to figure out what are the christian rules and there were so many it's pretty much like whatever i did it's like the opposite of that and so it was a sanctification period where i was trying to learn like don't cuss and break your tennis racket when you lose a match and then there was the whole dating thing because i had dated as a non-christian and the rules are when you're a non-christian there are no rules and now i was a christian and so i asked this guy named braun brown he's a basketball player he's like the only strong christian i really knew what am i allowed to do what are the rules and he essentially said whatever you want to do with a girl you're not allowed to do that that's the rule as all of a sudden i'm like in this i'm in this whole new process of slowly being changed by jesus and i take a couple steps forward and then a couple steps back and then 3 4 and 20 back and it was like this ongoing process of slowly letting god's word empowered by his spirit to conform me to the image of christ i was called to salvation i was called to sanctification and i was called to service and there was something about being transformed by jesus that service wasn't an option it was a calling it was it was unstoppable and that's the good news for you when you truly recognize you've been called to salvation at the foot of the cross and you're forgiven by the god of the universe not by anything that gives you credit but all by the grace of jesus and then you're slowly transformed you're not like you were you're becoming more like jesus serving's not an option you're compelled to it you're called to it i never chose to be a pastor the only way i can describe it is undeniably i was called to it because it made no sense whatsoever i just knew i'm a christian now i should probably go to church and so i went to the closest church because that just made sense and i didn't understand anything everything went over my head all i knew is you had to stand up sit down stand up sit down it was like aerobics we'd sing out of a hymnal book verse one two and four i don't know what's wrong in verse three we always skipped verse three i was bored i didn't understand i went to another church and it was crazy and rowdy and i liked it but i didn't understand and so suddenly there was something in me thinking we need to do this church thing in a way that people understand where you take the bible that changed my life and preach it in a way that doesn't just get in your head on sunday but takes over your life on a monday and a tuesday and a wednesday and here's what i want you to understand and i don't know how to put this into words but back when i was in college there wasn't a pastor that you looked up to like there are some today like social media like that person is kind of cool there weren't big churches there was one there was there was no reason why i wanted to live on a wear a robe to preach in and live in a parsonage and yet that was what i felt called and compelled to do because there's something in me that wants to take what's in the bible to the church to the world it was unmistakable it was a calling and what i hope you'll recognize in your own life is you have that same version in some way it starts with being called to salvation you're drawn to the goodness of the grace of god then he starts to change you and as he changes you you're called to serve and it doesn't mean you have to lead a church you're called to serve wherever you are whatever you do you do it for the glory of jesus christ it's not always easy when i when i felt called to be a pastor what i tell you is everybody laughed like everybody laughed like ev everybody said that's the dumbest thing you'll never never be that listen whenever you start to get close to your calling you might find that people start criticizing i found that sometimes the criticism from people confirms the calling from god whenever people around you don't really understand that's often when you're getting out of what makes sense into the realm of faith and to truly please god you've got to sometimes get out of logic and get into a place where i'm just trusting him this doesn't make any sense i can't fully explain it i know you're all laughing but your criticism might actually be confirming that god is actually calling me or i'm crazy and it could be both but nevertheless i want to follow the voice of god think of what you were when you were called i was a mess i was lost i was broken i'm still not there but i'm so much different today you're called by god he's calling you to salvation if you don't know him he wants to reveal himself to you he wants to show you his love he's calling you to be different to sanctification and he's calling you specifically to serve him let me give you two qualities of calling two qualities of calling the first quality of calling is this calling costs it always costs whenever god called saul in the bible if you don't know his story saul was the guy that hated christians persecuted christians his name was later changed to paul but whenever he had his encounter with god he was blinded by this light and god sent a messenger named ananias to tell saul something let me tell you what the message was not what ananias didn't say was saul saul your eyes are going to be healed and after that you're going to have this crazy testimony people are gonna want you on their podcast and your youtube following's gonna blow up and you're gonna be like this massive influencer and you have all these people wanna hear from you and you're gonna get a book deal and you're gonna be a really big thing it's gonna be amazing it's a breakthrough no this is what god said to ananias go speaking of paul this man paul saul is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the gentiles and their kings and the people of israel now ready for this because you're called saul here's what i want to show you i want to show you how much he must suffer for my name i'm going to show him how much his calling is going to cost him the very first thing saul you're called to preach the gospel to the gentiles to make a difference in this world to serve and i'm going to show you how much is going to cost you calling costs i saw your my chosen instrument some of you you're going to recognize you are god's chosen instrument into a certain environment you might be god's chosen instrument in your mother's day out program you might be god's chosen instrument in your crazy neighborhood watch association have you ever seen one that's not crazy i haven't i think demons assign people you're assigned to that neighborhood you're assigned to this one we've got them all covered you you might be god's chosen instrument um in your the place that you work you might be god's chosen instrument in your sorority you might be god's chosen instrument at the nine o'clock hour at your gym because you're the light that's sent into your gym at that time of the day the moment you step into your calling you have to step out of your comfort zone it's going to cost you along the way when i met amy we felt called to pastor and i was honored to serve under a guy who became my hero much like a spiritual father to me pastor nick harris who is my pastor and i will honor him for my entire life he treated me like a son and helped raise me and gave me feedback and he's always going to be a hero to me and then about five years in after serving under him at first united methodist church we felt called to start life church and suddenly i was conflicted to a place that's impossible to describe because accepting that call came across like i was rejecting my pastor and i was heartbroken by it because it was his dream that one day i would take that church and that probably would have never happened in the methodist church system and such but that was kind of his dream and i was called to something different and to know that that would hurt someone that i loved and idolized and still do to this day shook me to my core some of you you're going to come across a place like this in your life and god will often use our deepest pain to launch our greatest calling it's going to cost you something you're going to be misunderstood you're going to be falsely criticized you're going to be laughed at you're going to face all sorts of spiritual attacks i've discovered that private pain is often a big part of a public calling you're just going to hurt in ways where you never have the ability to explain it's going to cost it's going to cost you need to hear that you're called and it comes with a cost there's a blessing and there's a cost i feel like garth brooks if you've seen the uh you haven't seen it if you see it you'll go that's what he was talking about no one's seen it serving jesus is both a gift and it's a grind living your calling is simultaneously a thrill and it's always a burden ministry is exhilarating and it's exhausting if following jesus isn't both your greatest gift and your greatest burden you probably aren't doing it right calling always costs it's not going to be easy god never ever promised it would be easy in fact i've often believed that the biggest enemy of calling is comfort never sacrifice your calling on the altar of comfort if god calls you it's gonna take faith calling costs the second thing is and it's much more fun is that calling sustains calling sustains it carries you it keeps you going whenever i look at the apostle paul who we talked about how did he endure what all he endured how did he remain faithful and not grow discouraged when you think about it he was beaten again and again he was left for dead he was shipwrecked he was snake bitten you get you bite me by a snake i'm out okay i mean he he was wrongly in prison how did he remain faithful when his friends abandoned him how did he stay true to jesus when he was falsely accused and wrongly imprisoned how did he persevere when so many other people fell away the answer is this paul didn't finish the race because he was competent paul finished because he was called it was calling i i love what philippians 3 says 12 13-14 the apostle paul he says this and sometimes you have to do this sometimes you just have to kind of forget what is behind forget what it is he says straining toward what is ahead paul said this i press on i keep going you can't stop me i press on toward the goal to win the prize for which god has called me heavenward in christ jesus i kept the faith i've i finished the race because i'm called to it somebody here you need to reclaim your calling what are you called to you're called to salvation the greatest gift in the world something that you can't earn something you never ever deserve the forgiveness of sins through jesus christ you're called to be set apart sanctified it's about more about the who than to do you're becoming like jesus and you are called to service to ministry to make a difference in this world how many of you say this has probably been the toughest year of your life [Music] most people probably would this has been unquestionably the most difficult year of ministry 25 years of leading life church and i don't even have to go into the reasons i think they're pretty obvious kovid you know shut down the world and the church that i love and spent 25 years building is different today we have the um very real racial challenges that um or at the front of our minds and rightly so to try to do what's right for um uh hurting people all over the world we have the political tensions that um just are in the middle of every conversation it seems like especially if you're crazy enough to comment online somewhere [Music] how do i keep going and show back up i'll be honest there are times when i look around go it'd be easier to do full-time real estate it'd be easier just to teach leadership it'd be so much easier to do something else but god's calling is never easy and he's always faithful how come i don't give up walk away it's because i'm called to it somebody needs to reclaim your calling you're called you're a light you're an ambassador you offer in hope world of darkness you shine into it when someone's hurting you have the answer when someone's far from god you can help connect them when there's a need you have access to the very heart of god and you go boldly before his throne of grace and ask him for help in a time of need you have the ministry of reconciliation helping broken people find their way back to the grace of god and healing with each other don't let what you see around you take you away from what you're called to do don't let the discouraging voices talk you out of what you've been uniquely created by god to accomplish you're called to salvation saved by grace you're called to sanctification to live a life worthy of your calling and you're created by god uniquely equipped with gifts that he gave you passions he buried in your heart to serve him in a way that only you can do will it be difficult paul said it this way he said i'm hard pressed on every side but i'm not crushed i'm perplexed but i'm not in despair i'm persecuted but not abandoned i'm struck down but not destroyed i've been called by god i want to speak directly to someone who's been away from god right now maybe you've you've been distant maybe you've neglected god maybe kind of covet took you off your rhythms maybe you've been into something that you shouldn't be into i want you to hear god's word romans 11 29 for god's gift and his call can never be withdrawn what you're doing or where you've been it does not take away god's call from your life another virgin says is irrevocable god's call on your life is irrevocable it cannot be revoked it cannot be recalled it cannot be repealed it cannot be enough it cannot be withheld it cannot be withdrawn you are called you're called to salvation you're called to sanctification and listen church come on you're called to serve don't let the world talk you out of your calling we're the church of jesus christ and we're called to shine the light right into this world if you wouldn't mind standing where you are today i want to just read god's word over you i want you to feel the power i want it to internalize in your soul and stir you to live a life paul said if we constantly pray for you that our god may make you worthy it's not based on your own effort it's all based on the power of god that our god may make you worthy of what of his calling you've been chosen you've been called to salvation to sanctification to service that our god may make you worthy of his calling and that by his power he may bring to fruition every desire for his goodness and that your every deed prompted by faith we pray this so that the name of our lord jesus christ may be glorified may our god make you worthy of his calling by his power that every godly desire he put in your heart would come to fruition for the glory and the name of jesus christ god help us to live a life worthy of your calling as you're praying and reflecting today at all of our different churches those of you who would say yes i i am a christian i have been i've been saved i'm being sanctified i may not be there yet but i am being sanctified and i truly want to reclaim my calling i want to sense every day when i wake up i wake up for a purpose that serves and glorifies heaven god help me reclaim my calling i guess you would just lift up your hand right now just in a moment of faith all of our churches you can type in the chat i'm reclaiming my calling god help me reclaim my calling father i pray that daily when we wake up and we face so much spiritual headwind so much resistance so much darkness that you would stir up the calling that does not go away in our hearts god i pray that as for us as for this part of your body that we would be stirred to live a life worthy of the calling upon us one that we didn't earn one that we didn't deserve when given to us freely by the one who saves us that help us reclaim our calling renew renew god restore to us the joy of our salvation that we can please you and the way we live by faith help us reclaim our calling god as you keep praying today without looking around there's some of you that you would recognize you haven't even responded to the first call yet maybe at different points in your life you felt drawn to god and maybe you got distracted or maybe you had questions or maybe you didn't feel ready but there are some of you right now you recognize you have a very real spiritual need let's just call it what it is you've tried about everything you can try and you're still empty you've looked for meaning and maybe money or things or people or sex or drugs or possessions or whatever it is and and it hasn't met the need why because what you're trying to do is you're trying to fill a spiritual void with something that is not spiritual what you have is a spiritual need you need a relationship you need forgiveness it was on that little softball field years ago that i recognized scripture says that you're saved not by spiritual works but by grace what is grace it's the goodness of god that god loves you so much that he sent his son jesus his sinless son who is perfect in every way jesus never sinned and he loved you so much that he went to the cross as an innocent sacrifice to pay the price for your sins and for mine he shed his innocent blood and god raised him from the dead so that anybody and this includes you where you are if you're watching online anywhere in the world anyone who calls on that name there's something about that name the name that is above every name the name of jesus when you cry out to him god hears your prayer and he forgives your sins he makes you brand new listen there's someone here you're being drawn to him he's calling you respond to his call and just say yes not by your works not by your religious efforts because of his love and by his grace i give my life to him that's you today all of our churches you're watching online you say i need his grace i want to know him i'm turning for my sins i give my life to jesus that's your prayer lift your hands now all over the place lift them and say yes jesus i give my life to you those of you online you can just type that in the chat i give my life to jesus and as we have people at our churches people online surrendering to faith in jesus would you pray with those around you just pray heavenly father take all of my life forgive all of my sins save me change me make me new i say yes to your call to salvation i say yes to be changed to be sanctified i say yes to serve you and whatever i do i want to do it for you thank you for new life i gave you all of mine every bit every moment i belong to you in jesus name i pray because somebody celebrate big time shirts give it up welcome those born into the family of god

Channel: Life.Church

Views: 61,897

Rating: 4.949091 out of 5

Keywords: Craig Groeschel, Sermon, Life.Church, Lifechurch, life church, life church sermons, craig rochelle, groeschel craig, church sermons 2020, how to find your purpose, how to find your purpose in life, how to find your calling, calling, god’s calling, called, what am i called to do, how to know your calling in life, what is my calling from god, reclaim my life, i am called, what is my purpose, why am I here, life purpose, find your purpose, chosen, reclaim your calling

Id: uqvmdUlkfm4

Length: 36min 30sec (2190 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 19 2020